- Last OnlineNov 3, 2022 7:58 AM
- GenderFemale
- BirthdayDec 2006
- LocationMy bedroom
- JoinedSep 23, 2020
Also Available at
No.
RSS Feeds
|
![]()
Apr 13, 2022
So I was compelled to make this review after I saw that the three most upvoted ones for My Dress-Up Darling each gave the show a 4/10, when it really is not. See, often people will rate a show based on what they perceive to be the "proper" way to make one, basically to them it's entirely subjective and they often don't even realize it. This is a problem because these reviews are usually the ones that get the most votes, and could potentially make curious viewers turn away from it. Having read these three reviews, I can confidently say that they are this type
...
of review, and by no means to these criticisms reflect any of the show's flaws, only what they didn't like about it.
Number scores are a bit tricky, because they can only reflect how well the rated show succeeds in becoming what it aims to be. It's why a light-hearted rom-com can be rated higher than a thought-provoking thriller, because it is much better at being a rom-com than the thriller at being a thriller. This is definitely the case with My Dress-Up Darling. Do I think it is now one of my favorite anime of all time ? No, but it 100% succeeds at being what it aims to be: a blend of wholesome and horny (where the wholesome outweighs the horny), and a cute, personal rom-com.
Granted, while I'm writing this, I have only watched three episodes total -- but seeing the immense amount of love that this show has received proves to me that it remains consistent with quality beyond these three episodes. It's likely you, reading this, have already seen many clips of Marin, her faces, her costumes, her non-costumes... She won over the entire anime community in a heartbeat. Why? Because she likes anime, and anime-centric video games. Of course, there is more to that, she is among the more grounded and realistic best girls in the "best girl: the anime" genre, but that passion of hers is at the core of her charm. Surprisingly, it's not often that anime lovers, especially girls, are portrayed in anime -- so when a gorgeous, lewd, but popular and friendly eroge lover high school girl comes out of nowhere, wearing her passion on her sleeves, she is bound to be the new star of the community. What really sold me, and everyone else on her though, is the fact that she is otherwise just a normal person. She's not creepy or cringey, like too many people outside the anime community think its members are, she's just a regular, extroverted teenage girl.
And that's really the show's greatest strength: it's about normal people, who happen to like unconventional things. Cosplay and hina dolls are just a part of their life, a daily routine and one that isn't to be belittled. The show perfectly captures the magic of succeeding at something you genuinely care about, without feeling the need to hammer home how it's so weird and "special". Sure, there are jokes of people finding it weird, but it feels natural, and more of a satire of how weird it is for people to hear teenagers talk in public about a character ejaculating. Cosplaying and dollmaking are still portrayed as a craft like any other, and one to be proud of. It's the shamelessness of this anime that makes it so successful in every way.
Now do I think this show has flaws? Well, some. For one, the pacing is a bit slow in my opinion, though you could make a case about how I just watch fast-paced shows most of the time. Some of the dialogue is also a bit clichéd, but nothing out of the ordinary for anime. And really, that's all I can think of right now. These problems are not to the show's detriment. It's still very good, and if you like slice of life and romantic comedy, than you could definitely check it out.
Ultimately, My Dress-Up Darling is still a show that is not for everyone. I don't think the reviewers I mentioned earlier are necessarily bad, rather that this anime was not their cup of tea. They call it "wish-fulfillment for weebs" or "ecchi" like it's a bad thing when it's not (like seriously, ecchi is a fucking genre, not a valid criticism !!). So what if we get "wish-fulfillment"? When it comes down to it, isn't it the whole point of cinema in general? To satisfy our specific desires for and/or through entertainment?
Whether they like the show or not is none of my concern. In the end, I just think they should stop wasting their time watching and reviewing shows that are clearly not made for them, for both their sake and others'. With this review, I only wanted to be more critical in their stead. So yeah, nine out of ten, go check it out if you want.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
What did you think of this review?
Nice
 0
Love it
 0
Funny
 0
Confusing
 0
Well-written
 0
Creative
 0Show all
![]()
Dec 19, 2020
Ao Haru Ride has the potential to be a very engaging Asian live-action romantic drama. This comes from a person who's only ever watched Meteor Garden so don't take my advice too seriously. Now you can tell from my rating that I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. The story was endearing and wholesome enough for me to read it until the end. This is why I thought I ought to write a review, let it be short or long, explaining my opinion on this manga in detail.
This is the story of Futaba Yoshioka and Kou Tanaka. As middle schoolers in their first year, they
...
fell in love with each other and spent a lot of time blushing and glancing at each other -- though it was overall very sweet. Both of them had similar personalities, Futaba being very reserved and feminine, thus popular with boys, and Kou calm, awkward and cute. They were growing closer and closer, and Kou invited Futaba to the summer festival of that year -- but he never showed up.
