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Feb 12, 2023
【ＳＰ♢ＩＬEＲ ＬEＶΣＬ： ＭＩＮ♢Ｒ】
the moment kanye west decided to stop using graduation bear was the same moment he became an irredeemably horrid person. i would've given this a 10/10, but kanye was rapping in the background the whole time and he's also credited as coming up with the music video's story, so i subtracted four stars. even though i put kanye in my list of favorite people on my profile, i only did this because i found it funny to see a category with only two people listed: hatsune miku and kanye west. i also seek justice for graduation bear. he did not deserve to be
...
associated with kanye, as this resulted in him being teleported to the shadow realm, never to be seen on an album cover again. kanye needs to give me the legal rights to use graduation bear, or he will remain there for all eternity.
anyway, this is a great music video! i'm a sucker for that authentic y2k aesthetic, 480p resolution official upload and all. the animation is a bit janky, but i can give it a pass for the amount of cool imagery it manages to pack into three minutes. grad bear himself is adorable, squashy and stretchy, as are all the other animal background characters' designs. some are repeated a few times for crowd shots, but i'd reckon there's about 10-15 unique designs shown throughout the video's runtime, which really shows some attention to detail.
despite how flat the backgrounds are, they all have a nice sense of depth and openness, and are well accented by good color choices. i especially like the zoom-out from the train into a wider shot of all these futuristic skyscrapers, the cinematography of which is surprisingly serviceable. the overall highlight of the entire mv is obviously the last 30 seconds or so when things get a bit trippier to match graduation's cover, and also briefly pay homage to late registration's cover, which are two albums i've never actually listened to because they're kanye west albums. now, i don't think it's fair to expect anything more from this mv than what it already is, as good morning isn't really a cinematic ballad worthy of any award winning, indie short-film quality work, but it's plain to see that mr. murakami and OLM studios put their backs into it anyway.
unfortunately, i've just gone back and read a couple reviews of this from before kanye was outed as being the kind of person who'd spend millions of dollars on a mansion just to spy on his ex-wife (among... other things...), and it's really hit me just how much people used to look up to him as this revolutionary figure in the music scene, even as recent as 2019.
well, yall know what they say: never meet your heroes- no wait, that's the wrong one... what was i trying to say? oh yeah! never idolize anyone. EVER. except toby fox. don't know who that is? you should. look him up.
【ＳＴＯＲＹ：6
ＡＲＴ：8
ＳＯＵＮＤ：1
ＣＨＡＲＡＣＴＥＲ：6
ＥＮＪＯＹＭＥＮＴ：7】
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jan 24, 2023
【ＳＰ♢ＩＬEＲ ＬEＶΣＬ： ＭＩＮ♢Ｒ】
this is one of the strangest anime i've ever watched... that also had me bawling like my roblox account got hacked. i'm one of many people who watched this to catch up for one of the highest rated series on this site, so i'm writing this prior to watching afterstory. nothing could've prepared me for the sheer emotional gutpunchy-ness of clannad, to the point where i'm hesitant to watch the second part from how much hype it gets for being even sadder.
therefore, in an effort to properly prepare YOU for clannad, i'll start with the many technical issues it suffers from, then hit
...
ya with the reasons i can look past most of them and still recommend this, even if you never get around to watching afterstory.
externally, this is what people who don't watch anime think all anime is like. teen girls who look like middle schoolers with the sailor garb to match, with impossibly huge and sparkly eyes, accented by cherry blossom trees in the "#anime aesthetic" worthy background. obviously this style isn't everyone's cup of tea, and i totally understand how it could get grating after a few episodes. however, this does actually serve a purpose that ill touch on later.
unlike the art, i can't defend the elephant in the room: 4 out of the 6 major female characters in this are infantilized to tarnation. now, i could write a whole essay on how this is a direct result of the normalization of misogyny and pedophilia in japan at a systemic level, but i don't have to tell you that in so many words. this is probably the show's most pervasive problem and a valid reason to skip it, no sugarcoating here.
