Well Ave Mujica is here and compared to the prequel I’ve got to say that I appreciate how it is more straightforward, directly showing more about the main character and where she comes from instead of trying to be half mysterious as MyGO!!!!! was in its beginning. I still can’t excuse her personality and how she deals with things, but I can at least understand why and how she does the things she does.
In comparison to the previous entries I watched, the tone here is far more serious, being almost entirely focused on that mood and without mixing it with comedy as much as its
...
prequel, and I actually think that the themes it was going for were very interesting. Right off the bat, Ave Mujica attempts to deal with the world of girl pop bands in Japan, and how their members have to hide a good part of their private lives, and in general how there can be different artistic visions amongst their members.
But there are also discussions between them about their different goals, whether it is more important to pursue what you want to do out of your art or what the audience wants out of you, as well as if it’s better to follow a performance in a prepared way or be spontaneous, both for the sake of spectacle, and so you can make it big quickly.
Besides that, there is the character Nyamu, who wants to become successful as quick as possible but gets perplexed at the actual talent of Mutsumi, so she wants to improve herself and ends up rejecting those opportunities. That other girl tries to keep up with her famous persona and the expectations others have about her, from her fans to the band, and is worried about doing the proper thing for her group and standing out for herself and not as someone from a famous family of artists. She gets mentally pressured to the point of developing a split personality and faking the public persona that was always expected out of her, with even full episodes of psychological immersion included.
Unfortunately, good intentions mean nothing without good execution and I can’t exactly say that there’s one in here, as events happen in rather quick succession and somewhat quirky ways to feel as serious and well explored as the writing and tone clearly intended, and as organic as needed for them to seem properly written.
The series takes off right from the ending of the previous one, and I have to say that for a band that refuses to use their connections, they sure form, get famous and get to have a big concert very fast. Unlike the toxic MyGO!!!!! though, you can see problems within this band right away, as half the members don’t have any connection and some of them disagree with the supposed leader on what to do. It could have been interesting to see how the protagonist deals with other characters being as proactive as her, instead of people that just do what she wants, and I expected her to have a character arc revolved around her realizing that she just plain sucks as a leader, and friend.
But just like with every other plot point in here, things happen very fast, with most of them getting no more than one episode or even half of one of runtime before moving to something else, so the handling of them end up being treated rather superficially and leaving a lot to be desired.
Even when something gets a more appropriate runtime dedicated to it, like that one girl having a mental breakdown, the writing of it can come off as corny and melodramatic, as serious theme exploration gets replaced with generic teenage drama and tearjerker moments. Yes, it’s a show about teen girls but that doesn’t excuse stuffing it up with themes and topics that aren’t going to be properly explored.
And for how proactive the characters seemed to be, eventually the MyGO!!!!! girls have to step in to help them with their problems and move the show forward, so the series end up being dependent of its prequel and its main group of the previous one, despite being released as their own things.
The teen drama also even replaces the music as the main focus of the series, and if you have read my other reviews about pop idols/bands shows, and even Hibike! Euphonium, you know how I dislike when that happens. I will at least admit that stuff that happens in the anime excuse the interruption of the performances and their replacement with enough downtime for the characters to deal with their personal issues, but I still found it disappointing that the teen drama took over the main point of the show completely. By comparison, MyGO!!!!! also had a lot of that, but the music was never sidelined as hard as in here.
At least in here the characters are straightforward, but somehow even more toxic than their predecessors were, and I wish their whole conflict wasn’t about generic teen drama where they yell and cry on screen to each other for classic emotional manipulation full of tearjerker moments, and simple by-the-numbers resolutions.
It’s hard to write about the rest of the characters because the vast majority of the show is about they overcoming their problems, thus doing so would result on heavy amounts of spoilers. I will at least say that Uika has yuribait moments that would make KyoAni proud, and a cheesy telenovela worthy backdrop story that’s not even shown but told. I know that I sound like a broken record, but again, they didn’t get enough focus and when they did it felt way too rushed and over the top, partially for coming up too late in the story. And Umiri is just there to be the professional one of the team and really nothing more. She is revealed to be the token funny girl, which was a surprise, but nothing of real substance behind, she is given a backstory that’s supposed to be sad but she doesn’t seem to care about it, so why would I? And her emotional breakdown later on wasn’t the least convincing.
The audio aspect in this anime ends up being disappointing because, although I prefer this band’s theatrical gothic rockpop music over the jpop made by MyGO!!!!! and the gothic jpop of Roselia, there are just a few full performances, only one up until the 10th episode in fact, and you can hear that song on the opening. Aside from that there’s the ending and I liked both but it’s a shame that there is such a shortage of songs from a music anime, especially one with such a cool aesthetic. The voice acting is still weak, even when some of the Ave Mujica members have actual experienced seiyuus behind them and there’s one song on one episode that purposely sounds like shit because the girl singing it can’t stop crying on stage and screen. The reason for that is that other characters, including the returning MyGO!!!!! cast, still sound inexperienced and not natural or not with enough nuance behind their delivery. The sound effects are there, whatever.
Same thing with the visuals, they didn’t change at all from the previous series, they are ok-ish, the CGI can look very plastic at times, but eh, it is what it is.
As a whole this was the most interesting out of the three BanG Dream entries I followed because it was the most ambitious, and I appreciate the early slight improvements over the writing and characterization compared to the previous show. Unfortunately, the execution and the pacing became a lot worse as the series went on, and ended up leaving a lot to be desired from what it could have been, ending in the same old meh result for a third time, leaving me with no real interest to follow another one.
Mar 27, 2025
BanG Dream! Ave Mujica
(Anime)
add
Mixed Feelings
Well Ave Mujica is here and compared to the prequel I’ve got to say that I appreciate how it is more straightforward, directly showing more about the main character and where she comes from instead of trying to be half mysterious as MyGO!!!!! was in its beginning. I still can’t excuse her personality and how she deals with things, but I can at least understand why and how she does the things she does.
In comparison to the previous entries I watched, the tone here is far more serious, being almost entirely focused on that mood and without mixing it with comedy as much as its ...
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
What did you think of this review?
Nice
 0
Love it
 0
Funny
 0
Confusing
 0
Informative
 0
Well-written
 0
Creative
 0Show all 
Mar 27, 2025
Ishura 2nd Season
(Anime)
add
Mixed Feelings
Ok Ishura is here with more and the first thing to say about it is that the aesthetics became a bit worse. Not the actual artwork though, which actually looks slightly better thanks to the setting not taking place majorly on sand and thus not looking as grainy. The rest though got worse, the noticeable and weak CGI is there more present than before and even on the backgrounds, making them look worse, the animation during fights is not as good, and this season features a lot more human or humanoid characters, so the designs are less inspired than before.
