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Jun 29, 2024
Girls Band Cry is not as much an anime about music as it is about musicians. It speaks of the struggles that lead them to search for a way to express their feelings, put them into songs, and the simultaneous fragility and awesomeness of making a living out of their art.
If that sounds interesting for you, let’s dive a bit deeper into this wonderful project. At first glance, GBC seems to follow the trend of cute girls doing music, much in the vein of BTR or this season’s Yorukura; nevertheless, that’s oversimplifying too much what this anime intends to be. As much as it
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has fair bits of cute comedy, and also my god does it has some bangers to its name, I’d claim those aspects aren’t nearly the biggest selling point of the show. And that’s thanks to the powerful and raw mess of emotions that composes every character, specially Nina and Momoka. They’re the actual stars of the show, and the setting, the music and the interactions come up as means to convey their conflicts and dreams.
The main group is composed of five teenagers/young adults, which end up making a band called Togenashi Togeari. The interesting part of this group is that, excepting Subaru, each of them has personal circumstances that make them almost need music as a way of life; it’s a means to prove themselves, to not be alone, to make their crying voice be heard and reach other people going through similar struggles. This is the first point that sets the atmosphere apart from other similar music shows: these girls aren’t doing it as a hobby, but rather as an all in gamble which, if it goes wrong, it’ll mean they somehow failed in life. This premise sets a tone that will be a constant throughout the show: even if there are lighthearted moments, things are to be taken seriously, and the show will compromise on talking about loss, bullying, anxiety and other such topics with the appropriate concern and respect for their delicacy.
What I try to convey is not that this is an all out dramatic show- it still has an upbeat vibe in many moments-, but rather that what makes their music and the key moments so powerful and explosive is exactly the oppressive atmosphere around the characters, the blatant sincerity of their feelings and the freedom they find through letting it all out in their music.
This conflict is mainly vehiculated through Nina and Momoka’s conflict (no spoilers). Momoka is the ex-composer and guitarist of Diamond Dust, a now popular band which she left due to refusing the idea to turn into an idol band in order to make a living; on the other hand, Nina is a cheerful and impulsive girl, though an extremely temperamental and overly sincere one, hindered by her past of bullying and family conflicts into social anxiety and school abandonment, and also a huge fan of Momoka’s songs, that have helped her through depression. Things are very serious for them both, music means their life, and this create rash and raw emotions and dialogues, harming themselves and each other by trying to come to terms with their dreams and fears.
Finally, once you’re invested in the wonderful characters and understand their complicated feelings, come the climaxes of the anime: the shows. The songs are incredible, with great lyrics that help to reflect the characters, and the visual spectacle is sublime. Something I didn’t touch quite yet, but is absolutely praiseworthy, is the animation and direction; being a 3DCG anime nowadays is still a bit of a deterrent for many viewers, but GBC is in that same threshold as Orange shows where the CG is so incredible no one can really complain, and having a director that has previously worked on Love Live pays off hugely every time music performances come into play. If you’re into J-Rock, even if you’re not planning to watch the anime, please take a look at the songs and the concerts clips, I promise they’re absolutely amazing.
In sum, this anime is an emotional rollercoaster. It’ll get you invested in every character, make you love every single one of their interactions and then hit you with some of most meaningful and emotion-packed dialogues I’ve seen in years- episodes 8 and 10 are masterpieces-, and once you’ve recovered, leave you grasping for air again with the stunning musical performances. Overall, if you’re into drama or music, this was one of the most pleasant surprises I could ever hope to get from an original show, and I absolutely recommend this anime.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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May 13, 2024
I won't write home about how this is an underrated masterpiece and everyone should watch it and such, 'cause it isn't. This is almost intrinsecally niche, showcasing a hazy plot that doesn't even aim to be complete whatsoever. What I mean by this is, Kurayukaba is unapologeticaly unconventional, pathologically enigmatic and, even then, I completely felt for it, from beggining to end. And believe me, if you're a sucker for rich worlbuildings- specially for steampunk settings-, atmospheric and clever- even if sometimes confusing- storytelling or experimental art, then this is certainly worth your time.
