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Sep 15, 2017
It’s not very often we get an anime where the main character already has a girlfriend or gets a girlfriend in the first episode and Hajimete no Gal was marketed as the latter. Having never heard of it before, it gave me high hopes for its potential. I had hoped that it would explore some themes that are rarely explored having skipped the hurdle that most anime reserve for its climax and its niche of focusing on gyaru could have led to some interesting conflicts. The gyaru theme explored is essentially “You thought gyaru are just easy sluts! Well, they’re actually not!” Needless to say,
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my hopes were dashed.
Like most stories, Hajimete no Gal’s story occurs through story arcs. It’s just unfortunate that most of these story arcs boil down to “Oh no, something bad is going to happen to the girl(s). Well, time for the protagonist, Junichi, to temporarily man up and do something.” While the arcs do allow some of the characters to shine-- which result in some of the better moments in the anime—a lot of the conflicts could have been solved or prevented altogether if people would have just sat down and talked it out. This is especially true for the final arc of the anime and also why it was so frustrating to see it play out. Not only that but even when the good parts are happening, the shot direction can take a turn for the worst like when there is panning upskirt shot of a female character during a tense scene in a café near the end of the anime as if to say “We know it’s not that great of a story so here’s some unnecessary eye candy.”
The story is also filled with blatant clichés. For example, despite Junichi clearly be in a relationship with one girl and one girl only, he still manages to develop this pseudo-harem of girls who all want him for one reason or another and he somehow only realizes the girl wants him when the girl in question blatantly tells him. Or “Hey it’s the king’s game, let’s conspire to have the girls kiss us!” Or “Hey it’s the hot springs, let’s go peek on the girls while they’re naked because we’re not ‘real men’ if we don’t.” Or “Hey, that person’s more attractive than me in basically every way, it sure would be a shame if I had pre-existing self-confidence issues and went into a state of depression which lead to conflict.” The anime doesn’t strive to do anything different and, at the same time, anything it does attempt to do story-wise isn’t executed particularly well.
For most romcoms, characters are the defining aspect which will most likely make or break the show. Hajimete no Gal’s characters definitely break the show for me. Barely any of the characters have any clear motivation so you don’t really know what makes them tick and the majority of the characters are one-dimensional. Most notorious of these is Junichi’s lolicon friend and the show’s constant reminder to you “Oh yeah, did you know he’s a lolicon?” If you were to stop watching each episode the moment the anime reminded you that Junichi’s friend is, in fact, a lolicon, you would probably never be able to watch a single episode in its entirety, it’s really that bad. Junichi’s other two friends are the blue-haired guy with glasses who is a super otaku who is also the mastermind of the group and the blonde guy who I think is an avid gamer. All four of the males are perverted and they definitely give off a Prison School vibe. It’s just that Hajimete no Gal’s male group is the stale, knock-off, store-brand-cereal-tossed-in-the-clearance-bin version of the group from Prison School. You can tell by the lack of names of these characters in describing them how memorable they were to me. None of Junichi’s friends are really developed in any way and despite being the main protagonist, Junichi’s own development seems stunted and/or extremely slow because it doesn’t seem like he changes much through the course of the anime’s ten episodes, if at all. By the end of the anime’s tenth episode, Junichi doesn’t seem to accomplish much other than manage to keep his girlfriend and maybe gain a little confidence. Other than that, Junichi is essentially just used as the conduit for most of the fanservice in the show, whether it’s through his random fantasizing or simply existing around the four main girls.
On the flip side, the four main girls of the anime are Yame, Ranko, Kashii, and the childhood friend in major need of breast reduction surgery who also calls Junichi “Onii-chan”. Of the entire cast, Ranko and Kashii are definitely my favorites and are coincidentally also the most developed characters in the entire show but I’ll first address the final and the first of the four girls, in that order. The childhood friend in major need of breast reduction surgery who also calls Junichi “Onii-chan” is essentially how I would describe that character to someone who’s never seen the show and it’s also her character in a nutshell. But, there’s an extra layer of being an emotional support imouto who wants to be seen as a woman by Junichi and also have sex with him and marry him because childhood friends of the opposite sex need to make marriage promises when they’re young but only one of them remembers that promise being made in the first place. In the beginning, she had a fairly annoying running gag that involved her literally running but that stopped after she developed more as a character and began intruding on Yame and Ranko when Junichi was around. Despite being the “main” heroine, Yame seems strangely underdeveloped. We know she’s an overall nice person who is often adverse to lewd things despite the stereotypes surrounding gyaru and is in love with Junichi but, perhaps due to the story revolving around Junichi’s point of view, she’s consistently somewhat of an enigma. While her actions obviously follow a clear line of logic that makes complete sense to her, the audience is often just completely oblivious to what’s happening in her mind so her actions can seem somewhat random or confusing to the audience-surrogate Junichi, which is a main component of the conflict in the final arc. Ranko, on the other hand, seems surprisingly more developed than the main girl Yame. She actually has some character motivation, however simple, and she definitely steals the spotlight at times. She also gets some random meta love at times like when Ranko was dressed up as Miki Sayaka from Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica in the cosplay café was an interesting nod as her Japanese voice actress, Kitamura Eri, also voiced Sayaka, though this may have just been completely coincidental. Weirdly enough, the character with the most development is Kashii, who ends up going through her own character arc that ends up spanning most of the anime and even ends up solving a conflict on her own while Junichi is busy yelling about how morally inferior someone else is.
