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Jan 25, 2025
Between the impressive, technical animation and generally high production value of the show Solo Levelling can at times feel grand and exciting. All in all however I don't think what is a solid adaptation can really make up for what is, in my opinion pretty lacklustre source material.
Being a pretty by the numbers power fantasy, there's very little to the protagonist, JIn-Woo's character. He mainly feels like a stand-in for the viewer to project onto, which feels pretty standard for this type of story. While there's some attempt to give him motivation and development through the story, it feels too rushed to have much of
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an impact. None of the supporting cast really leave much of an impression either.
I felt more so let down by the world-building of the show than anything. The initial premise is interesting enough but the show's systems feel a little half baked and confusing. One character having access to a traditional video game UI, loot boxes and even an item store in a world otherwise devoid of these things feels a bit awkward, though there might be some explanation that justifies this further down the line. A lot of the show's run time is spent on the political intrigue and infighting between the different guilds and their members, though between the dry exposition and dull characters it's quite difficult to honestly care much.
The fight scenes at times look quite excellent, but are held back quite a bit by poor pacing and a lack of any real substance when it comes to the characters, their abilities and their motivation. It doesn't feel as if Jin-Woo ever needs to find a clever solution to overcome an opponent, and I personally find it quite hard to get excited when he pulls out a new powerful ability.
While the bulk of the review is very negative at the same time I completely understand why someone would enjoy this show especially if they get enjoyment out of power fantasy stories. Before closing the review I want to also mention that this show has a lot of small animation references to some iconic scenes and they show a lot of love and care on the part of the animators.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Nov 12, 2024
The idea of this show is a lot funnier than the show itself. It's a great response to 'what is the best studio trigger anime' but it isn't that fun to actually sit down and watch. It wears out it's welcome after the first couple episodes and after a while it's humour become largely unfunny at best and at it's worst point a bit uncomfortably racist.
It's not without charm though, the humour from the presentation of the show is probably its most enjoyable part, and its parody of the over the top action cop movies is fun at times. As a time capsule of a
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certain era of internet animation, and as an early project of one of the best animation studios today it has charm but it's best to just watch one or two episodes, since that's enough to get the idea of what the series is like.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Nov 12, 2024
A lot has been said about the animation of this season of Blue Lock, it shows all the signs of a show in production hell with an over reliance on graphics, stills and some very ugly and obvious CGI. These qualities alone are enough to take any wind out of the sails of the adaptation, it's difficult to take any of the stakes seriously when it feels like more like a slideshow than an animation, nothing that happens feels quite real. The visual style of the first season at times felt hit and miss, although this time it just feels a lot more garish and
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ugly, which is perfectly represented in the nauseating opening animation.
Maybe the most frustrating part is that there is on occasion a well animated shot, or an intricate dribbling sequence is well presented. From behind the scene comments, it seems apparent that a lot of the animation work for the show had been thrown out sometime during production and was never completed.
All in all it makes it difficult and frustrating to review the rest of the work. The story doesn't feel engaging, and the progression of the character isn't convincing. The list of characters has only become more and more bloated, and while some of their designs are fun, their personality are still restricted to running gags and one liners. When the show initially broke through it's concept felt novel and unique, as it went on I think it fell into it's own dull status quo and the pieces just aren't falling into place
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Nov 12, 2024
Every now and again, I'm reminded of WataMote, and it's difficult to parse my own memories of being a socially anxious teenager at the time I watched it from my feelings on the show itself. WataMote perfectly captures the combination of embarrassment, slight trauma and the twinge of endearment a lot of people associate with that period in their life
In a sense it's the perfect anti-slice of life series, that loves to play with the tropes of the genre, acknowledging the escapism viewers usually come to this type of show for, and reflecting them in the actions and desires of Tomoko. She's an intensely
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fun main character and watching her navigate popular scenarios for slice of life shows with her misplaced sense of superiority, social awkwardness and depravity.
For the most part it succeeds quite well at being a cringe comedy, but like many other similar shows that tow that line it occasionally falls into being more off-putting than anything else. There were certainly a few episodes where the main joke fell flat, or felt a bit repetitive making the show at times a bit exhaustive to watch.
From what I've heard, the manga went on to develop the character and the cast around her a bit more. While a part of me wishes this was something we could have seen in the anime adaptation itself, or in a future season, WataMote is a pretty fun watch that a lot of it's audience is going to find at least to an extent relatable for better and for worse.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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