{PROLOGUE}
“Leap of faith - yes, but only after reflection.”
― Søren Kierkegaard
Overhyped anime can be deceiving because usually the outcome wasn’t balanced to the level of expectations scattered. Bias to consume one anime can be hard to control when you are too in to go with the safest choice in society, but enjoyment can be boring in the end if you look past through that fabric. For example, Midmon Shitter train to busan anime recap season became worse than the previous one’s quality and is just recycled materials despite the lights given to it by consumers. The studio knows what phenomenon will occur and therefore they
...
manipulate it, milking the cash cow. The new Midjutsu Cibaisen 0 movie surprisingly happens to insert quite an interesting theme but instead of tickling it further, the overall movie suffers from generic cliche predictable structured story and characters that sakuga can’t help to increase my enjoyment because you put expensive gold glitter into cheap stone; they won’t be gold, they will still be cheap stone. Real eyes realize real lies. Spy x Family is no exception, it falls into this category, another deceiving overhyped anime. However, look carefully. This is not just Spy x Family I’m talking about. This is, Spy x Family Part 2.
You : Dude, weren't they the same? Are you trying to drag this review to be long like a desperate last year psychology student trying to reach the word count on their final thesis?
They are not exactly the same to my eyes. Spy x Family Part 2 is the seven wonders of the anime world, because this time such an overhyped anime series manages to prove that it actually deserves its hype, no, it’s even beyond that. The quality served transcends every expectation I held. It’s almost unreal that Spy x Family Part 2 is a sequel to Spy x Family, because I myself would have call this PEAK x PEAK. You may think I’m drunk or hallucinating or trolling, but I’m telling the truth, and I will show you my analysis.
{PEAK x PEAK is PEAK}
We knew that SxF follows the Forger family that includes Loid, Yor, Anya, and later the dog represents the concept of dramaturgy. Erving Goffman states that in life there is a sociological view that employs human behavior to ACT. Therefore, according to him life is as equivalent as theater where humans as actors have to play never-endingly. We can see how Loid have to function as a spy, Yor holding back her killing skill, and Anya hiding her mind skill. They are all acting, but it is for the purpose of family despite them having to be actors. Why is it? Because humans do need family. According to Confucius, one always loves one's family first and then moves outward. These elements are natural and organic because of how grounded they feel. Humans are indeed a complicated creature, they have to act but at the same time they also want affection, but this is what made us human. This shows that SxF is more than just your cute girl fan service comedy, but also a social commentary. The reason why this came to be this fleshed out unlike in the previous part is the more serious direction Part 2 has taken and how this connects to SxF other genius writing.
The dog is so well-written that it made most of the highly acclaimed well-written characters in the anime community look like KonoSuckBalls characters in comparison. You may think that the dog serves no purpose but he turns out to be the central figure. Starting at the Part 2 there are group of Ostanian students that utilizes dogs for their terrorism purpose. The dogs are trained for this and there is one dog named Bond. This dog has the ability to see the future, and this is to represent “predestination vs free will”. The dog may be programmed to work by the terrorist’s side, but he chose to break free. Anya’s mind reading skill works perfectly as a plot device to read the dog’s mind. It shows that Loid will die in this event (and this contributes to how negatively war affects people’s psyche as in real life too) but Anya and Bond ACT to cancel that sight. Turns out, they succeeded, Loid didn’t die in the end. It shows that there is no fate, only free will. Sometimes we humans love to play victim and blame it all to fate but that is not the case. If you have the will then you can do anything you want. The reason why Bond is showed as a dog is because it is a symbolism of being a slave just ironically like the Ostanian student as humans being a slave to their firmed ideology to attack Westalis. What is even better is that Westalis also used any means to gain information even if that is by violence. This created a gray moral zone and not just your typical following righteous group as first perspective. We are all a slave to an idea in these social structure but Bond breaks free. Bond represents the UBERMENSCH, the superior creature that defies conventional morality (in this case terrorism to Westalis) to create and impose his own values that is to become family and have BOND with the Forgers. That is also where the future reading ability comes in, Bond is indeed an image of superhuman. Bond has overcome nihilism which in his case is to die as a bomb that is not according to his will. Bond is not just a dog, Bond is a model figure for us, a REFLECTION. The appearance of Bond is full white, an angle-esque look that suits perfectly his UBERMENSCH symbolism. The black bow tie is the perfect contrast and a reference to rabbit Play Boy which society may look as immoral but in actuality he is a true man who fulfills his desires unlike the others who are blinded by their false sense of righteousness and yes this is exactly what Nietzche has said (reference : his speaking about Pilatus).
The genius of SxF is that its central theme was shown to be childcare with genres by action and comedy, but it goes deeper than that even on surface level. They trick you into thinking this is just substanceless comedy but in actuality, very deep where you can analyze them to gain beyond Texhnolyze’s level of quality of message. It feels so grounded yet psychological. Though if you don’t realize it, I don’t see any problem as well. Just like Bond who imposes his own values, you viewers are also able to create your own values. You can watch SxF just for the comedy plus fan services and you will have a great time that may cheer your bad day. This anime works on both sides, and that is what I can call an art. True art has to be challengingly open and not just based on one comforting singular point.
The production value shows that this anime is a passion project. The amazing background that really captures the atmosphere of the 1960s in Europe made me want to strip myself, leave my house and scream “IS THIS RENAISSANCE?!” on the street fully naked. The character designs that have taste in classy fashion shows the creator do truly appreciate art in any form. The coloring choice that has an earthy tone really suits the feel essence of this anime to be grounded, but the opening really comes on its own with the autumn joy feeling and beautiful sceneries that is a deeper sense of imaginating happiness. The music has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the recording a big boost. It’s hard to choose a favorite amongst so many great tracks.
{EPILOGUE}
And now for the epilogue, or rather, the punchline for this review. SxF totally deserves the high rating where some people didn’t even realize the true greatness of it. It contains such rich and serious themes that can be taken as reflection such as the value of life, dramaturgy, importance of family, clash of perspectives, war is not justified, etc while can also be funnily entertaining. Spy x Family Part 2 is an embodiment that quality anime will always exist in every age by proof that it manages to evolve from an okayish anime to literal peak. It’s been compared to Love is War which is the most highly acclaimed comedy anime on this site, but I think PEAK x PEAK has a far more bitter, cynical sense of comedy and also quality. It calms my heart honestly. Last month I saw something so bad that is Classwtfhowisthisevenconsideredaspsychologyroom of the NPC. It made me want to quit watching anime because if something like this can be considered good in the current age then there is no hope for humanity. I didn’t expect that I would meet this grace, the catalyst of hope next month. The curse pattern of doomed fate is broken. I know I create a review of something that hasn’t even fully completed, but based on what it serves, I take a leap of faith to believe that the rest of this anime will be a masterpiece, commercially and artistically.
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Oct 15, 2022
Spy x Family Part 2
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Recommended Well-written  Preliminary
(3/13 eps)
{PROLOGUE}
“Leap of faith - yes, but only after reflection.” ― Søren Kierkegaard Overhyped anime can be deceiving because usually the outcome wasn’t balanced to the level of expectations scattered. Bias to consume one anime can be hard to control when you are too in to go with the safest choice in society, but enjoyment can be boring in the end if you look past through that fabric. For example, Midmon Shitter train to busan anime recap season became worse than the previous one’s quality and is just recycled materials despite the lights given to it by consumers. The studio knows what phenomenon will occur and therefore they ...