If you feel tempted to watch this film, even if just a
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bit, then it's noteworthy to say that this belongs to a two-film project, the other one being Kuramekukagari, both 1-hour long. I haven't watched the latter, but it seems just as interesting as this one. Even then, what about Kurayukaba? What makes it good or special? Well, first and foremost: it's setting. This film feels limited both by budget and timelenght, and even then it does everything and then some to sell you in it's vast, dynamic and eerie world, prompted by amazing art direction, active efforts to deepen in small yet rich details of the scenary whenever it's possible and a general sense of atmosphere, an uncomfortable call to your curiosity and desire to discover more about what's hidden in the darkness of the rails. It has been long, and I mean, very long, since I felt so fascinated by a fictional setting, since I had that sensation that, if I could take control of the camera and look around, I'd find life and secrets in every corner.
On the other hand, the plot suffers a bit more due to the lack of time, but the film tackles that issue in the best way possible: not a single dialog seems wasted, things are left for the viewer to figure out and the story progresses at a pace that both let's you appreciate the world around you, but doesn't let you enough time to lose the sense of speed and dizzyness of the overall mistery. In the end, we don't arrive at a definitive answer, the world is too vast to unravel and we just witnessed a small stage where things happened before and after. It could be more well rounded up, but considering it's limitations, it felt like the best experience possible around the strambotic premisse of this narrative.
In conclusion, this gave me a very specific vibe, one I rarely feel, in fantasy stories such as Robert Holdstock's Lavondyss, or dark, misteryous tales such as Midori (the non-rapey parts I mean), a feeling that there's always something bigger than you, some enticing magic on the words and imagery that will swallow you up anytime or wake you up at the snap of a finger. And that's, I believe, one of the most powerful feelings a work of art can ever make you feel.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 4, 2023
If I may describe Mou Ippon in one word, it should be 'lovely'.
Many moe- aka CGDCT- anime try their hardest to make you have this feeling of attachment to the characters by shouting and flashing at every instant how they- mainly female adolescents- are overtly cute and give you diabetes simply by existing. I'm not gonna get further into discussing that kind of anime, but Mou Ippon is, first and foremost, not one of them. By going a route much more similar to Yuru Camp, the Slice-of-Life moments of this anime express the personality and goals of the girls through the lens of a rather
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natural, realistic take on the lifes of a group of high-schoolers doing judo just for fun, and that's it's main selling point.
The interactions between the characters are the absolut flagship of this anime. The MC, Michi Sonoda, is a light-headed and overtly passionate high schooler who just wants to have fun, make friends, and do some cool memories with her fellows at the judo club. She's could fit into the genki archetype, but it would feel disrespectful to reduce her into that; she's a full-fledged, nuanced character, and that's what makes her the more lovely every time she sincerely expresses how awesome her friends are or how much fun she had. Just like Michi, the rest of the cast feels really alive, and everyone has their own trivial worries as normal high-schoolers. Even rivals with scarce screen-time are always deliberately given some insight in order to make them more likeable and show how their no more than normal girls too. That feels somewhat genuine, and it links up to convey the series main message: to take the most out of your youth. A bit cliche? Yes. But I swear that it's simplicity and sincerity has almost brought me to tears more than once.
Another aspect that I must mention regarding what makes this anime 'lovely' is its production. Bakken Records isn't a big nor a influent studio, and has its great limitations. But, just like in their previous work in Jouran, they've put that unique feeling of passion into the project that I find to be invaluable. Even if the animation is a constant struggle against an evident lack of talent and or resources, I can't help but give merit to a staff that worked its way through, held to its strenghts and delivered seriously great moments. The scenes are often ambitious in storyboarding and layout, even if the result can be sloppy, and specially the judo scenes are always constructed and coreographed with a lot of care. The greatest achievement in this regard is how, even with limited animation, the visuals are didactic and self-explanatory during the judo matches, showing how the staff actually understands the sport, and that's intensified in the moments where there is actually sakuga to go along with the great storyboarding and compositing. Overall, teh effort that a limited staff has put into this is something I can't help but find lovely.
