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Dec 3, 2024
Throughout time, humans have enveloped themselves in countless conflicts, each of them bringing pain and misery for the selfish interests power hungry individuals. Ima, Soko ni Iru Boku aka Now and Then, Here and There, which I'll affectionately call SokoBoku, is the complete opposite of your average Isekai. Instead of indulging in escapism, where our protagonists are transported to a fantasy world full of wonder, SokoBoku has a normal kid named Shuzo Matsutani, who lives a peaceful and ideal life going to school and practicing Kendo, get thrusted into the harsh realities of a war-torn nation on a distant planet trying to rebel against an
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insane dictator named Hamdo after trying to save a mysterious girl named LaLa Ru.
The strengths of SokoBoku are how it handles It's main topic, that is, war. SokoBoku is what others would call a Grim Bright, starting extremely strong with a perfect contrast between such a dark world and It's determined, optimistic protagonist, all with a great sense of danger and inmensly high stakes that keep you hooked and leaves you wondering what's going to happen next. Almost every character and theme is treated with respect and the deceptively cute artstyle, wonderfully whimsical soundtrack and the lighthearted first episode does not prepare you to witness everything from child soldiers and lacking resources to rape, child death and families torn apart, nothing breaks apart Shuzo's optimism, even if he falls from a very tall chimney, gets hanged or tortured and this is where the show's first problem comes.
it seemingly tests your suspension of disbelief after he somehow manages to stay alive by episode 5.
This only gets aggravated when the show tries tackling rape.
After getting captured, Shuzo gets sent to a cell where he meets a girl named Sarah, she's also from our world and was captured after getting mistaken for LaLa Ru. After realizing she wasn't the one they were looking for, Sarah is instead sent to a room with one of the soldiers who proceeds to rape her. After a sequence of events she escapes and nearly dies in the desert before getting rescued and taken to Zari Bars, the city rebelling against Hamdo.
Everything's fine and dandy until Shu arrives there and after another sequence of events, she realizes she's pregnant and tries to abort the baby and commit suicide. Shu stops her, fine, but she also tells her to keep the baby and scolds her, screaming about how everything's gonna be OK in the most tone-deaf way imaginable, coming from a kid with the power of plot armor by his side. Now, that's not a problem on itself, It's quite in-character for such a stubborn child like him, but the show treats it like it's the right thing as Sis, the lady who found and took care of her also tells her to keep the baby, who'll probably remind her of her trauma as long as she lives. Even worse when her negative feelings vanish completely after hearing that and decides to stay in the distant planet to take care of it, which definitely would leave her family back on earth worried. Yikes.
Another gripe I have with SokoBoku has to be the ending.
Hamdo is a great villain that encapsulates psycopathy, persecution complex and narcissism perfectly, seeing all life that isn't useful to him as worthless but sadly we barely get to know anything about him or how he managed to rise into power and his death, while having everything to be satisfying ultimately feels rushed as we see his empire, Hellywood, fall in the span of 15 minutes. This also means we barely get a farewell for the cast, besides the Sarah shit, LaLa Ru disappears and Shu just shrugs it off, we then see him return to earth and the show just ends with no insight to his life afterwards, which made me care a lot less.
However, would I still recommend it despite everything? Depends.
Though It's flaws ultimately outnumber the good and maybe giving it a 7 is a bit generous in my part but I'd still recommend watching it if you're interested on an Isekai that's different from the norm, even if there's certainly better alternatives out there. It still does a great job executing It's concepts at first and still has plenty of well written characters with a great use of symbolism, even this fades away and the show ultimately becomes less interesting after Shu escapes from Hellywood, It's still worth it for the beginning parts.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Sep 24, 2024
Have you ever seen a show that failed so hard to accomplish what It's going for, that it makes you feel absolutely nothing? Yeah, that's Requiem from the Darkness for me. A show so cheesy and unscary that makes Goosebumps look like The Shining, yeah, It's very dark at times but honestly, the most uncomfortable I got was with the imagery of eyes melting off, this show definitely loves depicting people burning to death, the only show that manages to be so predictable yet confusing at the same time. All of them consist on Momosuke going somewhere, hearing rumors about a Yokai causing trouble, turns
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out the Yokai was actually some serial killer or crazy guy, then some hilariously over-the-top scary sequence plays. They could've gotten away with it if not for those meddling spirits.
