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Apr 1, 2018
It’s said that a monkey produces shit every few minutes. It takes Pop Team Epic just 30 seconds.
Pop Team epic is an anime that is frustrating, crude, insane and, most importantly, self-aware. It knows that it relies on comedy that appeals to the lowest common denominator, and you can’t help but laugh along with it. Once you’ve seen the first episode, you’ve seen it all; the series will never get any more profound, or deep, or meaningful. It will still rely on being one long, random meme, and you know what? That’s okay. Not every anime needs to be a grand, beautiful, philosophical venture.
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Sometimes it can just be stupid fun. And for what it lacks in insightfulness, it more than makes up for with sheer ridiculousness.
Episodic in nature, each episode consists of two halves; the first has the protagonists, short and tall high-schoolers Popuko and Pipimi, voiced by female voice actors. The second is the exact same content, with minor changes to the skits- the catch being that the girls are voiced by male VAs. It’s obvious that the VAs love what they’re doing, each bringing a different feel to the characters, without feeling like they lose their essence. While the near-identical nature of each half initially felt like a farce, a few episodes in I was glad of it, as I never wanted the wild ride to end.
Episodes are composed of short skits, lasting anywhere from 15 seconds to 5 minutes. Each feels unique (to say the least), even if the short and pointless nature of a fair few left me scratching my head. Various animation styles are used, keeping the content fresh and exciting. In more than one instance, I found myself laughing like a madman, wondering all the while just why (and what) I was experiencing. PTE is best experienced when putting your brain into power saving mode.
With this anime, there is simply no middle-ground. If you love memes and stupid humour, you’ll love it. If you enjoy lavish animation, complex, thought-provoking plots, and well-written dialogue, you’ll despise it. Normally, it would take a few episodes to know whether you would like an anime or not. Here, it will take just one. Be warned, though; if you only watch one episode, you’ll be missing out on the killer opening, with a song that matches the show's tone perfectly, being an unashamedly pulse-pounding bit of electronica.
Pop Team Epic is the epitome of “different strokes for different folks." Whether you think it’s a gift or affront to the medium, there’s no denying that it is as ambitious as it is lowbrow, an obvious labour of love that deserves to be experienced by any anime fan, even if just for a little while. The best that can be said of it is that it never loses sight of what it wants to be: an absurdist comedy that capitalises on silliness, laughing at itself as much as it provides the laughs for the audience. It’s entirely comfortable in its own skin, and for that, it is worthy of commendation, if not adoration.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jan 13, 2016
Sword Art Online is quite the rare breed. It is an anime that takes an interesting premise and monumentally screws it up far beyond the point of repair. It is by no means great— hell, it takes a nosedive at the halfway point from which it never recovers— although I can certainly see why it is so loved. It relies on its viewer both suspending their disbelief, and putting themselves in the shoes of its protagonists. So, how does an anime that emphasises style over substance manage to attract such a divided opinion? As a gateway to anime, it’s great. It has slick animation, flashy
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fight scenes and high levels of drama with an easy-to-follow plot. The tradeoff is it has near zero character development and an overeliance on deus ex machina.
The plot centres around young Kazuto Kirigaya, known mostly by his in-game name of Kirito. Kirito is one of many who uses NerveGear, a virtual reality headset that allows the user to experience online RPG Sword Art Online as though they were really there. It doesn’t take long for this dream to turn into a nightmare, as it’s revealed that if you die in-game, you die in real life. This is an interesting, original premise, and indeed, the anime had a myriad of paths it could have taken: exploring the psychological effect of being trapped in a death game; or perhaps the camaraderie and opportunism that comes with such high stakes. Instead, the show chooses to throw death at the viewer in every episode, to its detriment. We don’t get to know any of the characters before they either die or go their separate way from Kirito. Girls exist to ride his dual wielding dick, and males exist to either be saved by him or kiss his feet. He’s a Gary Stu,starting as the strongest player and plateauing, frequently overshadowing both enemies and allies. His Mary Sue, Asuna Yuuki, is equally as powerful and undercooked, like a chicken under a flip lighter and is essentially a carbon copy of Kirito when it comes to power level.
