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Mar 22, 2024
Sad thing about this anime is that if it was not based on the manga it would probably be slightly more enjoyable. But seeing how majority of people who saw it were original manga fans I was expecting it to be roasted, and that roast was for good reason in the end.
I will also judge it by manga seeing hown it is after all an adaptation, ans with that let us begin:
Story: the premise is interesting to a degree, but nothing we have not seen so far. A dimensional gate opens in the Tokyo area and bunch od daemons starts invading. Entire hellish dimension (called
...
Mato in story) is only as big as Tokyo area for some reason,and it is an environment where humans can live with some difficulty. What makes this story unique are the powers which are only usable by women and one specific power tied to our MC. Other than that there is still secrets to be explored and conflits to resolve but they are only appearing later on in story and many of them are still not resolved. So this entire anime is basically introduction story and thus only interesting to a degree because of that. My grade: 5
Sad thing is that the story in manga is much more interesting from the start as well as the world itself is more explored and some things were cut.
Characters: not much to say here unfortunately. MC is as bland and ignorant as they go, all other major characters are females (of course) and they fall into typical stereotypes: serious kuudere commander with revenge plot, tsundere second in command who is hostile first and then sweet later on, charming but not very smart blonde girl who is all into fighting and a loli who by some miracle is not lewed even if this is ecchi. They are explored to a degree but none too deep, and all conflicts with MC are resolved in just one episode after they are introduced. Tenka is by far the best girl and she is not even in the main squad cast. Other characters are underrated (especially the bad guys, we barely know anything about them except they are bad and they hate humans for some reason) except the sister who is slightly more explored. My grade: 6.
To be fair, by this point in manga we were still in the dark about many things but anime could at least give some hints.
Animation and music: quite enjoyable. Animation was good overall, the battle scenes were great and I didn't notice downgrade anywhere while I was watching it. Music was nothing special but it did its part well enough. Kyouka and Tenka VA doing OP and ED with their characters appearing in them was nice touch. My grade: 7.
Ecchi level: this needs its own cathegory because lets be real: most people were looking forward to this part of the anime. And boy, were they disappointed. Now, I didnt mention 'rewards' in story or animation segment as I was planning to speak separately about it. It is after all this franchise most unique thing, and it involves MC receiving a reward as compensation for using his powers and becoming slave in the first place. It first starts with Kyouka alone and later on others can also contribute (some even voluntary) and yes - even the loli character (but to be fair, they played it quite safe even in manga as the only thing she does is a kiss on the cheek).
But for some reason, even if it had 18+ tag, the anime really went soft here. If I am to make comparison, if manga rewards were any XXX site than anime version would be girl on YouTube at the beach wearing nothing but her swimsuit. In some reward scenes they even covered breasts with their hands, despite being quite visible in manga. Now, I could understand playing it safe but this is ecchi anime and we also have Gushing over Magucal Girls this season which also had 18+ tag and who detroyed this anime in ecchiness. My grade: 6.
Overall grade: 6. I personally gave it 8 as that was my enjoyment factor, but 6 or 7 is much more realistic grade.
If they even make 2nd season it should preform much better as the story really picks up where they left it. That and please let them get more down with the ecchiness and season 2 could even score 8.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jan 14, 2024
'The only one who had the right to condemn him... decided to embrace him instead.'
I watched this movie after I read the manga. And even if manga is offering more in certain plot points and explore some characters a lot more this movie was still a great watch. The way they handled it and plot was really great, even if I had feel that some plot points were speed up I didn't had the feel that something important was cut.
This review will be spoiler heavy, so if you didn't read the manga or watched the movie please do so before reading this.
Story - 10.
The main
...
theme story here is about bullying and all the suffering that kids go trough. While it does this part very well, showing how cruel sometimes the kids can be despite their innocent nature and cuteness it is also showing us one very important part that I feel is not mentioned enough - and that is redemption.
Throughout the story Shouya is feeling guilt over his past actions and he is actively trying to make things good again and redeem himself by trying his hardest to make Shouko's life happy. The entire story is rollercoaster of emotions and it was great watch from start to finish.
Artwork and Music - 7.
While not groundbreaking both were serviceable. The animation was good and I really enjoyed details here and there like raindrops, character design, underwater scenes and dream sequence.
Music didn't make any impressions on my, after watching the movie there was not a single track that stick to me but the music did helped in giving life to certain moments in the anime. Overall I think that music alone is the weakest part of this movie.
Characters - 8.
Shouya and Shouko are easily the highlight of the series. Shouko being girl that cannot hear and speak properly and had to struggle trough life as a kid becasue she was enrolled into normal school where kids will not get her. And Shouya was a problematic kid that was bullied by his classmates who were angry at him as he dared to call all of them when he was accused for bullying Shouko.
Now 5 years later he is depressed to the point that he wants to kill himself but has found new goal in life trough helping Shouko in making her life much more enjoyable again. Other characters are unfortunately not explored as much when compared to the manga. Only one who gets some kind of development is Yuzuru, everyone else are there only to serve as plot points for the main characters. Which is a real shame as in the manga we learn how all of them have their own problems and how they are dealing with them or pushing them aside.
