Oh man... I've been wanting to talk about this one. Sailor Moon is, in my opinion, the best franchise of the Magical Girl genre. The first anime adaptation offered a lot of comedy as well as consistently getting serious when the final battle draws near each season. I binged through 200 episodes in between the day the trailer for Sailor Moon Crystal and the day the first episode of it was released.
It is astounding that both adaptations fell under the hands of the same exact studio, Toei Animation. You would think that would be good news, but you must think: The first anime was made
...
during the 1990s. From the day the final episode aired to the year 2014, the people who worked on this new anime are going to be different from the ones who worked on the first anime. There will be spoilers for later episodes as I need to actually compare certain scenes to how they were in the manga, hence the Spoiler tag.
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal is supposedly a reboot of the Sailor Moon series to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the first anime, which began in 1992. However, almost the entirety of this second adaptation has been cursed with idiotic decisions after idiotic decisions after idiotic decisions. I was there to see how badly Toei botched Sailor Moon so freaking hard to the point when the Blu-Ray version came out, all the streaming sites replaced the original TV releases with the Blu-Ray ones.
The first idiotic decision was that Toei clearly procrastinated. Just one paragraph ago, I said that this was meant to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the first Sailor Moon anime. However, anybody who can do basic elementary school math who has read up to this point in my review will notice that Sailor Moon Crystal started in 2014, which is two years after the first anime turned twenty years old. That's right. Crystal was supposed to have started in 2012, but Toei was not able to have it ready and needed two more years. You might be thinking: "Well, they just missed the due date, but better late than never, right?" I want to let them off the hook, but it soon became obvious that the studio really did not take their job seriously at all. They procrastinated so much to the point that Sailor Moon Crystal might just have the worst release schedule of all time, having new episodes air only on the first and third Saturdays for each month. This means that if there is a month that has a fifth Saturday in the calendar, we would sometimes have to wait THREE WEEKS between new episodes. That's seriously disgusting.
Not only did Crystal get a horrendous release schedule, but the animation is clearly rushed and half-baked. I know a lot of people seem to dislike the art style used for this anime, but I personally don't really mind it. I will agree that there are some frames in the animation that just look absolutely poor, especially with how poorly drawn the characters are in some parts. Here are some examples. Faces would be lopsided, characters sometimes look messy, and sometimes heights and sizes of the characters can change from one shot to another. It's that bad! Remember when I brought up the Blu-Ray version? That version did fix some of these issues, but Toei somehow f*cked up one part that had no problems. In one scene, the protagonist gets teased by her younger brother and when she tries to kick him, he closed the door in time and the protagonist ends up slamming her foot on the door. In the Blu-Ray version, when she holds her foot in pain... her entire leg just DISAPPEARS when that wasn't the case in the original. I will admit, I didn't even notice that until I watched a YouTuber who pointed it out. This YouTuber has made a great review of Crystal titling it why it should not be your introduction to Sailor Moon. I recommend you go check out that video.
Before I go on about other poor decisions Toei made, I guess I should describe the story if this happens to be anyone's introduction to Sailor Moon. The story is the same as the first anime adaptation, but this time being more faithful to the manga. The main protagonist is Usagi Tsukino who has been chosen by the black cat Luna to be the Sailor Guardian, Sailor Moon. Her job is to find the other Sailor Guardians and find the Legendary Silver Crystal before the Dark Kingdom does. The other Sailor Guardians are Ami Mizuno / Sailor Mercury, Rei Hino / Sailor Mars, Makoto Kino / Sailor Jupiter, and Minako Aino / Sailor Venus. Oh yeah... for some reason, they decided to use the word Guardian instead of Soldier. Oh well... I'm okay with either one. They're both definitely more preferable than what DiC did for the first anime's first English dub. I will never call these girls Sailor Scouts. Ugh! Scout doesn't sound like a title you would wear when fighting evil. I also don't like the Romaji word that the vast majority of people like to use: "Senshi." MEGA UGH! I hate Romaji!
Being more faithful to the manga, the storyline's pacing is significantly faster than the first anime adaptation. The first anime had a bunch of filler episodes to keep the entertainment going. Crystal gets straight to the point every episode. Ami is introduced in the second episode, whereas back in the 1990s, she doesn't appear until episode eight. This is just one example of the faster pacing.
Since filler episodes aren't a thing this time around, there aren't many monsters sent by the Dark Kingdom this time around. I know I used the word Youma back in my review of the first anime, but earlier this year I found out that it is one of many Japanese words that translate to monster. That's when it hit me: The author originally wanted Sailor Moon to be just the Dark Kingdom arc, so it makes sense for this generic term to be used. Oops! Oh well. Anyways, most of the fights are now directly against the higher-ups of the Dark Kingdom.
Unfortunately, even while being faithful to the manga storyline, Toei thought it would be a good idea to make some alterations. Alterations aren't always a bad thing, but they have to be done right, which is not the case here. The main antagonist Queen Beryl was supposed to be stabbed by Sailor Venus with a Holy Sword. Sailor Venus does this in order to save Sailor Moon from being strangled by the evil queen's prehensile hair. In Crystal, all five Sailor Guardians were grabbed by Beryl, and Sailor Venus was able to summon the sword and get them all out, but when she went for the kill, Beryl fended off the attack. Instead, the five worked together to disable Beryl's left-handed magic and knock her scepter out of her right hand, and her weak point is designated to her necklace which gets destroyed by Sailor Moon wielding the sword. Despite the dialogue saying that this would make Beryl no longer evil, she still dies and turns into ashes. While this doesn't make any sense, my only guess is that Toei is trying to make Crystal be a little more family friendly. This guess is viable with the next thing I'm going to point out.
One detail that was omitted in the first anime is the fact that the Four Kings were originally knights who protected Prince Endymion, the prince of the Earth who was reincarnated as Mamoru Chiba / Tuxedo Mask. While Crystal does bring this detail in, Toei decided to make this one random image of each of the Four Kings being paired up with the Sailor Guardians other than Sailor Moon canon to the storyline. I like the idea, but it was poorly executed. Instead of each member of the Four Kings be killed off in the proper manga chapters (because their deaths were actually pretty brutal which again, would not have been family friendly), they were kept alive to be freed from the Dark Kingdom's influence, but before Usagi's friends can have a romantic reunion with them, the great ruler of the Dark Kingdom Queen Metaria, the true antagonist, fires a deadly blast and kills the four men... and she was able to do that... BEFORE obtaining the Silver Crystal to break free from her prison! WHAT THE F*CK?! If she can do that, why didn't she just do away with the Sailor Guardians?! Without a doubt, these little changes were made without any consideration for the logistics of Sailor Moon's world.
One final problem I have with Crystal is that it loves to actually waste your time. I don't mean that in the usual sense where a negative review would say: "Don't waste your time with this." Crystal is supposed to be a faster paced anime, but the transformation sequences drag on for far too long. They managed to make them take longer than how they were in the 1990s! I had to double check to make sure I didn't imagine this. I actually timed how long each girl's transformation took in both anime adaptations. Look at these times!
Transformation times in the first anime.
Usagi - 40 seconds.
Ami - 16 seconds.
Rei - 16 seconds.
Makoto - 17 seconds.
Minako - 20 seconds.
Transformation times in Crystal.
Usagi - 57 seconds.
Ami - 37 seconds.
Rei - 39 seconds.
Makoto - 38 seconds.
Minako - 38 seconds.
One addition that definitely contributed to the increase transformation time is having all five of them include showing the tiara appear on the Guardians' foreheads. This was always the case for Sailor Moon, but Crystal gave this to the other girls. It's a nice change, but they seriously should've focused on speeding up the animation because while they are flashy to see the first time, they sometimes like to show the whole sequence again in future episodes as if they were just padding for the episode length. Also, while I'm at it, the 3D CGI used for the transformations just does not look good.
Now, not all changes are bad. The ones that focused on changing what happens with the characters and such definitely should not have happened. However, there are some small little things I do appreciate with Crystal. As this is an anime from 2014, they decided to incorporate Sailor Moon into the world of modern technology. There are smartphones, iPads, and HD Television. Those are cool to see. Another change I sort of am okay with is the chemistry between Usagi and Rei. Rei's tendency to be blunt about Usagi in the first anime came directly from the manga. In Crystal, Rei seems to not mind Usagi's clumsiness as much and therefore doesn't say anything that results in Usagi calling her mean. I personally prefer Crystal to have a more serious tone, so the removal of the comedic bickering between Usagi and Rei definitely helps that seriousness.
If there is anything to praise Sailor Moon Crystal, it's the amazing soundtrack. Moon Pride is a classic song in and of itself right next to the first anime's Moonlight Legend. Moon Pride gives off this strong feeling that helps viewers get ready to watch these beautiful girls battle against evil. The most notable lyrics are: "We're not helpless girls that need the protection of men." Nothing is truer than this given what happens to Mamoru later on in the anime and in three of the other four arcs after the first. The ending song has extremely chill vibes giving off a calm atmosphere after the episode the viewer has just watched. The best part has to be its name: Moonbow. Seeing that a rainbow appears in the ending animation, this name is just perfection. This anime also has excellent background music. When starting the first episode, our ears are blessed with this peaceful music that plays as we see images of outer space. It helps show how peaceful the universe is and that this is the universe the main character is going to have to protect five times. I also love the intense music that plays when the Sailor Guardians are battling the Dark Kingdom. The music perfectly captures just how evil the enemies are.
The characters have different voice actors from the 1990s anime, except for Usagi who has the same actress from before: Kotono Mitsuishi, and I am happy to say that she still got it after all these years. Her voice is exactly the same how it was in the 1990s, so Crystal at least has this.
I am a huge fan of Sailor Moon, but Crystal overall is a failure in introducing Sailor Moon to newer audiences. Despite the little things I like and the great music, it's practically impossible to ignore everything wrong with it. For the rushed animation, the dumb changes, and having the worst episode schedule ever, Sailor Moon Crystal's adaptation of the Dark Kingdom arc deserves a 4/10. The folks at Toei Animation really screwed this up.
...However!
This entry covers the Dark Kingdom arc... AND the Black Moon arc! Yep! We're not done just yet! There is more for me to talk about!
The Black Moon arc! I LOVE the Black Moon arc!
