Back to Nightscape00's Profile Nightscape00's Profile

Had this been a pure police drama, I would probably be giving this anime an eight or nine right now. During the few times the anime strictly focused on the drama and dropped the jokes, it was quite good, but those times are so few and far between that it just highlighted how bad the rest of the show is.

The problem is that the anime has a bad case of identity crisis. It doesn't know if it wants to be a gag comedy or a serious drama. The anime will go from all out comedy one minute then become knee-jerkingly serious the next. There ... is no build up to the serious scenes and by the end they were even using jokes and gags during the serious parts. Considering the type of crimes and accidents this anime tackles, the jokes make the show seem insincere and juvenile - it felt cowardly, as if the writers and director were too scared to tackle serious crimes or accidents and were hiding behind poorly timed jokes.

The comedy was not very funny; some of the jokes, especially during the later episodes, come in at inappropriate times. Throwing in jokes and gags during episodes that discuss the assault of young girls felt very distasteful. Not only do the jokes take away from the seriousness and tone of the situation, it makes the Japanese police in this anime look incompetent and foolish, especially the protagonist.

By the end, I came to hate the Kawai. All she does the entire show is complain about being a police officer and how hard the job is. It's the police, it's supposed to be a difficult and demanding, selfless job. There is no personal growth in the series at all. She starts out hating her job and wanting to quit and it feels the same at the end as well. She doesn't do much the entire series. Instead, it’s those around her that actually do the heavy lifting. Who wants a superstitious, out of shape cop who is always scared and complains all the time as the protagonist?

Hakozume: Kouban Joshi no Gyakushuu is all over the place. It wants to be a bunch of different things at once; it reminds me of that figure of speech “jack-of-all trades, master of none”. Comedy-dramas are notoriously difficult to pull off as you have to time the dramatic scenes very carefully around the comedy and this one fails miserably.

3/10

Gyakuten Saiban is a fine anime, but really is intended for those that have played the games. I would not recommend it to those that have not.

My only real problem with the show is the editing. There are some short scenes throughout the series that make no sense in the context of the show and seem to only be there because they were in the game. For example, there was an episode where they showed a person as if they were examined but were never talked to in the show. There's one scene where it looks like a person fell in paint or something but ... with no context. In another, they show a quick scene from one of the mini games in the series, which they had never done before. Honestly, if you had not played these games, these scenes would make no sense.

Aside from that, I have enjoyed the series, but I have played every game twice. They do a good job at portraying the characters in the game and I really like the music. Overall, I think it is decent anime but only if you are familiar with the first two games.

This is one of the funniest shows I have ever seen, anime or not! I was bursting out laughing during almost every episode. with all the different slice-of-life, high school anime out there, this one really sticks out. This is anything but another generic anime, especial with a protagonist such as Sakamoto. Not only does it entertain, but can be very heartwarming at times. It is such a fresh of breath air to not have some wimpy coward as the protagonist but instead someone people can rely on and helps to boost the people around them. This is certainly one anime I will be going ... back to every few years. I am happy to say Sakamoto desu ga? is one anime I highly recommend to people wanting a more lighthearted, comedy anime.

This was a really fun anime! I think they relied too heavily on flashbacks and felt a bit drawn out at the end, so I had to ding them a few points, but aside from that, I don’t have much bad to say about this show. I really enjoyed the art style and thought they did a good job on character personality. The voice acting is great and so is the music. You could feel the passion emanating from the characters and it really draws you in when they keep the show focused on the dancing. It was good enough to want to see another ... season and think those that enjoy dance, the performing arts, and sports should check out Ballroom e Youkoso.

I thought the show started off strong, but by the end I really thought it was subpar. I like the voice acting, graphics, and the music was fine. There was a coloration of some of the anime characters' eyes that I had not seen before. Can’t say if it was good or bad, just personal preference on how you like the eyes of anime characters drawn, but do give them points for at least trying to be original. I thought it was an interesting concept to not have any males aside from small children in the show, but dude to block out the face of ... Kanata’s deceased father while showing the mother is just messed up. I actually thought the show up to the end of the first tournament was quite good. Then the show just starts going downhill. Overall, I have three major complaints with the anime.

The first is that it is very long-winded and can be very slow - it was downright boring at times. There is very little character development in the show and it relies too heavily on flashbacks. They should have just spent the first three or four episodes using flashbacks but then left them alone for the rest of the show. They also pull that stunt where they will replay the last few minutes of the previous episode, like we didn’t just watch it. You can tell the writers and director were having a difficult time filling twelve episodes worth of story.

The second is the lack of character behavior diversity in the show. I noticed that pretty much every volleyball team had players that acted nearly the same. Each team has an outspoken hothead and a subdued coolheaded individual. Every team ends up feeling pretty much the same; characters feel just way too similar at times. Haruka, Claire, and Ayasa almost feel like the exact same character.

My third complaint is actually the development of Haruka, and Kanata to a lesser extent, in regards to volleyball ability. Basically, they are too good. You are telling me a rookie with one year under her belt and someone who had not been active in years, who only won one match in last year's tournament ends up defeating the defending champions and the second best team in Japan?! A team that has never stopped training and has a pro volleyball coach as a mother?! GET OUT OF HERE! I would be fine if it was a close match due to them training together, but Haruka and Kanata winning the tournament? That is too hard to swallow and breaks the immersion.

I really enjoy volleyball myself and had high hopes for this show as I really enjoy Japanese sports anime. However, with slow plot development, characters with little diversity in the way they behave, and Mary-Sue like characters that are somehow able to beat top athletes with a fraction of the time and training everyone else had put in, this is unfortunately one anime I cannot recommend.