Back to Monoxid's Profile Monoxid's Profile

I decided to do this anime some justice. If we want to name all the things, which remind us of some older anime - the main hero, Earth population wiped out, humanity's strongest captain, special battle equipement etc. - we're gonna be here forever. Let's move on. Let's call this a genre.

Honestly, I don't even think that SnK is first in this genre. It goes much further in the history of anime, like... 80s. All those huge aliens and mecha fighting, you know. There's basically nothing original about the Evangelion premise, right?

But what do all these stories have in common? We enjoy them! We enjoy ... those innocent children, who symbolize the future of humankind, fighting strange unknown evil, which is growing every day, causing everyone to fall into despair. That's why the number of those "generic" anime series keeps growing. And God Eater is doing a good job.

As soon as you get over the unoriginality, you will start to enjoy those little differences. There is nice story developement that even explains some of the past events. The main hero is not a complete good-for-nothing, he has some previous life experience (which reminds me a bit of Terra Formars and I do like that type of character). The amount of despair is... delightful. Well executed violence. Nothing is black and white, or more like: everything is dark. You are left wondering after every episode whether are there any chances of humanity surviving. Even the morally strong protagonists have major character flaws. Even the biggest hopes will be stained with bloody disillusion.

People here praise the animation. For me, it was one of the weakest aspects. It is undoubtedly well done, but it just feels weird to me. Distracting. Very CGI-like. One of those animes where you watch first episode and think: wait, is this... video game adaptation? Looks like it.

Anyway. If you can't get enough of action sci-fi shounen genre, go ahead and watch this! If you're looking for deep, thoughtful stories with delicately designed personalities and unusual enviroment, go search somewhere else.

This will be a short review for a short manga.

It is clear from the first page that this is a parody. The main hero, Ikehata Shino, has been trained as a kunoichi, especially in the "art to please men". He lays his eyes on the victim and starts plotting, how to use his "female ninja" skills to win the poor guy over...

The result is hilarious to read. Shino is not thinking much unlike a classic shoujo heroine. The premise itself is outrageous and absurd. Characters seem as stereotypical as the story allows them to show. The art is alright for a shoujo manga. The author ... apparently enjoys drawing manly bishounens... but for a yaoi, it is not very elaborate. Well, if you laugh within the first three pages, continue reading!

This anime lost me at „I think that feelings are important.“
And that's about all they want to tell us. There is really no meaning, no plot, nothing worth remembering. I kept watching it only to see if I might change my mind.

Story...
There's no point in branding this „RPG setting“. Why would anyone connect this to a game without the characters themselves saying „this is not a game“. No. It is just plain fantasy world. Very plain fantasy. So plain that some people put this anime in „slice of life“ category. But it is about as exciting as watching a high school anime which would be ... solely about students learning how to read, write and count. Even when something finally happens, it is buried in endless expressing of „feelings“ and verbal diarrhea.

Art...
Some could call it refreshing, original. The sceneries look sketched, unfinished. The rest looks absolutely average and forgettable. You would usually expect this kind of watercolor-y style in premature shoujo romance. But of course. This has nothing to do with action, right...

Sound...
A lot of time there is no music at all. When there is, it is monotone, bland; it doesn't change pace with a change of scene. If you notice a change in the music, it will be more like if you skipped to another song in a jazz album. Opening and ending? I skip them without a regret.

Characters...
They range from bland to annoying. We have the normal guy, probably MC, from whom we expect the most „character developement“, the nice guy, the noisy guy, the shy girl (more like shut-down girl), the cold girl, the tomboy... Nothing you have not seen before. Regarding that character development everyone is talking so highly about: I have seen close to none. The characters didn't really change, only the level of comfort they experience around other characters. It gives me the We-passed-the-new-school-orientation-week kind of feeling. Plus there is the Ranta issue. I was on the verge of dropping this only because of his obnoxious ventilations.

Enjoyment...
I hate predictable shows. It's even worse, when there's not much to predict. I should have sticked to the three-episode-rule. I regretted not dropping this for the most of the time. I am gonna avoid similar pieces in the future. Ah. Did you enjoy the middle-part in SAO? Where Kirito goes around joining guilds? If you added a hint of brutality, you could squeeze „Grimgar“ in there and nobody would notice. By the way, I believe it was the part when most of the people were dropping SAO.

Overall...
Do you love action, fantasy, exciting plots, villains, interesting characters, great music? Go somewhere else, you'll find nothing of that here. Most of the time I felt like I was watching something I've already seen before. The rest of the time I wanted to skip a scene because it was full of yelling or wondering about people's feelings and thoughts. Ugh.

This piece of art... is absolutely precious.

I've experienced the reader's chills many times before, but here they come just from looking at Yumi's face. He's so beautiful! Ah! His existence justifies everything and if there is anything in the story, that is not perfect, it's cancelled. I am so happy I read this only because the cover art caught my attention.

To give you the idea what you're getting into, in case you decide to read this yaoi... It's about adult people in the real world - ehm, okay, in slightly yaoi-sed and idealised version of the real world. The point is, it's not all about ... steamy yaoi sex and overly manly seme saving the world. It's trying to present the daily struggels of ordinary humans, showing even sides of their personalities which someone could call ugly - and somehow sparkle the chemistry between these pages and the reader. The feel is real.

Oh, my favourite underrated anime...

I have really fallen in love with this fairy tale-like, sweet story, which is at the same time very mature, sometimes dark and I cannot decide whether it's optimistic or pesimistic. I'm not even against calling this emo.

