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Jun 11, 2012
My expectations for this show was more-or-less like a Japanese equivalent to a BBC Miss Marple or Sherlock Holmes special. And, in a way, it is, but it's so much more than a simple adaptation.
While UN-GO is based upon the writing of Ango Sakaguchi (hence, the title) the mysteries are carried out in a very different setting than the original stories. However, it never feels strange or forced in it's new setting of post WWIII Tokyo.
If you're expecting a supernatural horror anime, look elsewhere. The supernatural aspects of this show are kept to a bare minimum. In fact there are only two aspects
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of this show which are supernatural, one being the nature of Inga, and the other is little more than a magic tool. Other than these two anomalies, Un-go has more in common with the Science Fiction genre. It has cool futuristic technology, hints of a dystopian future, and it even poses the question of how far can artificial intelligence evolve by itself and whether or not it is even right to treat them as machines at that point.
What amazed me about UN-GO was just how tight the story was. Sure, it masquerades as a Perry Mason-esque mystery-of-the-week show, but when you look back you see that every episode was necessary to get from each story to the other. You learn the essentials of understanding how the world that Shinjuurou and Inga live in works and its history from each episode while still remaining entertaining.
The relationship of our detective duo is straight-forward, especially if you've seen Majin Tantei, yet the nuances of their relationship are very subtle and they are great foils for each other. Shinjuurou is very serious, mature and he steadfastly holds onto his beliefs and his interpretation of justice, but he is also surprisingly compassionate and does show affection for Inga in spite of what he/she is. Inga on the other hand is childish in its boy form, but in its female form she is seductive and in some ways just as serious and mature as Shinjuurou. She shows a deep respect and admiration for him, but male and female Inga both don't mind messing with him. However both of Inga's forms are very savage and determined and they don't mind hurting Shinjuurou if he is getting in the way of a potential meal.
I can't say much about the sound design other than it's great, just great. The music is cool and some tracks are catchy and the voice actors deliver really great performances, namely Inga's voice actress, Toyosaki Aki. I have to admit I didn't expect much from her when I heard she was in K-On, but she played a very dynamic Inga. She was able to cycle from innocently childish to frightening and creepy. She also accomplished the hardest thing for a voice actor; she was able to give emotional depth subtly through her voice.
The animation is very smooth and rather colourful and stylish for a post-war setting, especially in the opening and ending sequences (which have awesome music by the way). My only complaint is that Shinjuurou's face in particular can look a little lazily drawn in places. I believe this is mainly due to one of the character designers', Pako's, distinctive style which is a little more suited to an otome game than it is an anime.
UN-GO is a modest little series. It does not strive to be ground-breaking but in its own little way it challenges your viewpoints on subjects like self-sacrifice and the psychological effects of war and terrorism. This is one of the only shows I have ever seen which was able to show diversity in ideologies. But, as I said, it does not strive to be a masterpiece and thus I feel reluctant to rate it as one. Everything is very low-key and not a lot of risks were taken other than the major change in setting. But, the fact still remains that UN-GO is a great show that feels bigger than it is, and for that I cannot recommend it enough.
But note that if you want to truly enjoy this show you must watch UN-GO episode:0 Inga-ron either before or immediately after watching the series. Every single question you could have about UN-GO at the end of the series is answered in Inga-ron. With UN-GO and Inga-ron together the series is this neat little package which has one of the most satisfying endings of any anime series.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 10, 2012
xxxHOLiC was one of the first manga that I ever read and it's probably one of the longest running manga series that I've ever finished. However, despite my nostalgia for it, my enjoyment while reading it was very mixed. xxxHOLiC wavers from being moderately enjoyable, to absolutely awesome, and finally to downright boring.
xxxHOLiC can be split into 3-4 parts. First, xxxHOLiC reads like a supernatural mystery-of-the-week. These sections were fairly interesting and I know I loved certain specific chapters, but for supernatural mini-stories tangentially connected by the protagonist I'd rather read something like Nightmare Inspector which has a more serious tone than xxxHOLiC.
