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Jan 10, 2023
This is my absolute favourite manga, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who is interested in stories about human relationships and identity. There are a number of reasons why I think this manga so great. Many of those are overly subjective, so I will not list them here. Honestly, I'm a subjective kind of person and am not really good at writing analytical reviews. However, my personal feelings aside, there is one concrete reason why this manga stands out to me:
It's real.
There are a lot of other great manga that are written with great realism. The kind of realism that lets you really connect
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with the characters, not as a form of fantasy escapism but on a human level. A couple such manga I've encountered include Ikoku Nikki and Hirayasumi. However, even though those manga could honestly even be considered more "realistic" than Ore ga Watashi ni Naru made (on account of being less dramatized), such manga also clearly feel like they have been "written" by the author in third-person, rather than "experienced". What I mean by this is that, from the outset, the reader gets a sense of the author's views and perspective which have been put into the story, and that view never changes; they set out to write the story they wrote and, as great as the story is, it is simply what was written.
Ore ga Watashi ni Naru made is different. This is a manga where you will feel the perspective changing as the story goes along, as if the author started out writing it with a strong gender bias and then gradually comes to realize the world has more colours than a manga page. The author is Akira, and Akira is the author.
As a result, I strongly advise approaching this manga with the patience to let Akira (i.e. author!) catch up to your own views, and then to let your views change along with Akira as the story goes on. I almost dropped this manga when I first started reading it because of how the author (i.e. Akira!) depicts, or rather *views*, girls. I only kept reading because, derogatory depictions aside, I am a genderswap otaku and will read almost anything featuring it. I am exceedingly glad that I didn't give up on it. Anyways, it's only really the first chapter or two that is off-putting, in my opinion. Though, it takes until partway through the second volume before things really start opening up.
I eagerly await the next volume of this manga so that I can once again join Akira on her journey of self-discovery.
*Note: This is a review of the original Japanese hardcopies, which I own. I initially found this manga via fan translations, in which I noticed some pages that do not match the published original. They may be from pre-serialization? This review cannot speak to any version except the published, Japanese-language serialization.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Oct 18, 2021
Let's keep this short...
For a show that is ostensibly about realism, it is ridiculously idealistic.
If idealistic fantasizing is your thing, this show might speak to you. But it doesn't speak to me. To paraphrase a line near the end, "this show and I are like oil and water." Initially, I was fairly optimistic. The main character does appear to act like a realist insofar as he tries to accept situations are they are and deal with them accordingly. However, this realism is quickly undercut by the idealistic way in which events occur and play out. There is no exploration of grey areas and morality. The
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viewer is presented shallow, black and white interpretations of problems that are resolved with unrealistic ease that often came across to me as almost hyper-nationalistic. In addition to this and as is usually the case with harem anime, the show exists as a male power fantasy. Regardless of one's opinion of harem as a genre, however, it is undeniable that the harem genre is inherently unrealistic. The whole point of harem is that it is an idealistic, sexual fantasy.
I rate this show a 2 because it is still better than a lot of the other isekai cookie cutters and as a result I was actually able to finish it. But it's a far cry from what I was hoping it would be.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Jun 20, 2021
I'm not so great at long reviews, so I'll try to keep this short and to the point.
BNA was a really enjoyable watch for me. I think that's because it presents the viewer with a really interesting world with interesting characters.
As some of the top reviews have mentioned, the story can feel predictable at times, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. Also, even though the general arc of the story is predictable, specifics of how it is all executed are not quite so easy to guess. That creates another problem, though, which is that there are too many aspects to the characters, their powers,
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and how they relate to the world and its history that are not really explained. Because BNA's strength is its wonderful characters and alluring world, it's a show that desperately needed more than 12 episodes to really come together. As one review put it, the show needed a slower pace on the main plot, interspersed with some more of the slice of life episodes like the baseball one, that show how life in the city works. Imagine watching something with a lot of depth to the world like Full Metal Alchemist or A Certain Scientific Railgun, and then trying to compress everything you learn about that world over the course of 48-60 episodes into only 12 episodes. That's basically how BNA made me feel. It's brilliant, but full of holes because of how short it was. Even though the show ended with a pretty good conclusion, I felt unfulfilled. I want to see more. I want to experience more of this world and learn more about it.
Unfortunately, given how little reception the show seems to have gotten, I doubt we'll see a second season. There is a manga adaptation, though. I just hope that that will continue on and build on what the anime built.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Mar 15, 2020
Shishunki Bitter Change is both a rare gem and an unoriginal flop at the same time.
What is rare is to find a genuine body swap genderbender drama that doesn't ruin itself with stupid comedy. As any fan of serious genderbender can most probably sympathize, the number of genderbender stories that are not either
a) ecchi fan service, or
b) ridiculous comedy,
...is exceptionally low.
