I have already made a review for this anime, however at that time I had only watched a couple of episodes so my opinion wasn't really justified and i was way too negative towards this series because of my impressions of the first few episodes.
I've watched more episodes and this is my new review.
So here's my fast get-straight-the-point-no-bs review
Positives of series:
First off the music in this series is absolutely incredible, probably the best ost in any shounen series I've ever watched.
The main story of the series, while rather cliché at times, is still pretty interesting and keeps you entertained.
Also arcs are pretty short, with
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Feb 13, 2015
Amagami SS
(Anime)
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Recommended Preliminary
(16/25 eps)
Amagami ss: it's a great gimmick and an overall great series, definitely one of the best romantic anime out there.
Story: Basically the male protagonist, junichi, was stood up two years ago on a date during christmas leaving him "emotionally scarred" in terms of love. This year, maybe he can start a relationship with one of the 6 girls in his school, so finally he can start a new romantic relationship. Each arc has 4 episodes focused on one girl, and the next arc starts from scratch and focuses on a new girl. This is clever, so if you don't like one girl, you can find another. This wash, rinse, ... repeat gimmick is excellent and very fresh, however a con is the relationships and character development can only be built up from a limited amount of episodes; some relationships really needed more episodes to do it justice. 8/10 Art: Animation was lively, detailed and colourful, but nothing that's really outstanding or new. It's simply good, though not excellent. The character designs are quite generic, but attractive and good-looking nontheless 8/10 Sound: Voice acting is great (sub only) but the music is quite bland and forgettable. 6/10 Character: All the female leads are very interesting and fleshed out, and entertaining and attractive to the male demographic in their respective ways. However, the main complaint from me for the anime was the male lead, Junichi. The best way to describe him is that he's "an ahole but not 100% a dick" He was extremely bland, clichè and unlikable in most arcs. The main reason i dislike him is that sometimes he likes the girl purely on her looks and dates her only for, well, kisses. He's also a bit of a pervert. He's not an unbearable character, but he acts a bit like a douchebag in 2 particular arcs; if i was with any of these girls there is no way i would act like he does. The creators really should've made a character that was much nicer, and a character that you can tell was truly emotionally scarred from a date two years ago. To his credit, there are certain arcs where he was ok, such as kaoru's arc. Main reason for this was their very good and dynamic chemistry. Other side characters, such as junichi's sister and his best friend, are very likable and entertaining. If i were to score the female characters i'd give this category 10/10....however since junichi counts so i'd score this 8/10. Enjoyment: I've enjoyed all the arcs so far, however be wary that this anime does have some awkward, stupid and cringe-worthy moments. One confession scene also felt out-of-the-blue, misplaced, too early and frankly, too cheesy (ai Nanasaki), however this doesn't really take much enjoyment out if the series. 8/10 Overall, this is an entertaining romance series and i highly reccomend it to romance genre fans. However, be wary of the four episode limit and the fact that the main lead isn't a very good character (well, he's still leagues better than Makoto from school days haha) 8/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Hunter x Hunter (2011)
(Anime)
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Mixed Feelings Preliminary
(112/148 eps)
After reading the many overwhelmingly positive reviews about this show, I've decided to write a more realistic, honest and unbiased opinion-driven review about this show.
