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Jul 20, 2020
Contains a couple spoilers.
In short it's wild shit-show of animation and action, not a deep intellectual diatribe into the realism and ethics of superheroes
Anime side-stories are great, they allow for a new story to be told within an existing world without hindering the main storyline. To a certain level, previous limits and logic are able to be thrown out the window to allow for more interesting and exciting things to happen.
Most of the issues people seem to take with this, and the previous movie could easily be transferred to many other anime side-story movies. The story is simple, parts don't line up exactly right
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with the main plot, and things that happen in this movie would greatly alter your perspective on past and future events in the main series. There are also moments where the animation and sound design are implemented to tug at your heartstrings in place of actual story-beats.
My sentiment is as follows, it's an action anime movie about superheroes, not a Kubrick film. Of course people are welcome to their own opinions, but why is it so difficult to sit back and be bombarded with fantastic animation and fight scenes.
There is one nitpick I have in this movie. In regards to final scene where the take One-for-All from Bakugo. I understand that it technically needs to be fully reset before going back to the main story, but Bakugo is such a rich and interesting character who didn't deserve to be shit on like that. If they had allowed him to actually deal with having the power and possibly giving back, that would have just added to his robust catalogue of badassery.
TLDR: if you don't care about the story, skip to the third act of the movie, the animation, sound design, and fights are cool as hell.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jul 15, 2019
SUMMARY
In order to escape the pressure to succeed in his studies, Yuugo Hachiken, a hard-working city-dwelling high-schooler decides to switch schools to an agricultural boarding school out in the country. Upon first meeting his classmates, he believes that he will far exceed everyone’s abilities; he is quickly thrown for a loop when the main focus of studies turns towards agriculture and animal sciences. All of his classmates who have been living and working on farms their whole lives thrive in these fields.
Whether it’s waking up at 4 am, tending to animals, or knowledge about farming, Hachiken meets the challenge with a hard-working attitude, and a
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small desire to be the best student. His new friends are surprised and glad to meet someone who knows nothing of their world and teach him what a hard blue collar lifestyle is all about.
REVIEW
Gin no Saji doesn’t fail to let the viewer know about the intended metaphor or message by the wrap up of each episode, but the hope is that it has been well laid out to the point where pointing it out will really hit home. The writing style plays well to the characters that deliver the poignant lines to the protagonist (and you). This already sounds as if the show comes across as pushy and pretentious with the lofty ideals and moral lessons; it is most certainly NOT that at all. More than anything else this show is a comedy set on a farm, with a protagonist that knows nothing about farming.
What draws me back to this show again and again is how it makes me feel, and how it makes me want to be more proactive and productive. I generally consider an anime to be really good if it can make me think about something: 1) from a new perspective 2) new and interesting 3) to deepen my own perspective. Not only does this anime do that, those are literally the major themes of the anime; it’s about a city boy coming to a farm and learning about life from the perspective of kids that have grown up on farms their entire lives.
This is a good show to come to if you don’t really have a great vision for the future, what you want to do, or who you want to become. I think the reason it has always been one of my favorites is because I was able to relate to Hachiken from the onset of the show. Writing this in more stream of consciousness style, I would actually consider this as a first anime for people, depending on their tastes.
While it does still house a few of the tropes that make an anime an anime, there is a lot about it that parallels western TV shows. Within the pilot or first episode of most TV shows in America it is recommended that a few checkboxes are hit: 1) Main characters are introduced 2) the protagonist’s motivation or struggle is laid out 3) major relationships and connections are laid-out 4) any necessary framework for future adventures are set. Anime are only given a short amount of time to tell a story, for Gin no Saji, that would be 11 episodes. The first episode does an exceptional job of meeting all the criteria of your average NBC sitcom. Hachiken is pretty obviously introduced as the protagonist; we are soon shown his background as an over-worked, anxious, prep-school student who has escaped to an agricultural boarding school. The viewers join the show about 2 weeks into his stay at this school; classes and work have yet to kick off, but he has at least been able to live in the dorms and meet a few students. The other major characters naturally appear as the episode progresses. Without any specific denotation, you just become comfortable with these new characters and they make the story whole.
Hachiken is a refreshing change of pace for a protagonist. The general Shounen lead is a power-hungry, single-minded, motivated fiend. That certainly has its benefits, but as a regular human being with a variety of interests and no particular main life goal, Hachiken is perfectly relatable. He is a blank slate to write yourself onto. This is not to say he is without character; he is a very well-written complex soul, with an interesting backstory and arc throughout the show. It was his goal, or lack thereof that I first connected with though.
Enough about me just pointing out how much I enjoy the show; as for what actually happens to make it so good, Hachiken goes through daily struggles to learn not only about farm life, but how the perspectives of his new friends’ shape how he has viewed his academic world, and how he attacks life altogether. Some of the key issues that are brought up in the show both seriously and comedically are: family issues, ethical treatment of livestock, the financial difficulty of maintaining a small business, the expectations for higher education in differing familial standings. Hachiken slowly develops an appreciation for the parallels between his life and situations he faces.
A long running theme in Gin no Saji is Hachiken’s lack of future plans or dreams. He quickly views this from a negative angle upon learning that most of his classmates have either dreams or paths set before them. As he builds these friendships up and learns that everyone is having struggles in their own path, his perspective on his own life plan alters to a more positive outlook. Summed up quite simply by one of his new friends; don’t think of it as you have no dreams for the future, instead, you have endless opportunities and the chance to choose anywhere you want to go from here.
