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Sep 25, 2020
I've never felt such a strong sadness after finishing a series. I've been sad at ending like Gurren Lagann and Banana Fish but this hits different. I feel dismayed. After 5 seasons of food battles, foodgasms, and ridiculous characters, Food Wars felt empty at the end for multiple reasons. This season felt like it got rid of any goodwill the show had left for me after season 4 and it tried its hardest.
Let's start with Asahi because holy shit, this dude was an awful villian. Say what you will about Azami but he at least looked villainous and had the backstory of a villain
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but Asahi? Fuck this dude. His whole power is insane and one of the dumbest things I've seen in an anime and his overall reasoning of wanting to marry Erina is at first, just corny and then they just throw another twist at the end that just makes his plot seem disgusting in hindsight. He was a bad villian, his reason for being a villian is dumb and he was just the worst.
Then we have the worst sin for me and that's the usage of side characters. Listen, I like Soma, Erina, Megumi, and Aldini but that's not the whole fucking cast guys. Seriously, most of the other characters in this show barely showed up at all. It's so frustrating to watch the same characters (no matter how likable they are) when you know that there's more fun characters being wasted, Seriously, aren't Ryo and Akira supposed to be rivals to Souma and they didn't do shit for most of the season. Fuck, I forgot they existed. It's ridiculous and their replacements are garbage.
The underworld chef idea was pretty weird to have in a show about teenage cooks trying to be the best chefs ever but it doesn't help when the show decided to add fucking supervillains like a Sargent who uses explosives to heat their food up, a clown that uses fucking juggling to cook and that's not to say their designs are stupid because they are.
Finally, there's the animation. By this point, I'm beating a very dead horse but it still stands to reason that the animation in this was sub-par at best. They fucking reused multiple moments from other seasons in the episode so blatantly it was. amazingly shitty. I also realized just how little JC Staff really gave a shit about this season in the final episode when there was no big animation moment that supposed to look and it was just the same sub-par shitty quality. Nice JC.
In the end, I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed. After how fantastic the first two seasons were, I was still excited for what the show had going for it. Then the third season happened and while it wasn't great, I still had hope. Even after Season 4, I was hoping that at the very least, it would go out on a high note. Nope. Not even that. It's frustrating, disappointed and just makes me sad. At the very least, I will hold those last two seasons in high regard. Thank you for that at least, JC Staff. Fuck this season though.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jun 24, 2020
Tower of God is a case of getting interesting way too late. The last few episodes of this show were honestly pretty solid. They weren't fantastic or anything but they showed the potential of what this show could be. Some pretty good fights with fun characters, while also have a pretty engaging story. However, that only happens until the last few episodes where it feels like it has a pulse.
For the most part, I thought Tower of God to pretty mediocre with some exceptions to this like the supporting cast and the music from Kevin Penkin. The animation was very standard stuff. Not a
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very interesting series to look at in my eyes. The directing is pretty uninspiring with the only occasions actually being pretty good were in the later episodes with the intercutting and some transitions. With those exceptions, the show ends up feeling pretty boring and looking pretty boring.
Then we get to the characters who are, for the most part, decent. I liked Khun even though it seemed like his schtick of always having a plan boarded on smart and ridiculously smart to the point of stupidity. Rak was just a big dumb guy so besides when one thing that happens to him, he's pretty much there for comic relief. There are some others like Hatz who seem cool and Endorsi who's my favorite but really doesn't get to do a whole lot. Then there's Bam. Bam is just such a boring protagonist. He's not interesting, his dialogue is pretty one-note and through the entire series, even when the show starts getting better, he's still pretty boring. He could've been boring in the beginning and I would've been fine with that if he got more interesting as the show went along but he's exactly the same as he was at the end. His whole arc is a gray line just continuing forever and that's frustrating.
The writing also feels rushed. Not to say there isn't some good writing within the show, it only comes in flashes. It's just fairly standard stuff that I found disappointing. There are many moments where I felt another cour or just not trying to cram so much would've really helped the show a lot.
I mostly felt disappointed in this show and it's mostly due to the boring and mediocre production. It sucks too because the late 3-4 episodes weren't that bad and they seem promising and if the show could've been like that for all 13 I would honestly think this wouldn't be as bad. The only consistent part that I liked about the show was the music and that's because Kevin Pankin can do no wrong in my eyes.