Many people have said how amazing this show is, and that it's incredibly unique and special. Did I? Well yes......and no. I am probably one of the very few people that didn't consider this series a masterpiece Story: Hunters are people who hunt. Whether it is criminals, treasures, rare creatures or even food, they will hunt it. We have the story of Gon, a young boy living on Whale island, aspiring to become a hunter like his father, Ging, a legendary hunter who abondoned ... him while he was born to chase his dream. Gon also wants to meet his father and find out why he abondoned him while he was a baby. To become a hunter, he must pass the dastardly difficult hunter exams, which has an extremely low success rate. Along to way to the exams, he meets a few friends, rivals and a creepy paedo clown, hence beginning the first arc. After that, the concept of nen is introduced, which is basically the life force and magical power source of the series. The concept of nen is actually pretty cool, and it's more complicated to use than some other powers like alchemy and chakra, and it's creativity is often shined upon in fights. However, creativity can destory things aswell, and sometimes nen can be used as an over complicated ability with too much time used to explain different powers. After the exams, there are arcs all varying in tones and stories and this is where problems arise. Some are dark, and some are light. Some arcs are excellent and others are well......terrible dog shit. None of the arcs are linked well together and are very disjointed and inconsistent. Instead of focusing on an overall story, the arcs feel like a bunch of mini-stories building up to a main one, and they focus way too much on the individual arcs instead of an overall story, making it seem like a huge mess. One day, you've got a crime thriller, another one a video game, and then a bug apocalypse. One of the most critcally acclaimed arcs in the series, to me felt like a 60 episode filler, and that experience was not enjoyable at all. It baffles me on how people say it is a masterpiece, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. The pacing in this arc was unbelievably bad, as was the horrible story and enemy designs (not the main villains though...they were badass). The best arc by far is the yorkshin city arc, which doesn't come until episode 40- something. What's more disappointing is that the story of hunter x hunter had huge potential to look into the life of a hunter, but the hunter aspect of the show is not explored much. The final aspect that irked me about the story was over-using narration to the point of unbearable commenting into the smallest of details of the story complicating itself tenfold. Now, what was good about the story? A decent amount, actually. In the earlier arcs of the series it felt a lot different from other shonen and the individual arc storytelling was actually working very well, as each arc had a purpose to the overall story. Each arc was well written, well paced and had it's fair share of enjoyable and memorable moments. Also the annoying narrator had much less to say. These earlier arcs were much more interesting and intriguing and didn't bore me the way the later arcs did. Really, the quality of the series started degrading by the end of the yorknew city arc. The early arcs didn't feel like fillers and contributed something, whereas the later arcs were just random and only inflicted minor things to the story, but did more to the development of the characters, which is not a bad thing, but dragging it out for 60 episodes is a crime in it's own right. Overall the story in hunter hunter varied from being amazing to a total dump. However "the total dump" is considered great by everyone, so you should check up the chimera ant arc anyway, you'll probably like it. What the entire story did well were the fights. All of them had wits and brains and didn't take an entire episode just to charge up an attack or talk for hours before the fight. (*cough* Dbz and naruto.) However, when nen (the series' fighting system) kicks in the story downgrades hugely. Instead of focusing on the story, we need to sit through pointless training regiments and stupid explanations of the usage of nen. Not to say i hate the series' fighting system, but in my opinion, it is far too complex and uninteresting and it sacrifices decent storytelling and replaces it with boredom. (Yes, it can be boring- if you've got a short attention span don't bother watching the later arcs) And last thing I want to note is that the chimera ant arc's story was just horrible and boring- mostly due to its snail pacing. There were many plot holes (why would the hunter association send two under experienced twelve year olds to get rid of the ants? Why didn't netero just bomb the nest to begin with?) and unnecessary plot points (the whole episode with gyro for example). But above all, it was boring, and I fell asleep watching it. Anyway story: 6/10 Art: Fluid, colourful and bright, the animation is done very well. The large scale battles were animated gorgeously , and they are a joy to watch. Charcater design wise is a mixed bag. Most of the characters are designed very well, in contrast to the godawful drawings from the manga. However, the chimera ants' design are absolutely horrendous. I know they are chimeras but while I was watching I thought to myself "Wft is this?!" The design for the chimera ants isn't the animation studio's fault though. The source material is to blame. 9/10 Sound: The ost is very good, but they do tend to re use the same tracks often so there can be a lack of variety. They also tend to forget earlier songs later in the series. Voice acting wise, it's done superbly. All the voice actors blend and personalise their characters excellently and they display a lot of emotion and effort as they voice act their roles. 