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Dec 1, 2013
I'll keep this short:
The artwork almost turned me away from this before I even started, but I decided to give it a chapter and see how it turned out. To my surprise, 6 chapters and a short epilogue later, this was the most realistic yaoi I've ever read.
It was a short, fast read, but it gave the reader the sense that this was something that could actually happen in real life. Cross dressing isn't something generally accepted throughout the world, and right now being gay isn't either. Most yaois give the vibe that all the characters within them are gay, and all
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of them are out to get each other's boyfriends. In this story, if everyone in it were gay, they most certainly didn't come out or try to steal anyone away from another person.
Some spoilers below.
Another interesting note is that, instead of turning into the blushing "no-means-yes" uke, the "bottom" pushed away his potential partner, proclaiming himself too scared. And to my complete surprise, the "top" (I put these in quotes, because they didn't quite fit the stereotypical seme and uke archetypes) left without claiming "it'll feel better in a second" and even knew he was at least partly in the wrong.
Now the only reason story got a 9 instead of a 10 is because the ending felt a bit rushed and unrealistic. While the story moved well for the first 5 chapters, I didn't expect them to give in to each other and just end happily ever after - despite the consequences - in one chapter. Other than that, this was a surprisingly good read. I recommend it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Dec 20, 2012
I have been itching to write this review since before I finished the series; it sparked that much discussion. Normally I write these in the typical fashion, covering each theme individually and explaining why I gave them that score. For this review I'm going to go down the line of characters instead, because I think that will be more comprehensive.
Makoto:
He's possibly one of the most hated anime characters (though this list: http://www.anime-planet.com/characters/popular/hates/all seems to differ- for the record Sasuke is my most hated too...) of all time and I can see why. If you look at this anime purely in the real
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world, he's a cheating lying son of a bitch who will sleep with any girl (except his girlfriend...) who has eyes. Yes, I hate him too. But I think there was more purpose to his character than that. Maybe I'm reading too deeply into this anime, but I think it's a commentary on excess and the consequences of that.
What do I mean and how does this relate to the character I'm writing about right now? Well, Makoto was originally an okay guy. From what we've gathered on his history, he was a sweet gentleman in Junior High and the beginning of High School. He lacked the nerves or know-how to talk to females. But like most hormonal teenage boys, he really just wanted to get it on with that hot chick he saw on the train every day. In the first episode alone, he finally gets her to agree to go on a date and then cheats on her when the girl who helped him kisses him as repayment for the help. (This is all explained in the summary, so I didn't spoil anything)
His new girlfriend, attractive though she may be, doesn't seem to want to give anything up, not even a hand hold, so the guy gets frustrated and looks for somewhere to let off some steam. Pretty soon only two girls isn't enough for him and he lets his penis drag him around the school sleeping with every girl.
"That was a nice summary, CatHime1, but you didn't explain the excess part!" Alright, let me explain. He's the part of every human who is selfish. The part of us that looks out for number 1, and would do anything to survive. He's the part of us that says: "hey that was fun, but let's do something different next time to get the same thrill." The thing with us normal humans is that we know when to make that part of our brain shut up, because we know when it's not ok to indulge ourselves anymore. Mokoto doesn't know that at all because that is his ENTIRE self; not just a part.
Sekai:
The girl who starts it all. She's the one he kisses by the train. It's very apparent, from the first moment you meet her, that she likes Makoto. She and Makoto are almost polar opposites though. Where Makoto seems to have an excess of selfishness, she has an excess of caring. As mentioned, she clearly likes Makoto, but as soon as she finds out he's into someone else (and she might've wrecked his chances to get with her through his superstitious means) she does everything in her power to get them together. Once they're together, she does everything she can to make it go smoothly. As an overly caring, head over heels in love character, she inevitably steps over the edge between the helpful territory into the mistress territory. She feels guilty the entire time, but does nothing to stop it because she's afraid to hurt her new friend's feelings by confessing that she'd been helping him cheat on her.