As far as sound design goes, the sound effects are the typical stock affair you can find pretty much anywhere and the music is forgettable. While the voice actors seem to do their best with what they’re given, they’re rarely given anything that allows them to work their magic. Overall, the sound design in the anime is average at best but there are still points where it misses its mark.
The art and animation are definitely where the anime falls on its face the most. The animation consistently feels lazy or incompetent and I often found myself surprised when there were legitimately good sections of animation, however rare they were. There are often times where the characters themselves look off-model with their body parts being over or under-sized and, on top of that, looking poorly drawn. The eyes, in particular, will often be lopsided on characters’ faces and tend to have an overall lifeless look to them for most characters, which seems to be particularly true for Yame.
Hajimete no Gal is an anime a few good parts but its many flaws simply hold it back from being average and, even for a “guilty pleasure” anime, it falls short of almost all others in its category. It manages hits that sweet point where it’s essentially unrecommendable; it’s definitely not good but, at the same time, it doesn’t quite reach the point of “so bad it’s good” infamy.
3 out of 10
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Sep 23, 2013
So, let me get this out of the way first, Chokkyuu Hyoudai Robot Anime: Straight Title is absolutely NOT what it seems to be at first glance, and even MAL seems to have been mistaken. Straight Title is NOT an mecha action anime, it is a comedy anime through and through. Now that's out of the way, onto my review.
When I first heard of this show, I immediately went “Cool! A mecha anime with lots of action using MMD? Sounds awesome!” However, after the action-packed opening sequence, I learned that I was sadly mistaken as the line immediately after the title stated “This anime is
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made for the viewer to enjoy the cuteness of robots, while enjoying a hardly noticeable, inoffensive investigation.” I just got trolled pretty hard by an anime... Did I rage? No. Did I immediately drop the anime because it wasn't what I expected? No. I simply took it in stride and, in the end, ended up enjoying what the show had to offer.
The basic story of Straight Title (or as I like to call it MMD Robots) involves three robots in a world where humans have gone extinct. Mori, Katou, and Fujii are on a quest to end the ongoing robot war (shown in the opening) by finding out how to cause laughter. Sounds stupid, right? Well, it is. But, just throw that all out the window because no one really cares about the story in an anime made solely for the purpose of comedy anyway. Episodes are generally divided into three skits: 1) a skit where the robots introduce and attempt to imitate a style of Japanese comedy, 2) a skit where the robots make something random happen to the opening sequence, usually altering it in some comedic way, and 3) a locale-themed skit where the robots take items from an everyday locale such as a school or hospital, and try to imitate some sort of behavior using the items. The third part is my personal favorite because I honestly don't know if it's scripted at all, rather, it may be all improvisation and the seiyuu (voice actors/actresses) are all doing exactly what the characters on screen are doing. The seiyuu really seem to enjoy themselves and have fun while doing the third part, even going so far as to seemingly fall out of character and laugh, which the show plays it off saying “The noise that resembles human laughter is due to the robots receiving interference from the archives, and is temporarily affecting their external speakers.” While others may see it as being “unprofessional”, hearing the seiyuu and seeing the characters on-screen seem to have fun made me enjoy the show even more.
I've heard complaints that the animation “sucks” in this show and my response to that is “It's MMD, what were you expecting?” For those of you who don't know, basically, MMD is short for MikuMikuDance and is a freeware program originally made by one guy so that he could make the Vocaloid character, Hatsune Miku, move and dance. Since then, it has receive numerous updates but is still notoriously hard to use properly, especially for the inexperienced. For MMD, the animation is pretty good, so much so that I think it could be submitted to an MMD competition if it was more than just robots head-bobbing most of the time. The character designs manage to avoid some of the bigger issues that plagues MMD and most parts are large and/or immobile on purpose.
All in all, I thought the skits are fine and even somewhat educational, teaching me about different styles of Japanese comedy; though some of the skits managed to really cracked me up at times. The animation may seem bad but, if you really know about what was used to make it, I find it fairly impressive. Give it a shot. You'll probably never see anything like it again and you might even enjoy it, just don't expect much.
6 out of 10
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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May 9, 2013
*Please note that there will be some spoilers in this review*
If you could have one wish, any wish, would you give up everything just to see it fulfilled?
Once upon a time, I loved Naruto; I would sit down in front of a TV every week and wait for it to come on just so that I could see what happened next. As time progressed, my love for it whittled down to something that I watched merely to get it out of the way. That was my mindset coming in to watch this movie- it was to just get it out of the way. What
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I experienced, however, exceeded my expectations to become what I see as the best Naruto movie ever made. Now, enough of this sappy monologue, let’s get into the actual review.
