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Jan 14, 2016
Manly. Heart-pounding. Exhilaratingly awesome. The ultimate epitome of the word “badass”. These are the descriptions that paint the exquisite experience that is Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. Everything from the animation to the out-of-this-world battles, along with a cast of characters that is consistently entertaining makes Jojo an anime like no other. In a time where adaptations of pointless harems and ecchi shows have been stagnating the anime industry, Jojo comes along and brings a sense of fun and originality to the table, even if its story can get a bit muddled in the process! Now without further ado, here is the review that will convince you
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to experience the ever so fabulous and over-the-top anime that is Jojo 2012.
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure (2012) is an anime adaptation of the insanely popular supernatural/shounen manga series of the same name, written and illustrated by the ever so imaginative mangaka, Hirohiko Araki. While there are a total of eight parts currently in the series, Jojo 2012 serves as an adaptation of the first two parts of the manga: Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency. Phantom Blood covers the origin of the Joestar family, who are the main protagonists of the series. The story details the life of Jonathan Joestar, the protagonist of Phantom Blood, living as an aristocrat in 19th century England with his father, George. Jonathan’s world goes upside down the moment Dio Brando ( a.k.a The Magnificent Lord Dio, a.k.a. greatest anime villain of all time) shows up in his life as an orphan who is adopted by Jonathan’s father as a promise that George made to Dio’s father long ago. From there on, Dio makes it his mission to rule over Jonathan and his family for reasons that are, well, pretty fucking asinine and confusing. After a time skip in the story, Phantom Blood’s plot basically becomes completely bonkers. To sum it all up, Dio uses a supernatural mask that turns him into a vampire on regular civilians in order to build an army of supernatural warriors to take over the world, which Jonathan discovers thanks to the death of his dad by the hands of Dio, leading to Jonathan becoming a pupil of a man known as Will A. Zeppeli, who teaches Jonathan the spiritual fighting technique known as Hamon in order to combat Dio and his army and yata, yata, yata. So much happens in Phantom Blood with exposition both given to you and, for whatever reason, not given to you that I can only explain so much of it. Honestly, it is best that you experience Phantom Blood for yourself; however, the story suffers from asspulls and plot holes that are way too noticeable to ignore.
While Phantom Blood’s storyline is most definitely flawed, Battle Tendency contains a story that is the reason why you should become a fan of the series. Why is this the case, you might ask? Well, to put it simply in terms of entertainment, Battle Tendency is a fucking orgasmic rollercoaster ride of action and suspense. Taking place fifty years after the first story during the events of WWII, Battle Tendency stars one of the most entertaining and badass heroes of anime and manga, Joseph Joestar. Joseph, the grandson of Jonathan Joestar, is introduced to us as a young man living in Harlem, New York. Because of the kidnapping of an old friend of Jonathan (who is also the biggest bro in all of anime), Joseph gets himself tangled in a battle with a mysterious group of supernatural warriors known as The Pillar Men, who are seeking to allow their master, Kars, to rule over the world. What comes out of this energetic journey is a great amount of wit, strategic battles, and a plethora of colorful characters that will maintain your attention the entire way through. Make no mistake though; Battle Tendency’s greatest strength is in fact Joseph himself, who is immensely more interesting and lively than Phantom Blood’s Jonathan Joestar, who is a generic and often boring protagonist. All in all, Battle Tendency’s story is a big reason of what makes Jojo 2012 worth the watch.
In terms of animation, Jojo 2012 is one of the most vibrant and colorful anime that you can find. Something that is very evident and stylistic about the show is the fact that each and every character is uniquely presented by having distinguished colors and a high degree of insane fashion. And how can one ignore the gloriously jaw-dropping poses? Each and every pose that the characters make will leave you in a state similar to a prolonged orgasm that causes your eyes to roll back in such a lustful and vivid way, only to further make your toes roll back while sweat is dripping down from the wrinkles of your forehead…….basically they’re beautiful. Facial expressions are also noteworthy within this anime as they are very crisp and fluid, showcasing a lot of the emotions that characters are feeling during specific moments in the show.
Jojo 2012’s soundtrack is also something that is out-of-this-world. The music may remind you of Saturday morning cartoon battle-theme songs and every piece of music is utilized in very outstanding ways during each and every fight of the series. Not to mention that both of the OP’s and ED of the show are terrific, with the ED showcasing the song “Roundabout” from the band Yes. Not only is the soundtrack great, but so is the sound mixing and voice work in general. Sound effects due to the action sequences that take place are very well made and the voice acting is overly-exaggerated and ridiculous, which fits with the overall style of the series.