A main character who has no room for improvement right from the get-go may not be enjoyable as far as character development goes, but at least the fights look pretty. The animation is consistently high-tier, while character designs are varied and pleasant. It’s a shame that literally all of them are relegated to single-episode appearances before being lazily reintroduced in the last five minutes of the final episode, with the focus of the series being on the relationship between Kirito and Asuna.
The first half of the series covers the Sword Art Online MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game), which, if you have ever been interested in such games, is an enjoyable romp and will likely evoke nostalgia. Here, the lacking character development and infuriating timeskips (in which many months and floors of the hundred-floor game are skipped between episodes) can almost be forgiven, as the series moves at a fast pace, moving from short skirmishes to boss fights and even throwing in some half-baked faction conflict and treasure chest traps along the way. Unfortunately, its fast pacing is a double edged sword, as it means each episode generally follows the same formula: Kirito challenges tough enemy, fails once, gains random power up and has teammates cheer, defeats enemy, hailed a hero. The romance that develops between him and Asuna is an interesting aspect, however this is tarnished by their in-game marriage and childbearing. They are teenagers.
The problems with the series are exacerbated in its second half, which combines a trash plot with incest undertones and an antagonist whose motives and characterisation are both paper-thin. The fights are still as flashy as ever, but the potential world building that could have been is scrapped in favour of a new game world that trades human-like avatars for elves and no penalty for death, making the whole package a risk-free, cutesy bore. The rapey antagonist was the saving grace, being so twisted that he pretty much mirrored my viewing experience: He didn’t give a toss about anything he did and laughed at the world he ruled over and its pitiful players.
Despite failing to capitalise on its potentially rich world or interesting characters, SAO’s saving graces make it a bearable, if not wholly enjoyable, ride. Consistently amazing animation and varied, pleasant character designs coupled with intense fight scenes will likely satisfy the visual whore inside you, while the music has a very gamey feel. Having dabbled in RPGs myself, the anime was a fine nostalgia vessel, however, nostalgia can’t make up for the abysmal second half that’s as fast-paced as a freshly graduated, ecstacy'd virgin, or the spotlight shining on Kirito and Asuna alone. Like the worst video games, SAO heavily emphasises pretty colours and sounds at the cost of meaningful or insightful drama and characters, and would be completely forgettable if it weren’t so shockingly average in near every department.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jan 13, 2015
If you are the kind of individual who enjoys tentacles of comedy penetrating your funny bone, then Assassination Classroom is the manga for you. It has everything you could want from a shonen manga: a unique art style, likeable characters, and, most importantly, it manages to maintain an essentially perfect balance between comedy and action. Unlike other comedy manga, which can often come across as being too Japanese, Assassination Classroom’s comedy is generally much more accessible, relying more on character-based comedy than wordplay (although wordplay does feature quite heavily in the beginning).
Assessing the characters in Assassination Classroom is a difficult exercise. It took more
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than 50 chapters for me to really start caring about any of the characters in great detail besides Nagisa, Koro-sensei and Karasuma. There were simply too many to keep track of. Those who had their backstories even slightly fleshed out were quickly relegated to the background as the character-of-the-week took the spotlight. There are some exceptions to this, but they are few and far between.
That was what I thought before a certain arc. Suddenly, all of the character building of earlier chapters made sense, as every character had a purpose. It’s no exaggeration to say that, simply because of one arc, my entire opinion of the manga changed. It may take a ton of chapters to feel much of anything for the cast, but the investment pays off before you even realise it.
The antagonists are well-fleshed out. It’s hard to say more without spoiling (that, and the fact that little has actually been revealed of their motives), but for the moment they’re intriguing enough to maintain interest.
The character design is not one of the manga’s strong points. There’s nothing particularly wrong with any of the designs, most of them are just completely ordinary, and therefore forgettable. There are of course exceptions: Main characters such as Nagisa and of course Korosensei have distinctive appearances, however I would honestly struggle to match the names to the faces of most characters. At least the characters all have enough personality to differentiate themselves from one another.
I feel like I’m nitpicking with the character designs, but it’s just so hard to find legitimate fault with the manga. The facial expressions more than make up for the lacking character designs, and go a long way to enhance the effect of the comedy. Korosensei’s variety of disguises and… unique ways of expressing emotion were a constant source of amusement (hell, even his standard expression can send me into fits of laughter), while the over-exaggerated expressions of the students help to drive home to often ridiculous nature of the comedy.