First things first: like most of the Naruto movies, Road to Ninja is, for all intents and purposes, non-canon. So, instead of complaining about how it’s non-canon, I’m actually going to review the story and the themes it tackles. The basic premise revolves around Sakura and Naruto being transported to an alternate world by Madara’s “prototype” Tsukuyomi where most stuff is basically the same but there are slight changes, or “ripples” like Madara calls them. While most of them are just personality and clothing changes, the biggest difference is Sakura’s familial situation is switched with Naruto’s. Yup, you read that right; Minato and Kushina are alive and well in this alternate world but Sakura’s parents no longer exist. One of the biggest themes in Naruto is the loneliness and despair of not having anyone to come home to or care about you, namely parents, and this movie tackles this theme head-on as well as the theme of accepting what is false so long as it brings you happiness successfully; these provided a much-needed emotional factor that I believe really makes the movie shine. However, make no mistake, there are flaws in the story such as characters appearing seemingly just for the sake of appearing, some plot holes, and what I found to be a lackluster “final” battle (I use quotes because it’s not really the real final battle). It is advised that you watch episode 311 of Shippuuden before you watch the movie but it isn’t absolutely necessary because all that you would miss would be certain inside jokes but I found the comedy in Road to Ninja to be pretty good, even without them.
As expected, the art in Road to Ninja is a step above the normal fare found in the TV series but is nothing ground-breaking or spectacular. Everything looks good, some parts more so than others, and the colors are more vibrant but, I did happen to notice the typical derp faces every once in a while or pupils not being perfectly aligned, minor things like that. As far as the animation goes, everything seemed to flow smoothly and very nicely, nothing much to complain about here. The sound design as well is what you would normally expect from the series with an overall great-sounding soundtrack. One aspect I noticed was the voice-acting was handled very well, especially given the fact that personalities were completely different in the alternate world; being able to adapt like that shows a professionalism and talent which even I, as a member of the audience, can appreciate.
Lastly are the characters, and since most of the cast have switched personalities, this is somewhat difficult to accurately grade the cast if you look at every single character. Let’s look at the Ino-Shika-Cho combo as an example, Choji is skinny and hates eating a lot, Ino is mild-tempered and sweet, and Shikamaru is a complete idiot. Explanation as to why any of the characters with changed personalities are the way they are is completely nonexistent but, to me, that makes complete sense in context. Naruto and Sakura were transported to a different world where they are viewed as acting “weird” because they do not conform to how their counterparts within that society would have normally acted. So, instead of focusing on the “new” characters, I’ll focus on Naruto and Sakura because we can accurately judge how they have changed throughout their experience in that world. Both Naruto and Sakura experience development through realizing what life would be like if their familial situations were reversed and ultimately seem to have changed from their experiences by the end of the movie, though I somewhat doubt this will reflected in the actual TV series. While I would have liked to see more of the alternate cast and explored the different alternate world a bit more, it was inevitable that shortcuts be taken due to the limited amount of time they spent in the alternate world. The only other thing I have a gripe with is that Naruto actually seemed a bit underpowered but that is fairly minor.
TL;DR? Well, despite certain plot holes, characters seemingly appearing solely for the sake of appearing, and a somewhat lackluster “final” battle, I particularly enjoyed what the movie had to offer. Road to Ninja’s art, animation, and sound are what you would normally expect from Naruto so, if you don’t like that, you probably won’t like this movie. However, unless you are basically a Naruto scholar and/or expect everything to be perfect and make sense, you will probably enjoy what this movie has to offer as I did.
8 out of 10
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 6, 2013
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, dear lord, what can I say about this anime other than that it definitely lives up to its name- it's bizarre. I'm going to say it flat out: the show is ridiculous in a good way. From the characters striking fabulous poses all over the place (you'll understand what I mean once you watch a few episodes) to the crazy battles, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is hype. In fact, it's even worth mentioning that Jojo's is so popular (or at least has enough cultural impact) in Japan that other anime airing during the same season directly reference it (OniAi and OreShura off the
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top of my head).
The story of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure spans multiple generations of the Joestar family and is split into two parts. Personally, I liked the second part better than the first part because the second is much more comedic (mostly due to Joseph's character) while the first part takes on a more serious tone. While the overarching story may not be that complex, the real draw isn't so much about the story as it is about the battles. Believe me when I say that, especially with some of the stuff that happens in the battles, you could never predict what happens unless you painstakingly took hours to consider everything, and I mean EVERYTHING. The battles are awesome and there were more than a few moments that made me go "Holy crap!" Something to mention about the anime is that it is campy, or extremely over-exaggerated, even until the very end. Relating to that, battles often have what I refer to as "hype commentators" that analyze what just happened or what is currently happening. While this isn't exactly unheard of, the way it happens in Jojo's often goes above and beyond what you might find in other anime.