Unlike the Dark Kingdom arc, Toei did not mess with the Black Moon arc as much. It still suffers from poor animation quality, the long transformations, and the stupid release schedule, but the story of the Black Moon arc is my personal favorite arc of Sailor Moon. This applies to both the first anime's version and this one. Also, since the manga storyline jumps straight to the Black Moon arc, there are no Hell Tree aliens this time around. There are alterations, but they make more sense than what they did to the Dark Kingdom arc. Going along with the family friendly philosophy, there is one scene where in the manga, a poor innocent little girl was burned alive. Crystal replaces the little girl with a grown man in a suit, probably a businessman. The scene even took place at night, so this change makes sense. Why was a little girl outside late at night in the manga? I don't know. A businessman on the other hand, makes sense as he could just be on his way home from an evening shift.
Just like how it was in Sailor Moon R, the Black Moon arc is centered on Chibiusa, who came from the 30th Century to ask the Sailor Guardians to save said time period from the Black Moon Clan. The clan is led by Prince Demande, who finds the Silver Crystal to be blasphemous. However, he is also romantically interested in Sailor Moon or more specifically, Sailor Moon's future self. The Black Moon arc also introduces Sailor Pluto, who is the guardian of time. In this version of the storyline, she gets to play a much bigger role than the 1990s version.
If you've seen my review of Sailor Moon R, then you would know that my favorite villain in all of Sailor Moon is Wiseman, the hooded figure who acts as an advisor to the Black Moon Clan. He is the true antagonist as he was the one who brought the Black Moon Clan to Planet Nemesis and provided them the Evil Black Crystal to destroy the Earth in the 30th Century. What's great about him is that he pretends to be the second-in-command of the clan and takes control from Demande later on. I like villains who are like that.
Now I know there are people who aren't pleased with how Prince Demande dies in Crystal. In the manga, he kind of goes a little crazy after being backstabbed by Wiseman. He takes the Silver Crystals of the past and future and tries to put them together which would have disastrous consequences and Demande intends to take Wiseman down with him this way even if it means everybody else around him dies. When that fails, he attacks Sailor Moon one last time before being killed by her. Crystal took a different direction. Instead of fighting Sailor Moon, Sailor Moon and her friends fight Wiseman directly while Demande watches the battle. When Wiseman feigns defeat and launches a surprise attack on the Sailor Guardians, Demande protects them from the attack and tries to fend Wiseman off. Wiseman's power was too much for Demande and just before Demande explodes, he looks at Sailor Moon one more time and addresses her as his queen. Many people did not like this change, but I think this change makes sense. Wiseman has been literally plotting his own schemes behind the prince's back. It makes more sense for Demande to take a stand against Wiseman.
The music remains the same throughout the two arcs, but for the Black Moon arc, the opening sequence is altered slightly to match.
I know I didn't cover the characters too much, but even though this is a different adaptation from the first anime, the characters and their personalities are mostly the same as how they were back then. I said that Sailor Moon is the best Magical Girl franchise, and it's thanks to the wonderful cast of protagonists AND antagonists. Even though the Dark Kingdom got botched so hard, the characters are still great. It's just their actions being different from the manga that make no sense. The Black Moon did not suffer as much, and I'm glad that is the case for my personal favorite arc. The Black Moon arc gets 8/10.
I would put this version of the Black Moon arc in my list of favorites as I personally find it to be better than Sailor Moon R. However, it's lumped with, again, the botched Dark Kingdom arc, and I don't want to give the wrong idea that I'm okay with that. I know the Hell Tree subplot was sort of Jank, but I excuse it because its purpose was to give the manga writer to finish all the sequels to the Dark Kingdom arc, and indeed it did the job. I would rather lump the Black Moon arc with the Hell Tree subplot in my list of favorite anime than with Crystal's poor version of the Dark Kingdom arc. That being said, the final score I give to Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal is the average score between the Dark Kingdom and Black Moon arcs, which is 6/10.
Aug 16, 2024 Mixed Feelings Spoiler
Oh man... I've been wanting to talk about this one. Sailor Moon is, in my opinion, the best franchise of the Magical Girl genre. The first anime adaptation offered a lot of comedy as well as consistently getting serious when the final battle draws near each season. I binged through 200 episodes in between the day the trailer for Sailor Moon Crystal and the day the first episode of it was released.
It is astounding that both adaptations fell under the hands of the same exact studio, Toei Animation. You would think that would be good news, but you must think: The first anime was made ...
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jul 7, 2024 Recommended
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood started airing in April 2009. During its sixty-four-episode run, a special episode is released every four months. These episodes are adaptations of bonus chapters from the manga. Studio Bones didn't adapt every single bonus chapter. They only picked four of them. It should be noted that the praises and criticisms I gave in my review of the main storyline do apply to these special episodes. There is really no need for me to repeat them here. It would be best to save these episodes after finishing the main storyline. However, if you want to be fancy, you can watch the main story
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and each of these special episodes in the order of their Japanese release dates. For instance, you would watch the first special episode in between episodes 20 and 21. I will be giving each of these special episodes their own individual scores and their rounded average will be the final score at the end of this review.
Special Episode 1: The Blind Alchemist Right off the bat, I really don't get the story of this episode. The Elric Bros. hear a rumor of somebody having done a successful human transmutation. Seeing this as a chance to find a way to restore their bodies, they decided to go meet this person. That person is an alchemist named Jude, who serves the Humbergang family. As the title of the episode suggests, Jude has lost his vision due to performing human transmutation. His "successful" transmutation was resurrecting the Humbergang family's daughter Rosalie. When Edward tried asking Jude how he managed to succeed, he and Mrs. Humbergang refused to share any information as it's meant to stay within the mansion as this is the wish of the late Mr. Humbergang. Meanwhile, Alphonse is being forced to play with Rosalie and then Rosalie decides to show him her secret. This is what I don't get: If no information was ever supposed to get leaked, how did the rumor of the successful human transmutation reach the Elric Bros.? The whole point of all the mansion's inhabitants' behavior is to keep the reality a secret from Jude. Plus, it is common knowledge among the world of Fullmetal Alchemist that human transmutation is forbidden, and it never works. Besides, shouldn't information of Jude's human transmutation be kept a secret from the rest of the world? Why were there rumors about Jude in the first place? Who gave Alphonse the information about Jude? Seriously, the episode begins with the Elric Bros. at a cafe, and Alphonse is telling Edward the rumor as the latter ate four parfaits. Geez Louise! That's a lot of sweets for one trip to a cafe! Given what happens at the end of the episode, I feel like the intense looks the gatekeepers and the gardener were completely unnecessary. They made it seem like something wild was going to happen later on, but it didn't. Even after learning the truth, nothing turned sour between the Elric Bros. and the mansion's inhabitants. Also, if information about the successful human transmutation got out for normal people to hear, how come the homunculi never got word of it? They are searching for people who performed human transmutation as one of their goals is that they need to gather five of them. Overall, this first special episode is okay. It's pleasant that the people at the mansion don't go out of their way to silence anybody who knows the truth. It's possible that it's only written this way to avoid clashing with the main storyline. I'll give Special Episode 1 a 7/10. Special Episode 2: Simple People This special episode is actually my favorite of them all just because it feels like a nice slice of life spinoff of Fullmetal Alchemist. The simple people in question are Winry Rockbell, the Elric Bros.' childhood friend and Edward's personal mechanic and love interest, and Riza Hawkeye, a lieutenant in the military. If you were to pay attention to how these two looked in their pasts, you will notice that Winry initially didn't have any earrings and Riza used to have short hair. Special Episode 2 expands on the meeting between Winry and Riza from the main storyline. While Colonel Roy Mustang was asking Edward to join the military, Winry and Riza got a chance to talk to each other. In the main storyline, it simply showed Riza explaining to Winry why she joined the military, this special episode reveals that their meeting inspired each other to change their appearances. Winry saw Riza's earrings and decided she wants to have earrings for herself. She even gets more piercings on one ear after receiving lots of earrings from Edward, who only got them for her for the sole purpose of calming her down since she hates it when he breaks his automail. Once Edward realizes this, he stops getting any more gifts for Winry. Riza decided to let her hair grow long because she saw Winry has long hair and decided it would be nice to have long hair for a change. In fact, the episode just ends on that note and the credits play with some triumphant music playing. Special Episode 1 had sad music playing when it rolled the credits. I'm mentioning this now because it's going to be important to bring up for the third and fourth special episodes. Honestly, this was a very wholesome episode, and I did not mind seeing Edward and Winry bicker with each other since it just works for this special episode as opposed to them doing it in places outside of Winry's house during the main storyline. It's nice to get explanations for why Winry has a lot of piercings on one ear and why Riza has long hair. Special Episode 2 gets a perfect 10/10. Special Episode 3: The Tale of the Teacher This episode is centered on the Elric Bros.' alchemy teacher, Izumi Curtis, whose maiden name is revealed to be Harnet. Just like how Izumi herself challenged the Bros. to survive one month on an island after they asked her to be their Master, Izumi was tasked by the famous alchemist Silver Steiner to spend one month at Briggs. The island the Elric Bros. had to survive in is absolutely nothing compared to Briggs. Briggs is a snowy mountain on the north side of Amestris. Plus, the spot where Izumi is camping at is near Fort Briggs, and the soldiers there are not taking any chances with anybody they find. While this was an interesting episode to watch, everything that happened here was already said by characters in the main storyline. Izumi told the Elric Bros. that she survived one month at Briggs, and the people at Briggs spoke of a rumor about their men being attacked and robbed by a mysterious woman. Since the audience is told this information, it's very easy to see everything that happens in Special Episode 3 coming. That doesn't mean it's uninteresting. We get to see Izumi defend herself from wolves and bears, and the uncalled-for surprise she gets after completing the one month of survival. After the episode ends, the credits roll, and it reuses the triumphant music. Special Episode 3 does get somewhat a post credits scene showing a romanticization of how Izumi met her husband, Sig Curtis. After that, it shows credits again, this time with elegant sounding music with a love letter aesthetic. This was a great episode, even if half of it was easy to expect. I'll give it 9/10. Special Episode 4: Yet Another Man's Battlefield The fourth and final special episode shows Roy Mustang's past as a student at the military academy as well as his first meeting with Maes Hughes. The two even befriend an Ishvalan student named Heathcliff Erbe after defending him from racist bullies. That friendship was short lived since years later, the Ishval Civil War happens. In order for the Amestrians to win the war, all the State Alchemists including Roy were enlisted to help exterminate the Ishvalans. Roy was having literally no trouble wiping out the Ishvalans who were operating machine guns. When he went to investigate the enemies that he wiped out, he encounters Heathcliff. Heathcliff felt betrayed by the person who promised to end the discrimination. He tried to kill Roy, but Roy's pocket watch blocked the bullet. Shortly after, Maes arrives and kills Heathcliff. Roy falls into depression realizing he is literally killing people he was supposed to be protecting. As he spends a whole night gathering his thoughts and reflecting on what he's been through, Maes tells him how he does his best to swallow up his sins so he can smile in front of his future wife Gracia. When the two returned home, Roy acknowledges that Maes is stronger than him after seeing his happy reunion with Gracia. I really don't mind seeing new information about Roy and Maes, but it's really painful to watch their friendship with Heathcliff end. This is because in the main storyline, there is an Ishvalan soldier in the military name Miles. In fact, he is a Major at Briggs. You know, the snowy mountain area where the soldiers there operate on survival of the fittest. Miles joined the military in hopes of ending the wrongful discrimination of his people, which is the same reason Heathcliff entered the academy. Do you see where this is going?! For Roy and Maes to take part of the slaughter of Ishvalans without even showing an iota of guilt before seeing Heathcliff already shows they reject him. It had to take seeing him one last time for Roy to realize what on earth he is doing. Even Alex Louis Armstrong, the Strong-Arm Alchemist who is very into