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Apr 6, 2019
As someone that has closely followed the Layton games for several years, the idea of a Layton anime series excited me. Though, I was a bit skeptical about watching it at first because I was mixed about 3DS Katrielle Layton game and its lack of proper closure to the main story. I watched and closely followed the series in the second half of 2018. The Katrielle Layton anime slowly became a source of happiness as I binged more of the episodes, eventually following the series week-by-week. This review is written from the perspective of a Layton fan, so some of the things I say might
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confuse you a bit.
Layton Mystery Detective Agency definitely was a fun anime throughout its whole run. The anime is basically an episodic mystery anime throughout its run, with occasionally focusing on the bigger mysteries. Katrielle's lovable personality was the main draw of the anime for me. Kana Hanazawa and Katrielle meld together to create a very entertaining anime. Her performance in the Layton anime is probably the most expressive I have ever heard out of all the anime characters she has played. It almost feels like Kana was given free reign, almost as if Kana was actively participating in the production of Layton anime alongside Level-5 to bring out the fullest extent of her blissfully good voice talents. Kana's defining voice for all of anime belongs to Katrielle in my opinion. Kana Hanazawa is Katrielle Layton.
There is also its unique aspect of making me as a viewer participate in the episodic mysteries. The show is carefully constructed in a way that makes me actively want to solve the mystery as the episode delves into its mystery more. There are a few episodic mysteries that felt jarringly illogical or poorly executed, but 80% of them were generally good. There is a frequent tendency to make me as a viewer cry when it comes to the resolutions, and that can be an issue sometimes. Some mysteries work well with the crying moments when the mystery/narrative are cohesively well-constructed, others are not so much.
As for my thoughts on the main story, it is pretty good. The main story is not so much a main focus, but I did not mind it personally because Katrielle Layton alone entertained me enough to keep watching each episode. The grand mystery felt more like an extra dessert, while the episodic mysteries were the main course. I was pretty surprised that the grand mystery was well-crafted and well-thought out. I think the story-based episodes could have slowed down the pacing so that I could be given time to form my own conclusions on the mysteries. It is not a big issue though.
As for other thoughts on the anime, I definitely wanted to see more of those kinds of episodes where it is focused on side-characters like Emiliana, Ernest, and the Inspector, the fun kind that extracts the wholesome, hilarious moments. The episodes that focused on Emiliana and Sherl singlehandedly made me like the characters on a whole new level. Surprisingly, more of the mysteries focus on the lesser side characters like the farm boy, the seven wealthy people, and the swirly hair genius. I think out of all minor character casts in the Layton series, they felt the most fleshed out. Some of the NPCs in Layton games, while they have charming designs, are pretty forgettable. I felt more closely connected to these "NPCs" (minor characters) and welcomed their reappearance when they returned for another episodic mystery. There is a good sense of world-building in that aspect that made me more invested. It makes me wish that the 3DS game had the complete story with these character explorations.
I am going to miss the anime series. I am dying for more Katrielle. I want the Layton anime to return so that Kana Hanazawa can voice her again. If another season of Layton comes, I hope the staff can improve in crafting episodic mysteries, while also integrating interesting character explorations for characters like Emiliana, Sherl and the Inspector. Katrielle and Ernest are pretty much fleshed out now as of this season, and now there is room to flesh out the other characters. Personally, I am more excited about the prospect of another season of Katrielle episodic mysteries than the idea of a Layton anime based on the six Layton games (A.K.A. what Ace Attorney is currently doing right now with its anime adaptation). Should the six game anime happen though, I hope Hino considers the idea of fleshing out Luke, Flora, Emmy, and Layton more than just doing a simple copy and paste. Give them some substantial character arcs.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Oct 20, 2018
I gained slight interest of Genshiken after hearing about its premise. The story just being otaku life-style being explored in-depth and the praise I seen from the anime community/anime YouTubers made the series sounded very promising, though initially, I was turned off by its realistic otaku character design and the low production values of the anime to give it a shot years ago. My interest in the series came back at a time where I personally felt seriously depressed, questioning my purpose of being part of the anime/manga community as more of my in-depth, passionate analyses started to feel brushed off by most now, despite
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trying hard to get an interesting discussion rolling out of my analyses for this year. I figured that if I gave Genshiken a shot, maybe I could learn something more about the fans of each medium and get a greater understanding on how a natural otaku friendship forms. I chose to begin this series read the manga, since I still heavily disliked how the anime adaptation looked. Little did I know that I would become immensely/phenomenally engaged with Genshiken over the course of the manga’s ride.
