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Mar 29, 2020
Kimi ni Todoke is slow, fresh, cliché, draining, funny, and unsatisfying. This show is 25 episodes long, but at the end of it, you really feel like nothing much has changed, even as the main character drones on about how much her life has changed since Kazehaya-kun came into her life. That’s not a spoiler, by the way – there are many times when the characters take time away from the show just to inform the audience of how far we’ve come, as if we had somehow forgotten along the way. While things feel like they are moving forward, it also feels like every character
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takes very small steps – with the exception of one significant character that is sidelined after her arc is finished.
Kimi ni Todoke is entertaining, for sure. It knows how to make you laugh, and that never changes. The comedy is what kept me going to the end, at least, hoping that things will change. It never fails to put a smile on your face, and it can even tug at your heart strings. For the first arc, Kimi ni Todoke is a fresh take on an old romance formula, the characters and scenario is fresh, and the idea of a scary girl actually being very innocent and sweet is entertaining enough to make for enough funny situations to fill a 25-episode anime. When things go wrong, you really feel it, but the anime wastes no time in trying to fix things. Even when there are misunderstandings, these are promptly fixed, and don’t go on long enough for you to feel the agonising pain of knowing something clearly obvious that all of the characters seem oblivious to. At the end of it, the characters walk out of the situation closer and having learned something important.
This is not how the show remains.
When I think of the second half of the show, the words “protracted”, “stupid”, “meaningless”, and “filler” come to mind. It’s in this half that Kimi ni Todoke reveals how shallow the relationship between the two romantic leads is. I can forgive the first half of the show for the lack of romantic development, because it’s focusing on more relatively important things, like friendship and how the class views Sawako, but it then dives headfirst into the romantic side of things. When it does put emphasis on the romantic aspects, you expect there to be some sort of development between the two main leads. This is not the case. Sawako and Kazehaya spend a lot more time together, and they find it a little easier to talk to each other, but they’re both still awkwardly averting their eyes, congratulating each other on how great they are, mentally or out loud, and it feels like they don’t get any closer. Could it be, perhaps, that Kazehaya and Sawako don’t actually have any chemistry together? And that, just as another character says, the only reason that Sawako likes Kazehaya is because he was the first person to be a little nicer to her than anybody else?
If Kimi ni Todoke was not a romance anime, and it had spent many of the episodes of its second half focusing on more interesting things, I wouldn’t be so harsh on it. Kazehaya is a boring character whose only purpose is to encourage Sawako. That is not bad in itself, but when you focus so much of that one-dimensional relationship, how can you expect your viewers not to fall asleep?
Lack of romantic chemistry aside, the second half also suffers from “dramatic inertia”; there’s a lot of drama in the first half, and it makes sense and develops the story in a positive way. But afterward, it feels like the show doesn’t know what to do with itself, so it starts inventing silly scenarios and dragging out the drama for the sake of keeping the viewer’s attention. A perfectly good romantic relationship between two side characters (with better chemistry than the main couple’s romance, might I add) is torn apart for what I can only assume is to fill runtime and keep the viewer invested in that relationship so that they’ll keep watching more. My problem is not even necessarily that the drama felt meaningless, but that they spent so much time on it. Like everything else in the second half of Kimi ni Todoke, it is protracted and boring.
The last bone I have to pick is where the show chooses to leave the characters after 25 not-so-great episodes. It drops them at the end of the first year, with a lot of setup and no payoff. I’m sure there’s some great payoff in the second season, but after that unsatisfying ending, I feel too drained to even bother watching it.
This is a show I wanted to like – and a show I did actually like until it stopped having a real story or narrative objective – but all these things just pile up on top of a fun and cute first half. I would still view Sawako in a positive light had the last two arcs not existed. It’s toward the end that she goes from “innocent and cute” to “naive and dumb”. I realise these traits always existed in her character, but it becomes particularly annoying when she doesn’t even seem sure if Kazehaya is into her at the end of the damn show! I know she has self-esteem problems, but she can’t be this damn oblivious, for god’s sake. It’s painful to watch, like every other romance anime that does this.
I know I’ve been pretty hard on this show so far, but it’s a show I had high expectations of, particularly after how good the first few episodes were. As far as romance anime go, you could do a lot worse. But as somebody who has never much cared for romance shows for how overly dramatic and slow they are, or on the other hand, how shallow the relationship is between the two leads who are supposed to be in love and how quickly the story is over, Kimi ni Todoke does not stand out very much.
On the other hand, if the second half didn’t exist, I would have been left thinking it was a pretty neat show and wanting more. What I got wasn’t really the more that I wanted, but the one thing that never falters in this show is the comedy. It’s never not funny. And the friendship aspect of the show never gets old. It’s very cute and wholesome, and it’s the one aspect of the show that is consistently good. As I said before, if this was not a romance show, I would not be so hard on it. Many of the characters, barring Kazehaya, felt generally well-developed and fully-fleshed out, and I did feel at least a little sad to leave Yoshida and Yano behind. Kazehaya never grew on me, but thankfully he's not actually in the show that much. He's predominantly used as a catalyst for events to unfold. His presence is felt, but he isn't actually there a lot of the time.
I do want to comment on how pretty the art is in those "Shoujo Moments", where something significant happens and the scene is drawn in a pretty watercolour-esque way. The chibi art is equally cute, and there was nothing egregious enough for me to notice in terms of animation. The Opening and Ending for the anime are lovely too, and I never skipped them.
If you like romance anime, you might get something out of it, but you’re probably going to have to read the manga even after you watch the second season, because the manga finished 6 years after the second season did. If you’re not a fan of romance anime, then keep looking. But maybe stop by if you’re in the mood for something funny and wholesome, but don’t expect a satisfying conclusion.
