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Mar 21, 2023
TL;DR An adorable, heartwarming read with some slight character issues.
REVIEW:
After completing Ao Haru Ride I dove right into this manga. I honestly expected something similar, but not to the same degree as the previous. But boy was I wrong.
Strobe Edge is more or less about the tides of having a crush. Waves of emotion coming and going, some stronger than others. I was blown away by how well Sakisaka is able to flesh out this story and its main characters so well with a seemingly simple premise.
One reason why I may have liked this manga SO MUCH is because I feel a bit too related
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to the main character. Ninako's feelings for Ren throughout the entire story are very grounded in reality for the most part, a bit overdramatized for story. In some scenes, I saw myself in them for how I have felt in the past with potential love interests, so there is a bias there.
The Good:
- Relatable, outgoing personalities make this manga a joy to read. I found myself liking every single character, despite some of their flaws. This makes it so you don't know who to root for, even if the story is very cliché.
- Much like other works, the art is very cute and has a very unique to the mangaka touch. I personally enjoy Sakisaka's style of drawing characters, even if it's a bit basic.
- Pacing for the story works extremely well. It's a relatively short read at 10 volumes but the story and character development is so well written that it doesn't feel like it was too short or too long.
The Bad:
- Some characters introduced in the beginning may seem to play a large part, but are basically written out by the third chapter or so. I feel like some of the side characters introduced later on made more of an impact than characters introduced in the beginning, which felt very odd.
- Side stories for other characters were a nice addition, but I wish I would've known about it DURING the story rather than after. Even if it made the manga longer, if characters aside from the main three were fleshed out just a bit more we could've gotten some great moments.
Overall, I loved this manga so much. It may become a top romance manga for me, just because of how simple and short the story is. I wish more could've been done with side characters but I am glad it didn't ruin the whole story for me.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Aug 27, 2022
5/10 I will recommend this show to everyone.
I usually don't review anime until I've seen all of it (or in cases like One Piece, a good chunk of it). That being said, I feel even though I've only seen 5 episodes at the time of writing this, my opinion won't change.
This show is bad. Horrible even. Cringe-worthy material. But it is so good at the same time. It's a bad show that hides a surprisingly deep story underneath.
You see, just because a show has a horrible script, bad pacing, and annoying voice acting doesn't make a show a "bad show". Sometimes, that's the whole point.
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"Why would I want to watch a show where the MC literally wants to go out with more than one girl?" The absurdity of it makes it hilarious. The poorly written lines with terrible shrieking of the voice actors makes for hilarious content.
But what makes this show even more confusing is that it actually has a really sweet story underneath all the bad. This guy doesn't just want to go out with as many girls as possible. He is trying to share his love with other people, and it weirdly kinda makes sense. He likes this one girl, but when someone cute shows up confessing THEIR love for you what do you do? Reject them or break up with your current girlfriend? It takes a hard situation and puts a comedic spin on it. And I can't get myself to stop watching it. I really enjoy this show and when it's over, will probably find the manga somewhere to read it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jul 12, 2022
TL;DR - A basic, vanilla romance that doesn't overstay its welcome 8/10
Is this story cliché? Yes. Is it vanilla? Absolutely. Does that mean it can't be good? Not at all.
Ao Haru Ride is a great romance manga for many reasons, but the top reason is pacing for me. The story has such a natural progression throughout and I never felt like it dragged or was moving too fast. And it ended at the right time, not dragging the story longer than it needed to. I really enjoyed it.
There is a part with a love triangle that felt somewhat forced for the sake of having problems.
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The story can be a bit too dramatic, but at the same time that's what a shoujo romance is for I guess.
Pros:
- Characters are great to learn about and fun to read
- Artwork is very clean, even if it may be similar to Sakisaka's other works
- Fast paced story
Cons:
- Can be over dramatic
- A specific love triangle felt forced (early story)
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Dec 21, 2021
Started out well, but then the writers remembered "This is just an ad for a mobile game". (6/10)
Full Review:
I knew it was a cash-grab anime just to advertise for the mobile game, but with Madhouse x MAPPA being heavily mentioned in the advertisements for this anime I would be lying to say my expectations weren't high. And I can honestly say some expectations were met. Others weren't. Did it make me want to play the game? Actually, yes, so it technically did its job. Aside from that the anime as a whole was somewhat disappointing.
A quick overview of the show: Monsters who hate music are
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taking over the world and terrorize cities where they hear the music. Musical entities called Musicarts are equipped to fight these monsters with the help of human Conductors. Our MC is paired with a Musicart and they road trip to New York to meet with the organization of Musicarts and Conductors.