Then
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the series skips to a very emotionally charged exploration of the main characters, making them feel more human and tightening their relationships. This to me was the pinnacle of the series because, before this, there really was no reason to care about these characters before because they were so flat and they couldn't be called much more than stereotypes; spastic weirdo, silent manly hero guy, love interest, sexy boss lady. They developed sympathetic characters traits and I found myself suddenly caring whether or not one of the main cast got hurt or not.
The next 'part' of the series is actually an ongoing theme that the series includes, and it grinds the story to a screeching halt. It is one of the things about this series that the majority of the fans hate, and with good reason. The series tries to increasingly tie itself to Tsubasa, and it is very forced and it provides ....... little to nothing of value to the universe of xxxHOLiC. It's during these sequences that you have to force yourself to read these very long-winded boring sequences of Yuuko explaining to us how the two stories are 'connected.' Except... it's not all that connected. All of this can be easily removed and none of is actually has is direct or important influence on the main story of xxxHOLiC.
As for the home stretch of the series, it makes a jarring return to the mystery-of-the-week format. It's obvious that the author started to see this series as a burden. There are a lot of pointless time-skips, and its the most jarring with the major ten-year time skip. Some main characters are forgotten and don't even show up for the last chapters. One character in particular gets so lazily written-out of the series that it was shocking. And, in the end the series goes out with a whimper. No fanfare, no emotional intensity, just a lot of mundane talking in a very repetitious sequence.
CLAMP's long-limbed characters are often the subject of much ridicule but I have to say that some of the designs, especially Yuuko's outfits and the chapter title cards, are lavish and quite pretty. The style of all the butterfly imagery to the simple flowing of smoke from a pipe is great eye-candy. That being said, panels can be lazily drawn like giving two-page spreads to pages full of black ink and/or a simplistic character portrait (especially near the end.)
I do recommend this manga... but only the middle portion of it. Don't bother reading the ending, and (only if you have time to kill) read the beginning.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Mar 27, 2012
I love Natsume Yuujinchou to bits. And, although it seems rather pointless to write a review on an instalment in a series, I actually find it beneficial to look back on each season and see what each individual season accomplished, especially since Nartsume Yuujinchou is one of those series that doesn't have an particular end goal or big boss to defeat.
This season was great for really seeing how far Natsume has grown throughout the series. While the first season mainly consisted of stories about the youkai he encountered, the later seasons focused more and more on the people in Natsume's life and Natsume himself.
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If Zoku was Natsume's connection to his grandmother, and San was the season where Natsume learned how to become closer to people and make friends, then this season is really about Natsume finally finding his place in the world with his friends and his family.
But it's not only Natsume who we really learn more about, in this season we learn exactly why Touko and Shigeru took him. Arguably one of the more emotional moments in the series is when we learn about Tanuma's anxieties and his uncertainty in how to support Natsume. I won't say too much because Natsume Yuujinchou is really all about the characters rather than action.
The sound design is beautiful as always. All the voice actors are fitting and they deliver their lines naturally and the background music is beautiful and serene and it follows in the style of the previous seasons with a blend of classical western instruments and classical Japanese ones.
My only argument with this particular season is that the animation varies from gorgeous to downright terrible. Sometimes the animation looks like it's skipping too many frames or it just looks lazy (think of it as if someone was standing in a wind storm and their hair moved up and down awkwardly but none of their clothes were moving, it just looks strange) but there will be other moment when the animation is great, but this only serves to highlight how bad the other parts looked. It's actually kind of disheartening when you remember Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou, where there's that one episode (ep. 10) that has phenomenal animation.
The drop in animation quality doesn't take too much away from the story, it just very distracting when it happens during an intense moment.
But, in the end I did think this was yet another really good season for Natsume Yuujinchou, and it is worth watching.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Feb 7, 2012
When I first heard about Moyashimon I was really excited. I thought the concept was quirky and interesting. But now I'm kind of wondering what my other reasons for finishing the show were other than 'it's only eleven episodes.'
The animation varies. It looks great in some places, okay in others, bad in some.
