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Sep 11, 2018
My feelings on No Game No Life: Zero are mixed. It's visually stunning, the production quality is altogether through the roof. Every single person involved should feel great for what they managed to do, and if anything I can recommend it just for the visual splendour alone.
The problem is entirely in the pacing. I won't say that it tries to do too much, as I've seen other movies accomplish the worldbuilding, character introduction, action, intrigue, and romance that this does extremely well in even less time. But too much time is spent in the wrong places. The first half very slowly builds up, and it's
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very satisfying to watch... up until the loli fetishization kicks in. Seriously, that stuff was cringe worthy. Aside from that, it presents a dreary, interesting world with serious stakes where I was curious to see what would come next.
Then there's a montage through which romances develop fully in the blink of an eye, and we're supposed to feel an attachment we are only told occurred that is a 180 from five minutes ago. Normally this wouldn't kill the whole rest of the movie for me, but the remainder of the plot hinges upon this romance. Instead of building it up trhoughout the second half, the confessions come far too early and stretch suspension of disbelief. More montages come that raise more questions than they answer. This should be the half where the movie goes into the most detail on events, but it's skimmed, too much happens that we're just supposed to accept without understanding.
If you like No Game No Life, you'll probably still enjoy this movie. I would never call it bad. It has problems in the second half, but is still worth watching, I got something out of it. Just don't go in if you want a high quality narrative that has you invested in the characters and outcome.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jul 10, 2018
It's difficult to decide where to begin. Most reviews start by talking about how good the show started and how controversially it ended, but I'm here to offer a counter point: I never found Darling in the Franxx good.
Episode 1 a fairly cookie cutter first episode of a mecha anime. Boy cannot pilot. Boy meets mysterious girl. Sudden monster attack! All hope is lost, boy pilots as he hoped he could and saves the day using skills no one knew he had.
The show is focused on the eight main pilots, their progress heavily tied to symbolism regarding the stages of life. They start out pampered
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like infants, slowly grow, go through puberty as they try to understand themselves, are thrown out on their own in the harsh world as adults, get married, have children, the symbolism is there. It's a shame that this was prioritised over coherence.
The story is unbalanced and disorganised. I was bored to tears for the first 11 or so episodes. Then, there's a few legitimately intriguing ones that had me thinking I'd care a lot if the first half invested me! Followed by more boring, then nonsense. The story simply does what it wants with no foreshadowing. There's no logic to anything that happens, with a lot of just plain magic occurring in the second half without any indication that what occurred could be physically possible in this world, there's never precedent. It's meant to surprise us, but I ended up throwing my hands in the air. What's the point in caring if literally anything could happen? There are moments where the show unabashedly takes scenes from other mecha shows and just uses them. 8 minutes of episode 19 are just leading into a big Evangelion reference.
The art is fine, no shots outside of the second to last episode feel cheap or ugly, but what's most important to me is the cinematography. Cinematography is the blood of storytelling. Presentation means everything. A show's writing could be simply, but an inspired staging could bring everything back.
It's bad. Most shots are flatly staged with minimal camera movement in even lighting, resulting in everyday interactions that are just unexciting to look at. Even in action the camera barely moves, quickly cutting about instead. There is no energy to this show, it simply looks by the numbers.
Sound? Also fine. Unmemorable but passable OST, nothing to complain about. Voice acting is top notch. In general, the production team who was unrelated to story and direction should be proud of their work. They gave their all, and it really does show.
Characters? I could write an essay about how bland, underdeveloped, and dull they are (including everyone's waifu of the year, 02, who caught attention just by having a sultry disposition), but instead I'll cover a topic I have not seen in any other review: the lack of agency. The characters nod and follow orders until one of the final episodes, at which point the stakes are so high that they have literally no choice but to disobey. Even when they know their transparently evil bosses are evil, they still follow orders. Three times the show taunts us with a potential rebellion that never occurs. These characters are unambitious and do nothing without being forced to.
Additionally, much of their developments occur offscreen between the many timeskips in the show. Any time there's any kind of revelation, we skip ahead and the characters have already adapted to it. Just like the cinematography, there's no character moment that slams you in the heart, merely the main characters dramatically confessing their love for the 3rd time after the exact same argument so that they can one-shot the villain of the week.
I cannot recommend this show, which is unfortunate as I went into the first episode extremely optimistic. There's a lot of talent on board, but it could have been applied so much more effectively. There are better shows out there.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Apr 14, 2018
Like its first season, Stardust Crusaders Season 2 is a mixed bag that ultimately comes out with more enjoyment than not. The characters arrive in Egypt for a rather spectacular opening battle, easily one of the best of part 3, with the promise of more powerful, clever foes between them and Dio. You get the sense that this will not be as simple as season 1's narrative that boiled down to going from point A to point B episode to episode.
Unfortunately, there's much less going on for the most part. While season 1 had an ongoing narrative regarding the motives of the key minions coming
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after the heroes, the first two thirds of the season involve the characters wandering about looking for Dio's lair and happening upon random baddies. That's not to say that this part is unenjoyable. Some of the Stand users aren't too interesting, but for the most part the rest are far more entertaining and creative than the fights in season 1. There's a jump in quality in regards to the individual battles and more inventive applications of a Stand than just being a punch-ghost. The best episodes involve conflicts you'd never expect, like gambling or trying to crawl off of a train track.