9/10 Characters: Now this category is a bit difficult to review and I'll explain why later. The main cast consists of Gon, Killua, Kurapika and Leorio, but I'll focus mainly on Gon and Killua. There are other characters, ususally most important on seperate arcs and i will talk a little about them. Gon is a 12 year old kid who is, in my opinion, an improved and more realistic version of kid Goku from the original dragon ball, except for the fact that he's not insanely over-powered. This makes it a good and bad thing. Good is that he's not only a more unique take on your usual happy go lucky young male protagonist, but that he's got layers of emotion to his character and has a rock-lee type moral to keep on getting stronger and improve yourself. Gon is steroeotypical and non stereotypical at the same time, and he's a badass little kid who strives on becoming stronger. The negative is that....he's still got a lot of the same thing. Gon can have a rather predictable personality. One minute he's a clueless little kid for comic relief and the other, he's crying when someone dies. He also doesn't get much development until much later in the show. All in all he's a decent take on your normal protagonist. Killua is the white-haired, slanted-eyed guy that's everyone's favourite and rightfully so. He's got a similar, but ultimately different ego compared to his best friend Gon's and he's got layers to his likable personailty and ferocious alter-ego as a darkness-fueled assassin. He's a cool laid back guy that has some serious skill and family relationships. He can seem pretty harmless at first, but piss him off and he'll tear you to shreads. Killua is the one that powers the dynamic and entertaining relationship between him and Gon, and he's a fan favourite character that definitely deserves it. Now what about the other main characters? THERE ARE NONE. That's right, don't be fooled by the artwork of the anime with gon,killua and the two others (Kurapika the blond cross-dresser and that tall dude with the glasses and suitcase who is Leorio). The other two guys only make appearances in the first arc and the Yorkshin, and then they are forgotten and become irrelevant which is a huge shame and it offends them as characters. Basically, there's Gon and Killua and then everyone else. Gon and Killua are the only characters prominent throughout the series. Well, Kurapika and Leorio could be called "important" side characters so I'll talk a bit about them. Kurapika is a blond-haired badass who is driven by revenge and everything that Sasuke Uchiha should have been. Because a certain organisation wiped out his clan, he desires to hunt that group down and get his revenge. He's also a complex character with layers to him and he's got one of the coolest powers in the show. however, he only appears in about 40 episodes, which really sucks. We don't know what happens to him when the series ends either. Leorio is used as a comic relief guy early in the show and portrayed as a bad tempered, money obsessed businessman but he becomes more likable as the series goes on and develops his character with the little screen time he has. Long story short, he is a pretty entertaining and funny character that's certainly not useless. The side characters and villains are great in their own right but it still irks me that they don't have much screen time until a certain arc, which is a shame. Killua's family, the Zoldycks are a group of professional Asassins and most of them have a great and powerful presence and each have a set of their own unique personalities. It's a shame that they don't have much screentime. Netero, the chairman or, boss of the hunter organisation is a pretty complex guy too- you don't know if he's serious or not, you can't just read him like an open book. He's like master roshi or jiraiya with added insanity. Bisky is a mentor to Gon and Killua and she's a bit of a tsundere with a fearsome alter-ego. The characters in the chimera ant arc were truly horrible however. None of the new hunters in that arc were memorable or likable imho. Moving on. What makes the series truly shine, however, are the villains. Whether it is a perverted clown, an evil brother, an insanely buffed steroid- addicted wild man, a calm, but truly evil mastermind or a bunch of powerful chimeras, all are interesting and wild in their own way. 7/10 (for the lack of screentime for certain characters) Enjoyment: it kinda depends. Some episodes have you on the edge of your seat and some may bore you with more dialogue. However, sometimes I did not enjoy the show simply because it tried too hard to over complicate things and over using narration. Other episodes could be amazing, however. Some episodes were foreshadowing and building up to later events, and they range in quality too. Edit 16/07/15 I am not saying that hunter x hunter is a bad anime- I'm just saying it's not for me. I thought the first third of it was really good and well written but after the yorknew city arc I just felt it became boring and that it wasn't the same as before. I know im going to get plenty of hate for bashing the chimera ant arc, but remember it's just my opinion. But whatever, you can just be a fanboy and laugh at me for giving naruto and fairy tail higher ratings than the "masterpiece" that is hunter x hunter. 