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After falling into great defeat in the Grand prix finale, Yuuri Katsuki, whom was Japan’s figure skating representative, decides to return home to determine where his future lies. His opportunity for success in skating was looking dim as many obstacles were stopping him from returning to the world of skating.

However, after being posted a viral video of him skating to a program that Viktor Nickiforov performed, this reaches to Viktor himself, leading him to the decision of being Yuri’s coach and bring him back into the world stage again. But the competitiveness thickens as Yuri Plisetsky, a rising star, craves for the defeat of Yuri ... Katsuki to prove himself of Viktor, earning back his mentorship.

At this extent, Anime was screaming for an all-male cast anime to handle their theme with subtlety and wasn’t forgettable as hell, which is quite common among these animes, but finally Yuri on ice came and broke the dubiety that we long had for these sport animes. Moreover, YOI comprehends its theme like no other and executes that with lucidity. I believe that they’re other aspects of the show that boasted its popularity but its simplicity particularly is what made it relaxing to watch, it really screamed for diversity of its target demography as its plot undergoes basic elements tolerant to all kinds of viewers.

Yuri on Ice may have a generic plot, but understands what to do with its mediocrity. The value of the anime shouldn’t be diminished for its choice of plot because it was clear what deliberate approach YOI was taking initially. Generally, Yuri on Ice has kept me exceptionally entertained till its very end and its plot was the last thing that stopped me from enjoying this show.

The relationship between Yuri and Viktor was the foreground of the show. It just danced along so beautifully with the plot because it never felt overly exaggerated with its BL nature in contrast to shows like junjou romantica where they express highly stereotypical gay couples. No anime really attempted to convey the genuine personality of a gay couple without feeling the need to embellish it for the purpose of pandering. The relationship felt natural and was never enforced, it does make sense that both tutor and tutee grew affectionate for each other if they intended to get to know each other personally behind the competition itself, regardless of gender in which the anime never took into consideration. The show convinced itself that there were no needs to create two characters of opposite genders just to play the romantic segments of the show based on its media perception, and quite frankly, I like that. The show felt modern and the relationship of Yuri and Viktor massively contributed to that aura. At this extent YOI has the most healthiest and pragmatic portrayal of a gay couple in an anime ever; there really isn’t any competition.

The YOI soundtrack and music is absolutely remarkable because of how suspenseful and congruous it was with its concept. As one stated, YOI from an international perspective done amazingly because of the variety in the music, all from many categories of music genres and sung in different languages to really define the show’s diversity. The opening is ridiculously memorable and lasting. At first the opening captivates you and really takes on the characteristics of what it means for an anime to be sports. The opening is dazzled in tension as the orchestra raging from the background condenses, becoming more powerful and striking. The full song shows even more of that and just gives you the chills. The desire of wanting to listen to the opening is really consistent as I haven’t skipped the opening a single bit, hence its endurance. The reason why I rated YOI a nine on the musical aspects however is due to the unfairness of the songs used for the skating sequences. The songs for the secondary characters weren’t nearly as powerful and compelling in tempo and dynamics as Yuri’s performances were, if anything they were quite forgettable, making most of the episodes boring to watch.

I honestly couldn’t of thought of any other art style for YOI because the one used in the show was just downright perfection. The characters and the art style just went, completely reconcilable.

As much as I have complimented the choice of plot beforehand and the path YOI chose to take, I can’t say much more for the plot itself as it’s embedded with flaws, particularly with its premise. The premise was a complete mess as it immediately starts off with info-dumping supported by lazily done chibi designs of the characters to express comedy, which was anything but humorous since it’s an overdone way of exhibiting comedy. Resuming to my words beforehand, the premise explains its sports through info-dumping, and if anything, only told me that they’ve create a poor exposition rather than the sports itself. The whole basis of storytelling is to show rather than tell the story to its audience and by explaining the core constituent of the show to us rather than expressing the sports to us progressively throughout the anime really suggests the producers’ inability to create a story. To summarise, the premise was disappointing.

Speaking of which, the majority of the characters initiated in the first episode have little to no actual significance to the plot and only serve for comical values despite being given a shortage of screen time and presenting nonsensical humour that the younger audience of the show may most likely enjoy. Some of the characters didn’t necessarily needed introduction such as the brunette fan girl and were added just to make better of our protagonist despite many other characters playing that role. Yuri on ice should have most definitely cut down on the amount of characters it had because it deduced screen time for other stuff that came more crucial.