The plot of Assassination Classroom is deceptive, to say the least. Judging by the synopsis, you would be forgiven for thinking that it is dark and serious for a shonen manga. That, or some kind of action-packed hentai. While it is dark in some instances (particularly in more recent chapters), for the most part it functions as an episodic lighthearted manga with some serious arcs scattered about. The plot does suffer from a slow start, but once you’re familiarised with the characters the plot becomes much more engaging. I was skeptical as to how well the school side of the plot could hold up against the assassination side, but I quickly found out that my fears were for naught. Once you’ve had some time to get invested in the students of the assassination classroom, you really want them to succeed, to rise above their peers. Most chapters feature an inspiring life lesson, which reminded me of Gintama. If you have any concerns as to how a manga can pull off a plot that takes place within the timespan of a year while maintaining a steady pace, then you should swiftly cast them into the wind and never look back. The pacing of the manga is perfect, with a definitive sense of progress being made by the end of the first semester. The fights never feel like they drag, while the studying side of things, which I initially expected to grow tedious, manages to be both humorous and tense all at once. But hey, if a plot about an octopus intent on destroying the world, who can only be stopped according to the assassination abilities of high school students, doesn’t interest you then maybe you should just stop reading here.
I’ve never struggled so hard to find fault in a manga before. Assassination Classroom has something for everyone. It’s got comedy, drama, and action in equal measure. The characters really grow on you after a time, while the antagonists give away little of their motives, giving a prevalent sense of foreboding. It’s the one manga that I could wholeheartedly recommend to anyone. If you don’t laugh at Korosensei's smiling face, then I guess this is one classroom you’re just not qualified to enter.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Dec 30, 2014
I laughed, I cried, I felt. I cursed myself for not viewing it sooner. Be Forever Yorozuya encapsulates everything that makes Gintama in a two hour, finely wrapped package. If the tv series weren’t returning as of next year, I could think of no better way to send off the series.
Perhaps it needs no explanation, but although Gintama is, at its heart, an episodic comedy series, this film is best watched after at least watching the first series. As it is an anime where characters are its strongest point, more than basic knowledge is required for full enjoyment of the movie.
The story of
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the film, like some of the most memorable arcs in the series, starts out with a definite comedy vibe before vaulting into more serious territory. If you’re looking for a legitimate glimpse into the Joui war, then you won’t find it here. There are a few nods to the past here and there, but the main focus is more on Edo after five years without Gintoki. The most pleasantly surprising moment of the film is undoubtedly the seemingly plot-irrelevant, gag-ridden first twenty minutes that manages to tie into the main plot. The only real fault in the story is the antagonist, although in the context of the events (and the fact that it is basically equal parts comedy and action), the shortcomings in motive and backstory can be forgiven. Besides a final battle that can only be described as insanely epic fanservice, what really sold the film for me was the comedy. The humour is as basically everything you’d expect from Gintama: it ranges from toilet humour to parody (although here it generally falls somewhere in the middle of the range). The film manages to segue between comedy and seriousness effortlessly; at one point I was crying because of drama, and the next minute I was crying with laughter. Even if you don’t enjoy the serious arcs of Gintama, there’s plenty to enjoy from a comedy standpoint. A poignant ending, that can only be described as classic Gintama, features some great retconning of the past and caps off the film perfectly.
The most important aspect of Gintama is, of course, the characters, and even with the five year timeskip they don’t disappoint. If you’ve ever wanted to see Hasegawa have an important role in Gintama, then this is the film for you. There’s no real need to go into detail about the characters. After all, if you’ve already committed to the series, you should know what to expect. The changes that the characters have undergone after five years are such that they maintain their most notable quirks while each bringing something new to the table. They’re still the same perverts, sadists and everything else that you've come to love (or maybe become annoyed at, I don’t know), but with a new coat of paint and a slight tune-up.
