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Jun 23, 2018
Minami-Ke Tadaima is the fourth season of the series Minami-Ke. It’s a slice of life comedy with elements of high school romance sprinkled into the mix. To say that this show is unique and is a “must watch” would be stretching it. The slice of life genre has always been one of my favorites, but this show just didn't do it for me. The jokes are pretty stale and some of them lose their potential humor simply because of the way they’re set up. But let’s stop with the general impressions and get into the specifics, shall we?
Story:
Being a slice of life school comedy, Minami-Ke
...
Tadaima respectively does not have a complicated plot. It follows the ordinary lives of three sisters: Kana, Chiaki, and Haruka Minami. Each episode is formatted linearly: An ordinary problem is presented, hijinx ensues, and a conclusion is met. It’s simple and should be effective. I say “should” because the sheer quality of most of the jokes and the reactions of the characters actually works against this linear format. That's not to say that the show never made me laugh. It got me a few times, but for a comedy, it was rare.
Characters:
Aside from Hosaka and Kana--huge shout-outs to their voice actors by the way--most of the cast is a bit uninteresting. Again, most of the show's failings are brought up from the lack of reactions and lack of exaggerated responses from the characters and some of the characters ended up as tropes. Take Makoto's character for instance. In order to hang out with Kana without drawing the suspicion of his classmates, Makoto takes on the form of Mako--a female version of himself. You would think that this could draw out a few laughs, but the setup for the jokes are really typical and not fun in all honesty. In truth, I think the whole show could be described as “really typical and not fun,” but I do think the music helps ease the boredom.
Music:
The music from the show is actually pretty good. The music used in the comedic scenes generated a silly, albeit cheesy, atmosphere. More specifically, the opening was always something I looked forward to listening to. It was really upbeat and I think it captured what the show really tried to be: a heavily emphasized comedy. The ending theme was less than addicting, but my ears didn't bleed because of it, so that's good.
Art Style / Animation:
Being a show from 2013, Minami-Ke Tadaima actually doesn't look great in comparison to some of the other shows that came out at the time. While the art style is a bit dated, the animation is serviceable enough and the character designs are unique and even a bit fun at times. While I wouldn’t consider the artistic direction of the show to be its strong suit, I can see how others might enjoy it for its simplicity.
Overall Impressions:
Minami-Ke Tadaima was a pretty below average experience for me. It just wasn't as much fun as I thought it'd be and I really like the slice of life genre, so I know that's not the problem. Aside from Hosaka's and Kana’s characters, the show was a bore to get through. With its lack of good characters, its repeated use of unfunny jokes, and without a solid reason to keep me coming back to the show, I had a really hard time getting through this one. Even some fans of the show found out that they didn’t love this season of Minami-Ke in particular. In the words of Chiaki herself, “Please do not expect much out of it.” I cannot and will not recommend this show, even to slice of life fans.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Feb 7, 2018
MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD:
Many shows have revolved its theme around death, but Death Parade attempts to take a step further. By constantly introducing new characters and their situations, we progressively start to understand the value of life. Family, love, and artistic aspirations are to name a few that are presented in this show, but with these constant introductions to new characters and plots, we are left with not enough time to develop the lead characters and the world. This constant barrage of new plots that we are given, while very refreshing, end up hurting the world building and even the development of the lead characters.
Story:
The story
...
itself is very interesting. To put it simply, there is no afterlife in this world. There is only reincarnation and the void. To cast judgement on the people who leave the living world, there are arbiters who cast judgement on these individuals through a randomly selected game. As the plot progresses, we begin to understand the concept of life as a whole. From the warm, loving side of life to some of the most cruel and tragic. There's more that goes into the plot, but that would be delving into the spoilers. As I’ve mentioned, this plot is interesting. The entire show really had my interest until the very end, but that's when I started to realize that there wasn't much world building. Well, maybe it wasn't world building, but rather world explanation. They really do go in depth with the existence of the void and Quindecim itself, but the creation of arbiters and their dolls goes pretty unexplored. We’re given a brief explanation on how they come to be, but we never get anything past that. There are probably more points that go unexplored, but those are the ones that stuck out to me.
Characters:
This show is able to keep each episode fresh by rotating out the new characters after each pair of characters’ plot is complete. While the new characters get enough time for development and understanding, the lead roles don't. The latter half of the show dives deeper into their characters, but by then it is too late. It feels as though they just didn't get enough time to truly establish their motives. Although it is a bit rushed, the characters are still done very well and do manage to avoid falling into cardboard-cutout archetypes.
Music and Sound:
The music that accompanies this show is great. More notably, the OP is fantastic. The music that is played in the background is also great and manages to help establish mood and atmosphere. The sound quality is also worth mentioning. It’s crisp and very effective when it's used to establish a darker tone.
Art and Animation:
The animation and art direction for this show was great. When the atmosphere needs to get darker, the music, characters, and art design really come together to produce an effective tone.