So, what's the big deal then? Is Mou Ippon worth it? I'd say yes. Not a must-watch by any means, and obviously not fit for someone who dislikes both sports and SoL anime, but a really decent pick to any appreciator of those genres. It doesn't have a bombastic story, and its production values might get messy sometimes, but its a project full of passion for judo and a set of compelling characters. The fights are also engaging whenever the animation allows it. Concluding, a lovely 7/10 that I'll keep in my heart for a good while.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Sep 30, 2021
Sonny Boy is, first and foremost, a piece of art. Not necessarily in a good sense; many people may criticize the lack of logic and the experimental non-sense of Sonny Boy, and they’re probably right on their own criterion. Nonetheless, what Sonny Boy does that captivates me the most is that it shows an unique perspective about anime narratives, where the entire project is sacrificed in favor of symbolism and messages.
The circumstance that allows the magic of this anime to happen is that Sonny Boy is practically an one-man project on it’s basis, with it’s script and direction both in the hands of Natsume Shingo.
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That’s the best-case-scenario that could happen for such an ambitious idea. While Shingo is still a rookie in terms of scriptwriting, and that won’t come unnoticed for the viewer as the series has some unnecessarily weak moments that could be spent building on other elements, his inexperience could be blessing in disguise, and it helps him to break and subvert many narrative basis of modern anime while letting his imagination run wild on landscapes, concepts and metaphors. And, anime being an audiovisual media, none other than him could direct so impressively the bunch of abstract drafts that were germinating on Sonny Boy’s text. Wasn’t it for the whole staff’s brillianty on portraying with psychedelic and complex visuals the embrionary textual ideas, Sonny Boy would have been left rude and incomplete, just as a poetry written non-purposefully in a journalistic style.
On the other hand, the same point that constitutes what I find to be the greatest brilliancy of Sonny Boy is what stems in it’s biggest letdown. Sonny Boy is completely metaphoric and interpretative. Some may compare it to Serial Experiments Lain, for the difficulty of completely understanding both of them, but I see two primordial differences between them: Lain has an actual plotline, while Sonny Boy doesn’t, and Lain has a thematic unity that helps to understand all the elements brought. Meanwhile, Sonny Boy is completely viewer-dependent, and doesn't even treat themes as half as complex as Lain. The stories are all kinda placed under the same umbrella of a coming-of-age drama with supernatural elements, but there are disconnected passages and the chapters are semi-episodic in a way many things don’t actually have enough screen time to be properly developed. That leads to an underwhelming sensation on incompleteness in some passages, together with the fact that the lack of an integral and continuous plot makes the whole experience depend on to what extent the viewer is engaged with the metaphors and scenes of the anime.
And even while those metaphors are always present, some episodes, just as episode 4 and 9, use some elements to parallelize their messages that end up just being weird or idiotic. Creating an anime completely based on symbolism is attractive, but if you fail to make the symbols beautiful and engaging, you’ll completely lose the viewer’s attention.
Although, even if I had to go through some of Sonny Boy’s errors and limitations, I have to finally explain myself about what I mean with ‘Sonny Boy is a piece of art’. When I say that it sacrifices everything to enhance the message it aims, I mean literally everything. Characters are either plot devices or semi-symbolisms (for example, the comparison of Nozomi, hope, and a compass, being her the one that’s always pushing them further on the beginning but extinguishing it’s liveliness as time passes and students realize that they won’t come back). I'm not saying they are bad characters at all, but they exist in favor of the text. Complete scenes, just as the cinema world in episode 6, are just metalanguage and conceptual games, which doesn’t make them less complex and admirable. And finally, the world’s rules are never completely explained, and even the continuity of the plot is completely ignored when required. That might seem like a complete narrative disaster, but that’s what Sonny Boy aimed for since it’s first episode, and that freedom is just great.