The First Season was decent and had an interesting storyline, though a kinda bland beginning. The bold exploration of different kinds of Japanese otaku talking about otaku things (such as doujins, porn games, and cosplay) was interesting. There was also good, intriguing, and subtle/realistic character developments and complex/inner conflicts of discussing made the manga a nice read, but it did not make for a very engaging read. It was not until the first romance formed in the Genshiken (The romance after Saki/Kousaka) happened when the series finally became a captivating read. The character developments onward build up pretty greatly, with the last fifths of the first season personally impacting me to some degree in how I personally/boldly approach discussion on otaku hobbies.
The way Genshiken characters nonchalantly discuss even the most risqué subjects and naturally growing romances and friendships with each other was pretty inspiring to me. It was especially so inspiring for me with a certain couple that briefly develops an interesting story that involves working in the manga industry. The only complaints I have with the first season is just the extra content that explores each character’s personal tastes and online write-ups about fictional series created for Genshiken. The fictional anime/manga/game names made me cringe most of the time and the deep write-ups for fictional series did not interest me at all. As much as I understand the author wanting to add these to build extra layers to the otaku matters for the overall experience, I feel there were better ways to approach such deep explorations. The extra content broke the flow of the story for me so often, that I just skimmed over most fictional write-ups and character profiles just to read the next chapter. I understood the point of these and quickly moved from them after 10 chapters.
As for the Second Season, I personally think it is absolutely phenomenal and immensely entertaining. Although, the beginning chapters are rough. The story no longer focused on the growth/exploration the original Genshiken otakus, rather the new Genshiken members. I initially thought the new members had over-exaggerated personalities, despite the ok character developments that still show interesting otaku explorations that compliment with entertaining moments. That, the heavy focus on a certain/new Genshiken member’s conflicts, and the mangaka plot line slowly fading away made me worry that the series was going downhill with no interesting story directions to keep me interested. I did not understand what the author was doing, until the build-up to another huge plot line came around the 80+ chapter mark. That is when the series took off to an uncharted, immensely fascinating direction. I had become so engaged at that point, and my interest/care for the story/characters scaled higher and higher with each chapter.
I will not spoil what this plot line is, but I can tell you my compliments. Somehow, the mangaka managed to weave in otaku exploration, two super interesting character conflicts, SOMEHOW managing to make character growth feel realistic and natural, while also providing phenomenal build-up to the story, bringing several plot twists, and offering a colossal amount of entertaining moments that made me slowly love every character currently participating in this generation’s Genshiken club. The build-up led up to a sensational conclusion with the last 25 chapters that literally made me fucking explode in hype emotions for every fucking scene that happens. That plot line’s last chapters engaged and entertained me to a level that I have not felt in ages since first watching To Love-Ru Darkness’s 2nd season’s OVA conclusion. By the end, I could not help but feel depressed when reading the last chapter, knowing that it was the last time I will engage with these memorable characters, or should I say now, my closest friends.
I personally consider the Second Season way WAY better than the First Season, in terms of entertainment, engagement, and character arcs. For me, the First Season is easily outclassed by Second Season, no contest. Really, the only gripe I have honestly is that certain character’s conflict I mentioned earlier going on for too long. That character’s conflict grows so interesting as the plot line begins to set fortunately, but I felt there could have been more opportunities to have chapters exploring the other otakus and the older otakus that disappear in the story, but that is a minor complaint for me now. Everyone must read Genshiken. Whether you are a manga, anime, or gaming fan, I think you will have a great experience with this series, if you give it a chance to let the slow character developments and exploration unfold into something beautiful. I sincerely hope that the mangaka creates a Third Season, because I am very interested in the relationships that were established in the final chapters and the third generation of Genshiken members that could potentially make Third Season even more phenomenal than the Second Season. (I need more Ogiue and Sue in my life badly!!!)