muscles, quickly knew how wrong the war has become the moment he found a dead Ishvalan child. Also in the main storyline, Edward had an encounter with an enemy who was nothing but a suit of armor just like Alphonse. Even after dismantling the armor and winning the battle, Edward refused to deal a finishing blow on the enemy because since Alphonse is in the same state, to reject the enemy's existence means to reject his brother. The point I'm trying to make is that this final special episode is just downright insulting towards the main storyline's promotion of ending discrimination towards the Ishvalans. Plus, where was Riza when Roy was lamenting during the break time? She is his closest subordinate, and she did participate in the Ishval Civil War. Shouldn't she be by his side to share the pain and guilt? On top of all that, this episode aired over a month after the main storyline was finished. The main storyline ended on a happy ending with one of the things that happened after the final battle was the restoration of Ishval. It's honestly really stupid they decided to adapt this bonus chapter on the Ishval Civil War after the relations between Amestrians and Ishvalans begin to improve by the end of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Even though I watched these special episodes after finishing the main storyline, I really am not amused by the fact that this is what was chosen to be the last special episode. The cherry on top of this trainwreck of a special episode is that they used the triumphant music in the credits. What the heck?! It is so wrong to play that music after having to revisit this horrific genocide. It seriously should've used the sad music Special Episode 1 used. I'm sorry, but this has to be the lowest point in all of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood for me. I'm giving Special Episode 4 a 5/10. Revisiting the Ishval Civil War was just not the right call to be the last special episode. Now it's time to do the math. 7 + 10 + 9 + 5 = 31 31 / 4 = 7.75 7.75 rounds up to 8, so that's my final score for the special episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. The first is simply okay, the second is excellently wholesome, the third is fun to watch, and the last one is just insulting. It's nice to see this anime have some extra content on the world and its characters.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 30, 2024
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
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Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, also known as the second anime adaptation of the manga Fullmetal Alchemist, has been known to be one of the most popular anime of all time. Going through all sixty-four episodes, I can see why its fans love it so much. Watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is a fun time. Being told loads of information of what's happening and past events eventually them having come full circle was absolutely mind blowing. Like I should've seen something coming after having the show tell me something that is important. I had a blast watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood from start to finish.
I was easily hooked onto ... the story. The main characters Edward Elric and Alphonse Elric are on a quest to obtain the Philosopher's Stone, a powerful object that can grant any miracle. The reason they want such an item is simple. When they were younger, their mother passed away and they attempted to use alchemy to bring her back to life via Human Transmutation. Despite perfecting all of their preparations, the experiment was an absolute failure. Instead of their mother, they ended up creating a horrific creature that didn't even last a full minute. What's even worse is that Human Transmutation has serious consequences. Edward loses his right arm and Alphonse completely disappears. To bring his brother back, Edward binds his brother's soul to a giant suit of armor at the cost of his left leg. The Elric Bros. seek to restore their bodies back to normal and they believe that the Philosopher's Stone is the only thing that can do that. Did I say the reason is simple? Yeah, it's actually a deep reason, and it kept me engaged. The story gets even more engaging with the fact that within seven episodes in, a plot twist is revealed. The requirements to create a Philosopher's Stone are so inhumane that the Elric Bros. change their minds about obtaining it and seek another method to get their bodies back. Not only that, but there is also a dark secret within their homeland Amestris, and it must be stopped. Otherwise, a great tragedy will happen to all of the country's citizens. To me, the most important thing for any anime is to demonstrate how its world works, and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood did an excellent job with it. In case you haven't realized what the obvious main selling point of this anime is by now, it's alchemy. In the world of Fullmetal Alchemist, some people have the ability to use alchemy. Those who are professionals at it and in the military are known as State Alchemists. Edward joined the military at the age of fifteen making him the youngest State Alchemist of Amestris. Alphonse is allowed to accompany him wherever he goes. If there is one benefit from the failed attempt at bringing his mother back to life, it's that Edward can perform alchemy without the need to draw a circle. One of the most basic rules of alchemy is that a circle is needed for alchemy to happen. Those who attempted Human Transmutation gain the ability to perform alchemy at will. All they need to do to activate it is a simple clap their hands together. Now, wait just a second. Didn't Edward lose one of his arms? How can he perform alchemy? Edward has been given automail to replace his right arm and left leg thanks to his childhood friend and personal mechanic, Winry Rockbell, so he can move and use alchemy provided his right arm doesn't get destroyed. Hopefully, that won't happen at all, right? Another basic rule of alchemy is the concept of equivalent exchange: If you want something, you'll have to give up something else that is equal in value. It is strongly believed that the Philosopher's Stone ignores this and can grant anything including immortality at no cost. Notice that three paragraphs ago, I typed "a Philosopher's Stone" and not "the Philosopher's Stone." That is because Philosopher's Stones aren't MacGuffins that happen to exist waiting for somebody to obtain them. They are things that are created with alchemy, and once they are created, their use is actually limited. Once their limits run out, they cease to exist. Very horrific sacrifices must be made to even create a Philosopher's Stone. The more sacrifices made, the longer the stone lasts. Soon, it becomes very clear to the Elric Bros. that somebody is trying to create one and the history of Amestris confirms this. Amestris is full of interesting locations. There is Resembool, which is the hometown of the Elric Bros. and the Rockbell family. Occasionally, the Bros. would visit to see the Rockbells and totally not for repairs for Edward's automail. Edward's making sure he doesn't break them since it makes Winry angry at him. On the south side of the country, there is a place called Rush Valley, known to be a haven for automail since there are lots of automail businesses there. To the north is the snowy region of Briggs. There is a military fort over there and the people in that fort do not mess around, especially their Major General. Outside the east side of the country is a vast desert. In the middle of this desert are the ruins of the ancient civilization of Xerxes. Legend says that this once prosperous kingdom disappeared in an instant one night. For each area Edward and/or Alphonse go to, they have an objective to do. However, that planned objective isn't the only thing that happens when they arrive in each destination, and the events that happen in each area become relevant to the story. Throughout their journey, the Elric Bros. will meet all sorts of people along the way and let me tell you: There are a lot of characters in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. The Bros. will make some friends, gain some allies, and despite encountering some pretty nasty enemies, they have a resolve to not kill. Edward and Alphonse are very skilled in combat, but they refuse to kill. It's crazy to see that these two are kind of like pacifists when it comes to dealing with enemies, especially the main antagonists of this anime, the homunculi. Homunculi are artificial humans with supernatural powers and can regenerate their bodies no matter how they are attacked. They are the ones responsible for causing chaos at specific spots in Amestris all for the sake of their creator, who they address as Father. The Elric Bros. do have some quirks of their own, especially Edward. Edward is one of the most short-tempered protagonists ever. For starters, he hates it when people say he is short despite being the older brother. The reason is another fact about him: He hates milk and refuses to drink any. Alphonse is constantly being mistaken as the State Alchemist since people automatically assume that the armor is the Fullmetal Alchemist. That suit of armor his soul is bound to is completely empty. Alphonse can move around and speak to others, but he can't eat food, take baths, or sleep. His presence in the armor remains intact as long as the Blood Rune on it doesn't get tampered with. If something were to happen to the Blood Rune, Alphonse's body and soul will cease to exist. The Bros. do form some alliances with some of the other characters they meet. They join forces with some people in the military including some State Alchemists, but they also team up with some people from the country of Xing as well as some chimera after convincing one pair that they can return to normal, and another pair gets betrayed by their superior. The characters from Xing consist of two different clans racing against each other to obtain a Philosopher's Stone. The winner gets to be the next ruler of their country. One of the candidates for the throne is Ling Yao, who enjoys freeloading off of anybody he meets in Amestris, especially with Edward. Another candidate is Mei Chang, who was very excited to meet Edward and expected him to be a tall handsome guy. You can imagine how her reaction to reality is going to go. One character I initially was mad towards was Scar, simply because he started off as someone wanting to get revenge on the Amestrian military for the extermination of his race, the Ishvalans. He specifically only targets State Alchemists since they contributed to the genocide. Scar even attacks Edward a couple of times, which is frustratingly wrong since the Ishvalan War happened years before Edward became a State Alchemist. Fortunately, due to circumstances that come up later in the anime, Edward and Scar put their differences aside to stop the homunculi's plans, and by the end of the anime, I forgave Scar. The most notable character to me in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is the Bros.' father, Van Hohenheim. Before their mother passed away, Van left his family for something important he must attend to. Nobody knows what it is as he was away for a really long time. Even when his wife was ill and several letters were sent to him to let him know, he didn't come back. When he does eventually return to Resembool, all he did was warn that something was about to happen to Amestris. This might have something to do with the dark secret I mentioned earlier. Either way, once I learned what he has been up to and why he did what he did, it felt amazing. Lots of people love Van, and if you're reading this review before watching this anime, I'm sure you'll come to like this character by the time you reach the end. Of course, I should mention that the fourth episode is home to everybody's most hated character in all of anime: Shou Tucker. This man supposedly can create chimera capable of talking human speech. He must be very bad at his job since the Bros. meet and ally with chimera that can speak and switch between their human and animal forms at will later in the anime. The reason Shou is hated so much is the truth behind his chimera. Here's a hint: He created his first chimera two years ago and apparently; his wife left him two years ago. Don't say I didn't warn you. I do have one very tiny nitpick about the characters. In a world of alchemy and there is a country with an advanced military that consists of State Alchemists, none of the State Alchemists are female. Boo! I know the Elric Bros.' master Izumi Curtis was offered to join in one scene, but her health issues put her in no position to become a State Alchemist. There is a female State Alchemist in one of the video games, but obviously the video game adaptations aren't canon, so that doesn't count. I'm sure one thing everybody can agree on when it comes to Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is its excellent soundtrack. There are five opening songs and ending songs. Each of them plays for twelve episodes, with the exception of the first opening and ending which play for fourteen episodes. It's kind of funny how they tried their best to have every song play an equal number of times. The sixty-third and sixty-fourth episodes are special cases where the fifth opening song plays at the end of the former while the second opening plays at the end of the latter. They are all great tunes to listen to every episode. However, none of them hold a candle to me compared to the background music which goes by the title "Main Theme - The Fullmetal Alchemist." There is just something about this orchestral music that manages to work with every scene it plays in. Every time I hear this music, it just fills me with energy and excitement, regardless of what moment it's playing at. There are plenty of other background music that's pretty good as well, but this one especially was the most memorable of them all. I don't really have much to say about the voice acting. Every character's voice is solid. I guess the only surprising fact about it is the fact that some of the male characters including the Elric Bros. are voiced by women in Japan. It's shocking, but at least they all did a good job coming up with a proper voice for their characters. I will say, I listened to some samples of the English dub, and I personally prefer the Japanese voice acting. There is one bit of voice acting that does stand out, and it's not even a character. Whenever an episode reaches the halfway point, we get an eye-catch image as well as a voice in English (even in the Japanese version) saying "Fullmetal Alchemist" in different tones each time. Every episode has two of