Back to IAMQT's Profile IAMQT's Profile

Been ages that an anime about cycling came up, but hey, we finally got one.

The Anime was alright, nothing really great about it, but isn't that bad in a sense that it kind of made up for it in other areas. I honestly just found the execution of the entire thing just very weirdly put together that just made the story and character development awkward in a way. I've seen quite a lot of animes in this genre that tries to introduce many characters, but somehow Rinkai tries to make every character a "favoritable main character", that you start to think this is too ... much screentime and development for what you think is just a supporting main character, I just want to see more of the actual main character that was initially introduced along with their Rival.

It's fine if a series gives the spotlight to a supporting main character once or twice, but you know, trying to showcase and develop other characters so late in the anime, kinda just rubs me in an awkward way. Usually most 13-episode formated sports animes revolves around this very promising lead character and 2 more supporting mains to be the main character's best friend or competitive Rival, and this Anime does it, but also goes beyond the uniform that a 13-episode format series usually does, from "here are the two other supporting main characters" and tries to be instead "yeah lets introduce a character who tried to steal the spotlight from the main character but ended up never seeing again and give 3 more episodes to 3 different characters in the friend group", and among that introduce newer supporting characters that i never heard of just for the sake of character development for one of the group of friends.

I mean first you think, "oh this girl is the main character and she is to get the most of the spotlight and development", but nah, lets showcase the struggles of this other character first for 3 episodes and never make her appear again other than the "I am in the shadows watching you", and then invest 3 other episodes to the remaining 3 friends nearing the ending of the series. I mean like wow, you just invested 3 episodes to a girl that we will never see again, and now you are going to invest 3 more episodes to delve deeper into the remaining characters in the MC's friend group, and on top of that introduce 2 new side characters in one of the episodes, and give them actually quite a lot of screentime just to develop one of the supporting main characters development arc.

Take Haiykuuu for example, so many interesting characters, now imagine trying to introduce those so many characters and developing them within their respective episodes but in a 13 episode style format, just not enough time for anything. The timing of trying to showcase a deeper understanding of these supporting main characters just came out of nowhere nearing the climax of the series. I genuinely felt while watching in the middle of the series, just wanted to see more of the Main character (Itou, Izumi) and her Rival (Hiratsuka, Nana) to have more development because they interested me, because for the first few episodes, the anime makes you interested in the two characters but hey, the series doesn't give them attention any further, completely ignored until the last 2 episodes before the big race, because they invest so many episodes for a girl we won't see again, and 3 other characters in the friend group.

I don't know about this one chief but the execution was just really bad for me, but either way, the animation despite being mixed in with 3DCG for scenes that would require a bigger budget to recreate in 2D, I felt the art was quite attracting and animated well, despite the medicore 3DCG being mixed in, the 2D animation was of great quality, and the soundtrack manages to decently immerse you in tense scenes, the characters even the supporting characters were interesting enough, but it is honestly just how awfully done the execution was that made me not really vibe entirely with the show.

An okay anime nonetheless, and if you aren't so nitpicky and still find the enjoyment in a flawed anime, I do recommend it, just a matter of what your standard is in enjoying animes. No matter the flaw, I enjoy my animes as long as it befits the genre I like, so in this case, I awkwardly enjoyed it. Objectively, I'd give it a 5 or lower, but since my ratings are based on personal enjoyment, it gets a 6-ish I guess.

Non-spoiler review:

Seen quite a lot of animes and it's rare to see an anime with iyashikei elements in the narrative to have widespread fame into the mainstream. Frieren does a perfect job in fusing so many themes into its plot without exaggerating the cliche. As a person who has seen his fair share of animes to a point where I think animes have become saturated and predictable, that I only need to watch the first 5 minutes to know the entire anime. I more or less couldn't with Frieren, and that made me thoroughly enjoy this anime. A very uniquely executed anime to its entirety ... from character to story development. What this anime does perfectly is that it never exaggerates the different narrative themes it takes from but to balance it out to fit what it tries to portray: a life lesson in the world of action adventure and magic.