Sekai is every girl who's ever liked a guy that was unavailable. She's the girl who thinks: "Hey, it's ok if he cheats on her because we love eachother! Once she's gone, it'll just be the two of us and that'll be enough for him!" She's the character who gives in to her emotions too easily because she cares too much about everything around her. She's actually the character that I felt the most bad for, despite everything she did. I think it's because she honestly believed that by doing what she did, somehow everything would turn out fine in the end.
Kotonoha:
Let me begin this character by stating that I related to her most. If you've watched the entire show, you probably think I'm really messed up and everything. No, I understand her because I've been in the situation of feeling as if your boyfriend is shutting you out and that you're bound to break up, but if you keep pretending everything's ok then it will be, right? Wrong. But my personal life is not a part of this review. For the record, it's wrong in this anime too.
Kotonoha starts pretending that everything's ok in episode 1, I think, when she's in the bathtub thinking about if it's really okay for her and Makoto to date and then goes out with him anyways. Hey, I get it; I've been there. The problem I have with her is her "excess". She pretends. That's what she does. While originally I thought she was an exaggeration of an innocent person, it became clear to me as I continued the series that she actually just pretended the entire time. Without revealing anything, I think the events in the last few episodes (where she was involved) were caused because she drove herself mad trying to care about someone that she originally didn't like. Yes, she watched him from the train like he watched her, but they didn't know eachother. I think when they started to talk more, she realized she didn't like him that much but had already agreed to date him and was convinced by the ever helpful Sekai to keep giving him chances.
Despite the fact that I related to her situation, Kotonoha really pissed me off. While it was clear to me that she thought pretending everything was fine and doing this and that to make him love her again would work was the wrong way to approach the situation, it was not clear to her. She basically forces herself on him and continues to play the role of the dutiful girlfriend to a boy who does not deserve it at all. First of all, girly, if a guy cheats on you at all, you shouldn't even think about continuing to date him at all! I don't know how it really is in Japan, but in America if you go back to a guy who cheated on you, your friends start to question your taste in men. Openly. Second of all, you just met him! I don't know how time moves in this show, but I'm pretty sure all the events transpire within a school year, if not a semester. So a guy cheats on you? Yeah it sucks hard core, but you recently met him and have only been dating a short while. There is no better time to forget him and move on. They hadn't done anything at all when it first happened. So as soon as she knew, she should've just moved on. Enough on that, though. I could rant all day about these characters all day. But I won't.
Supporting Roles:
They did their job. You have almost every girl, with the exception of Nanami (the only likeable character in the entire show), in love with or just dying to sleep with Makoto. Each girl had a different side to her that wasn't explored much. You have the three lust sisters (no idea what their names were), the girl who liked him since junior high, the girl who was probably only sleeping with him because she was mad HER crush never looked at her that way, the "best friend", and honestly there were probably more that I can't remember. They all had little personality quirks that were just...interesting.
I take back what I said about Nanami; she wasn't the ONLY likeable character in the show. I also liked Taisuke. He was the character I was prepared to hate in the beginning, being an obvious pervert and all. But there came a moment when he proved to me that he was a pervert, but also an honest, caring, responsible, and caring guy. That episode is where I started to like Nanami too, since she was the only character who never was fooled by Makato.
I can guess what you're probably thinking: wow, this show sounds awful. Why the hell did you give it an 8?! Because the characters were portrayed so well. They taught us the lesson that having too much of something can have dire consequences and they also taught us the more obvious lesson of "once a cheater, always a cheater." To me, the art and music meant nothing. This was indeed a psychological thriller, so the characters were far more important.
Being a little selfish is good; you need to take care of yourself if you want to stay alive. Caring for others is awesome, but be sure to know where the lines are. Pretending that things are okay can be helpful, especially in situations involving small children. All of these things are fine in moderation. That's the lesson I learned from this anime.