one other issue is it's lack of tonal consistency, mostly a failure to balance emotional moments between comedic ones. there's at least 10 or so instances of an absolutely devastating revelation occurring directly after a funny haha slapstick scene of tomoya's OBVIOUS BOYFRIEND youhei getting his butt handed to him. youhei isn't a bad character, but so many pivotal moments would've hit way harder if they weren't immediately preceded or followed by some inconsequential bullcrap.
alrighty, now that i've nitpicked enough to qualify as an unpaid internet critic, it's time to get real: clannad has it's problems, but said problems are outweighed by it's overall experience. remember when i said the artstyle is more relevant to said story than it seems? clannad leverages it's lighthearted presentation and cute character interactions to be able to hit the viewer with the most heart-wrenching, vaguely supernatural shorthand for tragedy you've ever seen with the force of a freight train. yep, that's actually what the show's about.
the most crucial thing to understand about clannad is that it's not a thinking show, it's a feeling show, and everything that happens in it serves this focus. characters don't develop in intellect, they develop emotionally and psychologically. this isn't like death note where light and L play gay-coded chess for weeks, this is a show where high schoolers have to grapple with the inescapable unfairness of life whilst untangling a series of bittersweet mysteries. it's like happy tree friends, but with sadness instead of violence!
oh yeah, this anime's ost also happens to include the most hauntingly beautiful song ever composed, aka "town, flow of time, people", but that's just a footnote.
maybe i'm just a softie, but this anime genuinely surpassed my expectations, and if you're also partial to this kind of narrative subversion and wanna see where a concept like this can go, i totally recommend this.
sooooo... when's the tomoya x youhei chapter comin out?
【ＳＴＯＲＹ：7
ＡＲＴ：8
ＳＯＵＮＤ：10
ＣＨＡＲＡＣＴＥＲ：7
ＥＮＪＯＹＭＥＮＴ：7】
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jul 8, 2022
【ＳＰ♢ＩＬEＲ ＬEＶΣＬ： ＭΛＪ♢Ｒ！！！】
if i hadn't caught wind of sword art online's conflicting legacy, i probably wouldn't have given it a second glance. but seeing as it was a major contribution to how popular japanese animation is in the west, i simply couldn't miss it on the way into my anime binging journey. i had no nostalgia for this series but was also open to my modern day impressions of it being tested.
unfortunately, what i experienced was something far worse than your garden variety disappointment: it was the fabled, the dreaded... downward spiral in writing quality halfway through.
this is why my individual scores of this are
...
locked into a 5-7 range, because while i can't disregard how the first fourteen episodes were a lot better than i anticipated, i also can't excuse the audacity of the latter episodes to crap on everything i liked about it before that point. i'll be referring to said former half as p1, and everything afterwards but before the official sequel as p2. i have to divide it like this because of how big of a DIVE it takes, heheh...
starting with p1, it ain't half bad! it actually reminded me of re:zero, mostly with the fantasy setting + rpg mechanics but also in it's dialogue, so that's a compliment in my book. despite (true) accusations of it's main premise being goofy, sao p1 takes pride in itself and incorporates all of it's videogame elements into the plot fairly well.
i was also keeping an ear out for any worldbuilding-related plotholes the whole time, but whenever something seemed off or didn't add up, it usually ended up being important to an in-universe mystery, like the golden apple guild faking their deaths or heathcliff having nigh unlimited defense. i lean towards this being intentional as the rules of sao's world are surprisingly realistic and accurately portrayed, something that definitely exceeded my expectations. yknow, besides people naming themselves things like suparmaioluigifan2008 and bigweaboobs69.
as far as the characters, they're not awful but could've been way better. kirito is pretty flat but not unlikeable. he fits all the criteria a protag should meet, he just isn't very interesting or fun to watch. asuna is a bit better despite being fairly cookie-cutter, and most other characters are in the same ballpark of "just fine". that said, i did actually like kirito and asuna's relationship in that it didn't make me gag and they had some cute interactions together. not a high bar, but i've seen far worse. overall, the writing is at it's best when characters are grappling with the life-threatening situation of being trapped inside sao, which i thought was pulled off better than anything else.
