- Last OnlineSep 7, 3:31 PM
- GenderMale
- BirthdayFeb 29, 1988
- LocationNear Marisa's, Forest of Magic
- JoinedJul 17, 2014
RSS Feeds
|
Oct 1, 2022
TL;DR first for those who don't want to read the whole rant (I understand, I wouldn't either):
The show's production quality is top-notch. Top-tier animation, top tier action scenes, top-tier designs, STELLAR voice acting. HOWEVER, beneath that and except a few neat details, it's full of obnoxious characters, bullshit situations and plot holes. But apparently it seems like I'm more or less the only one bothered by that so you can give it a try I guess, at least it looks great.
Onto the rant. (I'll give a warning for spoilers)
You know, a wise vtuber said someday that recommending anime is hard, because every anime has
...
some amount of anime bullshit and it's hard to know what someone's threshold for specific types of anime bullshit is unless you know them extremely well. And, well, I feel like LycoReco is the embodiment of that. On the surface it's a great looking and sounding show, but... little girls with guns? Seriously? AGAIN? When did it become a normal trope exactly? Ok, to be honest this is the least of my problems, even though I still find this out of place in the scenario of a show that takes itself relatively seriously. But it is an example of what LycoReco is riddled with: a lot of dumb stuff, some being in the category of anime bullshit that make me sigh but am somewhat used to, some that are a testament to bad writing and some that just plot holes, plain and simple (I listed examples of what I'm talking about in the end to prove I'm not talking out of my ass, but spoiler warning of course).
Some people (most, it would seem) would be of the opinion that I am nitpicking. I like to think of myself as a fairly open person though, without to much issue with suspension of disbelief, but this show is asking too much of me. Because I on the other hand, fail to understand how it is so unconditionally loved, and why people defend it so vehemently.
And it is a shame, really, because it has been crafted with genuine love, care and passion, treats progressive subjects with refreshing subtlety and god do I love Chisato's VA soooo much, but behind this is a barely believable story pushed by poorly written characters.
I did still finish it, 'cause it's visually beautiful and it wouldn't feel right writing a review without knowing completely what I'm talking about. I wrote this on ep 12, and then ep 13 came and just confirmed all of my feelings and then some, leading me to downgrade my score from 6 to 5
SPOILERS AHEAD for examples of stuff that violently rustle my jimmies about this show:
For anime bullshit, I'm talking about how the Japanese government had no issue in creating an anti-terrorist division exclusively comprised of schoolgirls (WITH A DISTINCTIVE UNIFORM), how the best hacker in the world is a loli or how boyish underwear triggers a diplomatic incident.
For bad writing I'm thinking about how utterly incompetent the Lycoris organisation leader Kusunoki is, several times, without a single time doing anything to learn from her mistakes, how Robota is a painfully obnoxious ass every time he's on screen or how Yoshimatsu Shinji that huge bag of ass just decided out of nowhere that Chisato's talent is about killing, when it's merely about fucking dodging bullets and NOBODY HAD ANYTHING TO SAY TO HIM.
And finally for plot holes I cannot help but wonder how Chisato shoots bullets that go through car doors like butter but are somehow non-lethal at point blank, how she dodges shots while hanging by one arm perfectly still, how a medical institution for a secret organisation just lets new hires examine agents on their first week without supervision.
And I am not exhaustive, but I'll stop here.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
Jul 15, 2021
TL;DR : Slice of life/drama with a hint of supernatural in which I couldn't bring myself to like most of the characters because their problematic behaviors that got turned into comic relief and never really addressed are in my opinion what prevents the story to go forward and the origin of most hardships every character is facing. Didn't like what I watched, but maybe I'm wrong about what I understood, since so many people like it. Give it a try I guess.
I have really conflicting feelings about this show. I'd like to start by saying that I haven't read the manga or watched the original
...
2001 series, so my opinion is solely based on what I've seen in those 25 episodes without knowing anything about the plot or the characters beforehand.
The story is about this angelic airhead Tohru who lost her parents and is lead to live with the Souma, a family of people possessed by the animals of the Chinese zodiac. We're progressively introduced to all the "animals" that all have their hardships, regarding their curse or just life in general. Tohru acts like a glue of sort for their feelings and their relations. This is supposed to be a wholesome slice of life with a touch of supernatural, but something becomes clear really fast, something nobody seems to care about : two solid thirds of the characters introduced to us are utterly irredeemable pricks, incredibly destructive in both their surroundings and their affective life, unable to acknowledge their own shortcomings, leading to a painful affective status quo in the relations of all the characters because they refuse to make the obvious choices necessary to advance in life, such as not beating the hell out of the person you like every single time you see him. These traits are exaggerated for the sake of humor, I'm aware of it, but I just can't bear it, seeing somebody voicing the fact that he wants to get closer to his little brother then joyfully wrecking his relationship just because he doesn't actually care about his little brother's feelings is both painful and infuriating to me, not funny. And I found even more aggravating that each of these characters have their own "redemption arc" of sort, where nothing about their problematic behavior is fixed but the show just sort of tells you "see ? they're sad too, so try to like them too ok ?" for totally unrelated reasons.