If you watch this show, be prepared; you will be angry, you will hate the characters, you will question why you're bothering to watch it in the first place. All of that is normal with this show. In fact, I think that's why it was made.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Dec 20, 2012
Let me first state that if you have never watched vampire knight, you are missing out. Missing out on what? You ask. Well, the art of course! Granted, it's not nearly as beautiful as the manga, but it's still pretty good (minus occasional fight scenes). In fact, the whole reason I continued watching through all episodes of Vampire Knight and Guilty, was because of it. It's so detailed and the colors are so dark and gorgeous that it held my interest the entire time. I kept wondering how long it took them to draw all those scenes (I have no
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idea how they animated it-for the record) with each character having such detailed clothes and hair and eyes. Crazy.
So what did I think of the rest of it?
Story:
Similar to every vampire romance. Not necessarily my cup of tea, but hey if you take the story apart to it's core: vampires living among humans, it's pretty interesting. (the whole romance thing overshadows the politics and nuances of it in every story like this though) I am reading the manga, which is ongoing, so I would recommend to people who think the anime has no plot: read it. After it gets past where the anime is; it gets more interesting, trust me. They address some pretty interesting topics. It's a shame the anime never touched on them.
Sound:
As other reviews have mentioned; the music is great. The opening and closing have a sort of dark beauty to them. I liked the first opening a lot. The soundtrack itself is decent as well.
Character:
As mentioned, this is like most vampire romances and the characters follow that theme as well. There's one girl with two guys that will cause a ship-war for the followers. Much like the Edward and Jacob war of Twilight, you're bound to see Zero fans vs. Kaname fans online. Yuuki isn't quite as needy as Bella, though, so that's good. Actually I found the supporting characters more interesting. The Night Class and the Hunter's Association have more drama between them (drama that I found more interesting than the romance aspect) than Zero and Kaname, well, almost. I found Cross's idea that vampires and humans could coexist interesting and...well, I don't want to spoil anything. I do want to say this: they gave the supporting characters very little to do in the anime. Again, I recommend reading the manga.
Enjoyment: 8/10
I liked looking at the art and listening to the music. It was about more than purely the story for me, which is why I continued to Guilty and then later to the ongoing manga. Yes, artwork got me to watch 26 episodes of an anime and read over 80 chapters of a manga; I liked it that much.
Overall: 8/10
I enjoyed it and you might too! Even someone who prefers her vampires to be evil and scary over romantic and jaded enjoyed this, so don't count it out yet!
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Dec 19, 2012
When I first found this show, I thought to myself: "It sounds just like Ouran!" And proceeded to watch about 10 episodes that day. Now, however, I'm finding it difficult to finish it and here's why:
Story: 7/10
It's similar to shoujo anime's like Ourah High School Host Club in that there's one girl surrounded by gorgeous men and doesn't seem to appreciate it. This story is a bit different in the fact that the men have to change her from a horror movie loving loner to a lady or they are forced to pay the rent. It definitely has humor and romance, which
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is what most people look for in shoujo's to begin with. The reason it's only good is because I think that the story never went any further than that. They keep trying to turn her into a proper lady and each episode (so far) is completely stand alone. (Keep in mind that I'm still trying to finish it and therefore this review could change if I find out that the story ever developed into something more interesting. In fact, one of the reasons I'm struggling is because the story is so stale right now.)
Art: 3/10
Where do I begin? As everyone has mentioned in all the reviews of this anime that I've read: the art sucks. It's not just that the guys look like girls; it's that all the main characters look the same. If you were to have all the "dazzling creatures" in this series and take away their hair and draw them in black and white; they would be the same character! There is no telling the difference at all! You can draw beautiful characters and still be able to tell who they are and what gender they are without their hair; Vampire Knight (my favorite art-not story- as far as anime and manga go) is proof of that. Another complaint I have about the art is that the characters all are drawn poorly. I don't mean the chibi characters, or the Goth Loli sisters (though those are also awful) I mean the eyes of the characters. They are too wide and too large on the face. Basically it would be as if I were to draw a face shape and fill it with only large eyes and large lips. I know it sounds harsh, but that's what I think. Why didn't I give the art a lower score then? Because the frustrating thing is that there are good moments in it! When Sunako is drawn at her full height and given the same art as those around her, the style of everyone improves. The eyes become slightly smaller and the lips a little less full. There are also more details in those small moments. But I think you get the idea; I'll stop ranting now.
