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I recently re-watched this. I knew that it was going to make me cry. I sat in quiet dread, knowing that things were going to go from bad to worse.

The most "helpful" review on MAL appears to have entirely missed the point of the move while simultaneously describing the entire point of the movie. The fact that Grave of the Fireflies was able to get its point across to someone who goes out of his way to miss the point of the movie is a testament to just how good it is.

Since my review is commentary on that other review, be warned that there are ... spoilers.

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Thus, Seita is a completely callous, idiotic monster, responsible not only for his own death, but the death of his sister as well. That's my first problem with "Grave of the Fireflies". That the main character is responsible for the entire tragedy that ensues.
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That was actually the point of the movie! The thing about tragedies in storytelling is that they're tragically avoidable. But of course they aren't avoided; if they were, then there wouldn't be a story to tell to begin with.

More specific to this tragedy in particular, the man who wrote the semi-autobiographical story outright blamed himself for the death of his little sister; Seita being responsible for Setsuko's demise is explicitly what the author went for.

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Another weakness of the movie is how completely contrived and fake the emotions were. You're telling me that when Seita sees his dead mother, her skin burned off her very flesh, he doesn't cry? He's so tough, that he tries to entertain his younger sister by doing tricks on a metal high bar?
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Seita's story was one of escapism; he was clearly unequipped to handle the cruel reality that he found himself in.

That high bar scene in particular was crucial. His mother was near death and his sister was crying because she didn't know what had happened to her mother. Instead of telling her the truth, he avoided recognizing reality. From that point on, his sister's perception of reality became paramount. As long as she didn't know the harsh truth, he himself wouldn't have to address it emotionally.

Instead of handling everything like an adult, he acted like a child - like his sister who didn't know any better. That's why he spent all of his time playing, trying to keep Setsuko happy and ignorant - because her happiness had become directly tied to his own. As long as she laughs, he can pretend everything is fine.

In fact, that's why he leaves his aunt and refuses to return. Notice that as they left the aunt's place, Setsuko was laughing. She didn't know how hard it would be to get food. All she knew was that she was happy with her brother. And all he knew was that he needed to keep her happy - whatever the cost.

For proof that Seita had anchored his emotional state to Setsuko's, just look at the dead firefly scene. Notice how it's only after he finds out that Setsuko was told of her mother's death (by the aunt) that he actually mourns. His previous lack of outward emotion was directly tied to his little sister's ignorance and innocence.

When she expresses loss, he expresses loss.

And when she dies, he dies.

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Seita and Setsuko suffer tragedy during World War 2. They play and laugh a lot. Seita ignores the responsibilities of an adult. Eventually, they starve.
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The entire point is that Seita couldn't accept the tragedy of reality. He denied it until it had already consumed his little sister - and thus himself. It's only at the end that he suffered, because up until then he had been able to play games and ignore it.

It's rather ironic that the reviewer did something very similar to Seita. The reviewer was aware of the point of the movie, but failed to connect intellectually with the facts in front of him - just like how Seita was aware of how awful things were, but failed to connect emotionally with the facts in front of him.

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The music, while a simple orchestral score, is nevertheless touching, adding just the right emotion to several important scenes. It's not overpowering, but rather a soft background noise that makes one think of nostalgia and regret.
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The reviewer noticed that the score makes one think of regret, and yet failed to connect that regret with the story.

It's not meant to be a story of a hero, nor is it meant to invoke sympathy for Seita. Rather, it's a story of remorse and lament about an older brother who lacked the emotional strength to handle a situation where he needed to be strong to save his little sister from an avoidable death.

The story resembles that of a generic isekai. The art is meh. The characters are nondescript and flat (in more than one way).

Therefore I recommend it!

...Because it's very clearly a self-aware parody.

None of the characters have any actual names - they're that nondescript. The hero is so OP and bland that even the girls make fun of him... behind his back of course. In front of him, they figuratively suck his D. Not literally of course, because the hero of a generic isekai is usually chaste.

In any case, its chapters are so short that you won't waste much time by choosing to read it. That ... being said, you also won't miss much by completely ignoring its existence.

TL;DR: eh, it's something.

Some characters that don't get the spotlight in the main story get fleshed out a bit in these three chapters. They seem to take place within the timeline of the main story rather than after.

The third chapter (featuring Renka) in particular made me feel sentimental, making me wish I could more of her own personal story.

The other chapters are also interesting, as they reveal some things that went on in the background while other things were happening in the main story.

(Need to type more for a longer review: it's too bad that there wasn't more, as these stories really whet my appetite.)

Note: Only the first chapter seemed to be available. I also did a quick search for the raws for the other 5 chapters, but didn't see anything. Can't exactly request a translation to be completed when the raws aren't even available. :(

At the very least, the one chapter that was available featured Shigure (which I very much appreciate). Don't worry about there being a cliffhanger, because it's a standalone chapter. Nothing heavy, just a lighthearted story.

If you're a fan of Shigure, check it out. Even if Shigure isn't your favorite, it should still appeal to fans of HSDK.

