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A Summer Out of This World No friend yet.
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Jul 3, 2023
Haibane Renmei is a truly original work that achieves what many anime try but fail to do: tell an intriguing story that addresses deep and rarely treated themes in Japanese animation, and does so with a distinctive gentleness. It's a narrative that explores the concept of Salvation, in an almost biblical sense, while adeptly avoiding the clichés and classic storylines we're used to seeing.
The rich universe of Haibane Renmei is one of its strengths, yet it is surprising to find that it's not explored in great depth. Contrary to many productions that overflow with lore, flashbacks, and highly detailed character histories, Haibane Renmei takes the
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opposite approach: the characters' pasts are somewhat glossed over and the story incorporates the fact that most of them are not familiar with their own history.
The character Rekki is particularly engaging. She embodies issues of loneliness, despair, fear, longing for others, and even suicidal thoughts. Her struggle with these feelings is handled with considerable accuracy, and it's shrouded in an uncertainty that persists until the end.
The characters, in their simplicity, are endearing and this simplicity is refreshing. The narrative, although it can be puzzling, manages to create a unique atmosphere that blends warmth and coldness, softness and harshness, beauty and horror. It addresses grief in a mixed and uncertain way, offering a different perspective on a topic often depicted from a darker angle.
However, Haibane Renmei did not move me as much as I had anticipated. Nevertheless, it evoked a very specific sentiment at its conclusion, a feeling that could be described as a mix of fear and desire, acceptance and refusal, similar to what one might experience when contemplating death.
Haibane Renmei is a series that requires patience and an open mind to be fully appreciated. It is slow, introspective, and does not answer all the questions it poses, but it provides a unique experience that invites reflection and leaves you with a deep sense of contemplation. I would recommend it to those seeking a work that ventures off the beaten path and who are not afraid to be swept away by its slow pace and delicate approach to the subjects it deals with.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 24, 2023
Kaiju No. 8, a manga by Naoya Matsumoto, aims to reinvent the Japanese kaiju myth, deliberately avoiding the mecha element often associated with this type of story. While the idea is commendable, the execution is unfortunately disappointing. Creativity collides with a wall of conformity and blandness, leaving the reader unsatisfied and with a sense of incompleteness.
The character design suffers from a glaring lack of originality, with characters blending into one another under the weight of military uniforms. The protagonists are reduced to clichés, empty shells that struggle to embody anything at all. Their courage, a characteristic trait of shonen, seems to be their sole purpose,
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depriving them of any depth.
The Kaiju, on the other hand, enjoy a more inventive design, but this creativity does not translate to the soldiers' outfits and weapons, which are made from the remains of these monsters. The mega-Kaiju, though fascinating, fail to surprise with their predictable powers. As for the main protagonist, supposedly a perfect fusion of human and kaiju, he experiences no moral repercussions, further emphasizing the binary nature of the work.
Where Pacific Rim manages to blur boundaries and show the repercussions of creatures on society, Kaiju No. 8 falls short. Japan seems unchanged despite 60 years of devastation caused by giant monsters. The author lacks imagination in this aspect, leaving out opportunities to enrich the story: environmentalist groups, fallen soldiers, sectarian religions, or biological experiments.
The message of the work, if there is one, is drowned under the weight of its mediocrity. Kaiju No. 8 does not excel in any field and fails to stand out, leaving the reader accustomed to the formula unsatisfied. In short, a kaiju odyssey that could have taken flight but remains grounded due to a lack of daring and finesse.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Apr 2, 2023
Amidst the stars, in a distant and enigmatic world, lies a tale that transcends the boundaries of time and space. Sonny Boy, a symphony of light and shadow, invites us to delve into the depths of the human soul, where dreams and fears meet and intertwine.
The story of Sonny Boy immerses us in the heart of a group of high school students, suddenly thrust into a parallel universe where uncertainty and mystery reign. Throughout the episodes, these teenagers with diverse and endearing personalities attempt to understand and harness the forces surrounding them while exploring the intricacies of their own desires and aspirations. Their sometimes chaotic
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journey is punctuated by moments of contemplation and reflection, where each individual rediscovers themselves through universal themes such as love, friendship, and the pursuit of identity.
The allure of Sonny Boy lies in its visual simplicity, which contrasts with the richness of its subject matter. The artistic direction, both unadorned and profound, invites the viewer to be carried away by the images and emotions they evoke. Each frame, each movement, each gaze reminds us that the essence of life can often be found in the smallest of details, where poetry and beauty lie in silence.
The emotional impact of Sonny Boy on the viewer is undeniable. As the episodes unfold, we are captivated by the characters' dilemmas and questions, and we identify with their fears, dreams, and disillusionments. The millennial traveler, an emblematic figure of the series, embodies with accuracy the weight of time and the fragility of human existence. His quest for meaning, mingled with melancholy and hope, reminds us of the precious and ephemeral nature of the present moment.
In conclusion, Sonny Boy is an anime that, beneath its simplistic exterior, unleashes evocative power and depth rarely matched. It is an initiatory and contemplative journey that invites us to reflect upon our own condition and to grasp the importance of the present moment. For, as the poet so eloquently states, "tomorrow, perhaps, death may await our steps, but today, still, life remains in our hands."
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Aug 31, 2021
Just before the show was released, several people I followed talked about it, stressing that it was probably the best anime to come this season. My expectations were high and I really fell from high.
The story really spoils the potential of his basic idea. The idea is relatively classic, but the fact that you could go back to the present and have a real influence on the future could lead to more iconic moments and more of a turnaround. Instead, the anime is content to stay almost exclusively in the past, using the present as a pretext. And yet, the best times for me
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are in these returns to the present. We are really witnessing a digest of what the anime is ultimately not in everything else, and that is too bad.
I understand the influences of this type of story, and it does not bother me so much in its silly, good child and full of simplicity. We know that we are looking at a shônen. But, where the whole falls apart, it is in the management of the characters. The hero does not have the charisma that this kind of story needs to federate us. Instead, we collude a silly idiot. The majority of secondary characters lack development to really understand who they are. The only one that finally left a mark on me was the one that seemed the most detestable to me at first, Pachin.
But where the story really fails, in my opinion, is in the realization of the whole. The rhythm is very bad and we find ourselves yelling against the anime to move the story forward. He always misses the mark to raise the tension by inserting unnecessary introspections of the hero on each element he lives. Sometimes he would literally tell us what we had just seen.
All this to say that it was really a purge to watch and I absolutely do not advise it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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