The sound is good; the voice actors are talented and they do a good job while the background music was nothing special.
Getting past the 'how is buying a super-special aphrodisiac, advertized as something will turn your intended target into a sex slave that will not be able to resist you,
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any different than date rape?' question (no joke, the protagonist and a couple supporting characters actually pursue said aphrodisiacs for 2/11 episodes), the story is kind of all over the place. I enjoyed the bits on how it's like to go to an agricultural school and the science behind certain microbes and the process of fermentation. I just wish it focused on that... Instead we get this sort of runaround with supposed character development that never goes anywhere. What I learned from the last episode was that apparently I was supposed to be wondering about what the protagonist should do with his life instead of inherit the yeast business, which he never really raised an objection to in the previous episodes, so this internal conflict really felt shoehorned in, along with everything else. Usually character development hits you out of nowhere and then it ends which makes it feel like "here, have this arbitrary excuse for us to tell you about this thing we forgot to mention early on." These moments come to no real conclusion of epiphany so you end up just taking in this worthless info and moving on. Something about all this worthless information made it hard to stomach when the show started to ask me to start caring or enjoy the fan service.
But speaking about fan service, there's this elephant in the room I'd like to address. Unfortunately I cannot talk about this without getting into .... spoilers (?) though one would assume you need a plot before you can spoil it. The protagonist gets kissed by his best friend (male) after he figures out the mysterious cute girl he's been seeing around lately is said friend. I can't even fathom what the lead in to that moment was. I think I rewatched the part right before it about five times, and I still have no clue. Maybe it's my delicate North American sensibilities but, I usually don't kiss my best friends on the mouth as a joke, be them boy or girl. Usually I enjoy seeing guys or girls kiss; I won't deny that. But, then they never really address it, even though it's kind of important. Later on when one of the characters does comment on the guys kissing situation it's in homophobic rage, and the one who is going on that homophobic tangent is a girl who had a one-night-stand with another girl (she's not gay! It all the aphrodisiacs fault!). And all this is just one Big-lipped Alligator Moment stuffed inside another one. It all left me kind of confused and pissed off at the same time. I was too busy trying to deal with these emotions to even enjoy any of it.
So what I wanted was a quirky science show about life in an agricultural university ... what I got was How Not to Do Character Development the TV show. The only thing worthwhile I got out of this show was the science, and believe me, I loved those portions, but I got nothing else.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Feb 7, 2012
Lately I have found that I like shows that have an overall goal for the plot and character development in stead of the episodic, story-arc-of-the-week, formula, but Mononoke is an example of the episodic formula done right while also going all-out, resulting in a very unique show.
The strength of this show is the stories so I'll start with that. As much as I like an over-arching storyline all five of the stories in this show were memorable and strong stories on their own part. Each story is given enough to flesh out character motives and back story while also giving us quite a great deal
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of action when in reality they are only ever move into a few rooms. For a Japanese-style ghost story collection it requires not a lot of knowledge of Japanese culture, which makes it more accessible. (Just maybe wiki Genji Monogatari before watching the Nue episodes.) All the stories are well-paced and have satisfying conclusions. The only one I can think of which perhaps I did not enjoy as much as the rest would have to be the Sea Monster one. But even then I was fascinated by the concept of the hollow boats and the fact that one of the supposedly one-shot characters actually questioned the Medicine Seller's motives. This is probably just me being hard on it because I loved the rest so much (particularly the first and the last one.) (9)
The sound design of this show is very well done. In short, it replaces any type of body horror they could show, and somehow that is more creepy than actually showing it. For example, in episode two at an especially creepy moment, not to get too far into spoilers, they show cracked daruma dolls and strips of cloth. That image itself is not scary, symbolic, but no enough to get goosebumps over. However, with the sounds that go on during that sequence you actually feel violated in a way because even if it is just symbolic representation on screen the noise is enough to make you not want to look. (9)