these at the halfway point and I'm guessing the first one is right before a commercial break and the second one comes after it meaning this anime was meant to be watched on television back in 2009. Since the majority of us nowadays use streaming services without any interrupting commercials, these eye-catching halfway points end up being unintentionally comical. I really dig the art and animation of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. All the characters are well designed, especially the homunculi. When it comes to the animation, the studio did the job flawlessly. This is a world all about alchemy, and Studio Bones made no mistakes animating every alchemist's abilities. I love the detail that whenever alchemy has been used on a surface, that surface will form a peculiar pattern that serves as proof that alchemy was used on that spot. There is even a part where one Elric Bro. enters a secret passageway and when the other Bro. tries to see it later on, he notices that it was obviously sealed off with alchemy. The art, for the most part, is consistently good. However, one thing I'm not too fond of is whenever the anime tries to point and tell what are supposed to be moments of humor or when a character feels embarrassed. This happens the most frequently with the Elric Bros. Let's say there is one scene where Edward gets mad at someone for saying he is short. Instead of keeping the screen on the perfectly designed room the characters are in, it switches to a single-color background and Edward now looks like an amateur tried to draw and animate him. This is how the anime tries so hard to communicate with the viewer that this part is supposed to make them laugh. I totally got the fact that it's funny, but what's not helping is that this example takes place somewhere in the middle of the anime and by this point, the running gag of Edward hating being called short started to become stale. Another example of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood's idea for humor is having Edward tease someone, and in that moment, the single-color background is used, and Edward is turned into some combination of a human and a cartoon crocodile. I want to enjoy seeing him tease someone, but looking at this imagery was just unnecessary. The most common reoccurrence is whenever the anime tries to show Alphonse feels embarrassed. What the artists did for this situation is turning him into a large gray round shape with a head, occasionally having his arms and legs be visible. Once again, they would use the single-color background on these moments, and I stopped being amused with it after more than twenty episodes in. If they want to show Alphonse feeling embarrassed, a much simpler approach would be to keep the perfectly drawn armor and just place a simple sweat drop on the side of its helmet. This will take less work while still fulfilling the same goal, just with a better imagery to look at. I would argue that some anime from the 1990s have done a better job showcasing moments of comedy. One easy example is when two characters begin arguing each other, whoever's turn it is to speak would have their head be bigger than normal. On top of that, the background would not change at all. It would stick to the location the characters are at, so while keeping the background normal as it should be and the big heads not overstaying their welcome, we got ourselves a moment that the anime is showing that it's funny, and it's actually enjoyable. If Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood reduced the number of times it uses the single-color background and turning characters into unnecessary caricatures, I would not have minded them as much as I do here. One major inconsistency with Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is the varying difference in how long each part of the story takes. The early fights against Isaac McDougal and Cornello lasted only one episode while some of the later parts take a long while especially the final battle which lasted a little too long for my liking. There is also some cut content from the manga. Usually, this is not an issue when it comes to anime adaptations. However, there is one cut that definitely does not help with one character's case, that character being Yoki. He's apparently some corrupt military officer who imposed heavy taxes in a town only seen in his flashback story. According to his backstory, Edward tricked him into giving up his ownership of the town and then reported him. Here's the thing: This wasn't exclusively a flashback in the manga. It was an actual chapter. The exclusion of this town also hurts Mei Chang as she was supposed to appear in this area first in the manga storyline and she would get the wrong impression of Edward over there. Since the anime omitted it, her first appearance ended up being randomly meeting with Yoki. There are other omissions the anime made, but these stood out to me because Yoki and Mei Chang are major characters in the story. While I understand the strong popularity of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, it really isn't the excellent work the majority of the fans make it out to be. Don't get me wrong. The story of this anime is engaging. It does an excellent job at demonstrating the laws of its world. The locations the Elric Bros. visit are interesting. All the characters except Shou are all great people. The entire soundtrack is full of bangers. The voice acting is perfect. All the major scenes and fights were animated professionally. The positives of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood definitely overwhelm its negatives. My one little nitpick, the unnecessary "humor," pacing issues, and cuts from the manga version are all small issues I have with this anime. I still had fun watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. It's a very great anime, but my heart belongs to something else in the realm of anime. To end off, here's a little fun fact about this second anime adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist. It's only known as Brotherhood in English to differentiate it from the first anime from 2003. In Japanese, both anime adaptations share the same exact name, being simply called Fullmetal Alchemist. Since I didn't skip the openings and endings, I noticed that the logo doesn't include the word Brotherhood during the opening sequences. Plus, the man who says "Fullmetal Alchemist" in the halfway points of episodes never says "Brotherhood."
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jun 18, 2024 Mixed Feelings
What a weird name for an anime. I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense is a comedy gaming anime that is just okay. It took me a while to figure out why the community gave it the shortened name "Bofuri." They just took three syllables in the romaji and put them together. Thought I should inform you all about that in case any of you were wondering about where it came from.
The story is fairly simple and lives up to the full title. The main character Kaede Honjo was persuaded by her best friend Risa Shiromine to join the Virtual ... Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game called NewWorld Online. Very generic name for a game if you ask me. NewWorld Online takes place in a fantasy-like setting. I just have to ask, what is the story of this game? Why do the players need to fight monsters and defeat bosses to progress to a new area? What are the backstories of the locations in the game? Regardless, the game looks good. Plus, the anime is made by the studio Silver Link, and they did a great job with this. While Risa did get Kaede to play the game, Risa herself is not able to join Kaede initially due to an upcoming exam she has to take, so Kaede spends her first few play sessions alone. Going by the name Maple, she decides to invest all her status points into Vitality, going for an absolute defense build. Reminds me of how I play the Mario RPGs. I focused a lot on defensive stats when I play them. With some insane luck and the fact that you can attack enemies and bosses in NewWorld Online by eating them- I'm sorry... WHAT?! Biting them works? What is this game?! Either way, Maple manages to get her hands on some top tier equipment, and they got her third place in the game's first event: A Battle Royale. This comes off as shocking to the community since due to Maple's maximized defense, nothing damages her at all. Maces to the back of the head. Axes to the abdomen. Nothing works. Even Risa herself is shocked to hear the news. As the anime goes on, Maple forms her own guild, Maple Tree. Here are the members of the guild. First, we have Risa, who goes by Sally in-game, a swashbuckler who specializes in evasion and high-speed offense. She is also serves as a tactician to Maple since they played co-op in the second event. Second, we have Kasumi, a samurai who initially challenged Maple and Sally, but then they had to work together to escape a dungeon they fell into, and now they're comrades. Third is Kanade, a mage player with high levels of intelligence and a master at puzzle-solving. The next two members are Kuromu, who plays with a defense-based build similar to Maple, and Iz, a crafter who creates gear that are made-to-order. Kuromu and Iz are the first two people Maple befriended at the beginning of the anime and directed her to the dungeon where she obtained her current equipment. The last two members are Mai and Yui, two players who placed all their status points into Strength. With such high attack power, they can potentially cause mass destruction. The members of Maple Tree are happy to be part of the guild and they work together in the third and fourth events, the latter of which is far more important since it's a battle between guilds. There are two Rival Guilds that Maple Tree must stay on high alert for. The first guild is Flame Emperor, led by a female player named Mii who is got fourth place back in the first event. Mii speaks with confidence and charisma which encourages the other members of Flame Emperor. The second and more intimidating guild is Order of the Holy Sword, led by the legendary number one ranked player in all of NewWorld Online, Payne. Not only that, the other members of Order of the Holy Sword are top players as well, one of them is ranked number two and another is ranked number five. Let me remind you that Maple is ranked number three. This should give you an idea of what she's about to be up against by the end of the anime. If other top players weren't intimidating enough, the game developers of NewWorld Online are also alerted by Maple's unbreakable streak of success. They even tried to put a stop to her by implementing nerfs to her skills. However, Maple always finds a way to emerge victorious no matter what they try. She even gets new abilities in the process. One detail I really appreciate is that there are segments, mostly at the end of episodes, that show a chatlog of people talking about Maple. While NewWorld Online isn't exactly a game I would play myself if it was real, I can at least appreciate the goofy looking enemies. I daresay they look like enemies from the Mario & Luigi series. Now... this would be where I would've joked about sinking back into depression if I were to have typed this review on an earlier date. This anime did come out shortly after AlphaDream, the development team behind Mario & Luigi filed for bankruptcy. Thank goodness stuff held me back because the joke would've aged poorly since a new Mario & Luigi was announced at the Nintendo Direct on June 18th, 2024. Holy cow! To see it finally making a return made me so happy, and on top of that, I no longer have to feel depressed when looking at the enemies of NewWorld Online. YIPPEE!!! This anime does have some good tunes to listen to. I love the name of the opening, Ultimate Unbalance. It's the perfect name to match with the fact that Maple's maxed defense is overpowered and breaks the game. The ending, Play the World, is happy and cheerful. The background music goes so well with this anime. I especially like the one that plays during moments of pure chaos. I can't easily describe what it sounds like in writing, but I'm sure you can tell which parts I mean by pure chaos. With all that said, this anime isn't exactly one hundred percent appealing to me. First, I believe this one scene that takes place outside the game was completely unnecessary and kind of insulting to gamers. I know this is supposed to be a comedy anime, but I don't appreciate the portrayal of Kaede / Maple thinking she's still in NewWorld at school. Seriously, as a person who likes to spend several hours a day on video games, I'm kind of annoyed by that since I never made that mistake once in my life. No person who plays video games does this. These next couple of criticisms are more towards the game NewWorld Online than the anime itself. There is this one quest Maple had to do, and then it reveals to have a Part Two, then a Part Three, and finally a Part Four. I never like it when a game pulls a "Oh you thought you were done" stunt. Even though Maple got a powerful skill for her troubles, I still am annoyed to see the quest be like that. Finally, I brought this up earlier, but I wish there was more lore to explore with the world of NewWorld Online, especially with the first area. Does this first area have a ruler or someone in charge? Again, what is the motivation for players to fight monsters and access the other areas? The anime is purely focuses on the players competing against each other and while I do respect it, I still wish to know more about NewWorld Online's backstory as well as see more fights against enemies and bosses. I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense is all right. It did satiate my desire to watch an anime centered on a video game. I do like the concept of a player who focuses solely on defense, and that alone made this interesting. However, you'd be surprised how I feel about the sequel. For now, I'll leave this at a 7/10.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jun 5, 2024
Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi
(Anime)
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Spirited Away is known for being Studio Ghibli's best movie, and I definitely see the appeal. Truth be told, this is the only other Ghibli film I've watched as it was a recommendation from a friend. In Arrietty's case, that was just my past self being a Disney fanboy back in the day. I still think that taking two actors of Wizards of Waverly Place to be that film's main characters in its American English Dub was an excellent choice (Even though I accidentally bought the British English version instead.), but I now prefer taking the original Japanese voice acting as an adult. I know
...