The characters are very OK, Momosuke and Ogin are the only ones with any real development, the show seems to hint at some romance between them but It never pays off. Momosuke also felt a bit relatable as an aspiring writer myself, but everyone else might aswell be a plank of wood. I thought characters like Momosuke's brother and the black priest (and y'all complain about Yasuke in the new Assasin's Creed) were going to be more important but nah, we only see them once.
The show's strongest point however and the only reason I watched it was the artstyle, in a way it reminds me of One Piece, despite being the complete opposite tonewise. The opening and ending music are also fantastic too, but the background music sounds like something from Bleach or Death Note, it barely fits at all. BUT if I can appreciate one thing from the actual show besides it's technical aspects, is the themes, when you get exposed to so many horrible things, you become desensitized and begin losing your sense of empathy. Maybe that's why I can't find this scary or even disturbing... or maybe It's the terrible CG-I, the repeated use of that stock scream sound and the Samurai becoming Red Guy from DHMIS.
If you want a nice, episodic horror Anime, It's not the worst choice but you could be watching Petshop of Horrors instead. All the words I have left for this Anime are; "To the next world I commit thee"
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Sep 14, 2024
It was the year 1995 and a certain mecha Anime changed the industry forever, spawning similarly influential classics that are fondly remembered to this day. A year prior, Akira animator Hiroaki Sato and Studio Pierrot would bring us an OVA about a robot girl named Tokiko Mima, aka Key, who must gather 30'000 friends to become a real girl. This show, obviously inspired by Pinocchio, fits right in with this era of experimental and challenging Anime but somehow faded into obscurity while a certain other idol show that became very recently gets tons of blind praise for doing the bare minimum..
Key the Metal Idol
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might seem simple at first glance and It's slow pacing isn't for everyone, but It's also a layered tale that remains relevant to this very day. In a world where companies are expected to exploit the passion of young artists, Key is a critique of the Japanese entertainment industry in the surface. How it sees those talents as robots to be manufactured, then replaced after being milked dry, coldly ignoring their necesities as human beings in favor of mass-production.
This however, is just what lays on the surface, the show might not be unique these days but like others from that time period, It stands out for It's clever use of Sci-fi and spirituality to convey such themes, the story actually explores different aspects of the artist in a very compelling way that makes you root for Key in her journey to express her surpressed against the will of a mega corporation who hates and wants to destroy her child-like curiosity and compassion, that they desperately wish could have.
Of course, you might notice that Key isn't your typical Anime protagonist, she simply reacts to the actions of other characters, which quite frankly lack that same level of care. That's one dissapointing aspect with this show, nobody except Key and maybe Shuichi get the character development they deserve, certain character's pasts remain unexplored and it feels like the last 2 episodes had to be rushed out for a lack of budget. This is especially true for Episode 14 which mostly consists on Wakagi and Shuichi talking exposition, occasionally broken up by more exposition from one of Ajo's workers, revealing every single answer to the mysteries the show had set up and ham-fisting it's message, which kinda ruins the fun.
As for the technical aspects, the Animation is fine for the time, but the direction is fantastic, it has that same disjointed and tense feeling that would later characterize shows like Lain and Eva. The music is obviously fantastic aswell, weither It's that underrated banger of an opening, the sorrowful and depressing Lullaby or the very emotional Galaxy in Your Hands. Even the OSTs with Key's whimsical yet offputting theme contrasting the opressively industrial sound of everything else.
Overall, Key the Metal Idol is a hidden gem and a true love letter to art which despite It's flaws, is definitely worth watching for those who enjoy deep, reflective Anime like Serial Experiments Lain, Perfect Blue and Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 3, 2023
In the 90's, there was a trend of wacky fantasy adventure comedies. Gokudo is one of them. The story is mostly a series of excuses for jokes and wacky antics, because of this there tends to be a lot of plot holes and throwaway story elements. Some arcs also suffer from pacing issues, for example the china arc drags on for too long, while the introduction feels like it was written on a crack overdose. But what about the jokes? The humor is very obnoxious most of the time and only one or two gags made me chuckle, this comedy just isn't funny..