6/10 Verdict: A good show, but it gets some praise that it doesn't deserve- it's pretty damn overrated. It is a pretty well written (for the most part) show with good themes and morals, with good fights and characters. Yes, it can get dreary and over-complicated at times but you can get over it from the entertaining characters and fights. A major downside was.....the series didn't connect with me. The story and characters, and the world (which is very extravagant and unique) wasn't very relatable and the entire series is nothing but fighting. Hell, the characters aren't even relatable if I'm being honest. We don't get to see them being real people if you ask me, we only see them fighting. If gon and killua and the rest were more fleshed out, the series would definitely be better. They are usually in situations where they have to fight people, it wouldve been nice to see them interacting in normal situations. Another problem for me was the lack of comic relief in the later arcs, and also in the chimera ant arc the show tried WAAAY too hard to be dark and edgy, it didnt feel natural. Basically what i'm saying is everything I didn't like about the series was in the chimera ant arc. If you want a series focused on battles, this may be the one for you. However, the biggest flaw was the ending. I know it wasn't the studio's fault but my god it is anti-climactic. What happened to the zoldycks? Leorio? Kurapika? Gon? Gon's adopted mum? The phantom troupe? We shall never know. Hunter x hunter is not a masterpiece, or a special shounen which everyone claims it is, but there are a few things that make it special and differenciate it from other battle anime. Now you may think what i said about the negatives of the show are all bs, but remember, it's my honest opinion. If I only rated the first 58 episodes of the series I'd gladly give it 8 or 9 out of 10. However, since i need to take all of the arcs into account, my final score is 6/10. Overall: 6/10 (fair) Arc ratings Hunter exam 9/10 Zoldyck family 6.5/10 Heavens arena 7/10 Yorknew city 10/10 Greed island 5/10 Chimera ant 3/10 Chairman election 8/10 Please send feedback if you agree or disagree with my opinion on the show!
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Byousoku 5 Centimeter
(Anime)
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Mixed Feelings
I KNOW that I'm gonna get tons and tons of hate for this review, but remember, it is a matter if opinion. I've seen tons of extremely positive reviews about this particular series, and praising it to no end about how it rivals studio ghibli in the anime movie business.
Many viewers see this anime as a masterpiece. But sadly, for me, that is just not true. This anime is far from a "masterpiece" The anime is simply not enjoyable. Its depressing. It makes you feel hopelessness. Its just not an enjoyable viewing experience. The story is OK, nothing special. The short movie is split into three episodes, each ... telling a different section of the character's lives, as there is a timeskip after each 20-minute episode. First episode tells you about 2 childhood friends/love interests, who grow further and further away from each other as time passes, due to their parent's jobs, but they always keep in touch using the post and text messages. Basically, one day the girl tells the boy to meet her at a train station but surprise, surprise the train that the boy takes gets delayed due to snow and the boy has to wait through hours to get to the girls station. He gets depressed that she may leave as it is already 11pm as he waits for the train. Then he gets to the station to find out that she had been waiting there the whole time. They are happy to see each other, and talk, and eventually share a kiss. The second episode tells you the boys life at his new school but there's really nothing interesting here. The third one tells you about their life as adults and lemme tell you that it is extremely depressing. The story is not for you if you want a face paved, happy romantic comedy or something like that as its really depressing and slow-paced and the time skip and overall story doesn't flow well because of the slow and tedious pace and commentary. Story: 6/10 Art: Really good. Colours and backgrounds are amazing to watch, with vivid colours and good character designs. Very smooth animation. 10/10 Sound: It had a very calm and soothing soundtrack which makes you feel right at home but there is not a great variety of songs. The tone and style of music is for the type of story this anime has, so it'd have to be calm and soothing for a romance drama anime. Voice acting was good, and I do prefer the sub over dub as akari's voice in dub sounds too high 7/10 Characters: The main cast (which is like, three characters ) have very bland personalities. The male protagonist, takaki has a rather boring personality and doesn't really talk much, and kind of a socially awkward person. He only talks about his feelings and dreams about akari, the female lead. Akari is OK, but she is rather bland too. She doesn't think of much except for takaki. Kanae , the other female lead, is bland too. All she does is have a crush on takaki. 6/10 Enjoyment: Weakest aspect of the anime. The tone is depressing and boring, and that is just not good for a romantic anime. As I said before, if you want something uplifting, this is simply not for you. 3/10 Overall: The cons kinda outweigh the pros in this anime to be honest. The art and soundtrack are good, but they can't hide the fact that this anime is very boring, and that the story isn't great and that it doesn't flow well, and with no real conclusion. This is a romance anime with no heart, and it leaves the viewer wanting to see more, but already knowing it is hopeless.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Sword Art Online
(Anime)
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Not Recommended
Story: The story starts off promising, but just turns out to be a cliché romance.