It's a shame though, if you close your eyes. The art style for this show is very unique and the sheer amount of detail they put into their backgrounds is lovely. This show is probably one of the most screencap-able ones as it is fashioned to look like a painting in every frame. Also, symbolic representation is something you don't see very much in anime nowadays. My only complaint is that sometimes the characters look a little, shall we say .. off? Sometimes facial features aren't consistent and there are these odd rare cases where the characters move a little unnaturally especially in the mouth without any reason in the story to do so. It can be a little jarring, but it doesn't happen often. But, when this anime does movement well, they do it very well. I remember being really taken with is one shot of the Medicine Seller's feet while he's running through a train car on geta. (8)
As mentioned before, the real strength of this show lies in it's strong writing and atmosphere. When you are not being simultaneously dazzled and confused by the imagery, the sound is genuinely creepy (and well timed with the animation, I might add) but there is also our main character who is, in his own respects, unsettling as well, right down to the way he delivers each line. He has this genuinely odd habit of making long unnatural pauses in the middle of each sentence. His features are quite demonic even compared with the most unattractive members of the cast and his clothes aren't like what the rest of the cast wears. (Given, he does make a comment about this in one of the episodes but that was mainly to explain why he was dressed like that in that time period.) The only problem in the character department is that, given the format of the show, it can only develop a character other than the protagonist for a certain period of time. But they do do a good job with the time they have with these characters as finding out what their motivations are is essential to each of the plots. But, because the show needs to keep the protagonist enigmatic, they cannot have just one big episode where they explain his back story like so many other animes feel they need to do. While we don't have to sit through a long back story session, I do feel a little disappointed that we don't learn more about the Medicine Seller because he is, in fact, that mysterious. (7)
My enjoyment (10)
Objective score overall (8.5/10)
I'd recommend this show to, well, anyone actually. Even those who are not considered 'anime fans'. Mononoke is Japanese horror storytelling at it's finest. With impressive art and sound direction and the strength of the writing to tell very Japanese tales without having to have a PhD in Asian studies. Whether it's for unique eye-candy or for the simple pursuit of a summer ghost story, it's a good watch.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Nov 13, 2011
Overall this series is a 5. And boy is it a 5; SKET Dance takes mediocrity to a whole new level of blandness, leaving the audience apathetic and not really sure why they watched it or if they gained anything from doing so.
Story: The first thing you think right off the bat from the first episode "so it's Gintama but in high school, right?" and really, that's not far off. Two guys plus one girl who is obscenely strong form a team that performs odd jobs around the school which leads them to zany adventures. Meanwhile there this student council whose leader isn't
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really all that responsible so he around very often for one reason or another and the uptight vice comma-...er, vice president, who is doing all the work for the Student Council doesn't really care for the SKET-dan all that much. While it certainly does sound familiar, that wouldn't matter as long as the jokes were funny and with its humor it could stand on its own two feet......
..... However SKET Dance lacks this sort of humor it so sorely needs. The attempts at comedy come off as being very uninspired, self-absorbed, or, in a few cases like it's censoring itself, the last one being very damaging if your plot and production team is so closely related to Gintama, and thus are going to be compared with it. The strength of Gintama lies within its characters and its willingness to push boundaries for its jokes; which SKET Dance either lacks the ability to do or never even considers in the first place. Whenever it makes fun of a trope in anime it’s usually in sweeping generalities and when it does name drop an actual show, they never take it any further than that. for the introductory of the shoujo-manga-loving girl instead of trying to make fun of ‘hot guy saves a puppy/kitty from the rain’ trope, which everybody and their mother has made fun of by now, they could have pointed out the fact that in shoujo manga whene there is an attractive foreign prince who has never been to Japan before, he speaks fluent Japanese by the sole power of plot contrivances! By taking something that everyone blindly accepts and poking fun at it you get relevant humor that actually makes the audience laugh. For example, in one Gintama episode they use the Metantei Conan method of showing a crime in progress without showing the perpetrator by using a dark shadowy figure. In Gintama they then reveal that that’s actually just how the person looks but the audience laughs because they can remember when they watched that show and how they never thought that much about the shadowy figure before.