One running element of the show is viewing human life in parallel to livestock. Particularly seen with Hachiken’s interactions with horses and the equestrian club. The commonalities that human personalities share with the horses’ personalities are often brought up to Hachiken, and thus the viewer as well, by the characters well-ingrained to the farm culture. The more subtle and slightly gruesome parallel is how Hachiken views his own struggles in comparison to the animals set for slaughter. These moments are not brought up lightly and are not lacking in intention. It is often when Hachiken gains the full perspective of what really occurs in the farming world with livestock. Because all of the other main characters have grown up in farming families they have in a sense become desensitized to how a someone outside of the community might react to the reality of where food is coming from. It is the butting heads of Hachiken and everyone else that leads to the symbiotic relationship that they share. Everyone is able to grow and learn from one another.
When I consider what it is that makes a story good, I think about how the show made me feel after each episode, or if it even made me feel anything. A show is “good” in my book if it is able to make me think about something in a new way, teach me a solid lesson, or make me curious about a topic enough to do research outside of watching the show. Gin no Saji hits all the marks for this; granted some of the major themes essentially quote my criteria.
This anime gave me the inspiration to consider how I connect with other people coming from different backgrounds, it made me curious about agriculture and farming, and it gave me a chance to step back and really consider my goals and aspirations. I have a tendency to get overly inspired from anime and attempt to take on elements of a new persona based on what I have watched. I generally remain somewhat realistic, but I enjoy learning enough to the point where I will actively research new topics and engage in some new interesting activities. I don’t think that it is too bad to find elements of anime that you can apply to your own life in a beneficial way. Specifically, after watching this anime, again, I felt a push to work harder on some creative projects and enlist the help of some people with a variety of skills. I have also begun planning an event for my college in hopes that it will stick around as an annual event (granted that’s sort of part of my job at the university).
Anywhosie. That’s that in a sense. Gin no Saji is good. 2 seasons, 22 episodes. Watch it.
Thanks for reading,
AnimeSuperFuntime Ace Reviewer, KrackenPax
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jul 15, 2019
SUMMARY
School Rumble primarily follows the stories of Tenma Tsukamoto, a regular high-school girl, and Kenji Harima, a notorious delinquent, as they each try to confess their love for their respective crushes, Oji Karasuma for Tenma, and Tenma for Harima. Tenma and Kenji each face their share of hardships and highlights in their love quests.
A wide cast of friends, rivals, and other side characters bring these love stories into a living breathing world in this high school.
REVIEW
Everything that is said from this point on is completely subjective; I state this because School rumble is by far my favorite anime of all time. This sentiment
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my not resonate with everyone, and I would certainly agree that School Rumble is probably not the best anime ever made; but to me it holds a special place. Like every mid-twenties male, I grew up on Pokemon and Dragonball Z, so i would consider these the first anime I ever watched, but I didn’t really start to consistently watch anime until I got into high school. My first binge watch of School Rumble is the event at which I mark the beginning of my love of anime, from there I branched off either on my own or with recommendations to every and any genre of anime.
Onto the actual review of School Rumble.
There is a diverse set of characters portrayed throughout the two seasons and extra episodes. I would say there is a tier system of character development, which is not necessarily dependant on total screen time. The two protagonists are Tenma and Harima, they obviously have the deepest levels of character development through the series. The overall story arc is devoted to them, and most side stories are about their relationships with other characters. the next level down is the main friend group, these characters appear almost as much as the protagonists. These characters are, in no particular order, Mikoto, Hanai, Yakumo, Eri, and Akira. Because of their close relationships to the main characters and one another, all of these characters receive precious airtime to have their stories told.
This show shines in its development of not only the protagonists, but all of the side characters as well. Within the 50 some-odd episodes there is a large amount of plot dedicated to exploring the relationships between Harima and these characters. At the time of the first episode, Harima is a delinquent, somewhat removed from the normal dealings with his fellow classmates; by the end of the show he has all but tossed aside his rough personality to become an integral member of the big class 2C family. Arguably, Harima is more of the primary protagonist over Tenma, but her importance cannot be overlooked.
These first two tiers of characters have the most development and screen time, but the next tier of characters holds an equally important position in the show. The massive cast of background characters are used to represent a wide array of one-dimensional characteristics to highlight the main cast. These characters fall into one of two categories, those that change and those that don’t. While a significant portion of the show is used for character development of the main cast, there is enough time left over to even develop some of the background characters. Due to the large number of reappearing characters, however, some are used only to exemplify their intended one-dimension, but this is done so intentionally and well done to boot.
School Rumble is through and through a character driven story, the characters make the world of this anime feel alive and immersive. Secondary to the characters, the situational comedy is on point. To sum up this show’s draw: the show sets up relationships between interesting characters and puts them through the test of absurd comical situations.
To close out, sure it may not be the best anime out there, it may not have the most compelling unique plot, it may be set in a non-fantastic world, but the characters come alive and give you the desire to connect with them and root for them in whatever wacky shenanigans ensue.
Thanks for reading,
SuperAnimeFuntime Ace Reviewer, KrackenPax
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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