Creating psychedelic landscapes as it pleases, aided by the insane visual work that Madhouse delivered here, using characters and situations as symbols that the director can move as he pleases in order to create a message: I find it wonderful. It allows Sonny Boy to bring new approaches to an already explored and rather simple theme such as coming-of-age, and make it in a new, indescriptible, beautiful way. It can take a simple chair, and put it in a context where a chair stops being only and object and somehow, magically, it seems uncommon and gorgeous.
The whole Sonny Boy experience is completely unconventional: you might see the same old message being told in a incoherent and wacky world with unidimensional characters, but, all put together, there’s something about the narrative freedom of Sonny Boy, it adventurous side and delirant scenarios that remind me of Tolkien’s Silmarillion in some odd, melancholic way. It makes me want to reflect, to find meaning on the myriads of small elements that the anime is constantly portraying in a mysterious, absurdly creative way, and leaving me with the impression that I’ve watched an immensely satisfactory show, with a lot of food for thought and an insanely high rewatch value. It makes me crave to unveil it's different layers, from the 'on-the-nose' coming-of-age metaphors the the complex subtext present in some specific cuts. Sonny Boy for me is an innovating, addicting, piece of art.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 19, 2021
Oh, 86. What can I tell about it? An anime that, judging by its first two episodes, was sure to be a solid 4 out of 10, and that now makes part of my top 20 anime and a good candidate for anime of the year (at least until the release of WEP finale). How did an anime that started with such a negative impression become my undisputed best of the season?
First of all, I want to talk about two names: Jin Akategawa and Ishii Toshimasa. Jin Akategawa, as you may know, is one of the greatest sound directors of the industry; on the other
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hand, Toshimasa is a rookie director that was making its debut with 86. So when I was almost deafened by the first minute of the anime, I was sure to blame Toshimasa. Moreover, after 3 transitions between scenes that were made with food falling in the floor and making the sound of a f*cking atomic bomb while falling, my only thought was ‘there we go again, another project from studio A-1 Pictures that is left in the hands of an incompetent director. What isn’t my surprise then, when, by the end of the season, I’m considering Toshimasa for one of the best directors of the year (together with another rookie, Shin Wakabayashi)? That symbolisms hurt…god if they hurt.
And yeah, on the bad side of things, I might say that 86 sound effects, despite being good, are quite too loud, and they even ruin some OSTs from Hiroyuki Sawano. And that’s the next thing I have to talk about: the OST compositor by excellence, the one that dismisses any presentation. As I said, 86 has some problems with its OST; the sound effects are too loud and the inserts often aren’t fitted in the ideal moments, starting and ending in the wrong parts. But Sawano doesn’t need to be at his best to be unquestionably excellent, and 86 is the living proof of that sentence. Not to mention that the ending song, written by Sawano itself, is straight up beautiful.
Now concerning the narrative… I might confess that 86 isn’t compelling at all in it’s first episodes. It sounded like the story of the princess of justice that lived among a country of maniqueistic pigs and was the only one with a good enough soul to care for the poor edgy teenagers called 86 that were fated to die. The only good point at the beginning was the interactions between the 86; even though the context was cruel, all of them (or at least, all of them that were not Shin) were acting like normal adolescents, having fun, teasing one another and jovially hating the alba processors that were in charge of them. This atmosphere was immensely aided by the good character animation involving them, making each one quite unique, even if there were too many characters to give focus to each of them.
Nevertheless, this convoluted start showed itself to be really necessary soon after, in order to break all expectations. I won’t go in further details on 86 plot, in order to not spoil anything, but the anime manages to overcome and positively utilize its bad introduction to make a great discussion about discrimination and acceptance of difference (which for me, a white privileged guy that lives in the notably unequal society of Brazil, hits astonishingly close and sincerely puts me in a bad position), and a hell of a great worldbuilding, which, far from being unpredictable, manages to be still hugely impacting and rock-solid. My 9 out of ten for the anime might sound too much, and I’m still not sure that I will be able to keep it, but judging by the way the context is escalating, I trust that the second season, that is announced for this year, will validate my score.
