Back to Hatul's Profile Hatul's Profile

This review will cover both films.
I'm not gonna spoil anything or go too in depth in this one.

With that said, I think these films were bad.

The first film felt like a bloated mess of going through each sailor scout character arc individually with a monster of the week format and awkward segways from one to the next. The second film wasn't as unbearable since it was mostly the climax.
But this is a story that was clearly meant to be serialized, and making it a film seriously harmed its pacing and left no breather room as well as a bad story structure.

I remember how all ... of the villains had actual depth in the original series. You actually spent time with them - knew why they became who they are and each had a unique motivation that set them apart. Here that depth is entirely removed, they are all interchangeable - and we get nothing in return, since all of the protagonists are watered down considerably as well. With each getting a couple of minutes of monologuing about what their motives are and some 10 minute segment of a fight and realization barely leaving you with enough time for it to register before it moves on to the next character.

The only character that seemed to survive through all this and have some kind of meaningful pathos is Chibi-Usa who's supposed to be the central character of this part of the story and to be fair, she does have some nice moments in the beginning of the first film and the ending of the second tying it all together. Plus, all of the characters felt "in character" and retained some of their liveliness, which is more than I can say about the first season of Sailor Moon Crystal.

Visually it looks quite pretty with its bright saturated colors, sparkly visual effects, decent animation and good character designs. By film standards it's probably average at best, but by tv standards it looks very good.

While the music is nice, there is definitely a repetition in the way its used and some voice acting sounds a little uneven depending on which character is speaking.

The biggest technical problem is that every shot in these 2 films seem to only last as long as the word count allows. Nothing is emphasized, nothing is enhanced properly, not a single shot lasts more than 9 seconds (most last less than 5) and there is very little creativity in its editing. When a character finishes talking (and there is a ton of talking in these films, btw), we just cut to the next shot.. It continuously moves at this pace for the entire duration and as a result, there are no memorable scenes and very little to look forward to.

It feels like Toei just threw the manga volumes in to some kind of adaptation machine and out came a film with a random runtime of 2 hours and 42 minutes depending entirely on word count and panel size, without any human thought behind it.

In conclusion, I think Sailor Moon Crystal was completely unnecessary since it added close to nothing to the franchise and failed to set itself apart from the manga and the older anime.
The first season was lifeless and boring. The second season was decent, but still very watered down compared to the equivalent season of the older anime. And this, while definitely not as lifeless as season 1, was just barely watchable as a film.

So much for the "Brotherhood treatment" (ugh, I hate that phrase). Not all manga should be adapted faithfully since many of them don't translate well in to another medium. This entire Crystal series is just another example of that.
Stop being manga purists and asking for the "Brotherhood treatment".. If it were up to people like you, we wouldn't have brilliant interpretations of manga and novels from smarter people who actually take advantage of the strengths of anime as a medium - as opposed to making a faithful adaptation with little regard to how it would come across on screen.

Youjo Senki is a light novel adaptation and an isekai. Two things I'm not normally that interested in, but this one caught my eye because of its unique setting, dark color pallet and unusual art-style.

What's interesting about this one is that it's set in a Germany allegory and a world of the 1920s that runs parallel to our world's World War I (with some WWII elements added for good measure). This parallel world also contains a minority of people who are born with magical powers and are also used in the war effort.

Tanya the protagonist is an atheist and a cruel man from our ... world who seems to enjoy his job of firing people from his workplace and generally takes pleasure in getting ahead at the expense of others. One day a person he fired pushed him on to a railroad track and right as the train is about to hit him, a Godlike being stops time and sends him to the other world I described above to reincarnate as a little girl (who also happens to be a mage) in order to make him go through hardships that will strengthen his faith in God (aka making him a more decent person).

What's good about this show is that it plays out like a character study. There's lot's of fairly well written narration coming from the protagonist that gives you good insight in to his way of thinking and he's placed in a very uncomfortable situation that does challenge him as a character... well, sort of. In this new setting Tanya joins the military since it's wartime, but has no intention of being on the front-line, so the series creates circumstances to drag her there in spite of herself, because of her magic skills and high intelligence.

The first 3 episodes serve as a very strong introduction to everything I've just described.

Unfortunately, after those first 3 episodes, the series becomes more hit or miss in many respects.
You see, the series' main appeal and thing that's most worthwhile about it - is its protagonist. And no, this is not just my subjective opinion, this is something that is as close to a statement of fact that you can make about this show. I'm positive that even the fans of this show would agree.

The issue I have is that the internal study of the protagonist is put on hold for the rest of the series in favor of focusing on a more external exploration of its politics, its world and Tanya's role in it. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem if the setting, politics and battles were interesting, but that's not often the case here.

There's very little that's fleshed out about the setting throughout the series and even less about the characters inhabiting it.
It's like the show is just expecting you to have external knowledge about history in order to understand the setting and the differences between each nation. Which I do, but that's hardly enough to get you invested in what's happening in the show itself. There's lot's of dull moments and mission briefing scenes and vague political discussions involving characters you know little to nothing about, followed by battles against nations you know little to nothing about which eventually makes your mind wander.

There's no other character that has a proper character arc or plays a significant role in the story, nor has a stand out personality that you come to care about or remember. Sure, there's some guy who wants to kill Tanya at some point, but I struggle to even remember what his deal was, probably because Tanya didn't care either. Tanya is generally a pretty unstoppable force in the series that never seems to have much trouble overcoming her obstacles. Oh and there's also a female sidekick who's kinda cute.. And that's all you can say about her.

Tanya us on the front line and she stays there for the rest of the series' duration and that's pretty much it.
Eventually however, the series does seem to bring back an important theme from the very beginning and linking it nicely with what is happening in the present - making sitting through the series a little more worthwhile. While also setting up the movie sequel.

Speaking of which, the movie sequel finally starts exploring the setting properly, exploring differences between the alliance nation (Britain), the Empire (Germany) and the Soviet union equivalent. As well as setting up new characters that have personality and agency aside from Tanya. Not to mention some pretty epic battles and at least one instance of someone challenging Tanya physically.

The film still doesn't give further development or any change for Tanya's circumstances unfortunately. The ending of the film is still left open and basically just takes us right back to square one, with Tanya being in the same situation she was before, only with a bigger unit under her command this time...

Visually this show is fine, I guess.
Although far from exceptional, the animation is acceptable and it has flashy action to show off from time to time. The color pallet is often times very grayish and not always pleasant to look at, but occasionally this is used to its benefit of having high color contrast between the dark tones and Tanya's bright blonde hair for example. The locations also look pretty cool and it has just enough camera work that is used during conversations to further magnify what is happening and to keep the eye from getting bored. It also has a semi realistic art-style when it comes to background art and male characters, but for some reason female characters like Tanya and others have disproportionately giant eyes. It's obviously intentional, but the result isn't always very pretty.

The music, sound design and voice acting are all pretty damn great.
I recall lot's of epic battle tunes with what sounds like large choirs as well as a creepily great opening song that fits the series very well.
Tanya's voice acting specifically stands out making it feel like you're actually hearing a cynical grown man coming out of a little girl's body. The extremely high pitch she has does take some getting used to though.

Overall I realize that this is coming from my own bias of just expected this show to center more on what I found most interesting about it. I enjoyed the first 3 episodes a lot, the rest was a bit of a drag sometimes.
Yeah, the movie improved the war drama aspect, but I think that it could've been better as a 12 episode series with a solid ending, development and closure for its main character as well as a resolution to its silly anti-capitalist (or maybe pro capitalist? It's hard to tell sometimes) themes, instead of stretching this concept for all its worth. Putting development on hold for the sake of an okay-ish, but otherwise unremarkable war drama only to leave us hanging for another season which may or may not come.