Development of story and characters is what I enjoyed the most in the show, and it does a great job in pacing such characters from newly introduced ones later on in the anime and further developing the existing ones. The character development is so well done, I haven't seen such an anime for a long time that has done so well with character and story pacing, that it creates this immersive bubble to have an actual connection to the series, and I think this outclasses a lot of animes that were priorly "popular" in its category before frieren came out. Only a handful of animes achieved proper emotional attachment with a long progressive unique storyline with a good enough pacing, and frieren did it better in all aspects. Even if Frieren's storyline seemed to be just another "run of the mill defeat the demon king adventure", yet the adventure doesn't feel like it's "just another destroy the demon king journey" that every fantasy anime has already done many times over. Frieren's plot is so straight-forward but at the same time very unique like no other anime has come to do, because of the style and execution that it has created with its pacing and progression, and that so many factors and great timing played a part in making the anime fantastic.

For example, here is another factor Frieren does great in. You ever seen an anime where they do great at one thing, but exaggerate in another. Maybe some anime series out there the drama gets too much, the comedy is over the top, or a few character personalities are overly contrasting that is indifferent in comparison to reality for how exaggeratingly "pervy, edgy, optimistic, pessmistic, etc" they are. However, Freiren never leaned on one thing too much, it never exaggerated a narrative, the comedy, drama, fantasy, dialogue, or the characters it tries to present to you and be percieved as this "yet another anime "thing".", it was very well balanced all throughout in so many areas where nothing became a nuisance. And I loved that.

Anime for these past years has become so boring nowadays for a picky viewer like me, frieren reminded me the enjoyment of what anime can bring. And I dont think, as far as my memory can remember from all the series I have came to witness in my anime fandom years, that any anime has done the same level of execution style of story-telling that Sousou no Frieren did, I can't recall any, I think Frieren by far, is the only one with such a style. Call it subjective, but when you've been calling every anime season boring, "yet just another anime cliche" before the release of frieren, it means something to me.

Great Anime, recommended to anyone who enjoys similar themes and genres.

I’ve seen quite a lot of idol-related anime, and Extreme hearts was another good addition to the genre. I really do like the merging of sports and idols, and there are quite a handful of anime series that have done exactly that, from Pride of Orange, or Uma Musume Pretty Derby, where musical performances after a sporting event is done and it's still uncommon in that theme.

I am going to be real with you, if you’re not that type of viewer with a solid interest of those genres then you should look elsewhere, I tend to notice a lot of reactions are on the negatives ... because they expect it to be as comparable to what you see from a highly budgeted popular series, and unfortunately people tend to look too deep into something that is supposed to be just your simple and bare-boned anime show, which you should keep in mind.

Extreme Hearts isn’t the next Love Live, Haikyuu, or any other significant popularized mainstream of the genre, but it sure does enjoyably deliver well enough for the common target market who just wants to watch and enjoy an anime about Sports with Idols.

I, myself, see nothing majorly wrong with the show, like I said, despite what people may say towards Extreme Hearts being an idol cliche, low-budget in animation, and that it is “an overdid plotline” that tries to be different with these unnecessary sci-fi ideas, sure, there some truths to that. But at the end of the day, is the music good, yes, is watching the sequences of the sci-fi themed sports fun, yes, are the characters entertaining along with the commonly used plotline, hell yeah, it was enjoyable.

If you’re an avid fan of the genre seeking a new idol sports anime as they rarely come out nowadays, then I recommend it, as a guy who has watched over multitude of slice-of-life Idol shows, my experience watching Extreme Hearts was a fun one

(Notice: This is a review for the whole series)

How do I start...