the only characters i take issue with are the antagonists. we're talkin dharr mann levels of moustache twirling, no motivation-having nonsense from all of em. the laughing coffins are just the sloth cult from re:zero but less fun and more inconsequential. akihiko is just bizarre, he spent buckets of time and money to make a game capable of murdering people, and the reason he gives for doing so is that he... made a cool floating island thingy and wanted it to be real. and later on, kirito just ignores that he's used games to kill people and takes care of this egg that turns into ANOTHER vr rpg he made. there's a different villain in p2 that's even worse.
despite this, i think p1's biggest weakness is actually it's visual style, or lack thereof. it looks like a fantasy rpg, how riveting. the boss designs are pretty cool, but none of them are onscreen long enough to make an impact besides the big skeletal ceiling guy who dies in under five minutes. it's kind of a shame too, because the outside of the multi-leveled world looks sick but isn't explored in detail, you don't even get to see what the edge looks like from inside. instead of the environments feeling like massive, sprawling dungeons, they just look like every green field and generic village you'd see in a cashgrab isekai. the human character designs are equally lifeless.
and that's all i have to say about p1. if the show ended there, i would've given it a respectable 7, but that's not what happened. instead, i got to watch an alternate universe version of p1 where it was ten times worse.
first off, i can't discuss anything else before the elephant in the room: IIINNNNCCCCEEEESSSSSTTTT. the little sister in love with her brothercousin brand of incest, apparently. no series needs this, none. and it would've been such an easy fix! if they had sachi miraculously survive and run into kirito in alfheim instead, this subplot would've been so much better and more impactful in every way! but no, i had to weather this bullcrap yet again!! screw no game no life, screw monogatari and screw this.
sao p2 isn't good enough in other areas to justify suffering through these scenes either, as it takes any subtlety and emotional resonance present in p1 and channels all of it into kirito and asuna's reunion scenes, leaving all other interactions dry as a bone and shallow as a puddle. i also can't remember the names of the new side characters, which is strange considering how they're all plot-relevant.
the only regard in which i think p2 surpasses p1 is how it looks. the fairy kingdoms look a bit more distinctive, the lighting and colors look about the same and are still pretty stunning, and the fight scenes are way smoother and better choreographed. my guess is that the production team got a budget increase and put most of it into the action, but that's purely speculation.
i mentioned there was a villain in p2 that was even worse than akihiko, and that would be (had to look up his name) nobuyuki. my god, he is awful. not just as a person, he's also terribly written. his motivations are more realistic than akihiko's, there are men irl who are similar to him, but he's so open about it that it creates cognitive dissonance between him being in a fictional dupe of real-world japan while also being comically overexaggerated in his evilness. there's also a few scenes of him assaulting asuna that lasted long enough to make me question the story boarders' motivations.
the best antags tend to challenge their protags on another level besides just wanting something from them, which is something even akihiko does to an extent. but nobuyuki is only a baddie to kirito out of convenience; it feels like he was only introduced to make the show longer. he's also extremely similar to this one laughing coffin guy from earlier on who didn't even work as a minor threat, let alone the final boss of the season. kirito's last fight against him was laughably bad as well.
considering all this, i did like kirito and asuna's true reunion and the epilogue of them being cute at school. i guess that was my consolation prize. if you somehow haven't seen sao yet (like me from a week ago), just watch the first fourteen episodes and the last episode, then drop the rest. seems i really went into a... deep DIVE- ok i'll see myself out
【ＳＴＯＲＹ：6
ＡＲＴ：7
ＳＯＵＮＤ：5
ＣＨＡＲＡＣＴＥＲ：5
ＥＮＪＯＹＭＥＮＴ：6】
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jun 25, 2022
【ＳＰ♢ＩＬEＲ ＬEＶΣＬ： ＭＩＮ♢Ｒ】
for lack of a better analogy, nisekoi is the high school anime equivalent of a daytime soap opera. not wild or entertaining enough to be a telenovela, not coherent enough to be a typical romcom.
so many unnecessary plot points and characters are introduced and forgotten about that it becomes a waiting game for when raku and kosaki get to have another cute interaction before some new, frivolous bullcrap crashes the party. nisekoi might just be the most sloppily written romance anime of the past two decades, and if this review doesn't make much sense, that's because the show doesn't either.
i'll start with the
...
