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If you're the kind of people that dislikes PS1 like CGI, or CGI in general, this definetly won't change your mind.

Story 3/10

The story is pretty much non-existent, apart from this one thing in the ending that can be considered a cheap twist. Most of this 15 minute special is just action, and even that isn't all that entertaining.

Anyway, the setting is this sort of space ship that gets overrun by a virus. That's pretty much all that can be said, since they don't work on anything beyond that.

Art 4/10

It wouldn't be as bad if the poor story was backed with eyecandy, but the CGI is ... pretty poor, everything looks very dated (even for the time it was released) and nothing really stands out. Most backgrounds this grey/darkgreen colour that ends up making it even more unnappealing. I know it's a space ship, it's not supposed to be all colourful, but that doesn't change the fact it's not fun to look at.

Sound 5/10

Not much to say about the sound, okay voice acting, okay sound effects, might be the most "okay" aspect of this special.

Character 2/10

There are only 3 characters, and they are all pretty poorly fleshed out, because, as I said, it's basically 15 minutes of action without any sort of development, not that they'd have much time to do so if they wanted to, but in the end, they're still incredibly bland characters.

Enjoyment 4/10

I guess you could enjoy it if you want a quick watch with some space action/horror with really weird alien design. Other than that, I suggest you watch something else on your plan to watch list.

I'll be completey honest here, at first when Shuumatsu no Laughter was reccomended to me, I thought I would dislike it, seeing the cover and the protagonist looking similar to Naruto, and the whole "demon" boy being shunned by the people, it just seemed way to similar to Naruto and I just knew I'd judge it with unfair eyes. Let's hope my early assumptions were wrong.

Story 5/10

Without going into spoilers, or repeating the synopsis, the story is about a demon boy and his little sister that offer to get rid of the demon terrorizing a town.

The story is pretty straightforward and doesn't really do ... anything new, but it's still enjoyable. The manga sets an interesting backstory, but it is left pretty unexplored and leaves you wanting more. Not only is the backstory unexplored but various aspects of the story are mentioned but never explained. It ends up being one of those typical shonen-like stories that could have been more if it had time (or chapters, in this case) to properly develop.

That said, there are interesting aspects in the story, it's a pity they weren't further explored.

Art 7/10

Nothing much to comment on here, the artwork is pretty solid. Demon design is quite unique.

Characters 4/10

The characters would have to be the less interesting aspect of the manga, characters are your usual archetype characters, the comical but extremely determined/ambitious protagonist and the sweet overly attatched little sister. The short length obviously leaves little to no room for development, so the characters are pretty one dimensional.

Enjoyment 6/10

For someone going in with low expectations, I surprisingly enjoyed it. It's a short and easy read and has some interesting elements in it.

Overall 6/10

Unfortunately, Shuumatsu no Laughter ends up falling within the numbers of "lost potential" mangas out there. If the backstory, and some other elements introduced that were unexplained, had been further and properly explored, it could have been a better manga than it ended up being.

It could have been more, and I personally would have liked to see it continue, but for what it's worth, what Shuumatsu no Laughter is, is still enjoyable.

If you're into cold, lonely and especially strange atmospheres in your movies, this might be the thing for you.

Story: 5/10

I gave it a middle score because frankly, there isn't much of a story, it's telling you something, but it's so open to interpretation that it feels wrong to rate it too high or too low because I wouldn't know what to use as a standard.

Through the film you'll be traveling through the main characters instable mind and go through a bunch of strange scenes. If you're into abstract storytelling and such things left open for interpretation, you'll most likely enjoy this.

Art: 7/10

The animation does ... seems a bit wonky, for lack of better words, though it really works, that odd animation, along with the fact that the whole film is in black and white, creates a really cold and desolate atmosphere.

Sound: 6/10

You won't be hearing much music in this film, mostly what you'll hear during these 6 minutes is what seems to be machinery banging in the background, a faint static, and an occasional "hoh" from the main character. The sound really comes together well with the artwork, everything comes down to bring you that really cold and strange atmosphere.


Character: 5/10

Just like the story, I felt it would be unfair to rate this aspect too high or too low, because in a short 6 minute film it would be hard to create a fleshed out character or create any sort of development, and that isn't the goal of the film in the first place.

Enjoyment: 7/10

Personally speaking, I enjoy these kind of short films like this, it can be fun trying to find a meaning in the various strange scenes that show up. So as I said before, if you're into films filled with possible metaphors leaving you to interpret them as you see fit, then you'll most likely enjoy this short film.

Overall: 7/10

Whenever I check out manga/anime adaptations of games (or game adaptations of manga/anime), I try to go into them with low standards because, for the most part, they are poorly done, and nobody likes seeing their favourite series butchered in the adaptation process. "Maleficarum: Darkstalkers/Red Earth", although nothing incredible, does not dissapoint fans of the series.

Story: 5/10

Darkstalkers Chapters:
The Darkstalkers chapters are mostly loose stories, with no relation between them (except chapter 1 and 6). Each chapter presents a short story about a certain character in the series, though Morrigan appears in most. The stories are a bit too short for their own good and ... end up not really going anywhere, since there's little room for any development at all.
And although they are based on a fighting game series, you'll see much less action than you'd expect in these chapters.

Red Earth Chapters:
I know little to nothing about the Red Earth game, I did some little research on the game before reading just to get a short idea of what it is, but for the most part I went in clear minded into this little 4 Chapter story, and in the end, I ended up enjoying it more than the Darkstalkers Chapters. Unlike the Darkstalker Chapters, the Red Earth Chapters are quite action packed and actually follow a storyline. In short, the story is about a King turned into a beast, and his quest to revenge, but it suffers a similar fate from the Darkstalkers Chapters, they're too short for their own good and that hurts the development, everything ends up happening too fast, but in the end, it can be enjoyed even by newcomers to the series (like myself).