The sound effects are still ... as good as they were before but the rest of the audio got worse too, the new characters sound and are performed far more typically and at moments silly, and the soundtrack is not as varied as it used to and it doesn’t have the same quality. Don’t get me wrong it is still pretty good, especially the themes with choirs, but not as it was in the first season. The new opening and ending are kinda typical jpop/rock stuff highlighting the new cast, nothing remarkable, but they’re fine. As for the plot, well, it follows the same structure of introducing characters with some politics in the background, with now some first season cameos thrown around at times. At the very least the plot now has a clear direction that the audience knows about, and it is actually not ignored. The two kingdoms are actively looking to get the new cast on their files and the tournament, those of which fight amongst themselves even shortly after they are introduced. In addition, the remaining members of the original party that fought against the true demon king appear to negotiate with or square off against the new heroes, and there is even a new plot point with another enemy faction in the form of the royal army of the old kingdom. Guns are introduced in the setting and used to arm different armies and characters, though I wasn’t that impressed with it because there was already a character using a shotgun on the first season so what’s the deal. The bad part has to do with the novelty of the narrative being lost this time, but from what I understand the series will gets to the actual tournament, so the story and storytelling that might have gotten tiresome will hopefully change in the next entry or so, assuming it is done. From what I understand the tournament itself is also very long, so let’s see it this issue doesn’t persist even with the narrative change, again, assuming it is done. There’s still not an ending in sight of course, as the source material is still ongoing. As for characters, these are the new bunch: -Kuuro, a gray haired kid-looking detective with seemingly a past as an assassin or something, he has some form of clairvoyance directly tied to his own feelings and instinct and shoots arrows at enemies. He is very cautious and constantly analyzes the situation. He is accompanied by Cuneigh, a fairy sized harpy-like homunculus just there to be cute and help him. -Mele, a typical gentle giant good with kids and a protector of his village. Also an archer. -Lucnoca, a winter dragon tired of humans dying for coming after her, so she enters the tournament to face off actual contenders. -Hiroto. Honestly, I don’t get his deal much, another grey haired kid-looking character that distributes guns an puts characters against each other, basically manipulating various sides of a conflict, if you will. Fortunately, this character gets clearer in the last two episodes. -Kiyazuna and her “son” Mestelexil. She seems to be an engineer and enchanter of some kind that wants revenge against a sandstorm, and the other character is like a combination of a robot and a homunculus that constantly repair each other and transmutate their combined body with any variety of weapons, including some of our world, when needed. The machine seems to be want to get stronger and fight strong guys. -Linaris. This is the most mysterious character of the show honestly. A vampire girl that manipulates others by consuming their blood but not necessarily through the conventional way, and also by seducing them. She seems to lead a group of other characters that all together are manipulating events and armies from behind and with their powers, which seem to even be able to disintegrate people and monsters or something? High likely being the most broken contender of the season. -Atrazek, a particle disintegrator sandstorm that ends up being very disappointing. -Psianop, a sentient slime that wants to prove the strongest and thus it learned all kinds of martial arts. -Rosclay, an interesting fake hero helped with radio distributed magic chants coming from other people, but not actually a bad guy, He is a good swordsman but he is just a human entering a tournament full of monsters so what he’s gonna do? -Uhak, a seemingly blind?, and deaf? ogre that’s not bad, is very quiet and calm unless attacked, and actually seem to have learned to be violent because of humans, ironically. He is also unaffected by supernatural phenomena like the magic incantations of the other characters, so it would be interesting to see him against the most broken characters that were introduced on the first season. -Tu, a generic strong hotheaded good spirited high school girl, she bores me. -Toroa, the most interesting character in the season for me and the only one I gave a damn about for refusing to be used by someone else and for wanting revenge on Alus, from the first season. And of course some others that don’t matter much. Some details about some characters are lost because at times the subtitles were either incomplete or changed what the characters or the narrator were saying, and even some scenes showing key aspects of them were shortened or skipped and then played as flashbacks as if they actually were shown, but no, they were not. The main issue about this new cast is being far simpler, less interesting, with more typical backstories than we’ve seen before, and not a single one gets some sort of character arc like Yuno did on the first season. And just like before, there are no really interesting dynamics and interactions amongst the characters once they encounter each other and start fighting. So at the end of the day some aspects of this season are better than they were on the first but some are worse, ending on about the same level of quality. But I also have to wonder how many people are going to stick with its form of narrative for the whole season before it gets to the actual tournament, which from what I understand will also take plenty of seasons. On the good side for its fans, there will be less people watching the show and the most critical ones about it will leave and the scorings will keep going up everywhere (as long as the studio doesn’t fuck it up), as it happened with this season. Not mine though.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Informative
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all 
Mar 22, 2025 Mixed Feelings
Well the second season is here and I’m sure that what most people would want to know about it is if the visuals improved from the previous part, and the answer is…a little bit, but ever so slightly it’s not even that noticeable. The artwork, storyboard, character figures are all practically the same. The actual animation and the special effects are a bit better, particularly during fight scenes, and partially thanks to not try to mimic 90s special effects as regularly as the previous entry did. The backgrounds improved a little as well. The downside is the directing, which is still rather uninspired and doesn’t
...
add much, particularly to the action. Some of the key moments like Kenshin training with Hiko Seijuro were done justice, but others, like his fight with Cho, could have been better. In all, the visuals improved a little compared to the first season, but are still below the ones from the 90s.
Even the audio aspect improved a little thanks to the sound effects not sounding like stock material, they are louder, more impactful and plain better than the ones used before, for sure. Unfortunately everything else feels about the same, the music is still just ok and doesn’t add anything to the scenes to make them memorable. There are two new openings and they both suck, like Kenshin’s openings always did, and two new endings, which although they are typical romantic jpop stuff, they reflect the perspectives of the girls from the series fine, and are not bad on their own, definitely an improvement over the ones from the previous season. The voice acting is still fine, but like I said a year ago, the tendency to have the characters sounding younger (and hotter) to match the younger looking designs from this remake keeps being the same. The cast did an appropriate job, and is full of recognizable names in it, of whom you can usually expect good results of, but it is definitely not as iconic nor as crazy sounding as the one from thirty years ago. Since the major arc of the show started, the writing definitely improved by having less mini arcs against minor opponents, and having a long ongoing arc full of important events instead. There is kind of a lot of character immersion, flashbacks of Kenshin’s previous life from bonus manga chapters that are better than the ones from the first season, clashing ideological and political views discussed with some more details, and the protagonist actually struggling against his opponents for a change. Add to that the main cast trying to find out about the schemes of the main villain, who keeps stuff secret even from most of his strongest underlings, and the whole of Kyoto at stake for a sense of pressure. With all that said, the anime is still a rather typical fighting shounen, so minor villains are changed after just a speech from the protagonist, major ones keep going after the main character one on one as they have some quite unrealistic fights; there is lots of downtime and training, and comical moments thanks to the newly introduced support cast. At the very least the training doesn’t last for long, and it’s a nice change of pace of main characters becoming far stronger practically out of nowhere or out of screen, as the genre tends to do these days. The downtime serves to show the thoughts and feelings of the characters, and the comedy, as silly as it is, is not overdone nor thrown in during dramatic or serious scenes. The major issue is of course the lack of a proper ending, but that is preferable over rushing through the whole content just to get to the major events, that was done before in this franchise and nobody liked it. Filler was added to make a specific plot point last longer than it did time ago, but resolution aside, I didn’t find it to be bad. I don’t have a lot to say as far as characterization goes, but Kenshin keeps being great and looked into, Kaoru keeps going after him, Sanosuke comes across against an enemy and learns a technique from him on his quest to become stronger and help Kenshin and everyone else, Aoshi keeps spiraling down, and Saito appears as someone to figure out Shishio’s schemes and challenge Kenshin’s pacifist ideas. For newly introduced characters, minor side characters appear to remind Kenshin of his wish of a peaceful era, Hiko Seijuro hits him with the idea that trying to achieve that dream and refusing to kill a dangerous and strong enemy like Shishio aren’t compatible, just like Saito. Misao appears as just a funny fangirl but gets a growth after learning a hurtful truth and realizing she has to become a leader (or so it seems). Shishio Makoto is strong, deranged, scheming, imposing and manipulative, even to his own men, so he is great as a villain. From his henchmen, the only ones that get fleshed out a little are Cho, appearing as just an evil asshole but with a sense of loyalty, and Hoji, willing to do the dirty work needed, sacrifice himself, or even defy Shishio himself, all for the cause. So the season as a whole was a slight improvement over the first one, but it still quite can’t reach the levels of the previous adaptation. Nevertheless, all things considered, it leaves me somewhat hopeful to see it getting better on the next one, as it will be the most important part of the series with most of the key moments.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Informative
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all 
Mar 15, 2025
Chi. Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite
(Anime)
add
Recommended Spoiler
Disclaimer: Consider the possibility of this review containing minor spoilers.
