So I'm going to keep this short and sweet. Don't watch this anime unless you're already a fan of the webtoon, and I'd advise even webtoon readers to proceed with caution since you WILL witness the source material being butchered.
To put it simply, the problem lies with the fact that the anime adapts the first ~110 chapters of the webtoon into a mere 13 episode season. I don't think I really need to go into much detail on how this is problem, but let's just say that "pacing issues" is a massive understatement when we're talking about the narrative continuity and character development. Just
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Dec 17, 2015
Subete ga F ni Naru
(Anime)
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Recommended
Synopsis on Crunchyroll: Based on the award-winning novel Subete ga F ni Naru by Hiroshi Mori, The Perfect Insider finds Sohei Saikawa, a member of the Saikawa Research Lab, and Moe Nishinosono, the daughter of his mentor, on vacation when they discover a corpse. The two then work together to solve the mysteries of what becomes a serial murder case.
I don't normally write reviews, but I had to make an exception for this show since I'm not too sure that many people are quite getting its meaning. For people who are currently on the fence trying to decide whether or not to watch Perfect ... Insider, please do not take the current aggregate score on MyAnimeList as an indicative measurement of the overall quality. The anime is simply different, not bad; and, to be quite frank, it takes an open mind and different kind of thinking towards plot progression to appreciate what is being done here. The first and foremost aspect of the plot that must be addressed is that it does NOT primarily belong to the mystery genre. I can not stress this enough. If you start watching this anime thinking that it will have a conventional mystery plotline, such as Sherlock Holmes, then you will be severely disappointed by the outcome. For instance, the "mystery" aspect of the anime doesn't actually begin until the very end of episode 2 going into episode 3. Furthermore, the progression (i.e. the deductive and inductive analysis) is very slow and does not build up to "edge-of-your-seat" climatic moments. Quite simply, you won't find a clever detective snooping around with a magnifying glass and quirky methodologies to solve the mystery. What you get, instead, is Sohei Saikawa and a lot of philosophical dialogue; and this is the main point that I wanted to get to. Perfect Insider is more of a kind of documentary than anything else. It "documents" the character's and their personalities to make a commentary on the human condition. The mystery aspect is, quite honestly, a side-note that adds a little bit of spunk to the overall narrative. However, it is still completely necessary as the mystery genre, in general, offers some of the best opportunities for internal reflection and inquiry. The exception in Perfect Insider is that, instead of asking solely HOW the killer committed the crime, a good portion of time is spend also asking WHY the killer committed the crime; and this all ties in with the philosophical dialogues that are persistent throughout the anime. So, what type of viewer would enjoy this show? An intellectual. And by intellectual, I do not mean someone who is "smart" or "intelligent." I mean someone who likes to inquire about nature and ponder the meaning that their life holds. There is a particular quote by Saikawa in episode 1 that stuck out to me, and it is something like this: Whenever I get up in the morning, I always think to myself, "Am I really the same person I was yesterday"? If you're someone that truly thinks about questions like these, then the meaning of Perfect Insider may make a lot more sense to you than the average person. Overall, I can not say that Perfect Insider is perfect in itself. It could focus a bit more on the plot progression and character development, of which there exists none, in my opinion. I do not wish to get into a generic review discussing the music and animation, as both are of average to good quality, so there isn't really anything left to discuss. In addition, the score that I provide for this anime is not indicative of my overall impression; it is just something that is, of course, required. One last thing that I do want to mention is that this anime is based off of a novel of a similar name, and, as a result, it holds a particular degree of "unity." In other words, the ending ties in and complements the beginning, and vice versa. So, remember this if you become confused by some of the scenes. In conclusion, I think that Perfect Insider is a great anime with a good story and interesting character personalities. Please do not simply let the opinions of others, including myself, carry the significant weight in your overall decision-making. After all, we are all free to make our own choices as long as we first define "ourselves."