for sure that Spirited Away's American English Dub was also advertised by Disney. My teenage self would've never guessed he would come to actually watch it, but here we are.
Spirited Away is all about a child named Chihiro who is moving to a new home with her parents. Despite receiving flowers and a farewell card from her previous classmates and her parents' optimism, Chihiro is just not happy that she has to change schools, even sticking her tongue at her new elementary school when passing by. On the way to their new house, Chihiro's father took a wrong turn, and the family approaches a forest. They see their house on a higher ground level and assumed the forest has a path leading to it. In the middle of this forest is an ominous tunnel. Chihiro's parents decided to get out of the car and walk through it, despite Chihiro's protests. On the other side of the tunnel is... a place of worship or something? I mean, the building's interior kind of looks like one. Upon getting outside, the family finds some sort of abandoned amusement park... or at least they thought it's an amusement park. As they get closer to the other buildings, they found some good food freshly prepared. With no employees in sight, Chihiro's parents decided to dig in and they plan to pay for their meal when the owner returns. Chihiro herself decided not to have any food, which is a smart decision because little do they know, the food is cursed. Ha ha ha! I'm just kidding! Actually, they were not supposed to take any of it. While her parents were stuffing their faces, Chihiro goes on to explore the area until she encounters a boy who goes by Haku. Haku warns her that she must leave the area before night falls. Chihiro quickly goes back to her parents, only to see that they have been transformed into pigs. The owner of the restaurant is not happy and gives Chihiro's parents a beating because the food belongs to the inhabitants of this world, the Spirit World. Finding herself surrounded by spirits, Chihiro tries to escape alone, but the way back has become an ocean. Trapped in the Spirit World, Chihiro's only hope to survive is to be employed at the main building of the area, a bathhouse owned by the sorceress Yubaba. The domain of the Spirit World that Chihiro has entered is also owned by Yubaba. Though Chihiro has managed to convince Yubaba to let her work, the majority of the spirits aren't happy to see a human in their world. Within the span of a few days, Chihiro has to face some tough challenges and obey the rules if she wishes to save her parents and return to her world. This movie is centered on doing the right thing, and it helps the main character go from being a pessimistic brat to a mature person. It also is an interesting take on the Other World genre since lots of authors just like to go with reincarnation or teleportation to a medievalesque setting. I do have to point out that the Japanese title makes little to no sense at all. You see, Chihiro had to sign a contract when getting a job at Yubaba's bathhouse. Yubaba takes away all the characters that make up Chihiro's name leaving just one, changing her name to Sen. The Japanese title translates to Sen and Chihiro's Spiriting Away, which makes it sound like Sen is a separate character, but no. It's just an alias Chihiro has to use in her time in the Spirit World. This is just a nitpick, so it's not a big deal. I wouldn't ever call this film that name even if I was Japanese. Now for the art style. For a 2001 anime movie, Spirited Away looks really good. Even when the video player buffered and couldn't play at the default 720p, the movie still looked good when I set it to the lowest resolution. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised at this since this is an old school anime. Granted, I would've picked 480p, but videos these days just won't have it half the time. Seriously, why omit 480p? It's the perfect balance between quality and loading time. Even at 360p, the animation of Spirited Away has stood the test of time. This just shows how talented the experienced animators of Studio Ghibli are. I normally don't watch videos at that low resolution, but this movie just refuses to get blurry. Plus, as said earlier, I have experienced buffering, and this isn't the only time it's happened. I've watched lots of YouTube videos in my life, and there have been cases where I needed to sacrifice good quality to finish watching. I can't be the only person to have gone through that right? Spirited Away's cast of characters are a sight to behold. At first when Chihiro was trying to get back to her parents, we see some generic looking spirits. Just black beings with white dot eyes. Later we get to see some various designs of spirits such as the employees of the bathhouse being amphibians and humanoids. Yubaba herself has a human-like appearance, but with impossible features such as having a massive head size. Plus, her baby is literally gigantic being even bigger than her. One character I really like is No-Face. This character was never a guest to begin with and he only got in because Chihiro mistook him for one. On Chihiro's first day working at the bathhouse, No-Face secretly helps her behind the other employees' backs. This mysterious spirit just wanted to be helpful to Chihiro, even getting depressed when she politely rejects his gifts for her. What's also a huge plus is that No-Face is one of the few spirits who isn't bothered by the fact that Chihiro is a human. Not every spirit has negative feelings towards humans, and it helps make this world feel more natural. The civilization of the Spirit World feels no different from human society. There are restaurants, public transportation, and other regions which Chihiro visits one later on in the movie. Haku looks human, but he has magical powers and happens to be an apprentice to Yubaba. Even though he only met Chihiro, he speaks to her as if he already knows her and he wants to help her as much as he can to get her to escape the Spirit World. The friendship between Chihiro and Haku is one of the most important parts of the story, and I can say it was done very well. This movie has great background music, and I especially love the one soundtrack that uses piano. Every character's voice is perfect. I have no complaints about the voice actors' work. The song that plays during the credits is good. It's not one I would go out of my way to listen to multiple times. It just works with this movie. Looking back at Spirited Away, it's crazy to think how Chihiro's fate would've been different if some of the decisions she made were different. For instance, if she stayed inside the car, she would've never seen her parents again, or if she decided to eat some of the food, she might've ended up just like her parents. I should remind you that the protagonist here is a kid in elementary school. To see this kid develop throughout the movie was a treat. She may have been pessimistic at the beginning, but there is never a moment that makes me dislike her. I also love how natural Chihiro is portrayed as. At the tunnel to the Spirit World, she was initially scared to walk through, then didn't want to be left alone, and finally clinging tightly to her mother as she goes through the tunnel with her parents. Spirited Away is praised as Studio Ghibli's best work, and I can easily agree to that. I am giving it a perfect 10/10. Films made by this studio are still far from my personal areas of interest. From my experience watching this movie, I enjoyed the story and setting, the art style and animation are excellent for a 2001 film, all the characters were well-designed and well-written, and I have no complaints towards the music and the voice acting. I don't know if I'll ever decide to watch another Ghibli film in the future. Most of the time, I don't watch anime movies unless they are in an area of my interest. Movies I usually watch are part of a series I'm into or an adaptation of a video game. Regardless, I'm glad to have received my friend's recommendation for this movie.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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May 31, 2024
Ansatsu Kyoushitsu 2nd Season
(Anime)
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If you thought the first season of Assassination Classroom was perfect, I can guarantee you that you will love the second season. The continuation of the story is excellent, there is more to know about the characters, and the ending is something you will never forget.