Thank you Genshiken, for helping me fully accept my hobbies, demonstrating the true friendship of otakus, and giving me the courage to boldly express these hobbies to other fans across the globe. I will cherish the memories I have with Genshiken for years to come.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Dec 31, 2017
Negima Manga Overall Impressions:
I wanted to read Negima way back in October when the UQ Holder anime was airing on Anime Strike. I loved the first few episodes and wanted to keep watching, until I heard from dedicated UQ fans that the adaptation was rushing the source material. I loathed unfaithful adaptations. So I came to the decision that starting on November, I would start from scratch and read the Negima manga. Given my growing attachment for harems (At the time I was obsessed with To Love-Ru), I thought this would be a fantastic time to read the manga.
Negima was such a beautiful ride
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for me. The story starts out as an average ecchi harem. You got a kid who becomes a teacher for an all-girls class at Mahora Academy. I thought “This is a unique set up, the thought of all girls creating a harem for Negi could be something that is really fun to read!”. There is also the element of magic for its setting/characters, which was pretty neat. Could this factor play a part into turning Negima into a shonen? I skimmed through the manga quickly to see when its shonen aspect would come.
At the same time I was skimming, I was really enjoying my time learning about all of the students brief backgrounds/personalities. Despite the amount of characters Negima throws at me, I never once felt overwhelmed. Not at any time does the writing feel clunked with information. The manga’s narrative seamlessly allows all of the girls to spend a enough time with Negi for me to like them all. Some girls are mostly one-shots or rarely talk to Negi, while some get significantly closer relationships. Every girl will have some sort of affection to the teacher.
On top of that, the manga introduces its own magic system, as well as one notable part called Pactio. I will not spoil what the system is about, but I can tell you this. This particular added element makes the harem of Negima a lot of more fun to read. My general impressions for the first arcs was rather positive. I thought the harem was very adorable. That was the main hook for me reading the manga.
Once the next arcs came, where Negi is put into the most difficult situations in the form of battles. This was when I began to care for all of the characters. Decent character developments/relationships are formed and the action was pretty kickass. When I read the Kyoto Field Trip Arc, my love for the manga grew even further. Everything was getting better chapter by chapter. From the School Festival to the Magic World Arc, situations and developments were getting more tense and crazy. When I finished the last chapters of Negima, I got pretty emotional. Everything that was great about the manga came and wrapped up in the most satisfying way.
My only gripes with the manga is that the shonen aspect is pretty standard (Aside from the one notable part I mentioned). I did not really care about the magic and only skimmed as characters were chanting magic spells. It is not something that will hook you like Hunter x Hunter’s Nen system, but the action is serviceable enough (In terms of art) to be enjoyable. I also wished that all of the students managed to get as equal development with Negi. There are a few cute girls that I found intriguing and wanted to see more character exploration from, but end up being less significant to the story after their major role.
I really enjoyed my reading time with Negima. The harem, character development, relationships and action is pretty solid. The Pactio system is awesome and should be implemented in more harems. The best girl in the series is obviously Yue (tied with Setsuna) and you cannot deny the fact. Honestly, I would recommend Negima to those that specifically love harems wanting good character development. The entire manga is basically 50% harem and 50% action. Shonen is not its strongest aspect, but rather the core theme of friendship Negi and the other girls have together that makes the manga a special read. I will definitely check out the UQ Holder manga eventually next year. With my attachment to Negima now, there is no way I cannot skip the mangaka’s next work.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Dec 30, 2017
After reading the Moe Manifesto (A book that covers the history of moe, full of interviews from creators of moe work), I really wanted to look into some of the early 80s series mentioned. There were two series that caught my eye, Creamy Mami and Minky Momo. I could not find subs for the latter, so I decided to watch Mami since all of its episodes were subbed. I did not know what I would be getting myself into. Somehow, I was pretty hooked.
Creamy Mami is one of the most unique magical girl series I have seen. What stands out with this anime is how
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Yuu’s transforming idol career is integrated to its episodic story structure. In each episode, Creamy Mami covers a lot of intriguing themes and subjects that I did not expect. The situations Yuu goes through with her career can range from bizarre to surprisingly mature, covering the struggles of an idol in the most effective, kid-friendly way possible.
Its cast of characters also shine. Yuu started out pretty generic, but she became likable as more episodes showcased her child-like personality. The rest of the cast are rather cheesy, but very likable on their own right. Shingo/Megumi’s messy relationship and Toshio’s silly disdain for Yuu works for pretty solid comedy. If there were any problems, they are minor. Sometimes, a song gets repeated too many times in many to the point where it can get irritating. I wish there were more variety in the music choices. And this is mostly preferential, but I wish Yuu’s story as Mami were progressive. Its episodic format works fine, but I would have loved to see some form of character development that could make satisfying growth for Yuu.