I feel like this was a case of stupidly dumb hype. People called this a prologue so that's why it was slow but Vinland Saga's season was a prologue and that was great. I really think this show could've helped form a different animation studio and 11 more episodes. It does show how good it can get at the end but it almost feels a little too late. It still had the potential to be good but it will need a lot of changes later on. It's not a full-on disappointment like FLCL Progressive because of the last few episodes but it could've been so much more.
Story: 6/10
Art:5/10
Sound:7/
Character: 5/10
Enjoyment: 5/10
Overall:5/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Mar 26, 2020
When you're looking through the seasonals and you see a title like Toilet-Bound Hanako Kun then you can have no expectations except it's going to be really weird and in a lot of cases, Hanako-Kun exceeds at that idea of weirdness it's title promises and a little bit more that genuinely surprised me in more ways than one. It's weird like I've stated but it also giving you wonderful characters and genuinely striking moments that come out of nowhere and yet sticks the landing 90% of the time.
Toilet Bound Hanko-Kun mostly centers around Hanako-Kun, a spirit that appears in the girl's bathroom and grants people
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wishes, Nene, a sweet, girl with daikon on her head that she calls "hair" with what she calls "fat legs" and a pretty infectious personality, in that she's very likable and Kou, a very goofy idiot that hunts spirits but ends up taking a liking to Hanako and just like Nene, is extremely likable. By the way I'm writing about these characters you can already tell the main strength in this show is the characters and their interactions. They are goofy, eccentric and even at their worst, they are all extremely likable and bursting with personality. Even with the villans and one, in particular, you don't really see much of them personality-wise in the beginning but by the end, they end up being pretty likable too and end up being way harder to root for. For example, Best Boy Hyuuga is complete and total dumbass and he would be frustrating no doubt, but the actor and his whole personality just makes him come across as a dumb lovestruck puppy with the confidence and charisma of a man who doesn't know what he's doing. He's fascinating and just brings the show together in a weird way.
Now while the characters do play a huge role in the show's success, I do believe the aesthetic of the show is another big part of that success. It's just so unique and easy on the eyes. It reminds me of that church glass that's multi-colored but more full in overall backgrounds and designs. It also leads to some trippy visuals that I'm all down for. it also adds to the character designs and they all speak so much to their personalities and it's refreshing to see that in an anime with Kritio #3224. It's just a nice change of pace.
Now that we've gotten the standout parts of the technical side of the show, there's another thing that has to come up with this show: it's lack of animation. Yes, while I did say visuals, I didn't mean the animation, which had a lack of animation or just stuff moving. There's this thing the show does constantly with certain scenes almost looking like manga pages and while that seems like a cool directorial choice, you slowly start to figure out that it's mostly used to put multiple shots into one single shot so they can use less animation and less movement. It becomes painfully obvious in certain episodes like Episode 11 where the second half is mostly the characters staying in the same room with nothing happening and then the whole thing just ends with everyone leaving. The second half has nothing and does nothing. It sucks because it's supposed to build up the finale and doesn't do that.
What this lack of animation reminds me of is Food Wars, specifically the latest season. Not in terms of quality but the lack their of in movement. Both shows have multiple moments of characters not moving and even when something feels epic, it doesn't feel like it. But there is one thing that separates these two: storyboarding. With Food Wars' storyboarding, it's uninspired, full of generic backgrounds basically used more of a template than actually drawing down the events that happen. Hanako-Kun gives time with its' storyboarding and while the manga-like images lose it's charm as the show goes on, with the help of the great visuals and directorial work, the lack of animation isn't really an issue. It also helps that the story is interesting for the most. Yes, it is still a flaw with the show and I will count as that, but it does have some things that make it less obnoxious as a flaw.
The story is, for the most part, your monster (or apparition of the week) and our motley crew of idiots helping them or making them disappear and it's pretty fun. We first get the Mokkis which are adorable and I would buy a plushie of them instantly if I could and there's one involving stairs that's probably the show's best two-parter and then there's Mitsuba, which the best episode and probably gives the best dramatic stakes to the show and I loved it. Hanko-Kun is at it's best when it's a mixture of its supernatural weirdness and genuine heartfelt character moments and when the show nails it, it hits it out of the park.