After Nagisa defeated Akira Takaoka, Class 3-E continued their summer vacation which they earned from scoring higher exam grades over the A Class students. However, they are still tasked with assassinating their supernatural teacher Korosensei, which they were unable to since each time they come up with a brilliant plan, he just has another trick up his sleeve. Plus, there ... is still more to the academic year, so that means there are more exams to come. Time is running out, and there is a vicious assassin who is called the Reaper threatening to not only hurt Korosensei, but the students of Class 3-E as well. There are other stories to see besides the main one. These include Class 3-E defying the unjust rules of Kunugigaoka Junior High (One of these unjust rules being that E Class students are not allowed to get part-time jobs.), Nagisa trying to convince his strict mother to let him stay in the E Class, and a secret Kaede Kayano has been keeping since before the events of the anime. I won't spoil what the secret is, but one thing I do appreciate is that it is revealed that Kaede is the one who gave Nagisa his current hairstyle. No matter what obstacle comes their way, Korosensei and Class E students must overcome them all together. While it's good that the students are protecting their teacher from various threats, it just makes the idea of having to kill him themselves a lot harder to accept. After all, failing to kill Korosensei means the end of the world. They must perform a successful assassination while having to avoid getting assassinated themselves. Since the studio remained the same, the art and animation remained the same as well. All the characters are just as lovable as they were in the first season. I realized I forget to bring this up in my review of the first season: I really like Korosensei's laugh. Every time he laughs, it just brings me so much joy. I also like the reference to the 2014 FIFA World Cup where Korosensei was visiting Brazil and while he was sitting down and coming up with a math question, he kept saying "7 to 1," and it was making the Brazilians angry. Unlike the first season, I found the second season's selection of songs to be more appealing than the first. The first opening song "Question" is pretty catchy, especially towards the end. When I got near halfway through this season, I actually sang "Question, question" along during the opening when it got to that part of the song. The first ending song "Waning Moon" is a decent song. I'm not too crazy for it, but I actually like it better than Season One's ending song. The second opening "Bye Bye Yesterday" was also decent, but I personally prefer "Question" over it. I will say that for the animation sequence, I like how each time it plays, it ends with showing how much time Class 3-E has left to kill Korosensei. The second ending "Until the Day I See You Again" is emotional to listen to. There is just something about it that lets the audience know that the end is coming. These students will complete their mission. They will graduate from Kunugigaoka Junior High School. They will graduate from their assassination classroom. However, none of these songs even compare to the insert song that plays when Class 3-E finally does the deed: "Song of Departure." The English name alone should be enough for you to know what went down in the scene it plays in. "Song of Departure" is a very beautiful song, and I can confidently say that it's one of my favorite soundtracks in all of anime. If you're someone who hasn't started watching Assassination Classroom, I will say that this song will be worth the whole journey. Season Two of Assassination Classroom stayed consistent with the first season with the excellent storytelling, animation, characters, and a perfect showcase of what Korosensei is capable of and what are his limits and weaknesses. While I didn't like the music of Season One, Season Two managed to have songs I do not skip. Admittedly, some songs did come off better than others to me, but "Song of Departure" is so good that overall, this is an improvement over the first season. In fact, the anime's ending is so memorable that the second season here deserves to be added to my list of favorite anime. I am very grateful to my college friends for showing me Assassination Classroom. On an unrelated note, I wasn't intending to make this review after graduating from college myself. These last two semesters kept me busy for a while and the ceremony took place the day before I typed this. I guess since I brought this up, congratulations to anybody else who graduated this spring.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Apr 19, 2024
Ansatsu Kyoushitsu
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If there is one thing in fiction I've grown to despise as I got older, it's the school setting. I can go on and on about all the pitfalls that school setting works fall into the vast majority of the time. Bullies that virtually never get what they deserve, draconian faculty and staff, and the main character just can't catch a break with humiliation. Every time I see these things, I just want to flip all the tables in my house. Not only are these portrayals of school life being so unbelievably unrealistic, it's also disappointing that I had some classmates back in middle school
...
and high school who took these things for granted.
Assassination Classroom does everything in its power to annihilate all these agonizing tropes of the school setting, and that is why I love it so much. It's the perfect anime to get into if you're like me and you normally can't stand other shows that utilize taking place at school. The premise of Assassination Classroom is there was an explosion on the moon causing it to be permanently a crescent shape as it has lost almost three quarters of itself. The following day at Kunugigaoka Junior High, a strange creature with tentacles resembling an octopus appears before himself in front of Class 3-E claiming to be the one responsible for attacking the moon. He plans to do the same to the Earth in one year and until then, he challenges the students to kill him while being their teacher at the same time. The Ministry of Defense has agreed to let this be and promised the students that they will be rewarded with ten billion yen should they succeed in assassinating this creature. One of its agents Tadaomi Karasuma applies to be one of Class 3-E's teachers as well to make sure the creature keeps his promise to never harm the students as well as help train the students to accomplish the mission. This mission is not easy. The creature's speed goes up to Mach 20. Sneak attacks don't work, and he can dodge all the students if they all gang up on him at once. As the students try to figure out the optimal method to assassinate their supernatural teacher, they also got to deal with their studies. Kunugigaoka Junior High is a school where inequality is at its finest. The higher a student's grade is, the more privileged they are. Should a student completely fumble in a semester, they will get knocked down to the E Class. The E stands for End, because it literally is the end for them. Nobody who has fallen into the E Class ever makes a comeback. Remember that the students are in Class 3-E? Yep, that's right! These students are in the E Class, and their classroom takes place in a separate remote wooden building that's far away from the main school building. They're not allowed to go to the main building except during events, assemblies, and major exams. These rules are established by the school's headmaster Gakuho Asano, and he does everything in his power to make the E Class know their place. That's not all. There are other adversaries in the world, some friendly and some hostile, who seek to kill the creature. As you can guess, the friendly ones are willing to assist the students while the hostile ones do not care about the students' well-being, even going as far as threatening their lives just to get the creature to surrender. Assassination Classroom is one heck of a story about these students simultaneously trying to assassinate their abnormal teacher, improving their grades, and clashing with outside parties. It's time I should talk about the characters. Assassination Classroom has two leading protagonists. The first one is the creature himself, who has been given the name Koro-Sensei by one of the students. "Koro-Sensei" translates to "Unkillable Teacher," so it is the one and only suitable name for him. As an assassination target, he is not easy to kill. As stated earlier, Koro-Sensei moves at the speed of Mach 20. On top of that, each time someone comes up with a brilliant idea, upon executing it, Koro-Sensei has a trick up his sleeve to counter it. As a teacher, he is considered irreplaceable. He helps all the students improve on subjects and topics they previously had trouble in and does a good job at encouraging them to pursue their dreams. Koro-Sensei is so lovable that the students can never ask for a better teacher. It should be noted that he cannot be killed with regular bullets and knives. His body can only be damaged by a specific material, and weapons made out of this material are provided to and used by the students. The material is very rubber-like, so it's actually harmless to humans. The second protagonist is Nagisa Shiota, a student in Class 3-E. While having some feminine traits in appearance, Nagisa is a boy. He is also the narrator of the story. Throughout the anime, Nagisa lists down all the weaknesses Koro-Sensei accidentally reveals believing it will get him and his classmates closer to a successful assassination. Despite his physical strength being so low, Nagisa comes off as one of the most talented assassins among Class 3-E. When things are normal, he comes off as a mature and polite person. Upon encountering somebody who is hostile, Nagisa gets serious especially in dangerous situations. He is someone you do not want to mess with. One of the other main characters is Kaede Kayano, a girl who is close to Nagisa as they are seen together a lot. She is actually the one who came up with Koro-Sensei's name. While Kaede comes off as upbeat and cheerful, she does have an inferiority complex when she finds girls and women who have a bigger bust size than her. She especially shows this off towards Class 3-E's foreign language teacher in the fourth episode. Another main character is Karma Akabane, one of Nagisa's closest friends. Karma is a student with excellent grades. He is probably one of the top students of Kunugigaoka Junior High, so why is he in the E Class? It's because he's also one of the most violent characters. Poor grades are not the only way for students to be sent to the E Class. In fact, a teacher used to have his back due to his good grades until he attacked an A Class student to save an E Class student. Feeling betrayed, Karma grew to despise teachers until he met Koro-Sensei and accept him as a teacher. Yes, you read this correctly. His name is Karma. Next, we have the supporting cast. Tadaomi Karasuma, an agent of the Ministry of Defense, assigns Class 3-E the mission to kill Koro-Sensei within one year before the creature destroys the Earth. To keep them all in check, he applied to be the class's physical education teacher. As the P.E. teacher, he trains the students to help them with the assassination. Tadaomi is also there to keep the students safe whenever they encounter somebody hostile who seeks to kill Koro-Sensei for the ten-billion-yen reward or for personal reasons. Another teacher of Class 3-E is Irina Jelavic, who is the foreign language teacher. She is a professional assassination from Serbia who specializes in seducing her targets. At first, she felt that teaching a bunch of junior high school students was a waste of her time until she is shown that Koro-Sensei is dedicated in educating them. A running joke throughout the story is that the students nickname her Professor Bitch because they pronounce the last syllable in her name as "Bitch." The English dub takes this joke one step further, having her full last name be rhymed with "Hellabitch." Irina really hated this nickname in her introductory episode, but she eventually tolerates it. I normally use censorship whenever there is cussing in my writing, but for the sake of the joke, I'll make this an exception. I'm not going to go over all the other students of Class 3-E in-depth because well, I'm not insane! There are twenty-eight of them, including Nagisa, Kaede, and Karma. All you need to know is that all of them do experience character development over time. They each get a moment to shine, learn what their best technique is, and become more confident moving forward with their lives. Similar to there being multiple main protagonists, Assassination Classroom has multiple antagonists, two of which are more prominent in this first season. The first antagonist is the headmaster of Kunugigaoka Junior High Gakuho Asano. He is the one who established the education system of the school. Those who are doing poorly or disobeying rules get sent to the E Class. When I say that Gakuho makes the E Class know their place, I really meant it. Let's say that midterm exams are coming, and it's important that every student in the academy must study for it. Despite Koro-Sensei's best efforts in preparing the E Class for them, Gakuho will literally rig the exams, so that the E Class gets super expert questions that are probably meant for college graduate students, so it will be basically impossible for them to pass the exams. In order for the E Class to stand up to his system, Koro-Sensei and the students of Class 3-E will need to come up with special tactics to prove that they can keep up with the rest of the school. It's not just the headmaster trying to keep the E Class in their place. The other classes also participate is disparaging them as well, especially the A Class, which is led by Gakuho's son, Gakushu Asano. In fact, after an assembly meeting during the fifth episode, Nagisa is approached by two of his former friends, who turned their back on him on the account he ended up in the E Class. Gakuho noticed Nagisa standing up to them, and that is why he rigged the midterm exams. Gakuho doesn't want any E Class students to be in the top fifty because of Koro-Sensei. By the way, Gakuho does know about Koro-Sensei and the assassination mission. Normally, knowledge of these is kept a secret from the rest of the world. Not even other students or faculty members in the main school building knows about it. Gakuho allowed Koro-Sensei to apply to be Class 3-E's teacher and agreed with the Ministry of Defense that the E Class will take the job in assassination Koro-Sensei. Another main antagonist is Akira Takaoka, a colleague of Tadaomi Karasuma. In the middle of the first season, Akira arrives to take over as the P.E. teacher for Class 3-E. However, this was short lived as Akira is ruthless and sadistic. He attempted to force extremely tight schedules on the students, and even punches one of the girls who tried to politely reason with him. Akira challenges Tadaomi to pick one of the students to try to beat him in a match. Nagisa was chosen and he was able to overpower Akira easily. When Akira refuses to admit defeat and tries to get back at Nagisa, Nagisa gets backed up by Tadaomi and even Gakuho, who even disapproves of Akira's brutality towards the E Class. Gakuho fires Akira and Akira swears to have his revenge... and he really means it. As far as I can recall, I've never seen any other anime worked on by Studio Lerche. I will say, Studio Lerche did an amazing job with Assassination Classroom. Not a single piece of the animation was rushed. Plus, the art of the anime as well as the character designs are really good. There may be so many names since there are so many students in Class 3-E, but each and every one of them have distinct designs from each other that it's hard to mix two up together. Even the notable A Class students have distinct appearances that go along with their personalities. Assassination Classroom is an anime that's engaging and colorful... except some of the end pictures after the credits in each episode. A lot of these images are Koro-Sensei dressing up as one of the other characters, and some of them are kind of cursed to look at. If there is one thing that's holding this anime back from achieving a perfect 10, it's the soundtrack. Unfortunately, I personally did not like Assassination Classroom's opening themes as well as its ending theme. I gave each opening song a shot, but in the end, I have no regrets skipping them when I watched this for the first time. Plus, what on earth is this choreography the students are doing in the opening having one arm raised while bouncing to the music? Whatever it is, it's just there and I am not impressed with it. I'm sorry to those who love the ending song, but I really tried to see if I can like it. The peaceful tone of the song as well as the closing animation are cute. However, no matter how many times I tried, I felt nothing out of it. No muscle in my body moved to the beat at all. Just like the openings, I did skip the ending just to get to the preview of the next episode and the end picture in each episode. Assassination Classroom takes everything I dislike about the school setting, and have its main characters fight them. It's an amazing anime and definitely worth watching. It excelled at its plot, characters, and animation. When it comes to the soundtrack, it's just my opinion: I didn't like it. If you like the music, more power to you. For me, the first season of Assassination Classroom is great, and it gets a 9/10 from me.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 10, 2024 Mixed Feelings Spoiler
Happy Mario Day! Is anybody really surprised that the person who themed their MAL profile after a Mario character is reviewing the 1986 anime Mario movie on March 10th, 2024? Being a huge fan of the Mario franchise, of course I took the time to check out this movie when I first learned about it. Also, apparently the title actually translates to "Super Mario Bros.: Princess Peach Rescue Operation!" It's not "The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach!"