Now about the characters: some may say they are the weakest point of the anime, and, though it’s difficult to state otherwise, I will try to do so. For me, Lena is one of the best characters of the year due to its evolution, which is special by the fact that there are almost no introspective dialogues to show her emotions; just the visual narrative and the context she’s in are enough factors to build her progression. About the others, the only one that really shows any development is Shin; I don’t really like his character arc, but I really appreciate to see such and edgy stereotype being deconstructed in order to make the character relatable and likeable.
Finally, I want to highlight the great work of CGI on the fighting scenes. Since many people dislike the use of CGI- and have they’re solid reasons to do so-, it’s good to see such a solid work being done.
In conclusion, 86 in one of the animes with greater potential I’ve recently watched. I suggest that, instead of the 3 episodes rule, you give it some more time, maybe 5 episodes, to really engage in it’s world, and from there on it will be a great experience, with plenty of good messages and impacting scenes potentialized by a hands down great direction and astounding OST. Maybe not a 9 out of 10, or at least not until Season 2 airs, but still a worthwhile experience that stands above the other seasonal animes.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jun 16, 2021
Revenge, assassination, existence, repression and authoritharianism. All of those sound like ambitious topics for a 1920-ish ambientated anime with industrial fictional elements; sure, good things could come up from here. So then: what novelties does Jouran bring to the table while exploring those topics? Not many, or at least not enough to make itself remarkable over any other anime of its genre. Considering Jouran’s audience is already quite niche, I don’t think I would recommend anyone that is not completely passionate about all the revenge themes to go out of their way to watch it. If you are still interested though, let’s go on a
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deeper analysis of its pros and cons.
Jouran: The Princess of Snow and Blood, was one of the titles that first caught my eye in this season. The trailer was absolutely gorgeous, and it seemed to have a great setting. So then, watching the first chapter surely was a disappointment; the world-building was messy, the animation was good, but a step down from the trailer and the moments that were supposed to be impacting were actually just confusing. Then once again the story changed completely in episode 4, and again in episode 9, in a way that was sometimes positive, sometimes negative. If you ask yourself about Jouran’s low rating on MAL, I would say that it’s not quite fair with the quality of the anime, but sure is truthful to all its letdowns and mislead expectations.
But firstly, I’ll focus on Jouran’s biggest selling point, one that cannot be overstated: it’s artistic sense. Produced by a brand new studio, with a rather unspectacular staff and a director coming from the infamous studio GoHands, Jouran was likely doomed to be visually mediocre to say the least. Nonetheless, its trailers had already revealed that the staff knew exactly what they were doing, especially with the outstanding drawings of the transformations and battles, portrayed with thick lines of ink. Jouran, as I said previously, doesn’t have a top-notch staff nor incredible freelancer key animators (even though Hironori Tanaka animated the main scene of episode 4), but the production was conscious about its limitations and managed to produce a well-planned, quite consistent product. Even without insane fluidity, some strange filters on flashbacks and the character design getting quite big brain sometimes, Jouran is one of those animes that has a completely unique aesthetic. Impressing fights, gorgeous photography whit backgrounds that remind old japanese gravures are other parts of what I find to be a great planning overall.
Going over the other technical aspects before talking about the story, I might remark that the direction is competent with the use of illumination and symbolisms. VA is fine, I guess, but I really want to highlight a certain scene involving a baby in episode 11, that was really well done. Moreover, sound design is mediocre and OST is good (actually, the op and ed, both from Raise a Suilen, are absolute bangers).
And now, the main point here: Jouran’s plot. To further talk about it, I need to divide it into three parts, each one notably different from the others. I won’t spoil anything, but I might uncover the structure of the narrative.
The first part is about revenge. The setting about assassins that work for an oppressive government and keep opposition in check is quite generic; the characters start being bland and there are some anachronisms, so this start is quite uncomfortable. Nonetheless, the animation sure is dope, there are stylish scenes and the cliffhangers are placed in the exact moments to make you interested in the next episode. Sure, I guess I will continue then… it’s not every day that you find such a bloody anime with good production values and 3 female leads. I guess it’s a 5 out of… man, episode 4 was complete fire wtf! Let’s keep watching then, I said.