Now for the art and animation. The art style in Jojo's can be best described as clash of new and old, which is as it should be due to the fact that the manga was originally released in 1987. Even though I haven't read the manga, I can say based off simple observation that while the art style is indeed different, it definitely doesn't depart too drastically from the original. The character designs all have sharp and defined features, particularly in the face with most of the fighters being gigantic and ripped, the average person being, well, average, and the women's proportions are reasonable while still being able to look good and are never over-exaggerated. I never found the animation to be flat-out bad or too off in any aspect and, with some of the stunts that the characters pull off, that's impressive. It's worth mentioning that the anime animates the sound effects in certain scenes as if it were in a manga so you'll be seeing stuff like 「ゴゴゴゴゴゴ」all over the place, which I found to be a cool touch and something that just added to the uniqueness of the anime.
The characters of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure are a major draw to the series as well. The characters are varied and while some of them can fall into certain stereotypes, I never felt that they were bad characters. Take the two Jojos for example: Jonathan is a hulk of a man and the ideal gentleman while Joseph is a seemingly idiotic punk who is really a genius strategist. The eccentric cast of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is what truly brings the anime to life. All of the main cast are memorable and, in my eyes, all are irreplaceable. It is also worth mentioning that every character's name is based off songs or bands. This is most noticeable among the Pillar Men who are named Santana, ACDC, Wham, and Cars. While I don't think that the characters' personalities are meant to reflect the song or band they're based off of, I found it to be an interesting quirk nonetheless.
The music in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure seems to be a mix of just about everything with its tracks ranging from jazz to flamenco to dubstep and often will mix these aspects into some interesting combinations. While there were times when the background music was a bit intrusive (the dubstep especially), the problem was minor overall and didn't take away very much from the experience as a whole. Both openings are wild and intense and I personally would be willing to consider the first opening, "Jojo ~Sono Chi no Sadame~", as the official anthem for the series. As for the ending, "Roundabout" by Yes, I was initially taken by surprise; I never expected an anime to ever have a song completely in English, let alone one from a legitimate English-speaking band who got its start in 1968. While I didn't really think the song fit the anime, I did appreciate the nod to old rock and the author's love of music.
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is exactly as its name implies, bizarre. Everything is just so over-the-top that the anime quickly becomes ridiculous and with everything from ancient, half-clothed men to a blood-thirsty killer squirrel, the anime fully embraces its own ridiculousness and makes it its own. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is a wild ride full of the delightfully unexpected and rightfully earns its place as one of the craziest anime I've ever seen.
9 out of 10
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 27, 2013
So, just to get this out of the way, Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo is a high school, romantic comedy drama based off the light novels of the same name whose main draw comes from the characters and how they interact with each other. To be completely honest, when I first heard about Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo before it even aired, I fully expected it to be a “weird-girl harem comedy”, and the first couple episodes really did nothing to change that opinion. However, as the show progressed, I found that I never could have been more wrong.
The story revolves around Kanda Sorata, a
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second-year in high school who gets sent to Sakurasou because he took in and cared for a cat in the normal dorms (which is not allowed, obviously). Sakurasou is an old boarding house where the “loonies” of the school reside and there is a myth among the student body that once you get sent to Sakurasou, you can never return to the normal dorms. Sorata just sees this as a temporary phase and vows to get out of Sakurasou as soon as possible by getting someone to adopt the cat he found but, he soon finds that the eccentric residents of Sakurasou begin to grow on him. The comedy within the series focuses mostly on the Japanese style of comedy called “manzai” (look it up if you're curious) and at times the comedy can be pretty funny but it can get stale after a while. The story is, in my eyes, really just a stage to set up the interactions between the characters but, that is not to say it is bad- it has some interesting twists to it. Indeed, I particularly enjoyed the story and the way things played out but, I will say something outright and that is: Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo is not all smiley-faces and rainbows. The anime has a theme of cruel, harsh realism and not everything goes peachily for the cast but, when things did go right, I felt the very same happiness, relief, and triumph the characters felt. To put it simply, the story is an enjoyable emotional roller coaster ride where I somehow felt connected to the characters as though I was with them for the ride.
The characters in Sakurasou are the main draw of the anime, and there are an equal number of “normal” characters to “weird” or “genius” characters. From the uncontrollable and wild Misaki to the recluse Ryuunosuke, each character is unique and feels as though they “belong” amongst the cast. That is to say, none of the main cast of characters are one-dimensional and each have their own back-story and motivations; they're not just characters thrown in randomly for effect and best of all, they feel like real (strange) people. By the end, I really got a feel for how the characters act and feel, and why they do so in the first place. As I mentioned above, I felt connected to the characters and cared for them; whatever happened to the characters in the anime- all of them- affected me, whether it was the bitterness of defeat or the joy of sweet victory.