In terms of negatives with the show, I would say there was wasted potential for some of the things the show does. For example, in the first episode, Nene gets turned into a small fish because of something she drank and it's revealed that she gets turned into a fish when she gets splashed by water. This comes up maybe three times within the series and the times that they do it, you could've done it a different way and it wouldn't have mattered. Her whole fish thing ends up feeling like a waste. There are some weird pacing issues like in one episode they decide to do the first half be a monster of the week and then the next half do a bunch of character moments. While I did state that I like it when the show mixes the weird with the emotional, I don't like it when it decides to split the two off like they can't be intertwined together. Besides those, there were some jokes that didn't land and they would repeat them sometimes which was obnoxious and the show can be a little slow on the occasion, but that rarely comes up.
In the end, I got what I wanted out of Toilet Bound Hanako-Kun. It's weird, got some cool visuals and left me feeling satisfied. I wouldn't call it something explosive but I did enjoy its goofiness and the way it can shift from that to having great character moments that hit hard. I would be so excited for a second season as long as they can fix some of its issues and I believe that they can.
If you're looking for a show to take your eyes off the terrors of the world that has fun with a lot of goofy and supernatural elements with the possibility of making you cry, I would say give this show a shot. So instead of looking at the weird title and not expecting much, maybe see what it offers. You may not be disappointed.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Mar 22, 2020
If you wanted to call this show anything studio-wise, I would call it a comeback. In 2018, Studio NAZ comes out with My sister, my writer which was known as the worst anime of 2018. It's amazingly bad with the literal fact to know that in the credits of the last episode there was a cry for help shows that not only that the show was bad, apparently working on the show or maybe even working at the studio was bad. So to see them go from that to this is astonishing work. A quality original, something that studio PA Works can't do sometimes. It's
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an impressive feat and I give major kudos for not only the studio but to every entailed in this production, more specifically the director, Ei Aoki.
When it comes to ID: Invaded, there was a lot going for it: An intriguing premise, a big mystery, and some cool looking animation. Usually, when I say that about an original, I have to add "but" and then rant about a bunch of negatives which the cynical part of my brain was ready to tackle with this show but color me surprised when this not only stayed consistently great but consistently fantastic on all levels. Its animation is great and sometimes the show will just decide to go amazing and give us one of the realistic and badass fight scenes I have ever seen. Seriously, while I do love flashy animation mixed with directing flourishes, just the fact that the show stayed consistent is all I needed and that's what the show gave. There were no drops in quality and I genuinely give props around the board.
With the story, the mystery itself takes so many interesting twists and turns and while the reveal of the main bad guy can be figured out pretty quickly if you see some of the clues, the show excels at going through the investigation and how every character plays a role in finding him. It's not just about the mystery, but it's also about getting into the mind of a serial killer with our two protags: Hondomachi and Narihisago. While their dynamic is pretty old (one's young at the game, one's been doing this serial killer thing for too damn long) the way they interact off each other and the people around them is fascinating.
Narihisago is a cynical guy who feels like the only real sense of joy he gets is killing other serial killers. He lives in a cell, he lost his family and is considered by everyone to be a terrible person. The only thing that he feels worth doing is helping the Kura (the police divison that this show takes place in) stop serial killers. The journey he goes through is heartbreaking and while Narihisago is a serial killer, you end up really feeling for the guy. He didn't choose this life but he wants everything in his power to make sure that guys like him aren't on the street. With Hondomichi, she has a life-altering experience in the first two episodes and the show for her is just finding out her place at the Kura. While it isn't as interesting as Narihisago's, it does keep her journey pretty fascinating and without spoilers, her whole story goes in a direction that you wouldn't expect.
Besides those two, the main cast can be pretty interesting but it does lead to a flaw in that most of the supporting characters don't get a whole lot of development but it's easy to forgive since the show is more of a mystery and delving into the mind than a character(s) piece. Also, with the thirteen episodes the show has, they get enough development where you can understand why they are important and with a fast-paced mystery show like this, it's pretty impressive but there are some to standout. For example, Tamatsu Fukuda is another serial killer in the show but a complete dickbag from what it seems and he seems to take joy into drilling holes into people but the way he's developed and the way he connects with Hondomichi and their whole relationship is fascinating and you really feel for Tsuda at the end. There are others like Momoki, who's cool and gets some good moments but doesn't do a lot. The villain gets enough buildup and his whole plan is really cool and while the others don't do a whole lot, their banter can be a lot of fun too and bring some levity to certain situations.
