- Last OnlineJul 11, 12:36 PM
- GenderMale
- BirthdayJun 8, 1995
- LocationOntario, Canada
- JoinedMay 10, 2011
RSS Feeds
|
Oct 30, 2023
One half mecha anime, one half... Japanese working life drama??
Yes, it's true, despite presenting as a very boring paint-by-numbers mecha anime, equal parts of this show are spent on the life of Japanese businessmen, except they work in a mecha "pest-control business" - which means the main characters worry about things like budget reports, go out drinking with colleagues, and get chewed out by higher-ups for minor mistakes like sending the wrong file because it had the same name as the important work-related one. Yes, that last one is a literal plot point. Doesn't sound too interesting? The mecha half won't be keeping you awake
...
either, with its very uninteresting mech designs (realism > cool), extremely bad CGI monsters, and bland characters.
If you've watched another mecha anime, you've seen the first episode of this; plucky-yet-lacking-self-confidence protagonist-kun wants to prove himself as a capable pilot, is shocked by the horror of the bad CGI he has to fight against, and then pulls through thanks to the supporting cast. And that's the peak of the show's excitement levels. I suppose with the design of the mechs they chose and the work-life theme of the overarching plot, this is meant to appeal to people who really want a show to focus on "what if mechs were real," and that involves adhering to *some* amount of physics in its design, and fretting a lot over things like fuel costs and other beauracratic measures. But the end result doesn't come out as engaging at all, and they're still fighting monsters at the end of the day so how much realism is the show really adhering to?
Shows like Evangelion manage to feel very grounded by simply alluding to things like budget and corporate (or actual) politics, or even dedicating a couple of entire scenes to those aspects - but always keeping them in the background, while the interesting plot and engaging characters carry the story in the foreground. This show doesn't have the plot or character quality to justify its extra emphasis on all the boring ideas.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
Oct 14, 2023
Unlike most other negative reviews of this "sequel" to Haruhi, my gripes are NOT with the Endless Eight - in fact, I LOVE the Endless Eight. It's the other half of this season, the "movie arc" which I despise (a standalone episode involves Kyon and Mikuru time travelling, it's completely fine but I have nothing interesting to say about it).
Engless Eight is a genuinely hilarious shitpost, but there's also an amount of effort and care put into those episodes which they absolutely didn't need to do; the premise lends itself to copy-pasting scenes. Instead every episode is filled with little details like different camera shots,
...
every character is in different outfits, slightly different cues building up to the reveal of what's going on, and so on. It's also the only part of this season that feels necessary for building up toward the movie's plot, laying out subtle but very important character development for Yuki.
To explain my gripes about the rest of the episodes, I need to give a truncated analysis of the original run of Haruhi episodes:
What I think the "point" and message of the story is, is a call to action for everyone like Kyon to take more agency in their own life and not be so complacent with normality. Kyon is contrasted with Haruhi, who is overall a regular highschool girl, but her eccentricities come from her disatisfaction from a normal life, resulting in a constant search for new experiences and not settling into social norms because only she can tell herself how to act. Haruhi is so remarkable in these eccentricities that she is even able to attract and order around people who could be the main characters of their own incredibly interesting stories: an alien, an ESPer, and a time traveller. What does she find interesting about the super-ordinary Kyon? It seems to be his potential, because despite his apparent monotony throughout the story, ultimately he is forced to admit that he likes Haruhi and her eccentricity. He may still act begrudging but he has come face-to-face with the fact that he likes this unordinary life involving Haruhi. He is forced to take action and that action affirms his involvement in an eccentric life (this idea thread is followed through in the movie).
So the problem with the rest of this season, mostly focused on the events surrounding the student film they made in "episode 0," to put it bluntly, is that Haruhi is just an insufferable bitch the entire time. Which isn't a problem in and of itself, and it's certainly realistic considering she's a highschool girl - the problem is that the solution seemingly arrived upon in the narrative is that the other characters should all just roll over and appease her, otherwise the world will end.
At the end of the original TV season, Haruhi is unintentionally threatening to end the world because she's becoming overwhelmed with feelings that her life is just ordinary after all. The solution to this is Kyon, who she's attracted to, finding her in the parallel world and kissing her, an act which is simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary, a happy merging of the supposed opposites. It's not an alien space laser zapping away her troubles, it's a completely ordinary act that could be shared between any two highschoolers, yet it means enough to those highschoolers that it might as well be the most amazing thing ever.
In the extra episodes this season provides, there is once again the threat of Haruhi ending the world hanging in the background, but this time it's because she's just in an awful mood and upset that the people around her aren't bending to her every demand. The solution arrived upon by Kyon and the others: bend to her every demand, despite how miserable it makes you.