Take what you prefer, this is an adaptation of the 1985 video game Super Mario Bros. Unlike Illumination's animated movie, which came out in 2023, the first Super ... Mario Bros. and its Japanese-exclusive sequel were the only two Super Mario titles at the time of this movie. That means that there isn't a lot of source material for the animators to work with here. That being said, I'd say they did their best with what they can. It's not a perfect creation, but it's a fun experience. Before I get started on describing the plot, I have to let you all know that I am going to write this review while being faithful to the names the characters are known as in Japan, so I will be addressing Bowser as Koopa. The movie starts with Mario up late at night playing a video game. All of a sudden, the television screen changes to a cutscene where a beautiful princess is running about from monsters that are chasing her. Eventually, she magically comes out of the screen and meets Mario. She is Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom, and the evil King Koopa is after her. Not only did he curse her kingdom, but he also wants to marry her. It wasn't too long until Koopa himself emerges from the television, pummels Mario, and kidnaps Peach. When Mario tells his brother Luigi what he just witnessed, Luigi passed it off as a dream. When Mario begins to doubt himself, he notices a pendant on the floor. It was the pendant Peach was wearing when they met! The encounter with Peach and Koopa was real! The next day, Mario and Luigi encountered a dog at work and the dog takes the pendant and brings the Mario Bros. to the Mushroom Kingdom. They meet the Mushroom Hermit, who informs the Bros. that Koopa plans to marry Peach on Friday the Thirteenth. The only way to defeat Koopa is to collect the three legendary power-ups: a mushroom, a flower, and a star. Only then will Mario have a chance against the evil King. On their quest, they will encounter Koopa's forces trying to stop them. So far, it's a pretty cool adaptation of Super Mario Bros. Since it is the 1980s, the art and animation are pretty simplistic. Although, I have no idea why Luigi is wearing yellow, and his hat is blue like his overalls. Who was in charge of Luigi's design? I hope Nintendo kicked your @ss for this. Either way, this movie really likes to overemphasize comedy. Luigi is super-duper interested in collecting as many gold coins as he can on the journey, only to lose them all somehow. There is a funny part where Mario hits a block and gets ramen noodles out of it. Even encounters with Koopa's minions get sprinkled with comedy. Plus, Mario and Luigi's walk cycles are funny to look at. I sure hope that's not how they walk when they go to work in the mornings back at home. When it comes to the sound, they heavily utilize music and sound effects from the video game, and they do it so well. The insert song that plays after Mario obtains a mushroom as well as a flower is pretty catchy as well. I do have to point out that in the segment after he gets the flower, he uses its power to shoot fire to defeat buzzy beetles, which is total bullsh!t because buzzy beetles are immune to fire. Even though the voice acting is far different from what we're used to with Mario characters nowadays, I think the cast of this movie did a pretty decent job. The song that plays during the end credits was enjoyable and I love that the post-credits scene ends with the Game Over music. I do like the fact that even though the manual of Super Mario Bros. states that Koopa used black magic to transform the people of the Mushroom Kingdom into objects, we never actually see it in the game, but this movie was able to show it off. Through Mario's efforts, he was able to rescue plenty of Mushroom citizens. They give their everlasting gratitude to him and even find the Mario Bros. to be cute. Yeah, compared to the video game, the people are actually very expressive instead of being known for the infamous line: "Our Princess is in another castle!" Plus, Mario receives kisses from female Mushroom citizens he rescues, something I'm sure never occurred in any Mario game. I do want to say that the movie ends with a d!ck move. After Koopa's defeat, the dog that brought the Mario Bros. to the Mushroom Kingdom as well as traveled with them is revealed to be Prince Haru of the Flower Nation. He is Princess Peach's fiancé, and his canine form was due to Koopa's curse. Mario's motivation throughout this whole movie is that he developed a crush on Peach, and now he finds this crazy surprise at the end. Well, Mario gets over it quickly and promises Peach that if bad guys ever come after her again, he'll come to save her again. Of course, we all know this dedication holds true for all the Mario games that came out over the years. Plus, the movie is in a completely separate continuity, so this d!ck move isn't even a big deal to begin with. Oh yes, Mario does return Peach's pendant after saving her. At least, he was able to do something nice for her. My final thoughts on this movie? It's fun but outdated. It's not the most exciting movie in the world to watch, but hey, if you want to enjoy some mid-1980s anime goodness, Super Mario Bros.: Princess Peach Rescue Operation! is a good choice to experience it. I give this movie a 6/10. I enjoyed this movie, but now we got a much better animated movie from Illumination in this day and age. I will say, this anime movie is definitely miles better than the live action movie from 1993, that's for sure. What were those filmmakers thinking?!
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Mar 9, 2024 Mixed Feelings
I don't have it in me to write three different sections on the Alicization arc, so this review is going to cover the whole thing from start to finish.
The Sword Art Online series has been a mixed bag for me, and that trend continues with the Alicization arc. Ordinal Scale was a decent build up to it, but did Alicization really live up to the hype the movie brought up? Let's DIVE right into it! The story of Sword Art Online: Alicization is by far the most complex of them all. For each main arc, there are a few general requirements they all must have. 1. A ... new virtual reality world. 2. A new deuteragonist. 3. A new antagonist. What's interesting about Alicization is that it fulfills the second and third requirements twice. Compared to previous arcs, Alicization is long with a grand total of forty-seven episodes! It's even organized into two different halves, with the second half being subtitled War of Underworld. Part One Alicization takes place in a virtual reality called Underworld. What's different about Underworld compared to previous virtual worlds is that it is NOT a video game! Underworld is created as part of the Project Alicization that's being worked on by the company Rath. The purpose of the project is to create a perfect artificial intelligence that can use unmanned weapons to defend Japan. One of the employees, Seijiro Kikuoka has enlisted Kirito to assist in the project as a tester by diving into Underworld through a Soul Translator. There is a catch: Kirito's memories of the real world do not carry over to the Underworld and vice versa. Well... that is the case initially. However, things take a turn for the worst when the last remaining member of the Death Gun plot, Johnny Black attacks Kirito by injecting a lethal drug into him. The drug has damaged Kirito's brain and the only way to heal it is through the Soul Translator. That means Kirito is going to be staying in Underworld for quite a while. This time, he does retain his memories of the real world. Soon, he meets Eugeo, who is tasked to chop down the Demon Tree. Kirito helps Eugeo out and in just a few episodes, the Demon Tree goes down. The village celebrates and offers the two a choice on what they want to do next. They decided to become swordsmen and the two attend an academy to train. There is one goal in their mind: To rescue Eugeo's childhood friend Alice, who was arrested by Integrity Knights for accidentally walking into the Dark Territory. However, the Administrator Quinella isn't going to let the boys take Alice back so easily. Plus, there are rules to be followed in Underworld and the moment somebody violates even one of them, their fate is sealed. Part Two: War of Underworld After intense boss battles against several Integrity Knights, Kirito was able to convince Alice, who has become an Integrity Knight herself, to join his campaign to end Quinella's totalitarian reign. He has successfully defeated Quinella, but Eugeo did not survive the fight. Unfortunately, another problem comes up immediately. Rath is under attack by the Glowgen Defense Systems wanting to steal Alice. They cause a power surge that completely decimates Kirito, and now he's completely in a state of catatonia for the majority of the second half of the arc. Alice has no choice, but to take care of him as well as prepare for the upcoming war with the Dark Territory as the gate that divides the two halves of Underworld is weakening. As soon as the gate goes down, the creatures of the Dark Territory will invade the Human Empire. The two leading men of the invaders, Gabriel Miller / Subtilizer and Vassago Casals / Prince of Hell enter Underworld using two accounts that let them take on the identities of the Dark Emperor Vecta and a Dark Knight respectively. Subtilizer encourages the creatures of the Dark Territory to slaughter mankind. Meanwhile, the Integrity Knights are nervous while preparing for the upcoming war due to their recent loss of Quinella. Will the Human Empire be able to prevail? Part Three: War of Underworld Second Season While the Human Empire seems to be managing just fine with help from Asuna, who has entered Underworld, a member of the Glowgen Defense Systems grants access to Underworld to gamers in other parts of the world advertising the virtual reality as a demo. The foreign gamers entered Underworld and without a care in the world, begin to slaughter inhabitants of the Human Empire and the Dark Territory. When things start to look hopeless, all of Kirito and Asuna's friends arrive along with several players from Alfheim Online through account converting in order to save the inhabitants of Underworld. This is the closest Kirito's friends have ever gotten to do something big in the whole series. It wasn't easy for them to recruit all those players to join them because of the risks they're going to have to take. They're going to have to hold out as much as they can until the members of Rath manage to restore Kirito back to his old self. If you ask me which of these three parts I liked the most, I'd say the first part was the most engaging. This might be a hot take, but I really wish this arc was just the first part because War of Underworld was honestly frustrating to watch. Let me get into the characters to show you what I mean. The Human Empire of Underworld functions under a corrupt government established by Quinella. Some people who are taken as prisoners for breaking the law are chosen to become Integrity Knights at the cost of their memories. What's pretty messed up is that the rules are completely arbitrary. Warning! I'm about to say something really unpleasant about Underworld. For whatever reason, murder is a criminal offense... but sexual assault isn't. Kirito and Eugeo actually got arrested for murdering a guy to save their underclasswomen from you-know-what! I take back what I said last paragraph. The entire Alicization arc is utterly ridiculous! It's so stupid. The legal system is so rigged. Oh well, at least Quinella was