Now let's get to my favorite part of this show: The VA work which is outstanding. Kenjirou Tsuda has always had this cool voice that you can hear in pretty much every show and he's a solid bit player and that's usually what he plays. With him as Narihisago, he honestly gives one of the best performances this year (which isn't saying much yeah, but the point still stands) because he just captured this guy in such a fascinating way and his voice fits the characters so well it's astounding. Even at moments where he comes off as a villain, he always offers his sympathetic moments in his tics. There are moments where certain emotional moments probably shouldn't work and he pulls them off with finesse. I hope he gets an award for this performance Everyone else does a great job, but this is Narihisago's show and Tsuda makes it.
I expected ID: Invaded to be another decent original, to begin with, has a bumpy middle and the fails to meet any landing whatsoever but with the solid direction of Ei Aoki, the great writing and everything else above, this becomes one of the most underrated anime I've seen ever and it came, from out of all studios, the one that made My Sister, My Writer. It's impressive, just like this show.
Story: 10/10
Art: 9/10
Sound: 9/10
Character: 9/10
Enjoyment:9/10
Overall:9/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 20, 2020
We're already three months into the year and I would be surprised if any show can beat it for the worst anime of the year. I mean, at least with something like Infinite Dendrogram, I can see what people find entertainment in it and it can keep you entertained. Plus, it's got an interesting fantasy world to back itself upon. This? Not really.
Darwin's Game is basically when you have a death game anime and you just make it boring which is pretty impressive, I must say. I honestly didn't have high expectations for it. I expected some fun action, quippy lines, some romance thrown in
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and an ending that left on a cliffhanger or some shit. Sadly, that is not the case. What we got was a death game anime that was basically begging itself to be taken super seriously with generic characters, a super straightforward plot that doesn't even try to throw out a plot twist or reveal and is just straight-up boring.
Let's talk about those characters for a second because I hate all of them and it's not because of their personalities but the lack thereof. I mean, I wished any of these NPCs were likable or hell, hatable because at least there would be something to latch onto but instead all of the characters come off as Tofu mixed with cinderblocks. They are all basic canvases to throw ourselves at them but it just doesn't work like that. There's nothing to latch onto with these characters and even when they try, it isn't told in an interesting way or creatively.
Let's take Kaname for example. He is obviously the audience stand-in. I mean, the guy wears a white jacket most of the time and has the fact that you forgot looking at 5 seconds after staring at him. He's your average high schooler and yet, every single person after the first episode calls him special because of his sigil or whatever. The problem becomes while people see him as special but he's just an average so we don't see him as anything special. It works in Isekai because that's a VR game and you gain powers there. With an AR game, he's still just the same guy that's as blank as paper.
The same goes for the other characters too. Shuka could've been interesting if she was more of a wildcard or didn't trust any of the others but Kaname or even is she was jealous of Rein or something but nope, she's totally fine with all of them and is just horny for Kaname. She starts interesting but just never gets any development because of getting stupid fanservice. Rein is a boring analyst/mary sue who's also a blank sheet. Ryuuji who's nothing and Sui/Souta is also a wasted opportunity because you have twins within one body and you don't even have one of them go crazy and try to betray the team! Wasted! It also doesn't help that she/he only interact with Kaname...once? Twice? It's weird.
And if even if we get rid of this shit as a game, the anime still isn't very good. The plot has no forward momentum. There are no big twists to keep the viewer on its toes, there's no reveal to make you surprised and there are no interesting angles this anime brings to the death game genre. It's straightforward as if we following a line and we just want to get it over with. You're probably saying "but you don't need that to keep the story interesting, you need good writing" and you're right so that's why the writing for this isn't very good either. There will be so much voiceover that it feels like you're reading an audiobook. The exposition is obnoxious, there's no real fun to the show or any humor to bring some levity to situations. Yeah, it's a death game but there's so little fun to watch any of this show.
In terms of production, it's pretty weak. the music is pretty forgettable, with the only exception(s) being the OP which sounds like something out of SAO and there's also this random track that had death metal in the back which I thought was hilarious. The direction lifeless, the editing is horrendous with some awful cuts and just random moments where the show skips a beat at some points especially towards the end. The animation is alright but it does feel too glossy at points and inconsistent especially with the character's noses.
The only real thing that kept me going and I would even consider it a positive is the fight scenes which are animated pretty well and it's got some good locations use out of the places they are in. Besides that nothing else.