The character development was just lacklustre since there was barely anything to develop for the characters to begin with, especially our main protagonists. Yuri was just too inconsistent. Yuri was only ever presented as the shy type for the first episode then 1-2 episodes later, he was a sudden confident badass on stage with no justification whatsoever; an episode later, he’s timid again. Yuri’s anxiety wasn’t a genuine issue at all, Yuri’s anxiety was a complete plot device as it is extremely repetitive and is solely used at times where the plot couldn’t develop itself neither the relationship between Viktor and himself. Overall, he just happened to be full of confidence ever since Viktor was his coach just because. He was practically told by Viktor to act provocative when doing his Eros performance and he just happened to succeed. Yuuri feels incredibly melodramatic as a character that other parts of his characteristics serve for the sake of cheap feels. When Yuri would convey his meek behaviour, the plot would always find a way to take full advantage of that and victimise Yuri because he’s not nearly as “good” as the other skaters, but this is only as a way to promote Yuri and make his mad skating skills of a surprise in spite of always having them in the early stages.

Contrastingly, Viktor’s character was too consistent, the audience were never introduced another side of Viktor to develop at all as his flirtatious, cheeky behaviour was the only characteristics on display. I honestly wished they had been more in-depth with Viktor’s love life when he was “talking” about it for awhile in episode 10, we’ve of gained something at least from Viktor because to me, Viktor is an shallow character who puts on an act of persistently being seductive, handsome and complete perfection but there’s nothing contradicting to that to convey. Viktor’s character isn’t much left to be desired as an actual skater since he was a hardly explained character as a competitor, or better yet, how he invested into the world of skating that clarifies his prominence. As a reviewer stated, the setting itself takes place because Viktor was not entertaining as his status of a competitor since his abilities are way beyond every else to begin with. As the way the story is, I was in desperation of figuring out Viktor as soon as I knew most of the distinguished characters in the show were aspired from Viktor, making him the genesis of this show, so it would only make sense to know where the origins of the show stemmed from. Generally, we’ve only seen the surface of what Viktor could be and his shallowness pretty much qualifies enough to be an entire flaw of its own.

Yurio was the only person who developed from the show because we saw how he conducted himself from the start of the show to the end; even the show was contrasting it from time to time, particularly highlighting how he modified his style in skating depending on his behaviour. Initially Yurio had an incredibly rude, aggressive nature but gradually, he became of elegance and beauty and that was heavily embodied in his skating sequences, making us more emotionally invested in Yurio’s character.

Not only did the characters barely undergo development, but they were extremely stereotypical as there was barely anything distinctive about any of them, not a single unique trait. Yuri being the shy character in every single sports anime that doubts themselves just to make it seems like they won’t win even though they always, Viktor being the handsome and famous that comes off hard to get despite picking the protagonist out of everyone they met ever, Yurio being the grumpy rival just because, Chris being the fan service, oh lord, I could go on. What makes this an issue is the fact that I’m having a hard time figuring why did Viktor choose Yuri particularly, to which the anime never gets profoundly of. There’s absolutely nothing distinguishable of Yuri that the producers emphasizes so why the choice of Yuri over everyone else that makes him worth choosing?

As maturely presented the shounen-ai is, it is to question as the relationship of Viktor and Yuri doesn’t really come crucial to the sports, therefore the plot itself. What were they trying to demonstrate by expressing the relationship of Viktor and Yuri? Furthermore, I’ve had trouble with which degree the relationship stands as it was never really fully fledged. Yuri on ice has only been showing hesitation with openly embracing the complete gayness of the relationship as it could never assure itself of the absolute desire both Viktor and Yuri had for each other. One minute, Viktor and Yuri are publicizing their relationship, another censoring their sentiment, hiding it and are ambivalent of each other. Each episode just didn’t compliment and support each other and there were constant shifts regarding their relationship. The choice of this gives off a range of ideas of why the producers done this. Did they do such to lure in the audience till the end by using cheap tactics such as fetishising and not making the relationship canonical or does the relationship have a foundation that supports the vital existence of the passion Viktor and Yuri have for each other?

With a huge audience that doesn’t actually do figure skating, I including, it was hard to feel engagement with the competition as the technical aspects of it were hard to grasp the feeling of. As one reviewer stated, which was a ridiculously good point, Yuri on ice doesn’t clarify the complexity of some of the techniques and why some were treated with more astonishment than the other. Why and how is a quadruple loop technically difficult than a quadruple salchow? Why does placing your hands high in the air while doing triple techniques score you high scores despite the skill being easy independently? For a show that wants to emotionally connect to its viewers through the sports, it should be aching for profundity with the execution and how well explained their sport is, but clearly YOI wasn’t looking for that.