In the end even though some episodes were nice and touching (especially those without any member of the Souma family) most of them left me at best sighing heavily, at worst genuinely pissed.
Do I recommend it ? Hard to say. I'd say that on average I didn't spend a good time watching this show, even though the production quality is top-tier. But at the same time I'm aware most people don't share the same intensity of feelings for mean fictional characters, and this is a generally well liked show. In the end I'd say giving it the "rule of four" (not "three" because the fourth episode is a crucial one in deciding whether you'll like the show or not) treatment and deciding after that. In the end I still got through the whole season after all so it's not THAT bad.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
Jul 15, 2021
TL;DR : wholesome show with a banger opening, humanized cats that may feel a little awkward from time to time but still the assurance of spending a good time watching. Despite that it still left me slightly irritated for reasons I'll develop now.
This is the story of a lonely grieving guy who opens up to others after he rescues a cat, and the story of said cat. In theory this would be a cute and heartwarming story for everybody, after all it's about all these caring people that are nice to each other you know, and CATS. Except that for me, the underlying message of
...
this anime is messed up. Let me explain :
There is this guy, Subaru, who is visibly extremely uneasy with people around him, and generally likes peace and quiet. But the anime tells you he actually doesn't ! He just doesn't know better ! Mess around in his house without his autorisation, force yourself on him on a daily basis, basically be an obnoxious prick who only wants his good and he'll thank you in time, just you wait.
I'll give you that, it does thankfully work out in this show. It's a feel good show about people caring for each other and a grieving writter who tries to cope with his loss after all. But I'm telling you : don't EVER impose yourself on an introvert juste because you THINK they feel lonely. Introvertion is not some kind of weird mental disease where we can't say it but we're actually sad to stay holed up in our home far from the noise and other people. Please for the love of god let them value their personnal space in peace. In short, leave your introvert friends alone, or at least don't impose anything on them with the classical "c'mon it'll be fun", they'll be thankful. They are probably already doing efforts to hang out with you because they like you, so value those moments. Please keep that in mind.
All in all, still a good watch, even though it let me mildly salty.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
May 6, 2021
Boi did this one hit close to home.
Ok so I'll start this review by saying that it will include what I consider minor spoilers but may be considered relatively important by others. It's kinda hard to tell more without spoiling you know. Anyways before spoiling anything, let's just say that : it's a cute story about two people having truckloads of affection for each other but everybody else is kinda frowning when looking in their direction. Go read it.
Now onto the real review.
You know, this type of story with an adult and a child getting together by chance and forming a sort of parent-child relationship
...
between two somewhat broken people is a type of story that I really like. What I like is the fact that this is about pure love and care. Not romantic love or anything, just love. Two sentient beings manifesting high levels of empathy for no other reason than "my heart fills up with butterflies when I see their smile".
But even though I love these stories, I never can shake the feeling that the author may take the relationship into the nono-zone of the romantic relationship between a thirty+ years old adult and a goddamn kid. I mean, drawings don't have feelings, I don't care, but I personally don't like it.
Watashi no Shounen had me scared at first, but it's not that. Quite the opposite. It plays right in this apprehension, even. I was expecting a parent to child relationship developing over time and how they would support each other through the hardships of society, and I got a story about two aromantic people struggling to come to terms with their feelings and society's expectations while deeply caring for each other.
And this was great. This was awesome. I loved every single page of it.
Oh and of course it's backed up by a wonderful artstyle, I just can't begin to describe how beautiful it looks. It's just... warm. Go read it.
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
Nov 8, 2017
My first feeling when I was watching this show was really different from what I think now.
You know, Eromanga-sensei is one of these show that is so incredibly horrible that it actually becomes entertaining. However, that kind of feeling doesn't last long. That's why I went from totally amazed and wondering how far the show would go with the awkward suggestive scenes and the absolutely not sane brother-sister relationship to bored as hell.
But I had to finish it. I needed to write this review, and I it wouldn't be honest to write a review without finishing it beforehand.
