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Sep 14, 2024
Look at the cute 3D waifu! Now look at the real life old man on a bench. Now imagine them kissing. Is that doing anything for you?
Do you want to watch her eat shrimp? You better, dimwit. Yeah, eat that shrimp girl~. Now focus on the sign advertising Miller Highlife.
Yuki Terai was a (popular?) virtual idol at the turn of the century. She is a cute girl that does cute things and sometimes vaguely idol-like things in virtual spaces. Sometimes her character is used for short stories, from horror to scifi. I can understand all of this. "Yuki Terai in Virtual Hawaii", however, threw me
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for a loop.
(Disclaimer: I watched this raw and I am far from fluent, so it's possible I missed some important details. I doubt it though)
First of all, "Virtual Hawaii"... huh? That didn't seem like a "Virtual Hawaii"; it looked like a Physical Hawaii to me. This ova was a sort of series of candid videos of Hawaii in the year 2001, with Yuki Terai digitally imposed in them. A fun idea that mostly just looks silly in practice. Add in random B-roll of old men sitting on benches and it turns somewhat unintentionally amusing.
Sometimes the way she is inserted into the footage is far from flawless, such as when she goes parasailing from the back of a speed boat. The level of artifacting displayed in that scene is on a level not again seen until the birth of purposefully deep-fried memes in the mid 2010's. Truly ahead of their time.
What I found amusing was, in that same scene, we get a few shots from her perspective down towards the boat pulling her. In those shots we see a man with his hands over his face, possibly holding a camera (can't quite tell, 480p simply wasn't enough). Who is he? Is this the camera man, Takashi Motohashi? Is it Takashi or Johnnie? I see you for who you are; I know this was just an excuse to go to Hawaii you hacks! And who is this "James Levey" doing the "lighting". Bruh, it's a 3D model, you don't need lighting! I'm about to report this blatant embezzling of company funds to Frog Entertainment Co., Ltd, a company that definitely still exists. They you'll be sorry.
In the end she T-Poses into glowing fairy dust at the edge of a digital field of neon flowers overlooking Tokyo while my brain is subject to a psychic bombardment from all of the Japanese teachers I've had over the years, ridiculing me for not understanding her dialogue. Is she dead? Is life not worth living now that she's back from beautiful Hawaii? Truly tragic, my heart bleeds for her.
3/10, I found it slightly amusing.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Nov 19, 2020
Ok, so I'm not exactly a fan of Hololive; Not that I have anything against it or v-tubers in general, I just never got into it. I have a vague understanding of some of the more popular characters from memes and stream clips, but I've never sat through one of their streams. I do, however, have an Hololive-obsessed friend who showed me a few of these and now that this show has been added to MAL I am bound by the competitionest's curse to see this through to the very end.
Story: I'd like to say that there is no real story holding the
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episodes together, but seeing as 22 episodes are privated and unavailable as of this post, there could be some light continuity that I am unaware of. The comedy can be pretty hit-or-miss, but I like the way it hits when it does. The jokes are often snappy and some of the references were just obscure enough to give me a brief sense of satisfaction.
Art: The models themselves look pretty good and that's to be expected; after all, they were carefully and thoughtfully designed to be visually entertaining enough to keep one's attention for hours on end. However, the backgrounds and props are an entirely different story. They are often low polly, poorly textured, and downright ugly. This is often used to heighten comedic effect, but that isn't enough for me to count it as a net positive. The animation can also be very sloppy at times.
Sound: There are many episodes in which I notice slight differences in microphone quality. This drives me absolutely nuts. Also, I think some of these girls just aren't cut out for doing voices in scripted media.
Character: Holo no Graffiti is carried entirely by its characters and that's to be expected. After all, they're the reason why everyone (other than myself) is probably watching this show. There is no character development (let alone arcs), but this is one of those times where I'm completely ok with that. Each character carries with them their own chunck of the Hololive lore, and while I'm not exactly familiar with them I still find them pretty neat for that reason.
Even as an outsider to the Hololive Fandom, I'm having a pretty good time with this show. I still don't see myself becoming an avid Hololive fan anytime soon, but I'll admit that my interest has been piqued. If anyone has a link to a place where I can watch the 20-or-so privated episodes, I would greatly appreciate it if you'd send it my way. While you're at it, pitch your favorite v-tuber to me if you want.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Apr 12, 2020
Do you want to watch hollow caricatures of your favorite eva pilots getting shit on, again and again, until they're unrecognizable monsters?
No, I'm not taking a jab at the Rebuild series, I am asking you a genuine question: Do you want to see Shinji Ikari literally covered in feces?
If your answer is yes, then I have just the show for you: Petit Eva: Evangelion@School
My relationship with this ONA starts a few years ago in Akihabara. I was burning time at a second-hand store, looking for nothing in particular. Rummaging through a clearance bin, I stumbled across a chibi Asuka figure in a box
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labeled "Evangelion@School" and priced at ¥400. I looked up the figure and found it going for a lot more on auction sites so, of course, I bought it.
Now, listen. I'm not a big fan of cutesy things, but a deal is a deal, and like my father and his father before him, I'm a sucker for a good deal. Years later, on this very day, I watched Petit Eva and have come to regret my purchase.