This one didn’t reach me.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Mar 27, 2020
Remember when SHAFT took on the task of animating a story from the Kino no Tabi light novels for the Dengeki Bunko Movie Festival back in 2007? I can’t say I was around for it, but yep, this is that movie. This movie was actually directed by Ryutaro Nakamura too, who you may remember as the guy who directed the 2003 TV Series. While I have to say that I prefer the TV Series over this film, I couldn’t help but feel excited about what this conglomeration of weirdos would produce. The end result isn’t as weird and otherworldly as you might expect from this
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studio or this director, but it’s certainly unique.
I don’t think there’s a story more fitting to this film’s anemic colour pallette than the Country of Illness. It’s the very first thing you notice if you watch this right after you watched the 2003 series; the art is not as vibrant or as full of energy as before, but it’s certainly beautiful. The same can be said for the country itself. SHAFT has done a fantastic job in crafting a strange and unique atmosphere, and even incorporates some CGI elements without distracting the viewer too much. It has only been 4 years since the first series was animated, but there is a world of difference in the quality.
Accompanying the story are some familiar overtures, along with new tracks. I believe I heard a few tracks remastered. In many ways, this film feels just like an unreleased episode from the original series. The direction feels the same as before, if more focused. SHAFT’s influence isn’t felt very heavily, but there are moments when the camera adds drama to a scene by sweeping sideways or even vertically. SHAFT’s strange angles are alive and well, if not as prominent, in this incarnation of Kino’s Journey.
The Country of Illness is like many countries Kino has visited; a place you can feel empathy, pity, and anger toward. A place that is ugly and beautiful at the same time. It’s a country filled with both kind and well-meaning people. The people’s ideals are noble.
The story is not particularly unique, and neither are the characters. There are only a few significant characters in this film, and only two we get to know intimately. It isn’t the characters themselves that are interesting but the relationship they have with each other, which is what informs the message of this story. It’s the ominous atmosphere that keeps your interest until then.
The pace is a bit slower than it ought to be, but it managed to hold my interest until more interesting things started happening. You can’t help but feel that SHAFT just wanted to spend some time showing off how much better they are at animating the series than the studio that animated the original series. And while I’m not disagreeing with them, there’s a difference between building atmosphere and padding out the length of the film by repeatedly showing scene-establishing shots that always last just a bit too long. That said, this country certainly feels more real and tangible than some in the original series because of that effort.
And while there’s nothing especially different about this country when compared to all the others Kino visited in the original series, it’s the direction and animation that makes it feel different. And isn’t that what Kino’s Journey is all about – wanting to see something a bit different, even if it doesn’t all work out the way you wanted it to?
This country is just another stop on Kino’s Journey, but this feels like one last send-off for Kino – like we’re not going to see her again, at least for a while. And it isn’t that this country is not memorable in itself, but that in a sea of unique countries, this one stands out not for its story or its characters, but for its presentation, and for being the last journey that Ryutaro Nakamura had the chance to direct.
And all the same, it’s a journey I didn’t want to come to an end so quickly.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Mar 20, 2020
Keijo is too dumb to be taken seriously, and not funny enough to get a good laugh out of.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying this anime doesn’t have funny moments - what show doesn’t? They even made me laugh pretty hard. The first episode I saw of Keijo was pretty funny, I will admit. But when I had to sit through 12 episodes of the same thing, it quickly reaches saturation point. There was a point - I’m not sure when - that I could no longer tell whether Keijo was trying to get me to laugh at it, or trying to get me
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hard.
I hope you’ll forgive me for being vulgar, but Keijo certainly doesn’t let up, either. I can no longer tell whether Keijo is a comedy show written in a dramatic way, or a drama show with comedic moments. I really do think that the majority of this show is meant to be taken seriously. Yes, Keijo, the anime where every character obnoxiously screams out their SUPER MOVE before they do something either so dumb it shouldn’t work, or so mundane it doesn’t deserve the name. It’s mostly the former.
Half of this anime is a run-of-the-mill Shounen with way too many tournament arcs, and the other is a surprisingly decent Slice of Life that tries to give most characters the depth and attention they deserve. If it weren’t for how obviously this show cares about its characters, Keijo would feel exploitative. Hell, even then it feels exploitative. Butt you know what you’re getting into from the start anyway.
Despite the characters being Keijo’s definitive strong point, the effort is lacking in the last arc. I also dislike how Mio Kusai - whatever her name is - is given a lot of build-up but no payoff. A symptom of the adaptation cutting the original story short, perhaps, but we never get to know her intimately as a character. This was one of my big disappointments with Keijo.
Since this is as good a time as any, allow me to wrap up this review by dolling out the anime awards!
Best Girl: Miyata-chan
Nozomi might hog the limelight, but Miyata deservedly gets almost as much, if not more screentime. And for good reason. Her arc is relatable, well-developed, well-written, and all-around the best thing in Keijo. Her dynamic with Nozomi is nice, too. Without spoiling anything, the drama in Miyata’s arc is the only drama in the anime I could take seriously. Butt all said and done, Miyata is also cute.
Worst Girl: Maya-tan
Maya-tan is the last significant character in Keijo, and she’s also the worst character in Keijo. Sorry to say it, but as soon as her backstory started unravelling, I couldn’t help but sigh and roll my eyes. Her drama is dumb. She is dumb. This anime is dumb. She took up so much time in the last arc, too. She’s not a great foil for Nozomi, either - she challenges nothing about Nozomi’s character and her only purpose is in reinforcing how kind Nozomi is. She’s boring, her drama is cliche, and she’s just unenjoyable to watch.
Keijo was funny to begin with, but quickly got repetitive. Things suddenly became serious, but everything about Keijo is too goofy to take seriously. There is one good character in Keijo, but the rest are boring, one-note, or annoying to watch. Keijo has easily the most ecchi premise I’ve ever heard of in an anime, but it’s nowhere near as perverse as some more ostensibly moderate shows I can think of.
I don’t think there’s anything to get really angry about in Keijo, and while there are a few things to laugh at, nothing beyond its premise is particularly memorable. Keijo just doesn’t do enough. It starts off well, but can’t follow through.