Just a quick note and minor flaw, the pacing of the show felt rapid, everything was happening in the blink of an eye that it was hard to tell how many weeks or months it’s been between each episode or so. With only twelve episode to maintain with, everything was very time abusing and Yuri on ice just needed more episodes to space itself out. I can honestly understand why the producers would choose to end the show in Christmas week as Yuri on ice is excessively Christmas spirited and belongs to the winter season.

The real question is after all this though: What is the objective that Yuri on ice have always had in mind? What were they striving to achieve at the end of the series? You may think that the goal would automatically be there since the anime has a really basic concept and say that it’s to win the Grand prix final, but after what happened at the last few minutes on episode 12 (I don’t want to spoil) can we really say that’s the objective? Now that they’ve reach the Grand Prix final and the results were revealed and stuff, what is awaiting for this show now? Does the whole thing restart again just like that? The issue is the fact that I can’t see where this show is going and where its future lies.

Yuri on Ice deserves the publicity it got, but not how it’s perceived, especially with those calling Yuri on ice a “masterpiece” because it’s most definitely afar from that. From a critical perspective, they’re major flaws implanted in this series that stopped this show from embracing its potential it had, but to say that this show suffered from them? Now that’s something else. Yuri on Ice was always conscious of the mistakes they’ve already made but weren’t bothered by them since being critically acclaimed was the least of their priorities, I’d recommend watching this show with high expectations concerning its entertainment values rather than its critical values. It’s stupid to go into this show with deliberate hate or high standards because it’s laughably damn obvious that you’ll receive not nearly half of that.

Give this show a goddamn break

For a show that circulates around ice skating homos, constant fangirling, marriage and a guy that screeches “I’m gonna come!” you’d really expect a really well written piece of work? From this? As for my opinion, I’m neutral with this show as entertainment-wise, it’s just outright fantastic but that, alas, doesn’t excuse the show from a critical stance, a lot having to do with why they chose this and that, etc. as Yuri on ice lacks basic clarification for what it does. I will definitely be looking forward to the second season as I will be sticking around for it but generally, Yuri on Ice will forever be a Christmas one hit wonder and the second season will never be as popular as the first because nothing will be like the first but itself.

Positive:

• Simplicity
• Execution of Viktor and Yuri’s relationship
• Decent generic plot
• Great and appropriate usage of music
• Ridiculously suitable art style

Negatives:

• Irrelevant characters
• Poor character development
• Reason for/Limited shounen-ai elements
• Stereotypical characters
• Viktor
• Melodramatic/Victimizing
• Cheap and lacking in comedy
• Disengagement in the competition
• Unclear objective
• Poor premise
• Instability in pacing

Yuri on Ice = 6/10

Have you ever wondering how it must feel when one of your friends or loved ones are in despair? When they’re having a despondent day? Well, look no further because Kiznaiver portrays this theme, and I mean literally.

Kiznaiver is an anime revolving around bonds through pain and sentiment. The story circulates around that of our main protagonist, Katsuhira Agata, a modest, slow teenage boy that grasps no emotions within his hands, accordingly making himself a bullying target. However, the bullying that consistently approaches him from every direction is beyond his concerns and most notably, his pain. Him, alongside with 5 other teenagers’ ... wounds are connected through the Kizna system and are obligated to bond for the sake of creating “World peace”. And so, their journey begins.

Now, I must say, Kiznaiver is an anime I saw one of the brightest potential in, however, was abstracted by various divisions. Whenever it was character development or drama, the manner Kiznaiver executed this is what made itself abstracted from a rather good conception. Many like to say this is a character-based show so they are going to get more profound of the characters than any other department in the show, but even then, Kiznaiver fails abominably at this.

If I had to describe the characters using three adjectives, they would be “mild, archetypal, and caricatured” The characters were first given archetypical roles, initially seen as symbolism, which I had no concerns for, however, the characters just started to use that as their foremost individualities, never actually getting in-depth of the traits and explaining why they maintain such. Alternatively, this started to define the characters themselves and the purpose they bring to the plot. Niko and Tenga, for most of the series existed, only to slap in some eccentric yet cartoonish comedy in there, but only came irksome and unnecessary, leaving room for its incompatible tonal dissonance. Kiznaiver genuinely knew what they were doing, thus far were oblivious about the fact that it’s never going to work. Kiznaiver knew that it wanted to be witty at times, whilst simultaneously being serious, yet merely making the story paradoxical. The way serious scenes would modify itself into comedic ones was awkward and off. Kiznaiver couldn’t handle both, therefore making the tonal shifts cringeworthy.