Darwin's Game is like an edgy but instead of making the whole thing edgy, it just makes the concept edgy. Sounds weird but when you make any show and you want it to be an edgy hardcore gruesome anime, you have to make everything around that edgy concept on the same level. That is not what happens here. The show ends up feeling like an edgeless slog that keeps testing your patience for you to pause and stop watching. This show felt like an endurance test. Besides some good fights, there is really nothing to show even worth remembering which is impressive.
Story: 2/10
Art:3/10
Sound:3/10
Character: 1/10
Enjoyment: 2/10
Overall: 2/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Dec 27, 2019
Out of all the anime that have come out this year, I think this was the biggest disappointment for me. After 3 seasons of slowly diminishing quality, I was worried that this season was going to be a slog to get through. When I say that though, I was still hopeful. I mean, they were going to tackle an arc from which I had heard was a decent arc. It could've been good but J.C Staff really went out of their way to make this one of the cheapest and lazy productions I've seen in a while. I hate saying that for a show I
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used to love. I loved the characters, I loved the foodgasms and yeah, the animation wasn't the worst, but it at least looks decent enough.
This season, I truly think J.C Staff didn't care about this show. With the last three seasons, there were some production issues, but there was at least solid music and some good shots here and there. With this season? If feels like they got out a powerpoint presentation template and just stuck the clips of the show they had into said template. Hell, I can break down a good amount of episodes of this season with bullet points.
- We are introduced to the main competitors
- We see the main ingredient
- Some words from the peanut gallery
-Some trash talk
- A flashback here or there to one of the totsuki ten because the shows forgot to develop literally any of them minus Tsukasa and Rindo, I guess.
- More words from the peanut gallery
- Chefs show off their dishes
- Judges eat and foodgasm
- More words from the peanut gallery about said food and what makes it special
- Judges choose the winner.
- Some more words and repeat the cycle.
The biggest problem with this repetitious cycle is that you slowly see the flaws within it. You realize that no matter what Soma will win his food battles because he's main protagonist. That would be fine if they spaced out the food battles but they don't. You're supposed to watch all of these food battles happen with the same repetitious cycle and it's just a bore. The show ended up this year as background noise for me. Just like how the peanut gallery was this season
Let's talk about that peanut gallery because if you wanted any characters like Mito, Ryo, Alice, Hisako, and anyone apart of the dorm anything this season, well that sucks. Literally all these characters do this season is sitting behind literal character jail and spout out stuff about the food they make. It's probably the worst crime that this season does because the main strength of this show is its characters and them interacting off one another. It's insanely stupid and for a solid eleven episodes, it's just sad to watch characters that I love as Hisako do jack for the majority of the season.
This then leads into the actual team rebel squad who consists of Takumi, Soma, Erina, Megumi, Kuga, Isshiki, Mimasaka and some random guy. Yeah, this show decides to use this arc to introduce another new character and instead of giving more interest in any of their other characters. "Yeah Mito and Alice haven't done much in a while and some characters like Ryo who are rivals to Soma have done zero anything with Soma but who cares! We need more one off characters!" - Some guy that works on Food wars. I also realized that in this show, I don't believe Megumi has one a single food battle that wasn't an election. In actual food battles, she has won none. That is stupid and something that pissed me off while watching her getting beat by some girl that uses cat paws as oven mitts.
Yeah, let's talk about the Ten because they're all forgettable. The only ones exempt from this are Tsukasa and Rindo, I guess. Thier not funny and Tsukasa's whole thing is dumb. I only liked Rindo to an extent. Azami is stupidly evil to the point where he ruins the tone of the show and while he does add to one of the more positive things about this season, he's not that interesting of a villain. Eizan was better.
As much as I have been complaining about this season for its soulless production, for its constant amount of throwing characters into the show without thinking about the characters in literal jail or even the diminishing quality of foodgasms and backgrounds which are generic to letter, there are some positives. Erina's whole arc is finally done with and it feels satisfying. While Megumi still hasn't won a single food battle, Takumi has and that was cool. The music stays pretty solid and the OP was solid, though a little samey.
Overall, this season was a big disappointment. Flat production, waste of characters and the constant adding of one-offs and this overall feeling of emptiness. It's sad for a show that had such solid first and second seasons. While season 3 wasn't great, it was still fun to an extent. This felt like such a waste of time. It's a shame. I can't wait for the fifth season because it apparently gets worse.
Story: 5/10
Art: 3/10
Sound: 6/10
Character: 6/10
Enjoyment: 5/10
Overall: 5/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Dec 25, 2019
Oresuki is a frustrating show to me. After the first 3-4 episodes, I was ready to call this show the best this season. The writing was on point, the characters were interesting and complex and animation was very nice. I was ready to call this a solid 9/10. Then the rest of the series happened and it all blew up in my face.