Chi. Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite, or Orb: About the Movements of the Earth, as it came to be known in English, is the dark horse anime from last and this year, coming out without any hype behind and being one of the best and most praised, despite remaining relatively niche. To start with, it is important to say that it is one of the most serious anime in years. It has a little bit of comedy and action in it but they are so briefly in the show, especially the former, that they might as well ... not count. It easily enters into that list of anti-anime or non-anime shows for people that is not into the medium much because of the typical idea they have about it. With that said, Orb is clearly not a show meant for a mainstream appeal, status and audience, it is a serious, heavy on dialogues and slow burn type of a series for an acquired taste. Every arc starts in a just ok way and it takes its time in presenting characters, their beliefs and ideologies, setting, and plot points that change over several time skips in the anime. Once it gets to the points it tries to come across and the payoffs for each new part, the complete whole is something to be recognized and appreciated. Another backlash that the anime might have is prioritizing concepts and themes in its story over character appeal. Not to say that the characters are bad, but they are not exactly memorable and it is clear that the main focus of the show is on something else. And of course there always will be criticisms about the historical accuracy of an historical show. I can not speak for that but apparently the anime has been clarified to be a sort of alternative history type of series and setting, so that aspect can be excused up to some point. Other minor issues are how some lines can come off as corny for some, and that there are some inferior episodes and scenes for how unbelievable and exaggerated they can be, with the bridge scene from the fifth episode being the lowest point of the anime. Other not very believable aspects include, for example, two characters being scholars that normally would not have been. Despite those points, this is a legitimately worth watching anime, and of course not just because it has a serious tone. First of all, some of its dialogues can be semi philosophical and very good, as characters discuss their perspectives on how to live a life, whether a Heaven or not exists, if the accepted cosmovision fits the perfect universe created by God or not; if Heaven is perfect and pure and Earth is impure and rotten, or they are complementaries making a complete whole; whether or not it is worth sacrificing your life for a cause and idea, how knowledge and information can transcend time and entire lives, the importance, passion and appeal behind books and writing in itself, if the church has become a dogma that defies God’s message, if one truly is ready to search for and face the truth even if it contradicts one’s knowledge, and many more topics that get entire episodes dedicated to them, and not just through dialogues. The themes are also explored through the plot itself and the character arcs, the cast can get their entire lives shaken and even put at risk for coming across certain knowledge, proceed to question everything they knew up until that point, change their whole perspectives of life, and even come to sacrifice themselves in order to protect what they believe or know about and prolong through time the results they get. As can be deduced from the previous paragraph, Orb is also an anime with actual stakes, as it does not hesitate to kill off important characters on situations they can not logically survive, so no plot armor in it. Also, there are not that many scenes of astronomy in it, but the few of them that exist are done well enough to explain the logic and studies of the characters and how they come to find about and develop the idea of heliocentrism. And contrary to what could be believed, Orb is not anti-religion, it is anti-dogma, as most of the important characters are against the church not for being non-believers, but rather for standing against the church tainting God’s teachings and the world itself as an extension. And even though it shows cruel acts and scenes, the anime is properly dark and never becomes cartoonish in any way. It achieves that by keeping the sides somewhat grey, not every priest is bad, even some inquisitors mean well and question their doing, and not every heretic is a passionate intellectual either, some even go on a rampage killing believers just because. Another thing to point out about the writing is how it plays out the card of ironic twist of fate. A dead character can remain influential decades afterwards, the main antagonist that wants to preserve the status quo and protect his close ones loses everything and even is one of the reasons for that himself, somebody might doom a relative while trying to save them, an elitist with a superiority complex ends up in the need of relying on others, a girl belittled and looked down by everyone ends up being a leader, and more such cases. The characters are not exactly memorable, I couldn’t name any of them without looking them up, don’t have the most elaborate personalities, and don’t get much development. They are still quite good thanks to proper fleshing, well founded personalities, solid backstories for everyone, changes of perspective thanks to the ironic writing, and they leave the story with a feeling of catharsis. Just for the sake of being a bit more specific: -Rafal, an orphan guy living life doing what is expected of him to have it easy, desperately gives in to his passion and does the most illogical thing. -Oczy, a former fighter and I guess assassin for hire or something, with not expectations in life, ends up putting his own life on the line for heliocentrism even against a far stronger enemy. He also starts working as an assistant or even a servant of sorts, yet yearns for learning and ends up being the most important character for preserving the theory. His whole world got turned all over the more he got involved and found a purpose along the way. What I did not understand is that he seemed to have an academic past, as shown on flashbacks, yet did not know how to read and write? I guess I am missing something about him. -Badeni, for both a main character and a priest, he sure is not considered to be a good person. Selfish, arrogant, classicist, elitist, has a superiority complex that makes he sees himself as some sort of chosen one by God to achieve big things and not needed anyone else for nothing. His whole character arc is realizing the exact opposite, as he ends up being the stepping stone he so did not want to become. -Jolenta, a scholar girl scammed and belittled by everyone, although just for a few episodes, with no hope of being allowed doing anything, and with a close connection to the main antagonist. Ends up being a teacher and even a heretic leader after a time skip. Her character arc is one of the best, most ironic, bittersweet and cathartic aspects in the whole show. -Draka, the last protagonist of the series, a proactive girl that wants to defy the status quo of her community by making them compete with each other, and an ambitious person with a case of early stage capitalism. It is interesting to see how determined and quick thinking she is in trying to survive and make a profit, yet ends up developing an emotional understanding of another character that no one else did. -Nowak, the main antagonist of the show and one of the best in years in the medium. Strong, good fighter, cruel, intimidating, smart, observer, sharp, wanting to protect his family in his vision and fighting against the revolutionary ideas that might trip the world itself, while preferring not to hurt people themselves. Even at his worst, oldest and most depressed state on the last arc, he is still the biggest threat. His conclusion on the story might be the biggest payback on the whole series and yet incredibly cathartic and it sure felt satisfactory to watch. -Albert Brudzewski. The only actual person of the show, a man conflicted about whether or not pursue knowledge thanks to the polarizing views he was educated with and the character the last two episodes are focused on as he comes with a position on his own. The ending of the series leaves you rather indifferent, the themes and dialogues in it are fine, the catharsis for the last important character is there, but it feels weirdly tacked on in the story. It is rather confusing, as it is unsure whether or not it deleted the whole plot up until that point or if it treated it as a what if scenario or not, the timeline became a bit convoluted and ambiguous, to the point that many believe the series pulled off as troll alternative timelines type of twist. As for the production, the series looks good, with ever-solid artwork, backgrounds, and actual dark scenes in a retro style. The character designs and figures are good and stand out by being not generic nor repetitive, but are also a bit simple. The animation is good for the few and brief fight scenes, but the series can be very static for the rest of the show. The special effects are overall good but there is some weak CGI here and there. The sound effects and music are good but they do not excel, the BGM can be immersive but also quite repetitive. The opening and endings have this odd relaxed feeling to them that fit well with the slow feel of the show but I am not entirely sure if they go well with the content and setting in it. At least on their own they are fine, are well directed, and feature visual changes in them reflecting the changes across the different arcs of the series. The voice acting is serious, mature, the voices fit every character perfectly, but the performances lack a bit of nuance for them to really shine, the cast did nothing wrong, it is just what they have to work with. As a whole, I maintain what I wrote about it at the beginning of the review, Orb is definitely one of the most worth watching anime shows from last year, and the beginning of this one. But I must also say that the ending left me a bit disappointed, and for a while made me think that it was as bad as the one from Dededede. Finales are hard to write, even more so if you are Japanese it seems.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Informative
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all 
Feb 15, 2025 Mixed Feelings
This anime is an odd one as it is worth a one-time watch for combining multiple different genres, but not exactly because the combination of them is all that great, nor because each one of them is handled all that well individually either.