The only characterized really are Honoka, Katsuhira (fairly) and Sononaki, yet they still don’t possess strong characterization. Katsuhira and Sonozaki were the only crucial characters of the show and would have still been proficient of creating a story with just the two of them. The rest of the cast didn’t live up to their significance, let alone nearly, and that’s what I found dissatisfying about Kiznaiver. If every single character were presented exactly like how Honoka was, this series would have left me with a different impression, potentially increasing its score from me. Hisomu was a random guy in the background educating a few life lessons to these youngsters but served no purpose whatsoever. The finale of Kiznaiver entirely explained the significance of our cast; A bunch of kids that just added their two cents to Katsuhira and Sonozaki’s association without it actually making that much of an impact, and additionally their personal issues being irrelevant, which brings me to explain the execution of drama in this series.

Kiznaiver must be an anime that secondly enthrals and is reliant on drama for its series, considering the fact that it’s a character-based show, however, even its drama was horribly done. Albeit, I can comprehend the fact that they’re just average teenagers so they are bound to create conflicts; it’s only natural for them to do so, however, not one speck of maturity was balanced with the juvenility of the quarrels. Example would be Chidori’s issues. Instead of it being a bunch of sixteen years olds arguing about their love interests, it was something that a bunch of twelve years old would be arguing about. Moreover, the love interests were either absurd, lacking or arbitral. Nico liking Tenga had to be the most illogical, a relationship that was barely transparent and developed. Kacchon and Chidori was a relationship that was hard to care for because they’ve barely exposed their relationship before the Kizna system. Instead, we’re just left to imagine and presume how strong their relationship must be.

Characterization and the character interaction within the show were born out of compulsion as a way to move the plot forward, merely making the characters plot devices. A great example of this is episode two, where the characters were forced to reveal a secret of theirs, which I found quite rough. Kiznaiver wanted to impatiently force development out of our characters and rapidly reach the good part of the story, thus giving a reason to these “required missions” or “served punishments if something is not achieved” As much as this made the story engaging, it just came redundant. The same results would have still been created if the characters were simply left to unravel their way out of the system or getting profound of each other. The secrets and authentic identities were proficient of unfolding itself but Kiznaiver were too impatient.

Kiznaiver already has an implausible conception, yet is very questionable. They’re already aware of the failure the experiment has brought prior to other children that initially were a part of the research, so why do they revive it again on other kids? Initially, the experiment became extremely hazardous and was nowhere near creating “world peace” from the looks of it, so why would it be smart to do it again? Moreover, Kiznaiver never gets in-depth of how connecting pain equates to world peace, but rather they just state it will. Kiznaiver doesn’t try to bring coherence to an already puzzling idea. I am very aware of the fact that the whole point of the show was to show the faults of the idea, but they never really try to fully clarify the agenda from the very beginning.

The effort put into Kiznaiver is very transparent and I support it for doing that. The distinctive turn they wanted to add to their story with the connecting pain and all boasted Kiznaiver up, however, ever so slightly failed itself from the inconsistencies. Kiznaiver prioritised the artistic merits in contrast to all the existing departments, just like what any average modern anime would do really. Not that it’s a problem with bring bigger significant to the visuals of the show, but to not show as much importance to the characters and story is what Kiznaiver performed.

The art was very satisfying yet aspiring. It had a very crispy and sharp design to it. The backdrops basically go by what I’m saying, very distinguishing and never felt boring. The character designs were fine, and I mean, really fine. Very distinguishable and was very defining. Each character has an exhilarating look to them and was pleasing to the human eyes. They looked exactly by their characteristics and their personalities were easy to presume. The colour palette was very strong and bright and the animation ran smoothly.

Well done BOOM BOOM SATELLITES and Sangatsu no Phantasia by genuinely going by your intended purpose. They rightfully went by what it means to create an opening and an ending, thus making it very appropriate. An opening is to grip you into the series and places a significant role by entertaining your audience into watching more; the Kiznaiver opening ideally went by that. An ending is meant to relax the viewer and conclude them that the episode was nicely completed; the Kiznaiver ending also ideally went by that. However, the only trouble I have with the opening is how unmemorable it is. As Zeph stated, the only unforgettable line in the opening is “LAY YOUR HANDS ON ME” Other than that, it’s fine.

Kaji Yuki, you shady monkey. His performance was not particularly extraordinary, but most definitely stood out than the rest. I absolutely love how Kaji Yuki can just adjust his voice in order to fit the character, completely making him distinguishable from his most popular roles. Kaji Yuki is like a person that can just hide behind characters without knowing it’s him. His voice was perfect for Agata and convinced me into liking it, a lot.

What to expect and personal enjoyment

But the real question is, did I enjoy this?