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Sep 26, 2022 Not Recommended Spoiler
{PROLOGUE}
“Thoughts are the shadows of our feelings -- always darker, emptier and simpler.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche [First paragraph is deleted due to Review Guidelines. Original available in my profile] Presented with a quote by one of the most thought provoking and influential philosophers in this modern era, the usage was useless here. Expressions I’ve given in the first paragraph are an exaggerated, forced interpretation of trying to find how that singular sentence by Nietzche would make any connection with my COTE review while the quote itself isn’t relevant to supporting evidence that will be brought out here. This particular feeling is the feeling I felt while watching this ... anime at every single beginning. What’s the purpose of these types of quotes at the start of each episode? Is it to push the viewers to decipher its secret message with the episode chosen? Is it more of a puzzle building up its way, letting you observe so all the effort will be paid in the end with a punchline? No, it simply means nothing. {CHAPTER I : Dance in the Game} What could go wrong with psychology themed strategy anime? When we look on the bright side we have a couple choices on board starting from the legendary well-known pioneer Death Note where almost all anime watchers have consumed, to the underrated but acclaimed unique hidden gem by certain people, Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji. So, why did I bring these two anime series? There are 3 major points making both have much amount of fun while watching. First one is the direction. Either it’s looking at a student writing dozens of names on a book or watching pachinko balls rolling in a machine are the work of direction to deliver the fun. In Death Note there are diverse shots coming from every angle with tight tension revolving Light writing names plus it’s epic soundtrack while in Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji it keeps feeding you with an uneasy feeling accompanied by thrilling facial expressions from the characters, slowly building up a mixed emotions for the viewers and instantly crushes them at one point. Second one is on how interesting they present and explain events happening. In Death Note we are served with elaboration of how Light and L deduction skills work and how they set a trap against each other. In Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji, the game was presented in an unpredictable way but later the strategy was explained in-depth with clear helping visualization on screen, layer by layer. The last point which is the most crucial is by these 2 points I’ve told, they engage the viewer to also think regarding the strategies or creating based assumptions about what is happening. COTE has neither of these points. Looking at the first discussion of Special Test Planet Exam (Mars Group), there is no interest watching it despite given their interaction that has no weight of information except it’s soundtrack which kinda tries to build tension but later on there is no more talking in the other discussions, suddenly presenting you with PowerPoint slides on Mars Group condition with SoL typisch music and a little bit of Ayanokoji’s inner monologues which contribute nothing, then it shifts off to Kei Karuizawa being bullied. They don’t let us the viewers to join in THINKING. The amount of exposition presented regarding exam rules was really rushed, we are being thrown an information in audio form by no clear direction. Good luck pausing and replaying to get a full grasp on what’s happening which is not even that hard to think if it was presented well done. {CHAPTER II : Light Blue Heroine} Kei Karuizawa is the actual heroine of COTE, looking at her stand out different coloured shirt while her existence in season 1 was very forgettable. She is the typical rude girl but later on would feel quite in love or even really in love with the protagonist. However, there is something interesting that I want to point out. I’ve seen several people complaining about her scene where Ayanokoji asked her to spread her legs, calling it unrealistic, forced bullying, and just simply out of context creep act. I disagree if this was talking about the idea. People like Kei Karuizawa do actually exist. It’s also not out of nowhere that Ayanokoji asked her to spread her legs, but because of Karuizawa’s mechanism being a victim of bullying that made her instantly ask if Ayanokoji wanted her body. I mean bro reveals himself as he came out from the shadow realm and he is just there silently shocking Karuizawa. Not to mention the context as Karuizawa had just finished getting bullied (plus later it was revealed a scar on her body), of course she would have felt even more inferior and powerless. Ayanokoji just flows with the topic and Karuizawa doing what he orders is again because of her mechanism. Doing this kind of thing in school wasn’t anything brand new or even unrealistic as there are a lot of sexual harassment cases