Jojo’s Bizzare Adventure (2012) is an anime that allows one to sit back, relax, and witness dumb-fun action taking place in front you. While there are some noteworthy problems with its story and some of its characters here and there, Jojo 2012 still proves to be a hell of a fun ride that you don’t usually get to witness in the shounen category of anime. The fights that are shown are all strategically unique in their own ways and the characters are all colorful and memorable, especially Joseph. Are you tired of redundant shounen anime that always inevitably manages to copy previous shounen stories? Then I present to you Jojo 2012, one of the most eye-popping and manly shounen anime you can have the pleasure of watching!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 15, 2015
8MAN BEGINS
FADE IN
The slamming of a locker door. The presence of jocks, nerds, popular girls engulfed in discussions about a new phone coming, teachers scattering about in classrooms, and of course, the loner who wants nothing to do with anyone. This atmosphere, or rather, this presence is none other than high school. High school is that time in our
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lives that everyone in their young-adult lives remember as either being a place of paradise or a place of temporary hell. Interestingly enough though, entertainment can sometimes have trouble capturing what high school truly is like and how the people (specifically students) within high schools react towards their lives up till then. Sometimes it’s just really difficult to capture the feeling of confusion and fear that high school entraps us in, especially in anime. However, one anime that, in my opinion, almost perfectly paints this picture of the turning-point in our lives is Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru, also known as My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong as I Expected, or SNAFU or (finally) Oregairu.
Adapted from the light novel of the same name by Wataru Watari, Oregairu is not your typical school life-centered anime and does a great job at portraying a slightly, more accurate picture of high school. The series stars the cynical, yet wise protagonist Hikigaya Hachiman (THE 8MAN) as he traverses his days in his high school as a loner who only wishes to keep to himself without irritations. This all changes when he is forced to partake in a service club in his school in order to make friends with the classmates that he never wanted to deal with in the first place. The strength that lies within this pretty basic premise is the incredibly well-directed atmosphere and Hachiman himself, which includes how he interacts with those around him and how those around him react to him and their own selves. This certain style of the show really sets up for some for some great mixtures of comedy and drama throughout the entirety of the story.
Being different from other high school anime is, in Oregairu’s case, an amazing strength, rather than a weakness. Sure, you will find some of the obvious stereotypes/tropes within the show (the trap, the otaku, the emotionless girl, etc.) but the central focus of Oregairu is the relationships that Hachiman forms with other characters that equally have their own amount of flaw and troubles in life, causing the show to steer away from the redundant tropes and archetypes that most high school anime contain. This distancing from everyday anime tropes allows Oregairu to successfully feel relatable to others and how their high school experience was (possibly) in relation to Hachiman and the rest of the cast.
What also seems to be a great strength that Oregairu does well against other high school anime is its comedy. The comedy in Oregairu is extremely witty and charming and provides a great balance and intertwining of social commentary with slapstick humor thrown in to it. Hachiman’s inner monologues are hilarious and insightful, giving you a painted portrait of how he views the world around him. What’s also great about the comedy is the fact that the show decides not to rely on fanservice in order to appeal to those looking for humor. Instead, Oregairu contains many moments of well-written situational humor that can come off as being much unexpected, in a good way, as well as a nice balance with its more dramatic moments.
The rest of the supporting cast of Oregairu is also well-written and intriguing. What makes the rest of the cast interesting is how they all have an opposing personality/viewpoint that differs from Hachiman’s. For example, the character Yukinon, while being a bit of a stereotypical bitch, contains many complexities to her personality, such as how she doesn’t know how to value a relationship or even understand what one is, causing her to express herself, realistically, as a loner. The character Yui is a girl who can be looked at as a normal high school girl with many friends, however, she actually feels as though she is a poser who is afraid to be left alone. Both of these characters and others all relate back to the theme(s) of Oregairu, which opens up for some interesting development throughout the show.
As for the art and music, there’s nothing too special about them, however, they’re nevertheless well done. The opening and ending songs for the show are very nice and gives you a feeling for the atmosphere of the show. The overall design for the series’ characters are pretty ok and nothing really terrible. I particularly liked the design of Hachiman, who has many notable features that differ from the other character models (dead-fish eyes ftw!).
One flaw that can be notable within the series is that of the show’s ending. The way the final arc wraps up is nice and surprising, however, there is no “real” finale or conclusion to the show and it all feels like an obligatory setup for a sequel (which it turned out to be true). Instead, what you get is a final episode that is more or less an unnecessary slice of life comedy side story as we as an OVA which is pretty much the same thing. You can, however, look past this flaw for the most part and enjoy the essentials of the show, without the ending distracting your enjoyment of the rest of the series.
Oregairu is as close as you can get to finding a high school anime that almost forgets that it is an anime. The show subverts many of the tropes that you can find within a large amount of high school anime and is mostly successful at doing so. Hachiman is a fantastically funny and moodily-written protagonist who is great to watch. The supporting cast of characters is written in a way that perfectly represents the overall themes and commentary that series contains. Aside from its very awkward ending and some silly moments, Oregairu is an immensely entertaining anime that represents a nice change within the demographic of school life anime.