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Aug 11, 2014
Kimi no Iru Machi
(Manga)
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Recommended Preliminary
(141/270 chp)
So, in preparation for Seo Kouji's relatively new manga, Fuuka, I decided to read the two other manga that, to my knowledge, existed within the universe that Fuuka takes place in -- that is to say, Suzuka, its prequel, and, of course, Kimi no Iru Machi. Now, before I start this review I would like to quote Cludensyo's introduction for his review of this manga as I believe it sums up all my feelings and impressions for it:
This MANGA. Confused? Well, let me just say that I hated reading this as much as I loved it. Let me explain myself. First off, the initial premise is ... nothing that you can't read in the MAL synopsis, so I'm not going to try to re-write it. Let me tell you that it doesn't last too long however. There are setting changes, character cast changes, time skips, and, as always, love interest changes. If you're an attentive or seasoned manga reader, you might have figured that out anyways since this IS a romance/slice-of-life manga that goes on for 270 chapters. You and your best buddy Drama are in for a emotional roller-coaster to say the least. The worst part of this all is that manga gets too good too fast. What do I exactly mean? Well, notice that I have only read 141 chapters. That's about where I started to hate reading it. Up until around ch. 141 there is quite a bit of drama (obviously), and I was actually enjoying it for all that it was worth. However, after that point onwards, I didn't even bother reading the rest of the 120 or so chapters since it seemed like a lot of fillers, more pointless drama, and because the outcome was going to be the same either way ( i.e. he was going to get with "the" girl in the end). If you think that I'm being a little too judgmental and that the journey is worth more than the designation, let me ask you this: Do you hate it when the protagonist falls in love with the heroine JUST because she's the heroine and for no other explicit reason that the author can give even when there are LITERALLY half a dozen other girls that share equally good qualities, all of whom have fallen for the protagonist at some point in time or another? Yeah, me too. Let's end it there. So what exactly is good about this manga aside from the first 141 chapters or so (probably around 135 in my opinion)? Well, the art is one.If you've read Suzuka (which you should before starting this manga if you haven't) or any of Seo Kouji's other works then you'll know what I mean. He really does know how to draws faces, expressions, and scenery. I've always hated it when authors empty the background to focus more on the characters' expressions and reactions. Seo Kouji doesn't need to simplify his art that much. We know precisely where the characters are in the story, what their reactions are, and that they aren't living with white/grey/black shading behind them half the time. For me, however, the greatest pleasure was seeing the little bits of Suzuka in here (Kimi no Iru Machi starts about a year after Suzuka ends by the way). For instance, Haruto moves into the bathing house/apartment complex that Yamato/Suzuaka/Fuuka live in, and eventually attends the university that Yamato and Suzuka WOULD have attended. We even get to see little bits of Fuuka not to mention that the last chapter of this manga is EXACTLY where the first chapter of "Fuuka" begins. It's just cool to me when authors use the same universe for different stories. So, can I say that I recommend this manga? Well, I certainly can't say no. It really was pleasurable for what I read of it, but it's unfortunate that the author seemed to care more about his serialization then actually creating a quality story. If you're seriously wondering if I'm going to finish this review with having read barely half of the manga, don't worry. I plan on finishing it, but I probably won't update this as I'm confident that my impressions will stay the same. And who knows, you, the reader of this review, may disagree on my feelings of what happens after ch. 141. Only one way to find out, right? -- If there's any questions or concerns that you may have of Kimi no Iru Machi, feel free to pm me.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 10, 2014
Sora no Otoshimono
(Manga)
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Mixed Feelings
In the spirit of the upcoming anime adaption of this series, being the movie Sora no Otoshimono Final: Eternal My Master, I decided to give the manga a shot completely reading through it in 2-3 days. Now, when looking at my measly 6 of a score you might be wondering: "The average score for this manga is above an 8.40 and about all the other reviews are giving it 9s and 10s. So, what's the deal with this asshole?" Well, I admit to being a bit of an asshole, but my score isn't without reason. Although Sora no Otoshimono has a pretty interesting story premise
...
and isn't your average "ecchi"/harem/romance shounen manga, it also has some major flaws.