Overall, I really enjoyed my spare time with Creamy Mami. There is just enough variety and enjoyment in Mami’s stories and characters for me to keep watching all the way through. If you liked the episodic nature of older magical girl anime like Cardcaptor Sakura, you will definitely love Creamy Mami. I will now take my leave as I listen to Mami's song "Fall in Love" for the umpteenth time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Dec 30, 2017
I came across this series right after consuming one of SJ’s recent series The Promised Neverland. A friend I know on Twitter recommended two titles to me, Kimetsu no Yaiba and Astra Lost in Space. The latter was the one he loved the most and he told me it was a more obscure SJ title that has yet to see deserved praise. Given my sense of empathy, I wanted to look into Astra Lost in Space first to see if I would love it as my friend.
I was highly impressed with the art and character design, immediately thinking about why this has become notable
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to the manga community. Astra Lost in Space does start out fairly generic with a nice little premise about nine kids being mysteriously sent to space, wanting to return to their home planet. As the chapters progress, I gradually started to get attached to the characters. The combination of teamwork and leadership with the element of survival on an unknown planet created intrigue and decent character development.
As the story progresses (Particularly in the halfway point), the plot starts to really kick in with so many plot twists that made all of the character development more impactful. The connections the kids have had some of the most intense moments that highly entertained me and had me caring for the characters by a big degree. Reading that last chapter, seeing everyone happy with things back to normal, I could not help but feel empty.
Astra Lost in Space is a short, but powerful journey about friendship. I highly recommend reading the entire series in a day, as the manga has only 49 chapters. Give it time to let its story take loose, and I can guarantee you will be hooked to the end. I really hope to see an anime adaptation in 2018, because the creator (Kenta Shinomura) deserves to earn many rewards for creating a fantastic manga. I look forward to his next work. I hope his new series will follow similarly to Astra in terms of focusing on great character development and story.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Sep 16, 2017
Out of all anime I have seen this year, Re:Creators has the most creative premise ever. I went into this blind, not knowing much other than some people saying that this anime could be an anime classic. I can totally see why that is now. The idea of creators meeting their own creations is a fascinating idea that has an endless pool of possibilities. It is a premise that normally fan fictions would be capable of doing. Just to note, I will be saying "creators" and "creations" a lot in this review, because those terms are important into understanding Re:Creators.
I have wanted to see
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this kind of idea come to fruition since the first time I have watched crossover media. The concept of many characters from various genres meeting each other was something I wondered about as a kid. What stimulated such an idea was character chemistry. How would a character from an adventure genre interact with a character from the magical girl genre? What kind of conversations would they talk about? How would they be able to settle their differences and form friendships?
With a kind of crossover like this anime though, I realized now it would be hard to make this work as a sensical story without connecting various plots together and doing intense research. Watching Re:Creators fulfilled that part of my imagination that I wanted to see happen in such a long time. I could tell that the creators of this anime put a lot of heart into making this concept because there were lots of interesting ideas explored. Re:Creators, to me, is a celebration of Japanese media.
The story really blew my expectations in the first episodes. Not only are these character interactions happening, but there is also major interaction with the real world, where the creators of these characters live. It further intrigued me, given that this crossover is mainly based on Japanese media (manga, anime, games, light novels). For me, Japanese media has been my hobby for the past several years. Re:Creators having such crossovers of Japanese media with the real world made my mind explode more. Even more ideas and questions expanded in my head while I was watching.
I also had this thought in my young mind about creators meeting their own characters too. I wanted to see how the creator would interact with their characters they put much heart into creating. The impossibility of such a situation really stimulated my head and made me think about what the interaction would result in. Would the creator be awestruck, happy, crying? Alas, I never thought about it much more and only played around with the idea in my head, not going beyond the event of creators and creations meeting each other, because I never truly understood a creator's motivations on making media back then.
Today, as someone who has loved and researched Japanese media, this anime was a dream come true for me. With all of these concepts in Re:Creators, I wondered how the overall story would be executed in this anime? Does this fulfill its potential with its concept? Mostly.
