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If The Terminator and The Matrix had a baby, that baby would be Karen Senki. But of course The Terminator and The Matrix are horrible parents so Karen Senki grows up to be a problem child. It decided to steal all of its parents material and burn it to the ground. With its never-ending use of action movie cliches (bullet time action sequences, explosions in the background with the hero walking away in slow-motion) Karen Senki is the epitome of ill-inspired action rip-offs. The story is totally unoriginal and the characters all seem like they were picked out of some other franchise. This show is ... so mind-numbingly dumb I can't understand how it managed to become anything more than a script.

The creators seem to work hard to load the show up with metaphors, symbolism, and philosophy, but then make the story unbearably stupid, not seeming to realize their own mistake. The show takes itself too seriously, and doesn't seem to recognize how bad it really is. The story is a pretty average dystopian fiction; robots take over the world, kill people, and this one young beautiful girl decides to take a stand. It's predictable and boring.

The characters are nothing special, at all. We have Karen, our leading femme fatale. She's the typical female Clint Eastwood, able to shoot down hordes of robot minions without so much as scratching her skimpy little China doll dress. It helps though, that the robots, with their skills, couldn't shoot the fucking ground. I'm serious. These robots are so inept that any scene with them seems like it's supposed to be for comic relief. We also have an large array of other characters, way too many for a 12 episode ONA if you ask me. None of them have a speck of originality. We see an enigmatic renegade commander who can turn into a gelatinous super human, a tech savvy asshole who seems to have a thing for robot prostitutes, a pretty singer who has cloning technology, a dwarf who walks around in mechs, a robot commander who falls in love with a human, the philosophical robot army leader who doesn't seem to understand what he's doing, and Karen's little sister Touka. Yes, yes, this is still the same show. None of these characters are really looked into, none develop, and most things about them are left unexplained.

The only good thing I have to say about this show is the animation. The entire show is in CG. Though I personally thought the art style and animation was well done not all seem to share my opinion. I've heard people say that the animation looks like a painting and others say that it's total crap. So it really depends on personal preference.

This show shoots itself in the head with each episode. Nothing makes any damn sense and so many things are left unsaid by the end of it, it seems as though they're planning on making a second part. Join me in praying this never happens.

Chocolate Underground is a political satire that takes place in an alternate reality where the land is ruled by a totalitarian government known as the 'Good For You Party'. This government has banned the possession and consumption of sugar, honey, chocolate, and any other kind of sweets you can think of; and have established a police force to enforce this law. In the anime we follow our two heroes, Huntley and Smudger, as they attempt to bring chocolate back to the world.

Story - 6/10
The premise of the series shows promise but is not executed in the way I personally think it should have been. ... The show treats itself more like a tragedy than a comedy in an attempt to show how a lack of sweets has affected the populace. The law has left many of the characters depressed and lost without chocolate. Lots of time is spent focusing on the troubles they are facing because, apparently, chocolate is the only source of happiness in this world. Very few parts of the series had me actually laughing, most of the time I was just thinking how people make a living if all they do all day is sit around and brood about the laws. The show uses this to send the message of the consequences of social and political apathy and the search for happiness in our lives, but that doesn't really make for an entertaining show, at least not with the way these guys pulled it off.

The show is also very fast paced. With each episode only being about 5 minutes long details about how stuff happens is left out, it just happens. Often times luck and coincidence let the characters just get what they want without working for it. Though this helps to speed things along it sometimes got on my nerves.

Art and Animation - 7/10
All the characters in this show are drawn unrealistically thin. Perhaps they did this keeping in mind that they can no longer eat sweets and are losing weight or maybe just drew them like that for the hell of it, either way I'm not a big fan of this art style. The scenery isn't particularly notable either.

The animation is well done for the most part, with character movements being fluid and realistic, as realistic you can get for an anime anyway. There is also heavy use of CG animation in this series and though it is relatively well done it isn't anything special.

Characters - 5/10
There is nothing special about these characters at all. All are stereotypical and completely forgettable. This is partly due to the short length of the series, not allowing for any of them to mature or display realistic emotions, but still, I've seen shorter series do this better.


If you have a couple hours to kill Chocolate Underground might offer some mild entertainment, but if you're looking for a quality show it would do you good to look elsewhere.