an interesting villain since she's the first and only female antagonist in all of Sword Art Online. How she came to be the ruler of the humans is very interesting. The reason why I really am annoyed by the War of Underworld half of the arc is because of the antagonists Subtilizer and the Prince of Hell. I'll start with the latter. The Prince of Hell was the leader of the murderer guild Laughing Coffin all the way back in the first arc of the series. I don't like this. We already had a former Laughing Coffin member antagonist back in the Phantom Bullet arc. I never even liked the guild since the beginning. Death Gun was a well written antagonist with the concept of creating an illusion that an avatar in a gun MMO has the power to actually kill players in real life by shooting them in game. I don't know what the writer was thinking with the Prince of Hell. All of a sudden, he can magically brainwash the gamers invading Underworld to obey his command. Like, where did he even get that ability. No such skill even existed within his Sword Art Online avatar back in Aincrad. There is literally no explanation as to why he has the power to brainwash people in a virtual reality that's not even meant to be a game. At this point, the writer is just making him a big bad just because he can. Subtilizer is nowhere near any better. He's some expert Gun Gale Online player who managed to win a tournament unarmed. He's also a creep, explicitly saying he wants to devour other people's souls and that's what he intends to do to everybody in Underworld. Just like the Prince of Hell, he somehow can transform himself into a hideous monstrosity with no form of explanation of how or where or when he got this ability. They're unlikable compared to past male villains. Akihiko just wanted to see his dream world come to life and have others to join him in it. Sugo may have been a psycho for Asuna, but at least he had a motive to be the successor of her family's company. The Death Gun plot was made as a revenge scheme against a top player who fed poor advice. Subtilizer only became obsessed with souls after murdering a friend during his childhood and the Prince of Hell just hates Japanese people over the lack of attention he gets from his Japanese father. These two are total scum and they drag the whole arc down completely for me. Now that I let me anger out on some bad antagonists, I guess I can talk about the characters of Underworld. There are a lot of inhabitants in this virtual reality. If it's one favor the gaming invaders did for this world, it's that their invasion forced the Human Empire and the Dark Territory to actually join forces. It's impressive that all it takes is a common enemy for the two peoples to become allies with each other. My favorite character interaction has to be between Suguha / Leafa and the orc Lilpilin. Upon entering Underworld, Leafa acts friendly towards Lilpilin, even saying that since he is talking to her, that makes him "human." When a dark mage attacks them, they worked together to defeat her. Now it's time to talk about the deuteragonists. It's truly astonishing that we finally got a male secondary lead character... and they decided to kill him off. Eugeo was a great partner and friend to Kirito during their journey to save Alice from Quinella. Speaking of which, it's not Sword Art Online without having a female lead character. Alice takes charge in leading the human army in War of Underworld while Kirito was in his catatonic state. As an Integrity Knight, she takes her job very seriously, even going as far as to save her home village when it was under attack by goblins regardless of still being branded a criminal among the villagers. She is also the main center of attention in the battle between Rath and the Glowgen Defense Systems. Both organizations seek to bring her out of Underworld. Obviously, the latter company wishes to use her for evil. I've been mixed with the story and characters so far. If there are any major positives, they would have to be the animation and the music. A-1 Pictures really knocked it out of the park with the animation compared to past arcs and short stories of the Sword Art Online series. Every major fight scene was a sight to behold, and the opening and ending sequences were very fluid. Previous seasons have kept things simple. It's not that they're bad. The studio really put a lot of extra effort into the Alicization arc. As for the music, all eight songs used throughout the whole arc are very good. Even on days when I got time to binge some episodes, I never skip them. You know an anime's soundtrack does not fail if I'm not skipping them. Since Ordinal Scale was created before the anime adaptation of Alicization, they decided to put some references to the movie in it. There is a scene where Kirito's friends use the Augma and one where Eiji and Yuna appear. Those aren't in the original light novel since the novels were published before Ordinal Scale was made. I don't read the light novels, so I really like it when I do research and learn about little things like this. One thing very weird about Alicization is that its second half is also split into two. The War of Underworld half is an instance of a twenty-three-episode anime being split where there is a long wait between the twelfth and thirteen episodes. I generally don't like it when a split like this happens because usually the split occurs on a cliffhanger. At least each half of War of Underworld comes with a courtesy of providing seasonal viewers a recap episode one week beforehand. Oh, I just remembered one more crazy thing about the first half. For some reason, they decide to make a recap episode in between episodes eighteen and nineteen. It's so unnecessary and wastes the audience's time. I know it's supposed to be Kirito explaining things to Alice, but it shouldn't even be a recap episode in the first place. Of course, now that it's been out for over five years, those of you who have yet to watch this arc can just skip the recaps. Was Alicization worth the excitement? Well... I did say that it is a mixed bag to me all the way in the beginning of the review, so in a way, it sort of is. I'd give the whole arc a 6/10. Love the animation quality, the soundtrack, and the references to Ordinal Scale. However, I'm not a fan of the two antagonists of the second half. They really make me sometimes wish the arc was just the first half, but then again, the Human Empire's rules were so arbitrary that I find the first half to be hardly any better than the second. This is not worth typing three different sections for.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Mar 6, 2024 Recommended
Unlike Sword Art Online: Extra Edition which was made mostly just to do a recap of Season 1 before Season 2 was released, Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale has a full fledged story that brings the concept of the Augma to the Sword Art Online universe. What's also interesting is that Ordinal Scale is an original anime interquel taking place in between Mother's Rosario and Alicization. The manga adaptation of it came later.
The Augma is a special device that projects a game layer in the user's area of vision while still being in reality. In other words, it's a middle ground between the ... real world and the virtual reality. It became popular very quickly. The most popular game the Augma came with is called Ordinal Scale, a combat based game where events are held in public spaces where players gather together to fight bosses. As a matter of fact, bosses from the Aincrad Arc have been announced to appear, which really excites everyone. Though Kirito was one of the best players of Sword Art Online, he struggles to keep up with Ordinal Scale since his physical strength in the real world is puny. In the event a boss from Sword Art Online appears, a virtual idol named Yuna also appears and sings a song during the boss fight. The players are also given aid by a guy named Eiji. At first, everybody is enjoying these boss fights. Later in the movie however, Eiji seems to be sabotaging some of the survivors of Sword Art Online causing them to lose the game. To make matters worse, it seems that those who were defeated by the bosses are suffering memory loss. On top of all of that, Asuna unfortunately ended up as one of these victims. She can't even remember the first time she met Kirito. Looks like it's up to Kirito to figure out what's going on and to restore everybody's memories. Ordinal Scale is the first instance where the artstyle of the series has changed. This new artstyle is still the current style as it's used in the Alicization arc as well as the Progressive movies. I really don't have a preference over which one I like better. Either one's fine by me. The animation of the augmented reality was really good. It's as if Virtual Reality really has become real. Does that make any sense? Probably not. Plus, I'm not one to talk about Virtual Reality since I never used any products myself and I don't plan on trying any. The characters of Sword Art Online still remain the characters fans of the series know and love since the beginning. Kirito and Asuna's romance is still cute. Klein is still a fun guy as ever. Leafa and Sinon are there to help Kirito in investigating the memory loss issue. They're all hardly different from how they were in the main seasons. The new characters introduced in Ordinal Scale were interesting. Early on, Eiji gave a hint that he himself is one of the people who were in Sword Art Online. There is a secret behind the virtual idol Yuna that I will not spoil for those who haven't watched this movie and are interested. Finally, there is Professor Tetsuhiro Shigemura, the man who created the Augma. If there is anybody who knows why Sword Art Online survivors are suffering memory loss, only he would know. Admittingly, I'm not really digging Ordinal Scale's soundtrack. When it comes to Sword Art Online music, I'd say the music from the first two seasons are absolute bangers. Yuna is a good singer, but to me, she's got nothing compared to the O.G.'s. Another thing I want to address is the part where Kirito tried to inform people on social media about Asuna and Klein losing their memories. Look, I get that anybody who wasn't trapped in Sword Art Online would not suffer this fate when they lose in Ordinal Scale, but there are six thousand survivors. There are bound to be others out there experiencing it. There really is no reason for all the rude responses Kirito received. If you really wanted to show that the people do not believe Kirito, you could've have them commented in a more civilized manner. Instead of cr@p like "LIES!" and "Loser trying to hog all the points to himself," have respectable comments such as "My friends and I haven't experience such a thing," or "Maybe your friends used the Augma a little too much. They should take a load off." Despite not being a fan of some of its elements, Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale is a solid movie in my opinion. It is definitely better than Extra Edition. The only thing in common these two movies have with each other is to prepare viewers for the next season. Just like how Extra Edition was made in preparation for Season 2, The Ordinal Scale was made to get viewers to be hyped for the anime adaptation of the Alicization Arc, which is the fourth main arc of the series. With that said, I'll be giving Ordinal Scale 8/10. It has a very good concept and it did a decent job showing it off.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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