Re:Creators explores many interesting relationships between creators and creations. To summarize, each creator has a different philosophy, motivations, and perspective on how they create their stories. There are creators who want to make the best story by deeply exploring their world to ones that that create for pleasure and/or entertainment. There are some creators that go through hardships just to get their stories known to people. Some are poor and live with what they have, while there are some that are lucky and reach huge success. It covers many different types of creators inspired by real-life creators in the Japanese media industry.
Then, there are the characters. I really like these characters because they are basically amalgamations of various notable characters in real-life Japanese media in terms of personality and design. If you watched this anime with different anime fans, they will have different opinions on what each character is based on. For example, you could interpret Mamika the magical girl being inspired by Madoka Magica with both of their notable pinkish design, while others could think she is inspired by Sailor Moon or PreCure noting visual traits such as the weapon she wields and the transformation pose. The interpretable quality of these characters helps people identify and understand these characters easily.
This is where I talk about the biggest strength of Re: Creators, the interaction between the creators and creations. This is where 90% of the anime focuses on. These conversations are really interesting because you get see the creations ask their opinions and questions to why their story is the way it is. Creators can get life-threatening criticism from their own creations. Through these conversations, it help the creator improve their personal development and fixing their flaws as a story writer. It is an unexpected way of character growth that I really enjoy and can connect to.
Creations also get their own development through the realization of being a fictional character. Each development is very unique as there are creations of various genres that deal with situations in amusing and sometimes meta ways. They either decide to accept or decline their creator for creating the story as it is. I could really tell that the real-life creator of Re:Creators put a lot of thought into making a coherent plot and crafting development for these characters. I feel the story created in this anime is such a huge feat accomplished for how many elements play an interesting role in Re:Creators. These are some of the many creative ways Re:Creators does with its overall plot, and I do not want to say more to avoid getting to spoiler territory.
To get into the few cons, the dialogue can be potentially boring for those who despise long exposition and/or prefer more action. This never personally bothered me because each conversation between the creator and creation has enough purpose and progress for me to be consistently engaged. By the end of the anime, a few notable characters do not get solved resolutions, which is a bit of a problem. I also felt that there could have been a bit more story potential that could have been done with interaction of creator and creation. These are really the only few problems I have with the anime, but it is not really enough for me to seriously dislike it.
To cover the other aspects of Re:Creators, I really enjoy the music utilized in this anime. The soundtrack mainly consists of awesome electronic techno music and a bit of orchestral by the composer Sawano that nails what Re:Creators is about. The music gives a particular feeling an epic battle appropriate for this kind of crossover anime. The art and animation is pretty solid as well. When it comes to the occasional action scenes, they are pretty exhilarating to watch as characters clash against each other. These other aspects complement each other to help make Re:Creators a very entertaining watch.
I would also like to address the other problems that people talk about that I personally think are not actually a problem before I close my review. Mainly, it being the lack of in-depth exploration of the creation's worlds:
There are some people that say that not exploring the character's fictional stories enough is a flaw in Re:Creators. In my opinion, the creation's worlds in Re:Creators do not really need to explored, because these creations can be easily identified by an audience who watches several anime, you do not need to know their backstory if you have a good background on anime. If this anime had to share their backstory, why would it matter to the premise? It is irrelevant. Because ultimately, Re:Creators uses the character's stories to help create interesting relationships with the creators and creations. Why would I care about a creation's story if ultimately the creation/creator relationships matters? It would deride the premise and the goal it is trying to achieve.
Overall, I think Re:Creators is one of my favorite anime that I have watched EVER! This anime filled a gap that I wanted to see happen, and fulfilled that premise very well. If you are a fan of Japanese media, I would not dare miss out on this anime!
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jul 29, 2017
I have to say, the Sound Euphonium shorts provide much-needed humor for the main characters. While I did like the main story for Euphonium and it was straightforward as it could be, the thing I felt was missing was a lack of humor or characters that I could personally relate to. The shorts cover the characters in wacky situations, I had a couple of laughs from them. I've come to love the main characters after watching these shorts TBH, and those who haven't watched them should do so after watching the first season to fill in that humor gap lacking in the main story.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jul 25, 2017
It’s been a long time since I have smiled and laughed hard consistently in an anime ever. In just less than 30 minutes, I was able to grasp so much comedy and cherish the lovable characters. Teekyu is a comedy anime about nothing really. Its plot should not be taken seriously, the focus of the anime is the extremely fast paced comedy. When I say fast paced, I mean that the plot for each episode goes by so fast, you may not be able to process what’s going on.