The last third in particular is an extremely exciting gauntlet that brought the show up a whole rating for me. The final showdown is one for the anime history books in terms of presentation, character involvement, and tension. Watching Dio in action is far more entertaining than his minions. His personality is just so much stronger and more dynamic, I'm not even much of a Dio fanboy, but that segment was just plain well done.
As with last season, Jotaro is not an especially engaging protagonist, though luckily the rest of the cast more than makes up for it with how much more screentime they actually get than the title character. Funnily enough, as the series goes on, we get to see inside of Jotaro's head much more frequently, and it does wonders to make him more fascinating to watch. Seeing him have to come up with plans is genuinely exciting, making it a shame that we didn't get this much earlier.
Of those other characters, Polnareff is both comic relief and the emotional heart of the series in a way. He's practically the main character if you think about how much more involved he is with the battles of the week, which I am fine with. Joseph is not as amazing as he was in Battle Tendency, but every moment he's on screen is precious as always. The characters are the draw of the show, they're always a joy to see interacting.
The art and sound quality is fantastic as usual, there's not much to say there that needs to be said. It's gorgeous, the soundtrack is great, and I was never confused by anything's presentation that wasn't intentionally so.
In summary: the plot is extremely underdeveloped, but the characters are fun enough to make up for it. If you want to watch a bunch of wacky bros on a roadtrip to beat up a vampire, this is for you.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Aug 13, 2017
IMPORTANT PSA: The first time that the main characters set out on the train, start playing the Thomas the Tank Engine theme. I am 100% serious, you will not regret this choice. The timing had us howling with laughter.
Oh, right, the anime. You guys remember Attack On Titan, right? Did you ever want to see that but with trains and zombies? Maybe?
Nah.
I don't even know where to start, this was such a.........
Mass of train cars derailed in a ditch forming a flaming pile of wreckage.
The show is utterly beautiful. Its soundtrack is amazing. It's a shame that the writing was worse than mine. Characters are
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shallow or pointless, motivations have the depth of a drying puddle, and really cool imagery is wasted at every opportunity. If this was just a portfolio filler, everyone involved should have gotten a pat on the back. The art and sound teams did their damnedest, and they did a fine job! But it's not, it's trying to be a story. In the end, it was a story about nothing with cool moments that left you feeling empty due to how little you cared about anything going on and the nonsensical ways the characters got to where they were.
But if you want to watch a show for 'so bad it's good' value, go no further! You will find boundless enjoyment from Kabaneri! Come one come all, laugh at our protagonist's constant yelling of names! Cry at the beautiful parallels in timing to Thomas the Tank Engine! Shout at your screen from the characters' senseless decisions! It's a good time.
Review over.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Aug 12, 2017
Never before have I been so utterly befuddled at every solitary minute of an anime series. Even actions that I was able to justify with logical explanations were then turned by the series itself into nonsensical, self contradictory reasoning. Big Order goes out of its way to read the guide to solid storytelling upside down, without wearing glasses, and eating the lamp which is allowing it to see the words.
There's no point going into minutia, we'd be here all day. Let's start with the story. Our main character, Whocares McProtagonist, gets blackmailed into announcing that he is trying to take over the world with this
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organization of superpowered beings. Yes, that is our start. Each of them has a unique ability given to them by a 'wish'. Usually the wish involved something causing them to think 'I want to survive', therefore the character's power is immortality. It seems to be a base desire in a stressful moment that allowed them to get out of it. Then there are other characters with robot unicorns who fire hyper beams that I REALLY want to know what wishes led to that, but who cares let's never explain backstories.
The first half is about this organization using McProtagonist to take over a city in Japan as their first conquest. The series sets up how the rest of the world hates them, how people CHEER in the streets at live executions of their family members. This entire plotline is abandoned halfway through when a villain shows up, which the series becomes about defeating with no real mentions of their main goal. NO points follow from one half to the other. They face no issues from being so detested and starting a war. Who needs consequences, right?
Next big point: our main character has the most broken power there has ever been. He can literally control reality itself by his own words in any area he has stepped. He can defy gravity, the most fundamental force in the universe. He can take control of the wills of the people around him. Yet whenever an action scene happens, he forgets he can do anything except... I don't even know, he just exerts forces outwards in palm thrusts I guess.
I don't even know where to go from there in all honesty, and that's fine, because the series doesn't know where it's going either, nor how much budget is left as it nears its end. Whoops, money gone!
Oh, I guess a giant rock golem shows up near halfway through as though this is normal, even though we've never seen anything remotely like it. But I didn't even care.
Big Order is a masterpiece of non sequitur nonsense. I'm impressed that it was even written considering the author must have been so distracted by the fact that the rest of their house was on fire. If you have a bunch of friends with you or can enjoy laughing at a building that is falling apart from the bottom up and spinning while it plummets toward the ground, then its spinning digs it deeper and deeper below the surface like a drill, I wholeheartedly recommend watching this series from beginning to end. In episode 3, you will know if you are in the Valhalla of terrible animes or not. This was one of the most enjoyable experiences I'd had in ages, and that wasn't because of anything the show was TRYING to do.
But if you want to watch something that's actually good, stay far away. Seriously. I only give 1's if there is nothing objectively redeemable. Even good music will earn at least a 2 since that meant someone tried and didn't simply play the same jazzy song over every action scene, even when it didn't match the tone at all.
That's all. Review done.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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