The production value of Cowboy Bebop is unquestionably top notch. It has a lot of style, great art direction, great fighting choreographies, great animation, great dubs and great soundtrack. It still holds up pretty well, and looking back at when it was released it is definitely pretty impressive in that regard!
My problem with the show is entirely about it's writing. And not because of it's episodic nature, the writing just didn't seem very good to me at all.
Other than Faye, Jet and Spike, every other character is flat and uninteresting, hard to care about. Almost every episode introduces characters that are flat out good/just struggling
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Jan 6, 2022
Shingeki no Kyojin
(Manga)
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Shingeki no Kyojin is a flawed piece of work, but still an amazing ride!
It's a manga that brings a lot of emotions to the reader and it doesn't hold back on surprising it's audience. At first, what I thought would be just a generic shonen, rapidly turned into one of the most brutal fictional stories I have consumed. At the surface it's basically a story about revenge, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. The main plot revolves around the concept of the Titans, mysterious killer creatures in which, at first, no one seems to know anything about their origin and how to properly ... protect themselves against them. While the plot evolves we are introduced with a number of interesting characters with fantastic development. What at first looks like a battle between good and evil, turns out being way more complex than that, involving topics like politics, conspiracies, betrayals, prejudice, war and how right and wrong can suddenly get mixed together or even switch sides altogether. The way the events and characters are brought together, at least up until a certain point very late in the story, is truly amazing and the main reason why I think SNK (or AoT) is such a good and well crafted story. But, unfortunately, sometimes a potential masterpiece story is smudged by a disappointing end. And after some considerations I think this is more or less the case of this manga. The end of SNK is object of a lot of debate in the community, and while I do not agree with the radical critics that believe it all turned to shit, I still can understand why some people didn't like it. I believe the author wasn't able to tie things together in the end with the same quality that he was able to craft and bring together everything prior to it. Maybe the story was too audacious for it's own good and the author didn't have the time or the patience to bring a smarter resolution to it, as it deserved. Still, I have the opinion that, even with it's flaws, the end was competent enough to bring a somewhat satisfactory conclusion to what was an amazing fiction. >>> SPOILER ALERT: From this point onward do not read if you have not finished the manga. My review contains a lot of spoilers about the end. WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE ABOUT THE END: 1- When Eren and Zeke finally get able to get into physical contact and encounters Ymir, the whole thing becomes quite convoluted. The concept that Eren manipulated the previous holders of the Attack Titan transcending time and changing the future, while interesting, wasn't well executed in my opinion. Given what his final plan was, that he made the previous holders envision, it shouldn't have moved them towards it, but rather in the opposing direction. And the explanation of how things turned out to be was more confusing than it should. 2- I also didn't find the story behind Ymir decision very convincing. The story about her suffering and how she became a Titan was actually interesting, but the idea that Ymir, a girl who was eternally obedient to Fritz, changed her mind by being hugged by Eren after observing him and Mikasa, seemed to me too little of a reason for such a sudden change of path. Maybe if she was better and more slowly developed alongside the plot, and maybe if the author could have more clearly shown in what aspects did Mikasa and Eren relationship was so special and capable of changing her, it would have made more sense, but as it is I was under the impression her resolution was decided in quite a rushed manner by the writer, and more as an excuse to make the plot move forward the intended path. 3- Zeke, whom was introduced as very cruel, observant and apparently very smart character, ended up being WAY too naive and reckless to believe that Eren would take his side and that things would go his way by letting his enemies take hold of him. I think there's no way such character would allow for things to happen that way. It was disappointing and it lacked a lot of development in order to convince me about the decisions he decided to take. His "euthanasia" (sterilization) plan also seemed a bit pointless to me, because he was well aware, given his position as a captain in Marley army, that the threat that the Titans posed were just temporary anyway, as the development of aerial and powerful weapons would become a much bigger threat later down the road. So