(Extra characters for a longer review: the story ... is similar to a lighthearted chapter of HSDK, the art is what you'd expect, the characters are what you'd expect, the enjoyment is pretty much what you'd expect. Overall, it's about what you'd expect of a HSDK side-story.)

Shows like this don't have to be plot heavy to get by. A gimmicky premise plus some cute girls and action is enough to justify watching for many people (and that includes myself). Whether it's the cuteness of the girls or the hokey Hogan's Heroes/military-ish sounding music used for the preview (and as background music during various light moments throughout the series), Date A Live has a certain charm to it that doesn't need to provide a deep experience to be enjoyable.

That said, I found that I was more interested in the plot than I thought I would be. While I wasn't immediately impressed from ... the first episode, things did become more interesting about halfway into the series. That isn't to say that the previous episode weren't entertaining in their own right, but the dark side of the story really shines (insofar as darkness shines) in contrast to the light side. In fact, the episode just prior to the (well-placed) injection of drama was fluffy enough to be called filler; the contrast between the two sides makes the drama feel (subjectively) deeper.

In any case, you shouldn't expect a masterpiece out of Date A Live. However, if you keep an open mind to light fun and humor mixed with surprisingly interesting story developments (and with bits of action interspersed), then this could be the right anime for you.

I wasn't completely impressed with the main series for A-Channel because I thought the pacing was a bit slow. I like slice of life and I enjoyed it overall, but it felt a bit too drawn out.

In contrast, this set of specials benefits from being quick and to the point. Being familiar with the characters obviously helps, but I think these would (mostly) be enjoyable for anyone looking for a quick fix of cute and humorous slice-of-life situations. The exception would be the first special which relies on familiarity with one of the characters in order to really appreciate it completely. The others have elements ... of humor that I think work even without familiarity to the main series.

To summarize: I recommend this for anyone who likes cute and humorous slice-of-life situations and doesn't want to sit through full episodes to get their fix, but special #1 should be saved until you have a bit of familiarity with the series.

The story is actually pretty interesting if you read it in a particular way. It is definitely not your average shoujo romance.

You know how you get creeped out by Hannibal Lecter and it's kind of awesome? That's the way you need to approach Creepy Yandere Stalker-kun (my name for the "love interest", "Stalker-kun" for short). It's so absurd just how creepy someone can be. It's even more absurd that he's supposedly popular in school even when he gets all creepy *at school in broad daylight* seemingly without concern for whoever sees him (not that any students or teachers are shown except for the plot relevant ... ones).

Anyways, reading this manga is an "experience" that can be moderately enjoyable if you approach it the right way. My only real complaint is the ending which made no sense at all. I mean, MC-chan disturbingly developing emotions for that boy she once knew in his childhood (in spite of his overwhelming creepy yandere stalkerness) is believable (seeing as how Stockholm syndrome exists in real life), but the way she resolves her feelings for him at the very end is just baffling.

This manga is seriously fucked up. And strangely, that's actually what made it interesting. If it had ended differently (perhaps if MC-chan had turned Creepy Yandere Stalker-kun down one last time with Stalker-kun either going axe crazy or full creepy stalker always-watching-in-the-shadows mode at the very end), I probably would have given this manga a 6. With the ending as it is, I think a 4 is appropriate.

p.s. The genres used for this manga should change in some way. It's technically "shoujo" (I guess) and it's arguably "romance" (in a really fucked up sort of way), but it's deserving of at least one more tag to attract the right crowd for this type of story. I don't know if this is "psychological" per se, but it's definitely psycho.

Genre: Borderline Hentai.

Read the above. Read it again.

If you don't want to experience extreme titillation (sorry, can't help myself), please avoid this anime. (Please don't vote it down just because it isn't what you were looking for!)

For people like me, this tour de force of gigantic breasted ecchi with fluid animation (another pun, though you won't get it unless you watch Kagaku na Yatsura) combined with a few genuinely funny moments is definitely worth a watch.


My rating is broken down as follows:
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Story: 4/10 (decent) - the anime clues you into the back story (from the manga) but it's not fleshed out in any way.

Sound: 6 (fair) - be warned that this anime contains the kind of orgasmic moaning and screaming that is normally found in hentai; the music didn't hurt my ears.

Character: 6 (fair) - a perverted but otherwise normal protagonist, a delicious flat chest, and two big (read: BIG) busted beauties.

Animation: 9/10 (great) - with clearly visible breasts and butts and no genitalia shown (which would severely limit its availability to a smaller audience in Japan), it has higher production value than most regular hentai; did I mention "fluid animation"?

Enjoyment: 9/10 (great) - it was extremely titillating.

Overall: 9/10 (great)


As you can see, I have weighted the overall rating to reflect what matters most in an ecchi anime/borderline hentai - animation and enjoyment. I could have also included sound in the overall rating but, since it was good enough that it didn't detract from my enjoyment, I excluded it.

Bottom line: it's very underrated for its genre. While it lacks plot development, it should immensely satisfy the majority of people who watch it knowing what they're getting into.


P.S. It's unfortunate that some felt compelled to bomb its rating. This probably could have been avoided if there were a "Borderline Hentai" genre tag.