What do we want to do in life? Is a question that we all ask ourselves at some point, trying to seek aspiration as we go on living. Well, Tamayura is the ideal Anime to get you pensive about it, "what do I want to do in life?". The Anime predominantly focuses on a girl named "Fuu" who relishes on taking photos of anything she finds engrossing to her while desiring to make people smile upon seeing her Photos. Photography is a hobby that she adores ever since she was a child, using the ... camera of her father, a "Rollei 35 S", later to ponder whether she wants to take up photography in college at another city and make it a lifetime profession. She faces hindering thoughts to doubt the idea, worrying and agonizing throughout her high school years, facing emotional obstacles until the final school months. Join her inspiring journey to fulfill her dream and maybe we can learn a thing or two.

Tamayura is a Slice-of-Life and we all know that SOL genres don't entirely focus on the main plot and may stray off focusing on different subplots the show has. Tamayura, as like any other SOL anime, is an episodic series, developing the secondary characters through challenges & adventures while partially progressing on the main storyline which is Fuu's life and her ambition. This is the main splendid aspect of Tamayura, the character progression and development in the Anime made it all the better, it being a long-running series making all the more room for an emotional build up on the characters.

What I love about the story is how they present the main character, Fuu, (who's quite sentimental) that has migrated to a rural town, her hometown and continues to do what she loves despite the mishaps in the past. Going through hurdles in life, be it anxiety, worrisome, fear and many more in what we go through today in wanting to reach our aspiration, all the while having the support of her friends and family along the way. The Main character may get too emotional, or "dramatic" but I see that as the personality of the main character, as just like real people, it portrays what humans generally are: sentimental beings.

As much I would I like to say about the story, there is not much, Tamayura is an episodic series about a daily life of a girl facing challenges in life experiencing the saddest to the best of moments, as like any slice of life you come across where they progress the MC to reach their certain goal. What makes Tamayura original and distinct from the rest of the SOL titles out there -- and this is a fact -- it portrays life realistically as possible, sure it may be perceived as a "cute-girls-doing-cute-things' themed show (and it basically is one) but 'generically' isn't? In what we experience mentally in life as of today, again from the challenges that we go through to reach a certain goal, accepting that things that eventually change and having to move on, to the “whether I should or not chase after what I really want to do in life and the many more”, is how it is portrayed in this Anime and without a doubt that is something to notice and praise as a slice of life fan; an Anime that actually portrays the common difficulties in LIFE in which the majority of the viewers can definitely relate to.

You'll certainly get the feel of the calming vibe the Anime gives off with its spectacular scenes and art-style. The setting of the Anime is based on a real place in Japan, Takehara, Hiroshima. A place full of greenery and mountainous terrain, clearly being a rural area. The Anime actually started as only 4 OVAs to promote the location, showcasing a lot of tourist hot-spots and the overall eye-catching areas in Takehara, honestly, it's one amazing place to check out. Aside from the simplistic yet beautiful art-style, the music indeed adds more calmness and emotion to the show, being one of the "essence" (if I may so) in what completes the calming-emotional aura around the Anime.

Tamayura is an amazing Anime that any fan of the genre would dearly love. As a fan who consistently watches Slice of Life Animes, I still consider Tamayura as one of the greater "deep" ones that I've come across, therefore I highly recommend this Anime that deserves the recognition. ​

Angel beats, an Anime that's widely-known among the community.

The show has an umpteen of goods and bads, surprisingly it being a favorite and one of the first Animes that I've watched, I have to put the bias aside and point-out the flaws that the show possesses. Angel beats may be a tear-jerking show for the fragile hearts and it has quite the touching story but when we look more in-depth to what the story really is about, it's tangled in a various of things -- setting, the plot, back-story, execution, denouement, etc -- which explains the many questions that you'll ask after watching, to ... cut-it short the story is badly written & executed, disregarding a lot of vital things that you would want to know to understand the Anime. Guessing that the writers left it for our imaginations, it still builds up the confusion around the story plus the bad execution of certain multiple crisis that the characters face. The Anime has 13 episodes, right-off-the-bat you would know you're most likely not getting a well-paced story-line however I think it does convey what it should convey but doesn't go anymore explanatory and it will leave things hanging, which will lead up to you, again, asking many questions therefore spending hours on wiki or a forum site reading a lot of theories by other people or yourself trying to figure out on certain aspects that the Anime lacked in explanation.