the idea of ending a threat by not allowing Eldians to have child would not deal with the immediate threat that the Titans themselves posed to their society, neither would put an end to war, nor would resolve anything in the long run. And his people (the Eldians being kept on Marley) would still be under Marley control. His plan didn't sound like a reasonable plan to me at all. 4- About Eren's plan... well, it wasn't good either.He just decided to take the more radical possible route, by exterminating all his enemies and literally anyone innocent that would stand in his say. He decided to become what he planned to kill. But just as the attack in his village didn't solve anything for the Marleyans (the opposite in fact, it lead to their ruin), it wouldn't solve anything for the Eldians either. Sure that by the end of the rumbling people would be emotionally drained and sensitive, and would certainly work together to rebuild their societies; but as soon as political and economic power took place again, I'm sure new conspiracies would take place against the Eldians and the Titans out of (a now justified) fear of the same event happening again once more. Eren in fact, just restarted a cycle. WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THE END: 1- The plot twist when Eren and Zeke encounters Ymir, besides not all convincing, was still quite impactful and served it's purpose to lead to the end intended by the author. So, even though it could have been better, it served it's purpose on the plot. 2- The author didn't hold back in showing the catastrophic effects of the rumbling, and how much it actually impacted the world. It really made me feel bad about all the innocent people dragged into it and served to question Eren's decision, personality and morality, as well as the consequences of the conspiracies, cowardice and prejudice against a group of people (in this case, the Eldians). It also was, in my opinion, a clever way of making the good become the evil, a clever way to mirror the beginning of the story from another perspective, and a clever way to show what desperation or trauma can do to a previous good person. The idea of making the main character and "hero" to commit such atrocity really made me feel uncomfortable, and I believe that might have been the author's intention. By the end, there was no good or evil, just sorrow. 3- I liked how, looking back at the whole story, you could notice Eren becoming more and more messed up, and for a reason. Differently than most shonen out there he didn't end up being able to cope with all his traumas in a healthy way. This actually made his character feel more human in contrast of also becoming a monster, and it's also clever way of showing that the real monsters and enemies of the human race were not the Titans, but the humans themselves. He became what he hated the most; but also what he was lead to hate. And I, as a reader, was until the very end hoping to see him becoming the hero, but it never happened. It never happened because he wasn't special, he was just a traumatized human being, a product of fucked up world. He became a desperate and hopeless person when he realized the the freedom he was looking for would, certainly, never come, given that his enemies (that actually came to him, and not the other way around) was basically the whole world. 4- I also liked that the story can be seen around the notion of the consequences of playing with fire. Fear, violence, war, hate, cowardice, prejudice, greed... all these things messed up so much the world portrayed (that I see as a fictional portrait of our reality) that the consequences of it were truly disastrous. There was no happy ending for a world which allowed for all this messed up stuff to keep going while turning a blind eye. It brings a reflection to our reality, and that as long as we keep feeding these sentiments against our peers, we're definitely not protected against another catastrophic events in history conducted by the human beings, such as the World War. CONCLUSION: That being said, I think the end felt a bit rushed and convoluted, and that the author didn't manage to tie things together in a very convincing way or with the quality he managed to build everything prior to it. Maybe he needed more time, maybe it was just too much to handle. However, even considering these downsides, the end was still impactful and able to give a emotional conclusion and tons of reflection. The end wasn't as strong as I hoped, but considering the amount of load it had to deal with by all the mysteries and drama created along the story, it was still overall satisfying; and as a whole Shingeki no Kyojin is still way more competent than most fictional stories out there! It's flawed, but it's still amazing.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Dec 21, 2021
Shinsekai yori
(Anime)
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I have just finished Shinsekai Yori and wanted to write a bit about this. I generally find it much easier to write about a flawed work than a really good one, but I will try to explain why this was so special to me. I will also try to make it spoiler free.