Shinji is just a normal boy. He is not the "hedgehog" that we've come to know and love (or love to hate).
Asuka is feisty and Rei is quiet - that's about it.
Evangelion Unit 01 is a Bansho, booger-flinging schoolboy for no particular reason.
Kaworu shows up as a friendly, bed-sheet ghost.
This is all understandable, given how this is (assumedly) a gag anime for children, but Evangelion isn't exactly a child friendly franchise so I don't feel comfortable with this spin-off conceptually.
Also, Gendo is portrayed as a voyeuristic hebephile with romantic and sexual feelings for Rei, in a world in which he is her principal and his wife is still alive. Do with that info what you will.
As for the technical aspects of the spin-off: the cgi, animation, and music are all sub-par, and there is no voice acting. The jokes are, for the most part, not funny; a single frame in the final episode made me chuckle, but it wasn't worth the slog.
I give Petit Eva 1s all around.
If you want to see Shinji become Shit-ji, watch episode 1.
If you want a serviceable End of Evangelion joke, watch episode 24.
If you value your time in the slightest, watch no more.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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Nov 11, 2017
This is meant to be a fair preview of NHK’s 2017 children’s anime “Pingu in the City.”
In this preview, I aim to provide credible information regarding this anime to those who might look into this show no further than reading the reviews on this page.
Story 6/10:
As the newest season of a mainly episodic series with little to no overarching plot, Pingu in the City is by no means groundbreaking. With that being said, the 6 episodes of this season that have aired are far from bad. The stories are predictable and follow traditional themes of children’s storytelling, but there is a uniting theme
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of “work” at the core of every episode. This can be broken up into sub-themes such as (but not limited to): helping, responsibility, and making the most of an unsavory situation. One positive aspect of the Pingu series that lends itself towards effective storytelling is its gibberish dialogue, which cuts out almost all exposition. At only seven minutes per episode, there is little to complain about here. For a children’s show, “Pingu in the City” is fantastic, but when compared with something intended for an older audience, the story of this show will obviously come-of as nubile and generic.
Art 8/10:
Despite the switch from the claymation of previous seasons to the computer-animation of this one, the art style of the Pingu series has always been good. The simplistic character designs of the previous seasons are still around, only now, their forms are a tad more consistent. The splendid texture work on the characters, objects, and buildings makes for a very convincing replication of original show’s soft clay aesthetic. While not exactly inventive, the shot composition is very nice, and the lighting looks quite realistic. Despite the constant technological advancements that are made regarding the visual fidelity of CG, the lighting and textures in this show cannot match the real shadows and actual clay of the claymated original. One benefit of the switch to CG is the spike in animation fluidity and consistency, making “action” scenes more convincing. If “Pingu in the City” was claymated like the original, while also using the artistic technique on display in these past six episodes, I’d give it a 10/10 in this category. Even though this is not the case, I feel that an 8/10 is a valid score for how well they were able to replicate the charming claymation of the original using a digital medium.
Sound 7/10:
One of the Pingu series’ main appeals is its gibberish dialogue, and in “Pingu in the City” this is still the case. The voice actors flesh out the characters quite well, even though the words they’re speaking have no specific meaning. The OP and ED are short, cheery, and pleasing to the ear. The sound effects serve their intended purposes very well; I personally found the slapping sounds that accompany the movement of feet and flippers to be very cute. The background instrumentals are relaxing, and the overall soundtrack seems to be filled with a wide expanse of different songs that fit the tone of every scene in which they are used.
Characters 5/10:
The characters presented so far are serviceable, but the only one with a discernable name is the main character, Pingu. After minimal research, I found out that there are only 12 other named characters in the series, including “Papa,” “Mama,” and his sister, Pinga. One might take this as a bad sign, but for the sake of this show’s interests, names aren’t really needed. Traditional family stereotypes tell us who Pingu’s mother is and who Pingu’s father is; there is no need to for exposition. So far, the only one of these characters with ample screen time has been Pingu. As a mostly episodic anime, there doesn’t seem to be any significant character growth or deterioration from episode to episode. At the end of episode 3 however, Pingu seems to have grown into a more responsible person, so there is the possibility that his character will change with time.
Enjoyment 8/10:
I’ve enjoyed this anime far more than I had originally expected, which is why I’ve written such a dead serious review; I want to give an honest opinion for those who are drowning in this sea of memes. Pingu in the City makes for a satisfying weekly reprieve from the more violent and depressing anime that I usually consume. With 26 episodes at only 7 minutes an episode, this anime is easily consumable and doesn’t demand the commitment that a normal anime might demand in order to get anything out of it. The hypersexual, overly violent, and needlessly cutesy aspects of modern anime which usually drive people away from this medium are not present here. I can say with certainty that this show is for everyone.
Overall Rating: 7/10
Despite the lengths to which I have gone for the sake of this show, I am not an avid fan Pengu. I’ve only seen a few episodes of the original seasons, and that was only for the sake of comparison in this review. I’m just a guy who saw a charming, fun show being overtaken by a meme, and felt the need to do right by said show.
In deeming this a preview, this review will most likely be removed upon this series’ completion, and I’m ok with that; I can write a full review when that day arrives.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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