happening in schools or universities at least in my country. The part where the nerd girl started to enjoy bullying Karuizawa wasn’t unnatural either. But, and this is a big but, the way it was presented… take a look at yourself : “To save yourself from ever being bullied again, you chose to hide your past and become a parasite that attaches to others. But in the end…” “Wh-What do you want? My body?” “Now that you ask, I might.” [Ayanokoji pushes Karuizawa to the ground] “Spread your legs.” [Ayanokoji gives death stare] [Karuizawa starts crying] [Moment of silence] “I don’t accept this. You’re not bullying me. You are just blackmailing me into doing ridiculous things.” [Karuizawa spreads her legs DAYUM] “You’re not resisting, then?” “Do you know what people do when comforted by a reality they can’t do anything about? They stop resisting (there’s more Karuizawa dialogues but I’m too lazy to write them all).” “What’s the thing that’s really hurting you?” [Karuizawa shocked] “Such fear, to the point of even surrendering your body, is abnormal. I think there’s something bigger you're hiding.” [Ayanokoji grabs Karuizawa’s p*ssy LOL jk this didn’t happen] [Ayanokoji grabs Karuizawa’s shirt in passive aggressive] “S-Stop…” [Ayanokoji shows Karuizawa’s scar on her body] This is something straight up from a particular video you love to watch and usually this part is the one that you skipped because you just want to see the yamete oniichan ah sugoi kimochi or if your favorite is western then it’s the ouh phawk yes dedi harder pls. My point is there is nothing wrong with the idea but the way this was presented is really bad. All of this just happens really fast and dialogues are not coherent; the conversation felt so inorganic just like a build up in your typical corn videos before entering the juicy part. Not mentioning how monotone and soulless Ayanokoji here plus how he grabs Karuizawa’s shirt, it’s borderline hentai. By no surprise this moment is the only part that adds little depth to Karuizawa. Afterwards she started to feel engaged for Ayanokoji then going on with his plans. The show didn’t explore her trauma nor take a look into her psyche but rather keep victimizing her as it was shown on Ryuen torturing her with no mercy and then just forget all of it. She is just your average waifu whose main value is in her appearance, an embodiment of female character with no consistency you would find in those cheap melodrama TV series. {CHAPTER III : Classroom of the NPC} The rest of the characters have no weight to the story and their purpose existing are very superficial. Honami Ichinose is just a walking fan service and textbook definition of Mary Sue but at least there is a little foreshadowing in Episode 10 for her later weight. Yousuke Hirata is just a textbook definition of Gary Stu. Airi Sakura is just another walking fan service with a shy cute troupe planted to join Ayanokoji’s indirect harem. Sae Chabashira is again just another walking fan service but is oneesan. Ken Sudou is just a comic relief and poor man version of Kazuma Kuwabara from Yu Yu Hakusho. Maya Satou is just there to again, join Ayanokoji’s indirect harem. Haruka Hasabe is just there to be Ayanokoji’s friend. The most important part is do you even remember these character names I’ve given? I don’t think so. I do believe we don’t even remember their identity and only their surface level traits. That’s why I didn’t write all of the names from the gang who bullied Kei Karuizawa (which all of them are from one dimensional villain archetype) previously, because their names would mean nothing anyway. COTE suffers from an identity crisis on what it wanted to become. We can use settings to utilize and focus just one or two characters, but COTE doesn’t seem to go that way. COTE instead tries to depict the setting as natural as how school and a lot of students' and their roles are in real life (obviously there has to be a lot of students in one school excluding exception cases), how many elites are in this school working and competing with each other, that’s why they introduced a lot of characters. However it is certainly hard to write a detailed cast with each distinguished theme and not just give them different hair colors, therefore they became disposable and had no value at all. Everything is centered solely on our protagonist in this large cast even by giving additional little weight to the rest of the disposable characters (e.g. Ayanokoji found out mommy milker was lying about her connection with papa Koji). {CHAPTER IV : Unelite Stupidities} Did you realize that I haven’t talked about everyone regarding the side cast of COTE, that is Suzune Horikita, Kukyou Kushida? You may think I forgot about them when their roles are bigger than other characters but no, I didn’t talk about them at first on purpose. Let’s start with Suzune Horikita, who was presented as the heroine in season one. This character was introduced to be smart, better than others, even in this season of how she led the Paper Shuffle exam and was shown how superior she is at the Sport Festival. Ryuen