That is one of the biggest flaws in Angel Beats, the lack of explanation. There are scads of plot-holes that needs to be covered in which the author ignored and coats everything with emotional events. Again, the story isn't all that bad, it's a very good emotional Anime that will may leave you in tears and is obviously why the Anime did become popular. If you ignore the lack of explanation, the Anime would be an enjoyable watch and I think that is one way to enjoy this Anime "don't come up with questions now, go with the flow with what's being shown and ask questions later".

So, why watch Angel beats if you're spewing all these dismissive things about the story? Objectively, Angel beats is substandard & poor in terms of writing. Though, like what I've said, I enjoyed it. I might get subjective in this part & mostly based on personal preference. The feeling of an "Afterlife", the emotional tale that the author puts into these characters & the world they are in, attracts my curiosity that I want to know more! The fact how they somewhat build up these groups of characters in each sub-plot peeks the attention of mine, achieving a "bittersweet" end. The story is bad in explanation & every plot-hole in the Anime can be frustrating, yet if you have an imagination, you fill-up the plot-holes (took me weeks to get over the thoughts of Angel Beats) and I do know that's not your job to do, again basing it on my personal judgment but that's how I look at it. I love stories that are related to Death & the after life with the emotional events that the Anime presents, so I liked it and that's my reason why.

Going on to the characters, they were well-done from the back-story, personality, build-up, humor and the chemistry that this big group of characters had together. Which made the Anime enjoyable because you have this mix of emotions from anger, sadness & happiness. Although one of the downsides that the Anime has, (which is not related to the character writing) there are around 10-12 characters some of which have ample amount of screen time throughout the Anime BUT only out of that amount you get 4-5 characters that were properly developed, having there own background-development and the ones who didn't are disregarded. I mean these group of characters are intriguing and it's sad to see that not all got their progression, which I would say is a waste of good potential characters. These 5 characters that were developed, had really good background-stories, good development and you can just feel the emotions that the characters portrayed and which many fans can relate. Which is also why the Anime got popular, I could very well say it's a flaw and it's indeed disappointing to see a good amount of unique characters that didn't have their special part in the Anime. Hoping we could see a season 2 or a remake (which we probably won't) I think Angel beats would go further in the ranking charts if it just had a bit more episodes & was solidly executed, it would have been a "chef d oeuvre". Or that's how I'd look at it, if it did.

Music is awe-inspiring, Godly composed if I must say, the lyrics are nicely written bringing emotions & meaning to one-self, the instrumental speaks to your ears and I may sound like I'm exaggerating my admiration to the music (and probably I am) but the music is one of the great facets the Anime has. The soundtracks consist of piano and acoustic, J-rock which the guitar solos and riffs were astounding to listen to. (Which is kinda sad now that the actual band has disbanded.) ​

I have no complaints over the animation & art-style, it's your average, nevertheless still bringing out the visual beauty in the Anime. To end this off the Anime is a hit or miss but for people who are looking for a tear-jerker or an over-all emotional Anime, this is for you and you'll love it! I enjoyed it to the point where my tears could halfy fill a bottle-cap, this brought me into the Anime world and I think it would be best for thee people who love the genre(and who want to cry because they have fragile hearts). The flaws I said is to factually review the Anime and to point out so people who are expecting more won't be dissappointed. Nonetheless, I personally love the Anime. Give it a watch! :D

This was a nice short Animation.

I think we all went through that moment where we thought about our future, past, or whatever that we had in life.
The life this short animation shows you is probably the life you're going through or had experienced already. You know from young age to old age, the hardships, the happy moments, the sad moments, that is all part of life.

Well, it was worth the 4 minutes, it does give a smile on your face. :D