characters for organization's sake. nisekoi's protagonist, raku, finds himself in a highly unrealistic and bizarre state of affairs in which he essentially becomes the center of a harem on accident. yes, literally every romantic interaction he has with anyone besides kosaki is on accident, no exaggeration. though raku remains surprisingly likeable due to him not taking advantage of the situation, his attitude also makes the show's harem antics feel out of place and inconsequential.
chitoge is just a tsundere. all of her character traits can be summed up in one word: tsundere. her dynamic with raku has already been done to death in other shows, and it pales in comparison to raku and kosaki's adorably awkward relationship.
as you can probably tell from the last passage, kosaki is "best girl", a "precious cinnamon roll", even. this isn't just because of how cute she is either, because she's also nisekoi's most realistic and well-written character by a longshot. she isn't particularly developed (none of the characters are), but she makes up for this with how utterly sweet and pure-hearted she is. if this was just a love story between her and raku, i'd have given this an 8.
now, i'm going to list a few characters, and i want you, the reader, to guess what they all have in common: seishirou, marika, shuu, shinobu, gen, every yakuza member. drumrolllll... if you guessed "easily written-out", you'd be correct! that's at least 8 characters who serve little to no narrative relevance and are primarily used for gags.
"but moonlava, why write out two of the four harem girls??", the story would be way less bloated, that's why! it is painfully obvious that seishirou and marika were only added to stir the pot, but their inclusions backfire spectacularly and cause the show to feel like a bunch of filler episodes spaced out across others that would've been better without. i also forgot to talk about ruri. she's fine but only serves one purpose, similarly to the yakuza.
speaking of, the yakuza in this are painfully underutilized and only really amount to comic relief and two arbitrary plot points. if you're going to put something as complex as an organized crime ring into your show, why on earth would you sideline it until you need it to produce another oddly specific story detail? the writers could've even had their mafia shenanigans involve raku and chitoge more for some cool episode plots, but nope! utterly baffling. they don't even wear pinstripe suits... oh wait that's the mafia
just talking about this show is giving me a headache from how many different directions it shoots off into, and despite how much content it packs in with only twenty episodes, i can barely remember anything specific that happened in it. oh, and keep in mind that in addition to all this, you're also subjected to my favorite thing in the whole world, ecchi... close-up shots of the UNDERAGE girls' bodies every so often, and a dreadful hot-springs episode followed by a slightly less dreadful beach episode, oh goodie.
other miscellaneous problems include 70% of the show consisting of characters blushing, a complete lack of subtlety as it has WAY too many inner monologues from the main three, and a sense of humor that tries to be like nichijou but fails miserably because it's not nichijou. very specific, i know, but it adds up.
despite my ripping into this show like a cat with the corner of an upholstered chair, two things kept my attention long enough to finish every episode: kosaki being cute, and beautiful art direction. shaft clearly went to town on this thing, and it's wonderful color pallet and stunning backgrounds are the only reason i'd suggest this to anyone. maybe try watching the sub with the captions cropped out, you'll probably have a better time with it.
all in all, nisekoi is a truly disorientating show. it tries to do way too much at once, thus squandering the few things it happens to get right. maybe harem anime just sucks... yeah, who am i kidding, that's totally why.
【ＳＴＯＲＹ：3
ＡＲＴ：10
ＳＯＵＮＤ：8
ＣＨＡＲＡＣＴＥＲ：4
ＥＮＪＯＹＭＥＮＴ：5】
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jun 20, 2022
【ＳＰ♢ＩＬEＲ ＬEＶΣＬ： ＭＩＮ♢Ｒ】
am i going insane? was i somehow able to access a version of this show from an alternate universe where it's one of the most funny, creative animes i've seen instead of the clustertruck everyone else in the reviews watched? because that's how i feel right now.
this is a rare instance of me unabashedly disagreeing with the general consensus surrounding an anime, but i think medaka box in particular is good enough to warrant an attempt to tip the scales in it's favor. it's not a masterpiece, nor is it the shallow, ecchi-infested mess it's been mistaken for. the ecchi aspect of
...
it, while noticeable, is vastly toned down compared to something like ben-to which actually IS a meaningless booba fest. no, this anime has a story to tell, and it's a dang good story too!