So Eromanga-sensei is about a highschool guy who
...
is also a siscon who discovers that his cute shut-in little sister (they're not blood-related, keep that in mind, it's important) is the one who actually draws the erotic art for his light-novels. As a good main character for a show like this, this young boy has the charisma of a cup of cold coffee, while being irritatingly dense, of course. And the show is supposed to be about the evolution of the little sister (they do not have any biological bood whatsoever, keep that in mind) and her opening to the world, except she doesn't ! Of course, you'd remove 50% of the jokes otherwise.
So this lucky bastard encounters a few girls during the 12 episodes, going from the cliché tsundere, who actually tells him "I-it's not like I like you or anything b-baka !" for f*cking real to the twelve year-old girl who tells him she loves dicks, and he is regularly put in embarassing situations.
And, that's, it.
Then you have the festival episode, the field trip episode, the tournament episoode and so on. The only thing missing is a final episode actually. Even though the first few episodes let us think there would be some evolutions in the relations of the characters or in the characters themselves, nothing came.
So, well, at first it was fun, I even told a few of my friends "go for it dude, you're seriously in for a treat with this show". Because I'll be honest, the otherworldly scenes like a little girl playing piano in an abandonned mansion totally naked without a freaking reason, the fact that THEY AREN'T RELATED BY BLOOD IF YOU FORGOT, or the simple fact that it's an anime about a little girl drawing porn unironically amazed me... In the first 6 episodes. After that, even though the show continues to do better (I should say worse) every episode, you're just bored. The hype for a shitty show can't possibly last long. Thus, I've had huge troubles getting myself to watch the three last episodes.
So, as a conclusion, if you're fine with dense characters, stupid jokes, a buttload of dumb clichés and an MC who is a fully assumed siscon, then go, this show is exactly what you were looking for. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure everybody here has something better to do. Not me though, I wouldn't be here writting reviews otherwise.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
Feb 18, 2017
Gakkougurashi is about a group of girls who found shelter during a zombie invasion in their school, with one of them suffering denialism and living a normal school life.
First, without any spoiler:
Overall I'd say that the series is fine but not very original; it doesn't take any risk. The main protagonists are schoolgirls and they have to deal with zombies... It sounds just like the beginning of a bad joke. It's easy for us weeaboo to feel worried about schoolgirls as we're used to see them literally everywhere.
Surprisingly enough though, it is a really serious show that can sometimes be really sad or stressful and
...
that's a really good point. Moreover the soundtracks help a lot and aren't just there to fill the "sound environment".
The characters are interesting and quite human; it also was a good surprise. They are mentally suffering of the result of the apocalypse and not just thinking of it as a pain in the ass. They are scared, depressed or even having some kind of PTSD.
One more thing about the show in a whole is that not everything is explained to the spectator right after something happens, leaving the spectator making it's own theories using real hints, not too obvious, but still interesting.
And finally, the end is satisfying. I will not say here if it's good or bad, just that the end... exists. As a spectator, the end let's you with a feeling of fulfillment; you do not especially need another season to feel satisfied.
I personally really enjoyed the show, but I know that I'm not really a demanding spectator. Still I think that from an objective point of view, or at least the least subjective possible, the show is worth giving a try despite it being quite clumsy or unoriginal. It still has a plot that can be interesting as we see the characters trying to survive, keep the mood up as much as possible and dealing with the constant denial of Yuki.
That's all for the review without spoiler, thank you for reading me all this way, I hope I've been helpful !
I must apologize for the mistakes I've most likely made as I'm not from an English speaking country.
Now with MAJOR spoilers:
I've warned you.
Well, I found the end okay, but I wasn't fully satisfied about it. Again it feels to me like whoever came up with it took the easy path by letting everyone survive. Okay Taroumaru dies. But he suffers from another problem, he is a bit too much of a Deus Ex Machina, as he saves Yuki despite having been bitten. I know that zombies keep something about their habits from their life, but if I recall correctly Taroumaru was pretty keen on jumping to the face of Yuki right ?
Even his death doesn't feel right, as he gets back from being a zombie just to be able to die in Miki's arms.
And OF COURSE, the vaccine. How convenient ! All this story about the basement and the bio-weapons scared me a little for the end of the show and it seems I was right about it.
And finally for the epilogue, how the heck did Sakura Megumi know about the other shelters ?
Shortly I feel like the end is just a bunch of really convenient coincidences for the characters that were not really welcome for the viewer.
During the 11th episode I was expecting that everyone would eventually tragically die... I would've been so down for the following days that my familly would constantly be asking me why, but still I would have preferred that as it might have been a really sad end with much feels without any compromise. Insead Taroumaru died and they left a TOTALLY EMPTY SCHOOL WITHOUT ANY ZOMBIE, SERIOUSLY ! How incoherent it was that the zombies did not come back.
Thank you for reading !!
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
|