Back to Islaya's Profile Islaya's Profile

I'm going to be 100% brutally honest with this review, so if you don't like or want to hear my opinion, you should probably stop reading at this point.

I honestly don't see what the appeal of this series is, and this is coming from a die hard Gundam fan that has seen most Gundam series that have ever been made. I was excited about this series when I first heard it would be coming out, but after only getting roughly 10 episodes into it, I was sick to my stomach and couldn't take anymore. If you like the series, good for you, I have nothing ... against that, it's just this series didn't even come close to living up to the previous Gundam series that came before it.

Story: Ok, this was the first thing that I noticed about the series and the thing I hated the most about it: Gundam Seed's story is pretty much 90% a blatant copy of the original Mobil Suit Gundam story from 1979. If you think Seed has a good story and you've never seen the original Gundam, I highly recommend you go watch that to see where this series got it's material and to see what a 'real' Gundam series should be like. Yes, I only got 10 episodes into the series, but that's all I needed to completely lose faith in this series story wise, because I had already seen the same story pulled off in a much better fashion.

Animation & Sound: This is really the only thing I can't fault the series on, in my opinion it had amazing animation and sound. Actually, this is probably the only reason I stuck with the series for so long before finally giving up on it as a massive train wreak. The animation down to the smallest detail is very well drawn and very well executed, and the sound helps to accent that. Overall, this was the only good thing about the series.

Character: I won't spend much time on this, because I have pretty much the same thing to say about the characters as I had to say about the story, just a copy of the original series. Group of young kids/teenagers get caught up in a war and are made to face the opposing forces (ZAFT in this case over the original series' Zeon) in which one of those kids must pilot the Gundam and fight off the standard 'villain in the white mask' (Char in the original, I don't know or care about his name in Seed). Overall from what I got out of the episodes I saw, the characters lacked depth at all. Once again, to see this series and it's characters told in a much better way, please watch the original Gundam series.

Enjoyment: I didn't enjoy this series one bit, and it actually killed the Gundam franchise a little in my opinion that thankfully Gundam 00 restored a little in my eyes. Again, if you like this series, thats for you, but coming from someone that grew up watching all the Gundam series, I felt it was just a very bad and poorly executed attempt to re-tell the original Gundam story for a new generation, which itself really wasn't a bad idea, it was just pulled off very badly. Overall, if you want to see a Gundam series, I would recommended several of older series over Seed anyday.

Spice and Wolf is one of those series I heard everyone and their mother talking about, and honestly, it didn't look that appealing to me. I finally decided to watch it, to be honest, to have something to write a bad review about to balance out good/bad reviews. After I started watching it though, and getting into the story and characters, I quickly fell in love with this series, even though it's one of those shows I usually wouldn't like or enjoy.

Story:The story revolves around Craft Lawrence, a traveling merchant going from town to town selling and trading various goods. After leaving a town, he ... stumbles upon Horo, a wolf in human form who was considered a "God" by the local villagers, sleeping in his wagon on his furs. After listening to Horo's story, Lawrence decides to accompany her back north to her homeland. Though the story is overall great, there are a few minor things I had a problem with. Mainly the constant explanation of how the economy works, it tends to wear out it's welcome after hearing it several times. The suspense was the main point of the story that hooked me though. It might get slow at a few points, but for the majority of the series I was on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next.

Animation and Sound: There really isn't much to say about the animation other then it was simply beautiful. Even the smallest detail like the faces on coins or the small rust spots on signs are draw with utmost care and attention to detail. The sound is equally impressive. Horo's howl gave me chills every time I heard it.

Character: My personal favorite aspect of the series. Jun Fukuyama as Lawrence and Ami Koshimizu as Horo make the series their own with their outstanding performances. Add together a very good and well-rounded cast of supporting characters and it's any anime fans dream. Though I do feel some characters weren't as fleshed out and developed as they could of been, mainly Chloe and Norah. Norah did have a fairly big role, but I still feel there was so much more potential with her character. Chloe I though and hoped would have a fairly large role, but has no screen time at all for the entire second half of the series.

Enjoyment: Honestly, I didn't have high hopes of enjoying this series when I started it, but I was very pleasantly surprised. I was sucked in from the moment the opening started (which is one of my top openings now) until the ending credits (which was somewhat of a letdown, unless theres a second season) Overall, would I recommend this series? Yes. It was very good and highly enjoyable, and thats coming from someone who usually dislikes series like this. Here's hoping there's a season 2.

This is my first review, so please bear with me ^_^

Slayers, based of of the novels of the same name written by Kanzaka Hajime, is the story of a young sorceress named Lina Inverse and her 'protector' Gourry Gabriev as they travel the land in search of anything that can get them treasure. Inspired by one of the original Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, fans and players of the game can step into the series with ease as it feels just like the game. Even if your not a D&D player or a RP'er in general, the characters alone are enough to pull you in and ... keep you enjoying the series from beginning to end.

Story: The story, though in my opinion not the main driving force, still moves the series alone nicely and evenly. It sets up the same style all other Slayers series that come after follow, starting fairly light hearted and movie along until eventually the fate of the world is at stake. Though sometimes it does seem like they try to make it funny at a time when the humor could be left out, it doesn't effect the flow that much. The only thing I really had a problem with story wise is there are two main story arcs. The story gets going, builds up to a climatic battle, then falls back to ground zero again and has to build up some more to get back to that high point again. Though the two arcs are linked together overall, those few episodes in the middle are somewhat of a let down after all the action from the previous episodes.

Animation and Sound: The series first premiered in 1995, so the animation and sound reflect that. Though I feel this series got the short end of the stick, because other series from the same year (Gundam Wing and Evangelion to name a couple) have much better animation and sound quality. Though not as good as it probably could of been for it's time, it still doesn't take away from the overall thrill and enjoyment of the series.

Character: I said above that I felt the story wasn't the main driving force of the series, because that role is filled by the characters. Lina's short tempered and violent nature make her an instant iconic anime character. Her and her alone could make an entire series with just her misadventures and it would be a masterpiece. Throw in her 'protector' Gourry, a superb swordsman with, as Lina would say, "the brains of a jellyfish," Zelgadis, a Chimera adept with both a sword and magic, Amelia, a "Justice-Happy" princess, and Sylphiel, a ditzy shrine priestess, and you have a well rounded cast of characters that excel in both comical and serious situations.

Enjoyment: I really enjoyed this series from beginning to end, and was hooked from the first episode all the way up to the last, and couldn't wait to get more, and thankfully theres 3 sequel series, several prequel OVAs, and 5 movies to keep someone occupied for several weeks (or days if you decide to marathon them like I did)

Overall, in my opinion, one of the best series from the '90s, and a anime classic that will stand the test of time. And thankfully, Slayers Next (The second season) takes everything lovable about the first season and takes it to a whole nother level.