and Kushida later deceived her but how did Horikita fall into this trap? In episode 6, Kushida reaches Horitika and tells her that someone Horikita ran over was badly injured (I’ll refer to this person as victim), calling that they want Horikita to come to the nurse’s office. Surprisingly (not at all actually), there is no nurse or medical team in the office but rather Ryuen menacingly standing like an omniscient boogieman waiting for his prey. Ryuen then accuses Horikita as the person who hurted the victim and then starts blackmailing her. This is stupid, really freaking stupid. The thing is, Ayanokoji had WARNED Horikita about Kushida and her connections with Ryuen, alerting her to be careful. Also there is no way a very small collision would hurt someone this badly not to mention only a couple of seconds after the interaction occurred. The injury shown was straight up Bruce Lee went ATATATTATATATATTATATATTATATATTATA to the victim’s legs, even a person with 2 digits IQ are not going to believe Horikita injured the victim that badly in this context. Is this what you call a smart person? Other things that I want to talk about is her pacifism take to Kushida’s action towards her. It popped out just like that and wasn’t branched either from her brother's complex problem or her smart being taking decisions, it’s a spice of Mary Sue. I’m not done yet. The next thing I’m going to point out regarding Kushida will even fry your brain harder. Again we all knew Kushida had something wrong with herself as she had a fake Mary Sue persona. Kushida didn’t want anyone to know her past because it would threaten her persona, but the problem is Horikita was from the same middle school as her. Kushida then sets up a goal to get Horikita expelled by defense; it will keep her past safe from everyone. This made me question why COTE was labeled as psychology, because this part strengthens me that the script writer knew nothing about psychology. First, Horikita told Kushida as she wasn’t really sure about her past because it’s just a rumor she has heard. Second, it was shown that Horikita had no grudges to Kushida let alone trying to destroy her. Third, how is getting someone expelled that has no problem with you at all going to secure her from leaking your past? Realistically this will just fuel her to oppose Kushida as she now had a reason to attack her because Kushida is a bitch who picked a serious fight with high stakes consequences out of nowhere. Horikita getting expelled will only increase the potential to destroy Kushida as this time she will have no contact with Horikita anymore. There is no guarantee of Horikita being totally shut, she could just post something on the internet or chat with someone, creating a chain of information about Kushida’s past and there you go, Kushida can do nothing. We have seen how desperate Kushida tries to secure her past even fighting a non-existent thread with insanely stupid acts but guess what? Ayanokoji later asks Kushida about her past and we got ONE FULL EPISODE OF KUSHIDA REVEALING HER PAST IN DETAILS TO AYANOKOJI. WTF? {CHAPTER V : Chasing the Dragon} “A dragon is not honored for its size, but for its fire.” Ryuen Dragon Boi a.k.a the MAIN ANTAGONIST of this season is just your typical evil villain with an uninteresting approach towards his surface level goal. He comes to anybody and acts cocky that’s it. He is violent just because he is. The shown thought process of him (episode 12) doesn’t add anything to him.Dragon Boi has no remarkable dynamic and had corny villain’s dialogues 101. Take a look at Episode 11 : [CONTEXT : Dragon Boi comforts Koenji to gain info, talking, telling he could beat the shit out of him now, but there is Sakayanagi the white hair A class girl at the place] “Might I ask a question? A little bird told me that Dragon Boi-san was looking for a particularly clever member of Class D. Is that tru-” “I told you to keep out of this, Sakayanagi. And the next time you call me that (referring to Dragon Boi nickname), I’ll kill you.” [Sakayanagi goes smiley smiley cute girl mode] “You don’t like it? I thought it was a lovely name for you myself, De-ra-gon-booyii” [Dragon’s Wrath] [Dragon Boi goes Usain Bolt towards Sakayanagi] [Sakayangi face zoom in] [FEEL THE DRAGON KICK BOI] [Blocked] [Dragon Boi confused] [Worthless character Koenji rip-off protecting Sakayanagi and fell down because Dragon Boi’s kick was too dragon for him lmao rip bozo] “My, did that upset you?” “Didn’t I say I’d kill you if you called me that again?” By the way, the appearance of Sakayanagi just strengthens my point in Chapter III. She wasn’t necessary nor gave any foreshadowing idea for future events. Her weight is worthless here other than being a fan service. [CONTEXT : After kidnapping Karuizawa with his group, Dragon Boi interrogate Karuizawa scene and after a long talk Karuizawa was still resisting to give him any info] “Then I’ll expose your past. All the relationships you have built in the school… Are you brave enough to abandon them?” [Short silence] “It’s not like… it’s not like I’m stupid, okay? Bla