FADE OUT
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 21, 2015
Within the anime industry, the Ecchii genre has always been the most controversial genre that you can find with anime and for good reasons too. It features stories that contain girls in their most stereotypical fashion, having them wear skimpy clothing, showing off some ridiculous pairs of breasts, panty-shots, bikinis, etc. The Ecchii genre loves to show off a needless amount of fanservice and perverse comedy in order to cast a humungous shadow over the obvious conventions of a show, which are the characters and the plot (obviously I mean “story”). But what happens when a series within a genre such as this manages to
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prove itself worthy of being entertaining in its comedy, characters and action while also containing a story and world that is actually somewhat plausible and interesting? Well, you end up getting an anime known as High School DxD, or what I would like to call, the king of the Ecchii genre.
High School DxD is a 2012 anime based on a series of light novels by Ichiei Ishibumi. The presentation of DxD is pretty much something that is common in all of Ecchii anime. The protagonist of the story, Issei Hyoudou, is an overly-perverted everyday high school student who hangs out with his equally-perverted best friends. The only thing that Issei longs for in the world is a girlfriend for him to date and feel all over. One day, his wish is granted in the form of a young and beautiful girl that proclaims her love for him. As the two begin to date, Issei feels as though he is truly blessed by this girl that he is dating. That is, until one day during a date, the girl kills Issei and reveals herself to be a fallen-angel who was ordered by an organization to spy on and kill Issei, who just so happens to contain the potential and power to kill fallen-angel, while at the same time, a high school girl known as Rias Gremory defeats the girl and saving Issei’s life in the process by bringing him back to life since she turns out to be a powerful demon……….like I said, a pretty common presentation within Ecchii shows. Surprisingly, however, the story of this anime is very coherent and has some of the most entertaining moments and characters that I’ve seen in anime.
The strength of DxD’s story doesn’t come from its presentation, but rather its world and supporting cast of characters. I mean it when I say that DxD has a very intriguing and understandable universe and world-building. The world of DxD is one filled with multiple mythologies and religions, such as Christianity or Norse, all bundled into one big war. Issei just so happens to be thrown smack-dab into the middle of this war thanks to Rias Gremory, who runs a secret organization of demons who also attend to Issei’s school. Everyone, from the sadistic and hilariously mysterious Lightning Queen Akeno to the very calm and charming blonde boy Kiba, is hilarious and unique, thanks to their backstories and powers that they use in various action sequences of the show. Speaking of the action in the show, I must say that it is surprisingly fun to watch and contains moments of badassness and drama. Because of the many religions and mythologies of the show, you get to experience some very epic fights against demons, nightmarish animals, angels, priests, and even some gods. Basically what I’m trying to say is that the world and the characters of DxD are grandeur and incredibly interesting, even for an Echhii anime.
What is also shocking about DxD are the moments of fanservice. Not only is the fanservice laugh-out-loud hilarious but it is also in relation to the story and character moments. Weird right? DxD’s fanservice is much like the fanservice in other Ecchii anime, with its fair shair of titties and ass and what not. However, the anime also manages to make these perverted moments pretty damn memorable and honest-to-God important to the storyline. I found this to be very impressive within such a stereotypical genre because it is something that you do not typically see in Echii shows. DxD proves itself to be something that is “special” or “new” for this type of genre and gives you hope for more anime that may possibly use this format and thinking when it comes to comedy and story.
Overall, there’s not too much to say about DxD other than it is both your common and not common Ecchii anime. Sure, it has its fair share of stupid fanservice moments full of perversion and the like, however, it does something that you rarely see in the Ecchii genre, which is conveying a story and world that makes you want to watch more. The mixture of different mythologies, religion and history turns out to be brilliantly epic and dramatic, even when the show has its comedic moments. The protagonist Issei is also entertainingly different from other Ecchii protagonists because of the fact that you actually experience some development and changes that his character goes through over the time of the first season. Because of these surprising changes and moments that differ from an average Echhii comedy, High School DxD is worthy enough of being labeled as “different” and “fresh” to those who both love the Ecchii genre and hate the genre. DxD is definitely worth your time if you have been searching long and hard for an Ecchii anime that isn’t just about the fanservice.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Mar 30, 2015
(Note: This review contains some spoilers. Read at your own risk.)
*Sigh*. Where do I even begin? You know, I really like Tokyo Ghoul, well the manga at least. The first season contained a lot of flaws, however, I ultimately thought of it as an entertaining action/horror anime nonetheless. And now, we have this uninspiring sequel that proves how weak an adaptation of a manga can be. So fasten your seatbelts, this is gonna be a bumpy, fuckin’ ride…
Now it’s time to get to the point. Tokyo Ghoul Root A is garbage, plain and simple. It is a sequel that promised
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so much but does so little with every bit of its twelve-episode run, causing you to question why the hell you watched it in the first place. The reason why I’m saying that you will question why you watched it at all is because of the fact that it is almost EXACTLY the same as the point in the manga that it takes place in. Of course, it isn’t anyone’s fault if they haven’t read the manga and so, naturally, the story would be a brand new ride for them. But even then, the story of Root A is completely muddled with weak characters and a very unorganized and lazy story structure that feels like it was written overnight without any thought. Tokyo Ghoul Root A is a mess that needs to be criticized in order to show to people how an anime shouldn’t be made.