Story:
Basic, full of fluff. At points it did try to give itself a serious story, but it was mainly "hey monsters are here" "Oh really?" (fights) "OK Let's keep going to New York". It does end on a cliffhanger, which may lead to a new season or into the game (likely the latter).
Art/Animation:
Gorgeous and one of the only redeeming thing in this entire show. The fights were top notch and the style of the world and characters were great. The design of the Musicarts were unique and stood out from the normal humans, which I quite enjoyed. Seriously, this is the best part of the show and if you just wanna turn your brain off and watch gorgeous animation, this is a perfect anime for that.
Music:
Fantastic and the best part about the show. Listening to classical music during some intense fights, some that are even familiar to a classical pleb like me, honestly made the show bearable and almost convinced me this was the best action I've ever seen. This is completely my opinion but this, along with the art/animation, made the show
Characters:
Most characters were boring aside from Lenny and the Musicarts. Our MC is a moody boy to the likes of Sasuke, Todoroki, etc. Anna was the big sister whose character gets ruined by a certain scene (which kinda gets explained at the end but yeah...) The villains were boring and there was no motive for what they were trying to do. Side characters do absolutely nothing unless they are a Musicart.
OVERALL 6/10. This anime could've been great if it had better writing. It really started out well but got lost in the fact that there will be a mobile game next year.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Oct 1, 2021
9/10 Avant Garde without being Avant Garde.
Sonny Boy is art. I want more anime like this. There is something very special in this series and Shingo Natsume and MADHOUSE did a fantastic job.
You follow Nagara and his classmates in discovering a world they were thrusted into without warning. Throughout the show, as each question is answered, more questions arise. Will they ever find out the true reason they all became stranded? It's a classic "Lord of the Flies" scenario, while not following the same story.
Let me just say this show isn't for everyone. Its very heavy on the dialogue, and discusses some complicated topics regarding
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science. It isn't scary, but there is a psychological element in the unknown that makes it almost intense when you don't know what will happen. It's also slow paced, with some brief time skips, which can complicate someone's understanding of when/where the characters might be (especially between episodes).
One thing I thought was a fantastic choice was the lack of music. There is no music in the background, so a lot of the focus is put on character interactions and the noise of nature. This helps the viewer to feel immersed in the world, with the characters, and makes it easier to understand. Lack of music helps you to hear the nature throughout the show, from peoples footsteps, animals in the distance, other little soundbites you wouldn't get if something was playing in the background. For an anime, it feels very natural. And when there is music, it is cleverly placed to provide a sense of overwhelming emotion. If anything, the sound design/music team did outstanding.
Each episode gives off a different vibe. The first episode makes you speculate about certain characters, wondering who is good, who is bad. It almost looks as if it is going in the direction of a shonen anime. Then it spins into a slice of life. Then mystery. Then sports. Then romance. There really is a little bit of everything sprinkled in.
The storyline is both complicated, yet very simple. And the ultimate message of the story can be paralleled to todays world.
The reason why I loved this show was because it makes you think more than most other shows. There are shows that try to be huge and deep, yet fail. This show doesn't try to be. But in doing that, it's actually deeper than we realize. And the ending, while not what I expected, was extremely satisfying the more I think about it. (Oh, and I have my theories as well) This will definitely be a show I recommend to others, and I will be revisiting this sometime soon to catch more details.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Sep 23, 2021
10/10 This movie is nothing short of PERFECTION, regardless of differences from the manga.
Trigger Warning in first paragraph.
A Silent Voice follows the life of a young boy Shoya who bullied his deaf classmate Shouko, and when that classmate left he was put to blame. This led to everyone isolating him. Flash forward to high school, the boy now suffers from depression, anxiety and worthlessness, depicted by him not being able to look at people in the eyes and (in one instance) almost committing suicide. This is in the first 20 minutes of the 2 hour long film.
What this movie does perfectly in my opinion, is
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show the struggle of understanding a disability. It isn't necessarily about Shouko's struggles as a deaf person, it's about how Shoya dealt with it. He didn't understand how it felt to be an outcast until he became one, and that immediately had an effect on his mental health. We see his struggle to be happy because of his regrets in the past.
One thing that stands out in this movie is how real Shoya feels. His character development is almost perfect. Being able to see his progression through the story was an emotional ride for me, and all throughout there were plenty of moments of tears streaming down my face.
I think about this movie at least once a week. It has left such an impact on me and honestly feels like the perfect movie, period. Although it touches on some sensitive topics, I still feel that everyone should watch this movie in order to experience its beauty.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Sep 13, 2021
7/10 Gone WAY too soon.
Candy Flurry was a weird manga, like, REALLY WEIRD. It was your basic shonen trope of "one day the world suddenly got powers" but the powers are Candy. This, however, makes for a really cool and interesting world that could've had so much potential. BUT, it ended. So that's that.