I kinda liked the show anyway though.

Kimi to, Nami ni Noretara or Ride Your Wave is Masaaki Yuasa's latest film and coming from a long time fan of his, I'd say this is probably his weakest one so far. But even his weakest work makes for a great watch that's enjoyable and has at least some interesting things about it.

Before watching this film it's best that you know what you're in for so that you'd be in the right mindset. This is a relatable and sweet (if cheesy and a very fairy tale-esque) portrayal of young love which then turns in to a story of overcoming loss, letting go of ... the past and finding new passions in life. The surfing and catching waves motif in the film is akin to catching new opportunities in life instead of hiding underwater and letting opportunities pass over you.

Not a bad concept and this is tied together nicely with every aspect of the film. I especially like the hints we get about the main character early in the film about her clinging to her childhood by having her move in to her childhood town, using her childhood surfboard, eating her childhood food, listening to a song from her childhood... etc' etc'
it's a little heavy handed, but it makes for good foreshadowing to what she's about to cling to later in the film.
The male lead observed baby sea turtles struggling to enter the sea which hints at what he's going to cling to as well.
The chemistry between the two leads is pretty solid, if a bit cheesy and the film is able to set up a fairly cute love story in its first act, using montages, seeing them have fun together and hearing them have nice casual conversations too.

The supporting characters don't have too much of a character arc of their own, but they're also given enough personality, screen time, serve enough of a purpose in the story to justify their existence and they do just that - support.
You have a another firefighter who's not very good at his job, but is trying his best to improve and is also used as a red herring to make the audience think he's gonna be another love interest for the main character. There's also the real love interest's little sister who's the voice of reason and does play more of a role later in the film.

The thing you really need to know going in to this film is that it relies heavily on happenstance and fairy tale logic:
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
The inciting incident of the film is that the main character is saved by a fireman from a fire who (later turns out) just so happens to be the same guy she saved from drowning when they were kids.. Who later becomes her boyfriend, who later drowns in the sea, dies and becomes a firefighting ghost with water powers who saves the day in the climax (yeah it can't be her imagination at that point).. It's also worth mentioning that the climax is set up pretty conveniently too, with one of the supporting characters who just so happened to overhear the same punks who set off fireworks illegally and caused the fire in the beginning of the film, planning their next fireworks playtime in an abandoned building where there happens to be a dried up tree that catches fire easily..
[End of SPOILERS]

Maybe making this feel like a fairy tale was intentional, I have no way to know that. I'm just pointing this out because this does hamper some of the character's control over the story in retrospect. It feels like the scenarios are driving the characters half the time and not the other way around. This isn't too bad though since in a lot of the film the characters do act in a way that's significant and that's tied to their personalities, it's just that the transition between acts or the actual plot points that feel kinda forced and establishing that ghosts exist in the middle of the film isn't the best decision.

Visually, the film is quite beautiful in terms of imagery and background art that seems to have great depth of field and has very fluid character motions, impressive character acting, as well an emphasis on food and coffee animation that is also very elaborate. Coming from Yuasa Masaaki this is probably his most mainstream looking film, in the sense that the characters look a lot more "animeish" and further away from Masaaki's usual abstract style. Which is fitting since the film in general is more of a crowd-pleaser (not that there's anything wrong with that) and further away from his more abstract and weirder works.

Soundwise it has breezy pop music, great sound design and excellent voice acting all around, especially from the main character who is the only one to sound like an actual anime character, while the rest sound like they have more realistic speech patterns (not the first time this has been done).

Overall, I'd say it's Yuasa's weakest work, but still a terrific film that's emotionally powerful, fun, has nice atmosphere and hits all the right notes.
Yeah, it's pretty sappy, but I guess I'm a sap..

I'll start by saying that I think this series is a blast. If you like shonen anime like I do, especially the kind that hit you in the feels and hold no punches, I highly recommend it.

Karakuri Circus is an adaptation of a shonen manga from the 90s, coming from the same author of Ushio to Tora. It tells the story of Masaru, a kid raised by a rich family who just inherited a big fortune, since the father of the household died in a car crash. As a result, Masaru is being pursued by two separate groups of puppeteers who control super strong puppets ... that can kill people at the drop of a hat.
I'm not sure I should point this out, but this is a hot blooded, over the top series where some suspension of disbelief is required.

With that out of the way, I'd like to go over both the series' strengths as well as its weaknesses, specifically when it comes to being a condensed, 36 episode adaptation of its 43 volume long manga which might be the reason this anime gained only a so-so reputation (I assure you, it's not as bad as it sounds).
But first, let me gush on the things I love about this show.

--The Characters--

They are vibrant, have strong personalities and leave a lasting impression with each having a compelling character arc. The main trio have a very heartwarming familyesque dynamic (the fact that they're separated a lot of time makes it even more powerful in a way) and specifically Masaru's growth throughout the series ties in very nicely to the progression of the story and the details he keeps uncovering about himself as well as the antagonists of this series.. This also includes a great deal of its secondary characters, which the series is not afraid to kill off and kills off meaningfully, making sure that their deaths are cathartic and tie in to the themes of the series. This also includes some of its villains.

--The Story---

I like how even some of the smallest details from early episodes are reincorporated much later in the series as an important plot point (like the food Elanore made or the blood she let Masaru drink, how Masaru's dad died, etc' etc'), and how all the threads come together in the end. I like the fast but steady pace with new revelations happening every so often and tension staying present for its entire run. Not to mention that it has one of the most satisfying and powerful conclusions I've seen in a while.

--The Themes-- (spoilers)

The circus, puppet and clown motif of this series fit very nicely in to the themes of the story - a story of human emotions, free will and happiness and what they actually mean. The series main antagonist couldn't accept that the love of his life didn't return his feelings. Even his goons (the Automata) were originally created to make that person happy. When that didn't work, he became desperate and manipulated his love's emotions by force. Forcing her to love him back (quite literally) like a puppet. This also ties in to the disease that is spread in the series which has people feeling pain when they can't make others around them laugh (the same pain the antagonist felt), which is the job of a entertainers like the ones in the circus

In contrast Eleonore's character has been forced and trained to have no emotions whatsoever. To never smile, only to have a blank stare. Of course all of that changes once she meets and creates a bond with Narumi and Masaru.

The point is that happiness should not be acquired through any means, human emotions aren't something to be puppeteer-ed. It should come naturally from inter personal relationships as well as positive or negative experiences that will shape them. Which is demonstrated in the series through the strengthening bonds between its main characters.

Those are just the main examples of how this idea is explored. Throughout the series we get an exploration of this theme through various characters with vastly different perspectives on these subjects, depending on their past (and present) experiences, as well as a resolution to it by the end of the series.


--The Visuals--

The series has an old-school and semi-GAR looking art-style which I love, but at the same time it looks very polished, clean and with thin outlines so it won't turn off people who are accustomed to the modern look. The animation is somewhat limited but that's exactly the style it's going for. This show prioritizes good framing instead of movement and it does an excellent job of that. The action, while light on strategy, is very well choreographed and each character fights differently. It puts great emphasis on the decisive blows and body/puppet parts blowing apart in each battle with cool visual effects, making them feel very satisfying to watch. It's directed by the same guy who directed Trigun, Hajime no Ippo and the new Ushio to Tora adaptation, and enhancing limited animation as well as great fighting choreography seems to be his expertise. Plus, the amount of action this series has gives Dragon Ball Z a run for its money. The volume of violence and scary imagery is also quite high for a shonen.

It may look a little stiff in places and it may appear to use its style as an excuse for taking animation shortcuts on occasion. In addition there's some light use of CGI on some of the puppets, but overall the visuals are pretty awesome.
P. S. - I also wanna point out that the female characters are hawwwt beyond description.

--The Audio--

Emotionally powerful voice acting (albeit a little cheesy), great intense rock music mixed with circus themed sounds and bombastic sound effects really compliment this series perfectly and enhances every set piece and emotional beat. The OPs and EDs are solid and range from rock to tencno pop, and I specifically love the 2nd op for its opening and closing guitar bits that really make you pumped to watch the episode and the 1st op for sounding very circus-like and is later used as the final ED.


From here on I'll try to go over the story structure pointing out its highs and lows as an adaptation without going in to any specifics. So if you consider that a spoiler then just skip to the last three paragraphs.

---------------------------

The series has a very strong start. Its first 4 episodes... hell I'd even say its first seven episodes - are great. They introduce the characters perfectly, all of which work off each other very well. The story progresses at a blazing fast pace at this point but everything is coherent and easy to follow..

Episodes 8 through 14 is where the true weaknesses start to show and honestly I'd say this is where the series is at its weakest.
Trying not to go in to specifics here, but the main characters get separated at this point and the series struggles to tell this story by juggling between two different perspectives which results in it neglecting both. To the point it becomes very obvious that the anime is skipping over material.
Characters are quickly introduced and quickly killed off after they served their purpose.
It's' clear that there are several story beats missing as well, when a character is in one location in one episode, and then in a faraway location in the next episode with some voice over to fill in the gaps. It also tends to just jump ahead and then retroactively show a brief flashback that hastily shows us what we've missed (which happens at least twice). Not to mention huge doses of exposition that are a little too much to process in such a short amount of time.
With that said, this section is still really cool, but it could've been so much better (and it probably is, in the manga).

Episode 15 feels like more of a fresh start with my only gripe being that it didn't seem to segway in to it all that well.

Episodes 16 through 19 is basically a huge info dump through flashbacks. It's a little convoluted and mildly confusing in places but is overall far more satisfying and well handled than some of the previous episodes and by the end of it we get a clear picture with an unraveling of its mystery (not to mention that it's pretty effective emotionally).

Episodes 20 through 29 is a very good mix of action and good storytelling with more revelations and further development of characters that were properly introduced before and didn't simply appear out of thin air. These episodes feel like the climax of the series but is actually only setting up the real climax which is episodes 30 through 36. All of which were handled well in terms of pacing and coherency. The entirety of the latter two thirds o the series are actually even more reasonably paced than the very strong first 7 episodes, which culminates in to a solid and powerful finale.

This part still has some minor hiccups here and there, which may or may not be exclusive to the adaptation. Like a lack of foreshadowing for certain things (*Cough* spaceship *cough*) or Narumi's character arc being a little hard to track for a long period of time and some deaths and new revelations that happen very close to one another.
But this was definitely the high point of the series as it should be.

-------------------------------

So overall the adaptation seems to have rushed through the first third in favor of the latter two thirds. I can imagine that watching this weekly while it was airing must've been more frustrating and harder to follow than watching it at your own pace like I did.

Despite some issues here and there, in my humble opinion Karakuri Circus is one of the best shonen series to come out this decade (alongside Hunter x Hunter and possibly Dr. Stone). It has interesting things to say, the characters are memorable, it's complete (sort of), it's dark but also uplifting, and most importantly - it's very entertaining.

It'll probably become more of a cult classic that will gain a following over the years, but sadly won't break in to the mainstream.

NieA Under 7 is Yoshitoshi Abe's (other) slice of life series which I felt pretty lukewarm about and didn't fully appreciate when I first watched it.
After revisiting it however, my view of it has changed dramatically.

Not only do I think it's a great slice of life series that slowly makes you feel absorbed in its world, but I also think it's a great character study that thoroughly explores its main character's fear of growing up, social anxiety, lack of an objective in life and her daily struggles as a cram student who barely scrapes by financially.

So the series is set in a ... contemporary Japan where aliens landed with a huge mother-ship and its inhabitants started spreading across the country. But instead of being a hostile invasion they just end up integrating in to society and living as any other human and nobody seems to mind nor does this bring any significant change to Japan.
These aliens are a thinly veiled allegory to Indians (real Indians, not native Americans) since they have a class system very similar to the one used in India. There's even one alien character that has an Indian skin tone and accent. Their appearance is basically the same as humans except they have elf ears and antennas on their heads.

The main character Mayuko, is a cram student working a part time job who's kind of a loner and socially awkward. She lives in an apartment complex that is also a bathhouse run by a middle aged woman named Kotomi. She also has an alien roommate called Niea who's a deadbeat and a freeloader, constantly making Mayuko's life harder than it already is.

Mayuko's relationship with Niea is the heart and soul of this series. Both Mayuko and Niea are at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to their class in their respective societies. Niea is an "Under 7" which is the lowest class among the aliens and Mayuko is incredibly poor and living hand to mouth. So they basically find comfort in each other.

At its core this series is all about how Mayuko can't stand having Niea around but also realizing that her life is much worse without her since she's the only one she feels comfortable being herself with. We know this because when Mayuko interacts with other characters she's a lot more polite, shy and reserved. This is especially obvious when it comes to her friend from cram school whom she likes but doesn't quite feel comfortable with, even going as far as looking for excuses to not go out with her and her friends.. Only to regret doing so later. Or the landlord Kotomi whom she looks up to as kind of a mother figure and a role model since she's a hard worker who works two jobs and generally seems to have a hard life while being seemingly unphased by it.

She's also no different with her work colleagues at a restaurant, which is this middle aged man who's dependent on his cute 8 year old daughter (who's relationship clearly mirrors that of the main duo).
It's also worth mentioning that Niea is envied by both Mayuko and the landlord since she is free of responsibilities and holds nothing back (like a child) in every way they can't.
All of these things really make this cast and Mayuko in particular to feel incredibly human and relatable.

I also want to bring up some of the series' symbolism like Mayuko's watch she got from her father symbolizing her fear of losing her childhood or the apartment complex she's living in (being a place she vacationed in with her dad as a child), being a clear parallel to the alien mother-ship since the things that happen to both coincide with one another. clearly communicating that we should all say goodbye to our childhoods at some point. There's lot's of little details like that which just flew over my head in my first viewing. This is not much of a sci fi series, the sci fi ideas here are only important for how they are relevant to its characters. It's mostly indirect, but we do also get bits and pieces of information about the alien society and how they function within our own spread throughout the series.
But I don't wanna get too deep in to that. Since I want this to be a review, I'll just speak in a broader way from here on out.

Narratively, the series starts out fairly episodic comprised of little funny adventures in each episode until it gains more momentum and has more continuity in the second half until it ends with quite a satisfying conclusion. A passage of time is shown to us through the changing of seasons but there's no way to know exactly how much time is passing. Also there's not a single wasted episode, every single one gives you more information about the characters whether it be through dialogue or having their actions speak for themselves. What makes these characters feel so well defined is that each of them have at least 2 distinct relationships with two other characters in which they seem to behave differently with each, which is a good way to highlight their personalities and fully define them as characters. And the main character specifically ends up being a very deep and identifiable one mainly through her actions and interactions with other characters as well as hints we get throughout the series about her past.

The series' tone might be hard to digest at first (an issue I had in my first viewing) since it ranges from wacky comedy hijinks to relaxing and meditative to even becoming quite depressing and somber depending on the characters' mood. Most of the wacky comedy comes from Niea who's loud, hyperactive and generally just a useless pest. One thing I'd say in defense of this, is that the show is much heavier on comedy in its first half where it switches from a relaxing tone to a wacky comedic one, but it rarely interrupts the depressing atmosphere that it gains in the second half since it really highlights what's truly important in this series.
Another important thing is that the comedy is effective in creating a strong contrast and a sense of nostalgia or appreciation for this lighthearted tone in the later episodes (the same way the main character comes to appreciate it). In all respects, the series simply wouldn't be the same without it.