Not necessarily. It has to do with the fact that Kiznaiver vaguely touched upon its default genres, hence why I couldn’t get profound of it. It was hard for me to articulate the message that Kiznaiver was trying to depict because so many things distracted it. There were nothing for me to get in-depth with really, but rather I just started watching the show with enjoyment in my mind. Kiznaiver is fairly a dumb watch. If you want an anime for its exhilaration and fun, Kiznaiver is for you. If you’re looking for any perception of our characters and story, you’re not going to find that here

Kiznaiver should have been a 24 episode long series and more considerate with where it story and point goes. This show only wears the name of it being character-based and dramatic but it poorly conveys that. This show technically done what death parade done; a poor story in which its opening saves itself from hate and is seen as good in the majorities’ eyes. Kiznaiver is yet another anime that had potential, however just didn’t go by it.

Negatives

• incompatible yet irritating tone dissonance
• Implausible and vague conception.
• Obligated character interaction and characterization
• Purposeless or one-dimensional cast
• Melodramatic, no maturity balanced with childishness

Positives

• Effort
• Satisfying art and animation
• Appropriate music
• Kaji Yuki

Kiznaiver = Overall 4/10

Skip to what to expect and personal enjoyment if you’re too lazy to read an in-depth review of the animes flaws. Moreover, enjoy this!

Joker game, as a whole, is an anime that revolves around duplicity, as given a notion from the genuine card game “Joker game” and how it’s about trickery. To zest things up and strengthen the theme it’s trying to illustrate, its setting takes place around 1937 and onwards, WWII, an era of which espionage was highly crucial to attaining the intelligence of other countries’ social and economic situation, holding benefits for another country and side, all of which consist of deception, counterintelligence, ... extreme mental and physical preparation, coherent yet cautious thinking and generally throwing away one’s life, only to morph themselves as nonexistent beings.

And as to no surprise, Japan has decided to create a secret spy organization known as the “D-Agency”

The concept that seems to swirl around Joker game is how it believes that having a dissimilar concept from the other animes instantly makes the anime good, thus giving them no reason to panic or reconsider their story. However, because of this way of thinking, the flaws that Joker game includes completely flies over their heads because nothing is simply telling them the defects that are involved in the plot. In other words, just because Joker game has a distinctive concept does not give it the excuse to poorly execute everything else, which is exactly what Joker game performed throughout the whole series; which leads me to explain the negatives of this show.

The premise of the Joker game wasn’t bad but was huge foreshadowing of what Joker game had the potential to be. It demonstrated a supposedly overarching plot, which is what created my high expectations for this anime; however the exposition of the card game “Joker game” was when I grew fairly low expectations for it. It was pure info dumping. The anime never gradually unfolded itself for me to get that the game is about trickery. Funny enough because they never exposed everything that the spies were doing when they were playing the game, completely hiding the concept of the game from the audience, only to explain it themselves and make themselves look clever. No matter what, a mystery story is never good when it hides crucial information from you, and that’s what Joker game presented.

Speaking about there being an overarching plot, I want to get more profoundly of that. The first two episodes were very misleading because we were initiated a supposed protagonist, as to which he literally was the observer of the story. We were being told the story through his mentality but were given a huge middle finger when the third episode was in an episodic format, where the protagonist was nowhere to be seen again. The episodic format is generally what left a huge scar on Joker game to begin with. We barely even got a perception of any of the characters except a quick in-depth back-story of Yuuki but as ZephSilver stated, he still feels like an enigma.

The anime suffers from horrible deliverance with its story. It’s really difficult to grasp what is going on. There’s no correlation with the episodes and it leads itself into an abyss of nothing. No outcome is given prior to the episodic stories, making the episodes meaningless and a waste of time. The only reason why you should watch the episodes are to solely educate yourself about the particular stages of espionage, what it takes to be a spy, and how conditions and consequences were for those that use to do espionage back in WWII, other than that, don’t bother with the episodic formation.

This is purely a paragraph of subjectivity but Joker game likes to use a “Tell, not show” technique on itself, which is incredibly bad for a mystery and suspenseful anime. It’s most definitely tolerable because you get use to it, however, that should be one of the first thing a mystery anime should shun, and Joker game openly embraces this.