Haruhi was always bossy and controlling of the SOS Brigade, but in the original series this was fine because the implication was that by doing so, she's making their lives better by opening them up to new experiences. This season comes off much worse to me because none of her bossiness is benefitting the other characters, and the solution removes the apparent agency given to at least Kyon. Again, the Endless Eight is much better because the supernatural problem caused by Haruhi is much more innocent - simply not wanting summer vacation to end - and it only harms Yuki via circumstances outside of Haruhi's control or knowledge. The resolution is also on a decidedly more positive tone: to break the loops of endless summers they have to simplydo their homework, bringing a symbolic end to the vacation mindset and acknowledging that it's time to move forward. The resolution to the "movie arc" is that Haruhi has a gun to all their heads so they better do what she wants, not what they want.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
Oct 5, 2023
Not sure why everyone else acts like the show did a hard turn away from a serious plot into slice-of-life harem antics. It was pretty clear that the whole corruption explanation and goal of curing it was superficial at most, a mere excuse to justify what the story is really trying to do.
Nagi has a very cute design and the show contrives many ways to focus the camera on her legs, ass, and breasts. I'm also a sucker for girls in boots like hers. Since this is the primary goal of the work, by that metric it begins as a 10/10. Unfortunately starting with episode
...
3 it starts to introduce more characters and waste screentime on them instead. In episode 4 we meet her bitchy dominatrix sister, but she wears a nun-inspired outfit which is far less revealing. What was the director thinking?
Ultimately: 3/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
Sep 26, 2023
Here's a harsh truth: you can't tell whether Shounen Jump manga will be good until at least 20-40 chapters are out. To get even get greenlit for publication the first few chapters are practically done already, and the strong premise that will carry the first arc or two is necessary for the editors to even consider accepting the new series. A good beginning is only worth so much.
This doesn't mean all first chapters are equal - as far as this one goes, I'd say it was decent.
But instead of acting like I can judge the series off of the two chapters currently out, I'll simply
...
give some green and red flags.
These are merely flags; it is completely possible for a green flag's potential to be wasted, just as a red flag does not guarantee bad things in the future of the manga (or that bad habits will continue).
RED FLAGS:
* The main character Chihiro himself is pretty bland. While his moderate edginess is cool for now, this can quickly become boring week after week. He'll need to become more interesting quickly, or much more focus will need to go on side characters as we continue.
* While it seems the author can write more enjoyable characters, the only examples of this we have so far are Chihiro's dad and his "sidekick" Shiba, who both give off VERY similar vibes. It's completely up in the air whether this story will have varied and interesting characters as it continues.
* Art detail can vary wildly from page to page. Just look at the difference in chapter 1 between scenes of Chihiro and his dad talking, and them in the forge working. Neither style or level of detail is necessarily good or bad, but the quick jumping between them can be jarring.
GREEN FLAGS:
* The setting seems to be an alt-history Japan, probably in the late 20th century. The architecture of Kyoto that we see on one page was still overwhelmingly old-style, but some concrete buildings exist and characters tend to wear things like graphic tees, business suits, trench coats, and zippered jackets. When the tools of action are katanas and sorcery, this creates a very cool blend of old and modern aesthetics, which I hope is deliberate and stuck to without just being vague background dressing.
* Similarly, the aesthetic of the magic is very well realised. Both the goldfish motif of Chihiro's sword and the tree magic we saw from a sorcery lend themselves well to very stylish pages.
* The story has an immediate and tangible goal which chains into other, shorter-term objectives: find the 6 other magic swords. The number of objectives also inspires confidence in another way: imagine if Chihiro was instead looking for 100 magic swords. It's a large enough number that each individual blade no longer becomes special, not to mention it would mean some of the swords having lame half-baked powers would be inevitable. 6 is a good small number that allows hype to build for each sword. I can expect the reveal of what each one can do to be very cool.
* Even better, this does not constrain the story as it does not mean only 6 swords exist, or ever will exist; we know Chihiro learned his father's smithing style, and it's always possible another character can make more as well. If the manga blows up in popularity, there is plenty of room established from the get-go to naturally expand its scope to keep running for hundreds of chapters.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
Mar 8, 2017
Edit note: although this is marked as a preliminary review, written while this was still publishing, I have since finished the manga and everything I said here still stands. No disastrous ending or anything.
Equal parts adorable and funny, Mousou Telepathy is ostensibly about a telepathic introvert named Ayako and her interactions with the upstandingly popular Hayato who has nothing but indecent daydreams about her nonstop. Along for the ride is Hayato's childhood friend and admirer, Manami, who despite her bitchy first impressions, ends up blossoming into a great character and Ayako's first friend.
While the art is certainly plain yet undeniably adorable, I have to compliment
...
the use of colour exclusively to illustrate the inner thoughts of characters. It does a very on-the-nose job of showing how colourful, expressive, and different people can be on the inside despite whatever their outward appearance would suggest.
What seems like a fairly basic and light gag 4-koma at first ends up being a pretty heartwarming story about Ayako's life as a telepath, and the gradual expansion of her social circle unintentionally kickstarted by Hayato's antics. I'm not trying to overstate the depth and complexity of the message this story is trying to tell - I mean, it IS still a 4-koma gag strip - but there's certainly more to it than what it first appears to be, and all of the characters are far more realistic and in-depth than they initially appear on the surface.
If you want an engaging yet easily digestible read, look no further.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
|