This really works too since the series is excellent in terms of atmosphere and it knows how to make you feel exactly how it wants you to feel whether it's happy, depressed or relaxed. It's all done with great patience.

Comedy might be subjective but I do think it is well handled here, both in terms of delivery and timing. Very often jokes seem to be set up way ahead of time (and often are an important part of the story) have a clear pay off point and don't overstay their welcome. Even to the point where the editor cuts away seconds before is acceptable making the jokes hit harder as well. I didn't think it was always funny but the show does have very sharp dialogue both comedic and otherwise so some of the jokes were able to land and catch me by surprise.

Visually the show might have a cheap look at first glance since the characters can look a little wonky and off model on occasion and nothing looks particularly detailed. But the reason for this is because the characters have very elaborate motions and expressions quite often. This show goes for a kinetic or movement based style of animation. Although the more the series goes on, and the more depressing it becomes the show does tend to linger on shots more often giving us nicer single images (usually wide shots of empty spaces to convey the main character's loneliness).
Also the series has Yoshitoshi Abe's distinct character designs, a bright color pallet with lot's of greens and blues, as well as good attention to detail when it comes to the changing of seasons.

In terms of voice acting, everyone sounds like they're giving it their all. As I've said the dialogue in this series is very sharp and character defining and the actors did a good job of selling that.
Much of the series is quiet and without any music, especially the later half which I quite appreciate. But what music there is are these soft acoustic guitar pieces or pianos. At most you have some wacky comedic music in places and cartoonish sound effects (also there's one insert song by the singer of the OP).
The OP and ED both seem to fit the series in terms of their lyrics. But the OP just sounds weird and the ED is actually very nice.

Overall this series is brilliant and I feel stupid for not appreciating it when I first watched it only a few short years ago. The characters have real depth, the atmosphere is great, the directing is incredibly efficient and good at telling you exactly what you need to know at any moment without overdoing it.
It's a little odd and not for everybody, but those who like slice of life should definitely give it a shot.

Mamoru Hosoda is an absurdly talented filmmaker. He's able to take the masses on an emotional roller coaster through his visual prowess and maximum enhancement of his characters' emotions while making it look as easy as flipping a switch. If there is someone worthy of being called 'the next Miyazaki' then look no further.

With that being said, I'm not really a fan of his films. That's not to say I dislike any of them per say, I just don't think they resonate with me on a personal level as they do with many people. Also I find some of their thematic content, drama and strange ... directions his stories tend to take, to be offputting and weird sometimes.
My favorite film of his is One Piece movie 6 of all things (and I don't even think that's the best One Piece movie)...
That is, until I watched Mirai no Mirai which took about 15 minutes in to the film for it win me over and become my favorite among them.

This film has a simple story about a 4 year old kid getting over his mom going back to work after giving birth to a little sister. We focus on this kid feeling neglected by his parents in general while his dad who works as a freelancer from home has to take care of him and his baby sister. One day the kid storms off in to the backyard and finds a time portal...
I think.

Yeah that aspect of the film is ambiguous on whether it's really a time portal or just the child's imagination at work. I mean if it's a time portal how come the first thing he sees is his own dog in human form speaking Japanese? Does his dog become human in the future? Was he one in the past? (Insert "Hosoda is a furry" joke here).

And if it's just his imagination, how come these characters that come through this portal appear to have a real physical presence in the real world on several occasions?

The film doesn't answer these questions and I don't think it has to. Unlike Hosoda's other films this is not a detail based story or even a particularly dramatic one, but rather one that's purely driven by emotion. And that's exactly what I love about it. I think that communicating human emotion is Hosoda's greatest strength, not so much his storytelling in a broad sense (though he is great on a moment to moment basis). Thus I feel that this film benefits from highlighting his greatest strengths as a filmmaker.

At the end of the day, this is just a simple coming of age story with a protagonist at an especially young age of 4, which is quite rare in anime and film in general. It also strikes the perfect balance between appealing to both adults and kids by having much of the film's attention centered on the young parents and their struggle to raise these kids. Despite the fact that the entire film is shown through that child's perspective, I'm sure lot's of parents were smiling at each other while watching this with their kids. Seeing scenarios that are very familiar like the kid behaving very bratty, proffering his mom and giving the dad a much harder time. Or hitting his little sister on the head with a toy for no reason. There's lot's of realistic little moments like that, that lesser films don't bother with.

It's through this kid that we experience the daily struggles of his immediate family in the present, past and future as well as meeting some of his distant relatives from the past and get a glimpse of their daily struggles that were vastly different from his parents'. Throughout the film we (along with the kid) hear casual conversations between the household members which foreshadow what the kid is going to experience in the time portal down the line. That's generally how the film plays out.

And though these relatives he meets don't have much depth, we really get a feel for each of them and the relatively little screen time each of them has is extremely effective in showing the gist of what their life is like at that point in time. Whether it's his sister's struggle to get attention of a boy she likes or whether it's his great grandpa getting injured in the war etc'. They all come back for the climax helping the boy deal with his own struggles of getting back his parents' attention. I think these are things that should resonate with all us on some level making it all the more effective emotionally.

In terms of flaws I'd say that probably the pace of the film is not perfect and the suddenness in which it goes back and forth in and out of the time portal can be pretty rough sometimes.
And it might even be a little hard to follow for little kids.
You can also argue that this time portal thing is just one big gimmick. It's not like it's really a time travel story. All that's really done with it, is having the kid passively observe these time periods without really doing much to effect them.

But personally that last thing is something I really liked since I'm tired of following convoluted time travel stories. Besides this story is clearly centered on this kid and the time portal is just a vehicle that takes him through experiences that will shape him as a person. It's there to put his problems in to perspective, to teach him that the world doesn't revolve around him and that these are first world problems he can overcome (or in other words just to make him become less of a brat) and we get a payoff for exactly that in the end.

Visually this film is fantastic of course, but doesn't reinvent the wheel. Hosoda's style is very kinetic or movement based, he doesn't bother trying to have singular stunning images and instead he prefers to have as much movement as possible. Which is probably for the better in his case since nearly all of his films look the same with extremely similar character designs and even visual effects to the point you can barely tell some of them apart if you put them side by side and this one is no different. One thing that's remarkable about this one is that about half the film takes place in one location and still manages to be visually interesting in those sections in spite of that.

The soundtrack is also fantastic, not surprisingly. Although I can't say I remember many specific tracks, i can definitely vouch for their timing being perfect for getting tears running. Plus it does have just enough quiet moments to balance things out.
The voice acting might be a little exaggerated sometimes and the main character clearly has a woman voice that sounds a little old for him, but you get used to it after a while.

All in all Mirai no Mirai will probably be the least favorite among Hosoda's fanbase for not quite meeting their expectations or having less of a story or conflict. Personally I liked it more for those same reasons.
It's a lot closer to some other films like Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro or Kiki's Delivery Service - Simple slice of life films about little kids with some supernatural elements and are mostly conflict free.
If that sounds like your thing then you probably won't be disappointed.

In the summer season of 2018, while everyone was busy watching Attack on Titan season 3 or Overlord season 15, China was making its own gem of a series that was presumably broadcasted on the Chinese equivalent to Netflix.

Mo Dao Zu Shi is a Chinese anime based on a fantasy manuha and novel of the same name.
Chinese anime are normally known for having low production values and a cheap look but this one is quite the opposite - it's fluidly animated, has very expressive characters and is filled with big and long action set pieces accompanied by (mostly) stunning visual effects and exotic looking cgi ... backgrounds of ancient China that don't clash with the 2d character models in the foreground.