First, it is a comedy, with most jokes revolving around how the protagonist is unable to adapt to a common everyday life, and some minor ones about his non-sister trolling men. The first type suffers from no other character reacting to the situation in a way that comes off as funny, but rather having some “ah, I see” with a straight face type ... of reactions. It is refreshing to have an anime which humor doesn’t revolve around characters yelling and exaggerating over the most minor things, but unless you are a fan of deadpan comedy, I don’t think these would work on you. Comedy rarely makes me laugh, and when the jokes and delivery themselves don’t even feel like trying to make me to, what can I consider them other than mediocre? The second type comes off as very silly and dragged on to work on me, although I will admit that I found the battle of flirts between the non-sister and that one guy somewhat amusing, and even got a chuckle out of me. The Fable is also a slice of life type of series but the premise itself prevents it from being a properly made common life type of story, how can you have a slice of life when that life is fabricated, out of the ordinary stuff keeps happening in it, and the main character doesn’t quite nail it? It is certainly an uncommon type of series for the genre that might work for people that are not usually pleased with it, but I don’t see how fans of it would fancy this one much. The series is also a thriller, and for the most part it succeeds at presenting the most intense circumstances with suspense, as they involve normal people on risky situations with some rather high stakes. The problem is that the show is also a rule of cool action type of one, and that clashes with the other intentions, as most problems are resolved thanks to the protagonist being awesome. That’s its main issue as a rule of cool type of action series as well. Every properly made work of that subgenre that I’ve seen on anime or live action succeeds primarily thanks to at least one of three main factors: creativity, great spectacle and antagonists that are close to the protagonists in levels of challenge and cool factor. None of these are all that present in the Fable, or at least not with that much success. The situations the main characters have to deal with are presented in ways meant to be cool, but are also more like thrilling than anything else, while also rather typical for its genre and approached on a pretended semi-realistic way, thus their creativity is rather low. The spectacle is easily the weakest aspect in this anime thanks to rather mediocre production values. The directing itself is fine, especially when it comes to saving the action scenes with their so-so animation, but the visuals themselves leave a lot to be desired for a work like this. I can give a compliment to the anime for looking actually dark when it is supposed to, which is a rare thing nowadays, but the artwork is simplistic, the character designs simple and their figures go off model often, the backgrounds rather unimpressive, the animation mostly static and with so-so motions on action scenes as previously mentioned, and the special effects aren’t all that good either, and they even feature some rather mediocre CGI. The audio on the other hand is fine. I don’t like a single song among the two openings and endings of this anime, but the background music itself isn’t bad. The sound effects do their job fine and the voice acting is ok. Like I hinted at previously, nothing so far poses that much of a challenge to the protagonist. There are a bunch of antagonists and secondary characters with their own agency and schemes, and several opponents on each arc, in turn completely outclassed by the ones of the following arcs, making you think that maybe now the main guy will face a proper threat, but no. When the climax of an arc comes, the protagonist resolves everything by being super awesome and far superior to anyone else around him. What the anime ends up working most as ends up being the drama, surprisingly, as there are several really serious and mostly real and plausible situations in it, suffered mostly by women, and the series never tries to mix in some comedy in during those moments. In a general sense, the writing takes its time at presenting the different characters and scenarios and properly excusing grouping them all together. Although rather slow paced and frankly boring to watch in my opinion, once you finish each arc you come to appreciate a proper structure of a well-established build up followed by a far better payoff, making a rather decent whole. Another good aspect is having several characters with their own agency trying to outclass each other, despite everything being resolved by the super awesome protagonist, as well as enough downtime to present the mentality of all of them. There are several scenes where the cast discuss their ideas about the values of lives and deaths, types of people, different eras with different values and ways to act, working attitudes changing over time and generations, and more stuff. I won’t say it’s amazing or anything, especially because I watched About the Movements of the Earth after this anime, but it is the most depth and substance and look into the cast that you will find it, so I think that’s worth the mention, despite how weird and twisted some of their ideologies might be. The weakest aspect of the story is of course feeling like mini arcs with no connection with one another, and the lack of an overall ending. As far as characterization goes, it is easy to dismiss it as being divided between typical good people, mostly women, and typical assholes gagsters and assassins, mostly men, but on a closer inspection, not all yakuzas nor all gangsters are straight up bad, and not all common people are exactly good. In fact an everyday guy is the worst of them all, because at least the criminals themselves recognized that they are scum, while that one dude acts in denial and victimization. What’s to appreciate is how every relevant character has their backdrop story explored, and although I can’t really say that there’s development, the resolutions feel satisfactory in how everyone gets what they deserve. The good guys get some proper peace and a renewed chance at life at the end in a cathartic way, and the wrongdoers get what’s coming to them, not in a sadistic “haha take that asshole” way for the pleasure of the audience, but rather through outcomes that feel bittersweet. In the middle of all of that is the protagonist, who is the only one getting some slight change by becoming more humanized thanks to his newfound everyday life and companions. Too bad he is really serious and dry and rather boring to follow from beginning to end for me to consider him developed or interesting. Honestly is it mostly the same with everyone else, but least they are proactive, while he is mostly reactive and uninterested by mostly everything. Like I said, I wouldn’t say this anime is exactly great, and I certainly didn’t enjoy it, and it has issues both on each one of its genres and as a whole in my opinion, but the combination of all of them and its odd approach to them, with some quality content and satisfactory conclusions here and there, make it a worthy one time watch for me, especially if you are looking for something somewhat different and retro feeling.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Informative
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all 
Feb 15, 2025 Not Recommended Spoiler
This anime got a lot of shit because of its visuals but honestly, a big part of it feels undeserved. Ok it’s true that there was undeniably a big drop in quality from the first episode to the following ones, and it was made worse because of the anime being in development hell for years and sacrificing even color to supposedly look good, but besides some infamous scenes, the visuals weren’t all that bad. They retained the same grotesque and bizarre look from the source material and nailed a unique aesthetic within the medium. But at the end of the day it’s true that the
...
overall level is just fine and nowhere near as good as it seemed at first.