The character designs and the lack of traits to the spies was the most exasperating thing I had with the art and characters of the show. However, the character design is not a negative of the show because they deliberately have to look bland, but rather the lack of distinctive characteristics is what added to their blandness. Just because they’re spies doesn’t give an excuse to hide themselves from the viewer as well. There is no unique trait to define each individual. All you pretty much see is the story jumping from character to character. I can’t even judge on whenever of not they were shallow because there’s nothing to criticize about them, as much as there is to invest in them. Joker game fails at trying to be compelling because they never got the audience to care from the very beginning. I don’t care about any of the characters, so why should I care for anything else? Our so called protagonist that appeared in the first two episodes was very inconsistent and constantly jumped to conclusions. Just because it makes sense in his mind doesn’t mean it will make sense the way he forms it. He generally just stopped using coherence.

Sorry, these two paragraphs will consist of vague and fairly heavy spoilers.

Bonus: Episode 4 probably has to be one of the worst episodes out of Joker game and exactly goes by what I say when I state how this anime can be exaggerating. The ending of the show was just adding tragedy on top of tragedy like an ice-cream man adding marshmallow and chocolate on top of another. The show has just come to great cognizance, as to which the random guy revealed his wicked plans and then boom! He’s shot by a random black dude that no one cares for, simply for vengeance of this other dude that no one also cares for, which was out of love (Now who would of thought that?)

Okay, can someone tell me, what the hell was up with that one liner? Is that it, is that all we’re being served? A futile one liner that will not tell us about what happens to that “random spy dude” Honestly, it didn’t feel like a finale and it still needs more to convey, albeit Joker game has conveyed some positivity amongst the defects of theirs.

Joker game had a dull but rather okay art, it didn’t disrupt the anime really and its animation was perfectly fine. As one stated, they make a good balance between the CG used and its normal animation. Joker game has a brilliant opening, however, sadly doesn’t portray what Joker game actually expresses. Despite that, it was a nice jazzy opening and fitted the anime’s default genres. The ending theme however, sounds like some upbeat J-pop and is completely out of theme. Even though it’s one of my favorite endings (I listen to it on my MP3 player on the bus to school every day!) I’m going to stay impartial here and state what I truly feel. The ending sounds good on a standalone but when merged with Joker game, it’s just awkward. This is what brought itself down on the music department.

Even though I judged Joker game for how they depicted their refreshing concept and how they poorly do such, I give credits for Joker game for even doing the concept. Not many do detective-like mystery stories within the anime medium and for Joker game to do something so revitalizing for once takes balls. Joker game could have been an anime that sold unsuccessfully due to its unpopular idea but they still chose to do it nonetheless, and I applause that.

Joker game never loses focus on what they are portraying, regardless of how poorly they are doing it. They always stay on theme, they never break character and they never handle matters in a juvenile sense. The overall presentation of the series (art, music, animation, theme, etc.) gives off a rather serious tenor to the series, which is exactly their objective, and they don’t do it badly.

Generally, Joker game was historically accurate with the depiction of espionage and how it would take place in WWII. Everything was pretty much dead right considering how I was previously learning about WWII and how I would research a few stuff from the facts that Joker game would mention and view them on Wikipedia. I guess I gained some knowledge from Joker game and it has convinced me into wanting to know more.

What to expect and personal enjoyment

But the real question is, did I enjoy this?

Not necessarily. I’m quite neutral on this actually. Even though Joker game gave off a solemn nature to itself, never breaking out of such, it started to alter itself into complete monotony, making the episodes less exhilarating to watch each week. Joker game is not a seinen through its story, but rather its atmosphere, circulating around a mature, controversial and sensitive theme. I advocate this anime to chiefly adults or younger kids and teens that are tolerable with serious yet unenthusiastic themes.

Be bound to anticipate a dissatisfying ending, misleading premise, cheating mystery, no connection between the episodes, vague yet bland characters, and many, many more. Joker game is very considerate with its presentation, but was sadly missing that good writing, consequently making it inferior to its presentation.

Joker game doesn’t deserve an anime. Joker game should have never been brought to existence in the anime medium because it doesn’t meet that anime-like realm, but rather is solely just novel worthy. The books actually look pretty darn good; however the anime doesn’t really promote how fine the original material looks but rather makes people shun it whilst simultaneously cut all ties with Joker game. In conclusion, Joker game succeeds in exploring the fundamentals but fails on the fine details. This is an anime that tackles pragmatic themes, however executes that within a medium it doesn’t need to be in. Joker game is most definitely one of the most distinctive animes this spring season, therefore making it dissimilar in contrast to the other animes; however you will soon come to realize its superficiality when you start to watch the anime for more than 3 episodes, making it an anime worth dropping. Even though I didn’t read them, get the books, the anime is not worth your time to waste, especially when it comes to no conclusion.