He had suddenly transferred schools and disappeared from Futaba's life, leaving her always wondering what happened to him. In her next years of middle school, she realized how ostracized she was by the girls, how each of them hated how she acted and how popular she was with the opposite gender. Fed up with it, she completely changed her personality to that of a boyish, always-hungry girl in high school. There, once again, Kou pops back into her life, though he changed his last name to Mabuchi, and became rude, indifferent, but most importantly ( and I am not exaggerating this ) depressed. Curious, and worried, Futaba desperately tries to learn what happened to him in the last three years he was gone, all the while finding the courage to be her true self again.
Now, I think I've summed the plot up well enough. The premise of the story is interesting and engaging. I have reasons to care about the characters and wish for them to just kiss already. The story is a little cliché but remains natural. The build-up to Kou's tragic secret was handled well, and it made sense. His actions towards his old classmate, Narumi, are also understandable. Kou has, along with Shuuko Murao, a side character, the best character development in the story, at least for me. His personality changed was a little sudden but was backed up by his previously established choices. He's also very cute so that helps.
Now I just mentioned side characters. There are, in fact, important side characters. They're here and support the main plotline ver well. They do their job and though they may be a little basic, that doesn't change how well they've worked with the story. They're believable and realistic, they're annoying if they're meant to be, but endearing too when they're meant to be. Ao Haru Ride just has good characters in general.
I don't think I need to say much about the art. It's stunning. It's clean. It's cute. That's just it. The designs for each character is also distinguishable. I was able to recognize them easily.
Overall it was a nice read. I liked how it was cute, and how the main couple had chemistry. I'm able to recommend it to anyone who likes shoujo or romance in general. So please, if you're reading this, please give it a try. If you're gonna watch the anime that's fine too, btw it ends at chapter 14.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
![]()
Oct 1, 2020
I don't usually write reviews, in fact this is my first one on this website. If I do write one, it's either because I consider a show absolutely worth it, really mediocre/bad, or simply overrated -- it could be good or bad, but gets more praise than it's worth. In this case it's the latter. I'll be blunt : Hunter x Hunter is the most overrated anime I've ever seen, and rarely ever criticized thoroughly ( because most haters just stop at "overrated" ). Thus, I believe I should give a more detailed review explaining why Hunter x Hunter is NOT a masterpiece. Please bear
...
with me as I do so.
Since I tend to be generous with my ratings I decided to be more honest here to really get my point across. The first three arcs of the show ( the Hunter Exam + Zoldyck Manor, Heaven's Arena and Yorknew City ) are actually quite solid, ny favorite being the Yorknew City arc, for obvious reasons. The Hunter Exam serves as a good way to start the series, introducing us to the concept of a Hunter ( though it's never exactly confirmed what a Hunter does ) , to our main characters and the world they live in. Their hopes, dreams and goals. Almost all of these characters are likeable and easy to root for, with the major exception of Hisoka who really is just a pedophile and the most overrated character in the entire show. The Hunter Exam, though not portrayed as deadly, is, in fact, very deadly. Dozens of people die after each stage which isn't made a big deal, strangely, apparently it's completely normal to send people to their deaths and forget them like that, but still an enjoyable arc.
Heaven's Arena is when we get introduced to the concept of Nen, the art of using one's aura, the energy of your soul, as a weapon. This becomes the main fighting system of the series, and is quite an interesting concept. Since everyone is different, everyone's aura manifests differently, leading to original fighting styles. Sadly, because of the sudden appearance of this magic system, the arc, holding lots of potential to dramatic fights against family or dangerous foe, was turned into a training arc. Lost potential.
Now here comes the best arc of the entire series. Kurapika, which up until now was really just the revenge guy of the group, very likeable but quite bland, suddenly shot up the ranks of my favorite characters in the show and took first place away from Killua. The coolest character, and the one that carried the entire arc. If it weren't for him, Yorknew City wouldn't have been half as good. This arc set the stage for great potential, great villains and side characters, Melody for example. Sadly, Hunter x Hunter did not take that opportunity and fell into the depths of the Abyss.
Now, the next arc, Greed Island, is not that bad in itself. We get introduced to Bisky, who is the only remotely important female in the cast. She's quite cool, but is also the only objectively good thing that happened in this arc. During these 17 episodes, we see the Phantom Troupe, the main villains of the story, looking for a Nen exorcist in the Greed Island game that might free their Boss from Kurapika's Judgment Chain curse. What happened to them ? Good question. There was indeed a Nen exorcist running around, but he just disappears and was never important anyway. We don't ever see the Phantom Troupe succeed or fail in their mission, we're just left to assume they didn't find him after the events of the next arc. We also discover that the game Greed Island was actually just an isolated island the players are transported to, they're not actually inside a game. The supposed NPCs are actually criminals chosen to act as NPCs. Isn't that super cool ? But we learn absolutely nothing about it. Gon, the main character, doesn't even try to figure it out, he just wants to enjoy the game. By the way, this arc was also about training, just wanted to make that clear. Also, the set plot form the first arc was for Gon to find his father. That's why he played this game, because he hoped to find clues about where he might be. But right off the bat we are told that there is absolutely no point in playing this game. No. Point. It was a pointless arc.
The worst arc in the show is by far the most popular and famous arc : Chimera Ants. Need I say more than it has terrible pacing ? Actually, yes. The pacing doesn't even begin to describe the boredom I felt during this arc. It had potential. Seeing the villain of the arc, Meruem grow human more and more after each episode was a pleasure. It was the only thing that I can truly give this arc credit for. The dammed narrator is also constantly babbling about the smallest detail, in the end we barely even hear the dialog anymore, it's just narration, narration and more narration. The same track is constantly used which in the end just makes everything feel pathetically unimportant. The raid, which if I remember correctly is only supposed to be less than an hour long, was stretched out into some 30 episodes ( more than that ) taking away all the weight it bore. I almost dropped the show during this arc simply because it was so stretched out.
And finally, the election. Gon is severely injured. He used up all his Nen, and his body is completely utterly shriveled. The only way to heal him that Killua could think of was to find his cursed sister, Alluka, who bears a second soul called Nanika ( "something" in Japanese ) that grants wishes after three requests were realized. All the while, Leorio, one of the other forgotten main characters, gets tangled up in an election to replace Chairman Netero who died during the Chimera Ant raid. And guess who attends the election ? Freaking Gon's dad.
So you're telling me that all this time, all this effort, everything the characters sacrificed, was for nothing ? Ging just needed to casually show up at an election, there was NO need for Gon to lose his Nen, for him to play Greed Island or get tangled up with the mafia in Yorknew City and if he became a Hunter just to find his dad, than that was useless too ! The entire series, everything we've been told, was made useless, and this extinguished the last tiny spark Hunter x Hunter had. So in conclusion, the plot of this show ? Not worth it. Heck, it's on hiatus , so there's still more to this atrocity called storytelling.
But let me talk about the characters for a second. Despite what I just said, the enjoyment you get from the show is genuine. It's far from a masterpiece, but it's a fun show to watch at 3 in the morning when you're going for one night without sleep. How so ? The characters, are for me, a 7 out of 10.
First we have our protagonist, Gon. He's a twelve year old Hunter who just wants to see his dad, the father he so admires. He's portrayed a sa sweet boy with lots of fighting potential, though he's quite dimwitted. He just wants to spend time with his friends, and is the most optimistic character I know in anime. But all throughout the show, we get hints that he's all messed up inside, that there's this lingering darkness that makes him... a psychopath. And by psychopath, I mean the actual mental disease, not the serial killer that everyone likes, like Juuzou Suzuya or Junko. He probably is the character with the least empathy in the show. He doesn't care about who he doesn't know, and doesn't try to know them. He doesn't try to put himself in other people's shoes. That's Gon.
Killua, a former twelve year old assassin from a reputed assassin family, is the one you'd think is most likely to be the psychopath. But in fact, he's probably, with Leorio, the sanest person in the show. He's a down-to-earth guy who doesn't take the same enjoyment Gon does when his life is at stake ( because that's something Gon enjoys for some reason ), and actually cares about the people around him. He feels for them, even those he always quarrels with. Take Palm or the octopus guy for example. He keeps fighting with Palm, but it's precisely because of that that he'd trust her with his life. The octopus guy (forgot his name, sorry ), a Chimera Ant that he BEFRIENDED, because he admired his courage and loyalty to his comrades. People who never watched Hunter x Hunter probably think he's popular because he's a badass. Those who've actually watched to show would disagree, because he's much more than that. That's Killua.
Leorio is, in my opinion, very boring and annoying. During the election, he recklessly dragged himself into problems he couldn't care less about and neither did we. He kept talking about Gon and how Gon sacrificed himself and how he cares about nothing else but Gon and how his father should just go die because he's not visiting Gon. I'll admit that Ging is a jerk, but Leorio is just acting childish here. However his ambitions are understandable, and his dreams are honest. Like Melody said, he's still a kind and gentle person, and would make an excellent doctor.
Now, my favorite character, Kurapika. Wasted potential, if you ask me. Right when he gets super cool he completely disappears from the show and never reappears again. He doesn't answer the damn phone calls but he should, and that is just lazy writing in my opinion. Thus, just when Kurapika became the coolest dude ever, he vanished forever.
So that's my overall thoughts on Hunter x Hunter. I used a lot of strong words for this, but really did enjoy watching the show. It has many flaws that I wanted to make light on, but other than that, if you're even just a little interested in Hunter x Hunter, you would get at least some enjoyment from it. 7/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
|