Keijo doesn’t really end, either, and it’s not getting a second season. It’s pretty abrupt.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jun 14, 2019
I did not expect to love Skip Beat! as much as I did. It's the exact kind of hyperactive story with ridiculous characters that normally puts me to sleep. I was worried this was going to be a Chihayafuru all over again, but as it turns out, it's a Kare Kano! What a pleasant surprise. Sure, it's a shoujo manga and filled with the kind of stereotypes anyone would have come to expect of the genre having seen more than one of these anime, but it does such a good job making the interactions entertaining and extending the character development of all the important leads.
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I'm fine with archetypal characters, as long as they're more character than archetype, which is exactly what Skip Beat! has to offer.
The thing about standard Shoujo MCs is that they're pretty much the same as standard Shounen MCs, but they're a bit more girly and it usually involves significantly more relationship drama. And hey, at this point, I prefer relationship drama to power level drama, which is why I'm more willing to accept the standard Shoujo setup, and I wasn't entirely turned off by the first ten minutes. I don't want to spoil anything, but I do want to explain just how perfect the first episode is. If you haven't seen it already, go watch it now - the first episode is the best test to see if Skip Beat! is for you.
You see, Mogami Kyouko is a hard worker aiming to please her love interest so that he'll look at her. The episode goes to great lengths to show how hard she works for her boyfriend, the stress she puts herself under, the sacrifices she makes, and also how good she is at it. And by the end of it, she is confronted with a harsh truth: her boyfriend doesn't like her, doesn't care about her, and doesn't even view her as someone worthy of any kind of respect. He just keeps her around as a maid so he doesn't have to pay someone else to look after him! Can you imagine how that must make Kyouko feel? As expected, it looks as if she's going to burst out into tears...and then she starts laughing maniacally.
As it turns out, there were hints peppered throughout this first episode that show Kyoko is unhappy with her current life, but that it's all worth it in the end to support the one she loves. So to have the rug pulled out from under her was more of a relief than anything else. She declares that she's spent her entire life pleasing other people, but she's done with that now; she's going to do what makes her happy! And also, fuck that douchebag, she can do way better than him, so she's gonna become an actor!
And so begins Skip Beat!. From the very beginning, it's dramatic, dark, hilarious, and subversive. It's very aware of the tropes and cliches of the Shoujo genre, and more often than not, it steps through them with purpose. It doesn't try to subvert all of them simply because that seems like the wrong thing to do; at the heart of it, Skip Beat! is a fun romp with an engaging, earnest protagonist that you can really get behind - whether you're the target audience or not. I think there are a few contradictions with the way Skip Beat! tackles its themes, but it is, for the most part, thematically solid with some really good messages (and somehow, it isn't set in a high school).
Now, obviously, I have to draw comparisons with Glass Mask, which is better not only because the 2005 adaptation was twice as long, but because its drama is better. It takes a closer look at its central character and their motivations, and the character development can be felt much more keenly because of the story's direction. But this isn't about Glass Mask - it's about Skip Beat!. Skip Beat! is the perfect blend between comedy and drama; it never lets one overtake the other, and the story is constantly progressing. It never falls into a pattern, and there's always a clear sense that we're getting closer to the goal. It makes a concentrated effort not only to focus on character interactions but makes sure they properly interact with the themes of the story. And it's all done in a way that isn't particularly overblown or preachy. If you don't care about all the junk under the hood, you can just watch Skip Beat! for the comedy and a superficial look into showbiz. These are the aspects of a well-written Slice of Life story - stories that work on multiple levels.
And yeah, I suppose I should talk about the characters, too, but I can't talk about them without also talking about the themes. There are essentially two main factions represented in this story - actors who do it for the fame and glory, without regard for anybody else, and actors whose motives are less clear, but their intention is on creating good art while being respectful to everyone in the process. Those two conflicting themes of being nice and respectful and taking what you feel you're owed constantly clash with each other throughout the story, and Kyouko has to grapple with which feels most right again and again. There's the anger she feels at being thrown away without a second thought, her ambition to make something of herself, and her caring nature that turned her into a doormat in the first place. They both get explored at length throughout the story, and everything starts to come to a real head in the "last act", where everyone is at war with each other.
Hmm? Maybe that was a lie? Maybe there's actually three main factions? Yeah, Skip Beat! might have all the makings of a generic love triangle, but each character embodies a strong theme the story wants to explore! Huh, I guess a lot of my favourite anime have love triangles, even though I claim to hate them... I don't think comparing this with Glass Mask is fair, because they're very different stories that want to explore very different things. Glass Mask is more about the art, and Skip Beat! is more about the people behind the art. At first, it's about Kyouko turning the full force of her personality on whoever's listening so she can get a shot at acting...which actually works to some extent, somehow. Despite her actions being both harassing and creepy, but let's just gloss over that. I have a feeling a lot of the comedy in this show is like that, actually.
Anyway, it isn't until Kyouko starts treating the art seriously, and the people around her with real respect, that she gets anywhere. This is in stark contrast to Shoutarou, who seemingly got where he was with a clear lack of any of these qualities. This is completely in line with Ren, who embodies these qualities more clearly than any other character in the show - though he is anything but a paragon of virtue. Shoutarou is hold up, several times, as the poster boy of the vapid attitude a lot of people in showbiz are seen to have, but that isn't to say he doesn't get some great character moments and development of his own. He isn't just some villain everyone hates; he's just another dude you have to work with sometimes. He's a person, too. And he even has his own brand of professionalism, despite what we're lead to believe in the beginning. Kyouko's black-and-white attitude toward him, as well as other things, is examined and deconstructed several times throughout the show.
You might have noticed I haven't really talked about the relationship between Kyouko and her two obvious love interests very much in this review, and that's because it has yet to go anywhere. There are seeds that have been planted, but it hasn't really been kicked into gear. That's because Skip Beat! doesn't have an ending. You have to read the manga if you want more, which is (still!) ongoing, and has been for the past 16 years. It's no Glass Mask, but give it another 30 years. So, yeah, there's some romance here and there, but it's not really integral to the plot. It's mostly just teases that undoubtedly go further in the manga. This anime is more about non-romantic relationships with other people. Colleagues, acquaintances, rivals, that sort of thing. Oh, and friendship too...
