MarcTurn's Profile - Reviews

Last OnlineJan 22, 5:12 PM
GenderMale
BirthdayJan 1, 2002
LocationUSA
JoinedNov 2, 2018

Anime List Manga List

All (0)Friends

No friend yet.

RSS Feeds

Blog Feed

Jul 19, 2020

Yesterday wo Utatte (Anime) add

Recommended

I'll try to keep it short. Overall, as you can see, I think it's about a 7. Most of what I have to say is about the story so I'll get all the other categories out of the way as quickly as I can.

Art: 9/10 - I really like the art style of this series. It goes very well with the feel of the rest of the show and it's what initially drew me to it. I especially enjoy Haru's character design.

Sound: 7/10 - Nothing particularly significant about the sound. I didn't notice it often, but when I did, I thought it pleasantly complemented the ... scene. The voice acting usually solid and occasionally brilliant. I thought the EDs were good enough.

Character: 8/10 - The characters of the series as well as the distribution of their screen time in my opinion were very good. They felt real, enjoyable, and relatable. They aren't perfect people, far from it, but that's part of what makes them more watchable. There will likely be characters you dislike and choices which are made that you disagree with, but that again is part of what makes the story feel real. It makes it interesting and keeps you captivated and invested.

Enjoyment: 8/10 I quite liked the show as a whole for all the reasons I've listed above above. If the story didn't have the issues that I'm about to talk about, I probably would have rated it an 8.

The line between a 7 and an 8 for me, personally, is whether or not I felt profoundly impacted in some way by the show. I feel like the show had the potential to be very meaningful and memorable which is why it's such a shame that I believe that the storytelling gets in the way of the viewer being able to be moved.

Story: 5/10 - In one word, pacing. There were so many times in the show that felt I felt like something was either happening too quickly or too slowly and by the end of the twelfth episode I didn't even feel dissatisfied, I just felt bewildered by the whole experience. While most individual events or episodes felt like they happened too soon or occurred too quickly, by the end of the series I felt like very little had actually happened in terms of the plot, though a lot literally did happen. I find the feeling very hard to describe or explain, which is part of why I decided to write this review.
The main characters and even the side characters are all set up to work very well together in ways that have the potential to evoke special emotions in the viewer. The dynamics that they all have together are, on paper, interesting and touching. I very much enjoyed the concept and the core of the show but I feel like I was blocked from getting a valuable message from it because of the pacing alone. This story ABSOLUTELY NEEDED either 24 episodes or more planning to be told meaningfully and it's such a shame that it didn't get the delivery it deserved.

In the end, I do think this show is worth watching. While I felt the storytelling got in the way of my overall experience, you may feel otherwise, and if the storytelling indeed is not a barrier for you, you have a beautiful concept waiting for you to enjoy in Yesterday wo Utatte.

Open

Gift

Apr 25, 2020

Hello World (Anime) add

Mixed Feelings

I've seen this in a couple other reviews, but this really is a movie of two very distinct halves. It's easier for me to review it for each section instead of overall, so that's what I'll do.

First half: Story-9, Art-3, sound-5, Character-7, enjoyment-8, Overall-7

Story for the most part at this stage isn't anything special, but the reason why I have it rated at 9 is because the concept of being the main character in just a recording of the real world I think is a really interesting and unique idea. If they had just kept it at this and gone deeper into the moral and ... existential conversation about this situation, I think this movie could've really been something. I saw loads of the potential and it made me excited to continue the movie. The romance was decent, but where the first half really shines is the simultaneous simplicity and complexity of the idea they introduced.

The art is the only part that I think the second half is better for, as this movie is only CGI because of the stuff they decided to do in that half. I came into the movie not knowing it was going to be CGI the whole way through, and I was very unpleasantly surprised once I realised that this was the case. Maybe it's just the fact that I wasn't prepared for it or the fact that I haven't watched much CGI anime, but it did notably impact my enjoyment for the first twenty minutes or so that it took for me to get used to it. The art style itself is fine.

I didn't care much for the music. I didn't think the voice acting was anything to write home about. Overall average.

The characters do have personality traits and the main character in particular does progress as a person in the first half. His relationships with his future self and his girlfriend are pleasant enough to watch and they do develop relatively naturally. Not bad.

Overall, if the story progressed in the direction that the first half seemed to be taking it in, I think I could've liked the movie a lot.

Second Half: Story-2, Art-6, Sound-2, Character-3, Enjoyment-2, Overall-a generous 3

The story is haphazard, they add on several layers of ideas and worlds onto their original plot, not a lot makes total sense, to the point where it breaks the immersion and disinterests you. I was very disappointed. The writers must have realised that the story made little sense because the final scene is a total cop-out. Would've made me a little angry if I still cared about the story at that point.

Art is average. I understood why they used CGI. I put it at a six because there's a short sequence where the MC is "dying" and the abstract art they use there looks pretty cool. I would've given that an 8 or a 9 on its own.

I was not a fan of both the music they used and when they used it. My preference. Voice acting was pretty much the same quality of the first half.

Very little meaningful character development or interaction as most of the time is taken up by action or trying to explain the oversaturated new storyline. The only character that really develops in this half is the future MC and even then his arc is not very well flushed-out or developed.

Overall it wasn't bad enough to make me stop watching, but only just. My disappointment is immeasurable. Fortunately it's only 1 PM where I am so hopefully I'll be able to salvage my day.

Open

Gift

Back to MarcTurn's Profile MarcTurn's Profile

All (0)Friends

RSS Feeds

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters