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This is a condensed review. I had a longer template planned, but I decided to scratch it since I don't really care too much about other people's opinions on the subject.

Funouhan (Impossibility Defense) is a misunderstood misanthropic manga. Such a negative position is understandably not going to sit well with everyone, and so attempting to read it with a conflicting mindset will more or less remove it's primary appeal. That being of an ideological venting fantasy.

The main character is not so much a character as he is an allegory. He works in the guise of a contract killer, it allows him to fulfill his actual ... goal. To playfully criticize, punish and judge humans. With that you could say his true nature is that of a morality judge or death judge.

No matter, it is as he puts it. A reflection. The characters in each episode have their deepest darknesses drawn out from within using his schemes. And then, punished. This is where the manga's biggest strengths and weaknesses lie. It just isn't good at being an objective analysis of the human condition. It glorifies and purposefully showcases people at their worst and weakest to generate cathartic release.

The format it uses depends on it, and if you at any point found it repetitive. You weren't paying attention to the right things.

Every other aspect is done well just about enough, that I can firmly say this is one of the most solidly executed adult manga I ever read.

It's cynical, it's dark, it's harsh. And if you ask me, handles this far better than another manga I read. Brutal: Confessions of a Homicide Investigator

Both are in the same format, yet totally different approaches. Brutal doesn't deserve as many free passes due to it lacking the supernatural to hide behind and unbiased treatments. Everything that happens in Brutal operates under a strict belief system with little room for deviation. So you'll struggle a lot more at finding the character's actions ethically permissible, if at all depending where you stand. On the other hand, Funouhan has a grey area that at least tries to highlight the fallible and naive, present all around us. (I can sympathize and admire this.)

I watched it for the plot. *crickets* The gore of course! Great usage of brutal bone cracking, stretching, tissue tearing, skull crushing gore! And maybe the horror theme, but really that didn't last long...now did it.. *sigh*

Characters look samey, especially the girls. Everything is stiff, slow and boring animation-wise with the sole exception for the fight/gore scenes. Watch a compilation of the gore on YouTube or skip through this entire thing to get to the good parts.

It missed a massive opportunity to make it about two delusional, demented victorian zombies going on a vengeful killing rampage slaughtering everyone in creative and obscenely brutal ways. (This ... still happens, kind of. It's not in the cool, well paced and mature way you're hoping for inside that brain of yours sadly.) Too many long scenes of talking, walking and nothing happening that bring the pacing to a screeching halt. Oh and some pointless martial arts scenes for padding it out before the inevitable, I guess.

That makes it... a... hmmm... 2. 2 out of 10 yes. 1 extra point for the short lived gore scenes that should've honestly set the bare minimum for gore standards in anime. Newsflash they almost never reach this visceral level even today because people are cowards and or lazy.

I went into this knowing nothing about the Lupin series. And I must say, I really appreciate it's grit and mature approach. I know myself well enough to say, the original lighthearted take wouldn't have appealed to me. Period.

This is basically perfect as a stand-alone viewing with the only downside being the portrayal of the female supporting character. I do not know her, but I do believe she deserves a better, more dignified treatment.

Individual ratings for each aspect:

Story - 5 (Serviceable and straight forward.)

Art - 10 (Beautifully animated and stylish. Fragrant.)

Sound - 10 (The soundtrack felt appropriate and a welcome departure from average animes. ... Especially annoying shounens.)

Character - 6 (I do not posses the context to determine this better, because I am not a follower of this series.)

Enjoyment - 7 (Solid entertainment.)

Overall - 7

Edit: Turns out the character I spoke of. Whose name is Fujiko Mine. Turns out she has always been a representation of lust in Lupin the 3rd. Really hogs on the whole undercover spy gig, and has managed to more or less kill my interest in this series.