My favourite aspect of SoL stories is, unquestionably, the friendship aspect. And Skip Beat! has some great friendship stuff. Ren has no friends for the exact same reason Shoutarou has no friends: he's out of reach. He's on friendly terms with a lot of people, but Kyouko is really the only person he's close to. Meanwhile, Shoutarou is a dick to everyone, so nobody wants to get close to him. Kyouko is the only one who can, because she knows both his sides inside and out. There is some damn good character tension between these three, but yeah, back to the friendship aspect. Kyouko's friendship with [spoilers] develops beautifully, and is easily the strongest relationship in the anime. They also share two distinctly different perspectives that slowly start to cross into each other over time, which is a nice change of pace. I can't really get into any more detail, but their friendship was one of the aspects I enjoyed the most about Skip Beat!. It's where the heart really was for me.
Now, let's deal with the audiovisual aspects! The OP is fantastically animated, has a catchy tune, and some poignant lyrics. Very fitting, definitely gets you psyched for the episode. The first ED feels like a rejected OP, in a good way. It's fucking great. The second ED is whatever. The actual animation in the episodes feels very cheap, which doesn't surprise me at all, given when this came out. I do love the use of colour, though, but the art is like discount CLAMP. There are some choice moments that stood out to me in overall composition, whether it was the camera angle, the colour or the animation. But most of the time, it's serviceable. And also this show tends to slip into half-chibi mode often, which is a great way to save on animation costs while looking pretty cute at the same time. I fucking love the VA for Shoutarou, because he sounds like the very embodiment of a pompous dick. Ren's VA is fitting, and Mogami's VA has a surprisingly sweet voice. I was expecting her to be very hyperactive, but she isn't, really.
Skip Beat! is one of my favourite anime because it gets so many things right when so many things could have gone wrong. It also has a very mainstream appeal, so you can watch it with your mum if you want. I don't know how to feel about the pseudo-romantic tension between Shoutarou and Kyouko toward the end, but I think it was treated appropriately for the most part. This is very Shoujo, and it's draped in cliches and archetypes, but it's written surprisingly well with a lot of stuff going on.
And most importantly, it is NEVER boring!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 14, 2019
The only reason I read this was because it was recommended for fans of HakoMari, which I suppose I was at the time. My love for HakoMari has failed to hold up against the sands of time, but I still have a soft spot for Qualia the Purple. Not necessarily because the story is any good, or that the characters are close to my heart. I think you could enjoy this story just as much if you read it in that "so bad it's good movie" sort of way, but that's not what I'm talking about either. I guess, for me, this manga is more
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than the sum of its parts. It's got some interesting things to say, but even the author themselves says at the end, "I just drew this manga because I read up on quantum physics lol."
I guess this manga was my first real introduction to quantum physics, and I kind of understand how it works now, but given that this is a manga, I'm sure some of it's just pure bullshit. But that's the beauty of a well-written sci-fi manga: you can't tell if it's pure bullshit or not!
Or maybe I'm just an idiot. That's possible too.
So anyway, this manga does a drive-by on some interesting themes like abnormalities, time looping, individuality, and a bunch of other stuff. I'm a fan of that approach, but I'm sure to others it just feels like the author got a bit over-excited reading through wikipedia pages one afternoon and just decided to throw a bunch of shit together. There is, at least, a through line for the entire story. There's a point. It's not just a mish-mash of weird ideas (although, yeah, that's what it is), and I really have to commend what a good job the author did with characterising and developing the main character. I like it when the protagonist isn't a pussy, but they're also not a Mary Sue either. In fact, you could say that our protagonist is the most normal abnormal character in the story, which is what makes her so easy to empathise with, and so easy to cross the line along with her.
The art's also pretty okay, but there's nothing exceptional here. Character designs are probably the best part, but not to the point of being particularly memorable. Oh, but there are some neat visual metaphors toward the end that I really enjoyed.
By the way, this manga is actually adapted from a novel, and it's pretty easy to tell. Because this story should probably be a lot longer - although maybe it was like that in the novel, too. It sets up a lot of stuff in the beginning, but it never delves into it, and we only get a single answer to the many, many questions this novel poses. And yeah, I guess there's an ending, but it doesn't really feel like one. I don't necessarily have a problem with the way the author ended it, but I do have a problem with them not continuing the story from there. I can appreciate that they wanted to end it before it bored everyone's socks off, but maybe plan your story a bit better...
Both times I read this manga, I got the feeling that I was watching some serial show where the writers would keep introducing newer, cooler stuff on top of the other cool stuff without properly exploring the stuff before, and by the time they got to the last arc, they'd be out of time! So much of this story feels empty; like it's missing a bunch of characters and it's only including the footnotes. The entire setting from the first volume is completely thrown away, which I get is actually an intentional nod to the MC's mindset, but it feels wasted. Oh yeah, and the technobabble is interesting and all, but man was I starting to fall asleep two thirds of the way in.
If I were to rewrite this story, I would make it twice as long with half of the explanations and more cool character moments. Because that's what I love about the series: the way characters interact with each other. The cast of characters is not particularly enthralling from the get-go, but damn can the author write character drama well. The art helps a lot here in conveying the expressions of characters. The story goes to some dark places sometimes, but not to a gratuitous extent. There's always a point to the MC's actions (and the actions of those around her), and it's made clear by the end. Well, most of them.
Oh, and I suppose I should mention the "big bads" in the story, who are kept hilariously vague throughout with similarly vague and hilarious motivations for why they do what they do. They're good enough. They're just there for our MC to fight against. I honestly don't remember what they're called, so I'll just label them "The Syndicate" and move on.