throughout my viewing experience, i recognized various narrative techniques that are often praised in other shows being used in medaka box, including symbolism, visual storytelling, proper character development, setup and payoff, and this in regard to it's average score baffles me to no end. it isn't just great from a technical standpoint either, as it also boasts some truly admirable examples of characterization AND a distinctive style to boot.
but about said style being distinctive, i think it may also be the main reason why this show didn't rub people the right way- it is VERY dramatic, something medaka makes reference to in her first line of the first episode. it's the kind of jojo-esque overexaggeration used to amplify the emotions associated with a given situation. medaka box leans into this HARD, and while i think it has the comedic writing chops to compliment this kind of presentation, i wouldn't fault anyone for thinking it was overbearing.
speaking of which, medaka box is very funny. i laughed at more of it's jokes than i expected, and this could just be a matter of preference (my sense of humor has been destroyed by instagram, after all), but if you like nichijou or ouran highschool club, the jokes in this give off similar vibes. it also utilizes running gags without them overstaying their welcome, which is a difficult needle to thread in terms of long-form comedy.
now, usually shows that make the main character a centerpiece to everything else only really work if said mc can actually carry the weight of an entire show. and in this case, medaka is absolutely that strong of a character. she's charismatic, goofy, complex and memorable in equal portion, and despite her often being the victim of the show's few ecchi moments, who she is as a person is ridiculously well conveyed and intertwined with the plot in a variety of ways. she's basically a subversion of the typical mary sue- a girl so powerful and virtuous that she's loved by almost everyone and can bend the world to her will. but her ideals and how they're challenged are multifaceted in such a way that they can be construed as both right and wrong, and this particular concept is explored quite a lot in-universe which makes for a truly unforgettable arc.
this isn't a kurumi tokisaki or zero-two situation either, because every character, including borderline background characters, have their own unique traits and motivations- the key term here being "consistency". while the other student council members aren't as fleshed out and can sometimes come off as a bit too tropey, they bounce off of both medaka and each other to make for some fairly interesting dynamics, the standout combo being medaka and zenkichi.
not to spoil too much, their perception of medaka as an untouchable goddess is completely shattered by the last episode, as they eventually learn to appreciate her as both a flawed person and an invaluable friend. my personal favorite character besides medaka was actually hansode, but i happen to have a personal preference for cringe-ahh nae nae baby type characters. most character designs are quite visually effective as well, i specifically like how their uniforms are altered to better suit their personalities.
all in all, medaka box is, without a doubt, the most slept on anime i've seen as of now. beneath it's bombastic presentation and booba shots lies a skillfully written story about what it really means to be a good or bad person. also excited to watch s2 as it has a considerably higher rating. if you're someone who's still on the fence about whether or not this'll be worth the time, i recommend that you give it a shot.
【ＳＴＯＲＹ：9
ＡＲＴ：8
ＳＯＵＮＤ：7
ＣＨＡＲＡＣＴＥＲ：10
ＥＮＪＯＹＭＥＮＴ：10】
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jun 17, 2022
【ＳＰ♢ＩＬEＲ ＬEＶΣＬ： ＭΛＪ♢Ｒ！！！】
as a self-proclaimed batman enjoyer, this could've been way cooler than it was. i have some oddly specific gripes with it, but most of them probably come down to the team behind it biting off more than they could chew.
as far as it's best aspects, no one can deny how creative this movie's art direction is. the concept artists were having a field day even if no one else was. every character design goes absolutely bonkers, and a lot of it's interior shots and dynamic lighting compliment the setting spectacularly.
the thing that probably caught most people's attention after watching clips and trailers is
...
the animation, a fairly underutilized blend of 2D and 3D, and while certain (easily marketable) portions of this movie look quite smooth, most don't. this includes every scene that isn't an action scene, and... most of the action scenes. it's painfully obvious that they put 80% of the animation budget into the final sword fight between batman and joker, and i understand WHY, but it doesn't make the rest of the movie any less disappointing. if you're only interested in seeing this from the animation, just watch that scene a few times until you get bored.
despite this, the only thing that completely shattered my viewing experience was actually the dub. this isn't so much in reference to the voice acting though (everyone did their best but they obviously had little to no direction), i'm talking about the music and sound mixing.