Biggest victim of this is Satoshi who in the manga ahs entire arc with Shouya and we get to see his life dream later on and why he wants to accomplish it. But I am guessing that in 2h movie you have to sacrifice some things and character development for supporting characters was hit the most. Still, the story can still hold up thanks to the both main characters who carry it out from start to finish.
Enjoyment - 10.
Despite my critics from music and supporting characters this story is still very enjoyable. There are not too many usual anime clichés in the story and the story take itself very seriously. Shouya starts with the intent to end his life, but after meeting Shouko again he gradually changes, learns how to make friends and slowly heal old wounds - for himself as well as for others.
And on this road he is not alone, Tomohiro becomes his friend really fast and starts pushing him in right direction and giving his support when needed. Yuzuru starts hostile toward him becasue of his past treatment of her sister, but after knowing him better and discovering that he wants to redeem himself becomes his best wingman. Everyone else try to assist him in their own way, some of their intentions clash with others but in the end they all decide to leave their grudges aside and have a good time because time flies fast and afterwards the only thing that will be left is regret.
This story was quite enjoyable from start to finish, you never know what will happen next and you cheer for Shouya, despite him being the bad guy at the start of the story. Some moments really leave you at the edge of your seats while in others you want to cry your heart out. And rarely does anime leaves you with this feeling after the credits roll.
Overall - 10.
Remember the line at the start of this review? It is from Bible story, the one about prostitute and the Jesus. In it the entire town is against her and want to incite punishment for her sinful way of life by throwing stones. When Jesus arrived at the scene everyone is demanding from him to stone her as well. His options were to either do it or not, both of which would make him a hypocrite because of the teaching he was spreading and his fathers law. Jesus at that moment said 'let those who never sinned in their life throw stones at her' and nobody did. They all went to their own homes and Jesus said to prostitute that her sins are forgiven and that she should sin no more. One of the strong points of the story was 'the only one who had the right to throw the stone (Jesus), decided not to do so'.
In a way I can see the same theme here, Shouko has been bullied most of the life by kids who could not understand her situation but decided to bully her instead. Out of everyone else she had the right to hate all of them and to never forgive them, especially Shouya who went as far as to exchange his fists with her (and let me be clear, in the manga the fight between the two was much more serious). But instead of that, not only did she forgive them - she actually apologized to them. Showing how big heart she has as a character, truly my favorite character in the series.
On the other hand I cannot help but feel with Shouya, his went trough hell from start to finish. To him what started as a silly prank ended up a thing that almost costed him his life. As the story went forward his efforts to redeem his past sins and fix as much of the damage as he can was truly tearful to watch.
To me this movie was rollercoaster of a ride, the characters were interesting, their struggles were hard to watch sometimes and the way how it ends is heartwarming. Overall an easy 10 from me, maybe not the best anime movie of all times but definitely among the top 5 best out there.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Dec 31, 2017
Fate/Apocrypha - a completely new Fate experience.
Before I write down this review I will note few things:
-This will be a spoiler free review.
-I am reviewing it from a neutral standpoint and I have watched all Fate anime so far and I have extensive knowledge of the lore.
-This anime has nothing to do with Fate/Stay Night so you can watch it even if you did not watch the original work. The work does good explanation of how the basics of Fate universe works.
-I should also note that majority of negativity this show gets is because of fans of the franchise who expected
...
another Fate/Stay Night story, which Apocrypha clearly is not. It has different theme, different characters and different setup. So I would suggest that you venture into this not expecting another FSN to get maximum experience, otherwise you will be as disappointing as many Fate fans were who were expecting something else and missed the point of the show.
With that out of the way let the review begin:
Intro:
Fate/Apocrypha exists as a parallel universe to Fate/Stay Night, the Holy Grail War is not only in different location ( Romania instead of Japan ) but the war itself is bigger than ever. To compensate for the increase danger of something that may go wrong Servant Ruler was summoned to oversee the War. But nothing is at meets the eye as there are others who have different idea of how war should go. And thus our story begins... full of twists and epic battles.
Story 8:
Now I have read LN ( at least the parts that are translated ) and I can say that A-1 remained some 80% true to the novels. In some areas the change were good, in others... not so much. Characters suffered the most from this as many things that are associated to their background and character growth were removed. Surprisingly, the one character that suffered the most from this is main female lead - Ruler. Even if her introduction scene with main male lead in anime was made better the part they cut to make it possible is one of the most memorable from LN. I would suggest that you check the manga that remained much truer to the LN and didn't skip any character development parts like LN did. That is to say, story is really the weakest part of anime, but then again only to those who never read LN and do not know all the background stuff happening around the characters.
Still I am not going to rate this very low as the removed parts did not affect that story that much. Ufotable is also guilty of this in Zero and UBW anime and I consider those very well done as far as adaptation of the main story goes. In Apocrypha the story is decent and interesting to watch. The plot twists are very few but done great, and the battles are just magnificent to watch.
p.s. - to showcase the difference between stories I will write down main themes of them. It will not contain spoilers but it will give you some idea what to expect:
Fate/Stay Night - Morality and how our choices affect everything around us.