I must say, unquestionably, the best aspect of Qualia is the main character. Not just because of her personality, but because of how the manga goes to great lengths to show the depths of her mind and develops her to such a point that she is constructed, deconstructed, and then re-constructed. Yeah, by the last third I was starting to get pretty bored and annoyed by the shounen-esque levels of escalation, but that last chapter made it all worth it for me. Even if I feel like it's not a proper ending. Her arc ends in such a satisfying way that it makes the entire journey worth it. That is, of course, not to say there weren't some great moments in the middle of the series too. The beginning, though, is lacking. Primarily because they don't come back to it in any meaningful way.
So yeah, I like the series, and I don't think the story is all that great or the characters are especially great or anything, but I just love how the writer used them. And when you cut through all of the psychobabble, at the heart of Qualia is a really simple theme and moral that, even though it has been presented numerous times throughout countless stories, has never been so heartrendingly poignant than here, with as many nuances.
I realise that sounds pretty vague and pretentious - probably even if you have read the manga - but I can't expand on my feelings without spoiling it. So I won't.
If you're a long-time contributor to Wikipedia (or just like reading a lot of words and feeling like you're learning stuff), you'll probably like Murasakiiro no Qualia.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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May 31, 2019
Nadeko from the Monogatari series wrote and illustrated a manga. It's an integral aspect to her character in Koimonogatari. I was going to do that joke where I roleplay as Kaiki, but someone beat me to it. So, I guess I'll just review this for real.
The art is really cute. It's kinda scratchy, but not chicken-scratchy. It's got this sketchbook-like feel; the sorta thing a middle schooler might turn out if they were trying to make a manga, but more polished. There are also a number of colour pages, and it's coloured well, too! Clearly the mangaka put a lot of effort into drawing this
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right, while also maintaining the meta feeling of being able to imagine this as something Nadeko drew.
The story is, as you might expect, something a middle schooler might turn out if they were trying to make a manga. It's filled with clichés, the story is kind of nonsensical but also engaging, and it's very wish fulfilment-esque, but not in a bad way. Yes, you can see everything coming a mile away, but it's cute the way it's done. This is just a bunch of cute fanservice. Cute, cute, cute.
There is nothing of particular substance here. Tsukihi makes a cameo. Things just sort of happen. A lot. And then they stop happening. Without warning.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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May 16, 2019
I enjoyed Noir. Enough to watch it three times, even. When I first saw Noir, my first thought was not "oh, so it's Trigun but darker and more violent." But, after seeing Trigun, this is the inevitable conclusion I have to draw.
Two badasses, one wearing weird clothing (a bright red jacket with more buttons than an elevator operating on 50 floors, and a school uniform), one wearing mildly appropriate clothing, who are good at shooting things stumble upon each other and end up working together to foil the big bad secret agency. The first half is made up of a bunch of episodic episodes
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that are tangentially or completely unrelated to the overarching plot, and are generally the better part of the series. The main character is a complete engima with choice pieces of information revealed over each episode. They both don't have an ending.
No, you say? That's most anime plots from the '90s and early 2000s, you say? Well, you've got me there. Maybe Noir isn't anything special in terms of its plot, except for the last third being a complete fucking travesty with only small moments of good to keep you watching more, but it makes up for that with a fucking awesome sense of style. Seriously, the constant mythical-sounding Latin overtures when something cool is happening (which is captured with some stunning cinematography) is easily some of the coolest shit I've ever born witness to in anime. Sorry, but Bee Train's Phantom doesn't hold a fucking candle to Noir when it's at its best. This is easily the best anime they've produced.
Noir is what convinced me that being for style over substance is not only completely okay, but can easily out-do the best-told (but worst-presented) stories this medium has to offer. It's a very simple show, and it mostly sticks to what it's good at. As mentioned before, the show is episodic until about the halfway point, although there are some plot-focused episodes before then. Just watching the interaction between the two female leads is fun because of the weird chemistry they have, and also in the ways they clash. There's also a lot of murdering in this show, which is fun too.
Occasionally, an episode that may even speak to your soul can come along and surprise you. "What is this shit? I came here to watch two girls kill people, and you give me a well-told story with decent dialogue, and THEN you get to the murdering?" Noir is at its best when it doesn't have to drag around the big, clumsy, stupid overarching plot that really only serves as a contrivance to bring the two women together. And I'm fine with that. If you want to string together a bunch of cool vignettes with some plot cohesion, consistency and progression, go right ahead! I don't care, as long as the vignettes are interesting. Because they're the main point. Right?
Noir disagrees. Noir is an original anime, which there aren't many of these days, and it wants to prove its worth by not only being a cool show about two contract killers killing a bunch of unrelated people with no main goal in sight, but by trying to "say something" and "push the characters into a corner" by coming up with the most contrived, stupid bullshit I've ever seen and shoving it in my face. [Please imagine me making speech mark gestures with my hands.] This show actually turns into a shounen for the last few episodes. You know how these two women are badasses and are good at killing people? Well, let's amp that shit up! Let's give them superpowers! Let's come up with a generic bad guy secret organisation, but make it Latin so it seems mysterious and old! Why would you do that, Bee Train?
I'll admit I was happy to finally see the character's past being explored since they were teasing it so hard every episode, but I would happily retcon Mirielle into an office lady who got bored with her job, killed her boss and became a world-renowned contract killer, and Kirika as a schizophrenic who can't remember her name half the time, let alone where she is. But she does have a good shooting arm. And Mirielle is constantly trying to get her back on track so they can kill more people and earn their pay. You know, like a family-friendly version of Cowboy Bebop! That would be less stupid than what the writers were forcing me to swallow. Or maybe not more stupid, because that was pretty stupid, but the real backstories are boring, contrived and not realistically believable in this basically realistic world they've set up.
But hey, the last episode is A-OK in my book. It says "fuck you!" to the arc up until that point and briefly brings back some of the elements that made it great before then. And it finishes on a relative high note, but it never got a sequel, and you'll never convince me to watch another episode of Madlax. I like to ignore most of the later episodes and think of them as this weird spin-off I never have to watch again. The episodic plots and plot build-up before then is great, which is good enough for me. I still listen to the OST years after finishing this anime. This might be one of Yuki Kajiura's best work, in my opinion.