bla bla Karuizawa talking back basically trying to convince Ryuen she is his only chance” “I see. You think I can’t expose your past?” “Don’t you think letting me go is the best choice?” “Absolutely not. I’m getting that info from you, here and now. Don’t underestimate me” [Dragon Boi menacingly look at Karuizawa with killer eyes] [Karuizawa quitely shocked] [Dragon Boi commanding his doll a.k.a totally worthless character in the show] “Wh-what are you doing? Hey wait a minute! You hear me? Untie m-” [SUITON NO JUTSU GET WET KARUIZAWA] [Dragon Boi’s group all closing their eyes probably enjoying the flow of the water] [Karuizawa being hurt, resisting, heavy breathing, going to cry] [A view on how poor and trembled wet Karuizawa] “S-stop… it…” [Dragon Boi’s inner monologue on the school’s flaws which let forceful methods be applied and admitting this is a part of it - I mean, no shit bro. We have seen Ryuen’s violence throughout the anime and there are no consequences, this is futile emphasis] “Ishizaki, next stage.” [Covers Karuizawa’s face with cloth] [SUITON NO JUTSU GET DROWN KARUIZAWA] “Mhmmhkm mhmh jh, hnjmmm” “The nature of trauma is that experience triggers it faster than words.” [Pulls Karuizawa’s head] “I’ll break you down, slowly and thoroughly” [Cut scene : Kiyopon friends asking him to hang out] [Back to the scene] “S… Stop it…” [Karuizawa on the edge of her state] “I love you this way, Karuizawa.” [Water Boi intensifies] [Dragon Boi overhydrating Karuizawa] “St… Stop… Stop it…” [Water pouring ASMR for studying or relaxing] “No…” “I’ll ask you again. Who is the mastermind?” [Karuizawa looking half dead] “There is no… mastermind. There isn’t… there isn’t…” “That’s some backbone you’ve got. Oh, I get it…” [Dragon Boi pulls out a knife and evolves into his next killer form, Knife Boi] “Someone accustomed to bullying can endure a whole lot more than that, eh?” [Dragon Boi drags Karuizawa] [Knife Boi intensifies] “For the sake of my own pleasure, I will destroy Karuizawa Kei.” [Dragon Boi looking malicious and interested in his further actions] Even ending the episode with this ThRiLlInG cliffhanger, there is nothing to worry about. We won’t see Knife Boi anymore and Dragon Boi will be defeated in the end. His existence never matters just like the rest. He may be a dragon, but he is just a tool. His purpose is to be chased by thou fire, the real dragon, the Mastermind. Episode 12 in a nutshell : “Sorry I can’t go hang out with you I have to save the heroine of this series” [Bruh] [Encountering Dragon Boi] “Dude Koji u reveal yourself and u think u can beat me in my area?” “Lol he can’t be the mastermind he is a sheep” “Ya I made a promise with Karuizawa” “Ok Koji do u have any plan?” “No.” “Violence is the ultimate power in this world. No matter what clever little tricks you pull, they can’t hold up against absolute violence.” [Ayanokoji face : wtf?] “I’m going to crush you here blah blah blah here comes my pawn go go attack him!” [First pawn dead] ‘Huh how can Koji be this strong?” “Ok, now you” [Second pawn dead] “Wow Koji ur better than what I thought” “Hey I’m nobody but I’m the third pawn I will beat you huaaa” [Third pawn dead] “Ok I’m the final boss goodbye Koji u will die” [IP MAN 4] “Damn ur strong, but I’m the final boss I want to squeeze u more! I have never felt pain in my life! Fear and pleasure are two sides of one coin. This world runs on violence. I don’t experience FEAR! When most people experience pain they will FEAR!” “Your punches don’t matter Ryuen, here feel my punch.” [Dragon Boi almost dead] “Hhahahahahahahhah what do you feel right now Koji after beating the shit out of a one dimensional villain like me hah WHAT DO YOU FEEL!?” “What are you talking about? I won't show my emotions and I will keep punching you.” [Dragon Boi scared] “HOOAAAFPQNFPONFVOQOWO” [Dragon Boi dead] “Hey Karuizawa, I saved you and I knew everything” “I’m so scared but you saved me huhuuhhu I’m crying” Literal textbook cliche good guy vs bad guy structured story. I won’t be surprised at all if Episode 13 turns out to have a lot of wholesome moments and Dragon Boi becomes friends with Ayanokoji. {CHAPTER VI : False Jester} In general I don’t really have a big problem with COTE soundtracks, I like some of their sound design either it’s the reversed reverb nuance followed by piano notes or cello played in minor scale. Most of the tracks are timed well according to the displayed scenes. Though I do have little problems, it’s not worth bringing up. Opening is certainly catchy with its guitar riffs, striking all the toms and floor in its drumming, but it’s nothing special. Ending is just straight out of place since it’s equivalent to SoL school romcom anime ending with its happy positive vibes and COTE was supposed to be pSyChOlOgIcAl sUsPeNsE. COTE had a lot of issues, such as how inconsistent the face art is. Check Ayanokoji in each episode, almost every time his face structure is off model. Bad contrast and lightning with lazy produced vibrant type coloring gives this show no identity. I don’t know why some people found