And then Jouran turned into something completely different. I didn’t know how to predict the plot anymore, the characters gained increasingly more depth and the anime started discussing a lot of existentialism about what is to live without a goal. Suddenly, Jouran was completely set apart from the similar other works I had seen until then, and a lot of potential emerged about what could come next… then I had hope Jouran could be among the best of the season, be a memorable tale about life… bleh (said the actual me)
And finally, the conclusion. It was not easy to conclude in a satisfying way after all those questions that were raised in episodes 5-8, but Jouran somehow managed to do many of the difficult parts and still feel like it could have been much better. The ending has some questionable decisions here and there, that I won’t spoil, but at the same time the execution fulfilled almost every expectation I had by episode 8; so then, why do I find it underwhelming? Exactly because I could predict it from episode 8. Jouran, as I said, is far from being a bad show, or having a shitty plot, but it falls in the abyss of being irredeemably forgettable.
With those great aesthetics and the potential unravelled by the 2nd part, Jouran could have been a remarkable story, but, far from being bad, it ended up being little more than generic.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Mar 18, 2021
I'll be quite straightforward with my review, since this manga doesn't have much apparent to analysis, any great plot device with which I may convince you to read this. All I can say is: go there, only one volume, enjoy the experience.
Kafka is a well knowng writter, but many times we forget that it has done anything apart from The Metamorphosis (No, not Henshin Emergence, the other one). The thing is that Kafka had some recurrent creative themes about bureaucracy, hunger and loneliness, with which he struggled during his life. And the Nishioka Brothers have the abitily to not only understand this themes in Kafka's
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work, but also give them a personal shape with their unique art style and take the immersion experience to a whole other level.
So, if you enjoy your Kafka (or your Camus, I find their style quite similar), or if you only want to get immersed in some twisted imagination with odd art and a whole lot of subtext, this is for you. If you want to enjoy your time in a Saturday evening, then Kafka is quite the wrong read; I mean, c'mon, it doesn't even have characters technically.
PS: If you can convince your friend and read the manga simultaneously, it will be good for discussing and sharing perspectives.
And another thing: reading this while listening to some Tool albums is freaking insane
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Oct 27, 2020
So far this season has plenty of outstanding series both in action and episodic slice of life, such as Majo no Tabitabi, Tonikawa, Jujutsu Kaisen and Akudama Drive. Considering that Ikebukuro has exactly this same two genres, and maybe drama, as it's main highlights, it's covering a niche that is fulfilled with other shows that I consider better overall, and that makes for a pretty mild and average show for the season it's airing, and that I would only recommend for people that really like the 'street gang' vibe or that are here just to see some hot dudes having badass and beautifully animated fights
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against some bad guys that no one cares. But well... the series is not unbearable either.
Story - 5
The anime follows episodical conflicts that somehow involve our MC, Makoto, and the street gang thematic. So far we've got some drug dealers, some vandals hired to put pressure on exploited employees of a restaurant, the cringiest youtuber that you'll see in your goddamn life and a retrospective murder case of a gang leader that was so far the best and most human. Structure of 3 first chapter is almost the same, like 'there is a trouble, we investigate the trouble, some twist happens and it ends up with the badass gang beating the shit out of the bad guys'. In the first two chapters is acceptable, and the ending scene of episode two might be the more cathartic so far in the anime, but by the third episode it got really tiring. Thankfully, it changed on chapter for so maybe we can hope for more variety on new stuff. By now, it's just mediocre.
Characters - 6
Excepting Youtuber-san from episode 3 that I don't even dare mentioning here, the characters are pretty neutral. I mean, they're mostly cool, and some of their design makes me really question my heterosexuality (specially Red Angels leader), but the only glimpse of development to anyone of them just showed up on episode 4, so not much to highlight here.