Nowadays, there aren't many original anime coming out, because no one's willing to take a risk. And why should they? There's plenty of successful source material to draw from, whether it be manga, light novels, or visual novels. Noir took a risk. It took a lot of risks toward the end, in fact, and it did a lot of stupid things, but I look at it as a general success. I liked it, I hope you like it, I hope a lot of people who watched it liked it. But it seems like Noir is slowly being relegated to the forgotten past of anime, and it's often overshadowed by giants like Cowboy Bebop and Trigun whenever the past does get brought up. That's a real shame. Noir is not that good, but it's certainly not outright bad. It's consistently okay entertainment with a lot of style.
Noir is cool. It's cooler than a lot of shows. It gets the art, animation, sound and music right 90% of the time, and the dialogue is a worthy companion. It's also very bingeable, despite the episodic nature. That should be enough.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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May 11, 2019
The only good thing about this movie is the music. And occasionally the art. I'd hesitate to even call this a "by the numbers" production, because I don't think it even reaches that level. It's like it has all of the elements it needs to be moderately successful, but never properly develops or explores any of them. Worst of all, a lot of the time, this movie is just plain fuckin' boring.
I realise the average rating for this movie on MAL is less than 7, which is basically the same thing as holding up a big-ass sign with the words "Stay the fuck away!"
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haphazardly painted in jet black, but I also saw the words "Shunji Iwai" on the staff list. But, unfortunately, he was not the director. He only created the original story. I can only hope that SHAFT somehow mangled the production so much to the point that it ended up like this, but even I don't think SHAFT has that much disrespect for source material, given their tenure. So maybe the script sucked to begin with.
For those not in the know, Shunji Iwai is a pretty fucking cool director, writer, editor and occasional musician who did a bunch of movies in the '90s, 2000s, and a few less in the 2010s, but they're still pretty fucking cool. He wrote and directed my favourite anime, Hana & Alice (2015) and my favourite live-action film, Hana & Alice (2004), the former of which resembles this project in a number of ways. But the difference is that Hana & Alice was a lot better, a lot more interesting, and had a whole lot more to say. Both of them. But I've gone three paragraphs complaining about how bad this movie is without going into any detail, so enough of this bullshit.
Fireworks is a love story. I think. I'm pretty sure. I promise I didn't fall asleep while I was watching it, and I was paying attention, honest. But for a love story, there's no build-up, and there's no pay-off. Fittingly enough, this whole movie is just a bunch of "what-ifs". What if we knew why these two guys like Nazuno so much? What if we knew why Nazuno likes any of them back? What if we knew what kind of person Nazuno was? What if we knew what kind of relationship this friendgroup of guys had? What if we knew anything about this small rural town aside from the fact that it's small and rural? What if we knew anything about Nazuno's relationship with her mother aside from the scarce one-liners we get when Norimichi pushes her for information? What if we had any clue as to whether the whole thing was a dream sequence or meant to be taken literally? What if this movie actually had an ending?
You get the picture. Or maybe you don't. I sure as hell didn't. I came out of this movie with a whole laundry list of questions and a scrap of toilet paper with some haphazard answers scrawled across it. Any answers, information, backstory, character development or whatever we do get is flimsy, predictable, or established in the first 30 minutes! We spend most of the damn movie waiting for Norimichi to catch up with us because we heard this one thing this one teacher said one time! I honestly don't get what the point of revealing that was if they try to make it out like a mystery the entire time, but we already know the answer.
And that's another thing: the plotting in Fireworks is poor. I kept waiting for this moment of clarity when I could finally understand who Nazuno really was. An hour and a half later, and I'm drawing blanks. The only things we get to hear about Nazuno is that she's a victim of circumstance, and she's dreaming for something better, and oh yeah, she kinda likes this boy for some reason but we're never told why. That's not a spoiler, by the way; in the first 20 minutes, it's made pretty clear Nazuno likes the attention. But by the end of it, I still couldn't tell if she was just manipulating whoever was convenient for her own purposes or honestly had those feelings. And it's not my fault I don't know.
Ambiguity should only ever be the fault of the viewer for not paying enough attention to be able to firmly pick a side. The reason that Nazuno is such an enigma despite having what must be half the screen time of shots of her looking cool and beautiful is because she hardly ever talks! And when she does talk, it's so inane you can't get a picture of where she really stands on anything aside from liking Norimichi and not liking her family. She has such a cool character design, but it's wasted on a shallow character.
Right, right, back to the plotting. It starts off okay, and they establish that tonight there's a fireworks thing going on at Moshimo (ha-ha) Shrine, and Nazuno has this cool crystal-looking thing that can apparently do some convenient supernatural bullshit. Sure, okay, setup good. And then it's just a bunch of vignettes that don't really say or reveal anything we don't already know. The dialogue's okay, I guess, but the interactions between Norimichi and Nazuno are boring as hell. There's also some engineered drama in this film that never gets properly resolved or even addressed.
Norimichi literally closes his eyes and covers his ears when the drama seems like it's going to unfold. He doesn't even want any part in it, man, just let me have my girl and ride off into the sunset! The drama's okay and believable, but it's only real purpose is force two unlikely characters together so the plot can get moving. Which it doesn't. It gets put on a train for half an hour and we end up right back where we started, and also now fireworks are round apparently.
That's exactly what watching Fireworks is like. It's like reading a run-on sentence that you're not quite sure where it began, where it's going, and if it's actually going to end or whether it'll just stop in the middle. A lot of things just sorta happen in this movie because they're expected, I guess? There's no plot cohesion, there's no resolution, there's no real link from the previous scene to the next, especially since it keeps retconning itself whenever things get inconvenient.