The characters are
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very one-dimensional, Gokudo is a dick, Rubette is tomboyish, Djinn is wise and Niari is a womanizer. They lack any real character beyond walking sets of gags and while a show like this doesn't need deep characters, there's nothing that makes the viewer get attached to them either. The animation is good, Background music has that energetic 90's feel that fits the scenes and pumps you up. Opening is alright, nothing special, the first ending is much better, second is also descent. This is a very mediocre at best show, if you want a better fantasy comedy watch Those Who Hunt Elves.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Apr 23, 2023
Most people are familiar with Sonic, he's one of the most Iconic videogame characters of all time and like everything with 30 years of history and counting, there's bound to be strange things and I'm not talking about the beaten to death, arguably overhated 2000's games. In this case I'm talking about this fun little OVA that's product of it's time.
The story is very simple but that's all it needed to be, Eggman wants Sonic's data, gets Sonic's data and Sonic fights Metal Sonic. While I'm a fan of the deeper, darker stories from the comics and the Adventure era, this was meant to
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be a short self-contained romp with a frantically paced blend between cartoonish slapstick and a surprising prescence of light echii closely reminiscent of Kid Goku era Dragon Ball in the middle of cool action scenes more reminiscent of Z. And, while I would love a Sonic anime that incorporates all of this into a fleshed out, deeper narrative I appreciate what was done here in comparison to the boring and uneventful mess that was Sonic X's first two Seasons.
The characters are perfectly on brand, many people complain that Sonic is a bit of a jerk but if your familiar with Sonic's portrayal in media at the time then it couldn't be more true to his character, Tails is the innocent and cowardly yet trustworthy sidekick he was before Sonic Adventure, Knuckles is there I guess and Robotnik is the funny loveable goofball we know from the games. Newcomer Sarah is whinny and can be annoying but I don't mind her at all because the jokes they make with her work.
The soundtrack is also a great blend of jazz and electronic music, the dub's voice acting is bad in a charming 90's OVA way and everything about this anime as a whole encapsulates that perfectly. If you love retro anime, love Sonic the Hedgehog or just want a fun evening watch, this is definitely a choice to consider.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Mar 15, 2023
I'm a Sonic fan so watching this felt like an obligation, especially considering how it pretty much shaped the Fandom as we know it today. I have zero nostalgia for this and I watched the Japanese subbed version because 4Kids heavily butchered it like most kids anime from the 2000's.
The show follows who else but Sonic who was Isekai'd to the human world where he meets Chris Thorndyke, a mostly boring kid who's only personality trait is simping for him. After he reunites with his friends they must collect the 7 Chaos Emeralds before Eggman does, or atleast that's what the show implies because
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in most episodes absolutely nothing happens, the story has incredibly low stakes because everyone ends up accepting Sonic into society less than a third in, the main characters besides Knuckles don't care about returning to their planet, there's not even a reason for them to return until 50 episodes in, and said reason is a confusing one. Eggman and his goons are as incompetent as Team Rocket, except that doesn't work here because Team Rocket is just a bump on Ash's road to become a Pokemon Master, not the main concern.
This leads into a bigger problem I have with this show and is that almost every established character has been flanderized and all the new ones (With exceptions) are one-note, for starters, this is were "Fangirl Amy" and "Idiot Knuckles" pretty much came from, Sonic himself does absolutely nothing a lot of the time besides sleeping, and he himself acts like an Idiot a lot of the time and then there's Chris Thorndyke, he's supposed to be relatable but lives in a huge ass mansion with two famous parents, a scientist grandfather and two racial stereotype butlers. His conflict comes from being alone and supposedly having no friends, except he already does, and one of them is far more sympathetic and interesting than him yet has a single episode of development, but none of this would be so bad if he didn't do something so selfish you instantly grow to hate him at the very end of Season 2
Seasons 1 & 2: 4/10 - The only redeeming factor is that it genuinely made me laugh sometimes.
