If something makes you happy, excited, or sets off another string of convoluted positive emotions, it’s kinda tough not to like. Hell, even things that makes you scared, anxious, or want to cry, emotions that seem negative in nature, are contributing factors to why you might like something. Think back to whenever someone tried to explain why they loved “Clannad: After Story” with “it made me cry,” or think back to whenever someone told you why they loved “Shingeki no Kyojin” with “I couldn’t stop looking at the screen!” The same can be applied to why people love those moe slice of life anime, it
...
just makes them happy. It’s tough to beat emotion with logic, which is why Flip Flappers felt so damn successful. A world where anything could happen, the writers do what they want because they felt like it, not limiting themselves to a set of rules or principles, and goddamn, it was lovely. Every episode explored a new world, with new characters and a different sense of fun each and everytime. Flip Flappers understood perfectly well how to have a good time, and it was an absolute fucking blast to watch.
However, all of the fun can easily be destroyed in the face of an underwhelming ending. Flip Flappers was shaping up to be a wonderful series, but a sudden shift from episodic fun to an attempt at establishing a serious story changed everything. You could certainly argue that the final arc was what they were going for the whole time, while everything else was filler, but the “filler” was still significantly better than the actual story. Somehow, even the absolutely gorgeous animation had suffered. In comparison to everything else, the final scenes looked underwhelming. This may seem like a silly criticism, but for a show that boasts visual beauty, it’s disappointing when that beauty fades. Even then, I wouldn’t mind if the story managed to stay on track, but it doesn’t.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Fun Beginnings
-------------------------------------------------------------
Flip Flappers absolutely decimated my expectations. The cover screamed nothing more than another typical magical girl anime. However, it really is so much more. This series is about exploration, travelling beyond the unknown, and doing crazy things for the sake of fun.
The series surrounds a middle school girl, Cocona, being carried away from her boring, mundane world by a very mysterious girl, Papika. Cocona gets introduced to this “portal” device that will allow her and Papika to travel to whatever world necessary in order to complete their objective. This objective is to obtain crystal shards, which Papika is having trouble gathering on her own, so she enlists Cocona to help her as best as she can.
Even if you haven’t seen the series, it’s pretty clear that this is a setup for something of an episodic nature. At first, the focus was on Papika, Cocona, and their adventures (or perhaps misadventures) within all of these varying places. Every episode explored a new world, and each world possessed strikingly different themes in a wonderful attempt at originality. It’s hard to confine Flip Flappers to one genre, because it tries so many things over the course of its thirteen episodes. A few examples:
There’s an episode where Papika ventures across a gorgeous orange desert in a battle to the death against a group of bandits. She was trying to protect a weak village of weak creatures, and when she squares off against their leader, she practically goes Super Saiyan, and you see the two zooming across the sky as if you’re watching Dragon Ball Z. This episode is clearly inspired by the super power genre.
There’s an episode where Cocona and Papika have to pilot giant mechs and battle with other giant mechs over the backdrop of a gorgeous neon city, destroying most of that city in the process. This episode is clearly inspired by the mecha genre.
There’s an episode where Cocona and Papika get trapped in a school, where doll-like figures with giant black holes for eyes follow them around telling them that all they want is to be their “friend.” This episode is clearly inspired by the horror genre.
It was hard not to appreciate what the series was trying to do, as every time I clicked “next episode,” I knew I was in for new. This was an absolutely wonderful change from what I had been used to. I was simply in love in with this sense of adventure.
However, Flip Flappers once again decimated my expectations, except this time it wasn’t in a positive sense. The last third tries to give us a real story. It tries to wrap up what it had set up, and it wants to leave us on a good note. I could understand this, as having the series stay episodic through and through was probably a scary thought, so the creators might’ve wanted to at least give it an ending. However, this final arc doesn’t manage to be as likable as the rest of the series, and it really destroyed some of the fun.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Not-so-fun Endings
-------------------------------------------------------------
Flip Flappers loses its charm when the creators shift the tone entirely. It tries to develop the characters backstories, give everything some kind of relevance, and they finally tell us what the hell is going on. There’s nothing wrong with what it was aiming for, but it just doesn’t work out the way I would have hoped.