Shinsekai Yori is basically about a human society with telekinesis that survived after conflicts against other humans that never awakened such a power. Now they have their own beliefs, secrets and order. To understand this society and to sail on the plot, we follow the life of Saki, the main character of the ... show. And that's pretty much it for a summary, cause you can read more complete ones anywhere. What makes Shinsekai Yori so special is that, from the beginning to the end, there's a constant sense of mystery and dread, and you feel all the time that there's something really fucked up hidden beneath it all but you can't actually put your fingers on it, doesn't matter how much the plot evolves. And in order to make you feel that way the anime does not only rely on great writing, but also on a very unique visual presentation. There are episodes or scenes that made me feel like I was almost dreaming, with all the visual effects they threw at me and some crazy color shifting in some dramatic moments... it really made these scenes very special and memorable! As far as the plot goes, I really cared for the main character and all her friends as the anime successfully manages to picture a strong bond between them, as well as show their fears, dreams and childish innocence. I also felt constantly conflicted about some side characters and the decisions they make... they lie, manipulate and act cruelly all the time, but they're often constantly driven by fear and paranoia. This actually seems to me one of the most fundamental elements of the plot. All the conflicts and drama in Shinsekai Yori seems like a metaphor of our reality, touching on matters of religion, politics, war, sex and prejudice. It's quite rare nowadays to watch or read something that touches all these subjects without sacrificing it's plot in order to give the authors personal opinion about them, or that just don't manage to put enough depth into these themes. But this anime manages it all beautifully and stimulates reflection. It ends answering pretty much everything there was to answer, although some dark details were more like "heavily implied" than straight out explained, which, in my opinion, also adds to the mysterious and tense atmosphere of the show. That being said, Shinsekai Yori is, for sure, one of the most intense shows I have seen all my life (and I'm not young). I'm pretty sure it will stick to my brain for quite a long time. I highly recommend anyone (from a mature audience at least) to watch it, specially if you're looking for something intriguing.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jan 26, 2021 Mixed Feelings Spoiler
It's hard to review this manga precisely since, in my opinion, it's full of ups and downs.
Since I am reviewing the manga, I will not get into the terrible anime issues (mostly it's pacing problems with long staring scenes mid-fight and tons of flashbacks). SPOILER ALERT: Tons of spoiler ahead, don't read it if you have not finished, except if you don't mind spoilers. Naruto starts as a very good and promising story, with potentially interesting and likable characters, and also with lots of potential for good action scenes. However, over time, most of it (if not all) fall to pieces. Before the time-skip it actually manages to ... keep quite a high quality in general. The best arcs are for sure in this first part of the story with the Chunin exam, the badass introduction of Orochimaru, the introduction of Itachi, the rivalry between Naruto and Sasuke (that at this point it was actually appealing), and even some nice lessons it was trying to teach, such as the value of effort - with even a quite remarkable scene between Naruto and Neiji at the end of the Chunin exam. It was also in the first part that some of the most interesting, fantastic and skilled side characters are presented, such as Rock Lee, Gaara, Kakashi and Jiraya. The biggest problem with the 1st part is, probably, how Sakura is constantly portrayed as weak, with a very boring and embarrassing unrequited romance with Sasuke, and with an equally embarrassing rivalry with Ino. It was a wasted potential of what could have been a great female lead. However, I could for sure say that the first part of Naruto manga is solid, good, and held great potential. It falls apart however in the second part, after the time-skip (Naruto Shippuden in the anime). The second part of Naruto starts pretty bad already, showing a "grown" Naruto. Grown only in size however, since you immedialty notice that he still maintains the exact same attitude and immature behavior as he was a kid. It then introduces a new plot which Gaara is quite easily captured by some of the weakest Akatsuki members (Deidara) and is held captive until they extract from him his Biju, Shukaku. It then explains that the Akatsuki wants to extract all Biju to hold an ultimate weapon. What for? Well, I don't remember it ever being given a clear explanation, but it seems basically that they wanted "peace" through keeping the villages at war. Actually, the whole Akatsuki premise falls apart pretty fast, when you realize that apparently most of it's own members doesn't have a clue of what they're fighting for. When the Akatsuki members fail to capture the Eight Tails (Killer B) and the Nine Tails (Naruto), Tobi (one of it's members) reveals himself as Madara and declares to the leaders of the Ninja Villages he wants to put everyone under an eternal state of sleep in which they would be living happy dreams, if they hand him, deliberately, the remaining Jinchuriki. Since the leaders, obviously, deny it, Tobi / Madara declares a Ninja War (basically a War with all the Ninjas in the world against a few remaining super overpowered akatsuki members). At this point you realize that the plot is losing all its substance, and getting into a unnecessarily complex chain of events that