Just like the first season, Tokyo Ghoul Root A is an anime developed by the infamous Studio Pierrot, known for creating the animation for anime such as Bleach, Naruto, Yuyu Hakusho, and GTO. When Pierrot announced that Root A would be a sequel to the first season and that huge changes were coming to the story that would differ from the manga, fans everywhere went bonkers with excitement and glee. I myself would say that I was pretty hyped to see what changes were coming to the table. The problem about that specific announcement made by Pierrot is the fact that it was nothing but a lie. Tokyo Ghoul Root A’s “changes” to the story are so miniscule and incoherent that you will think to yourself why the changes happened in the first place. In order to explain why these certain “changes” were lousy and nonsensical, I will now briefly explain the story.
Root A takes place immediately after the events of the first season, with Kaneki’s group of comrades coming to rescue the him from Aogiri Tree, the infamously brutal organization of ghouls within the Tokyo Ghoul universe. Everything within the pilot episode of Root A is pretty much exactly the same as how the story up to the point went down in the manga. The “big change”, however, is revealed to the audience at the end of the episode, which reveals that the protagonist Kaneki is going to join Aogiri Tree, instead of forming his own group of rebel-esque ghouls like in the manga. Exciting right? Well guess what? That particular change that happens is neither coherently explained nor developed throughout the rest of the show, causing it to be just one giant waste of time and hype.
Not only is that specific change from the manga disappointing about Root A, but so is the entirety of the story as a whole. What seemed to personally upset me even more than the change from the manga was the fact that Root A never seemed to fix the flaw that I thought was most noticeable within the first season, which were the incredibly unorganized and lackluster subplots between the characters of the show. I’ve always found that the author of Tokyo Ghoul, Ishida Sui, contains the potential to create great, or at very interesting, characters within the complex world that he has created. Sadly, Root A fails even harder than the first season at making the majority of its cast at least somewhat likeable. The characters in Root A hardly seem like actual people in the first place because of the robotic dialogue and the unclear motivations and intentions that most of the characters have. For example, when Kaneki announces at the end of the first episode what his new plan was for the rest of the show, he never truly explains anywhere within each episode what his actual intentions were for joining Aogiri Tree. Instead, the show continuously treats us, the audience, as if we are gullible and easy-going idiots that would never question the basic conventions of character writing.
What was also noticeably disappointing about Root A was the lack of excitement or thrill from the action scenes. Back in my review of the first season, I noted how one of Tokyo Ghoul’s biggest pros was the intense and very entertaining sequences of action that blended well with a good soundtrack and splendid animation. Root A tries desperately to make its action as great and wonderful as the first season’s, but instead, the action is ultimately boring and way too short in order to give at least one compliment about it. Not only is the action dull, but so is the overall animation for most of the episodes. It really just seems to me that the guys over at Pierrot were very lazy when it came to the story-boarding and drawing of Root A.
Aside from its still very well-made soundtrack, the only thing that I can honestly say that I liked about this newest season of Tokyo Ghoul were the dramatic moments, especially within the last episode. Within giving away any spoilers, the last episode, in my opinion, was well done and tragic enough to say that it deserves to be known as one of, if not the only emotionally resonating moment within Root A that was well made. However, the rest of the show’s drama is completely heavy-handed, unbelievable, and somber for the sake of being somber. There’s barely any moments within Root A that contains drama where you can actually “feel something” for the characters, with the exception of Kaneki and The Manager.
Basically what I’m trying to say is that Tokyo Ghoul Root A is a sequel that is not only horrible, but is also a sequel that isn’t really a sequel. The changes made within the anime from the manga are barren and unnecessary because of how undeveloped they are. Watching Root A is also a waste of time on its own because of the fact that it is basically a continuing adaptation of the manga, aside from the beginning and last episodes of the show. If you are a fan of the manga, like myself, and feel compelled enough to check out Root A, I strongly advise against that decision. Tokyo Ghoul Root A is a mess of an anime that rarely shows any intention to improve upon the incredibly noteworthy flaws that you can find scattered throughout the first season. As I side before, I like Tokyo Ghoul enough to say that I am indeed a fan of the series. However, if the potential anime adaptations continue on like this, then Tokyo Ghoul will ultimately become an obscure and dreaded series that won’t eventually be worth anyone’s time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Mar 12, 2015
Nowadays, I seem to find that stories revolving around the nature of heroism, especially within anime, are rather stale. Stories about heroes, or what makes a hero a hero, are filled with protagonists who seem to be invincible, or rather, superficial in the sense that they contain no actual realism towards what makes them a hero. If you take your time to look closely and observe, you’ll find that conflicts within a majority of modern day stories are resolved with simple words of wisdom, or “power-ups” to defeat an obstacle blocking the hero from victory. This causes the heroes that
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we’re supposed to praise and care for to become uninteresting, cardboard characters that we can’t sympathize with, no matter how hard we try. However, if you look into the past, specifically within anime and manga, you will find that a plethora of stories centered on heroism are not only gripping, but they also contain heroes that are believable, flawed, and most of all, unique. One such story is that of Battle Angel Alita, a manga that perfectly grasps the nature of what heroism is, as well as the cost that comes with being a hero.