There’s a saying on the internet that goes “Don’t remind the audience of the awesome movie they could be watching in the middle of your crappy one.” They pretty much beat you over the head with the fact that they are really similar to Gintama by even animating the crossover chapter. And instead of getting a enjoyable little meaningless crossover where two bands of funny people join forces for a while, all we get is the author stroking his own ego for a bit and some padding, but don’t worry, because as long as we get to the point where Gin-san recognizes What’s-his-face as a proper comedic protagonist it counts as a successful crossover. I never knew that a crossover with Gintama of all things could feel so stereotypical, and they even graze over the opportunity to make fun of that. Not to mention the fact that in the pilot episode Shinpachi’s voice hits you like a ton of bricks and then you see Usui and it’s suddenly Gintoki’s voice. It poses as a great detriment to a new show that’s just trying to find it’s identity.
Characters: Bland. Bossun, our protagonist has no real business being a protagonist because he’s nothing but a self-insert of the writer. And of course, like every Shounen protagonist, he has some sort of special ability tacked on; extreme concentration. Lord knows he has no intelligence, but if he concentrates really, really hard he can solve the puzzle, which was the crux of my strategy to pass grade 12 Calculus. Sure it worked, but it doesn’t mean I should get my own show. Also, an anime consists of moving pictures used to tell a story, if you are just going to sit around thinking as you ultimate skill, what’s the point of being animated. But my main problem with his is that he has no motivation. Why’d he even create the SKET-Dan? If it was explained back in a previous episode I sure as hell don’t remember it, so it must not have been that spectacular. For all I know he was this loser kid who thought he was really popular so he made a club as homage to himself and everyone would come to him for advice. At least Gintoki opened Yorozuya so that he could get money to, you know, pay the bills. However, to its credit the show does recognizes how useless Bossun is, but appropriately enough they don’t comment on the fact that he could be the author’s self-insert. Hime is a good character that has a lot of potential to be something more than a Kagura clone if written correctly. I always enjoy seeing a female as the manpower of the team. Usui is probably one of the most boring characters of the show, but one of the most fascinating if you read spoilers, more specifically the one surrounding his backstory and why he talks through his computer like Akihabara@Deep. It explains why he does what he does and it fits in with his awkwardly obsessive personality, other than that there nothing much to say about him. Don’t ask me about any of the other characters because I can only remember them with single-sentence descriptions or I don’t remember them at all.
Sound: The voice actors they cast for these parts have done some really fine work in the past. They are very talented but it feels like their talents are wasted on bland dialogue.
Animation: Not particularly memorable. Character models look a little odd in places but other than that it’s satisfactory.
Overall: Is this show terrible? No. Is it worth watching? No. All it does is leave you asking why this show was ever created. It doesn’t stand for anything nor does it do anything particularly different for a High School comedy, or comedy in general. It just feels like the producers wanted a safer more marketable version of the ever-salacious Gintama. It's a real shame that it seems like they don't even try to be original.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Nov 5, 2008
Story: The plot line of the OAV is fairly interesting. Nothing particularly special but nonetheless interesting but the suspense builds up about half-way though episode one.
Art: This was the reason I was most concerned about when I heard Switch was getting an anime series. Because of Naked Ape's unique art style it can create problems for the character designs when making it an anime. I'm happy to say they did not disappoint. Kai's hair colour is not the same as his manga counterpart and his eyes tend to get really shiney but other than that I have nothing but praise for the art. The
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art was consistent and of very good quality making it a pleasure to watch.
Sound: What can I say? Stellar cast. The theme songs are nothing special but they are perfectly suitable for Switch but the background music is surprisingly notable. I was expecting a little more rock feel to it but instead it was more orchestra. I especially like the twisted violin waltz that is played at the beginning of the first episode. The other songs give off a very pleasant feel. In my opinion, the background music made up for the not so memorable theme songs.
Character: Kai has very genuine emotions and Hal actions are very intriguing which made me want to learn more about him. They are charters that are amiable and interesting but most of the people who watch Switch would already know this from reading the manga.
In conclusion, Switch really is worth watching. I hope that the producers consider making another OAV sometime soon.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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