the eye designs from the character appealing, they look soulless thanks again to the bad contrast lighting and poor simplistic assemblement (if you want to see how these type of eyes are done appealing then check Violet Evergarden). Static animation, boring shots and over usage of still motions made COTE so dimensionless, even at Ayanokoji vs Horikita-senpai running battle scene which is one of the peaks from this season. It is clear as a flawless diamond that COTE suffers from budget management problems, even at one point Lerche recycles background from season 1. Nevertheless there is still an excuse to be found because they are giving all in to episode 12. This episode is the peak of COTE 2nd Season with no writing value at all (I’ve talked about this in Chapter V) and it manages to give an instant boost for this anime from 8.06 to 8.15 score. To elaborate, I appreciate the massive upgrade for one sole scene which is the jaw dropping fluidity of Ayanokoji on top punch barrages Ryuen while resisting and their movement on the ground scene from the front point of view. It was great while it lasted for 4-5 seconds (this type of scene was very hard to create). However, the shaky effects after punches, kicks, and bumps are just pure crap. The purpose of this was to add force to the fight so it relies on shaky effects to the scene (and also quite crap sound effects) but it’s very off-putting as to how cheap it felt. Without this shitty shaky effect the whole fight would feel way more natural. They can add the shaky effect but not hard and disjointed like this. Keep in mind the studio and producer have a 5 years time gap between season 1 to season 2. By today's standards 2022, the fight animation itself wasn’t remarkable at all (except the one I’ve mentioned before) because despite the combat choreography which some to me are quite satisfying and improvement in cinematography, the keyframes weren't fully free to produce an all out fight. For example, Ayanokoji throwing Ryuen to the wall is equivalent to you on an editing app cropping an image and moving it with your mouse instantly. The fights are still bounded by some stiff movements and shots. Episode 12 as the outcome is a half-baked sakuga. {CHAPTER VII : The Mastermind} The moment we all have been waiting for [insert drum rolls], entering Kiyokata Ayanokoji, the protagonist of COTE. I’ve seen people having a hard time understanding him but he is actually straight forward. We have seen that Koji was a result of an experiment and how splendid Koji is in terms of intelligence (being the mastermind) and physical (dude solos 4 people who have above average or more combat skills). We also have information about Advanced Nurturing High School, the most prestigious school in Japan which supports the student’s freedom and being completely free from external effects. Lastly we have seen Koji interactions with Class D teacher mommy milker and papa Koji regarding his position in the school. By these 3 premises we can take a conclusion that Koji ran away from the experiment and he chose Advanced Nurturing High School to protect him (in episode 10 papa Sakayanagi protects him from papa Koji’s demand). Koji is introduced to have no interest in anything but why did he help Class D to ascend in this season? It’s because mommy milker threatens to expel him from the school if he doesn't want to help class D. Despite the infamous cliffhanger from season 1, it seems that Koji actually does want a good normal life in his high school as we see of him joining the new group of friends and helping plus manipulating Karuizawa to be close with him, but there is still a mystery to his true intent. So, what's the big problem? It’s the portrayal of his character and the narrative. Koji’s face and voice are always perfectly monotone. I tried to check his appearance by source material (light novel) and in the Ayanokoji vs Ryuen fight, Koji’s face looks pissed while punching Ryuen but in the anime he is a total edgelord. He is simply INHUMANE and his role is the cool smart self-insert licking the viewers because it is impossible to act like him in real life and be able to achieve that level of coolness. In fact, when this show tries at its maximum to use very egocentric writing all to illuminate Ayanokoji, he himself ended up as an unliving, artificial character. When Koji made a mistake on Sports Festival training because Koji asked the dumbest person in class about strength information, it wasn’t presented for Koji to reflect either he who was splendid at everything did a mistake or a deeper look to his character, it’s just what it is. Who even remembers he created a silly mistake in pressing the strength indicator? It doesn’t matter. For the whole time we are not given his thought process and instead weightless monologues throughout the anime. We are not told of how Koji set off his strategies and pulled all the strings. At the end it was revealed he manipulated everything without dropping events or clues that give assertion. We are not able to create assumptions based on what’s given because there isn’t