- Last OnlineAug 14, 2009 2:58 AM
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- BirthdayDec 17, 1988
- LocationLisboa, Portugal
- JoinedJun 2, 2009
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Jul 1, 2009
Let me start this review by saying that it was never my intention to write one, specially one about Final Fantasy Advent Children. Also, I'd like to state for an obvious reason that I've played and finished the original game in which this movie was "inspired" on, Final Fantasy VII.
By the time the game was launched it was revolutionary in all its aspects. Both visually and the way the plot was developed consistently throughout the game. Every character had its importance and unique plot giving the player/viewer a chance to relate himself to many different personality traits while subtly, leading both the story and character
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development to a climax around the main character, Cloud and the main villain, Sephiroth.
Final Fantasy: Advent Children forgets all this. It uses all the good aspects of what was made before it, the way the characters relate with each other, and glues an history that had no possible plausible way of continuing without a "revival of the dead villain" archetype which was so blatantly used I felt offended. It is indeed, a movie for fanboys. It adds nothing new.
Visually, it is not better than average. It's just the sort of new 3D-hype movies style that shows no sign of differentiation from any other regular 3D hollywood movie. Generally, one would expect small details to differ from the mainstream, but FFAV lacks it.
The music and sound indeed do their job, but do not live up to the standards, yet again, of Nobuo Uematsu. It will do the trick but won't make your heart race, and considering once more that this movie was indeed made for Final Fantasy fans (otherwise it would make no sense), it offers nothing new to the spectator.
It does have some interesting battle sequences but they are not more than that, just interesting, so if your planning on watching a good sequel to FF7 or a good new story revolving your favourite characters prepare to be disappointed. Cloud is not Cloud with his problems. Sephiroth is not a crazy maniac.
And if you've never played FF7 before this is also not worth watching as the movie assumes that you've played it before.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Jul 1, 2009
I own both Hellsing's first DVD, Impure Souls as well as the collectors edition which contains the first and the rest of the DVDs. I had no idea what I was going to watch when I purchased both and to be honest, I couldn't be more disappointed.
There is no plot! Yes! That's right! There is no direction as to where the anime is going! Incredible, isn't it? There are characters, which I will talk about later, all of them have a background story which intertwines somehow eventually, there is unquestionably a past which is slowly unveiled (and poorly done, may I add) but the sequences
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of episodes are just random events that could be summed up by saying that a vampire goes raging.
This leads to the characters. Although there is an idea behind each character, most of them, apart from the main character, Alucard, are poorly executed. Most characters don't feel real. Alucard of course gets excused, would he not be the main vampire. However, many important questions remain unanswered throughout the whole anime! Who is the ultimate villain, Incognito? What does he want? Who is Alucard? Who was he before he was a vampire? Who is creating these fake vampires and with what purpose?
Unless you want to watch an anime about vampires just for the sheer fun of it, then I won't recommend you picking on this.
However, if you just want to consume anything that contains vampirism elements, regardless of the originality, then this might be the show for you.
In terms of animation and gore, Hellsing does rise well above the average specially in times where vampires are thought as sweet blood sucking creatures. It comes down to its core and explores the gore and blood of the world of vampires. The artwork is very good and the music though nothing special, does the job.
To sum up, Hellsing will entertain you if you like vampires but will add nothing new to your knowledge if your looking for something more.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Jun 29, 2009
'Paprika is an anime that aims high.'
The first thing that struck me when I first heard of Paprika was the setting by which the plot evolved. It had dreams, consciousness and what defines reality as the basis for its story. I thought that most of these questions had been explored to exhaustion by many other anime and that this was going to be another one of many. I couldn't be more wrong.
I'll start from bottom to top. The soundtrack, praise to Susumu Hirasawa, stands on its own as a remarkable composition of music, unique in style and very well placed in the anime. It is
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very unusual, most of the instruments it uses you won't be recognizing and does well with voice distortion making it an enjoyable out of ordinary experience.
Well drawn, Paprika relies heavily on the visuals of the movie. The dialogues aren't very well executed and often are kept simple and direct, leaving the subtleties of philosophical questions, to the drawing and animations.
Every frame inside the realm of dreams (which you will keep questioning yourself whether it is or not) is well thought, and generally, every small object is full of symbolism. It is well polished, colourful, varied and will make it for a good experience as well.
After I praised the two strongest characteristics of Paprika, lets delve into the other equally important aspects, story line and character development.
As mentioned earlier, Paprika starts with a great premise: a device that allows whoever who uses it, to connect and explore the subconscious and dreams of other people. The movie starts when it is found out that someone outside the scientific research team has access to one of the devices. It then introduces different characters amongst which is the alter ego of the woman protagonist, Paprika which tries to find out whom it is. A psychological police trial, one could say.
The story is fast paced and doesn't leave any holes in it. However at the end, it may leave on you a feeling that more could of been done and that the ending was somewhat rushed.
Summing up, Paprika was a good surprise in many aspects, it could of been better, but stands amongst the crowd of many by trying to do something different. Recommended.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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