Art: 9/10
The artwork by Mami Itou in both series Chapters is stunning, the Darkstalkers charaters are beautifully drawn, in a similar style to the originals, but with a slightly more grittier look. The same goes for Red Earth, all characters are beautifully drawn and just great to look at.
The only issue I have with the artwork is that it can sometimes feel a bit cluttered, and you might find yourself re-checking panels to fully understand what's going on.

Characters: 6/10
As I said before, the stories are fairly short and leave little to no room for any development, especially any character development. Although, at least in the Darkstalker Chapters case, the characters personalities are very well done and mirror quite well how they are portrayed in the games, they feel very in-character, especially Morrigan and Donovan.

Enjoyment: 7/10
Personally, I'm a big Darkstalkers fan, which was the reason I purchased this manga in the first place, and the Darkstalker fan in me really enjoyed what was given, but, although I'd like to give it a higher score, it just doesn't make it higher than a 7.
And regarding Red Earth, although not knowing anything about the games, I really enjoyed the story, and wouldn't mind checking the game out.

Overall: 7/10
In the end I'll give it a 7, although it might be the Darkstalkers fanboy in me slightly stretching the score. But overall it's a very enjoyable, beautifully drawn manga, and fans of any of the series should check it out. Although I'd probably not reccomend it to non-fans of the series.

Becchin to Mandara is a story about two girls living in an abandoned battle tank at a dry Riverbed that spend their days exterminating zombies along-side a pantless man that lives in a small house nearby.
There isn't much to it other than that, though Becchin to Mandara does the whole zombie thing quite differently from what people are used to seeing, zombies actually talk and think, almost as normally, to the story's standards, as any other character there, so much so that it often feels like they are just slaughtering humans rather than zombies. Other than killing zombies, the story focuses on the main ... characters state of mind, their relationship, and how they met.

Story: 5/10
Unfortunately, the manga is a bit confusing, you'll often wonder what the characters are talking about since there are various sudden changes of subject, and most of the main points of the story are badly covered, with little to no backstory to help understand how stuff turned out how it is, stuff such as the origin of the zombies, the strange skull kids, the pantless man, and other supposedly important aspects, they are all left almost unspoken of, almost assuming the reader already knows what and how everything is. It doesn't help that the dialog is often confusing or sometimes completely unnecessary, which makes it quite tedious to read through.
You'll also find some somewhat disturbing scenes in later chapters, such as characters "taking a dumb" outdoors, the pantless mans penis, and a zombie raping scene, each of these quite explicitly illustrated, so be careful if you dislike that kind of thing, and to be honest, they don't really add anything to the manga, they seem added just for the sake of shock.

Characters: 3/10
There aren't much characters in Becchin to Mandara, you could say there are only three of them in total, and each character has a far-from-believable personality, Becchin may seem inhuman at times and Mandara is just plain stupid at times. Another aspect in their personalities are that none are very well established, Becchin is as often nice as she is incredibly mean, and Mandara is also as often stupid as she is not-as stupid.

Art: 4/10
The artwork has a very sketchy look to it, at first you may enjoy it if you're into sketchy looks, but it'll quickly wear-off on you and you'll realize it's just actually poorly drawn. The artwork is very inconsistent though, at times the backgrounds don't look too bad, and in others they look extremely cluttered and poorly drawn. The characters faces look very awkward more times than not, though they're not extremely bad.

Enjoyment: 3/10
Becchin to Mandara ends up being a quite tedious read and you might have to force yourself to read through the whole thing. That added with the subpar artwork, really leaves little to get out of reading it.

Overall: 4/10

Afterlife, for the most part when mentioned something like clouds and angel wings, or brimstone and horns comes to mind. "Lives" shows it's own perpective on "afterlife" in a unique and engaging way.

Story: 8/10
The story starts out with the members of an idol group having a dream about meteorites hitting the stage and killing them during their performance. They soon find out that was true, and they were in a strange world with man-eating monsters that try to hunt them down. The last surviving idol is saved by a mysterious beast, who turns out to be human, which is the main character, he then tells ... her the story of where they are, and how they got there.

The story focuses around the main character Shingo, showing his life before and after the meteorite incident, and his adventures with his two friends Hatsuki and Mamoru (who is called Ma-boy by the other two). It revolves around the concept of afterlife and redeeming oneself for past mistakes.

The story builds up to create what would seem like something epic, but gets extremely rushed towards the end, when you think questions will finally be answered, they aren't, and some loose ends are left because of that.
Don't let that discourage you though, it is still a great read, it has great funny moments, great battles and some drama, and is an all around solid story.

Art: 8/10
The artwork for this manga is just phenomenal, character design is spot on, very beautiful and memorable looking characters. The backgrounds are also good, but nothing as fun to look at as the character design.

Characters: 8/10
The characters personalities are very well done and are all very likable. Enough backstory for each of them is shown for us to get to know them well.
Also, Shingo, although the main character, also serves as a comic relief when the story feels like it's getting too dramatic, most times it works, but sometimes the comedy seems misplaced.

Enjoyment: 8/10
It's a short but very good read, unfortunately it's length does some damage to the story towards the end, but nothing that will stop you from enjoying this great manga. I would definetly re-read this. And I would hope for a follow-up to finish off the loose ends.

Overall: 8/10