enough information and so we just have to swallow them and be happy for how cool sigma Koji is. It doesn’t matter how diverted the central genre is whether it’s psychology or slice of life or action or romance or harem. It doesn’t matter how paper thin the psychology and the strategies. It doesn’t matter if we weren't given a character study for Kiyotaka Ayanokoji. COTE treats its viewers as if they're incapable of thinking as sheeps blindly dancing in the game. Everything is going as planned. This is all the work of the mastermind. Now it is clear why COTE was labeled as psychology, the series itself manipulates the viewers feelings. {EPILOGUE} And now for the epilogue, or rather, the punchline for this review. If you want quality anime, then take a look again at the box with red-coloured letters inside on top of this review, it spells “Not Recommended”. However, despite all the flaws I’ve pointed out, I’m not going to lie that COTE 2nd Season was enjoyable to me. You may then ask, why would something like this happen to me, someone who creates a negative review towards the product. It means one thing. Even if my thoughts are always darker, emptier and simpler, I still do have feelings.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Nov 12, 2021
Platinum End
(Anime)
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Not Recommended Preliminary
(6/24 eps)
{PROLOGUE}
Platinum End, wait I've misspelled Mirai Nikki. {CHAPTER I : Story} A battle royale anime. Those who win will replace God. Scaled only in Japan. Candidates are chosen if they are depressed and wanted some changes. Why would you choose a so called depressed person which have no potential in life to become God? I would have get it if the candidates chosen are an actual depressed person with a complex illness, but the "depression" here is very thin, it's the type of thing which everyone could have thought. It feels like you are watching that one friend who always uploads their instastories about how depressed they ... are, wanting to kill themself, bla bla bla. The only difference here is an angel will suddenly come and save them. Platinum End has used the formula of generic battle royale story. The problem with justice here is very... boring. Good people wanted to group up, beating an evil mastermind. Good people roots good moral and the evil will use every possible way to become God. You probably have seen this kind of concept a thousand times in your life. Last, I don't get it why they must use a robotic costume, the theme just didn't match at all. The Angels don't even have any mechanical robot feature. Imagine a transformer being God, yeah nothing could have been worse. {CHAPTER II : Character} The protagonist is morally perfect. He won't kill people and he can't hate people. He has traumatizing background which made him wanted to suicide but now he is on his journey to pursuit happiness. Basically, he is a naive boy. Honestly, I'm tired or his actions and dialogues. No human could reach this kind of state. His angel was almost the same as him since she just wanted this boy to be happy. The heroine is bland, she is also a good person and she teamed up with the protagonist. They have depression and probably trauma but nah let's just forgot all of them and live with no flaws in this perfect moral code. Of course, the only mistake they could do is to not end an evil doing which would cause more evil doings since it goes against their concept of justice. The antagonist was sort of interesting, he does have an actual tactical strategy. My problem is it seems he just wanted to revive her dead sister, and he calls that the unthinkable. This is the most thinkable desire for humans who don't have the access to life and death. {CHAPTER III : Sound} It's good. The ending is great and really fits the anime. The opening does not really fit but it's still good. Sound effects are cool, satisfying to hear. The voice acting is decent, nothing special. {CHAPTER IV : Art and Animation} Art looks alright. The animation could be considered okay but there are things which your eyes might hate like the CGI robot costumes. Most of the fights are strategic battle so you won't see much actions animated here. {CHAPTER V : Enjoyment} I actually really enjoyed this anime. Yes it is bad, but doesn't mean it was boring at all. The enjoyment was only a glance tho. Platinum End didn't impact me at all. Reminder, this anime contains a scene which could be very disturbing to some people (lesbian s*x). {EPILOGUE} Platinum End is a 4/10 for me. It's not creative and almost like a Mirai Nikki ripoff but slightly more enjoyable. This doesn't really waste your time if you are watching in the seasonal release, but when the anime was full out of 24 episodes, it would be better if you don't waste your time watching Platinum End. I don't expect this anime to be good or may have redeeming points in the future. If you are a battle royale lover and don't know what to watch, try Fate/Zero instead.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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