hardly makes any sense. Also at this point Naruto is fast evolving from a pretty ordinary (although pretty strong too) shinobi to a one of the strongest beings in the lore after undergoing multiple transformations and overpowering his basically only two ever learned skills: rasengan and shadow clone jutsu. This progress, however, happens way too fast, as it's easily noticiable that his skills are, apparently, surpassing the ones we saw in the first part by some of the strongest characters such as Orochimaru, Jiraya and even the 3rd Hokage Sarutobi. This is when you realize that the series has gone to a DBZ route of power progression, where each new enemy appears to be the new strongest being ever using skills that are far superior than pretty much anything shown before, making Gaara and Rock Lee, for example, look like a joke. When the Ninja War starts Kabuto appears with a snake-like skin, helping the Akatsuki and using an improved Edo Tensei, the same skill Orochimaru used to fight against Sarutobi in the 1st part, except that here it used to ressurrect, with no costs at all, pretty much every single legendary ninja that ever existed in the lore. It's also said that his now enslaved ressurrected ninjas have infinity chakra, can't die again (recquiring to be sealed instead), and feels no pain - they can, however, think, strategize and fight coordinately as a group. Kishimoto (Naruto's author) obviously couldn't come with any other solution to defeat such a threat, other than shieldening the "good" characters with plot nonsenses and making many of them suddenly overpowered too. After some events that reveals that Tobi is actually an old Kakashi friend that has been actually sided to Madara, the real Madara is revealed as an Edo Tensei brought back to life by Kabuto. Also, out of thin air plot wise, Madara reveals he can actually free himself of the Edo Tensei spell, and become an completely autonomous being that can't die, feel pain or lose chakra. At this point I really wasn't being able to take the plot seriously anymore. Madara and Tobi releases the Ten Tails Biju, which attacks everyone with HUGE blasts of very destructive powers, but Naruto, suddenly, realizes he can shield everyone transfering as a body armor his own chakra to EVERY SINGLE ninja in the battlefield borrowing an almost infinity amount of it from Kurama (Nine Tails). This is just one more example that Naruto powers has already gone through the roof - and unbelievably, it gets much worse. At some point, after taking a detour to know himself (usuless by the way, cause it changes absolutely nothing about him) Sasuke comes to the battlefield to help Naruto. And after tons of panels of stupidly huge powers here and there and tons of drama regarding Tobi, Madara becomes the Ten Tail Jinchuriki acquiring god-like powers. Once more, since there was absolutely no chance for Naruto and Sasuke to be this strong yet (if ever), Kushimoto comes with a great idea: they're both basically summoned by the Sage of Six Paths, that reveals them they're LITERALLY the descendants of the Gods Asura and Indra, giving them the power of Ying Yang. Yeah, for real!!! Here is when the basic premise of the whole 1st part falls apart. Neiji was right all along when he confronted Naruto in the Chunin exam saying that talent and abilities were pre-determined at birth, and that the destiny was basically set from the time someone is born. Indeed, that's EXACTLY what the end of the series teaches: Naruto only ever gets so strong because 1) he was Nine Tails Jinchuriki and 2) he was a descendant of a God. Poor Neiji... had his mind changed by Naruto and gets killed before realizing how right he was. Madara, then, gets betrayed by the Black Zetsu (one of the Akatsuki members) which stabs him in the back basically killing him and bringing a being called Kaguya back to life. Black Zetsu is revealed to be some sort of Kaguya's evil will. And is also revealed that Kaguya was the Sage of Six Path mother and basically the creator of all Chakra. None of this was ever hinted before! So in order to defeat such a powerful being, Naruto and Sasuke fight alongside and uses their Ying-Yang power to save the world. Yeah, Naruto and Sasuke ended up literally surpassing a Goddess. After all this, Sasuke reveals he hasn't changed his mind at all up until this point, and is ready to kill Naruto so then he could kill every single village leader with and accomplish some nonsense about "bearing all the pain in the world". They fight, they almost die, and Sasuke finally comes back to his senses and becomes "good" again, recognizing Naruto as friend, and gets forgiven by everyone. That being said, the main thing the 2nd part of Naruto manages is to ignore EVERYTHING was built in the 1st part. Interesting and skilled characters simply had no room to shiny anymore. The whole effort premise was thrown in the trash. Everything was about Naruto becoming extremely overpowered after each training section and receiving an exceedingly amount of powers from Kurama and Hagoromo. Also, the three main characters ended up such a disappointment: Naruto talks gets really tiresome after a while with that whole "I will become a Hokage" and "that's my Ninja Way". Equally tiresome was Sasuke's stubbornness about a supposedly "revolution" in which he intended to "bear all the pain" by himself intending to kill every village leader. And Sakura only ever shines once, in her fight against Sasori - and even then, I particularly think that fight was quite boring anyway. That being said, Naruto had tons of potential and actually managed to deliver lots of good moments before the time-skip. After it though it just keeps getting worse and worse, with the whole Ninja War arc being everything it should have NOT.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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