The atmosphere was overall ok despite the audio aspect not being that strong either. The music was ok but not exactly memorable, the sound effects ranged from good to meh, and the voice acting was fine for what the show was going for but not great for the same reason. Is it supposed to sound insane and scary but honestly to me it sounded more like over the top and kinda ridiculous, despite every character having a properly selected and performed voice. What matters most to me is the plot, which wasn’t all that different from the original, thus there’s not much real reason to rate the adaptation much lower than the manga. The anime took all the initial ministories and had them happening at the same time, instead of one after another. This change made the whole seem more organic on one hand, but certainly took away individual importance from each one, and it diminished the impact of the ironic twist of fate type of ending that each one of them has. But down to it, people always seemed to care more about the grotesque and bizarre situations occurring in Uzumaki, and not so much about the writing, otherwise it wouldn’t make any sense not to point out how every person on that damned town seems to carry on with their everyday lives despite all the bizarre stuff that keeps happening. Another was made fun of for years for the same reason, why not this one? Well, to be fair, Uzumaki never had accidentally hilarious situations in it, but still, it suffers from having extremely passive characters reacting in unnatural ways to what happens around them, instead of trying to do something or leave. Not to mention the main character survives so many situations she shouldn’t that it comes off as plot armor, all for nothing in the end. To its credit, eventually the characters do react and try to do something, as well as leave, and the setting is more or less explained, but it comes at the cost of making them even more helpless plot devices unable to do anything in the grand scheme of things. Combine that with the looped ending, which I don’t remember being the same in the original, and they come off as even more disposable than they already were. So at the end of the day, this is a work you consume more for the bizarre situations and grotesque visuals than the story and characters, so as long as you don’t mind the drop in quality, you should be fine with it. The writing is and always was rather poor, as the plot never really made much sense, and the cast was always made of disposable plot devices with forgettable personalities and zero immersion and fleshing.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Informative
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all 
Oct 19, 2024 Mixed Feelings Funny
“As far as I know, there is still more stuff to be adapted, as the novels kept going (and keep going, I think?), but seeing how this entry had a fitting ending with no loose ends, I don’t think that seeing more is really necessary, and I’m not the only one it seems, seeing that nothing else of it was released for five years now.”
This is something that I wrote on my last Monogatari anime review, published on September last year, and then on December I finished and reviewed the manga. Meaning, I called this continuation to existence and every Monogatari fan out there owe ... it to me. Jokes aside, this is a hard entry to judge, as it adapts two novels and one of them consists of lots of mini stories in an anthology-like manner. Yet the series does a good job in building and maintaining a continuity between them, and they also build themselves from previous events and character interactions, so it’s fine. For half of the show the focus switches from Koyomi to the girls, which is good for giving them spotlight and continuing to flesh them out. The first story about Tsukihi is mostly silly and about pretending, but it is also interesting for what it means, and to see Ononoki trying to keep doing her mission. Another nice detail is how the episode forms a sort of narrative loop with something so silly as eating ice cream. But the best things is how it uses previous events and apparitions in it, and how it builds up the following events with Ononoki and Nadeko. There are questionable things in its writing, which Ononoki tries to excuse as not being much as she fucking up but rather all result of Tsukihi’s apparition. That could be considered bad or genius writing depending of how picky or casual you are, for me it was just ok. The bad part is how Ononoki can’t notice the most logical things throughout the episode, and is another character the one that has to resolve the problem appearing out of nowhere. Also amnesia and a comical loop. After that it comes an arc about Nadeko where they try to solve an issue looking for an easy way out, and it backfires, so there’s the good message in there. It also serves to flesh out her by having her both metaphorically and literally confronting and coming to terms with her past self, in different variants, and struggling as an artist and being pressured by her parents and time, now as a teenager. And the best part is how she had to solve the problem almost completely by herself, and how there wasn’t any perverted content in it, and even the slightly more explicit stuff that you could count as such served the narrative, so it’s not fanservice. Overall I consider it to be one of the best arcs I’ve seen from the franchise. Time seems to be an important topic in the “Off” part of the season, almost as it telling that a certain time is already off and it moved to a new one, or that characters are running out of time. Not trying to overthink it, but visually the directing regularly matches an object or Ononoki spinning around more than usual while talking about trying to take advantage of time, with following shots of clocks running, so that brought the thought to my mind. Speaking of visuals, this entry keeps the usual standard of the franchise, which is of course very high. The new designs for the characters are nice, the special effects with little CGI and the backgrounds are still trippy and dynamic to look at. The occasional changes in style are there although not as prominent. The occasional texts are no longer passages from the light novels and are not as long nor as quick, so they are easier to see and read. And the directing has something happening all the time to make up for the occasional lack of motion, which is in fact less than in previous installments, despite having less stuff happening in it. What’s new is the lack of fanservice, perhaps because the entry isn’t a harem but since I always bitch about the ecchi, I was very pleased with this change. Also, since Nadeko is an important character, lots of moments implement sheets and manga as part of the visuals, and bookshelves used for stairs-like transitions, very creative. There is also some occasional live action footage for the backgrounds as well. The sound remains the same, good sound effects, very good voice acting, the soundtrack didn’t impress me, the visuals and the lyrics of the ending are good but the song is a very happy pop tune of which I’m not fan of, and the background music sounds like synthwave. Not that I’m complaining, I like to listen to the genre from time to time, but it is still as unremarkable as the soundtrack of the franchise always was for me. The opening is a reference/update of that famous Nadeko opening that most people seem to like, so it was fine for what the arc goes for thematically. The next arc is the short origin story of Kiss Shot, showing how some of her traits came to be, such as her name, way of speaking and laughing, and how she became a vampire. The story itself is like a classic dark fairy tale, and it perfectly represents the idea of how naming conventions determine so many characteristics of the supernatural creatures in this world and franchise. At the same time, despite having a serious tone, the conflict feels very first world problem to me, and the characters don’t seem to take it that seriously for me to care. Plus when you think about it, it makes it seem like Kiss Shot never showed her real personality in the franchise in retrospect, but at least gave more meaning to some of her speech patterns during silly moments. Speaking of silly moments, that’s what the logic of the characters and the naming conventions in the arc were like to me. Oh, and it builds upon previously shown information in Zoku Owarimonogatari, which I didn’t bother to review because I found very little to say about it besides it being a what if fanservice story that is even practically erased by the end of it so what’s the point? Overall I found it to be a very unnecessary and mediocre arc that didn’t add nothing of interest. At least visually it was pretty great. It suffers from lacking motion but makes up for it with painting like illustrations, gothic aesthetics reminiscent of Castlevania or Shinbo’s earlier works like Le Portrait de Petit Cosette, a special short intro that was like a shadow play with even set pieces simulating an actual theater, though I think the whole thing was made in CGI, but still looked very cool. Heck, even the scenes were separated in acts like in an actual play. And although there was no opening, the music was pretty immersive, except for the ending which remained the same as before and didn’t really fit one bit. The next arc goes back to present time yet builds up right from the end of the previous one as it has Suicide Master meddling in Japan and being part of several attacks towards girls from the Naoetsu school. In this arc Koyomi goes back to being the protagonist and the whole thing is once again played out as a mystery of sorts, plus it builds up good reasons for having several characters being involved in the conflict and having a specific role in it. Unlike the previous arcs, the tone goes back to being somewhat humorous as it was the case with previous entries, but at least there is still absence of fanservice, so I don’t complain. Even the aesthetics are closer to what the franchise has shown before the rest of this entry, both in visual presentation and music. But I have to praise the opening for going back to the ones you would expect from one about Shinobu, and for that jazzy theme. She always gets the best openings it seems. What I don’t fancy much, was the conclusion. For such a big deal that the reunion between the two vampires seemed to be, it felt lacking to me, even when I understand their laughs now. Also although the reasoning of the main characters to find out the villain seemed fine, I don’t think there was enough information or build up to how she got to know about them, and the villain herself was just an edgy, nihilistic, suicidal teenager that got defeated with one hit before not really feeling that she actually learned her lesson. Overall it was a fine arc but with a bit of a lacking resolution. As a whole I found it to be an ok addition to the franchise, mostly for the aesthetics, the lack of fanservice, the girls being looked into without Araragi around, and for the Nadeko arc. But I want to be clear, if that arc wasn’t here, I would have considered the season to be overall mediocre.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Informative
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all 
Sep 27, 2024
NieR:Automata Ver1.1a Part 2
(Anime)
add
Recommended Spoiler
Before I begin, I want to say that I rewatched the first season before starting this one and there were things that I found to be better than I gave the previous entry credit for.
