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Aug 23, 2021
This movie does not need to exist. That's what I thought when I went in to the movie. Code Geass S2 ended on an absolute perfect note and the most probable outcome is that whatever new thing they added would just detract from that. yet my curiosity got the better of me and I went ahead and watched this movie.
Though it doesn't have the complexity or drama of it's predecessor. It certainly functions well as an epilogue to the original story. All the og characters get their heart-warming closure moments and there is a passable battle arc also.
For long-time fans, it's more of the
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characters you loved. It won't make you clench your buttcheeks or sob tears of betrayal, but hey, we get to see more of Lelouch and C.C being a married couple as well as Kallen and Suzaku fight side by side for the first time and that's enough for me.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Nov 3, 2015
I admit, I entered this series biased. A lot of people had harped on to me about how terrible it was and the community in general likes to tear apart anything with a lot of popularity that may not been accompanied by an appropriate level of quality.
Compared to the first season, Season II also has a very different tone. Much of the first seasons draw was the tension of being trapped in a game with real-world consequences and what this might lead some people to do. This is not at all what the second season is like and it does take a moment to adjust.
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Having said all this, before reading the review, if you haven't seen it yet, i do recommend watching it for yourself.
Story & Characters:
SAO s2 has 3 mini arcs that i will go over separately as they vary greatly in content and tone.
Arc 1: 7
Arc 1 involves Kirito being hired by detectives to investigate a player who is apparently able to murder other players through the game. Along his way he meets Shino who is playing the game as a method of dealing with her phobia of guns.
Eventually Shino's character and the murderer's character get fleshed out and the plot does go to some interesting places regarding guilt and fear (in Shino's case) and power play (in the murderer's case). The final battle was suitably climactic, although i could have been spared Kirito doing his thing for once. just once.
Arc 2: 4
Arc 2 involves Kirito and gang embarking on a quest to attain Excalibur in Alfenheim. To be honest, this arc felt entirely filler and I don't although not entirely unenjoyable really dragged the pace.
Arc 3: 9
Arc 3 is where the feel trains hit. Arc 3 involves a player known as the ultimate swordfighter (yes, even better than Kirito... maybe) who, it turns out, is terminally ill and asks for Asuna's help to embark on a final quest.
Art, Sound and Voice: 8
Once again, i don't have much to say about the art or sound - which is usually a good thing. Everything fits together fine to add appropriate atmosphere to the show. At times, it's light-hearted, at times expository and futuristic, at times emotional and at times dark and tense.
Once nitpick that i still have with the show is that it doesn't make sense that main characters have unique player avatars while everyone else looks drab and generic.
The voice cast continue to do a great job all round. This may be where i once again inject some personal bias as I simply love Miyuki Sawashiro.
Conclusion: 8
While i expected to hate this series, i came to appreciate the different tone that it went for. The last arc in particular hit me hard with the feels train and their where moments of tension in certain parts.
On the downside, Kirito still does his thing to every girl he meets. We get it, you think nice guys get the girls. I could have done without the romance elements, though thankfully it's not as heavy as in the first season.
Some nitpicks that i still have regarding this entire series is that gameplay elements are still rarely fully explained. In the first season, there was a scene where Players Killers couldn't deal serious damage to Kirito because he regenerated health faster than they could damage him, yet he never regenerates health again in the whole series. In this season much of the way magic, swordplay, skills etc still isn't particularly explained and the emphasis is placed instead on the emotional journey of the characters. I can't help but feel that these are missed oppurtunites for building a believable setting.
Throughout the show, the series brings up some light philosophical discussion on the nature of perception and reality. I'm not tech genius but perhaps the world is not that far off from when we are able to digitally recreate physical stimuli equivalent to what one might feel 'naturally'.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Nov 3, 2015
Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai, having seen the anime, i have no idea what the title means.
Before i begin the review, if you enjoy emotional plots where socially awkward characters are brought out of their shell (Clannad, Hayate no Gotoku, Kimi ni Todoke) or plots where characters must learn to deal with loss (Angel Beats) and are not offended by melodrama, high school romance or extreme moe characters, then stop reading this review until you have watched it the show for yourself.
Story and Characters: 7
AnoHana revolves around 6 teenagers who played together as children but have become estranged when
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one of them dies in an accident. The deceased child, Menma, appears as a spirit and stays with one of them, Jinta, and he eventually reaches out and reconnects with the rest of the group to fulfill Menma's wish.
The anime deals with the issue of dealing with grief and self-driven guilt moderately well, but gets bogged down early on with teenage romantic drama. It reminds me a little of Kokoro Connect (a series where supernatural phenomena like mind-body swaps happen to a group of highschool students). They had a great premise and decent characters to build interesting discussion, cool hypothetical situations and potentially lots of humour but it usually ends up with characters crying and apologising all the time because "i like you, but you like some one else".
Most of the characters present a decent analysis of how loss can affect a person and how slight variations in character, over time can lead to almost entirely different people. Ultimately, i was a little disappointed though that almost every character breaks down over romance issues, it may have been a long time since i was 5 years old, but I definetely did not take liking someone that seriously. Also Menma is a little too perfect to the point of being one-dimensional.
Art, Sound & Voice: 8
I didn't really notice anything that stood out with the art which is usually a good sign. The characters were mostly believably attractive, not oversexualised but still good looking. There are a few minor ecchi scenes at the beginning but no obnoxious bouncing boobs or panty shots. The music is generally fitting and adds atmosphere to the emotional scenes and the voice cast does a great job all round. Yukana does a great job as the hyper cheerful Menma and I'm a huge fan of Takahiro's gruffy voice.
The ending theme is a particular favourite of mine and I found myself sitting through the ending credits more than once.
Conclusion: 7
Ano Hana tries very hard to tug at your heart strings and at times, the mood, characters and setting all set me up to bawl alongside them but the things they were crying over just didn't particularly make sense to me. Nevertheless I did enjoy the elements of people connecting despite social groups and social awkwardness and as a whole I did find this series to be enjoyable.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 28, 2015
Firstly, it ought to be said that this anime is almost entirely designed to be a companion to the PSVita game Persona 4 Golden. Since, I have played and enjoyed the game extensively, expect my opinion to be biased and in order for one to enjoy this show, I would say it is almost a complete necessity that you play that game and begin with the same bias as myself. Understandably, that’s a high barrier of entry as very few people have PSVitas, all I can say is that I have no regrets owning one.
Why is this preface important? Well that’s because I have no
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idea what it would be like to watch this show without prior knowledge of the new plot elements introduced in Persona 4 Golden - primarily the new character Marie that is, as she is the entire focus of this series.
Persona 4 Golden the animation makes no effort to introduce (or in some cases re-introduce) it’s world and completely skips entire segments of the story that are not related to either of the new character sub-plots. Personally, I was able to follow the story as I’d both seen the original anime and played through the game multiple games for the platinum trophy, however, if you’re here for the plot and you don’t have prior knowledge, prepare to be confused.
Story: 3
Think of persona 4 Golden the Animation as the fillers of an anime, extracted from the main series and stuck together. I happen to like fillers, the beach events, the school festival events, the summer holiday events, ski trip events, swimming pool trips, hot spring events, etc, these things breathe life and relaxation into characters and are anime tropes for a reason. That being said, occasionally and eventually, sh*t does go down and when it does *spoiler alert* friend power saves the day. I can’t even get angry about this anymore.
Characters: 6
Listening to Hanazawa Kana voice the adorably tsundere new character Marie was probably my entire reason for watching this show, especially with Kugumiya Rie also present in the cast. During the intro sequence, you get a quick shot of the Main character with maxed out personal stats and throughout the show he seems to be trying his hardest to try to be cool and badass, it comes off a little forced but fortunately he doesn’t say much and is an otherwise decent blank canvas type character for viewers to project themselves through. The rest of the cast is all present, but receive neither decent introductions nor any meaningful character development.
Adachi does act as a reasonably interesting villain, presenting unique views on talent, success and social expectations… too bad he only gets to be in two episodes before being beaten by friend power.
Art & sound: 7
All very modern and clean. Some small amounts of fanservice that are present but not obnoxious. VAs do a great job and background tracks and music from the game are brought back, fitting in appropriately.
Enjoyment: 8
This is where I admit that I am biased, because I came into the series already in love with the world and it’s characters.
Overall: 7
If you’re already a fan of the series and you’re a fan of Hanazawa Kana, then let yourself relax and enjoy the show.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 30, 2013
Romeo x Juliet, is it Romeo and Juliet? no.
This anime is based very loosely on William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet so, if you happen to be familiar with the English classic (most of us are) prepare to be surprised.
Story:
If you've seen the 2004 film Troy (starring Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Diane Kruger, Sean Bean and Orlando Bloom) it may be easier for you to understand the premise of the story - how an inspiration becomes a legend.
Romeo x Juliet follows two young nobles Romeo, the son of the despotic Montague Ruler and Juliet, the only surviving daughter of the slaughtered Capulet family, come to
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grips with their identity, love and society around them and what the struggles that they take when trying to instigate change.
While the setting is nice, those of you who are turned off by high fantasy be warned. Like the sword of akashe in Code Geass, there were some things that i just didn't get the first time through and if this is not your thing, know that it is present. I would've given the story an 8 if it weren't for this.
Characters:
Characters are what i feel really bring a story to life in anime and personally, the characters in romeo x Juliet really took a while to grow on me.
A key element in the story of this anime is the growth of romeo and juliet from young naive youths into capable and responsible adults. While their development eventually fleshes out their characters, this did make the first few episodes really hard to press through for me.
The side characters also fulfilled their roles capably, although i did wish for more fleshed out backstories, so don't expect Angel beats.
Art:
The art in Romeo x Juliet is very... clean. If you like anime in general, you should have nothing to complain about Romeo x Juliet. One thing that i did notice was that, the artwork did not have any of the hyper-sexualisation present in a lot of anime that I've seen lately. None of the characters are particularly 'hot' in my opinion, but all of them have a nice simple artwork that doesn't scream big-boobs or fan service but allows down-to-earth characters and human personalities to shine through.
Sound:
The voice actors all do a fairly good job and sound believable although the hyper 'Willy' William Shakespeare may be slightly annoying at times.
Appropriate music highlights some of the more epic or moving moments in the show, building a nice environment that really had me immersed in some of the more touching moments of the show.
Final verdict:
My friend recommended this show to me and i was skeptical at first, but give the show a go and you might be surprised.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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