The art and animation in Sakurasou is good but is generally nothing spectacular or over-the-top. The one exception, however, is Mashiro's art which is often pretty amazing, befitting her status as a world-renowned artist. While I didn't particularly like the back-ground music, openings, or endings too much, I didn't think that they were bad; they fit the anime well and the transitions into the ending themes were often smooth. The voice acting is pretty good overall and accurately displays how the characters are feeling moment to moment, which is pretty amazing in Mashiro's case since she is usually dull and monotone. I particularly enjoyed Nanami's quirk of lapsing into Osaka dialect at times and, with my limited knowledge of what the Japanese language sounds like, it never sounded fake or too forced. One last thing to mention is the anime often makes references other things, in particular to Toradora! with the Palm-top Tiger design showing up consistently. Like Sakurasou, Toradora! was also produced by J.C. Staff.
So, to sum it up, Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo is an enjoyable emotional roller coaster with interesting characters and is an anime that I would recommend to just about anyone who enjoys romantic comedies or dramas. To be completely honest, I often waited on watching episodes rather than watch them right when they came out because, at times, I was afraid the drama would be overbearing but, in the end, I didn't really find anything I really disliked about this anime and I felt the package as a whole was delivered excellently.
9 out of 10
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 23, 2013
When I first heard about Shinsekai Yori, I was only slightly interested due to the somewhat lack-luster description of the series that was on the chart I viewed before the series aired. However, as I began to watch it, Shinsekai Yori quickly drew me into its universe, immersed me in the art and the lore, and become one of my favorite anime of all time.
The story of Shinsekai Yori is experienced through the eyes of the main protagonist, Watanabe Saki, as she grows from childhood to adulthood, making it a partially autobiographical experience as an older version of Saki voices parts with narrative. Set one
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thousand years in the future where almost every human has developed psychic powers called Cantus, the world of Shinsekai Yori is full of both the familiar and unfamiliar. While the humans all look relatively the same as what you could find today in areas, the other denizens of the world are much different from what you would see now. The first episode immediately establishes who should be watching the anime as people get instantaneously squished and torn to shreds in flashes of blood in what would seem to be present-day Japan however, it then quickly shifts to where and when the main story actually takes place. From the first episode alone, it is immediately apparent that something is clearly amiss in the quiet life of Saki's village and the story plays off this sense of mystery. While watching, I never felt that I was left out of the loop on the lore or what was currently happening; the story is paced well so that you basically know everything that Saki knows, and, at times, it isn't really all that much. I felt some sort of connection to the protagonist, Saki, as she journeyed and strove to know the truth in the world she lives in. Much like her, with the passing of daily life and with only one episode airing per week, I gradually began to forget some of the same things that Saki did, almost like the creators actually desired this effect. In short, this show will test your memory. While you don't have to remember absolutely everything to enjoy the story as there are plenty of twists and turns, you will probably miss out on some subtle hints that are dropped by the characters as they talk. Shinsekai Yori is definitely worth rewatching purely to see how all the pieces fit together after you've experienced it once already. Another thing that is worth mentioning is that the next-episode previews of Shinsekai Yori are probably the best I have ever seen, revealing just enough to make me make me wish the for the next episode to come faster, yet not spoiling too much in the process. However, though I always ached for the next episode to come faster, there was a certain “hump” in the story in the first few episodes that was particularly dull but, after you got over said “hump”, it was smooth sailing from then out and I felt the ending was particularly satisfying.
If the art of Shinsekai Yori were to be summed up in one word, “amazing”. I found that the art style itself is unique and very polarizing. The humans have a somewhat “bland” look to them in comparison to everything else in the anime, mostly because they look “normal”. The background art can be absolutely stunning at times and the creatures often look grotesque and revolting, which is why I say the humans look “normal” or “bland” in comparison. The creatures are supposed to look that way and, in all seriousness, the fictional depiction of a “Fiend” gives me the chills every time I see it. The animation isn't necessarily the best and while there were parts that could have been better, those are minor and somewhat rare. Although there aren't too many major scenes with crazy animations, there are often small and subtle animations that play a part in the overall story or character interactions, and small stuff like that tends to go a long way in my eyes. All in all, despite the animation not being the greatest, the art in Shinsekai Yori is definitely worthy of an experience that only blu-rays could offer.
The sound design in Shinsekai Yori isn't so much to create an epic soundtrack as it is to create music that fits the mood, and it does so perfectly. The background music is generally dark, mysterious, mellow, or any combination of the three and while there are certain tracks that stray far from this trend, never once did I feel that the music was intrusive. As I am a proponent of a proper use of silence, or a “lack of music”, I must say that Shinsekai Yori pulls off those moments well. In fact, it was due to those moments that Shinsekai Yori became the first anime I have watched where I legitimately felt scared during an episode; there are definitely parts in the series that are meant to instill fear. Mood-setting and silence aside, it is notable to mention that Shinsekai Yori does not have an opening theme at all but rather only has two ending themes. The first ending theme, “Wareta Ringo” by Taneda Risa, is possibly my favorite ending theme song from the Fall 2012 and Winter 2013 seasons (the time span which Shinsekai Yori aired) and the second ending theme, “Yuki no Saku Hana” by Hanazawa Kana, is good as well, though it definitely gives off a more melancholic feel than the first ending theme.