The show however is redeemed in it's third season originally made as filler comissioned by 4Kids, as it tells the story of how an alien race called "The Metarex" Invades Mobius (I'm refusing to call it "Sonic's World") and how Sonic and friends must travel trough space to gather the 7 Chaos Emeralds that Sonic scattered. The genre shifts into a space opera heavily influenced by Leiji Matsumoto's works and it's full of moments that wouldn't be too out of place in one of the Sonic Adventure games. This part carries the show and is a must watch for any Sonic fan, I just recommend skipping 2 seasons of lame stuff to enjoy it.
Season 3: 7/10 - Tbh I haven't seen Yamato yet but this kinda makes me want to.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jan 20, 2023
Yoru no Uta is a compilation of short stories written by Kazuhiro Fujita, known for Ushio to Tora and Karakuri Circus. Because of this, I'll be reviewing ezch story separately and rank them from worst to best so take this as several reviews in one.
#5 - Strange Ferry Tale
A guy's family has been haunted by a yokai for generations, killing them all young. When he begrudgingly goes out to get some treatment for what his family assumes is illness, they get assaulted by gangsters, but a runaway delinquent saves them only to realize in the boat that maybe the strange guy wasn't hallucinating. It's a
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very simple tale about listening to your elders and what not, but my problem is that it ends very abruptly so it isn't conveyed very well not to mention the characters feel a bit flat. The art is a bit too clean lacking almost anything that makes Fujita's art stand out like the crooked edges and exaggerated features. In a way this feels like a prototype of what would eventually become Ushio to Tora, with the sword reacting a lot like the Beast Spear. The ideas here inspiring future works is a running theme with these one-shots so expect to see this brought up.
Solid Start for his career - 6/10
#4 - Puppet Princess
This is easily the most famous one of the bunch as it got an extremely well animated and very gory OVA in the early 2000's. It tells the story of Princess Rangiku who seeks revenge against a Karakuri obsessed warlord with the help of Manajiri, a retired ninja. if you've seen the OVA, you've read the Manga version. It's packed to the brim with action, and the characters have nice interactions. If you haven't noticed, similar to Strange Ferry Tale, this story is also a prototype to what would eventually become Karakuri Circus with the concept of puppet heroes being explored much further in that. I honestly don't have much to say about it other than it's Fujita almost nailing his style, but I still recommend watching the OVA instead - 6/10
#3 - To the Merry Go Round!
A former Karateka finds a little girl in the streets begging to be taken to a merry-go-round, the guy agrees but is mistaken for a kidnapper and is chased by the police. This one is a comedy and easily one of the more entertaining ones, the cop's exaggerated rage and hysterical energymanaged to give me some chuckles especially when he yelled at the nurse in one of the most memeworthy pages to ever grace manga, meanwhile the guy and the girl's relationship is very sweet and heartwarming making you want to root for them and making the achievement of their goal genuinely satisfying. Very charming read - 7/10
#2 - Song of the Open Palm
What truly is strength? Is it the raw force of beating people up or is it our capacity to endure even the worst? When a legendary martial artist gets framed for killing a man in a martial arts competition, he spends day after day practicing even with his hands tied, he might have not realized it but even with your fists clutched there's always the light things in life to ride on them. At least that's how I think it is since it's open to interpretation, either way it works for what it is and is a highlight in this collection despite not being nearly as action packed as the others. - 8/10
#1 - Shall We Go Out At Night?
Here we go, my favorite story of this collection, a two part mystery about a detective helping a girl overcome her trauma while investigating a strange series of murder cases, said mystery feels very well executed with the clever use of foreshadowing Fujita is known for allowing you to piece it yourself, ending with a satisfying conclusion and likable main characters not to mention that unexpected fourth wall break at the very end. Just like with the previous one it was made well into Ushio to Tora's run and it's clear Fujita already mastered his craft by this point, it also seems like a prototype to the Black Museum series in the way it's told. If you only want to read one story, read this one - 8/10
In conclusion this collection is a mixed bag, some of these are just alright and others are great but all are worth reading regardless, especially if you're a fan of Fujita's work.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Dec 29, 2022
As a sequel to Petshop of Horrors, I was definitely expecting more of the same, what I got however was a pretty inferior series that felt lacking in comparison. The original series also had many subpar stories too but they all felt different from eachother in concept and tone, one could be a horror story, the next could be a romance, sometimes there were full-fledged adventures and sometimes it even got experimental and all had ironic twists of fate pulling from all kinds of cultures with an atmosphere and concepts that made it feel mystical.