Negatives

• Our so called protagonist is very inconsistent and jumps to random conclusions
• Should have been an overarching plot rather than episodic
• Joker game likes to consistently “Tell, not show” which is incredibly bad for a mystery and suspenseful anime
• Very poor deliverance/execution of the plot and no connection -
• Very hard to differentiate between the spies. The characters were bland, thus making it hard to invest them and to care for
• Dissatisfying ending
• Deceiving premise, but neutral.

Positives

• Satisfying art and animation
• Satisfying music
• Refreshing conception
• Focus is never lost
• Historically accurate.
• Good presentation overall

Joker game = Overall 5/10

Moderator Edit: This review contains spoilers.
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(If you couldn’t give a tuna glass about this review and just want to know if you should watch this, skip all the way to the “What to expect and enjoyment” Either way, read this review if you want an insight of the flaws it had. This is my first review so don’t judge and give me a break lol. My usage of words might come off as wonky so sorry for that)

Grimgar is an anime that doesn’t necessarily bring anything distinctive to the tables. I personally believe that Grimgar was just an anime of progression, where we would ... have an insight on a group of six and the enhancements to their amnesia and how they develop from it. Even then, an apparent anime like this had its deficiency and I’m astonished to know it does.

Negatives

Despite the very slow adaptation, there was no exhilarating tension or motivation to the anime till the very few episodes. Grimgar was a story that was going nowhere till they picked up an objective that wasn’t even enthralled upon at the few last episodes. Very repetitive episodes as only a very few things would happen as it’s a part of the progression within the anime, which it would conventionally be the party just going out to kill some goblins then coming back.

As the other reviewers stated, it’s very hard to not reference a spoiler so yeah, spoilers up ahead in the next paragraph.

The characters felt very disengaging because of the lack of condolence felt for them. The fact that they killed off Manato in just four episodes immediately created a plot hole because of the lack of profundity put into Manato. I didn’t get to know him as a character; we didn’t get in depth of him at all hence why I couldn’t empathise for him. The fact that the characters would consistently drag Manato throughout the plot and weep for him made me feel excluded. It’s as if the plot was trying to renounce me to comprehend them or empathise for them in the slightest. They were trying to make Manato as pertinent to the story as possible because it’s the only thing they were dependable towards. Also the foreshadowing of Manato’s death was too heavy; which made his death very obvious, and yes, in a bad sense.

End of spoilers

Grimgar fails to give any cognizance or impression of the world the group of six are living within by constantly focusing on them and nothing outside of their party. We are not given an perception of how other parties evaluate and evolve in the world they are living within a.k.a the world we are being shown. When the group of six are struggling to kill goblins, how are another party handling this? How did they handle this when they were or are in their position? Sure, this anime is not deliberately trying to focus on other people but just by describing how other parties are doing within the narrative occasionally would have been justifiable. Also there’s no clarification as to why Haruhiro and the rest were chosen to be summoned within the world we are shown. Why is it that they are chosen but no one else?

There were a very few illogical clarifications for the people’s amnesia. How is it that they are well efficient of remembering their names but nothing else? There’s something about that that is very impactful on the characters. Does anything remind them of their name or something? And how is it that they remember the particular words they use but nothing else? Does anything remind them of the words they use? Grimgar fails to justify this. But even then, Grimgar badly brings the significance of that if we’re not going to know about the life the characters had before they came into this world. It’s pretty obvious that the characters came from Earth but Grimgar doesn’t really make that transparent.

The fan service within this show is what I’m truly dissatisfied about. At first, this anime gives you the intuition that it’s one of those soothe animes that seems to have some kind of abhorrence towards ecchi and all that sort, till you watch it, only to find that it adds a lot of unnecessary fan service itself. Oh but the art style of this anime definitely gives you a sense of suspicion. When it comes to wanting to be goofy and thrilling, Grimgar is very dependent with its fan service and jokes about Yume’s flat- chest for that, which it’s very subjective whenever you like it or not (Which I didn’t really) It’s just the fact that Grimgar would execute these at the wrong time, which is where the issue lies.

The pacing of this anime felt like complete torture. Grimgar didn’t manage the time of the twelve episodes properly and just tried to slowly progress the anime, most of the time being way too sluggish. Grimgar was way too enthralled on developing the characters that they completely overlooked everything else, which is giving the plot a resolution and getting into depths of the characters perhaps?

The amnesia concept completely stripped the opportunity to get in depth of the characters to begin with. However, even though the anime had the chance to tell us about the back-story of each character before they came within the world of Grimgar, something is telling me that that will barely bring any significance to the tables. Their amnesia gets in the way of getting in depth of the characters because there’s nothing to say about the characters within the party of six except Mary. The amnesia concept brought a huge plot hole among the characters at the very start. The characters only came off very one dimensional expect Mary, who was the only three dimensional character.