Within the category of sci-fi action stories, Battle Angel Alita is one of the very best. Written and illustrated by Yukito Kishiro, the story’s setting is the rundown and harsh, desert-like city known as The Scrapyard. This cesspool of a city contains the worst criminals that humanity has to offer, along with cybernetic freaks terrorizing citizens. The protagonist Alita is introduced to us by a caring doctor/engineer named Ido, who finds her body in a local dump within The Scrapyard. After getting her cybernetic body put back together by Ido, Alita almost immediately experiences the horrors of The Scrapyard’s criminal activity and decides to make it her mission to become a Hunter Warrior, a bounty hunter of sorts that acts as a police force within The Scrapyard. As Alita begins her journey to help the innocent people of The Scrapyard, she soon starts to realize that the job of a hero is filled with both tragedy and self-revelation.
What makes this manga have such an exceptionally well-written story is Alita herself. I don’t mean to exaggerate when I say that she is honestly one of the greatest fictional characters ever created within anime and manga. What makes her character so great is the fact that Yukito Kushiro wrote her to be a sort of “symbol” or representation of what it means to be human and the experiences that human beings go through in life (which is a bit ironic considering the fact that Alita herself is not fully human). Throughout the story, we follow Alita through many locales of an apocalypse filled with despair and fear for survival. And although she witnesses many horrifying events and experiences pain, both physically and emotionally, Alita keeps her image as a messiah among those who are weak and need salvation. Alita contains a sort of charm or spirit of a hero that rises up against evil.
Something that also makes Alita such a great character in the story is the element of her backstory and how she suffers from amnesia. Although Alita is constantly viewed as a girl with an immense amount of courage and willpower, she still contains one major weakness throughout the story, which is her past, which is a puzzle that she constantly tries to solve. Because of this obstacle of hers, many moments of the manga brilliantly portray Alita as a damaged and ultimately flawed individual. Her flawed behavior and individuality causes many undesirable outcomes to befall on the other characters of the story. When these events happen, we witness some of the manga’s very best writing, as it shows that Alita must learn from her mistakes and flaws in order to keep the ones that she loves close to her heart.
Not only is Alita a great character, but so are the many people that she comes across throughout the story, especially the villains she encounters. What makes these supporting characters so great is the fact, like Alita, they all contain some sort of aspect or characteristic that makes them feel human. Almost all of the characters within the story have regrets about their pasts, existential feelings of nihilism, love, and thoughts about their own meaning for existence. This allows the reader to not only connect with Alita, but the many others that she meets throughout her adventures, both good and bad. Sadly, there are some characters that are often forgetful throughout the story and stereotypical. However, that is only a minor flaw considering how many other great characters like Alita there are in the story.
Aside from the excellent writing, Battle Angel Alita also has some of the very best artwork that you can find in manga. Kushiro does a brilliant job of conveying the action that we see in the panels as very gritty, dirty, and emotionally resonate with the characters that are fighting one another. The artwork also allows for you to witness the action on an “epic” scale because of the sheer amount of destruction and chaos from environments that are illustrated. What I also found great about the artwork are the breathtaking illustrations of Alita and other characters’ facial expressions and movements, making you think as though the characters were truly real. Everything from technology, body language and postures, expressions, and action are drawn with superb technique from Kushiro.
Battle Angel Alita is a manga that deserves to be read by science fiction, action and drama fans alike. This manga contains some of the best character writing that you will ever find in a manga or any story for that matter. The artwork is outstanding and Yukito Kushiro does an awesome job at portraying the humanity of Alita and other characters. Alita herself is also the perfect representation of how a hero should be written in an action story. Reading this manga will make you feel as though you’ve seen one of the most exciting and explosive action films of all time, only that this is a manga. Battle Angel Alita is a must read for anyone looking for an exceptionally atmospheric action manga, with a protagonist that is not only badass, but is also realistically relatable.
(Side Note: 1st manga review!!)
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 2, 2015
Wow. Just wow. I mean, one could take this video as a postmodern view of the relationship between man and woman. Or, you can just watch the video and declare it as nothing but pure and utter, wait for it, shit. Just shit. There is literally no other word to describe this video.