So, just to get this out of the way, yes there is homosexuality (both male and female) in this anime, however, it is not prevalent throughout the series and I thought it was taken in a mature and logical way, reflecting the ideals and culture of the anime's society. Homosexuality in Shinsekai Yori can be surmised as such: homosexuality is accepted and it is perfectly okay to love whoever you love but, at the end of the day, homosexual couples often split up to pair with partners of opposite gender because they cannot reproduce otherwise and therefore cannot further the human race but, their love for one another often stays. Although the characters are all psychics, most with the power to wipe out entire armies if they wished, none of the characters ever seemed inhuman- with some exceptions. They laugh, cry, discuss societal issues, and develop strategies, some of which are fairly brilliant. I love how human everyone in the series is but, the ironic thing is that my favorite character isn't even human. While I won't go too much into detail as it is somewhat of a spoiler, he is the ideal warrior in every way, shape, and form and, in my opinion, is a character who demands respect. As far as character development goes, the most major developments happen on-screen while other minor developments happen off-screen. This is mostly due to the nature of the series; Shinsekai Yori tends not to waste your time on the worthless everyday activities that the characters do (except in the beginning), instead using time-skips to get to the parts that are actually important. These time-skips are done in a way such that it doesn't seem like anything major changes about the characters other than appearance, and even then, the characters are all easily recognizable. There are only two personal gripes I had with the characters. The first how Saki acts near the end of the anime- though, in all honesty, it's completely understandable given what she goes through over the course of the series. The second is what truly happens to certain characters, specifically to the ones whose ultimate fates are implied throughout the latter parts of the story but you never actually know for sure (some of you who have already watched the series will probably know who I'm taking about).
Despite the “hump” in the story-telling in the beginning and minor, personal gripes near the end, I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of Shinsekai Yori. Every new moment provided either new insight into the universe, characters, or story and there were plenty of twists and tense moments to keep your eyes glued to the screen and keep you on the edge of your seat. The art provides some absolutely gorgeous visuals at times and the soundtrack will provide the correct atmosphere for each scene without taking away from it. I felt connected to the characters, shared both their happiness and pain, and never felt alienated from them. In short, I absolutely loved Shinsekai Yori. After each episode I groaned “Man, why can't the next episode be out already?” Shinsekai Yori is a masterpiece of story-telling and definitely worth recommending to anybody as long as they can appreciate the mature themes the anime tackles.
10 out 10
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Mar 22, 2013
To say the least, when I first heard about Robotics;Notes, I was excited. Made by the same people who made Steins;Gate (one of my favorite anime) I expected it to be amazing, however, what I got in the beginning was nothing short of boring with a dick of a main character, an uninteresting supporting cast, and a lack of any substantial story. To be completely honest, for a while, I considered dropping it but, I ultimately decided to stick with it to the end and I was rewarded for my perseverance.
The story of Robotics;Notes starts off with a somewhat typical plot device: a small group
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of students trying to save their dying club- in this case, a robotics club. From this simple beginning, it slowly transitions into uncovering the truth behind a conspiracy and that's where the real meat of the story resides. There are some serious twists and turns in the story and let's just say that when s**t goes down, it basically starts a storm. From such a typical (and somewhat boring) beginning, it really kicks up towards the 2/3rds mark and the last episode was particularly awesome and very satisfying.
The art and animation in Robotics;Notes is neither spectacular nor horrible, it lays somewhere more along of the lines of "good". The animation within the game in the anime, Kill Ballad, is pretty good and, for the most part, that is where it really tends to shine because everything else moves at a much more slower pace, though this changes in the last episode. For the most part, the art just serves its purpose but I have to admit certain scenes looked really good. In short, I really had no gripes with the art and animation in this anime. The sound design is basically the same deal, it generally serves its purpose but, it definitely has moments where it shines as well. Regarding the theme songs, both openings are blood-pumping rock songs and while the first ending seems to be more of a pop song, the second ending is more or less a ballad so there's some variety there. I found that the songs grew on me as I listened to them even though I didn't particularly like the opening songs very much in the beginning.
The characters in Robotics;Notes are more or less like pieces on a chess board for me: certain ones are more important than others and while I momentarily care if something happens to one of them, I get over it quickly. However, that is not to say that they are bad characters. There just seems to be some lack of connection, as if they are far too distanced from myself- almost like how I would empathize with a person I heard had heard of but, I wouldn't truly care because don't really know that person too well. While the character development was sufficient enough to give the characters some depth, I never felt anything other than general empathy for what the characters went through.
Basically, Robotics;Notes is an anime with a slow start but a glorious finish. The characters have depth and the art, animation, and sound design all serve their purpose well and all have moments where they definitely shine. While I really enjoyed the anime in end, I find it somewhat difficult to recommend to everybody due to the slow start in the beginning. So, I would say pick it up if you're patient enough to watch until you get to the real juicy parts.