Shin on the other hand delt like Matsuri Akino was
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running out of ideas so she just defaults to the 25th story about a host club, I'm not kidding when I say that half of the stories here are about host clubs and that most of them blend together. The character of Wu Fei lau is a descent replacement for Orcot but he lacks much development and isn't as charming compared to the Detective, I the hints his bitter relationship with his dad, future arranged marriage and how he secretly cares a lot about his workers would build up to an epic climax like in the original but instead we get a very abrupt ending when we don't even know what count D's deal even was with Taizuu's dad.
Replacing Chris as the child supporting character is Femto, the ghost of an Egyptian Pharaoh trapped in the body of a cat from one of Akino Matsuri's other Manga "The Psychic Business Corporation" he has even less development than Taizuu but I actually give it a pass considering he probably had his character arc in said Manga, plus the stories he's involved with are usually high points, dealing with technology like videogames and the internet which I feel they also could've explored more too.
At the end Shin Petshop of Horrors feels like wasted potential and an inferior product to the original. This being said it's still a good read with most of the same great writing (Except 1 chapter in particular which could have a review of it's own), just expect what's essentially a descent romance Manga about host clubs and occasionally the mafia with Count D's shop in it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Dec 11, 2022
Hunter x Hunter is a series that needs no introduction, it's praised as one of the best Shounen Anime of all time for it's deep characters and well written adult themes, I wouldn't call it a masterpiece like most swear it is (Except for the 1999 Anime) but like any other popular Shounen Anime, It's bound to have a movie, two in fact. Phantom Rouge was an alright film that did everything this kind of movie should, give us a fulfilling small-scale adventure with familiar characters that expands on the world without affecting the Main Story in any way (Besides expanding on Kurapika's canon origins
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and introducing the member of the Phantom Troupe that Hisoka pressumably defeated).
Last Mission on the other side is everything one of these movies shouldn't be, the very fact this takes place after Greed Island, but before Chimera Ants makes no sense, Gon and Killua should be investigating the titular bugs instead of spending time at Heaven's Arena. The story introduces an entire power system and new villains that weren't mentioned before and are never mentioned again, yet feel like very important aspects of world building, the villains themselves are very 1-Dimentional like something out of a Naruto filler movie, and the ending with Gon breaking out of the villain's influence is just too corny for Hunter x Hunter.
Animation is as good as a movie should be, music is recycled, characters are portrayed correctly, Hisoka and Leorio are the highlights as usual, but if you are a fan of Hunter x Hunter, please don't touch this mess even with a 10 foot pole, the more you like and appreciate HxH the more you'll hate this movie.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Nov 16, 2022
Step inside and feel welcome as you enter Count D's were the pet of your dreams await, just be sure to follow the contract carefully, otherwise, you'll face an unpleasant surprise. This describes Petshop of Horrors in a nutshell, it's a simple premise that may not seem for much at first, but never fails to surprise you, as soon as it starts getting repetitive, it may pull something you didn't expect to the point it's starts getting hard to even call this a horror Manga after a while, as stories range from tragic romances to political crime thrillers, and morals delivered in a crude way
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to genuinely learning things about other cultures, all wrapped in a nuanced insight on human nature full of plot twists you'll never see coming.
The characters do a great job growing on you too, Count D has a great air of mystery surrounding him, you never quite know what he is or where he's come from until the final arc., Leon has a great chemistry with him too, they truly feel like friends near the end even if they won't admit it, true Tsundere vibes. Halfway through they introduce Leon's brother, Chris, he's one of the best child characters and the Manga only gets better after his introduction.
The artwork is great too, ir's very detailed and sets the atmosphere perfectly, although I noticed that it tends to reuse the same art for establishing shots a lot, not only trought the same chapter, but throught the entire series, especially in the latter half.
Overall I recommend this series, not every story is great, I admit it can get a little boring sometimes, but I guarantee that each 50 pages will feel like 25 when you read it. Your experience at Count D's shop is one you'll never forget.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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