You know, I honestly don't know why I wrote this review at all. I guess I'm just bored. I will give out a warning though. You probably shouldn't watch this while eating or if you're feeling sick.
Actually, better yet, don't watch this at all. Trust me, I'm doing you a favor...
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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Feb 1, 2015
Whether it be now or earlier in one’s life, there is a moment where we all must look at ourselves and ask the simple, yet difficult to answer, question which is, “What do I want to do with my life?” This is a painstaking question that cuts deep down into our psyche and into the very meat of what makes us human. Sure, a question such as this may seem ugly and off-putting to the majority of us, there is no denying that. However, we must still confront this question at some point in our lives with full force, no matter how repetitive the trials
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of that question may be. Thus describes the anime known as The Tatami Galaxy, a show based around this simple yet difficult question. What makes The Tatami Galaxy shine with brilliance is its embrace of the embarrassing and irritating repetitions that life throws at us until we finally figure out what we want out of living.
Atmosphere shines greatly in this anime, causing its story to be a knockout. Much like the show’s nameless main character, The Tatami Galaxy presents to you a story that is set in a surreal, weird, yet incredibly honest, depiction of the world as seen through the eyes of a young college student. We follow this nameless, college-bound protagonist of ours through certain days in his life involving his own misadventures of achieving a “rosy-campus life,” filled with no worries and endless fun. What he doesn’t realize, however, is the fact that he is wasting his days away in a seemingly endless time loop. Within each new day within this loop, we experience the many life lessons and intricate people that the protagonist meets along the way.
These intricate people within the show are just as incredibly well written as the hilariously tragic protagonist. Ozu, the protagonist’s best friend of sorts, is a standout character who perfectly symbolizes the yang to the main character’s yin. Ozu is sly, treacherous and mischievous to the viewer, however, he comes off as incredibly funny and charming towards the many other characters that we meet throughout the show. Because of how he is presented, he manages to trick us and the protagonist into going with many of his wacky and mind-boggling journeys through college life. This makes Ozu a great antithesis towards the protagonist’s views on life and his actions throughout the show. He is an obstacle that the main character must overcome somehow, and it’s great watching how he continuously tries to this during his endless days in college.
Not only will you find Ozu to be a great character within this show, but the many other members of the cast are just as entertaining and memorable. We as an audience view these many different characters’ complexities and quirks as each and every one of them interact with the main character in certain fashions and events that collide with the main character. As you continue to follow the different lives of the supporting cast, you begin to notice how similar their own lives are compared to the protagonist’s life, in the same since that each of them deal with existential-types of crisis’ in the same vein as the protagonist. This sort of inner relation with the supporting cast along with the protagonist, in my opinion, is what makes The Tatami Galaxy a very memorable show that can help relate to anyone in society.
What I also find as something that stands out is the obvious breathtakingly surreal art style as well as the directing. You really have to give a round of applause to the artwork in the show, especially because of the fact that it captures the colorfulness as well as the awkward and flabbergasting environment that is known as college. The director of the show, Masaaki Yuasa, also does a beautiful job of capturing amazing, and sometimes hilarious, facial expressions of the many characters as well as impactful scenes that manage to resonate with the audience and prove to be memorable and even tragic. Not only is the directing incredible, but the soundtrack is also full of catchy and quirky songs that present a bit of an irony towards the overall feeling or tone of the show. The opening song of the show is also one of the best opening you could ever find in an anime.
At the end of the day, the message is what truly matters when it comes to The Tatami Galaxy, which is to “Seize the opportunity that is dangling in front of you”. The show is an ode to all of us young people in society, telling us to never give up on our hopes and dreams and to realize that those hopes and dreams are within our reach, we just need to extend our hand out a little more in order to grasp on to it. This is a message that deeply impacts me and I’m pretty sure that it also impacts yourself as well as the people around us. What you will ultimately get out of this anime is a terrific cast of characters, a memorable art style and atmosphere, an upbeat soundtrack and, most of all, a hint towards the answer that we all seek in our lives, which is what we want out of living. I highly recommend this anime to lovers of surrealism and those who are going through a bit of a personal crisis and find themselves to be stuck within the ever-changing and ever-scary place that is society.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Sep 19, 2014
What do you get when you have X men meet Resident Evil? That would be Tokyo Ghoul.
Tokyo Ghoul is an anime that contained a large amount of hype stemming from those who have read the manga, and for good reasons too. The premise would sound very enthralling and interesting to those who are in love with the supernatural and psychological genres of fiction, like myself. Since the show also throws in a high dosage of fast-paced graphic violence here and there along with a good soundtrack, you pretty much have the most entertaining show of this season, right!? Wrong. What makes Tokyo Ghoul a below-average
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show at best comes from its mediocre job of the most vital components that a show must have: the story, the pacing, and its themes. Instead, Tokyo Ghoul feels like a rushed adaptation of what seems to be a promising and worthwhile story. While its music and most of its characters are well-developed, the show suffers from an incredibly poor direction.