In addition to this, the characters are quite well developed. It's a character-driven drama, and its characters are its main strength. There are a few tropes, to be sure, but they are not executed too blandly. The relationship aspects are also handled well,
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in my opinion. Another very unique and wonderful trait of this manga is how much time it covers. Most body swap stories are short-term events. Shishunki Bitter Change covers a total of 8 years, through elementary, junior, and senior high school. This time span adds to the realism and really helps to articulate the characters and how they change over time.
The reason it's an unoriginal flop is a little hard to say without spoilers. But let's just say this:
How do most body swap stories end? If you like that, you'll probably be satisfied. If you don't, you may feel horribly let down by the end of this manga. And that feeling of disappointment is amplified several fold due to the same time span and realism that is the manga's greatest strength. That said, after re-reading the ending myself, it is more ambiguous than I gave it credit for. Perhaps the author felt torn between going one way or the other. Either that, or whoever translated it intentionally used ambiguous language.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jan 6, 2020
This is a review of a partial completion (17/26). I usually don't drop anime once I've finished so much of it, but I did in this case, and will try to detail why below.
First of all, I confess to having a certain bias against the aesthetic of Last Exile. It's an older anime, and it feels even older than it is when watching it. I'm also not a huge fan of steampunk. But while that may have influenced my personal enjoyment, I try not to let it affect anything else (for the record, the "Enjoyment" category got a 3/10).
I'll run through each of the
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review categories.
I gave the story a 3/10. This is because, honestly, I never felt I had any idea what was going on. So, our two main protagonists end up on an adventure and get involved in world-altering events. That's a pretty standard story. But that's neither good nor bad. What makes a story great is when there are clear and compelling bases behind not just the characters' actions, but behind the world. While the characters get a little bit of clear but not compelling support, the world gets next to nothing. I felt like I understood what was going on with at least Claus, Lavie, and perhaps Alex, but I was blank as to what was going on in the world. Locations feel similarly drawn out of thin air. Of the various locations we are taken to, none of them feel developed. And some of them simply aren't; I don't even know what the Grand Stream is by episode 17. That's an issue.
I gave the art a 7/10. I'm honestly not one to criticize art that much anyways. It has an old aesthetic. I don't think that aesthetic can really be judged. If poor art actually starts to affect my ability to comprehend what's going on, then I'll rate it lower (for example, the anime movie Hells has a very interesting art style, but it actually has a negative effect on being able to tell what's going on). Last Exile does not have this issue.
I gave the sound a 5/10. I didn't feel anything from the soundtrack. The music is appropriate for the scenes, as are the sound effects, but they don't really enhance it in any way either. Similar to art, however, sound is a very subjective category that is hard to rate.
I gave the characters a 4/10. As mentioned when I was covering story, the characters get some clear, but not compelling bases for their actions. Or at least, the major characters do. However, I felt the antagonists were one of the weakest aspects of the show, and were in large part the reason I felt compelled to stop watching. I have little patience these days for antagonists that speak or act in a meme-worthy "evil" manner. The best antagonists are the ones whose actions are justifiable from a certain perspective. Characters need to be believable. Even if we assume that such ridiculous antagonists are simply extreme narcissists, it still doesn't feel real without giving them counterbalancing traits that real narcissists have. Narcissism alone can't make a believable person.
Besides the poor character development, I also feel the need to mention the appalling state of the female cast. I don't intend to make this a feminist review, but I do feel that the way that Last Exile handles female characters is an issue. The show has an old aesthetic. Lots of shows may use an old aesthetic and therefore portray female characters in an older, more conservative sense. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Nor, for that matter, do I necessarily take issue with ecchi or harem shows that objectify women. Those shows are designed to cater to a particular audience, and generally don't feel like they're validating a view. They're made to be entertainment, not to explicitly validate what they are showing. Last Exile, on the other hand, gave off the impression that it was, because it felt like it was an honest portrayal of how the creators felt. The world of Last Exile isn't a historical period recreation. It's certainly not an ecchi or harem. It does have a somewhat historical feel from the steampunk aesthetic, but it doesn't authentically recreate 19th century society, and several female characters are placed in strong, commanding positions, with matching personalities to boot. Despite this, these characters are consistently portrayed as emotionally weak, having breakdowns from which they must be rescued by associated male characters. The male characters, meanwhile, never have breakdowns of their own. In this way, the anime gives off a rather sexist impression. In any case, if that kind of thing bothers you in anime, I strongly recommend not watching Last Exile.