Its the future. Video game technology has become so advanced that u can literally play a game using your mind alone. A hyped up jrpg arrives, (named sword art online). However, not everything is as it seems. The evil creator of the game made it so that you will be forever trapped in this virtual world unless someone beats it, and the most disturbing fact is that if you die in the game you die in real life. We go through the life of kirito (or kazuto, kirito is his avatars name) as ... he tries to beat the game and ultimately end up in real life again. However, halfway through the anime he falls in love with a fellow female player, Asuna. Aaaand the hunger games like anime gets replaced by a cliché romance which is cometely unbelievable. Seriously. Not only is the relationship stupid and unbelievable, its also boring. They are basically a perfect couple. All you see them doing in the first half of the show is flirt with one another. They have no chemistry. They have no arguments whatsoever. Its ridiculous. It's basically an anime version of twilight. And even twilight has a better love story. They actually have problems with their relationship. So basically the rest of the first arc is just episodes about kirito and asunas romance. Don't even get me started with the second arc of the anime. Basically, to save asuna, kirito needs to go through an RPG with fairies. Oh, and did I mention that all the female fairies want to have sex with him? No, did I? That makes the second arc more sickening to watch. Long story short, the story had a lot of potentially but it got executed poorly. Mark:2 Art: Pretty damn good. The art and animation look gorgeous but the character designs are pretty generic and they look the same in most other anime. The art really connects with the beautiful scenery of the virtual world, and the animation is fantastic, especially in the action scenes, even though there aren't many of then. Mark: 8 Sound: Great. Sao has a good variety of tracks, and many of then set the mood for the scene, whether its a peaceful romance or an adrenaline- pumping action scene, it all fits. The openings are great too, along with the superb animation, making them a saving grace for the anime. Mark: 8 Characters: Easily the anime's weakest point. There is not one interesting or likable character in the entire series. Let's start with the main character. He's basically a Gary stu. He had no personality and he is BORING. He's just... PERFECT. He manages to defeat every enemy effortlessly by himself. He gets all the ladies. What he doesn't get is character development. He gets none. At all. Kirito is basically a wish fulfillment character for any stressed out male otaku/gamer because he is a loser who actually becomes a hero and a chick magnet. Introduced as a Gary stu, ends as a Gary stu. Now we get our female lead, asuna. She's basically a cliche love interest. She's just princess peach. She's a Mary stu. She had no depth in her personality and has no goal apart from kirito. Ironically, she was introduced as pretty bad ass, but after she fell in love with our hero, she's just become princess peach. Now she just cooks for our main character. Also, did I mention she was hot? No, I didn't. Oh well, she's really hot. Buuut if she's so hot then why is she spending time with a loser like kirito and why is she playing a video game anyway..... Just because someone's hot doesn't mean you'll like them. Same with asuna. Hot but has no personality at all. Villains: none. There are no real villains. Both villains in the series are stupid and have no real intentions or plans. They aren't meant to be taken seriously. Sides: None. There are zero important side characters. All other males don't do anything, and the females just want sex with kirito. That's it. Literally. Mark: 1 Enjoyment: What do you think? It's basically a poorly written romance with nothing going for it. The art and sound can't make up for the abysmal characters and story. Mark: 3 Verdict: Sao had such a cool concept. If you passed it on to the creators of anime like fmab or something, then we'd definitely get a good anime But no. Just no. The characters are non-existant and the story is utter crap. Yes, animation and art is good, but there are many anime with the same level of animation and sound. Go watch those instead of this piece of crap. Please, for the love of god, do not watch this piece of shit. Overall: 2
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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