Creators of all kinds will probably never get tired of the Alice in Wonderland inspiration. And there's nothing wrong about that. In this case, the character designs AND the plot are slightly inspired by it, but in the end, the story is completely original and I enjoyed every piece of it. It's the kind of story that makes you want to know, what's next, ... whats next?!! If you get angry because of the way they end the anime, go ahead and read the manga. You will not regret it.

I love the art... in the manga. Anime adaptation will almost never reach the quality of the manga drawing style and that's the sad reality. The result is just average. But you can still enjoy those bishounens and colorful tea parties!

Oooh, soundtrack from Yuki Kajiura. If there was nothing else, I would watch Pandora Hearts just because of this! In her older works (.hack//Sign), she used to create music which was great by itself, but it didn't work that well in combination with the anime. Later on (Kara no Kyoukai, Madoka or Fate/Zero, for example), her music started to be better in enhancing the atmosphere and didn't consume so much of your attention by itself. Which is the case of Pandora Hearts. The music is one of the strongest points here.

I think I'm not spoiling when I say that the characters are not what they seem to be. Really, you never know, who is good and bad, or who will turn out to be the good/bad guy. They probably don't know it themselves. Actually, the concept of good and evil is one of the first things which will Pandora Hearts gladly blow up for you.

I hope that I've given you enough reasons to watch this. I feel like I should give you also some cons, but I really cannot think of any. Oh, there is that one. It ends. And the anime end is not what the story deserves. But up to that point, it's great.

Princess Tutu is one of my all-time favourite series, which stayed in my toplist even after rewatching.

The main focus is circling around the music. The main story and the side stories are inspired by famous operas, ballets, symphonies... We meet the Swan Lake, obviously, combined with The Nutcracker, not only in the plot, but especially in the soundtrack. I had to find the list of used classical pieces, because there are just too many and all of them are worth listening to. (By the way, Swan Lake from Tchaikowsky is next to the symphony From the New World my favourite composition.)

Because the plot is composed ... from so many parts, the result is actually completely original and unpredictable. It is gentle and delicate, and at the same time it's becoming complex and dark. The first part is basic mahou shoujo plot, where we meet new characters every episode, and the main heroine is given this difficult task of collecting lost shards, and every episode she has to temporarily transform to her better self in order to finish it.

But that is not all. Somehow the heroes outgrow the original story concept and that's where it's really starting. Don't give up on Princess Tutu if you don't like the way it starts. Towards the end, I was so emerged in the story, I was crying like a baby. It was also the music's fault. From my side, this was pure love. Everyone should watch this. This is the kind of anime that will make you a better person.

Why do I even write this review?

Other people said it all. Even the author himself confessed he created this as guilty pleasure, probably because he just loved drawing guts and boobs and monsters (not sure in which order).

The combination works great. 383 chapters were gone much more quickly than I ever had expected. And I say this as pure-hearted maiden. I cannot help but to admire the art, all the details of brain cuts etc.

I very much appreciated that the story was consistent. It was finished properly and the author obviously intended to do it from the begining, unlike many others who just let the ... chance for proper ending slip through their fingers.

What I loved the most, was the main hero. Kei might start as the boring, stereotypical, useles boy who looks like he is in the wrong place at the wrong time (and couldn't even pull the trigger), but never ever have I enjoyed the character development so much. That is the main reason why I recommend to read Gantz. You will look back on those 383 chapters and feel like real something has been acomplished. Howgh.

This manga is my dream come true.

1. It's fantasy

2. Main hero is great in every aspect. No, I have no problem that he's totally OTT!

3. Plot is within its genre quite original, after some obligatory power showing-off cliches, it starts being fresh and unexpected.

4. Art is B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L! I just love it. I love traditional Asia-inspired clothing, weapons and everything. I was reading it all over again just because of this, my all-time-favourite (alright, there are some better, but these are like... oneshots) A-R-T!

But. Id left me with broken heart. It stopped. They stopped publishing Id! My perfect manga. Whenever I'm not careful and accidentally open ... the folder, I catch myself reading several chapters. But there is no more. Do you know that kind of despair? If you want to avoid it, never get involved with Id!

(I would love to read the novel, but I couldn't find any proper translation. Should I learn korean to read this?)

Does any dark fantasy manga that starts well and continues well even exist?

All of my favourite stories either stop getting published, or the intense atmosphere just vaporizes like water later on - which is the case of Übel Blatt. The beginning is just perfect. Am I bad person if the main reasons for me to enjoy it were all the despair, twisted personalities and raw violence?

When I talk about the characters, I should highlight the difference between now and then. I loved that main hero who just walked through the starting story with nothing to lose and everything to destroy. I even understand why some ... people compared it to Berserk.

But it's just sad that it's similar to Berserk even in that other way. Later on, the characters with their original motivations, which made them very distinctive, just blend in, because the plot gets too involved with fairies and sh*t... And you just lose track, who is who - you're glad that at least you rememember which faces are „good“ and „evil“, and that is just something the heroes from the beginning do not deserve.

So, should you read it? Yes, if you want to enjoy few volumes of nicely executed violence, sword fights, disgusting villains, with no promise of FINISHING the plot the same way it started. But honestly, who does that in year 2015? If you find out, let me know, I'll run to buy that manga.

For the sake of initial quality and possible future good closure, I will try to ignore the present and let my rating reflect those parts that I really enjoyed.