Overall, I give Last Exile a 4/10. It has a world that I really did feel inspired by at first. I really wanted to get to know this world and the characters in it, and discover what fates awaited them. Unfortunately, Studio Gonzo fails to deliver a strong basis for these things, and the imaginative world they came up with drops like a Vanship with low Claudia pressure.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Dec 21, 2018
This is an opinion review, not a professional review. It also contains ***minor spoilers*** for Summer Wars, PsychoPass, and Terror in Resonance (e.g. character names, how said characters act, and settings).
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This movie was a mixed bag for me. The characters and familial aspect were its great strengths. The characters were so diverse, and their interactions and relationships were all so intriguing. I was also fond of the dub, which had a voice cast that I liked. Natsuki in particular, though her lines were less spectacular here than elsewhere. In any case, they did a good job with the characters. However, they didn't make as much
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use of that success as they could have... because of how the whole "Oz" game world thing was done.
And that was it's greatest flaw. While the concept is not necessarily bad, I really disliked the way they approached it. There were all these amazing real-world connections in this beautifully constructed family. There was so much potential in the real world. And yet they forced it into this alternate reality setting that didn't suit the beautiful connections they created. There was a real sense of disconnect between the real and the virtual.
Unlike in an anime like PsychoPass, where the online avatar approach has precedent in the plot, Oz felt wholly out of place. People were "talking" to each other in Oz, but they weren't actually talking - they were writing, or voice chatting with pixel avatars on screens. In PsychoPass, the talking makes sense because it actually is high-tech - the protagonists are actually IN virtual reality (or at least we never see anyone sitting at a computer, hence no disconnect). But in Summer Wars, it's an overdone dramatization of what is happening on a screen. They just used the game world as a projection of what should have happened with realistic events. That made it awkward and consequently dulled the emotional impact, as well as character development.
I just feel like it would have been such a better anime if they had stuck to real life, the ties within the family, building on that, and then treating the virtual aspect in a way that was more realistic. Instead of fighting some ridiculous amalgamation of "avatars" in a virtual reality projection that isn't actually virtual reality, they should have been working to fight the virus as what it was: a virus. The virus can still have its traits - namely having a personality of a tacit, snarky game-lover; but it should have done that by interacting with the protagonists through a computer screen, rather than through dramatization of computer games. Similar to how Sphinx mocks the police in Terror in Resonance, etc. And by having the struggle play out like that in real life, there would have been so much opportunity to include impactful real life interactions and drama. Instead of having to constantly phase between real life and the game, it all would have been fluid. The tensions between family members would have been so much more pronounced, rather than as a comedic side note.
But then perhaps that's the movie's greatest flaw right there. It tries too hard to be a comedy with a bit of drama, when its cast of characters was clearly meant more for drama with a touch of comedy. If it had been written with a drama/comedy mix on par with something like Usagi Drop, I think it would have worked far better.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jan 25, 2018
Mousou Telepathy is a perfect example of a manga that evolves as it's written. I feel like the author originally started the series as a gag comedy, but started to become so engrossed in the characters that he/she started to expand the idea into something much greater. Honestly, when I started reading it, I was just trying to kill some time and was in the mood for some ecchi comedy. However, over the course of the manga, the genre gradually morphs from a 4-koma ecchi gag comedy into a romantic drama/comedy about mind-reading. The comedy is still there, but the serious plot aspect becomes much
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more pronounced. As the genre morphs, so too does the presentation format. Even though it's still technically a 4-koma format, the standalone pages start to blend together until you start to feel like you're reading full-length chapters, though there are still occasional standalone pages.
If you're just looking for some silly ecchi gags, you'll enjoy this manga up until a certain point, but eventually it does change, so if you're not interested in investing yourself in the characters and reading an actual story, you may lose interest there. On the other hand, for those of you who want an interesting supernatural romantic comedy with some depth but have no interest in ecchi, I recommend just putting up with the early ecchi focus. It actually becomes a very relevant and purposeful plot point later on, so it's worth reading through it to get there.
Overall, I've given this manga a 7 on MAL (7.5 on my personal scale). It's more than just your average ecchi gag and turns into what is actually quite a good romantic comedy.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jan 4, 2018
A few thoughts masquerading as a brief review - here's what stood out the most for me about this anime.
A decent MMO anime. In particular I liked that, for the most part, Morioka was actually a non-superficial person, unlike the vast majority of stereotypical anime characters. There was still a little bit of the "women have to care about their looks" thing, but the frequent normalcy was refreshing. Finally a female character who isn't trussed up and stereotypically gorgeous. As a result, I could relate to her a lot more, and her character became much more believable.
They also took care not to alienate the
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actual MMO junkies who might be watching by not turning it into the expected "recovery" story of someone who quits his/her job and is somehow a "failure" because of his/her NEET lifestyle. While it does conclude with a vague reference to her potentially pursuing a job in order to be "successful", it's really up for interpretation.