I suppose I have to talk about the characters now. There's only really two good characters in this movie, and one of them, unfortunately, is Norimichi. This is purely because he gets the most screentime of all the characters (being the protagonist and all), so we get to see a lot of what makes him tick. Clearly, Shunji Iwai's character writing is still on the ball when it has time to breathe. He's kind of an idiot, but he's also kind of a pussy, too. His character traits are well-defined, we know what he wants (da girl) and we know what he'll do to get her (punch anybody in his way into the ground). His emotions are expressed really well and you know where he's coming from when there's a tense moment. He's a good protagonist, if a little bland and boring.
Next, there's Yusuke, who is another de-facto main character, purely because the film seems to want to treat him like this but kinda ditches him halfway through. He also wants da girl, but since he's loyal to his friends unlike douchebag Norimichi, he's totally willing to be a dick to her if it'll get her off his back. And he's also perfectly willing to be a dick to Norimichi for not being a dick to her. Oh, and he's the only other character we ever get much of an inkling into his backstory of as to why he is the way he is. He has a pretty enjoyable personality when he's not being a dick, some of the best lines, and also the most interesting arc, if you can call it that, because the film provides the viewer enough information to piece something together. He's also got a pretty cool character design.
I already spoke about Nazuna, and there's nothing to really say there anyway, so let's talk about the rest of this dude's friend group. We've got nerdy dude who wants to prove he's right all the time, sporty dude that wants to prove he's cool all the time, and shotacon who likes his teacher maybe a bit too much. They give some hints that there's a little more to their characters, and their dialogue is the best in the movie, but that's about all there is to them. Seriously. We don't find out much else about them, but I honestly have to say they have the best scenes in the movie.
If there's anything I would have to say was great about this movie, it would have to be the character designs. They're all so unique and their body language is animated well. It also looks very pretty otherwise, and the CGI is blatant as hell but not too awful. The music - especially the ED - is top-notch. It is, as I said, easily the best part of Fireworks. It starts off with this track really reminiscent of Hana & Alice, which fooled me into thinking this was going to be another awesome movie by Shunji Iwai, but the atmospheric music aside from this is also pretty good, if not nearly as memorable. Should have gotten Hekuto Pascal to do the soundtrack again. Oh well; Yagate Kimi ni Naru is serving them well.
That's about all there is to say about Fireworks. Fireworks is just this weird fever dream where everything is hazy and vague, and you wake up in the middle of it without really remembering anything that went on in it. It’s shockingly boring with some decent lines here and there, and a completely unsatisfying ending with some failed symbolism/metaphors and a largely incoherent narrative told in the most insane way possible.
This is one of the most mediocre things I've ever seen; please don't watch it ever. Watch Mars of Destruction or Hana & Alice instead. It'll make you feel much more in minutes than you would after watching the entirety of Fireworks.
Fireworks is insane, inane, and ultimately pretty lame.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Oct 26, 2018
Ishida Hiroyasu wrote and directed this one. I first learned about this up-and-coming animator through his graduation project, Rain Town. This was a work that had no voice acting, likely more out of not being able to produce anything of quality than wanting to create something artsy. I thought it was kinda boring, but pretty.
Fumiko no Kokuhaku has no such restrictions. In fact, Fumiko obnoxiously screams for 75% of this short. The art is vibrant, and the animation really pops. There's a ton of variety and showy animation in this one. It's clearly an exhibition of Ishida's animation skills. It also has a surprising amount
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of variety and eye candy for a short.
The visual storytelling is one of the best aspects in this story. There are only really three lines of dialogue in this short; most of it is carried purely by the highly expressive and lively animation. But instead of completely ditching dialogue, Ishida adds it when he wants to take the viewer's attention away from the animation and get a laugh.
The way characters move in Fumiko no Kokuhaku is very unique. It kind of reminds me of the old Looney Tunes cartoons by Chuck Jones with the emphasis on the way characters move, and brevity in dialogue. The pacing works well, too, because something is always happening on-screen, but it isn't visually overwhelming in the way something like Bakemonogatari (which is a much more layered show) is. It's eye-catching, and a type of organic comedy on its own.
It's 2 minutes long, it's cute, it's funny, and it's on youtube. Personally, this is my favourite short of his because of how tight the focus is. At no point is it boring or particularly overwhelming. It's a perfectly well-done short with nothing deeper behind it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Oct 20, 2018
"What makes Another so special?"
That's the question I'm aiming to answer in this review. I don't mean "special", as in, close to my heart, nor poignant, nor anything that suggests that Another has any real artistic merit whatsoever as a show. I mean, what makes Another so special that it's one of the most popular anime on MAL, and almost 1 million people have seen it? I'm not saying that Another is a complete waste of your time - but yes, if you don't care that much about blood and gore, this will be a complete waste of your time - but I just can't
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fathom how this anime became so popular. Why this show and not another? It's certainly not its flat characters or its clumsily-told narrative, but I think a good argument can be made for aesthetic.
Another is beautiful, eerie, and distinctive. The poster on MAL is actually a very good representation of what the show looks like. It's incredibly well-done, with animation that is very lively and realistic. Particularly in the death scenes (which there are a lot of), the animation is stunningly gruesome, and you can really feel the impact of a sharp object through a human body. This, combined with the dark aesthetic of the show will make your jaw drop with how much care was put into it. I'm not used to PA Works being this good at animation. I recommend, that if you really want to check out what Another is all about, you just search up "All Another Death Scenes [Uncensored]". That's what this show is about. Beautifully animated and dramatically-lit death scenes. One after the other. Hilariously more ridiculous and over-the-top as it goes on, each one trying to beat the last.
Oh, and there's one other aspect that Another does really well: the sound design. Right before a sharp object impales somebody, there'll be this dramatic sound cue that will make your stomach drop. There are also a lot of things falling down and crushing people, spooky lightning, and other ambient sounds that really set the atmosphere. It's admirably done. And Ali Project did the OP, and it sounds as delightfully eerie as always. The voice acting is also - well, it's definitely serviceable. Considering what the VAs had to work with, it's also done pretty well. So, the sound design and OST is pretty good, too.