(Note: This review is on the long side and I understand everyone's not into reading what is essentially an analytic paper on some series that they're wondering whether or not to pick up. Skip to the very end if that's the case.) First, I would like to address those genres that this manga has typically been placed in, being: "ecchi", harem, and romance. Depending on how you swing with manga/anime, those three words could be all you need to see before diving in. But I know there's a few of you out there who, like me, don't really care much for "ecchi" or harem manga; and, while we don't mind romance in our stories, we don't want them to be too poignant to the point of slapping us in our faces and reminding us why we all hate Valentine's Day. Well, the good news is that this manga doesn't really fit into any of those categories. In the case of being "ecchi", the manga itself is not perverted. Just the protagonist. What I mean by this is that there are hardly any angles or special shots (i.e. the convenient wind) that are showing us every other page that high school girls do indeed wear panties underneath their skirts (except for that one tomboy that wears the shorts). What we get, instead, is Sakurai Tomoki. Our great and mighty protagonist, Sakurai Tomoki, with the ability to change bits of reality to how he wishes thanks to the god-like power of the strange mechanical cards provided by his angeloid servant, Ikaros, is perhaps the most perverted character I have ever had the pleasure, and sometimes displeasure, of witnessing. Sora no Otoshimono's plotline could essentially be divided into two parts: One that's serious concerning the mysterious angeloids and the purpose of Tomoki's strange reoccurring dream; and one that's mainly Tomoki wanting to do everything perverted. When I say everything perverted I pretty much mean it. From sniffing worn panties to groping breasts to sneaking into the woman's public bath, restroom, and locker-rooms, he doesn't really have any boundaries, and it seems like he's fully naked half the time. But as a result of this, we get a convoluted jumble that is the plotline, and, well, not much romance. To elaborate a bit more on the plot in conjunction with the poorly written synopsis provided by MAL or whomever, 14 year-old Sakurai Tomoki has been having the same basic dream where he finds himself in a grassy meadow upon which a female angel descends to speak to him. This dream has been repeating for the last 10 years, and Tomoki always seems to wake up from it crying. Worrying for him, his classmate and childhood friend, Mitsuki Sohara, takes Tomoki to see upper-classman Sugata Eishirou, an eccentric genius, who tells him that his dream is due to the "new continent." Sugata further tells them both that this "new continent" will be passing over their town and lays out a place and time for the three of them to meet and witness the event; however, due to the other two being preoccupied, the skeptical Tomoki ends up attending alone. As Tomoki is about to head home a beam of light hits the designation with a winged female laying in a crater unconscious. Unintentionally forming a pact together, the winged female reveals to Tomoki that she is the "entertainment-purpose angeloid: Type Alpha, Ikaros." My apologies for the long elaboration that is basically a summary of the first chapter, but this is pretty much the premise of the story. What we get from this premise is three fundamental questions that lay out the rest of the plotline and those are: What is the exact purpose of Tomoki's dream? What is this "new continent"? Who is the mysterious girl, Ikaros, that fell from the sky? Although they provide some good layers of mystery to the story we have to remember that there is another side to this being the great form of perversion that is our protagonist. As far as how the two sides balance out, well . . . they don't. There's about a 2:1 ratio of Tomoki getting his freak on to the actual serious plotline of the manga. In other words, 1/3 of the manga is actually based on the original premise while the other 2/3 is pretty much bullshit. Don't get me wrong I like a little bullshit every once and a while in my anime and manga, especially after some serious arcs. The problem with Sora no Otoshimono, however, is that we may get one chapter of actual plot development while the next three chapters could be a random assortment of things; and, normally, it'd be fine to have a story that's for the most part slice-of-life, but not when there's an already perfectly good premise that needs to be explained, expanded, and expounded. I honestly can't see what the mangaka had in mind when he created this manga nor where he was going. In addition, there's a strange lack of time management. While I'm pretty sure that 2-3 years pass within the manga in order to keep up with the fact that it' monthly serialized, Tomoki is still 14 at the end and beginning of it. A little like Ash Ketchum. Along with this lack of time management is the lack of much needed character development, and this is a real shame considering there are two characters that are just ripe for growth -- Ikaros and Tomoki. This is partly due to the inert nature of the story as it does not allow much development in order to continue the same basic gags that persist throughout the entire manga. As stated before, I don't know what the mangaka wanted for this manga, and, quite honestly, what this manga wanted to be. It could have either been an interesting sci-fi mystery or a "ecchi"/harem/romance whatever, but not both. I would have preferred some elements of the latter while keeping true to the former, but as the manga progresses it loses track of what it really stood for and this really impedes any character development. In addition, there are the pseudo-harem and romantic elements that don't really do