I had no complaints with the art of animation. I’m not down with all the technical terms and aspects, but both the art and animation are noticeably stepped up from the tv series. The animation flows well and the fights (few that there are) look fantastic. The new character designs all look incredibly solid. The only noticeable flaw was some slightly off-looking facial expressions, though these were few and didn’t detract from the film as a whole. If you think that’s being too forgiving, I could do worse and say something like “Oh, but it’s all good because Gintama’s always had that low budget charm about it”, but… nah. Seriously, if you’ve never had a problem with Gintama’s art style and animation fluidity then there’s no reason to start hating it here.
Not much to say from an audio standpoint. The music used in the film is essentially all from the series, meaning that it enhances the atmosphere, whether it be serious or comedic. It works just as well as it does in the series. The ending theme, Genjou Destruction by SPYAIR, is easily one of the better songs in the series.
When it gets right down to it, if you love Gintama or even just think it’s average, you owe it to yourself to see Be Forever Yorozuya. It will either reaffirm why you gave it so much praise in the first place, or if you fall into the latter category, might just persuade you that it’s worth viewing with fresh eyes. It’s a film that seamlessly marries the best comedy and action that the series has to offer, and I really don’t think it could’ve been pulled off any better.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Aug 4, 2014
This review intends to cover all three series of Gintama, however it will be spoiler free.
It’s incredibly hard to write a review for something that I love without coming across as biased, though I’ll try my best to be objective. That being said, although flawed, Gintama is indeed a masterpiece. It’s an anime that’s changed my view on the world, however it also suffers from the worst opening season I’ve ever seen in an anime.
The plot of Gintama is very much in the background, as the comedic stories are mainly episodic in nature. There is an overarching plot, however it’s referenced so rarely
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that it’s easy to forget that it exists. The strength lies in the comedy, which thankfully is consistent. The series took roughly thirty episodes to start being something that I made a constant effort to watch, rather than being something I just watched as a side to other anime. That isn’t to say the opening episodes are bad, they’re just inconsistent. I would say that the first 25 episodes should be treated as the character/world-building episodes. If you manage to stick around for the first season you’ll have braved the worst the series has to offer. Although there are some duds scattered throughout the 263 episodes, in no way do they mar the overall enjoyment. The humour in the series ranges from crude toilet humour to brilliant parodies, and somehow even the toilet humour manages to be hilarious.
Admittedly, I can’t really pinpoint why, but although it contains my favourite comedy arcs in the series, the standalone comedy in Gintama‘ felt slightly inferior to the original 201 episode’s. It was still hilarious, but it just didn’t feel as fresh. As I can’t really explain why I feel it wasn’t as good (and because Gintama’; Enchousen redeemed the series) it doesn’t detract from my overall feelings regarding the comedy. Having said that, I enjoyed it more upon rewatching after reading its content in the manga.
While Gintama is at its core a comedy anime, there are a few serious arcs scattered throughout. These arcs go beyond the tiresome formula of other battle anime, masterfully combining comedy, drama and action into a surprisingly small amount of episodes (the longest arc doesn’t last any more than eight episodes). The comedy arcs are shorter and often parody other anime/games (an arc parodying Monster Hunter being a personal favourite of mine). While a broad knowledge of a variety of anime and genres is recommended, it is by no means necessary to enjoy the jokes. I started watching it not long after I’d seriously started watching anime (having only watched Fullmetal Alchemist, Naruto and Full Metal Panic! previously) and still found the self-referential comedy is strong enough to stand on its own, with the references I didn’t quite understand eliciting a chuckle if nothing else.
As mentioned previously, I initially watched Gintama to provide a break from other anime, so if you go into it with such a mindset you should have built up a reasonable anime repertoire by the time you get to the gold (or should I say silver? ha ha). At its heart, it’s an anime that rewards dedication with a near constant stream of laughs (and feels when it comes to the serious arcs).
The overarching plot of the anime is one of great interest, as it is firstly forgotten within the first fifty episodes and then referenced somewhat rarely. It’s hard to talk about the serious plot without venturing into spoiler territory. The best way I can think to describe it is a politically driven humans vs aliens epic. Kind of. Sometimes. Forget about aliens, they’re very much behind the scenes in the overall scheme of things. The main plot manages to be engrossing because it is drip-fed to the point where it’s always a welcome surprise to see advancement, however minor.