What had happened to Papika and Cocona in their lives is incredibly compelling, and genuinely got me excited. Seeing Papika’s relationship to Cocona’s mother, and how they were stripped away from each other in such a barbaric way gave me goosebumps. We also get an explanation on why they’re searching for these shards, who the people chasing Papika and Cocona are, and why Cocona’s life is the way it is. Everything was explained decently, and at the start of the serious arc, I was convinced that it would work out pretty well.
However, where things start to get messy is when the series encroaches upon the conclusion. As Papika and Cocona draw closer, in an attempt to “save” each other, things become more about love, faith, and their “bond.” This sort of escapism might have worked before, in the mystical and whimsical portion of the series, but after giving us this serious, edgy, more depressing backdrop, all tension is diluted when it’s solved so inconsistently. The goosebumps faded away, and I was left with an empty feeling. It didn’t help that the animation started to take a serious hit. The final scenes felt underwhelming in comparison to the rest of the series. Not only the animation, but where all the previous fights were these epic unbelievable brawls, the final fight was more about hyping up a super-move of love to one-shot the final boss. Even if this was consistent with what the show was originally going for, the changing of the tone towards the end didn’t help that they decided to transition back into what they were originally going for out of nowhere.
Even if you disregard this, it’s not like the serious arc was being handled too well to begin with. Sure, I liked some parts of it, but it didn’t change that the writing started to get a bit messy, characters were acting inconsistently, and the story felt underwhelming with its attempt to dramatize everything. Seeing Papika and Cocona go from lovely, fun personas to this serious bunch with edgy backstories felt out of place. I started to get used to it, but then it did a complete flip and they went back to what they originally were. It’s hard to be sure what to feel at this point, so all I could do was watch aimlessly.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Conclusion
-------------------------------------------------------------
Flip Flappers starts out wonderfully, giving us a taste of pure fun for the sake of fun. It does whatever the hell it wants in an attempt to excite you, and it really works. Where things start to fail is when they try to create a darker story, characters, and tone. The serious arc is unfortunately very underwhelming. Although it isn’t bad, it never manages to be as fantastic as the series was beforehand. Flip Flappers really could’ve been something, and I’ll never stop being disappointed that it didn’t turn out the way I wanted.
All (25)FriendsRSS Feeds |
May 10, 2017
Flip Flappers
(Anime)
add
Recommended
If something makes you happy, excited, or sets off another string of convoluted positive emotions, it’s kinda tough not to like. Hell, even things that makes you scared, anxious, or want to cry, emotions that seem negative in nature, are contributing factors to why you might like something. Think back to whenever someone tried to explain why they loved “Clannad: After Story” with “it made me cry,” or think back to whenever someone told you why they loved “Shingeki no Kyojin” with “I couldn’t stop looking at the screen!” The same can be applied to why people love those moe slice of life anime, it
...
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
What did you think of this review?
Nice
 0
Love it
 0
Funny
 0
Confusing
 0
Informative
 0
Well-written
 0
Creative
 0Show all 
May 5, 2017
Zankyou no Terror
(Anime)
add
Mixed Feelings
Zankyou no Terror expects to be taken very seriously. It desperately wants every single moment to feel extraordinarily heavy. Thanks to the use of dim colors, a melancholic soundtrack, and the resounding lack of energy from any of the cast, it's obvious that the director is trying to play your emotions like a symphony. There's really no problem with this, but where it essentially screws up is in the execution of all of this seriousness. ZnT is so obsessed with moving the plot forward that it puts little to no thought into making sense of anything that happens. There's a scene where the detective, Kenjirou,
...