Apocrypha - Religion ( Apocrypha is filled with it, from debates to outright symbolism ) and are thing that we made for simple usage just that or can they also be much more than that?
Art 9:
Despite having low res here and there animation was quite decent and it get the job done. Special note on episode 22 that got praised by anime veterans ( among them Nasu himself, the creator of Fate ) because it was entirely hand drawn episode. Some moments are literally breathtaking as far as animation goes and the rest is decent. I should also note that this is all to TV station lowering the quality of episodes in order to air them. A-1 staff argued about this and when watch BD episodes I tend to agree with them. In that regard anime suffered as many expected better animation due to this being Fate work after all. All in all animation is good and it get's the job done.
Sound 9:
I really have nothing to add here. All Fate anime have great soundtracks ( 2006 FSN being the one with the best ) and VA really gave it their best here when voicing the characters. The sound was consistent during the entire show and some of the scenes where characters are chanting their special attack and giving important speeches are quite memorable. So as far as sound goes it is also well done.
Characters 10:
90% of reason to watch this show, I am not kidding. Tn Fate the story, battle and moral messages are important bits but one thing that really push Fate forward ( and makes it as popular as it is ) are the characters. And Apocrypha has a lot of good and memorable ones with great character development and interesting backstories. You cannot help but liking most of them, even the bad guys. The only drawback here is that they have cut a lot of Ruler's backstory and some story elements ( which to me are very important for her full character development to be fleshed out ), some never get their full potential explored ( like Berserker of Red ) and others were outright pushed back for the sake of others being more highlighted.
I should also address the biggest problem with this show here that many had - Main male character. He has very specific original story different from any other Fate MC. As such he is much weaker compared to others who already ahd established deep personality and character traits. Problem with him are also fans of Fate as they expected him to be as deep as the others, which for him was impossible mission. Other than that he is somewhat Mary Sue-ish in the anime, but not to the level where he will break any and all enjoyment from it. So enter Apocrypha accepting MC as he is and you will enjoy it all the more.
Enjoyment 10:
Apocrypha is really enjoyable Fate anime. The battles are fantastic and biggest in scale in all of Fate with Grand Order being the only exception to the rule, the characters are fun to watch and get attached to, the twists are done great, the calm moments between engagements are nice watch and the ending brings out so much feels... Fate/Stay Night 2006 last episode level of feels - especially the last 3 episodes. It is quite enjoyable and worthy addition to Fate franchise. Few negatives it has are so overshadowed by positives that are barely noticeable, and then again most of them are only if you read LN before watching it. So if you watch this and expect enjoying anime you will not be disappointed.
Overall 9:
Fate/Apocrypha is unique story in Fate franchise. It deals with different themes, has the biggest Grail War in series beside FGO, has a ton of enjoying characters - both Servants and Masters and when something sad happens to characters you cannot help but feel sorry for them. If you are fan of the franchise you should give this a go - especially if you are fan of Ruler and Saber of Red because I doubt we will see them any time soon ( if FGO get's anime that is, which I doubt will happen so soon ). If you are new to Fate - you can also watch this without fear of ruining yourself FSN experience ( unlike watching Zero before FSN 2006 and UBW anime series ) since the anime itself has very little connections to it.
I highly recommend it, as both anime watcher and fan of the franchise.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Nov 30, 2013
What to say about Sakurasou?
If you are looking for an anime that will make you laugh, cry and giggle in your stomachs - this is anime for you.
The story is quite simple: a high-school boy named Sorata Kanda was banned from living in normal student homes because he collected cat fro ma street and wouldn't let her go. He was offered two choices: either to kick the cat out or to move and live into Sakurasou - a student home rumored to be the worst of the mall because of all the students living there. Of course he choose the later and this is where
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our story begins.
Now, the people living there are anything but normal, but each one of them in genius in their own right. Misaki Kamiigusa is anime maker, Jin Mitaka is writer and very good psychiatrist and Ryūnosuke Akasaka is master programmer. But the story really get's interesting when Mashiro Shiina comes to live with them, and as soon as she arrives Sorata was given duty of taking care of her, and this is the foundation of anime.
What really makes this anime great are various situations written in it, some of them are so depressing that you get emotionally attached with characters in that moment and just want to go in the anime itself and help them. This anime also deals with a lot of drawbacks not usually found in other anime witch is big plus for them.
Now Shiina..... she easily became one of my favorite anime characters ever. Silent and on the surface not able to do anything without any help ( even changing pants sometimes ), she quickly show us how mistaken we were about her as we learn that she is world famous painter. Trough entire show she secretly help everyone without showing them ( she is always acting cold and uninterested in things when deep inside she is a genius in her own right, and carrying for her friends ) while discovering her own humanity and emotions in the process.
Easily 10/10, one of the best anime I have ever watched.
I am so glad this anime will get season 2 in March 2014.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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