Art - 8
Doga Kobo is one of the studios that, when I see their making an anime, I'll made sure to check it out, since they almost never miss (btw two of my three favourite anime, Yesterday wo Utatte and Yuru Yuri, are produced by Doga Kobo). The studio may be mostly known by moe and comedy such as Nozaki-kun or Gabriel Dropout, and having director of Senko-san in charge of the anime must seem to confirm this impression, but they're more mature and serious style is just as good, if not better, as the moe one. Direction is not stellar, but it's incredibly solid, and animation is always consistent and fluid. The anime is not as sakuga-packed as Jujustsu Kaisen, but it does never feel lacking either, so it looks genuinely great.
Sound - 8
OST is very nice, specially enjoyed the jazz tracks on ep 4. Sound desing is correct too, nothing special but pretty consistent from what I noticed. The thing that made me classify sound as very good was the incredible opening, Needle Knot. The song has a punk rock style which I really enjoy and the psychodelic visuals are a great complement to it. Prossibly best op of the season.
Enjoyment - 5
As I said before, the anime is just fine at the best 'till now. I really disliked ep 3 but the others were a fine watch, nothing outstanding but nothing that made me drop it either.
Overall - 6
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jun 20, 2020
Man, this anime is getting a shitload of unnecesary hate, and I think a lot of people might not be judging it objectively of for what it is. I mean, first of all, this is an anime itself, not just a copy of the manga with more movement and voices, so even if I'm not doubting that the development of the manga might be different and better, the anime had some limitations concerning time and budget, so made an alternative order of facts and, in my opinion, got a pretty fair result. I mean, 9 might be a pretty high grade, and my standarts are
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lower than most of the MAL community; I don't think the anime deserves less than a 4 though, and I'll try to explain why I think so by analyzing each aspect of it. [Spoiler alert, if you haven't watched the anime I recommend you to take a look at the first episode at least, might be a worthy experience].
Story - 8
I mean, for a manga reader this might be a joke. It's obvious that the anime rushed a lot of the development from the manga, and made more than a hundred chapters in only 12 episodes plus 6 specials that I guess nobody watched. Would it be better for the anime to not adapt the whole manga and have and end completely opened? Don't think so, people apparently love Haru so much that if the season ended with Rikuo still hanging out with Shinako, probably a lot of people would be unsatisfied and I think the producers thought exactly that- I mean, don't get me wrong, Haru is incredibly charismatic and lovely, but it was coherent that Rikuo prefered Shinako, and I would be fine with that ending-. Now, if the anime had 24 episodes instead of 12, or even 13 or 14, the story would probably have a more peaceful pace, and would have some time to base better the ending.
Though, 12 episodes is what we got, and I think the script of the anime is still decent if you stop to think about it. I will discuss only the final episode because it's definetely the point of tension about the anime: it was coherent enough. Rikuo breaks with Shinako, sees that their relationship is going nowhere because of Shinako's fear of changing things, and while Shinako is worried about her relationship with Rou being broken, Rikuo thinks about how he neglicted Haru. Then, there's the scene on the train, where direction and script are really meaningful to portray Rikuo's internal chaos of feelings until he realizes that not only he wants Haru relations to just go back to 'normal', wich he knew would not happen and would end just as his relation with Shinako at the beggining of the anime, and just by inertia he decides he must confess to her, even if he's not sure whether he loves her or not. Surely there could be more construction to it, but then it would be different, it would not have the same message, and it's really closing the question that was raised on the first episode, about just being afraid of making any effort and fail and being just complacent with life.
Well, I've already got off my chest all that I've felt of the last episode. Not gonna lie, it was a nice therapy. Well, going back to the main point, history really evidences it's rush and lacks more completion on it's ending, since there isn't any fanservice showing the future or anything like that, but from my point of view (and this point is very personal, I understand anybody rating the story like 3 or 4 but not less), it's very solid.