In terms of the representation of gamers and gaming, it did some things well and others not so well. As a gamer myself, there were plenty of cringe-worthy moments where I thought "Uh yeah, no, that just isn't even close to how games and their social aspects work." But there were some accurate representations as well, plus a line that really stuck with me: that MMOs are where you can be alone without being lonely.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Sep 17, 2017
Let me start by saying I had read the manga several times before I watched this anime version. And while I don't like to join the crowds of people who rave about how the source material is always better, in this case I really have to agree with them. Perhaps it's just because I've become so familiar with the manga, but in any case, let's get to it.
I think what really killed this anime for me were two sets of clashes:
First, the anime seems to assume that the viewer has read the manga in order to get the most out of it. There are scenes,
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and especially flashbacks, that happen very quickly and try to suggest feelings and emotions. However, these flashes happen extremely fast and have too little background support to be easily understood unless you are familiar with the source material (e.g. the bird, poking Ishida on the bridge, among others). So in that regard, it seems like the viewer is meant to be familiar with the source material before watching. At the same time, however, the plot is significantly changed and large parts of it are gutted - all in order to reduce it to a 2-hour movie length. Of course, the entire cast is still introduced, despite these cuts, leading to poor characterization, and many reviews have already mentioned that particular flaw. In the context of the clash I'm looking at, though, these major cuts and shifts to the plot work against the idea that the anime was designed to cater to those who had already read the manga:
Those who have read the manga will be disappointed by the plot slashing; those who haven't read the manga will have difficulty following certain aspects of the plot (and will get thrown off by the sheer volume of characters with no real background).
Second, in what may have been an effort to stay true to the source material, quite a bit of the dialogue was copy and pasted out of the manga. However, there's a difference between how we read voices in our head versus how they actually sound. In general, text dialogue can afford to be a bit contrived and even a bit corny. When the exact same dialogue is voiced, however, it sounds really bad.
I think a movie adaptation of Koe no Katachi probably wasn't the best idea in the first place, given the sheer size of the cast and the length of time it takes to tie them all together. A 13-episode anime season or a lengthy 4-5 hour OVA might have been easier. Alternatively, they may have simply needed to find a better way to save time. Personally, I think they really wasted quite a lot of time with the childhood opening. That could have been more effectively communicated with flashbacks, leaving more time to develop all of the characters.
At least art and animation-wise, it's excellent.
Finally, I felt that the signing actually worked slightly better in the manga... which is strange, seeing as sign language is better represented in its native motion, rather than as a still-shot. Perhaps it's simply because they chose to use voiceover for the signing, which clashes with the idea that it's supposed to be silent.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Aug 21, 2017
Inou-Battle is an anime that doesn't know what it wants to be. This may be due at least in part to it being an adaptation, but I can't comment on that having not read the source material.
In any case, it starts out really strong. The premise is really fun and initially well done. Even though there are superpowers, they're there as a comedic device to create interesting situations. For awhile, there was no indication that it would stray from keeping to its premise of a regular high school club suddenly gaining superpowers, experimenting, and having a laugh with them. The characters all seemed really interesting
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at first, and it looked like a few more superpower-wielding characters were set to be introduced.
Unfortunately, things went downhill steadily, starting after the introduction of the first new superpower user... because, well, despite being introduced, she then promptly disappears and is hardly touched again. After this, Inou-Battle experiences an identity crisis. What started out as a light-hearted comedy suddenly takes a dark turn out of nowhere with the introduction of the "fairy war" concept and a large cast of undeveloped characters who somehow get additional screen time despite this. But just as suddenly as it turns dark, it jumps back to comedy. Then romance. Then you start to notice it's feeling like a harem because all of the conveniently female club members start falling for the male lead. Meanwhile, you realize that you haven't seen or heard anything about the club's superpowers in several episodes, with the only superpower-related scenes being about the completely unrelated fairy war with the cast of extras who are ultimately never connected to the main cast. And, in the end, the romance aspect never goes anywhere either.
The farther into the show you get, the more distorted it becomes. As I mentioned at the beginning, I suspect this is likely because of poor adaptation. It seems to me that the producers wanted to focus on the light-hearted comedy aspect, using the superpowers and characters' personalities/interactions. However, they ended up shackled by having to include the original aspects of the source material, which presumably include the darker parts of the story. However, without enough time to develop everything in detail, the serious side just ends up as a disaster that ruins a perfectly good comedy.
As much as I loved the first few episodes, I can't in good conscience recommend watching this anime because I think that, like me, you'll end up disappointed. The strong start makes the terrible mess that it becomes so much harder to endure.
However, if you like chuunibyou and superpower comedy with a touch of seriousness, I recommend Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai. It's quite similar to Inou-Battle, but is cohesive. Though the superpowers are all imaginary, rather than real.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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