If you were to ask me why it simply ends up being what show with short-lived premises: Where do we go from here? This show doesn't answer this question for at least 6 episodes. After those first four episodes, this becomes one of
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the most obnoxious, repetitious and aimless shows I've seen in a while. Those six episodes do include new girls but they either are used for gags or are forgotten entirely. The fourth wall breaking jokes start as funny and then they become inconsistent, then they become straight-up bad.
Let's get the jokes out of the way first. The Bench joke was really funny at first but then the show uses it as a crux. It comes back at so many intervals and so many moments that by the end, it becomes a gag that isn't funny and they use it way too much. Then there are the fourth wall jokes. In the first three episodes, they come off as playful and I would admit that I laughed a good chunk at them. After those three episodes though, the show gets weird with them. One episode we could have multiple jokes of Joro saying something akin to making fun of rom-com protagonists or the animation looking piss poor for a second or two (Seriously, that joke about the animation still makes me angry). The show doesn't use these jokes to any smart effect but more to the effect of pointing something out using it in some type of excuse. By the end, I hated hearing the fourth wall jokes because it would continue to show the inconsistency of this show's humor.
Then there are the characters. At first, I found Joro to be an interesting protagonist but by the end, I just didn't like him. Pansy was the only character I actually liked but there was also a good chunk of episodes where they just didn't focus on her. When it comes to the other girls of the show, it's a mixed bag if there ever was one. The two first girls Hima and Cosmos are ok, but Cosmos suffered from being interesting and not getting any screen time in later episodes and Hima was just obnoxious. Asarino was whatever because she didn't add much. The other girls are so forgettable that they don't even add really anything to the main plot and are just gag characters. One of the main gags the show focuses on is one character who just wants to confess to Joro and she constantly messes up. It's one of the dumbest gags I have seen.
You are probably saying to yourself that I have been a little too hard on this and sure, I am but it has less to what it is and more of what it could've been. The first three episodes were amazing and while not on the same level, episodes 4,11 and 12 were not that bad (minus the ending which was just stupid) and the animation by Connect was pretty top-notch for the most part (minus that stupid scene where they changed up animation styles). It's just that the show between those episodes is an aimless, poorly done, repetitious slog that made me feel like I was forced to watch some dumb harem show which was for a good bit. No matter how many meta-jokes they could throw out or have a subversive moment here or there, the show just ended up being a harem show that wasn't generic, but a mess and while that is better than a generic harem show, that doesn't mean it gets away with the potential it had. That's what makes this show so sad to witness. Would I watch a second season? Maybe, but I don't have the highest expectations.
Story: 5/10
Art: 6/10
Sound: 6/10
Character: 5/10
Enjoyment: 5/10
Overall: 5/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Oct 15, 2019
I mean... what do you want me to say about this? This is like when Gainax and Production I.G decided to team up and make FLCL except we got the two worst studios working in the anime industry. I mean, this show is like the stars aligning for us. I mean, we are probably never going to get something this terrible for a long time. I mean... everything from the PVs to the schedule delays to the visual art following to the show, I knew this was going to be one of- no, THE worst anime I have ever seen in my entire life. I
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have now watched every single episode. Do I regret it? Yes and no.
Let's start with the animation which is... horrendous. Some of the worst key framing and overall feel of the show I have ever seen in a while. I felt like I was watching a kid in the back going through a slideshow presentation and falling asleep halfway through. At least Arifuerta was hilariously dumb. This is just painfully awful that I wouldn't wish up on my worst enemies( if I had any).
The characters? What characters? You mean the cardboard cutouts that kicked cgi balls? Yes I did see them and yea, don't even bother asking me questions about them or what their personalities that even with watching the last episode 3 minute ago, I don't remember their names and honestly, the character models are so shitty that they all look the same without a single bit of irony. What the hell were Gonzo and Studio Seven even on when they made this? Jesus, this was terrible.
The music is boring and plain. The OP is pretty bad and so does the ed. The sound design is unremarkable and I don't even remember anything awful like in other shows.
Every anime I have seen and disliked, I can picture in my mind a hypothetical person that could watch a show I didn't like and enjoying it. Even CONCEPTION, which is pretty fucking awful, I could see a person that could watch Conception and say "I didn't mind that". Try Knight though? I cannot picture someone watching this show and liking it. I'm sorry I just can't. I can only picture that the reason why this was made was because Yakuza needed a front and this was their best option.