so, the music? dryer than a saltine. no japanese instruments, just DC's typical orchestic shlock with an oddly placed j-pop song thrown in for good measure. if there actually were any culturally relevant instruments used, i couldn't hear them. speaking of, i'll admit that good sound mixing isn't something i knew to be terribly important until i watched a full movie without it.
the voices are way too loud and every other sound is way too quiet. massive explosions involving buildings and giant robots have as much impact as a wet paper towel. oh yeah, there's mech fights in this, they're the stilted action scenes i was talking about earlier. anyway, the mixing here is truly "dreadful" as designated by MAL, and it's baffling that work this awful was approved by a company as overgrown as DC.
now, it's pretty ooc of me to go on about the technical aspects of a film, but that's because the story here is so simultaneously poorly conveyed and cookie-cutter that it gets overshadowed by everything else. gorilla grodd builds a time machine, batman & co go to ancient japan and do japanese things, then they go home. no development, no complex dilemmas, no substance. batman? yep, he's batman. teams up with bat ninjas and everything, that's how batman he is. joker? he's just yukkin it up, thirsty for batman, nothing new. catwoman, harley quinn, the robins, they're all the same as always, just with not enough screen time for the depth that got people to like them in other things. the plot is just as bare bones. at least they lookin fresh?
that's basically it. got fooled by a few youtube clips and mistaking scenes from the chinese themed batman short for this. maybe go watch that instead, hopefully the sound mixing in it is more serviceable.
【ＳＴＯＲＹ：4
ＡＲＴ：8
ＳＯＵＮＤ：2
ＣＨＡＲＡＣＴＥＲ：6
ＥＮＪＯＹＭＥＮＴ：6】
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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May 10, 2022
【ＳＰ♢ＩＬEＲ ＬEＶΣＬ： Ｎ♢ＮΣ】
this might be my longest review yet. i don't care if no one finds this helpful, i'm writing this for me.
i had very odd tastes as a child, and this happened to be one of many crappy shows i watched religiously when my house still had cable. when i saw that it had a listing on mal of all things, i felt equal parts confused and liberated. confused because it only fits the loosest possible definition of anime (animation from japan), and liberated because i now had an opportunity to discuss it at least once.
i'll go over the most obvious issue first: the
...
character designs are abysmal, but this isn't exactly surprising considering the designers were asked to translate tiny shapes with less than 2 facial features per shape into serviceable character designs. even so, everyone looks considerably worse than shapes with eyes.
they all have these stubby, PVC pipe lookin' limbs with a visible border around where they're attached to the body, molded on eyebrows- yes, some characters including pac-man have separate folds of skin akin to horns on which the eyebrows are attached- and little to no clothes (crotch fully out), just shoes, accessories and the sleeves of whatever piece of clothing they would've been wearing if they weren't just shapes. they get worse the longer you look at them.
that being said, the designs of most of the ghosts aren't nearly as bad, most of them are actually kinda cute. they also look fairly consistent across the species with a few cool variations. i'll elaborate on them later.
but it isn't just that they look bad, because the voice acting is what makes them completely insufferable. every single performance (besides betrayus) is ridiculously whiny, squealy and grating on your eardrums, no matter what character is talking or what emotion is being conveyed. the main theme also sounds terribly disjointed and poorly written.
even still, the low design and sound quality is actually the least of this show's issues, because all it really comes down to is the dialogue. pac-man's one trait is that he likes food, cylindria's one trait is being smart, spiral's one trait is being not as smart, skeebo's one trait is being the worst... this trend continues until you have a cast with as much personality as a stick of celery, all of which are only there to spout the most overused, formulaic sentences imaginable with an occasional burp joke thrown in.
there is no character development and no important lessons are learned because that could upset the status quo for all the tiny tots watching, and i assure you that's the only audience the writers ever had in mind. i wouldn't put a show like this in front of any toddlers, though. that's what fortnite is for.
oddly enough, the thing i mentioned earlier with the ghost characters having been spared of awful creative decisions also applies to them writing-wise. the ghost quartet of inky, blinky pinky and clyde are still fairly annoying thanks to the voice acting but are considerably more entertaining and sympathetic compared to the main cast. they're basically just mischievous, morally grey little turds that can't decide between helping pac-man or trying to murder him, so they always end up doing both. i'd describe them as having two character traits per ghost instead of one, which is technically a 2x improvement! and speaking of the ghosts...