Which is why I think it's completely wasted on this messy and confused narrative that has one of the most unsatisfying endings and worst solutions to a mystery I've ever seen. Part of the fun of a good mystery is that the clues are strewn about the show, and that there are so many small ones that you almost feel stupid for not connecting the dots. Another gives you two or three clues, and one of them is an off-hand mention right in the beginning. The twist is a sucker punch to the jaw. You thought you were going to end up feeling stupid not being able to figure it out, but you end up feeling that the story is stupid for hiding the solution ten miles underground, without even giving you the tools to dig it out. It's almost completely impossible to figure out - not because of how outside of the box it is, but because of how little information and attention is given to the mystery. This show spends most of its time on the psychological aspect of it - which is markedly different from the horror aspect.
Another tries - I think - to be a horror show, but it's just not scary at all. It's just gruesome. There aren't even any cheap jump scares that I can think of, except maybe one or two in the last few episodes. I mean, the plot doesn't actually sound that bad to begin with: In a class of x students, there's somehow x+1 students. One of them is already dead. And unless everyone ignores the person they think is the +1 all term (like they're dead), everyone in the class will keep dying of unfortunate coincidences. But our protagonist, who's a transfer student and knows nothing about this weird, ridiculous urban myth, ends up associating with Mei unknowingly, who is thought to be the +1, sending the class in a downward spiral of death and destruction that seemingly can't be stopped.
That lays the foundation for a scary horror story and a deep psychological exploration of the human mind - what it takes for a person to kill another. But, as I mentioned, Another is not scary. I think it tries to be, for what it's worth. When it starts to telegraph that it's going to kill another character who we've barely had 3 minutes to get to know, it drags it out, as if trying to goad the audience into believing he might survive, but eventually, he dies in an incredibly horrible and gruesome way. But I don't care. At all. Who is this person? Why is he important? He's not. And the show doesn't think he is either; he's just there to die and scare the main characters psychologically. Which brings me to how Another handles the psychological aspect.
It...doesn't, really. In the last few episodes, lots of people go crazy because they're scared shitless that they're going to be next, and there's a lot of murdering. There's this one scene where this one character dies in a super-dramatic way, and it's supposed to be really sad. But all I could think the entire time was, "Do I know you? Were you in this show the entire time?" Because this show basically ignores the psychological aspect in favour of chasing the mystery. Which, as I mentioned, the show does poorly, too. There are a few scenes that reference how stressful and traumatic the situation that the class is going through is, and we see some stressed and traumatised students with blood literally dripping all over them, but it ultimately doesn't really have any impact on anything. Aside from the awful, but equally over-the-top and hilarious "final battle" is. The "Final Battle" is awful because of how awful the show was up until that point. I should be shocked and tearful that characters I like and have grown attached to are pulling out big, rusty knives and slaughtering each other like pigs, but because Another gives zero fucks about its characters, it's just long and drawn-out, and even I'm starting to get sick of all the ridiculous death scenes by the end of it.
I suppose now is the time to mention how badly this show addresses the need for likable and human protagonists in a heavy psychological story. Mei is mysterious at the start of the show, and she's mysterious by the end of it. She's hinted as having this dark past, and the eye patch is a constant source of mystery, but these things are never addressed. Mei is flat and boring, but she has a good character design. So there's that. Our protagonist, whose name I don't even remember, is the only character we really get to know well. And you can kinda feel for him because of the ridiculous and traumatic scenario he's been thrust into. He's just doing the best he can with his tiny adolescent brain. He only gets a sudden burst of insight in the very last moment, incredibly uncharacteristic of our previously obtuse protagonist. And, let's give it to the guy, despite being a bog standard protagonist, he does have some moments of sparkling individuality. Like that infamously weird dance scene. But otherwise, the show completely skimps on his backstory, home life, and any other possible traits they could give this guy other than "nice", "wants to help", and "doesn't like getting murdered".
If the animation and sound design wasn't as good as it was, this show would have nothing of value, even in its death scenes. But because it is utterly fantastic, even the simplest deaths are felt intensely. I cannot emphasise enough how much love has gone into the animation behind this monstrosity. It's just a bunch of worn-out garbage crammed into a thinly-veiled excuse for blood and guts with a mystery we never get any real information about until it's already solved, and some melodramatic reactions and loud screams that constitute as "character development" and "psychological horror".
Which brings me to the final nail in the coffin; the last fuck you cherry on top: Another is really, boring when people aren't being killed. When you have characters you don't care about, a mystery you aren't being told anything useful about, and the characters you don't care about going through trauma you don't know the specific details of, what reason do you have to keep watching?
"Maybe it'll get more interesting when more details of the mystery get revealed."
"Maybe it'll get more interesting when a character breaks down in a sorry heap, directly addressing how screwed up everything is."
"Maybe Mei's backstory will be revealed, proving interesting and intrinsic to the mystery."
"Maybe it'll all come together in the end and be worth the sluggish pace."
These were all things I told myself when I was watching, because I wanted so badly to like Another. To see what everyone was loving so much about it. And to do justice to the crisp and creatively-directed animation that someone clearly put a lot of effort into. But none of my desperate pleas for help were heard. Another is on a collision course that can't be altered. If you stand in it's way, you'll only get caught up in its confused and pointlessly twisty narrative. You'll end up either bored to tears or personally insulted for being told that Another was "cool", "dark", or even "good". Another is not "dark". It's not even "edgy". It's just gory and high-pitched.
So, what makes Another special? For one, it's pretty. For two, it sounds good. For three, it's one of the few mainstream horror offerings in anime that aired in this century. For four, it was dark in a time where that was only just then becoming the thing to do if you want to be seen as deep. And for five, it does get the intriguing atmosphere right, almost purely because of the art and sound direction. If you watched Another without subtitles, you might be fooled into thinking that this show might actually be worth your time.
It's not.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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