What Tokyo Ghoul fails to do with its story is provide a coherent focus on what it wants to show you. Essentially, the story is about a college student named Ken Kaneki who tries to find his place in a world that is full of violence and hate. The cause of this violence and hate come from those known as ghouls, who are biologically-evolved humans that feed off of other humans. Long story short, Kaneki, due to a horrific accident, becomes a half human, half ghoul and must learn to live in a society that offers tranquility to humans but hatred and oppression towards ghouls. While the synopsis and exposition for the show are delivered very well, experiencing the bulk of the story will make you feel as though it is ultimately unorganized and messy. The reason for this comes from the extremely awkward pacing and the overbearing focus on subplots that feel completely unnecessary and very rushed, causing you to question the choice of direction for the show.
What also makes the story of this show mediocre comes not from the main character Kaneki, but rather from the supporting cast of characters and the been-there-done-that tropes connected with them. I honestly don't think that I'm lying when I say that Tokyo Ghoul probably has one of the most boring and predictable cast supporting of characters you can view in an anime today. The presentation of the many different characters isn't the problem I had with them. The central problem came from the fact that each and every one of the supporting characters' actions are completely predictable along with their personalities. For example, the character Nishiki is the obvious hotheaded male who will always react to an insult that you can find in many different anime's. The character known as Hide represents the all-to-familiar obnoxiously loud friend of the protagonist of an anime. Kaneki, while being a pretty decent protagonist, also shows many tropes that many should already be accustomed to in other shows, the most notable being the frightened and soft-spoken character who always needs to get pushed around in order to do something, which is what the majority of his scenes in the anime involve. However, like I said, Kaneki is still much more enjoyable and developed than the show's various characters that seem unique at a first glance, but quickly become easy to read.
What's also disappointing about Tokyo Ghoul is not only its disjointed pacing and focus of characters, but also its focus on the different genres it tries to become. While researching Tokyo Ghoul for the first time, one would notice that it is described as a psychological action mystery with horror elements thrown in it. The problem is that the show lies many times about the genres it delves into, with the exception of action and drama. In terms of the psychological aspects of the show, the first and last episodes are literally the only episodes that contain a well done manner of psychological elements, while the other episodes of the show completely forget about the psychological aspects that were being shown previously in favor of flashy action and very cheesy comedy that will sometimes appear in various episodes. Because of these irritations, the show has a hard time figuring out its identity for a genre for it to fall under.
Although I said that the flashy action takes away the psychological/suspense aspects of the show, I must admit that I would be lying if I said that the action is mediocre. What makes the action in Tokyo Ghoul so damn good is not just the fact that it is both thrilling and fast, but it's also because of the music and art that make it even more exciting. The soundtrack of the show is incredibly addicting and perfectly fuses in with the action on screen. The visuals are also breathtaking to look at, especially from the many transformations and horrific, yet beautiful, mutations of the characters who are ghouls. The one annoyance that you shall find with the show's action, however, is undoubtedly its heavy censoring. I can understand that Tokyo Ghoul is a story that involves a plethora of gore, but the show is censored to the point of it looking like as though it's rated PG.
Tokyo Ghoul is an anime that ultimately does not feel as though it is has a clear pathway for what it's trying to show you. The pacing is disgruntled and suffers from focusing on too many different plot points in only a total of twelve episodes. Majority of the characters in the show are predictable and boring with their actions and how their personality is presented to you. The question is, is Tokyo Ghoul worth the watch? To this I would answer, yes it is. While aspects such as the pacing and censoring can be annoying, Tokyo Ghoul still manages to offer up some very impressive world-building and exposition while trying its best to stay focused on its story. The action and music in the show is also some of the best that you can find in an anime this year. Overall, Tokyo Ghoul is a show that shows much potential for improvements, but still proves to be a fun ride for those who love aesthetically directed action and minor psychological elements, all under twelve episodes.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Sep 1, 2014
Hanamonoagatari is yet another fantastic entry of the Monogatari Series, written by novelist Nisio Isin. Everything that you know and love about the series is back in Hanamonogatari: the comedy, the mind-boggling dialogue, supernatural mumbo-jumbo, the out of this world art style and, best of all, the incredibly well written characters that will win you over in just a few scenes. However, what also makes Hanamonogatari so special is it's emotional attachment to a character that you would never have thought to care so much for in such surprising ways.
Now, the first noticeably different factor of the show is its focus on one of the
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more minor characters of the series: Kanbaru. Kanbaru has always been a character who, although entertaining, is a bit downplayed in terms of the depth that other characters in the series contain. Fortunately, this entry allows you to connect better with her than before, and if you already loved her before then it's a win-win!