betrayus is the only good character out of the entire cast and is the only reason i subjected myself to the mediocre sludge that is everything else in the show besides betrayus. i remember myself back then, an innocent, impressionable child of the age of 10 or so, lighting up whenever the camera cut away from all those losers to focus on whatever moustache-twirling shenanigans he was up to.
simply put, he is the absolute epitome of the villain archetype. if you've ever thought of a typical villain before, whoever comes to mind first is probably a watered down version of betrayus. he's like the joker if he wasn't a miserable beta-male reddit user, he's like megamind if he never found love, he's like dr. doofenshmirts if he was actually evil.
if killstar was canon in the pac-world universe he'd buy their entire stock, and in a better timeline he would've been written into a show half as good as himself and received the appreciation he deserves. if everything else about the show stayed the same but he was the protagonist instead of pac-man, i would've given this no lower than a 6/10 overall. he's just that iconic.
similarly to everyone else his design leaves a lot to be desired, but i think that'd be an easy fix if he was less bean-shaped and more dilf-shaped.
ok im tired of writing this, believe it or not i still have more to say about this so maybe i'll edit it later, maybe i won't. wouldn't reccomend unless you can find a compilation of betrayus scenes on youtube
【ＳＴＯＲＹ：3
ＡＲＴ：3
ＳＯＵＮＤ：1
ＣＨＡＲＡＣＴＥＲ：4
ＥＮＪＯＹＭＥＮＴ：5】
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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May 8, 2022
【ＳＰ♢ＩＬEＲ ＬEＶΣＬ： Ｎ♢ＮΣ】
as a purveyor of the very obscure, quirky and dare i say "redpilled" opinion that almost all isekai is trash, i was expecting konosuba to be just what the doctor ordered: an anime poking fun of boring, repetitive isekai tropes with some good comedic writing on the side. but after actually watching it for myself, i think it's... fine, i guess? not an 8/10 by any means, but i suppose enough people think megumin is cute to where it gets a pass.
the most important aspect of any parody anime is obviously the comedy, so is it funny? not very. it often falls back
...
on the recurring character traits of the main girls, and these gags get very predictable about halfway through the season when it loses all impact. i did laugh a few times but not enough to where i'd consider the comedy to be well written overall.
this next point might sound weird but i'll try to explain what i mean: this anime could've been a lot funnier if it didn't confine itself to looking, sounding and feeling like a typical isekai. you can tell the voice actors are having fun with their roles, but the art that accompanies these performances don't do such high levels of exaggeration justice.
i would've recommended that the show's promotional art and low-key scenes have it's usual generic art style and switch to a more fluid, cartoony style for the comedy/action scenes, but i've literally just described nichijou so maybe my tastes have just been spoiled by that.
i'll talk about characters from worst to best: kazuma is a slimy little manwhore. i despise him, i don't understand how anyone could possibly like him, and he may actually be the worst male anime protag i've ever seen. he is not a chad or a sigma male, he is a degenerate with no redeeming qualities and should've actually been slain by tractor-chan. see episode 9 (or don't, please don't) to fully comprehend my suffering.
ohhhhh miss lalatina, honey, sweetie, what on earth did those men do to you?? never in my life have i witnessed such an abhorrent waste of a character design as darkness. her gimmick of masochism offends and disgusts me on an astronomical scale, but i can never blame a hypersexualized anime girl for being portrayed as such, even a character like darkness who only shows glimpses of a real personality once every 3 episodes. just a bad look for the writers.
it seems most people perceive aqua as being less likeable that kazuma for reasons that escape me, but i've built up a tolerance for annoying fictional characters and don't think she's that bad. megumin is the least problematic of the main quartet, but that isn't a particularly high bar to pass. i'll always be onboard for adorable arsonists though. none of these characters get any development so it's all whatever.
also, despite it positing itself as a parody of isekai, konosuba's fantasy "worldbuilding" is so bland and indistinguishable from the setting of any other cashgrab isekai that i had to go back and edit this review because i forgot to say anything about it.
if you're looking for a well written subversion of isekai, just watch re:zero. it's almost the complete opposite of a comedy but it's leagues better than this. will not be watching season 2.