The characters are where Gintama shines. Some may implore to skip to episode 25 if you aren’t enjoying the opening episodes, but I cannot stress enough how important they are in establishing the character’s defining traits throughout the series. The characters are like none I’ve ever experienced, and most importantly, they’re all flawed in one way or another. This means that there are no random nakama powerups or even any special abilities (from the humans that inhabit the series, anyway), just pure power and skill, which makes the fights a joy to watch. The only minor blight on the characters is an overuse of villain redemption, although the stories relating to such redemption are so detailed that it doesn’t ever feel stale.
As Gintama is an episodic comedy there is little in the way of character development outside of character introductory arcs, although this isn’t a problem because the lack of growth means that the comedy regarding character traits never really has to change (i.e the stalker will always be a stalker, the masochist will always be a masochist). The main antagonist has appeared in about six or seven episodes throughout the entire run, although they’re quite possibly the most genuinely threatening antagonist I’ve witnessed.
For the time it was made Gintama’s art is nothing special. It’s never bad, just incredibly average. It gets better as the series goes on, increasing in quality with its budget, eventually becoming the best looking shonen series I’ve seen. Character models are easily distinguishable and pleasant to look at, the visual gags are hilarious (get ready for more penis mosaics than you’d see at an erotic tile festival). When it comes to action the animation is fluid and the fighting intense. It’s funny how an anime that is primarily comedy has one of my favourite fights, and in fact does action better than pure shonen series such as Bleach and Naruto.
The openings and endings of Gintama are the best I’ve heard in an anime. Besides the second opening and first ending, every theme is either instantly likeable or eventually grows on you. As for the soundtrack, it has everything, from jazz to hard rock (forgive my lack of genre descriptions). Although some tracks can feel overused, they’re so good and so well utilised that they rarely, if ever, detract from the mood. Enough new tracks are added each season to keep things interesting.
Overall, Gintama ends up being much more than what it initially appears to be. Judging by the first 30 episodes, I never would have expected to enjoy it as much as I did, but it ends up becoming so funny and profound that I can’t help but think I’ll never enjoy another anime as much. So far that sentiment’s held true.
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Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jun 3, 2012
I'll be honest; I once believed this to be the greatest anime ever, before I actually seriously began watching anime. After re-watching it again sometime last year, I realised that perhaps I was wrong, it's in no way the best anime ever, however, I still consider it to be one of the funniest anime I've seen. I'll base this review on the re-watch of the anime.
I'll start with the story. It starts off strongly, and continues with its strong introduction throughout the first ten or so episodes. Then it gets to the filler episodes, and they are truly terrible. Well, when I say 'they' I'm
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actually referring to one in particular, which features a carnival and tries too hard to blend the robots with comedy. Only one of the filler episodes is really worth watching, as it expands the relationship of two of the supporting characters, but besides that the rest are watchable only once. The wave of filler only lasts for about three episodes, then it gets back into the quality of the first ten episodes right until the end. The second (and only other) problem I have with the story is that there are some rather stupidly illogical decisions made in the last episode or two that could have allowed the entire last battle to be avoided. Besides those flaws, the story really works well, fulfilling all of the elements of action/comedy nicely.
The art, considering when the series was made (2003) is great to behold, with the animation during fights remaining fluid, while characters are detailed and backgrounds are consistently well-designed and nice to look at without detracting from the scene at hand.
The music is fitting and fulfills the required role to match each scene, however none of it really stood out to me as anything outstanding. None of it's unlistenable or annoying though.
The characters, for the most part, are likable and well developed throughout the series. The main character, Souske Sagara, hardly develops over the course of the series, which isn't such a bad thing considering his circumstances, going from the battlefield to a high school in which he has no experience whatsoever. His personality contrasts with that of the female lead, Kaname Chidori, the popular high school student who is easily agitated at seemingly every action Souske exhibits. Despite this contrast, the two characters have an undeniable chemistry that develops over the course of the series, which makes their banter rather amusing. The supporting characters all fill their roles, providing ample comedy relief when needed, and filling the archetypal action role when the series hits its more serious stages.
So yeah, overall the series mixes the action of mechs with highschool comedy incredibly well, allowing enough of a blend without one ever being overbearing. Full Metal Panic is thoroughly enjoyable, and is well worth the time invested.
Sorry if this was a bit sketchy, it's my first review on here. I'm sure I'll warm to it shortly!
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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