Okabe Rintarou is one of those characters that I feel have become common in recent years. He is whimsical, spontaneous, and simply fun to watch. Be it a police procedural or a murder mystery, shows with protagonists that have these characteristics tend to be entertaining, but they often seem to outshine the others on the show. Fortunately Steins;Gate doesn't have this problem. All of the characters we encounter are interesting and amusing in their own way, with plausible personalities. This is one of the reasons I found Steins;Gate to be so fun to watch. As I followed Okabe and his crew try to take over ... the world, foil the malicious plots of the Organization, and prevent another world war, I was never once bored. The show was unrelenting, keeping me on the edge of my seat all the way through. 

The show starts off with a bang, with regular doses of comedy, intrigue, and references to aged Internet memes. As we get acquainted with the members of the Future Gadget Lab the plot is light-hearted. But as the story progresses and Makise gets thrown in the mix viewers are encouraged to think to keep up. There's another reason that this Anime stands out, it makes you want to understand everything that's happening, occasionally forcing you to rewind a couple episodes to reaffirm or check up on something. With other shows if I don't understand something I feel I should go back to previous episodes to check, but rarely do since I usually don't care a whole lot. But with Steins;Gate I was constantly cataloging information in an attempt to keep up with everything. Though this may seem like a nuisance to some I can assure you it truly enhanced the experience. 

The story revolves around time travel, certainly an idea worked to death by the science fiction genre, but this Anime did a respectable job of keeping things interesting and fresh. The show presents us with new ideas about time travel, opening up a new avenue of possibilities. Thrown together with a global conspiracy concerning SERN, the plot never fails to deliver. At time the story is complex but never convoluted; and helps to elevate the show to greater heights. 

It doesn't surprise me that this show is so highly rated on MAL, it really deserves the recognition it receives. Though the show may not work for everyone I think it will work for most, and deserves a place on everyone's list. 

This is a review of the show, and does not take the movies into account.

Evangelion is an anime I believe no two people will have the exact same opinion of. It has a different effect on each viewer, either good or bad. Personally I believe that fans tend to give this anime too much credit. Though I do not think Evangelion is a bad show it is certainly a show that has made mistakes and could have been better, as is true with any show ever made.

Firstly the story. Something most people can agree on is that the story for this show is unusual ... and something new, unorthodox; especially in the field of anime. This is certainly true, the show's heavy use of imagery, symbolism, and dream-like sequences that seem to have no context was definitely new and unusual, but in my opinion, overused. The beginning of the show followed a predictable format: angel shows up, they fight the angel, encounter a problem, solve problem, beat angel, end off with sexual humour. As the show progressed this gradually changed and there was more character development and use of the aforementioned dream sequences. The ending of the show, the last two episodes particularly, used these sequences to point where their relevance and impact waned. The first time I took time to try and understand them, but eventually they felt overused and unnecessary. Some say that these episodes are the highlight of the show, but I say they are a poor and inconclusive ending, flawed and haphazard. The story would also seem confusing to many, who do not devote time to understand it. The show went from being predictable to overly convoluted, the story was enjoyable but could have been done better.

The characters in the show are complex and intricate, the highlight of the show. Throughout the show Shinji is internally conflicted, and the way we see his character progress and change is one of the main focuses of the show. The epiphany at the end makes for a nice ending, but a nice ending for him specifically, the rest of the characters are left without an satisfying ending, their stories left untold. Shinji, in my opinion was not the most interesting character of the show, and focusing the last two episodes on him was a poor choice. The episodes were repetitive and somewhat boring, an injustice to the rest of the characters. Also the motivations of some of the other characters throughout the show are left unclear at times, forcing the viewer to make up his or her own reasons. This works in some cases but not in all, and causes some confusion.

Is Evangelion a bad show? Certainly not. But it is not a show that would work for everyone. Some may find the show to be thought provoking and evocative, while others convoluted and repetitive. I personally liked the show, but I do not think it deserves the recognition it gets from most fans. It is highly controversial and unique, but that alone should not be enough to put it on a pedestal, above shows that are actually better. Some say that certain aspects of the show should be excused because it is old; this is bullshit. There are anime that came out before that, such as Akira or Graves of the Fireflies, that still stand as some of the best anime of all time. Evangelion was one of the first anime to do what it did but should not be applauded for that reason alone, there are many shows that have come out afterwards and have achieved better results. I think it is an anime fan's responsibility to approach all shows unbiased and not to be influenced by the history of a show.

Evangelion was a unique experience and one cannot get a good feel of it from simply reading a review. I believe this is a show that all anime fans should watch even though it is not a show all anime fans will enjoy. So I encourage you to watch the show if you have not and develop your own opinion.