is absolutely baffled about where this group of terrorists might be, and while he was speaking to one of his co-workers, this co-worker was glued to some mobile game, and that game gave Kenjirou the exact clue he needed in order to figure out where these terrorists would be. It's troubling to think that our detective found something out solely based on his friend playing that specific part of that game at that exact time. That's an insanely laughable coincidence. If this guy wasn't playing whatever he was playing, the show would have turned out much differently and perhaps it wouldn't have continued at all. Zankyou no Terror does this a lot throughout the story, and it makes it so damn hard to take seriously. They want you to respect Kenjirou's detective skills, yet it almost always relies on coincidence. It's sorta similar to how House M.D. cures his patients by accidentally figuring things out throughout the mini-arcs of the episodes. He's not actually smart, the writer just wants him to appear smart in front of people who don't care enough to think about it. The same can be said for Zankyou no Terror. Kenjirou was never smart, he just figures things out by coincidence to get the story over with quicker.
My biggest complaint here is that there was absolutely no attempt to create a realistic and intelligent detective. Instead, the show was too focused on being a thriller that doesn't care about how the terrorists get found, as long as they get found and the story carried on. "Oh, Sherlock, what do we say about coincidence?" "The universe is rarely so lazy." ------------------------------------------------------------- Development and Synergy ------------------------------------------------------------- In terms of how the characters come to be, the two mains (Nine and Twelve) have very interesting, although vague backstories. The ambiguity added a certain charm to it, but unfortunately this charm is hard to fully realize when you get to know them, and slowly realize that they aren't very likable. The show spends almost no time developing the characters because it's so focused on moving forward with the plot. There are scenes where you see romance occur which is likely an attempt to humanize them, but the romance feels too forced to even count as "development". At most, the creators give us brief hints at their backstory, but that never tells us about them. Instead, it simply shows us where they come from and what happened to them to make them get here. Zankyou no Terror's eleven episodes go by so quick that it has almost no time to take a rest and develop these characters. You could argue that doing so might've screwed with the pacing, but there have been many films that have introduced us to five or six characters at once, never stopped the action, and by the end, had us falling in love with the cast. Zankyou no Terror may give us a backstory to these characters, but the characters themselves are never fully fleshed out and it feels like their personalities aren't important to the actual objective of the show. It's understandable that the anime was going for a more plot focused narrative rather than being character driven, but a more obvious attempt to flesh out the two mains would have been admirable. ------------------------------------------------------------- Twelve and Lisa ------------------------------------------------------------- In terms of the romance, it creates for some of the most visually and aurally stunning scenes in the series and arguably in all of anime. However, there's no need to call it anything more than "visually and aurally stunning" as the more you dig, the worse it gets. The romance is about as forced as you would expect from a series with seriously underdeveloped characters. Twelve and Lisa seem to have this "unbreakable" bond even though he had threatened to kill her only a couple of episodes before they started working together and not much was done to develop their relationship in the time between that. Their romance goes as far as a collection of beautiful looking scenes with an absolutely incredible soundtrack accompanying it. It never felt like there was a true connection between the two and it seemed like they loved each other just for the sake of loving each other. It's easy to understand why someone like Lisa would fall madly in love with Twelve, but for why Twelve would fall in love with Lisa? It seems ridiculous. Lisa was lonely and desperately looking for someone to share her moments with, so her falling in love with a dangerous guy who does bad things to everyone except for her makes sense. However, Twelve never seemed like the kind of character interested in that sort of thing and even if he was, it was never shown to us. Because of this, Lisa feels less like a substantial character and more like she was made with the sole purpose of humanizing Twelve, and it was a huge waste of potential for her development. ------------------------------------------------------------- Hard to Hate ------------------------------------------------------------- Zankyou no Terror may have many problems, but, it's difficult to dislike the series. In fact, Zankyou no Terror is a very successfully engaging thriller. Every second keeps you at the edge of your seat, and a majority of the scenes are beautifully illustrated and gorgeously orchestrated. It's easy to see why so many got obsessed with the show. When immersed into what you see, you sometimes have trouble acknowledging flaws. You could say that the show is a success specifically based on how much it engages the viewer, but that's an extremely biased way of looking at it. In other words, if it entertains you, you'll like it. If not, you won't like it. Besides from the entertainment aspect, there isn't much to take from it. This is one of the reasons why it's easy to have mixed feelings about Zankyou no Terror. