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Jun 5, 2021
Reviewing SAO in 2021 is like beating a dead horse but I'm gonna do it just for the sake of it.
--Minor spoilers for a 2012 amine--
Story : 7
The first arc was painfully alright. As others might suggest, the first two episodes were great compared to the rest of the season, as it sets the tone and story initially. After that, however, for five episodes straight we get a string of vignettes of our boi Kirito travelling around the world that is SAO (I forgot the name of the world and I don't feel like looking it up) and meeting different side characters that will definitely
...
play a big role in the rest of the series *wink wink*. Contrary to what others might say, for all its faults, I enjoyed the "mini-arc". The characters, for what they are and how they appeared, were fun and nice, and the world building in this series is one thing I'll give praise to. It does its job to convey the rules of the world and the world itself decently, and I respect that. That being said, these side characters are mostly used for shaping Kirito's character into a realistic and likeable character.
Somewhere near the end of this mini-arc, the series decided to suddenly return to the main plot. The shift, however, is done in a way that will make you feel like you missed an entire season somewhere in between. The tone goes all over too, from lighthearted to mysterious to action packed all in the span of a few episodes. And this is just the first arc.
The second arc is very forgettable and one of the things that really brought this anime down. The short IRL section in the beginning and the end of this arc was quite nice, I'll say, but 90% of the second half I could barely remember. It feels repetitive and lacks a lot of things that made the first arc watchable, and I'll put it at that.
Art : 8
The animation and general art is lively and great. Not much to say in this regards.
Sound : 9
This is my favorite aspect of the series. The sound during the action scenes are beautifully crafted and is one of the things that sets the fights in this anime from most OP MC isekais out there.
Characters : 3
The two MCs, Kirito and Asuna, are the most cardboard MCs I've seen in anime.
Kirito, our male lead, is the overpowered MC type. Not necessarily a bad thing, I myself may or may not have a certain bias towards this type of character, but Kirito here has nothing that sets him apart from other isekai MCs out there. No personality, no unique dialogue/voice, heck, he even looks generic, nothing. The only characterisation he gets are from the five episode mini-arc from just about the start of the series, and even then he barely ever learned or grew from them. You can argue that the mini-arc was mainly for worldbuilding, and I agree that it does great in that regards, but it is a wasted opportunity for Kirito to not grow during this section, as this arc basically revolved around him. (spoiler) The one tiny bit of characterisation that barely stayed with him is about his regret and inability to save his mates after they died, but that feeling of regret he carries comes on and off every so often. It's like it's made just as a garnish instead of an main ingredient for his motives.(spoiler end)
Asuna, on the other hand, is female Kirito, but with even less character. Nothing much else to be said.
Suguha, Kirito's cousin, is just there, i guess. I barely remembered the second arc I'm not gonna be able to spew out much about her.
This aspect of the series isn't a pathetic 1, however, because for all its faults, the chemistry between Kirito and Asuna works surprisingly well and are more often than not fun to watch. Shame they are pretty much nothing without each other, though. The side characters aren't bad either.
Enjoyment : 6
It's not often that I watch shitty isekai amines with intent to absorb the story and not just as background noise for doing homework, but even when I payed full attention I still can't enjoy the second half of the series. The first half, however, isn't bad by any means, but it is miles from good.
Overall : 6
It's fine. If you're curious about whats the hype with this overly popular series, yea sure check it out, you'll find an alright isekai in the first half and an afterthought in the second.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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May 18, 2021
This manga... is alright.
The premise isn't exactly original but it is definitely enjoyable to see more of the "popular but actually shy" trope. The two main characters also has some nice chemistry and does have some lovely interactions. The chapters are pretty repetitive to an extent, but it is still somewhat entertaining after every new entry.
The first chapter really shows the best of the two MCs their first interactions are very cute, to say the least. After that, their daily antics begin.
However, I do not enjoy seeing mostly the same joke every two weeks and I believe the score as of right now is justified.
It's
...
not the best, but if you enjoy romcoms in any shape or form, give this one a shot.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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May 1, 2021
Bishounen Tanteidan is a show that isn't as popular as I thought it would be. And I can somewhat see why that is so.
Story - 7
I have a thing for detective stories. I like the way they show the tricks on how things are done as well as the actual mystery-solving itself. While this has a hint of that, the story is surprisingly lacking.
The first three episodes center around a single arc, which makes me somewhat worried for the pacing of the show and each episode, but I've heard that the source novels aren't really long so there's that.
That being said, dedicating a single
...
arc to the first three episodes is definitely a risky move, and I can see why some people got turned off by that fact alone. I certainly hope it gets better throughout the series.
Art - 10
It's beautiful. The sky, the scenery, the character designs, it's very beautiful.
Sound - 9
The OP is done by sumika, which is a strange choice, but eitherway it is an absolute banger.
Character - 7
I feel like the character is somewhat weak so far. All the boys are really just a single talent in a body so far, and though they are still entertaining, I hope to see them improve on this.
Enjoyment - 7
I enjoyed it when I first watched it, but looking back I begin to see more and more of its flaws.
Overall - 8
Its pretty nice, but is somewhat of a hit or miss.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 14, 2021
Between the many people over in the internet trashing on this series as one of the worst of the season (some might say year), I never thought I would enjoy this anime as much as I did. Was it a good anime? No, far from it. Was it a bad one? Arguably, but I've seen worse. Those aside, I really did enjoy this anime.
Story-7/10
The story revolves around Nagumo Hajime, a 17 year old that landed in an alternate world alongside his class to save said world. However during an expedition he was betrayed by a classmate and presumed dead, and now he must climb out
...
of the abyss to give fate the biggest "fuck you" they've seen in a while and find his way back to his world.
The final part might be exaggeration, but I wouldn't really care that much to watch the whole thing again to really clarify, although his main goal throughout the series from then on is to find his way back home. Frankly speaking, the story is quite good. It might be my slight bias for OP protags, but I like the betrayal theme that covered a short portion of this anime at the start. However, after that there really wasn't much to cover in terms of theme. After the first part, however, the story takes a more typical isekai-harem storyline that I usually see in the market these days. It isn't bad by any means, just quite typical.
Art-3/10
This is the biggest complain I've seen regarding the series. The animation used here isn't the best and looks rushed and ugly in some aspects. The CGI can be compared to that of the PS2's capabilities in the worst way possible, and the traditional animation is far from something to write home about. It's quite a shame since most of the series is just Doom Guy-style monster hunting and we get subpar quality animation, but what's done is done.
That aside, the character designs for the series looks quite good, and some stills from the anime might not look half bad. I particularly like that the makers show a better look of the character's and item's line arts mostly somewhere in the middle of the episode (I can't think of the name but I assume it's for broadcasting commercial breaks). That being said, the art of this anime is definitely the worst part of the series.
Sound-7/10
The music used in this series serves it's purpose well and blends itself well in the atmosphere. The OP and ED used are quite good to, although nothing memorable. I'm not the best at judging sound, so I'll leave it at here.
Characters-5/10
The characters in this series are about as deep as those in a kids show. Heck, if you omit the blood and gore and such this might be something I'd watch as a kid. The characters are shallow, but not 100% flat, as they do have reasons they do things, albeit simple. But hey, not everything has to be too complex to be enjoyable.
To me, only Nagumo and Yue are characters worth mentioning in this review. Both knew the feeling of being betrayed and that was what brought them together. Nagumo used the spite in him to drive him forward and become the OP protag, with Yue supporting him after Nagumo rescued her in the dungeon. The remaining three MCs according to MAL are just "there" to me.
That being said, there really isn't any hateable characters in this anime aside from the obvious traitor, and though there was barely any depth in the characters, they are likeable enough to enjoy watching them, yet not interesting enough to remember.
Overall-6/10
Again, this might be due to my OP protag bias, but that aside I didn't think I would enjoy this series that much for what it is. Sure, it's cliche, typical, some might say boring and everyone would say ugly, but if you wanna save all the good shows for last, needed some audio to do homework or such, I'd say check it out. Though I wouldn't generally recommend this to anyone except people who like these type of shows.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Mar 25, 2021
I honestly don't know what I was expecting when I first saw the trailer for this film. Be it excitement or more of an "ah cool" kind of feeling, I can safely say that this movie disappointed me even without any clear expectation.
I'm never the biggest fan of the so-called "desktop films", however from a critical standpoint I can understand and enjoy the story and characters for what it is, they're just not my cup of tea. At their best, they can be a movie to write home about. At its worst, somewhere there lies this movie.
Story-6/10
A girl turns into a cat to be with
...
her crush. That's how I would describe it if asked to do so with a single sentence. That being said, it isn't the worst story there is, albeit somewhat simple. It's about a happy-go-lucky girl named Sasaki Miyo (nicknamed Muge) who is open with her crush towards her classmate named Hinode Kento, who is less than happy to be the center of the attention. To get his attention and appreciation, she uses a mask that can transform her into a cat to come around to Hinode's house and just hang. The cat mask has a price, however, has a price in order to turn her into a cat forever, that being her human form. That's as far as I can tell without getting to some spoilers, but if this is enough to pull you in, then perhaps this movie is for you.
This movie also tackles some topics like humanity and being the child of a broken marriage, and while I can say that the humanity topic is handled somewhat well, I'm not knowledged enough to vouch for the writing of the latter.
Art-8/10
It looks nice, and the movements are a lot more fluid than I expected, so there's that.
Sound-7/10
Music-wise, I may be a bit biased since I generally enjoyed Yorushika's works, but the music here is pretty good, although barely memorable.
Character-3/10
This section is sadly my biggest gripe with this whole film. There are only three notable characters in this film, this being the girl, the boy, and the cat mask seller. In the girl's case, I can say that her energy is something that can be said and be liked about her, but on the other hand I find this aspect of her to be somewhat annoying and a tad bit forceful. The boy started of as being reasonably annoyed at the girl's actions, suddenly went "ah shit I love her damn" by the end without any clear reason. The cat mask seller is just trying to do business, albeit in a not so morally right way.
The two main characters have their own struggles, the girl being a child of a broken marriage and the boy about to lose his passion of pot making due to debt taking their studio away. These give the character some depth, but still makes them far from likeable. And regarding the side characters? Well they're just there. I can't even remember the MC's names (had to look it up), what makes the side characters something worth remembering? Nothing. They're just there to help the plot move forward.
The romance in this film really could have worked if they didn't settle right after the movie ended. A sense of acceptance would be much better, because at the moment, it really felt like a one-sided romance.
Enjoyment-4/10
I honestly would put this as a background anime for when I wanna do homework or read a book or something. That being said, I somewhat liked the story and the visuals and sounds weren't bad. I just wished more thought was given to these characters to make them more likeable.
Overall-4/10
This isn't the worst film there is. It's one of those love it or hate it films, and I fall a bit more to the latter.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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