anything for this manga or its plot. For anyone that likes good plot development and romance, you'll know that harems are your worst enemy as they hardly EVER get resolved. In the case of Sora no Otoshmono, the female characters spend a great deal of time confirming and re-confirming their feelings for the protagonist, but even after they do, none of them really do anything about them whether it be confessing and just simply acting on them. Since Tomoki is ignorant of all the HAWT action that he could be getting, this manga is excluded from any good romantic, or even harem, potential. In regards to the art style, there is very little I have to say. It is a little rough in the beginning chapters, but the author does find his groove and improves it quite exponentially by the last chapter, which naturally makes sense considering this was a monthly serialized manga that ran for about 7 years. The battle scenes are acutely drawn, and he conveys the humor/non-seriousness of some scenes quite nicely by occasionally drawing the characters in a chibi-like form. The problem here is that Tomoki eventually gets drawn in this form almost exclusively which could get annoying at times especially when the reader would like to take him seriously. As a summary of everything and for those who skipped to here, Sora no Otoshimoro encompasses several things. A good plot premise, a decent amount of humor, a "unique" protagonist, and a binary story that has both serious and pointless elements. I do not quite understand my impressions on this manga nor can I reflect it in a numerical digit. The biggest problem for me was trying to take this manga too seriously as I read it. When reading this for the first time, my advice to the reader is to look more for the pointless nature in Sora no Otoshimoro rather than expecting the serious part because there's quite a lot more pointlessness than seriousness.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jan 30, 2014
Akame ga Kill!
(Manga)
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Recommended Preliminary
(44/80 chp)
Of all the manga and anime that I have read and watched I have found that Akame ga Kiru has been one of the most surprising and unpredictable. As such it should be noted that my overall score for this manga is NOT a final impression. At the moment my impression lies between the 7 and 8 range, however this is all subject to change as this manga is so damn unconventional that I honestly don't know what to think about it. With all that said let's get to my review.
Characters (9/10) - As many reviews of ... this manga have stated, the characters of Akame ga Kiru are its best quality and because of this I felt it necessary to talk about them first. For anyone reading this review and wondering whether to read Akame ga Kiru or not it would be in your best interest to at least read this section. So here we go. Tatsumi, our protagonist, is a bit more than your conventional shounen male. While in the beginning of the manga he shows all of the signs of being an idealistic youth striving to accomplish his goal for the betterment of this friends and family, he quickly learns that the world is not so benevolent and grows out of his ignorance accordingly. This depth makes Tastumi quite an interesting character (aside from his occasional humorous comments as the straight-man for much of the humor) for it allows him to grow even more with the dark fantasy-like genre of the manga. Yet, we must also note that this manga lies in a crossroad between the dark fantasy and battle genres and thus requires a seemingly strong protagonist. For this Tatsumi fills the role quite nicely as well. He is not too strong but certainly not weak either which provides him (out of all the characters in the manga thus far) the ability to grow in combat. In both manga and anime there aren't many protagonists whom have the characteristics to grow mentally, physically, and as a character as a whole, and while many authors attempt to mold their characters into ideal individuals from their less-than-ideal former selves it rarely seems to work and have impact. Tatsumi, in this regard, still has the capability to be molded and for this reason he is quite the likeable and unique protagonist. As for the rest of the characters of Akame ga Kiru I find myself with different impressions. To be more exact I find myself not knowing WHAT these characters are going to do or HOW they are going to develop. This can be both infuriating and pleasant at the same time as the element of surprise still lurks within the manga. For instance, when looking at the title of this manga "Akame ga Kiru" one would expect that Akame is the title character and thus the heroine of the manga. And they would be wrong. Certainly when Akame is introduced she protrudes the presence of a heroine, but just as she does it slips away. I leave the first-time reader to delve more into the manga to see exactly what I mean in this regard. In mention of the heroine, in fact, I can't consider any of the female characters to be one including the antagonist Esdese. And this certainly is not bad as it allows the reader to become both equally and independently attached to the characters instead of expecting the cliché that the heroine and the protagonist always come to each others rescue which in turn allows them to become more intimately familiar with each other yet not to the point of full romance. However, I also find myself wondering what kind of positions these characters have in regards to the protagonist for these are also subject to change. They could have a relationship of mutual friendship, of mentorship, of humor, or of conflict yet any one of these could change into one of the other or to one of romance. Although I have been speaking of the female roles for this manga I do not mean to imply that this is a