No character within the show was likable. This is more of a personal preference, keep that in mind. Every character was just pure mediocre. Even their character design was so generic. Each character just had that stereotypical role of their own. With Mary being that cold one but really when you get to know her, her attitude is very justifiable, Yume being the flat chest yet humble, Shihoru being the shy one who always cries, always has the oppais, Manato being the “Justin bieber” a.k.a the perfect, Moguzo being the quiet, peaceful, Ranta being the obnoxious and the Haruhiro being “the MC”. Heck, even the outside characters had their own stereotypical roles etc, Barbara = Fan service, Renji = the brave, admired.

Positives

Despite Mary, Haruhiro was a well executed character regardless of his lack of back-story (Something good about Grimgar?) Haru was nicely done depiction of the current reputation of the group. Haru alternatively came crucial; I’m quite astonished to see how the anime was capable of making Haru essential to the plot and the group. He is what created the perception put into the party. Haruhiro claimed his own hindrance and concerns as much as he represented that of the whole group’s, and he overcame his own as much as the group did as a whole. Some of you may be thinking “What about Ranta?” Sure, I will applause Ranta for his mentality and perspective on the group and how he’s just doing his part, however because of how unlikable he is and how this mindset completely changes within episode twelve, Ranta is just as mediocre as a character could get within his type.

Grimgar had rather good characterization (Yes, finally, something positive about Grimgar again) Why is it that they have good characterization? Well, because the plot was much focused on this that they received good results. However, don’t get the wrong idea, it’s not really anything bewildering, it’s just that Grimgar was capable of handling this without any issue. Grimgar was very victorious with what it wanted to do here and it’s very comprehensible with what they were trying to depict, how the struggling, amateurish and primitive managed to develop into a tactful and rational. Very simple and nicely exposed.

The water colouring a.k.a art of this anime was very heart-warming and made me feel comfortable and pleasant. I could go on describing it. As an artist, it was very admirable and motivates me into doing some water colouring with its warm colours. I adored how the background was done as well. Little to no effort put into doing it but in a respectful way.

Even though the opening and ending song has a very tedious tune to it, it’s very memorable. It’s something I hum from time to time and I think that’s a good thing. Something about the opening and ending was very clingy and addictive to listen to. It’s even more memorable than the Erased opening and I love that opening more than the Grimgar opening. The first half or the series and the ending song has very lazily done visuals and the second half of the series opening has some effort put into it but I still find something indolent about it. I’m not really concerned about the OSTs; it’s okay.

What to expect in Grimgar of fantasy and ash and Personal enjoyment -

But the real question is, is this anime enjoyable? Honestly, this may come off as anticipating but it depends. Yes, this is one of those “It depends” types of animes. If you enjoy looking at very slow progressive anime, this is the anime for you. However if you want a nicely done anime but it gets to the point and it has an objective, stay away from this anime. Be bound to expect a very slow anime with very torturing pacing, one dimensional characters expect one, unsympathetic death (not telling who), nicely done MC, nothing happening between the episodes and much more!

What makes this anime special is how it’s very considerate with its development so kudos to that! “But Pramma, did you enjoy this anime?” Honestly, no. It was so boring and it wasn’t really convincing or motivating to make me binge it till the very end. I wasn’t capable of watching episode 11 or 12 because it was that boring but I pushed myself to finish it lol.

Grimgar had bright potential but just didn’t use it to its full extent. A lot like to say how pragmatic this anime is but if you look into it, it’s not really that realistic. If you look through the flaws this anime had, the realism of it just suddenly vanishes. For a very straightforward concept like Grimgar, I’m rather disappointed that it has this much mistakes.

Negatives –

- No exhilarating tension or built up -
- No story or point was made till the very end -
- Disconnecting characters; lack of sympathy -
- Repetitive episodes ;nothing happens in between those episodes -
- Lack of information about the world of grimgar or their way of life. -
- Illogical clarifications for their amnesia -
- Shows nothing besides group of 6 -
- Awfully slow progression and pacing -
- Unnecessary fan service -
- Trying to make dead character relevant to the story -
- Too dependent towards this dead character; killed off too fast -
- Characters amnesia strips the purpose of characters and getting into depth of who the characters are -
- Unlikable characters -
- Don’t get an insight on every single character –
- No reasoning for Haruhiro and the rest that were summoned presences. They’re just there.

Positives –

- Good Characterization -
- Good art -
- Memorable opening and endings -
- Okay usage of OSTs –
- Despite Mary, Haru = nicely done character

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash = Overall 4