Pamela... Far as I can remember must be the only character from the manga/anime medium to look authentically trad-goth. None other could pull it off right. (The japanese author Mihara Mitsukazu published a couple works that attempted to. Without success.). Goth-ness is often misunderstood, so is Gothicism. But I'll give it that one sole pat on the back for getting one thing right nobody else could. Oh, and the art is lovely. Though I shouldn't have to say this, as anyone already into this visual style will be inclined to agree.

So far from what I could tell this does the typical mushy, mish-mash of story ... telling you always run into within asian works. It blends together a variety of themes from low fantasy, the victorian -era setting, gothic + goth, dark romanticism and religious symbolism together to tell some kind of deep tale (It pretends to be.) And that's what bugs me so much...

This overshot so hard with it's formula that you shouldn't begin to utter the question "Why isn't it more popular?" Like with any smaller niche, I am noticing a trend of what I like to call "amateurish enthusiasm". People so deep into their own world, they are eager on writing this extremely ambitious story to feel good about having achieved something. WITHOUT, the nuance and compelling ties to the real world, which are needed in order for a wider audience to grasp it.

You just can't throw people into a world with highly specific, highly subjectively tailored lore and expect it to click. It's why I really found a ton of RPGs pretentious, even if they're probably not when you disassemble them to their core ideas and values.

Bleh... All The Tarot Cafe needed was an eye to eye episodic format. Simple and straight forward. We as the readers don't need to know every meticulous detail of each person's tragic life to follow the story nor message. So had it opted for a more abstract and minimal approach with an angle on pseudo-occultic form of divination I would've been very pleased.

Now that I am not, and low on reading material. I guess I will go on another existential tirade.

https://www.graphitecomics.com/title/TOKYOPOP/The-Tarot-Cafe < You can get a feel for it here, the first volume is available for free.

I put this off for so long because of the extreme negative reception surrounding it. Do I regret watching this? Um no, I think it's time we not only give this a more balanced review, but a different look and angle as well. Besides.. let's face it. I can't really help myself when I see the word "apocalypse" in media.


How is it? It's ok. Don't get me wrong, you DON'T want this to be your introduction into the Devilman universe, it's far too vague, confusing for that. You've got plenty of alternative adaptations to choose from if what you seek is well handled story ... telling of the source materials and what not.

"Wait so hold on you say it's ok yet you gave it a rating of 8??? Whaaa" Yup.

I got everything I could have hoped for. The disgust from other viewers and their grotesque descriptions lived up and perhaps exceeded my expectations. This is a bleak, apocalyptic feeling, bloody(buckets of gore) slaughterfest!

Hell... I think this might be ONE of the most metal animes I have seen period. Not only is it gory and ultra violent but you got a heavy metal/hard rock score to accompany the ludicrous action scenes. Also, ...stakes... woooow, stakes in my animu? Noice. *pop*

People die, you know the drill...

And I can totally understand why this wasn't going to win any anime of the year awards. At least if we're fixated on the story portion of this piece of glorious media.... It's piss poor. Character development, depth and the handling of topics, null. Appalling.

Thank flying spaghetti monster I was never invested in the story of this property to begin with. Really dodged a bullet there huh.

8 out of 10 everything else. (Btw, I am totally not bias because this didn't have obnoxious perversion every 5 minutes unlike *cough* crybaby *cough*)

Story and characters: 0 out of 10

Misleading synopsis.

Je T' aime begins mysteriously enough, with a beautiful piano soundtrack and desolate, melancholic feeling perhaps. And then it just loses me completely.

Obnoxious musical stings and heavy soundtrack that do not belong in this story kick in and we encounter a humanoid. And, a contrived, silly message with it. (Probably.)

Why was it done this way??

You had a phenomenal premise, you could've done so much with it! A lonely dog's point of view after the rapture or apocalypse. Painting strong feelings of despair, fragility and cruelness of nature. And what's been brought upon with time...

... Wasted.

This one's a skip...

...Honestly it's no wonder I have heard ABSOLUTELY NOTHING of this piece of media from anyone ever.

Had this movie on hold for a really long time. Better late than never. I won't be using my usual format. Deduce what I am about to say on your own.