The reasons for A2 are not as mysterious as I said, they are pretty clear. Also I have noticed in my rewatch that there are details properly anticipated or built upon throughout the whole show, such as the flower, and the final showdown. The machine life forms resent their creators and that is why they were interested in being closer or more akin to humanity and why they tried to create different forms ... of families or communities for thousands of years. Even though they cannot procreate, they found out they could fuse together to create a more advanced humanoid super machine in the form of Adam (and/or Eve). In turn, said character was so interested in humanity and its emotions that disconnected… it? he? them? selves from the network to experience death as the conclusion for life, like it happens to a human. Yet, when it finally happens, it/he/them snaps full of resentment and grieve, realizing what was lost and how did not fully appreciate the time shared with Eve. Then proceeds to force a new fusion with the network and the rest of the machines to become the God he aspired to and tries to destroy the very thing he admired and used to see as equal. And although still nowhere near its game counterpart, the final showdown was better than I remembered it to be, because not only has the whole resistance taking part of it, but also the YoRHa units and even the Commander using everything they can and even defying orders in order the defeat the ultimate enemy. From the negative side, I noticed that the CGI was more prominent than I remembered, and the artwork suffers more from time to time than I noticed the first time. And in terms of writing, I think it would have been better if Adam was shown as a more active antagonist throughout the show. That also counts for the still disappointing final showdown, where not only he has a horrible change in design, but also is mostly there taking damage without really doing much. Also, although I still appreciate the scenes in terms of directing, it is true that different nods to the videogame and the original NieR, can be quite confusing and feel a bit messy within the rest of the series. Also the exposition is a bit too in your face at times, it definitely could be more subtle or improved with minor changes in the script. Overall, my rating and appreciation for the first season remain unchanged, as I found both better and worse things in it on my rewatch. Sorry for this prologue, now, onto the actual review of this season. Since I have already written a lot about the whole concept and most aspects of the characters in the previous one, this one should be considerably shorter and more to the point. In terms of visuals and audio, this second cour remains the same as the first, so I will not get into details nor dedicate much writing to it. The only change worth mentioning is that both the opening from the, in my opinion, overrated LiSA, and the ending by GEMS COMPANY, were far inferior than the previous ones. Lyrically, however, both songs retained the same level of quality, and the latter referenced Drakengard 3. As for the actual content, the main difference compared to the previous season is that this one does not have as much philosophical elements in it. The characters and overall themes were already introduced and discussed, so now they are not really questioning their purpose and existence anymore. That makes this entry somewhat simpler for me and one I did not enjoy as much as the first. Not to say that it is worse or anything, just that it lost a neat extra. What it replaced it with, however, is going full on with the psychological war drama aspect of the premise, picking off exactly from the end of the first season. From a certain point, this cour takes itself completely seriously and features a lot more action, war in full on scale, and death and tragedy everywhere. Lots of character die at every episode regardless on their importance in the plot, a sign of good luck of plot armour, and since almost everyone got a decent focus on the previous half, almost no death lacks impact. And yet, it is not like the season lacks in the characterization department, as A2 becomes a much more important and focused character and the new co-protagonist. Her tragic backdrop is explored, I assume because taking advantage of the manga adapting the same story being already finished now. And she even gets development as she gains a new perspective by her interactions with other characters in this entry, such as 2B and Lily, and more importantly, machines such as Pascal and the kids in his village. The plot slows down a bit for a few episodes to give us much more relaxed interactions of her and them in a wholesome tsundere like manner, but considering what it meant for future events in the story, and for her as a character, I say those moments are necessary and well handled. Then there is 92 as he keeps being the other protagonist in the show, I am not entirely sure if I can count his change as development or character regression, but the little guy becomes crazier and more ruthless with each episode. He is the one that continues to move the plot forward as he keeps learning more things about the whole conflict and the world itself, and combined with all the losses he keeps suffering in the season, his mind gets completely shattered in it. Great psychological aspect in my opinion. As for the ending, the anime went with a weird mix between two endings from the videogame, including the True one, and original material. Basically a big fight happens and it seems to ends tragically, several characters start talking about gaining self-consciences and new objectives in a new world, and an original fighttakes place before moving into a kind of circular soft reset of sorts but one that does not negate the whole plot. Personally, I would have preferred a more tragic finale, but I still consider it to be an acceptable one. If you want me to say something negative about it, here are my complaints: -The fanservice, not only it did not go away, it got worse. Most of it is quick blink and you missed it moments, but others are there in detail just for the sake of it. Can we excused 2B and A2’s buttshots? In general, yes, can we excuse Commander’s? No. -Devola and Popola were explored way too late in the story. Yes, it is like that in the videogame as well, but instead of changing that for the better in the adaptation, it kept it the same and it meant for them to lack characterization almost until they no longer take a part in the story. At least we got more backdrop lore from previous entries in the whole Drakengard/NieR franchise thanks to them, but the handling of them was still not exactly the best. -Although in a way the antagonists were orchestrating the whole thing behind the curtains, and not without proper build up even from the previous season, they still felt very passive as villains, even more than Adam and Eve. Heck, they were not even defeated by the protagonists, their downfall was something done by themselves after a quick, out of nowhere and almost out of screen internal conflict. Their change of perspective also happens practically out of nowhere. An aspect I am not entirely convinced about whether it is a positive or not is that, once the truth is revealed, you wonder what was even the point of the whole war. In regards of theme exploration, a good thing is that something I presented as a possible issue within the concept itself last time was addressed here. I am talking about why machines would want to be human, and here they are having a whole internal conflict regarding getting conscience and searching for a new higher form of evolution and whether they need an enemy for that or not. Pretty good stuff but it feels like it needed more time and focus to not come off as sudden as it does. Then of course one could see the pointlessness of the war itself as a commentary on every war there is, although that could be counter argued with some real life events, I think. But discussing whether or not all the devastating and tragic wars there have been and are still fought out there have a meaning or not is not the point of this review. What could be say however is that, after watching both the videogame and the anime, in-story, I was still left a bit without being able to completely shake the question off my head, what was the point of everything the characters went through? And for what did they? Again, very good as a theme, but perhaps not the best executed in-series. I can at least say that here you do care about the characters because of all the proper characterization, fleshing, psychological pressure and existential crisis they got and went through throughout the whole story in the two seasons. Contrary to, let’s say, Sky Crawlers, which although very different in plot and this point I am addressing now, had a similar relationship between the main characters as the ones in here, but with not even a fraction of characterization, memorability, tragic aspects and impactful ending as this series. In conclusion, although I do not think of it as being as good as the first season, and not without issues, the second cour was another