【ＳＴＯＲＹ：5
ＡＲＴ：7
ＳＯＵＮＤ：5
ＣＨＡＲＡＣＴＥＲ：4
ＥＮＪＯＹＭＥＮＴ：5】
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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May 2, 2022
【ＳＰ♢ＩＬEＲ ＬEＶΣＬ： Ｎ♢ＮΣ】
despite having gotten my hopes up about this one from how cute miss komi shouko and the other characters look, komi can't communicate ended up being little more than a resounding "meh" for me. once you get past the main gimmick of, well... komi not being able to communicate, it's pretty much just another standard high school romcom that's only defining feature is it's aforementioned cute character designs and interesting main conflict.
as far as the characters go beyond looks, they simply lack depth. they're all one trick ponies that rarely possess more than two personality traits or interests per person, which isn't nearly
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enough to offset how generic the setting is.
shouko is obviously the best character in the show by far with my personal runner-up being najimi, but the rest of the cast just didn't do anything for me. tadano and nene are decent but boring, omoharu, otori and makeru are fun the first time they show up but lack the most development of everyone and are just archetypes, and i have no idea what went wrong with ren and himiko, they're just awful.
that being said, comedy is still this anime's strong suit overall, and though it's no pickle rick i did laugh at quite a few points and estimate that about 3 out of every 5 jokes were at least somewhat funny to me. but considering i tend to be easily amused, your experience may differ.
basically the only reason to watch this is for komi shouko herself, so i feel this has fallen into the same hole as darling in the franxx and date a live in that it has one amazing character surrounded by a bunch of mids. that's literally all i have to say about this, which is less than i usually do what with my big mouth. i recommend this if you (rightfully) think shouko is adorable.
【ＳＴＯＲＹ：7
ＡＲＴ：6
ＳＯＵＮＤ：6
ＣＨＡＲＡＣＴＥＲ：5
ＥＮＪＯＹＭＥＮＴ：8】
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Apr 16, 2022
【ＳＰ♢ＩＬEＲ ＬEＶΣＬ： ＭΛＪ♢Ｒ!!!】
it's freakin' sailor moon, what more do you want from me? it's the most 90s a 90s anime can possibly be while also setting a revolutionary standard for the magical girl subgenre... but mostly because of the later seasons.
plot-wise, most episodes are very formulaic which can get boring during a binge watch. shop opens up in the city, gets really popular, stuff they sell are actually evil energy drainers, sailor moon beats up a monster, rinse and repeat. there's more variation in the season's latter half but it takes time to get there.
not terribly strong writing-wise and feels like it's trying a bit
...
too hard to appeal to it's target audience, but these issues are rectified in later seasons so it doesn't get worse if you decide stick with it. totally cried at zoisite's death scene scene, though. (did not cry at mamoru's death scene)
speaking of mamo, there's a very specific issue that comes up multiple times in the series including this season, which is... uhhhh can i say the p word on here? i aint takin' that risk, yall figure it out. usagi and mamoru are reincarnated royalty who're destined to fall in love, right? but usagi is in middle school and mamoru is in college. this is brought up in-universe and nobody says or does anything.
nephrite's entire character arc is also a weirdly romantic relationship he has with naru for like 3 episodes before zoisite the predator poacher has his goons impale him. so nephrite dies permanently after having creepy relations with a young girl, but mamoru gets revived and sticks around for the rest of the series? make it make sense!
luckily once you get past all that, there's some cool lore going on with the villains and the moon kingdom, cute dynamics between the sailor guardians and a surprisingly brutal but well written season finale that starts with every sailor guardian getting killed horribly one after another until usagi has to fight the big bad on her own, like madoka magica who??
definitely a staple for any newcomers looking to get into anime, but not as good as season 3 if what you're looking for is a quality story.
【ＳＴＯＲＹ：６
ＡＲＴ：８
ＳＯＵＮＤ：８
ＣＨＡＲＡＣＴＥＲ：６
ＥＮＪＯＹＭＥＮＴ：７】
p.s. queen beryl is so hot
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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