8 out of 10
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jan 4, 2013
When I first found K was going to air in the Fall 2012 anime season, I was immediately curious because at the time practically nothing was known about it. The development team had been astonishingly tight-lipped about the series and few trailers that they had released made the series seem promising. When the first episode aired I was immediately enraptured by the gorgeous visuals, animation, and jazzy and modern soundtrack intertwined with classical nuances. From what I could see, there wasn't much not to like about this show; the universe itself seemed interesting and the diversity of characters was also certainly a draw. As a
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heterosexual male, I didn't even mind the slight hinting at BL, I mean, I got through No. 6 with few problems so this show couldn't be much worse with Shion and Nezumi #2, right?
I guess the first thing I should cover is what everybody can literally and clearly see, the art and animation. The art and animation of K are stunning. The characters and the city-scape is all look really good and the nuances they add are interesting such as the bending of space when Kuroh uses his “hand” ability (I see what you did there GoHands) to launch himself away from the Howling Flame, aka Homura, or the crazy effects of Neko's powers. However, despite how good it may look there are some minor flaws that I noticed. In the first episode- yes the first episode- there was one instance where the bartender character spoke English but his lips weren't synced properly. Seriously, GoHands? You messed up on lip syncing in the first episode. Is a couple fixed frames really too hard? I've watched five different releases of the first episode and they all have the same problem so I'm fairly confident that it's not just me. There are also other times where limbs were stretched and positioned in strange and almost inhuman angles while the battles are going on but those aren't as noticeable.
Next is what you can clearly hear, the music and voice acting. As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, K has a jazzy and modern-sounding soundtrack that is intertwined with some classical nuances. Most of the time it has a nice, relaxing feel with a heavy emphasis on piano but there are other times where it picks up slightly, especially in battles. Unfortunately, the music never reaches to the ranks of something epic-sounding, it may sound cool and fitting but it never really got me pumped up for a battle or particular scene. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that it's bad, I can respect the composer's decision to keep the tone so mellow all the time; it's just a stylistic choice, nothing more. Speaking of stylistic choices, the one thing that K does well with its music is with the absence of it; yes, silence. Well, some may be wondering why that's so important in music and the thing is: a lack of sound is sometimes much more profound in a piece of music than the intricacies in the music itself. Some moments are simply best to leave silent than to have music playing throughout the entire scene, leave the sound effects to do the “talking” for themselves. And finally, speaking of talking and as with most of the Japanese voice acting, the voice acting in K is top-notch with each seiyuu fitting the role they are put into well; nothing much to complain about here. I actually found the cleaning robots to be randomly entertaining with their deep voices and samurai-esque sayings.
I guess that's enough of talking about the good stuff for now, on to the bad stuff- namely the characters. Besides the fact that the characters are forgettable, generic, and just good at being present, it seems as if they pulled people from everywhere and just piled them into K. Kuroh and Shiro (I wonder why they're named that? *sarcasm*) look a lot like Nezumi and Shion from No. 6, Yata looks like a typical skater-punk or like Beat from The World Ends With You, Neko is the cat-girl (go figure), and Seri the typical buxom anime blonde, just to name a few. There are a lot of characters in K, for example: literally every single character in Scepter 4 , the blue group, has a name that they call out when they pull out their swords for battle (innuendo). The problem with having such a large cast is that not very many characters receive development and this is one of the points where K suffers the most. There are few relationships that you really get to understand, namely Yata and Fushimi, the Silver King and the Gold King, and Neko and Shiro. These make you go: “Oh, okay that's why they're like that. Now what about the other characters?” The problem is there is no real explanation for any other relationships other than Kuroh's relationship with his Master and Suoh Mikoto's relationship with some of his fellow Howling Flame members and they also skim his relationship with the leader of Scepter 4, Munakata Reishi. By far though, Neko is the most dynamic character, almost making up for all the other emotions all the other characters lack. The rest of the characters are flat (in a literal sense), essentially remaining the same for the entire series, Shiro included.
Onto the next thing, the story. With a series such as K, one would expect there to be significant storytelling unlike in a high school comedy series that just involves a bunch of high school students talking about nothing important and doing nothing important. This is another of the points where K fails utterly. There is an absolute lack of any substantial story. Yes, there is plot, however, there is no real story-telling. A plot is an event- a fact. A story is what interweaves these plot points together and gives them meaning so that they are interesting to the audience. “I went to the store” is an example of plot; [i]Beowulf[/i] is an example of a story. The premise was a classic whodunit murder case which, if handled the right way, could have made a decent story. Instead, they decided to gather the viewpoints from the three different sects- blue, red, and black/white- and put them together to attempt to make a coherent story but it all amounted to nothing. The only part where there is a flicker of story is at the end where they tried to connect the dots.