Because of this focus on Kanbaru, the story has you follow certain days of her life set after the events of Monogatari Series: Second Season. While the story is not as energetic compared to its predecessors, what makes it worth the watch is the terrific dynamic between Kanbaru and the character known as Rouka Numachi, Kanbaru's childhood friend. Rouka's amazingly detailed past including the affliction that she gained from it is told in a way that is both tragically heartbreaking and colorfully written. As interesting as the supernatural lore and topics are, watching Kanbaru's many interactions with this somber friend of hers are truly the standout moments in this show and deserve praise.
Speaking of interactions, Hanamonogatari still contains the series' usual fair of laugh-out-loud and witty conversations with its many eccentric characters. Many of the major characters of the series appear in the show in various scenes, however, I personally found that most of the characters shown on screen were pretty meaningless and served the purpose of showing up in the show only as cameos for fans. Like I said, these characters do still provide the witty humor and odd interactions, but I felt as though this specific entry in the series did not need most of them because of the fact that some of them had very little to do with the story, thus, causing them to serve as a distraction.
If you've watched any of the past entries in the series, then you shall already become familiar with Hanamonogatari's art style. The colorful scenes within the show are top-notch and beautiful to look at. What's also beautiful about the art this time around is the incredible scenery and architecture. The series has always contained great architectural scenery, but Hanamonogatari pushes it to a whole now level, containing transforming construction sites, spiral rooftops, and much more. What also makes the scenery so great in the show is how the scenery alone tells you a lot about the two central characters of the show just with art alone, which I found to be very impressive.
Hanamonogatari is a chapter of the Monogatari Series where you will find more of the same quirks and tropes of the series as well as many, many new factors. The emotional connection that you gain between Kanbaru and Rouka in just a mere five episodes is worthy of applause and will have you wanting more depth such as this in the future entries to come. While the rest of the supporting cast is a bit underwhelming, they still provide the usual comedic and dialogue-heavy moments that the series is known for. Hanamonogatari is an exceptional show, not just within the series, but as an anime in general because of its unique style used to portray various emotions with its central characters. This show is without a doubt worth watching if you love this series as much as I do!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 14, 2014
Before taking away a life, one must realize the act that they are about to commit. Only when you have come to the realization that it is a "do or die" situation, and that you will not only affect the victim's life but also your very own is when you are truly able kill. But how does one cope with the consequences and repercussions of murder? Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal is a story that allows you to experience one's descent into the act of murder and the consequences and pain that befalls onto him.
Trust & Betrayal is a story that serves as the
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prequel to the Rurouni Kenshin series. If you are expecting to see the character, Himura Kenshin, in his usual comedic and happy-go-lucky attitude, then you will have a rude awakening. Trust & Betrayal shows you the melancholic and tragic past that Kenshin endured before the main series. Because of the period that the OVA is set in, which is during the Bakumatsu Revolution, Kenshin is introduced as a boy who has lost everything thanks to the act of murder. When his future master, Hiko Seijuro, finds him, he sees that he is a broken shell of a boy who is living in a time of hate and despair. When his master decides to teach him the art of killing, Kenshin then starts his long and lonely journey of cleansing Japan of its evil with the use of a sword, giving birth to the man known as the Hitokiri Battousai.
What truly makes this OVA shine is the message that you gain after viewing it, which is "you reap what you sow". You experience Kenshin throughout the entirety of the OVA suppressing his emotions when killing, causing him to become a master at what is typically revered as a heinous action. However, although Kenshin views killing as something that is righteous if used for justice, he starts to learn how there is a possibility of consequences for one's actions. This revelation allows Trust & Betrayal to ultimately serve as a life lesson, not just towards Kenshin, but also towards the viewers.
This series also proves that music and animation from years ago is still amazing to view and listen to. The art of Trust & Betrayal is breathtakingly somber and colorful, while at the same time merging in a highly unique use of realistic cinematography that beautifully showcases wildlife and other forms of nature that fit into the setting. The soundtrack is also exceptionally amazing. It not only sounds great, but it also causes you to actually feel and create emotions while viewing the story, something that is very challenging to accomplish within films or shows.
Although there are many great aspects of this OVA series, it also suffers from one small flaw, which is the pacing. There are moments within the series where characters are introduced or shown within a blink of an eye, causing you to forget most of their names and how they are important to the story. Certain headlines appear throughout most of the scenes that give you information on Japanese history, yet they are only on screen for a mere few seconds. Ultimately, the pacing is a nuisance, but it shouldn't distract you too much from this series' greatness.
Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal is nothing short of a masterpiece. This is one of the very few series where I felt as though I was experiencing a character's life and actions through his own eyes. Aside from the amazing swordplay, direction, cinematography, music and art, this series acts as an impacting and grandeur commentary on consequences and morality in life and how our past can change our present state in life. If you fully want to experience an emotional impact with this series, I highly recommend that you read a good sum of the volumes of the manga, or watch at least half of the main anime series. Once you have done this, I guarantee that you will look at this OVA series as something that is special and unforgettable.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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