Yet, that’s the genius of this anime. The two-minute length of each episode is just right
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for a comedy this fast. Each episode consists of the characters doing things together in a haphazard manner. This can range from quick plot twists to random stuff happening that has nothing to do with the episode to making fun of tropes. This is NOT bad, as the way it is utilized in its fast paced comedy is absolutely hilarious. Seeing these things utilized in such an unusually rapid pace is the appeal. The purposefully done bad animation/music and expressive characters also further benefit the comedy.
The scary part is that for each season the comedy gets better, getting more random and chaotic than the last. Not every joke is going to hit home for everyone though, but that is ok as the anime will move on to the next joke very quickly to get you laughing/smiling. The anime really knows what it wants to be and I can immediately tell just by watching, the voice actors had a splendid time voicing these characters in a fast paced manner.
The best way to watch Teekyu is to fully embrace the fast paced comedy. I personally recommend that you digest at most 3 episodes per day so that you are not overwhelmed by the fast plot progression. Think of Teekyu as the anime-equivalent of coffee, you wake up in a bad mood. What do you do next to cure that mood fast? Watch one episode of Teekyu to get you waking up laughing and starting the day right. Just remind yourself to not be hyper after you finish an episode.
Overdosing on Teekyu will make you get worn out of the comedy extremely fast. It is kind of like watching Nichijou, where it’s best served when you watch a few episodes at a time to not be overwhelmed by its over-the-top slapstick humor. Teekyu is meant to be watched every so often. But if you do want to watch an entire season or even the entire series to catch up where it is now, you can do that in less than a day. Just remember to take breaks when you feel overwhelmed.
I personally consider Teekyu to be one of comedy anime’s greatest. It’s not the best comedy per say, but the fast and energetic nature makes it one of a kind and worth the watch. Do not worry about the amount of seasons Teekyu has as each episode is about two minutes long. I guarantee you will have a great time if you embrace the anime for what it is.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jul 24, 2017
*This review contains a bit of spoilers*
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KADO is a fascinating piece of science fiction. Have you ever thought about the progression of humanity? As a species, we have slowly evolved in terms of technology, morality, and politics that has helped us become “better” people. What if humanity could advance greatly in just a short span of time? KADO has that answer. What makes this anime so interesting is that it covers many topics on how humanity could advance, using special tools that further enhance human capabilities.
It’s not just that, the more interesting part of KADO is how humanity and the main characters react to having such growth. Each character has a unique personality explores a side of KADO that hooked me fully, ranging from news coverage, to researching, to handling negotiation for this mysterious gift for humanity. This will become clear once you have watched the anime yourself, I do not want give away much away. This blend of covering human advancement topics with the reactions to KADO is what makes the anime a seriously intriguing watch.
It is an anime I feel the community is severely undervaluing. Just because the last episodes of KADO have a dramatic shift in direction, it does not mean the anime can be immediately and conclusively be called bad. I can see where complaints come from, and to some extent, I agree. BUT! Truthfully, although I *somewhat* understand the themes of KADO, the last episodes were still VERY interesting enough with how the directing and dialogue was handled. These episodes do connect to the human advancement themes KADO has had right from the start with how the main characters and humanity grows throughout these 12 episodes once things are put together.
Regardless if you think the last episodes of KADO was good or bad, I think we can agree that KADO did bring VERY interesting discussion! I would go as far as saying that it is nearly as much of a classic as Evangelion. Between the two, the themes of morality and human progression, I find KADO to be more interesting since it covers a more refreshing territory. Although, we'll see how people treat it the next couple of years to see if KADO becomes a cult classic. In this generation of anime fans, we’re constantly cycling through new interesting anime season by season, we forget and move on to things quickly without gaining a sense of appreciation of what makes each anime valuable in its own right. Hopefully, the “major” anime fans of the community will continue to hold on to KADO for a new generation to discuss.
I've come to a point where I find over-exaggerated emotional outburst opinions not interesting anymore, regardless how detailed it may be. This is more on the negative opinion side. If it's so easy to be negative, then we lose sight on the more interesting aspects of things. Negativity brings unneeded attention as well opinions that SEEM substantial, but in the root, do not go into deeper than emotional reaction.