There are no demons, ghosts, no magical/mystical/mythical beings etc. like a lot of other popular manga seem to have. But that doesn't matter. This is about candy. This was such a unique vision. It's a surprise that this wasn't more popular.
I loved the characters, though they were very two dimensional, they were
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still fun to read and learn about. However, because this series is so short we don't get to learn more about them.
As a sweet tooth, I really liked the idea of candy and desserts being turned into powers. We see the potential for unique powers in the use of lollipops, ice cream, popcorn etc. But that is about it. We don't really get more.
The pacing felt very off, especially the last few chapters (which, now that the series is cancelled, I totally understand). It started just fine, and randomly escalated to a "OK I guess this is happening".
I genuinely was ready for this to be a long-running manga. It had the potential for expanding the area of sweets users, unique powers, overall lore etc. Sadly, as with most short-lived manga, it got cancelled (have I mentioned that yet?) probably because the sales were pretty bad for the first manga volume. I understand SJ wants to only have banger after banger, and the days of riding the wave until it gets good are over for manga, but I genuinely think this is a HUGE misstep for the publisher. This was probably the most unique NEW manga.
I am very frustrated and hope, in some way, SJ can bring this back or even a sequel as the last chapter shows potential for one.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Aug 28, 2021
10/10 The perfect show and you gotta take my word for it.
I don't know how to approach reviewing this show. On one hand, I can just disregard the "Try your very best to not write any spoilers" guideline and just go all out talking about what happened and why I enjoyed it. On the other hand, for those who still don't know anything about this show, I want to leave everything out as much as I can.
So why is this show so hard to review? Because it would ruin the show. And that's all I can really say.
This show is pure perfection in everyway: Story,
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Art and Animation, Character Development. And you might not think that if you only saw the first 2 episodes. You might come to think "This is kinda interesting, and thee animation is cool. But it's still a Magical Girl anime." Then by episode 3, you start to understand why this show has so much hype behind it. There is nothing quite like this show, and probably never will be.
And that's all I'm gonna say.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Aug 1, 2021
6/10 Potential for..... something more?
REVIEW:
If you don't know WEP, I won't spend any time doing a recap. That's what the first 20 minutes of this "special" are for anyway.
As for the original content, well.... it was something. I took time to reflect on the show as a whole, and while this special definitely was something else, I don't think it ruined the show for me. Many people came immediately to vent, and I don't blame them. However, I disagree that this was a dumpster fire of a show.
What the special accomplishes well is showing us how the people Ai and the others are fighting for
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come back. And it was.... INTERESTING..... I can't say I like it but I certainly don't hate it. The special also gave us the realism of friendship at a young age. Even though these girls go through so much together, they still drift away from each other as their goals are all different from one another. This was very raw and I truly appreciated that.
What the special does wrong is not answer any questions, but instead gives us more questions by introducing different topics that don't make 100% sense. It's almost impressive how we can go from KINDA understanding the world and having a somewhat open ended show from the initial 12 episodes, only to throw it all out the window in 25 minutes.
Ultimately, while I still enjoyed what we got, I don't know what this special was supposed to accomplish. If it was to end the WEP series as a whole, bad job. But if we end up getting some sort of movie or season 2, then boy are we in for a treat.
(PS If by any slight chance someone from Cloverworks sees this please please PLEASE DO NOT START THE MOVIE WITH A RECAP)
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jul 15, 2021
8/10 This will be a cult classic a few years from now.
REVIEW:
I was intrigued by this anime for a while. For one thing, the MC, Ohto Ai, looked absolutely adorable and I'm a sucker for adorable MC's. Also, the name was just too weird NOT to be curious about. So I went in hoping for a good time. What I got was something.... I can't quite explain easily.
The show itself is great. Fantastic. The art is GORGEOUS, the music is fitting, the fights and animation in general stand out very well. It was almost a 10/10... But I am not sure if I can give
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it a 10/10. While I liked each episode, there were some storylines between certain characters I felt lacked in emotional impact. Also, a recap halfway through the 12 episodes, so really we only got 11 episodes. That was a bummer.
What really made the show better, was the afterthoughts of "Man what does this mean? What did this character do and why did they do it?" The experience of the show afterwards is what makes this show what it is. That is why I believe, a few years from now, the die-hard WEP fans will still be watching and re-watching to find any clues or easter eggs (no pun intended) to try and piece together this open-ended story.
This is not an instant classic, but one people will come back to and make it a classic.
One thing to note: The WEP community seems to be up in arms about this show, especially the Special which I do not include as part of this review. Sadly, with such strong opinions, it's easy to be part of the majority. I tried my best to review this show the way I see it, and not the way the internet is trying to tell me to see it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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