Character - 9
I mean, nothing to say about Haru, she's in fact amazing and everybody agrees. Now, apart from some side character that, even if they feel incredibly real, do not have more that 20 minutes of screen time, we have 3 other characters to analyze. I won't stop on each of them because damn, that analysis of the story was so boring and exhaustive that I don't think anybody is still reading at this point. Consequently, I'll just ask you to think about any of their traits that isn't realistic, relatable and very well-written. You may disagree, and I really believe development in the manga might be better, but c'mon, they're mostly the same characters and I've felt like each of them is not only a gag, nor a trait, nor a deep character, but just almost complete persons. And if Yesterday wo Utatte has something that stands out is it's realism.
Art - 10
Well, don't get me wrong. Yesterday wo Utatte doesn't have the best animation on history, but I really don't think it needs to be so in order to get my 10. Direction is pretty organic and really captures the essence of each movement, as well as design and cenarios are portraited in such a way that this will potentially be the closest thing you'll found to a realistic anime visual. Also, even if it's not completely outstanding it might still be by far the best aesthetic work made by Studio Doga Kobo, and the passion and wit put into it is pretty much undeniable.
Sound - 6
I'm not really into judging sound yet, so my opinion will be very superficial. Sound design is good and voice acting has some nice peaks, but i really felt the lack of soundtrack on the background of many scenes. I'm not really a guy that gives extreme importance to soundtrack, but if you do this is definetely a weak point of the anime.
Enjoyment - 10
Enjoyment is personal, and anime hits people differently depending on their experiences, moment and feelings. Yesterday wo Utatte was there in the right time, I'm facing some anxiety about dealing with problems and starting my path for becoming an adult, and so was really invested on the whole story. I also love to analyze deeply the characters and story of anime that I find interesting, and it's not like I have anything better to do on Sunday at 2:00 AM. So yeah, maybe I've overrated this anime by giving more value to my interpretations of it's greatness than to the real story, and I'm sorry if I've sound like a fanboy trying to explain something that is not really on the screen; but maybe I'm exactly that. While some people might be exceeding with their hate, I do really love this anime.
Overall - 9
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Apr 25, 2020
Well, we have only 4 episodes so far, but this series made a good job setting it's purpose and it's unique set of characters, so I think it might be worth watching it if you are already engaged with the story. I will make a brief analysis on the main aspects that have been shown in the three first chapters.
Story - 7
Story of this anime is nothing special until chapter 3, but it gives some hints of getting more serious from now on. Despite being originally written by the author of Blade of the Immortal, it has a totally different setting about our MC, Minare
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Koda, who suddenly is fired from her job but manages to find another work on the radio. The progression is pretty simple at the beggining, but as I said it might be getting more complex gradually while the side characters gain more depth, and it has potential to become something surprising.
Art - 9
Due to it's SoL/Comedy genre, it's not like Nami yo Kiitekure needs some outstanding sakuga; it has, tough. The staff in charge of this anime is pretty competent, and there are some action/comedy scenes that are pretty well animated and coreographed. It's even making a better job on being fluid than action shounens of this season such as ToG.
Sound - 9
The opening and ending are pretty good, and the soundtrack is at least fitting with every scene; even though, what needs to be highlighted when talking about this series is the completely outstanding work that Riho Sugiyama is doing by giving voice to our protagonist. Her voice is incredibly energetic and vibrant, it actually makes the deal on portraiting the personality of Minare Koda. Even though, prepare your sharingan to try to read the subtitles without going back sometimes, because this woman speaks absurdly fast.
Character - 8
The MC is pretty unique. Her personality is very strong while still manages to feel relatable, and really goes with the mechanic of the story. Also, the side characters stand out of being generic, even if none of them has been explored into depth until now, they have a lot of potential. We'll see how they're developed as the story keeps going.
Enjoyment - 7
The anime in general is very enjoyable, and it will be a good ride to watch it's twelve episodes. Even though, there are some jokes that are difficult to understand for foreigners, since they talk about specific personalities of Japan's radio, or sometimes about regional sterotypes. Also, the story is dynamic but not at the point of causing any hype, just maybe at the end of chapter 4, so you really need to be engaged to watch it
Overall - 8
A good show if you are in quarentine complaining about your life being a disaster and needing some urgent entertainment. It's not a must watch but I think it's a bit underrated too, since is very fun in general.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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