Speaking of character designs, while I appreciate the subtle differences between them (they're mainly made up of handsome and semi feminine looking men), some of them do look kinda samey in terms of faces and hairstyle that it's hard to tell some of them apart. Also I'd argue that the action set pieces are a little too long and filled with weird angles, lots of camera movement and a frantic pace of editing to the point it made my eyes a little sore. Plus some cgi effects are more wonky looking than others. Though with that being said, overall this is definitely a stunning looking show that obviously had a lot of effort put in to it. Just not quite my cup of tea and some aspects of it might not age that well.

The audio in this series is just as good. Most of the soundtrack is made up of what sounds like traditional Chinese music that's very relaxing and meditative as well as epic tunes for whenever the situation calls for it.
Since the series is in Chinese (a language I'm not used to hearing) it's very hard to tell how good the voice acting is, but to my ears it did sound fine from the main characters and kind of wooden coming from some of the secondary ones. But maybe that's just me.

Production aside, the story begins with a bunch of narration in which we learn a little about some of the different clans of demon culitivateres inhabiting this world and most importantly we learn that the main character, Wei Wuxian is dead. killed by one of his own allies. We then flashforward to about 20 years ahead to foreshadow future events in which the main character possesses the body of some dude who deliberately summoned him to do just that. We spend the first two episodes in this flashforward time period where we get a disorienting and confusing set of character introductions, clan introductions, magic mumbo jumbo, and epic action set pieces.

This beginning was enjoyable and quirky enough to keep my attention. It's clearly a serious story with a serious tone but at the same time, it had such endearing looking characters as well as comedy that felt very authentic for its time period. There are no chibi deformities or modern talk, it all comes from witty dialogue exchanges that are actually funny and never feel jarring. It all ties in to the main character's campy personality. On the other hand these first two episodes were also a chore to follow since it kept jumping from one thing to the next with very little explanation, no clear objective and each of them was 34 minutes long. so it might be a turn off for some.

Thankfully it starts to ease you in more smoothly in episode 3 where the series uses some framing device to take us back to the past to when this whole thing started.
The episodes that follow up to about episode 8 are slower, a lot easier to follow and are a lot more focused on binding us with its main characters that are a part of the Yunmeng Jiang sect as well as building its world, establishing its themes and foreshadowing future events involving the big bad Wen clan and the power struggles among the different clans in general. Episodes 9-15 is where the big conflict takes place and bigger events start to take off.

You see, the world in this series is kinda weird. You have zombies, ghosts, demons, moving statues as well as human clans that hunt these creatures with a complicated magic system. And each of them seem to have their own customs and rules.

Which brings me to one of the series weaknesses - this world seems so all over the place to the point where it's hard to imagine all these elements existing side by side. Normally this isn't a problem but the show seems to insist that there's some logical explanation for all this and how this will ever be explained is beyond me and potentially might make the series convoluted and filled overly long explanations. Another thing that's troublesome is the magic system the humans use. While we do get info about how it works (very gradually throughout the series) we never get a sense of how powerful any of the characters are in relation to one another and the abilities each one has don't seem to be defined very clearly so battles tend to seem like random chaos sometimes.

Also one of the lead characters Lan Wangji is very powerful and is used as a dues ex machina on several occasions where he saves Wei Wuxian's butt. Whenever he's around you know the battle is probably gonna be over very quickly.
And without giving away any specifics, even the final confrontation against the villains felt kinda cheap, but for different reasons.

Moving on from that I do find the way this series presents its themes to be interesting. The theme that seems to stand out the most is whether certain traditions and strict rules do more good or harm. You see This sect we spend most of the series learning about has many rules for its followers and even the useless looking ones are enforced with an iron fist by the sects leaders.
This is demonstrated at a certain point on our two lead characters who find themselves in trouble - the previously mentioned Wei Wuxian who's a flamboyant and rebellious person (who's also bi sexual? I think) and Lan Wangji who's more of a traditional "by the book" type.
While this series could've taken the easy route of demonizing these clan leaders and traditions, it has a more interesting approach and through the story we experience the good and bad that these traditions bring and we realize that these rules, while draconian, are there for a reason. We see Wei Wuxian's journey of indirectly breaking these traditions to the point where by the end of series he may have been helpful in resolving a huge conflict, but his soul was corrupted and he's no longer the same person.
I'm pretty sure the homo-eroticism is not just there for flavor and does play a role in this theme, though I can't be sure because from what I hear this adaptation toned down the gay content considerably because - (ironically) there's laws against it in China...
So what you're left with is just subtext between the two lead characters (which I'm sure will still please fujoshis regardless).

Anyway, these polar opposite leads are the heart and soul of this series. Their relationship is homoerotic as hell which is either a plus or a minus depending on who you are. But they really do a great job of making you endeared to both of them even if you're not in to the gay stuff (which I'm not). They have some of the best interactions as well as powerful dramatic character moments.
There's also another main character as well as supporting ones, some of which do get fleshed out by playing different roles in the story. Shout out to Madame Yu, her character took a turn I was pleasintly surprised by.

The villains from the Wen clan on the other hand are pretty shallow and their motivation just comes down to being power hungry. The main villain of this season is just a hedonistic brute. And While they're not nearly as interesting as the protagonists, I guess they still make for an entertaining bunch to watch and some of the members of that clan aren't all bad.

Lastly, the show ends incomplete but nearly all the plot threads that were opened were resolved and we arrive at our destination which is the flashforward from the beginning . A second season is planned for summer of 2019 and a third season for summer of 2020 which I hope will live up to the first.

All in all this is a weird but terrific show with a complicated lore and setting but a relatively simple story and likable characters. And of course outstanding visuals and music. I found it very entertaining though I may not have enjoyed it as much as I should have and I'm a little skeptical on where the story is headed.. But that's probably just me.

Orange is an adaptation of a manga of the same name. A manga that was hyped to high heavens but seemed to have been quickly forgotten not too long afterwards... The anime had a similar fate and I think I know why.

This review will contain spoilers throughout.

This story is about a married 26 year old mother who found a way to send a letter to her past self from 10 years earlier, in an attempt to fix her regret and save a male friend of hers (who also happened to be a potential love interest) from committing suicide around that time. Of course, anybody with ... half a brain cell would think this is a bad idea since that may result in her aborting her own baby, not having her current husband and potentially leaving her with a boyfriend who commits suicide - not to mention countless other bad things that may happen as a result of her messing around with time..

But she doesn't need to worry about any of that, Why? because changing the past is only going to create a parallel universe with a different set of events.. I mean who cares about those people, am I right? They're not us. And how is she so sure that that's how time travel works you ask? well, because her teacher said so, duh.

I also love how her 16 year old self reads the letter she receives piece by piece, day after day, depending on the date of the page she's reading instead of reading the entire letter at once because she's "too afraid to read ahead", but not too afraid to see events written in a letter unfold before her very eyes. She definitely knows a thing or two about screen writing since that way of reading the letter makes the series last twice as long as it should and fill the episode count.

Being a nitpicking asshole aside, I'm only doing this because the story and characters aren't good enough to distract me from all that.. I can also point out how nothing about the time portal is explained, but that would really be unfair since it's just the premise this series wanted to go with from the get go in order to set up its dramatic storyline, which is not a problem and is totally acceptable.

What is a problem though is that none of the characters are fully fleshed out, none of them have any long term goals, their personal lives are non existent and irrelevant including the lives of the main ones, who are so fixated through out the entire show on the potential suicide committer, to the point where they don't feel like independent individuals but just puppets of their future selves. Just stop and try imagining these characters without the main driving force that puts this story in to motion: which is the suicidal ticking time bomb, Kakeru. You can't, they'd just be empty husks.
The interactions between them are made up of banal dialogue, lots of smiles and laughing at things that aren't funny to the point it becomes embarrassing to watch and makes their chemistry feel fake and artificial rather than being heartwarming as it's intended.