Overall:
While I felt like the lead roles didn't get enough development towards the end of this show and that some of the world explanation was lacking, I had a good time watching this show. The steps that Death Parade takes to differentiate itself from other plots centered around death is admirable. Not many shows would delve into the values of living with such a dark premise. If they gave more explanation as to how the world worked, and more than anything gave more time to the two main leads to flesh out their characters, I could easily recommend this to anyone. However, as it stands, I can only recommend this to people who love the atmosphere and want to experience this distinct plot for themselves at the cost of some character development and world building.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jan 28, 2018
MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD:
In case you were unaware, Eromanga Sensei features an incestuous relationship between an older brother, named Masamune, and a younger sister, named Sagiri. The show likes to constantly display erotic panty-shots of the younger sister of the story who is fourteen years old. That alone should be able to tell you whether you’ll like the show or not. However, I think there are some good points to bring up about this show.
Story:
The story itself isn’t bad. I wouldn’t say it’s entirely interesting, but it isn’t terrible. Basically, the story follows the life of Masamune who hasn’t seen his shut-in sister, Sagiri, for years.
...
Eventually, they both find out about each other’s hobby and the story progresses forward as Masamune tries to get Sagiri to come out of her shell. While the concept of the story isn’t terrible, the transitions between the scenes are. You’ll find that some scenes just end sooner than they should or you’ll find that scenes usually end with a pity-laughable joke. The sub-plot on the relationships between Masamune and some of the girls who find an interest in him feels tacked on and ends inconclusively. The relationships practically find a "resolution" almost immediately after being introduced.
Characters:
At first, it seems like every character is an archetype, and that’s exactly right. The side characters are pretty forgettable. The main characters, Masamune and Sagiri, are… okay. They aren’t particularly interesting, so there isn’t much to like or dislike about them.
Music and Sound:
For as clunky as this show is, the music direction isn’t bad. The OP and ED are both really nice to listen to and even some of the background music can help establish a comedic atmosphere. The sound effects themselves are pretty effectively used, at times, to convey the silliness of a comedic scene.
Art and Animation:
I thought I would like the animation and art throughout the whole show, but I was surprised to find that I didn’t. Sometimes, it feels like certain movements are stiffly animated. The lack of movement in some scenes is also noticeable and takes away from the immersion of the show.
Overall:
I know I didn’t exactly rip this show to shreds, but aside from it making me extremely uncomfortable with all of its fan service, the show itself doesn’t try to be incredibly unique. Sometimes, you’ll find instances where the show is trying to be unique only to be met by a panty-shot five minutes later. I can’t rate this show any lower than I have. Its music and sound design is good. Its voice acting is serviceable and the animation wasn't awful. While I personally didn't like the premise and while it made me pretty uncomfortable at times, I think this show is objectively (slightly) below average, even if you do like this particular kind of fan service.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jan 21, 2018
Alright, what can I say about Devilman Crybaby? It's a 5/10 so it should be easy enough, right? Well...
Story:
The main chunk of the story of Devilman Crybaby isn't actually too bad. Most of it was good. MOST. The problem with the story, in my opinion, stems from the story's inconsistent theme. I will not go into specifics because of spoiler reasons, but the theme of the story is entirely different by the end of the show. It would be fine if the theme slowly shifted into something else by the end of the story, but I felt like the latter episodes spun the theme on
...
its head.
Art and Sound Design:
I originally thought that the art design was great when I first began the show, but recently someone mentioned that they thought the art was lazy at times and I can definitely agree with that. Some scenes, you'll have a 120+ frames per second animation of someone running and in the next scene you’ll have a character literally sliding across the screen. The show doesn’t try to be lazy very often, so it’s good that it isn't a common occurrence. It just really takes me out of my immersion and my overall enjoyment though. The sound design was just really solid overall. I felt like the sound designers could have used more sound effects at certain points, but the sound effects are serviceable when they are used.
Characters:
The main character, Akira, is really interesting. His character isn’t done entirely well, but it is intriguing. His newfound abilities that he obtains grants him the power to save the people he cares about. The internal conflict he goes through with feeling useless trying to save people helps build his character a lot. In general, he’s a hugger, not a fighter. The problem I have with his character development is that it is completely crushed by the last episode. Again, I won't go into specifics because of spoiler reasons, but it seems like he goes against what his entire goal is by the end of the story. The other characters in the story aren’t particularly likeable or hateable. I’m pretty indifferent about the other characters.
Side Notes:
So, this show is meant for an 18+ age audience, so how do the sexual themes play into the story? At first, I thought it was a clever way of introducing an element of temptation in the story that might eventually get resolved by the main character. I was wrong. After episode 7-ish, they stop with the 18+ material and focus on the story. It would be fine if they focused on it less, but it felt like it didn't serve a purpose at all by the end of the show. At some points, I think the 18+ material hurts the show by driving the main focus away from the story for the sake of ecstasy. In general, I don’t think the show should have been marketed towards a mature audience. The use of 18+ material really seems unnecessary.
Is It Worth a Watch?
Being only 10 episodes long, you can pretty easily consider binging this in one day. I think it’s really up to you to decide whether you want to watch it or not. I’ll be honest, this isn’t a typical show. Devilman Crybaby, to me, seemed like an experiment. It tried some things that worked and it tried some things that didn't work. It was cheesy at some parts and was actually really compelling at other parts. It leaves some unanswered questions about the lore of the universe while also providing too many answers at times. Overall, I give this show a solid 5/10 for trying, which is more than I can say for most shows. Even with its ridiculous amount of cheesiness and inconsistency, it is still a show that I can’t say I wasted my time on.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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