Blah blah blah cyberpunk, blah blah blah chosen one, blah blah blah [insert lazy and generic "lore"], blah blah blah monsters "named lost" riiiiight? blah blah blah yet another alternate history/future blah blah blah archetypes...

Even as an allegorical work, it fails to inspire and provide something deep and meaningful with characters that don't scream childish. If you are a true Osamu Dazai fan, skip it. I know I should have.

Now what? With this being terrible, ... I really can't think of a single new anime that I am truly looking forward to...besides maybe Uzumaki. Shame.

ADDENDUM:

It has occurred to me that this is just a copypaste Ajin.

Spriggan is an anime that would've benefited from NOT being a shounen. It's true potential only realized after going full adult (and not in the perverted sense most viewers mistake that with).

It presents a rather interesting, perhaps too interesting premise for an action flick. You get gorgeous animation, expertly crafted environmental design and music ( credits to the ever amazing Kuniaki Haishima). But the story department is lacking as are the characters and their motivations.

I am understanding enough to consider the time period this was made in. They weren't going to be able to and provide anything ground breaking or particularly intelligent here. It ... just caught me by surprise that they tried to at all. Was planning to give this one a pass, but the mention of it being a movie set in Turkey.. kept hovering in my mind's space. So with that said.. this viewing was kind of inevitable for me.

I would say, the visual presentation alone makes this a fair recommendation for people looking to get into something with a little more thought put into it's creation. Split between giving an overall 7 or 8.

Let me put it this way. 7 is my personal score. And 8 is more suited, when compared to the junk that's popular today.

I don't know how to review manga, but I want to still share some of my thoughts on Eden: It's an Endless World! This'll be spoiler-ish.

I was suggested this fairly intriguing looking manga by a mysterious forum user. It was in response to a forum post I had made on here, I wanted to read something truly apocalyptic. Where humanity gets obliterated to hell and back. It could've very well been that for a good while. No, no such luck. So that's why I am more than glad I skipped ahead to see the ending. ( No one in their right mind should waste their ... time reading such a long tale if it might not even be headed in a desirable direction...)

This is a POST-APOCALYPTIC manga. That's what Eden ultimately is. I could insert some biased criticisms about it's natalistic and not so... dark ways of thinking, but they're reasonably presented that it would be pointless. I am just let down that I didn't get to see some deliciously grim destruction and rape of mankind.

Apocalyptic to me is when literally all hope is squashed through and through, and it focuses on it's eve. The end of everything. Post-apocalypses don't have this, and as a result more often than not give me boredom with all the what ifs and what not attached.

I guess... it was refreshing to see the gnostic influences. They're I imagine uncommon in manga.

Revolting. This is a traditionalist story tackling a complex issue. And then painting it as inherently bad. The answer to whether suicide is good or bad is not what is important to me right now. It's why does it happen? The answer to this question is ignored by this anime. It's easy to see death as a bad thing if from your view point life is good. But what if life was not so great... People that are willing to listen to this are going to, and the rest that won't , won't.

This anime is highly political. It dives into things it's not ready for, ... and then when questioned cops out. I hate fake depth, so much... And it did not have to be this way, because the beginning showed such promise. I can summarize Babylon with one sentence "The art of saying nothing".

When I saw that kid crying on camera video, followed by the main character's reaction. That's the straw that broke the camel's back or ....rather pen, in case of the anime. "I can't watch this any longer" I am not interested in one-sided and mindless anti-anti life propaganda that pretends to hold meaning, when all it's really doing is using something with something else to prove a point. Similar to a strawman argument.

If you're going to argue over the values of life and the validity of suicide, please don't use anime as your source of knowledge. It's entertainment and I won't take you seriously. The animation, sound and everything else visually are above average, and that's about it really. Nothing amazing if you've been an anime viewer long enough.

Though , no matter how good it may look. It'll never dig itself out of it's hole now. 1/10