Hell, even the traits they do have aren't really shown to us through their actions and are largely communicated by telling us about these traits. We're told that the MC, Naho is good at housework but we never really see her doing that aside from that one time she made lunch or another time she made chocolate. She spends the rest of her screentime obsessing over Kakeru and that's pretty much it, she has no character arc to speak of. And the same goes for the rest of the cast, they're defined by one characteristic (Saku is the nerdy one, Takako is the tomboy etc') and they spend the first half of the show just going about their lives, pretending to be ignorant about Kakeru's fate - all for the sake of a revelation midway that they also received letters from their future selves - followed by them obsessing over Kakeru for the rest of the show as well. In hindsight, I don't see why or how none of them did anything extremely different in the first half of the show once they learned about Kakeru's fate, the events all took place as the letters said they would despite everyone knowing that Kakeru's going to die??
I guess the author figured this story needs to have some revelation midway even if it makes little sense.

Heck, even Kakeru who's the emotional center of this story is lacking. While he's a more well rounded character than the rest for sure since he actually has a character arc, and his dilemma matches the core theme of the series which is regret and whether or not it's worth worrying about - since he blames himself for his mother's suicide - just like his friends who regret his suicide in the future and blame themselves for not doing enough to stop him (as if the parallel could be more obvious). Still, The info we get about him is quite minimal too. We're supposed to be invested in his sadness and feelings of regret about his mother, but it's only near the end of the series where we actually get to see what his life was like with her, and even then it gets less than a minute of screentime and right away it is revealed that his mother's suicide was not Kakeru's fault in an emotional climax... once again it's this series' tendency to tell a lot more than it shows.

And so the show ends with Kakeru almost committing suicide but regretting it in the last second because he remembered the happy times he spent with his friends (thanks to the letters from the future) which is the only moment of pathos in this entire series and made it worth sitting through.
With that being said, I'd also like to point out that I'm not sure what this series is trying to say about regret.. Is it worth worrying about it or not? I'm not sure because they've succeeded in their mission of stopping Kakeru's suicide thanks to the power of time travel, while at the same time, the series is also saying that Kakeru should stop being sad about his own regret with a bait and switch, by making his mom turn out to be a saint despite being demonized for the entire show.. Kind of a mixed message, but whatever.

So then Naho hooks up with Kakeru and her future husband, Hiroto is unrealistically ok with that because he's too bland to care. Besides, it's the last episode, there's no time for another conflict. To be fair we did see him conflicted about this issue on a few occasions, but as you can see it went nowhere and didn't matter in the long run.
And it also seems that they've really created a parallel universe since their future selves stayed in the same situation, no babies were aborted and they all lived happily ever after...
THE END.

So yeah I think the story and characters are quite bad.

On the other hand, both the visuals and sound in the show are quite nice. Visually you have these nice semi realistic looking backgrounds, lots of extreme wide shots to compliment them, good color contrast and careful attention to where characters are located on screen in every given shot in order to communicate the most emotion out of every one of them.
In terms of animation however it isn't that great, lot's of motions look clunky and not all that smooth. And while the characters have fairly good shoujo designs, their expressions can get a little creepy looking, especially when they smile it looks more like they're being blinded by the sun.

In terms of music and voice acting, everything seems on point, but not especially memorable either, aside from one track or two or one scene or two of great 'character acting'.

So there you have it, a show with bland characters, a stupid premise, a lot more telling than showing and a boring as hell story about trying to cheer up a depressed kid for the entire run-time.
With all that said, I'd be lying if I claimed that I don't see why this anime and manga were so successful - it's a genius formula of a shoujo romance mixed seamlessly with a layer of tension and time travel. What more could you ask for?

Juuni Taisen is a 'Battle Royale' type of anime written by Nisio Isin of Monogatari fame. The show is about a tournament that is held every 12 years where the participants are mercenaries who are each named after the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac and the winner will have a wish granted. There is also no main character in the show so the one that'll win is supposedly up in the air.

Knowing this, you'd probably expect a cool show where we get to see crazy mercenaries skewering each other for 12 episodes, which is what I expected.. Instead I got a show that feels ... like it's desperate to fill its episode count with as much philosophical monologues as possible, that aren't supported by the weight of the anime, as well as pointless character backstories and having the participants stand around and not kill each other for as long as possible.

This show does its best to avoid having a main character by just focusing on a different one in each episode and killing them off straight after showing you their backstory. The duration of these backstories range from half an episode to an episode and a half. While the battles usually come down to one hit kills in about 2 minutes. And the ones that last longer than that, are usually due to philosophical monologues the characters have while standing in one location and doing absolutely nothing. Not to mention many battles stop momentum midway for no in series reason and are handled poorly in terms of choreography.

Not only are the character backstories an intrusion and constantly breaks whatever immersion you may have in a battle happening in the present, but they're also entirely pointless since the characters identities and personalities and how they formed their current personalities have no bearing on how they die in the battle, with the exception of the Ox and Tiger participants where it happened to be relevant for once.

Also these backstories are way too long and only inform us about basic traits that we could've picked up on just by seeing their actions in the present - "this character is a drunk soldier", "this character is greedy", "this character is a pacifist" and so on and so forth. So it all feels like a waste of time in hindsight since there's not enough content in this story to justify the 12 episode count which feels bloated in the long run.

So after all that wasted time and boredom you'd think the show will at least reward us with a good ending, right? Nope, the winner of the battle turns out to be someone who'd have to be a complete moron if he'd lost since he/she had an ability that (trying not to spoil here) gave him/her an overwhelming advantage that had very few chances of losing. Not to mention that this ability was never displayed throughout the series all for the sake of a weak twist ending.

Also there's a revelation midway about what else is at stake in this tournament that is never mentioned again and the wish that the winner receives only ends up being an excuse to have more philosophical ramblings take up most of the final episode as well, instead of actually delivering on this idea. Which is extremely pathetic if you ask me.

Visually this show looks kind of ugly and cheap. while the character designs have cool body proportions and faces that aren't generic stocky crap, their accessories and costumes look ridiculous and the color mixes don't always match up that well. And though it does manage to pull off some cool looking individual scenes from time to time, the animation is clumsy as a whole and it often takes shortcuts when it comes to more complicated motions. It also suffers more than it should considering characters half the time just stand in one location and don't do much. It even has some random CGI models near the end that surprisingly weren't that bad looking, but were jarring nonetheless.

In terms of soundtrack there's some ok techno and rock tunes that don't stand out but serve their purpose and the voice acting and sound design is passable even though the former doesn't take much effort since most of the dialogue is emotionless monologues anyway.

So there you have it, a death game anime that does nearly everything wrong, brings Nisio Isin's writing ability in to question (as if it wasn't questionable already) and worth watching only for the occasional gore and the half naked women. But even if that's all you want, there are countless better titles than this in that respect alone.

It's a completely skippable show that I regret wasting my time watching, so naturally I wasted even more time reviewing it.. I don't know, don't judge me.

First a brief non spoiler review for those who haven't watched it:
Inuyashiki is a seemingly ultra violent, schlocky sci fi - bullshit thingy. And as far as that goes, it's excellent. It has good tension building, very tight pacing, very strong characterization, memorable lines, striking visuals (albeit with sometimes so-so CG), interesting social commentary, a great musical score and one of the most badass opening themes in recent memory. On top of that it's a complete manga adaptation with a solid ending.
It may have some strange writing in places, the story goes in to some wacky directions and the violence ranges from over the top ... silliness to just plain depressing and uncomfortable. But all of it is somehow very entertaining nonetheless.