Furthermore, there are no real motivations shown, especially as to why the Reds and Blues are really fighting and why the main bad-guy, who has no name, only a title, did what he did other than making the audience assume that they did it because they felt like it. In that sense, K is the epitome of the opposite of dramatic irony, also known as the unreliable narrator (more specifically a mix of the Clown and the Lair archetypes) wherein the characters themselves often know much more about the universe and situation than the audience does. Any explanation that is directed at the audience is vague and the further questions that are brought up by the answer are ignored completely, forcing the audience to just sit there and accept what's going on without question. Oh, so there are things called Strains, what are they and how do they get their powers? There are giant, floating super-swords called the Swords of Damocles (I appreciate the nod to folklore there) and they grant powers to people. How do they float and give people powers? Where did the Swords of Damocles come from? What are the units that constitute a single increase to the Weismann level? Okay, maybe that last one was a bit much to ask for but nonetheless, none of the above questions were answered in the anime series.
When I ask why people think K is so great they can't come up with anything other than mentioning how beautiful the visuals and animation are or that they like certain characters. For example, I asked one of my friends who thoroughly enjoys K and thinks it's great to explain the story to me in a clean and concise sentence and he cannot give me an acceptable answer. When I tell him things like “Yeah, in K, this guy gets stabbed and now he can speak German” he gives me the strangest of looks. K seemed like it was trying to please everybody using beautiful visuals and animation, using well-known seiyuu, adding in a lot of bishounen males for fangirls to fantasize about, fawn over, and argue over their own “one true pair”, putting in two (count them, two) curvaceous women, one a cat-girl who's a barely-clad or naked at all times, with random fanservice for male fans, and adding mystery with intense action- sprinkling in some mediocre comedy while it was at it. In the end, it all became a jumbled mess. Much like a temptress, K lures you in with her beauty and soothing voice and rewards you with fleeting sensations of pleasure for seeking her attention but, in the end, she leaves you hollow and wondering if it was all worth it- wondering what really attracted you to her in the first place. Similarly, the more I watched K, the more I questioned why I was still watching it, other than to just get it out of the way. The more I watched K, the more I came to realize that it's just a bedazzled pile of crap that plays cool music; no matter how great it may look or how good it sounds, a pile of crap will always be a pile of crap. With a sequel already announced and in the making, I can only hope that the second season makes up for all the flaws that plagued the first.
6 out of 10
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Sep 25, 2012
La Storia Della Arcana Famiglia, or just Arcana Famiglia is one of those shows that when the new season came along, I read the synopsis and became fairly interested in it. I'm generally not the kind of person who tends to discriminate on anime based upon genre so I had no problem watching something labeled as shoujo, however, I became somewhat hesitant when I learned that it was based of an otome game aimed at young girls. (Please note that I have not played the game; I have only watched the anime.) Despite my hesitation, I watched the first episode and found it to be
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enjoyable. It was enjoyable enough that I showed my little sister it as well (who is a preteen and definitely within the target audience); she enjoyed it and from then on we watched it together.
The concept of the Arcana powers and the characters seemed interesting based off the the first episode. There was a lot of action in the first episode and the premise of a family-wide contest for the position of Papa (the big boss) and the protagonist's, Felicita's, hand in marriage was interesting as well. It provided a dilemma for her that would allow her to develop as a character while defending her right to choose who she marries. It had potential- in fact, the entire series had potential. Unfortunately, the series never comes close to fulfilling the potential it initially held with the protagonist remaining static and boring throughout and the event that I expected to span most of the series, the Duello, only spans the last episode and that itself was a disappointment, much like the rest of the series.
First, let's talk about character development. There is none- well, nothing really besides an introduction to most of the characters. They never really delve deep into any one character. In fact, the most developed character is not the protagonist; the most developed characters are the two main male leads, Liberta and Nova who are in love with the protagonist. Even though they are the most developed I could never bring myself to really remotely care about them- I frankly found them annoying. In fact, the only thing I found interesting about the both of them was Liberta's mysterious Arcana Power. Felicita seemed less of a protagonist and more of a side character the entire series, only speaking when necessary and often seeming to go out of character by being overly-concerned or over-emotional only when the situation demands. (And her Arcana power is clearly just a tool made for the game's romances.)
The second topic of discussion is the art and animation. The art was nothing spectacular to me, however it did its job- most of the time. The characters never really looked bad, even the background characters seemed to be drawn well (besides the occasional derp character), however what really suffered was the background itself. I noticed several instances of just plain bad background art and the one in particular that really bugged me wasn't even noticed by me at first; it was noticed by my sister. A pirate ship in one of the episodes actually changed in art style at least three times in the same episode (and it really wasn't drawn well in the first place). Besides the art itself, the animation was not very good for the parts where it should have been good, namely the fight scenes. The fights seemed more like gifs that were just repeated at different times and at one point in the last episode, Nova's shoulder was definitely in a strange position.
The sound of the anime serves its purpose but does little else, it does not excel in any aspect. I personally like the opening song much better than the ending song, mostly because the guys can't sing.
Overall, I don't have much good to say about this anime. With each passing episode, I prayed that it would get better. Unfortunately, my prayers were never answered; its potential having been completely wasted. This anime is bad; my sister, a member of the target audience, does not think that this show is good. If there was anything redeemable about the series, it would have to be the supporting cast because the main characters are all flat, boring, annoying, or a combination of all three.
4/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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