harem even when it seems to border it sometimes. There are quite a few strong male roles in the manga although they do not warrant any necessary attention as they don't change as sporadically as the female ones do. Because these characters, both female and male, can change and act so randomly and because this manga has a very character-driven plotline, it, therefore, makes the plotline very unpredictable. And as we may infer the tone of a work from its setting and story, to have such a unpredictable plot as this makes the tone waver from a serious nature to more light-hearted one. And just as with the characters this can be both infuriating and pleasant at the same time. Story (7/10) - The story for Akame ga kiru is quite an interesting one, and unfortunately MAL has put a rather shitty and vague synopsis to outline it so I'm going to give the basic premise here: Tatsumi is a young fighter skilled with the sword and, along with two other companions, ventures to the Capital to join the Imperial Army in hopes of earning money for his poor and downtrodden village. However, along the way the three get separated and Tatsumi is forced to go the rest of the way alone where upon reaching the Capital he finds it to be quite different from what he had expected. Now I'm not going to elaborate any more on the premise or specifics of the storyline for I want to keep spoilers at a minimum. However, I will speak more on the tone of the manga for it can have quite an impact on the story and reader. As stated before, this manga is apart of the dark fantasy genre and as such the reader must be prepared for death, gore, violence, and other excessive content. As you might expect, this can cast a heavy tone over the manga, however I'm not going to exaggerate it as some other reviews might. This is not the darkest manga I have ever read nor is it the most goriest, violent, or otherwise littered with the most death. I have to give that one to Berserk at the moment. But it's dark enough to kill off main characters and cast a "Oh Shit" moment over the reader. However, this brings me back to my previous point with the characters and their unpredictability. The reader can become attached to the characters during the light-hearted moments of the manga and yet they will be killed off a few chapters from then. Rest assured though as every character's death is not as predictable as others despite the unpredictability of all the characters in general. Some have lived against my expectations and some have also died against them. Of course this makes for interesting development in the story and overall enjoyment; however, just with the characters, I find myself questioning what position the tone should be in and what the author really wants for the manga. For instance first-time readers will find that the first chapter has a very dark tone and may expect that the rest of the manga is like that. In my experience and personal opinion it is not. The first chapter has the darkest tone and the biggest "Oh Shit" moment compared to the rest of the manga from my point of view. In fact it almost seems as if the author has forgotten the tone of the first chapter and for the rest of the manga has attempted to mimic it. Nevertheless, the manga in general is very dark shaded with an occasional and pleasant light. On a more minor note concerning the setting I have found myself sometimes questioning where the story has suddenly ended up from chapter-to-chapter. There could be a large and decisive battle that one might think will last a while and by the next chapter the plot has suddenly shifted somewhere else. I understand that since this is a monthly released manga the chapters can be a little un-sequential, however, it is still a bit alarming when the setting has suddenly changed with an allotted time that has passed. I encourage first-time readers to be aware of this. Art (8/10) - I'm not much of an artist so I can't quite comment on the techniques that the mangaka uses (though I suspect that most readers of this review wouldn't particularly care for that anyways), but I think it's pretty good. The mangaka is able to effectively depict character reactions from the most humorous to the most heart-breaking. He (?) is also able to depict battle scenes very well especially the gore. Although now that I think about it I don't find many characters spitting up blood like you would most commonly expect during battle scenes especially in the instances where they are mashed against walls and/or have limbs torn/cut off. That is just from the top of my head and I could be wrong there. However, in some cases the art impedes my understanding of what is currently happening whether from the lack of proper panel management, excessive font of the giseigo (onomatopoeia), or awkward angles. Of course this is an amateur's understanding of what's happening, but nevertheless it sometimes poses a concern. Enjoyment (8/10) - In general I found this manga to very enjoyable which is evident from the fact that I practically wasted yesterday reading through it all. Because of the unpredictable characters and plotline I found myself constantly wondering what will happen next and constantly kept reading through the chapters. As more chapters are released and the manga develops more I expect that my enjoyment will proportionally grow as well. Overall (8/10) - As stated in the beginning of this review I ask the reader to not take this overall score, or any of the other scores for that matter, too seriously as they are all obviously subjected to change. However, as it currently stands I would wager my score being in the 7 to 8 range but rounded out to being an 8 because Akame ga kiru is, indeed, a very good manga overall. No more no less.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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