Yeah, this wasn't the most well-versed review I've ever given and I am sorry about that, but I really don't know what the fuck to say to this. This show should be studied on and be taught to animators on how not to do an anime. Thank You Seven and Gonzo. You have created a truly awful show. That deserves at least a slow clap.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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Oct 13, 2019
Well... it could've been worse. Unlike Arifuerta, where it was a beautiful mess, this was just a boring mess. I mean, it could've had some promise in it's early stages, but whatever we got, we got the worst version of it. It could've been a potential gem, but thanks to the underdeveloped writing, terrible characters and the awful world building.
First off, Bem is a terrible main character. After the pilot, he just becomes a nothing character even though the show is NAMED after him, but whatever. Belo is an annoying little shit that just comes off as obnoxious and Bela is the only character that
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comes off as a little less bland then the others but that's only because she comes off as somewhat likable. All the other characters are as thick as glass.
Alice, as a character isn't a bad idea. Instead of only focusing on the monsters wanting to become demons, we also focus on a human that is investigating the demons. However, the biggest flaw in the show is that since the audience knows the demons and we mostly focus on them, when something happens with the demons we see it and then when the detectives investigate, they just regurgitate information that we already know. The detectives just become more and more pointless as the show goes and you question the point of them many, many times.
Also, the tonal whiplashes. These happen in virtually every episode (minus the pilot, which is the best episode I believe) where the tone could switch to two characters talking about their past lives and how they could be talking about something from a past life and then suddenly one of the characters gets hit by a giant bowling ball. The giant bowling ball is being thrown by a humanoid monster then looks like Elvis Presley. Yeah, it's that trite and stupid. It also doesn't help that the majority of the show, the tone just doesn't fit the villains. The tone feels dark and dreary, but then you'll have a psychopathic germaphobe that killed his abusive stepdad and Electro from Amazing Spider Man 2 except his electricity is yellow. You would think this would make the show interesting, but it somehow makes all of this feels stupid and boring. There's also characters like Gus and some other kid but their both terrible. All the other characters are either to bland or too obnoxious to care about.
The animation is basic and like Cop Craft, the show did not have a lot of animators to this project and you can see all the shortcuts they make throughout the series. The character designs look good but nothing spectacular. The music is the only part I would say is pretty decent. The OP is solid for a good bit and some of the other pieces are pretty solid and work within the show. But that's not enough to save this show.
Overall, Bem had potential but it was squashed. It wants to be everything: Different ideologies of wanting to be a monster or human, big monster fights, political intrigue, a police drama and so much more and it just never makes it come across as interesting and even when it puts up a decent idea or concept, it's used in the most boring way possible. This was truly a disappointment to finish off the summer season.
Story: 3/10
Art: 3/10
Sound; 4/10
Character: 2/10
Enjoyment: 3/10
Overall: 3/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Sep 22, 2019
Given is one of those shows I didn't have huge expectations for. I mean, it is my first BL show, but the examples I had gotten before this were a little ridiculous and kinda bad, so while this was my first one, I didn't have high expectations. But slowly and surely I started loving this series more and mire to the point that it surpassed Dr Stone and Vinland for me and making it my AOTS.
The characters are the easy standouts of this show. The show somehow gets so much personality out of these characters without even trying and I love it. My favorite
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by the end had to be Akihiko, who I thought would be this emotionless, no-nonsense character, but he ends up being so much more then that. All the characters, even the supporting ones like Yayoi and Hiiragi, who easily could've been window dressing, but they end up being these characters I genuinely liked.
Another part that made this so fucking good was the music. From the title references to the soundtrack to the actual performances in the show, the show has so much passion in there. Whoever voiced Sato... just fucking killed it. The soundtrack is something that I want to listen too over and over again.
That's the big thing that I loved about this anime: the passion is all over the place. The directing, the animation, the VAs, the music, it's everywhere and that's what this awesome. It could've just been a regular run-of the mill seasonal anime, but it's so much more then that. I love it.
There is the off-kilter issues here and there. The production clearly wasn't the highest (I mean, Lerche did have another show to work on this season), so there are some shortcomings here and there. But those are easily outshined. I implore anyone who hasn't watched this anime to at least give it a chance. It's truly more then it's synopsis says it is.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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