The following is an analysis of the series full of spoilers.
If you haven't watched the entire thing do NOT read any further. You have been warned.

--SPOILERS--

Episode 1 opens with a pan out shot of an ant crawling out from underneath a car until the MC steps out of his car, while stepping in front of the ant, blocking its path. The ant then changes direction and keeps walking. This is likely foreshadowing the hit and run the aliens do on our main characters later in the episode while also foreshadowing the ending when the asteroid's about to strike the earth. The parallels between these events are fairly obvious if you think about it - giant thing (man/ spaceship/ asteroid) randomly and without any malicious intent comes close to crushing something more vulnerable (man/ant/earth) only for it to survive after altering its course.. This also establishes the running theme of this series which I will get in to.

The rest of the episode focuses on the titular character Inuyashiki Ichiro and his mid life crisis. He buys his family a new house that happened to be right next to a rich mangaka's mansion (this briefly comes in to play later) and his family is ungrateful towards his efforts. If that's not enough, Ichiro is informed that he has cancer and only 3 months to live and his only comfort becomes a stray dog that he finds. About midway through the episode the inciting incident happens when Inuyashiki and Hiro get hit and die by accident from an alien spaceship, and then rebuilt as machines with their emotions and memories still intact (I don't know, just roll with it). Ichiro later discovers his new powers when he saves a homeless man (notice that this man was on the payphone promising to find a job and better himself, it's important) from a bunch of teenage thugs. Ichiro then remarks "I feel alive".

This same line is later repeated by Hiro in the very next episode after murdering an entire family. Clearly painting a good vs evil contrast between the two.

In episode 2 Hiro is introduced as an intelligent teenage boy who's not interested in a social life despite his sharp tongue and good looks. He's asked what he thinks about a hot girl he's shown by his fellow students and his response is how shallow and lacking in personality that girl is and claims that he much prefers a fictional character with an actual personality (in this case, best gir.. er.. I mean Nami from One Piece).

At least partially, Hiro can be seen as a by-product of society. As a backlash to what the author perceives as a shallow society that judges people based on their looks and not their character (I'll come back to this topic later).
That's not to say that his actions are shown in a positive light in the slightest. The main purpose of this is to draw a clear line between Hiro and the rest of society. Which is important since he ends up declaring war on that society, but I digress.

Later in the episode Hiro sits with Andou, a socially awkward friend of his, in his room who's been absent from school due to being bullied and also happens to be a fan of Gantz (the other manga from the same author as this) and they go back and forth a bit on how Andou can possibly be a fan of such a violent manga. Hiro also points out that the manga has been heavily scrutinized by social media like 2chan (they also come in to play later). Referencing Gantz may seem like this is just the author advertising his own work but I think there's a little more to it. On one side you have Andou who's a gentle non violent person who loves a violent and deeply disturbed manga. This might be commentary about how violent fiction doesn't necessarily cause violence in real life. Or maybe he's just defending his own work, it's hard to tell.

On the other hand you have Hiro who's a fan of the lighthearted shonen manga, One Piece which I am sure is not a coincidence. The main theme of One Piece is pursuing your dreams and the power of friendship and, not coincidentally, you see Hiro an episode later murdering the boys who are bullying his friend, all for his sake.. Don't get me wrong, I love One Piece and shonen in general but I think the implication is that Hiro has taken the manga's message to an extreme. It's not unheard of for sociopaths to have people they feel content being with, even if it doesn't come from a particular fondness of those people and more so about their own well being. And it's clear he never was a normal person, it is mentioned in passing that he used to kill animals as a child for fun, and the suicide he witnessed at the train station screwed him up further which gave him a sensation and a lust for human blood. It's also the event that likely lead him to contemplate in the park where the aliens crashed in the first place.

The only person he seems to show genuine affection for is his mother who divorced her husband and presumably worked her ass off to raise him. She even has cancer and weary eyes that make her appear older than she is.. Sound familiar?
Later in the series he also forms a connection with a girl from his school and her grandma. But this connection is mostly one of convenience and doesn't seem all that genuine due to his body language when with them and that he even considered killing them in their sleep.

Every day happy families also seem to make Hiro feel discontent due to his split up family background even if he's not fully aware of it. This is demonstrated in episode 2 and 3 when he breaks in to random family's houses and murders every family member. Even in the first family he killed there's a particular emphasis on when he kills the father of the household - the father's body falls on his child while they're in the bathtub drowning him, making it seem almost as if the father himself was the one strangling him. You can see this alluding to Hiro's disdain for (or his general relationship with) his father which we know he's not very fond of.. He seems to visit his father's new family out of obligation and nothing else. Or maybe it's just cruel senseless violence for the sake of it. Sure. But whether you like hearing this or not, children without fathers in the house are more likely to become criminals, drug addicts or screwed up in some way.

Sociopaths are also known to be highly intelligent which Hiro demonstrates very well with his sharp, opinionated dialogue and quick learning skills of how to use his new body (and by liking Nami ofc). He learns pretty quickly how to hack any computer he wants and to use all the dangerous weaponry at his disposal. Meanwhile, we see the average salary man, Ichiro struggling to learn how to fly, heal people etc'. Even by the end of the series Hiro is way ahead of him to the point where he already figured out how to self destruct. This also might be commentary on their age difference and how older people are less familiar with modern tech. Which seems to be reinforced when Andou teaches Ichirou how to turn his body in to a cell phone.

While I do think Hiro is an amoral individual to the core that doesn't mean he's not capable of doing good things too. Him going around curing people from terminal diseases was a good thing in practice, but it was not done out of the goodness of his heart, but for his own benefit in pleasing his girlfriend. Manipulating others and adjusting your persona is all part of being a sociopath. It's also worth mentioning that this short lived change in Hiro's ways is a result of a completely random encounter with this girl, which ties in to both the beginning and ending of this story that are made up of life changing random occurrences.

All of the above are clues we get about Hiro throughout the series. we never actually get a full backstory or inner monologue because that will evoke sympathy which I'm positive is not the intent of this story. Thus it also stands to reason that this series begins by fleshing out Ichirou's personal life before the alien crash happens, while Hiro doesn't get the same treatment and we only experience his character after the fact

As a result of Hiro's mentality, in the last stretch of episodes he declares war on the entirety of Japan. Which seems over the top but in this point in the story the police are after him, his mother already committed suicide, his semi girlfriend, her grandma and even his friend Andou don't want anything to do with him anymore. He even stole a bunch of money for them and they refuse to use it out of principal. He's basically making up for his loss by killing people one by one which is clearly his favorite pastime. It's either that or he just runs away and hides somewhere for the rest of his life.

The reason Hiro sacrificed himself in the end seems to be ambiguous. Sure, he said it's for his girlfriend and Andou, but there's evidence that suggests otherwise:
First, lets not forget that his body is wrecked, he's crippled for life, just like the gangsters Ichiro confronted early in the series. Second, as stated above he has nothing left to live for. Third, He didn't look Ichiro in the eye when he gave him that reason, despite looking him in the eye in his next line of dialogue - suggesting that he's lying (if you look at the equivalent manga chapter [82] this is even more apparent, I looked it up for this). Fourth, an episode earlier he discovered that he's the villain and Ichiro is the hero in the eyes of the public and he was very upset about it to the point of tears. Ichiro also informs him that saving people is what makes him feel alive. And shortly before he sacrifices himself, Andou tells him that he's not Hiro (a Hero) anymore, just a reckless killing machine, which results in him shedding tears once again ...
Conclusion: he didn't mind dying at this point in the story anyway and wanted to be the hero for once, inspired by Ichiro's heroism for the wrong reasons, he did it for his self image and 'feeling alive' one last time. I'm guessing that's the reason for his heroic sounding name.