great sci-fi war drama despite its not so great visuals and differences from its source material. And without something like Pluto around, and with Dededede ruining its ending, I even consider it the best anime of this year. Like last year, here is the summary and my opinion of the episodes compared to the videogame, so again, skip this if you are an anime only, as it is full of spoilers. Episode 1-From what I understand, it begins with a very shortened and simpler combination of the Memory Thorn and Memory Cage chapters from the Short Story Long Novel, and the late Amnesia side quest from the game, and part of revelations that come near the end of Route C, as it reveals the true identity of 2B and the actual circular relationship she has with 9S. Then it ends with the beginning of Route C. There are also references to NieR in both a setting and Emil making an appearance. Also, the ending song of the season references Drakengard 3. Weird start of the season for an anime only like myself, but captivating enough because of the events that take place later, and how it changes the dynamics of the main characters shown up until that point. Episode 2-It covers about half of the first mission of the C route, right until the reverse hacking and its effects. It shows not only other YoRHa pairs, but also the Resistance in the battle, plus some Operators, including 21O, so I found it to be better than its game counterpart. Also the Red Girls appear to mess things up. Episode 3-It begins by confirming already hinted information about both 2B and the situation thus far, then shows the events on the battlefield 2B was going through while the previous episode was happening. Then continues to show the rest of the battle and the scenes on the bunker with the opening credits of the game included. Seemingly minor but important differences between the versions include the Commander being seemingly getting caught by surprise by the revelations of the episode, instead of being reluctant to believe them like in the source material. In addition, instead of random Operators, 6O is the one that attacks the protagonists here, because she has a lot more direct and emotional connection with them. Besides the fanservice, I have no complaints with this one. Episode 4-It starts right after the end of the previous one and covers 2B’s death. It has several flashbacks and the visuals were not near as messy from the perspective of the dying 2B as they were in the videogame, plus she does not fight with that many enemies, so it is worse than the source material. On the positive side, there was some neat aerial fighting, without the weak CGI from the previous entry, and having 9S fighting at the same time made him arriving late to make more sense. Overall it was an almost excellent episode and one of the best. Episode 5-It goes back to show more of A2 and Lily’s past, adapted from the Anemone: Encounter, Understanding and Separation novels from the game, the Ongakugeki YoRHa Ver.1.2 stage play, and the YoRHa: Shinjuwan Kouka Sakusen Kiroku manga. It makes sense to stop the main plot a little to show this, as it helps to flesh out A2 more as the new protagonist, and before her reencounter with Lily, also the manga was finished by this point, so it is understandable that they decided to show more of this backstory. Episode 6-From what I understand, this episode is mostly original, though I imagine you can get similar interactions in the game as the ones shown here if you stop to get side quests in the Pascal’s village I guess. Other than that, both A2 and 9S’ recoveries were shown quite differently, and although a laidback and wholesome episode, it had nice character interactions for what comes next. A2 is given more needed interactions with Lily, and with robots from the village, which are neat additions and would make the following events to hit harder and make her development better. Meanwhile we see 9S slowly losing his mind and having a nice interaction with someone from the Resistance Camp, thus coming to terms with 2B’s death. Overall it was one of the weakest episodes on its own, but necessary and good in the long run. Episode 7-A2 continues to interact with the robot kids from the Pascal Village, and along with him, they arm every seemingly capable fighter in order to fend off an upcoming invasion by hostile machine life forms. While that is happening, 9S encounters Operator 21O, rebranded as 21B for going into battle, thus her death makes 9S’ change more impactful both for him and within the story. Then he goes to the Resource Recovery sub Unit of the main Tower System to get its key by indiscriminately murdering every machine life form he encounters. In the post credits puppet play, Devola and Popola reference NieR (Gestalt/Replicant), and sing “Song of the Ancients-Atonement” for a bit. Episode 8-It continues right from where it left off with an original battle between A2, Pascal and the village against other hostile machine life forms, but with a very similar ending. Later on she activates the Berserker Mode to fight against a Goliath type enemy and is helped by Pascal manipulating another one, like in the game, though it ends in a cliffhanger. Meanwhile 9S goes to the other Resource sub Unit and keeps killing robots and finds out the truth about them and the androids in the library, as well as about the Tower itself. The pods have a sped up kind of meta conversation in the last puppet play. Episode 9-Pascal quickly defeats the Goliath and then we see changes from the game, as the surviving children are sent to the Resistance Camp but are infected thus chaos unleashes and most characters die either killed by a friend or family or by killing themselves. Even Pascal dies in here committing suicide while also blowing up a kid that ate the rest. Lily gets infected and asks A2 to kill her. Meanwhile 9S finds 2B’s message from the game as he finds the last password and both protagonists advance towards the Tower. The puppet theater is no longer in the show and is replaced, before the ending rolls, with conversations between the pods from the actual game. Despite the changes, I found it to be a great episode. Episode 10-9S introspects within himself while hacking the Tower, and finds out the truth about 2B and himself, although he suspected it long before this point. Most of the episode is dedicated to Popola and Devola, showing part of the Project Gestalt lore from Drakengard and the original NieR, as well as the backstory of the characters from the “Devola & Popola’s Memories” novel from the game. Then they get 9S inside the Tower while fighting against machine lifeforms. Although faithful to the source material and overall good, I think the information about the twins came too late in the story, and interrupted the flow of the narrative. Episode 11-Devola dies at the beginning and A2 kills an infected Popola right after. Then she gets into the Tower to find the library and the truth from the Red Girls, who also appear in front of 9S on another place after making him fight against several 2Bs, and then he takes the arms of one and gets infected. Very faithful to the game that far, but then the boss fights are largely skipped as they get infected and fight each other instead of fusing like in the game. Just like the first season, almost none of the epic action of the game is in here, but I never considered that to be a major problem. While that is happening, the Red Girls are discussing and fighting among themselves. Although their dialogues are given more importance than in the game, their fight also gets completely skipped. Then the episode ends with A2 and 9S about to fight each other just like in the game. Having practically no action for the climax kind of sucked, but the rest of the episode was fine. Episode 12-The Pods keep talking with dialogues from the game, and the fight between A2 and 9S initiates, with interesting different and clashing perspectives between them based on their character arcs up until that point, and combining scenes from both Endings C and True E from the videogame. Also there are original scenes where both main characters introspect before the show sort of combines both endings into one, having A2 releasing the Ark with the machine lifeforms in it, yet also having the Pods doing a semi-reset of sorts I believe, but after an original fight. From what I understand, there is some sort of adaptation of a concert that plays after the end, and for some reason Accord from Drakengard 3 appears as a cameo, which would confuse every single anime only. Overall, some things felt a bit rushed, but a good enough ending as a whole.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Informative
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all 
Sep 27, 2024
Senpai wa Otokonoko
(Anime)
add
Mixed Feelings
I initially started this anime because part of its premise reminded me of Hourou Musuko, a 2011 coming of age and romance anime about two transgender protagonists. But as it turns out the main character in here later on does not see themselves as either a boy or a girl, so I guess we’re talking about a non-gender conforming non-binary protagonist here instead.