It's why we have a life cycle of negative outbursts, never fixing the root of the problem, but quietly setting it aside, having no growth. IMO, if we wanna become better people, we have to set aside negative emotions and openly explore why certain things are so interesting. The more open you are to allowing discussion, the more curious you become in exploring many things in life, it makes life more worth it. This is why I find KADO so intriguing, because it gets you to think about a lot of things and the overall anime itself.
*SPOILERS*
If there’s a few things I wanted from the anime, was that it would explore Saraka more. Perhaps this was left for interpretation, or maybe it is that I have to watch the anime again to really understand Saraka more and why she kept her secret for so long. That’s another thing, there are so many things worth talking about in KADO, it easily is worth a re-watch to further explore what the anime is trying to convey. There’s also the inconsistency of CG and 2D. It’s nothing jarringly bad, but it can be a bit distracting when a scene transitions from 2D to 3D. The whole anime should have been 3D the whole time through.
*SPOILERS*
Overall, I personally think KADO should be hailed as an anime classic for how it really gets people to deeply discuss its themes and how human society can advance forward in the future. It is worth the watch regardless how the anime ends. Once you’ve finish the anime, you have to let me know your thoughts and your opinion on the matter. Do you personally agree? KADO is a rarity that I find to be seriously intriguing and should be passed down to a newer generation of anime fans. I believe that is the right answer.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jul 18, 2017
This anime review contains SPOILERS!
Parasyte is an anime I feel that the exact criteria of being a great anime. It is not the best anime, but it does enough for me be satisfied of the entire experience. To be real here, this anime really got me to analyze the positives and negatives of an anime thanks to the anime’s straightforward narrative. The anime really got me to think about a lot of things in terms of morality and myself.
I love how the anime explores the bond between a parasite and a human, and the two characters create a very interesting chemistry that makes you
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want to se how they grow in later episodes. It is not just that, but how he grows to become stronger thanks to his friends. Even more interesting, but it also explores the morality of other parasites and how they view or adapt to human society. There are very rarely times where the story distracts from its goal and its just straightforward engaging story from there. It never wastes time during an episode and adds enough to keep the plot very interesting. In terms of visuals, animation, and music, they do a great job in keeping the terrifying tone of Parasyte, although techno/dubstep music can be a bit questionable at a few times.
That said, there are some things I would have loved to see in the anime. These are not so much negatives, but rather suggestions that I felt could be explored more, beware SKIP THIS SECTION if you want to avoid spoilers:
1. There are a few characters I would’ve love to see side characters explored more like Jaw, Uda, Mitsuo, and Makiko because I feel this desire to learn more about these characters because honestly their develop didn’t feel complete to me. I wanted to know what these characters thought about the parasites, and for Uda/Jaw in particular more of their backstory.
2. I would have loved to see more emotional moments and humor to balance the emotions given in the anime. I fully understand that Shinichi’s phase of lacking pure empathy and soul is meant to give sort of negative emotions to the viewers, but what I would suggest is that there would be some added humor and emotional moments with side characters in particular so that the viewer does not feel negative emotions all the time after Shinichi’s lack of feeling emotion. Shinichi can remain the same as is, but I think having side characters go through emotional phases or having them think about the different moralities of parasites would have made this anime feel more complete.
3. I feel in terms of the moralities and the stories of parasitical characters themselves, I feel not enough it has been explored yet. I wanted to see more of those parasitical politics, more interesting parasite humans, how parasites gradually began to coexist with humans and one another, and much more that makes me feel that I desire more. You could say you can interpret it for yourself based on how it ended, but I feel there isn’t enough stuff to think about in terms of parasites for viewers to really desire or imagine the a parasitical/human world.
I think all of this could be filled in if the anime had another season or more episodes to cover such topics, but since the anime basically covers the entire manga that dates back to the 1980s, I doubt such exploration could be fulfilled unless the anime staff is willing to research and explore more territory in Parasyte that the mangaka could not. In terms of a direction if there were another season, I would love to see a time-skip of sorts to see how Shinichi develops and how parasites adapt to human society over the years. I think overall, Parasyte is an anime you DEFINITELY need to watch sometime. If you can get past the gore and terrifying parasites, then you’ll find a very interesting story to enjoy and think about.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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