Sound: 8/10
The music was the sole saver of this show; the only reason I still want to finish the anime at all. No, I am not talking about the opening and closing songs; I disliked those as well. I'm talking about the soundtrack itself. It was written by the same composers behind Jigoku Shoujo (Hellgirl), Yasuharu Takanashi and Hiromi Mizutani, and those two work amazingly well together. Sadly I can't find some of the themes from this anime that I enjoyed, since the J-drama's soundtrack seems to have all the attention.
Character: 6/10
Well, back to the bad I suppose. The male characters all had interesting back stories, in a way. The same could not be said of the females, especially Sunako. The fact that she became a depressed antisocial lunatic because one guy called her ugly is stupid. Yes, words can hurt and guys are stupid, but after a few weeks you get over it and move on. Every other girl, however, seemed to have no deeper motive than having one of the beautiful men fall in love with her, no matter what. Characters like that embarrass all females. But both the male and female characters, whether they had interesting back stories or not, did not develop in the 15 episodes that I've made it through so far. Not a single step forward has been made by anyone aside from Kyohei, who is simply developing a crush on Sunako, for more than half of the show. In other words, unless the show makes a drastic change in the last 10 episodes, the characters will have been bland, flat, and similar to each other all the way to the end.
Enjoyment: 4/10
Sorry, but this anime isn't that enjoyable, aside from the music and the humor.
Overall: 5/10
I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for something that requires minimum thought to watch.
In closing, this review may seem mean, but frankly, this anime isn't worth it aside from the music. From what I've read in reviews, the J-drama is much better, so if it's the story that interests you; I would check that out instead.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Dec 19, 2012
First of all let me say this is my first review, so keep that in mind.
Story: 10/10
This story is brilliant in my opinion. Without revealing anything I'll say it's like the anime version of the hunger games (the manga was written first, I am aware) except instead of simply trying to survive, the participants are also trying to become god of time and space and stop the apocalypse from happening when the current god, Dios, dies. There were plenty of twists, some are a bit more obvious than others, to keep me interested through the 26 episodes.
Art: 8/10
The artwork was really good.
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I only gave it an 8 because I think only anime that have as detailed of artwork as Vampire Knight (not the best anime, but definitely has gorgeous artwork) or are as appealing to the eye as Fullmetal Alchemist deserve 9's and 10's. Mirai Nikki was not quite as complex as those two and therefore only received an 8.
Sound: 9/10
I'm assuming this means music. I loved the first opening song (Kuusou Mesorogiwi ). It's one of my favorites now. The second ending song (Filament) was also really really good. The soundtrack itself fit the theme nicely, but I'd have to say it wasn't my favorite. It deserved a 9 for the mood it accomplished, but not a 10 purely from personal preferences.
Character: 9/10
Again, this is only personal preference. I was a huge fan of the character development. Every character developed in some way. (People may argue that Yuno doesn't develop, but just watch how her crazy factor increases. That is also development) The best development was Yuki's. His transformation from my most hated character to a pretty cool one started around episode 14, where events conspired that will not be revealed. But the real turning point occurred at episode 18. Yes, he was constantly in a state of development throughout the entire series; those were just the moments that he developed into a character that I personally liked better.
Enjoyment: 10/10
Call me sick, but I really enjoyed this anime. The suspense was great, the action was well drawn, the voice actors were good. It made for an enjoyable anime.
Overall: 9/10
That seemed to be the average of what I rated everything.
I would recommend this anime to anyone who enjoyed Higurashi or the Hunger Games or something similarly themed.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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