I mean this anime still shares some things with that one, such as the main character dressing with feminine clothes half the time and being initially rejected by most people around, and having a supportive parent while the other does not accept them, ... but they have nothing in common beyond that and their approach are vastly different. The romance part of the anime is peculiar, as the protagonist is part of a sort of a love triangle with both a boy and a girl, having the male character being conflicted by his feelings and afraid of being homo or at least bisexual, and of being seen as a creep, both by his friend and society. The female character has no issue with the main character’s identity but her feelings end up being different from what it’s initially shown. Thus despite being a romance, the approach in here seems like an anti-genre sort of thing, as the characters go in and out of relationships without actually being in love with the others and instead being afraid of losing their bonds, and desperately want affection that was neglected to them at some point in their lives. So, it’s the anime like KareKano? Which took the premise of a high school romance between two seemingly perfect characters to explore their real selves and their psyche behind them? Not really, hardly, as the series is mostly comical and leaves its themes in the background for the sake of focusing on something else, and when it does focus on them, it feels like a surface level of exploration. KareKano was a comedy as well but it knew when and how to separate its humor from its psychological introspection, while this show only has the character feeling kinda sad yet doesn’t miss the chance to throw some jokes every few minutes. Aside of the messy tone, another issue is that, despite its peculiar love triangle and themes it wants to explore, the execution still comes down to awkward teenagers being unable to resolve most things just by talking them out, which is why the resolutions of every conflict there is end up being very easygoing: -The main character is bullied lightly only in the past on another school, and rejected just at the beginning of the story, they quickly become popular and supported by everyone in the school. -Ryuji and Makoto’s relationship and conflicts get two episodes tops of focus. Exactly because there isn’t much content to explore about that, at least not in this anime. -Related to that, characters faking their feelings does not lead to any interesting change in dynamics or a major conflict between them, as they are still around the others and keep accepting each other no problem. -Aoi’s loneliness does get some focus throughout several episodes, but that can and is in fact resolved simply by having the other two mains around. And the most important part of that aspect, the absence of her mother, gets resolved extremely easily and in an easygoing and very lighthearted way by the end of the series. -Want to talk about the thing between Makoto and their mother? It gets completely sidelined until the very end of the series, it is looked deeper only when the show is about to end, and just like with Aoi, for how big it seemed to be, the resolution leaves a lot to be desired. Plus the adaptation isn’t even complete as there is a movie coming out next year to adapt the final bunch of chapters of the source material. Apparently, the anime covered the whole source material by rushing through all of its content in just one season, so that could be part of the problem, but that does not change the end result of the adaptation. I can’t even say that the aesthetics are remarkable in any particular way, the backgrounds and artwork are good, the special effects and character designs are one of the same you can find anywhere else. The main issue is the chibi art style the series goes for half the time, which negatively affects everything else. Just like with Human Bug Daigaku, which I reviewed recently, I appreciate how this show properly captured the main aesthetic of its source material, but by itself it kind of sucks. For the comical moments, the style feels tryhard, and when it is used in between more serious scenes, it ruins the mood completely. And that goes for the sound as well. The main character having a clear male voice is a nice touch, but everyone else sounds very typical, except for Aoi, who has a weirdly raspy or something like that voice and sounds unnatural a lot of the times to me. The opening and ending are cute and fitting but the rest of the music, as well as the sound effects, are mostly unremarkable. So, if you’re up for a romance series with a somewhat unusual love triangle with some LGBTQ+ themes thrown in there, and with an attempt at exploring some more serious stuff to make it dramatic enough to feel like something might happens, while still having wholesome resolutions for you to not feel bad while watching it, this is your show. If otherwise you want an actual serious and more complex look into any of its themes, I think you should try somewhere else. Recommended stuff Products about the identities of LGBTQ+ and how they are seen by people around them: -Hourou Musuko -Yo nena, yo princesa (Argentine movie about the first legally recognized transgender girl in the country). Romcom series about characters afraid to reveal their true selves: -Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou -Horimiya
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Informative
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all 
Sep 21, 2024
Karasu wa Aruji wo Erabanai
(Anime)
add
Recommended
Last year, there was an alternative history royal palace political drama, which took me by surprise with its characters and world building.
No it wasn’t Kusuriya no Hitorigoto, which I dropped because it seemed too semi-episodic and lighthearted to match my expectations of it, nor was Koukyuu no Karasu either, as I did not watch that one yet, and it is usually referred as the worse Kusuriya, imagine that. It was Oooku, which although it had a not very good first episode, and relied more on its setting, plot elements and characters than an actually good story, it was overall pretty good. This year I heard about this ... anime expecting something similar, and just like with Kusuriya no Hitorigoto, the tone seemed very lighthearted and made me drop the show, but only for its first three episodes. After that it becomes exactly what I wanted, and even better than Oooku, even if I enjoyed that other show more. Basically, the world building here is as good, but it is not established by flashbacks but rather actual plot progression, and there is a lot more story in here. What makes Yatagarasu good is all the political schemes in it, and how every character act about them, both as perpetrators or affected people. And the best thing is how the initially seemingly unrelated plot elements such as the succession and choosing a bride, end up making a coherent and tightly tied whole. Despite being low on action and having lots of talking, the show does have tension and suspense as expected from a political show such as this. Schemes, betrayals, negotiations, alliances, murders, assassination and coup d’état attempts, everything needed is here and is presented with a proper pacing to have the plot moving forward at every moment. On execution, the series builds up and anticipates practically everything so nothing comes off as a copout, though perhaps it needed to show a bit more the line of the thoughts of the characters for the resolutions to feel resolved in a completely satisfying way. Speaking of characters, it is not that the series lacks in characterization either. They seem to be archetypes at first but everyone ends up having a different personality and hidden dark secrets and objectives than it seemed at first. They have different tasks imposed on them by the different palaces and other authorities, almost all of them have their backdrop stories revealed, and are subverted in one way or another, feel the psychological pressure of what’s happening, and most get a catharsis and end up helping in the second arc. Said arc raises the stakes even higher by having the political conflict affecting not only the royal palace but the setting as a whole, as the crow people get brutally attacked by monkey monsters, and the political relationships with the underground is about to crumble. It even introduces a big twist in the setting to the point that the show can’t be labeled as historical anymore, as it turns it into a Yomi no Tsugai kind of situation. Possible negative aspects include how no one really develops, as most of them are already adults and established when the series begins so they don’t go under any major change, and several times their backstories are told more than shown. And I have to say that I wished to see what actually happened to the antagonists, which is not really shown, or at least not completely. Oh and the mastermind and actual villain of the second arc isn’t really revealed until the end of the show, making that character lack both presence and fleshing, which the rest did have, coming as off as lacking compared to everyone else. Then there is Yukiya the co-protagonist, who despite being shown as having a lot of potential, ends up constantly lacking in his role in the story. I mean, for him to not know a lot of stuff makes sense, as he wasn’t initially inside the palace, and that way he provides the author the perfect excuse for having the rest of the cast explaining stuff to him for the audience to know about. But other than that, he mostly messes up, his line of thinking to keep up with the schemes and what the others expect of him to do are not fully shown properly, he kind of changes perspectives, as he decides to be loyal to the Kin’u and protect his land at the end of the show, but he doesn’t go through much change in his personality to fully feel like he developed in any significant way as of yet. And of course the show is not complete yet, there is more story to be covered on sequels, yet I won’t really count that as a big flaw, as the ending of the series felt like an appropriate point to stop it until more comes out. Oh and the presentation is on par with the writing as well. The character designs are simple, there isn’t much motion to lose your head over, but the rest from the artwork, the backgrounds, and the special effects are very well done. Especially the latter knew how to show different times of the day with changes in illumination, which modern anime in general lack. That gave the show a more thrilling mood, which it needed at times, and reminded me a bit of some retro times in the medium. The sound effects are very well done and immersive and the music is really good except for the generic and upbeat opening which seem to belong in another series. The ending on the other hand sounds like a classic Japanese song combined with some strings, which gave it a very epic and grandiose feel more fitting for this anime. I was even surprised by the voice acting, because the seiyuus are all different from the ones I thought they were, thus most of them brought an atypical performance. Bottom line, the setting is interesting, the world building is well done, the story and plot progress properly and more seriously and with higher stakes that it seemed at the beginning, the characters are a lot richer than they initially seemed to be, and the presentation is on par with everything else. Out of all the royal palaces political dramas in anime I’ve watched so far, this one is the best for me as of yet, and now I want more of it just like I am waiting for more Oooku. One of the best and more underwatched shows of the year in my opinion.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Informative
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all |