Ichiro on the other hand is the ideal hero we all want, but still relatable and human in his own right. Indiscriminately saving both humans and animals alike. He goes around in hospitals curing people who are terminally ill and he beats up thugs.
Furthermore Ichiro actually had all the trappings of being a villain himself - in the beginning of the series he was 3 months away from death, his family barely talks to him and he looks 20 years older than he really is, which is probably a result of him working to the bone to support his family. There's even a symbolic image in the opening theme that shows him with what appears to be a factory popping out of his body while lying on his back, suggesting that he's working himself in to an early grave (something that's known to happen in Japan). This is just speculation, but I suspect that his overwork might also play a part in his neglected relationship with his family.
Anyway, All of this is a good excuse for him to be angry at the world, and despite that he still remains a good person and sticks to his principles to the end. Hiro's problems are peanuts compared to his but due to their age difference and general attitude towards life, Ichiro is experienced enough to know the consequences of his own actions.

Another interesting thing about him is that he's not perfect and his extreme naivety can also lead to some morally questionable actions as well. Like leaving a bunch of gangsters blind and crippled for life when simply killing them would've been more humane. You even see how hesitant he is at first on whether to put himself in danger for others, like any human being would. Hell, in the final battle he even blows up a satellite with the debris falling on the ground unintentionally putting the people below at risk (though to be fair, it's preferable to the risk of Hiro massacring them). That aside, his impact on random people that he saves (who get fleshed out well for minor characters, btw) is implied. The most prominent one is the character arc involving his daughter learning to appreciate him and applying for Shonen Jump which was very sweet. It goes to show that good deeds aren't just good on their own, but they may also inspire others to better themselves. While Hiro's perceived "good deeds" lead to nothing but tragedy for himself and others.

Ichiro remains the ideal hero we all want and adore and I wouldn't have it any other way. The man helps others without a second thought and doesn't brag or feel the need to be praised for it. After all, the man went out of his way to hide his powers from the public (because apparently Japanese hospitals don't have security cameras lol). On the other hand, it did cross my mind that he might be doing these things solely to 'feel alive' (because that's what he says) which is the same selfish reason Hiro has for killing people. But it's made clear that he has his heart in the right place and we see that he's genuinely distressed when someone else is in danger, even a stray cat. And as I've demonstrated with Hiro, this is a series where actions speak louder than words.

While it is heartbreaking that he couldn't stay with his family in the end and that the circumstances forced him to change course - at the end of the day, he wanted his family and the entire earth to keep living because of his good nature. He's the man who shows that not all hope is lost and fills the role of our 'Last Hero'. The fact that even the last thing we see in the final episode consists of his daughter being accepted in shonen jump and his son fighting bullies implies that his sacrifice will have a lasting impact on a larger scale and that society won't stay as shallow and amoral as the author suggests through out the series. I'm sure the homeless man from episode 1 followed through on his promise to better himself too.

To wrap up how I view the main characters' I'm gonna say that they're both separate from the author's largely negative view of society. Both of them don't fit in to their surroundings for different reasons and the decision to cast live action actors to voice them seems like an attempt to make them stand out as much as possible. They're also polar opposites of each other, one has no trace of empathy for others while the other (arguably) has too much empathy. They make up the best and worst of humanity, while the general public are varying degrees in the middle, not sure which side they will end up gravitating towards. That is of course until the end - where it becomes clear that Ichiro won, and not because he won the fight (though that helps too) but because he helped inspire others and made their lives better and even went as far as to inspire a murderous sociopath to do the right thing that only he is capable of doing, even if it's for the wrong reasons.

Characters aside, now is a good time to expand a bit more on the social commentary. I thought it was clever that most people kept using cellphones even after Hiro was able shoot and kill people through them and they were explicitly warned about it. The way it was portrayed was over the top, sure, but it's clear that the author is well aware of how stupid it is, otherwise he wouldn't call attention to it repeatedly and so blatantly to the point of even having a character say the line: "I'd rather die than not have a phone".
Obviously this is also commentary on our over reliance on these gadgets. It's funny too since both of the main characters would literally die if not for their mechanical bodies (which also happened to be used as phones occasionally lol).

Speaking of which, I liked how the main character's mechanical bodies weren't explained verbally, instead we're shown how they work visually.
For example there's apparently an emergency mechanism for when the body is in danger and the user is knocked unconscious (through heavy blows) and a little camera appears at the back of the head and starts shooting lasers everywhere like some kind of home security system. Which is probably why when Ichiro gets shot repeatedly in the back of the head at one point, he's knocked unconscious and the camera doesn't come out. We also see that water is helpful in oiling it back up. I even liked how clear it was that Ichiro was not a skilled fighter despite the mechanical body. When he fights some thugs at one point he just sloppily swings his fists around like an amature would..

Back to the commentary: Hiro gaining a fanbase as a mass murderer is due to his looks. Not only is it not unrealistic, sadly, but judging a book by its cover is also a recurring theme in the series. Most notably when Hiro refuses to acknowledge a woman based on her looks in episode 2. Or when people consider Ichiro an elderly when he's only 58 years old (rightfully so in his case) or earlier in the series when he saves a couple that consist of an ugly man and a beautiful woman, while the people surrounding them look at them funny for that very reason. Hell, that same woman later gets kidnapped solely because of her looks. And lastly a female cancer patient crying in the street while kids point at her, calling her "ugly bitch". This idea brilliantly came full circle and right back to Hiro who rejected it in the first place. It's consistent with how the general public was depicted through out the series.

As for the whole asteroid thing towards the end. This was introduced around episode 8 and at first I thought it was a lazy excuse for a shoehorned climax.. But by the time it ended I realized that it did give the series a high note to end on and it gives the main characters closure that was in tune with their motives and it's also a nice callback to the very beginning. Accidents like Ichiro almost stepping on an ant, forcing it to alter its course. Aliens crashing on earth which resulted in the main characters pursuit of feeling alive again through different means. Hiro changing his ways, briefly, thanks to a random encounter with a girl who confessed to him earlier. And lastly, the asteroid which forced the main characters to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.

Admittedly, accidents don't make for good storytelling methods, especially when it comes at the very end of a story.. But accidents are a part of life and I think this is all part of the 'set in the real world' vibe this show is going for. I don't think it's a coincidence that live action actors were hired as part of the voice cast and many real life events, figures and organizations are mentioned throughout the series. Gantz, the 9/11 look alike and that the president is Donald Trump (and not some random fictional president) and that Ichiro's neighbor is apparently Eichiro Oda and 2chan being a thing, or an ad for 'Man with a Mission's new album (the band that sings the op song) being displayed in the street, Shonen Jump, One Piece, etc', etc', etc'.
This is even reflected in the fairly realistic character designs, mechanical designs and background art. And heck, even in small seemingly pointless sequences like seeing the dog randomly trip off the stairs or Hiro realizing that he can't speak in space, only to use his phone 2 seconds later. These are types of things you normally wouldn't see in a fictional story.

All of this leads me to suspect that the author and the high caliber director, Keiichi Sato knew exactly what they were doing when making this. Life just doesn't always go as planned and we need to change plans accordingly, try to better ourselves to the best of our ability and make the best out of a bad situation. That's what this series seems to be about.

Or maybe it's just a schlocky sci fi title with senseless violence. That works too lol.


----END OF SPOILERS--

At face value, I'd say this still is a good vs evil type of story, showcasing both the best and worst of humanity and everything in between. I don't always agree with the social commentary, but it's timely and interesting nonetheless. It also doesn't feel the need to spell everything out, its characters are entirely defined by their actions and surprisingly, its message is a lot more optimistic compared to this author's previous work.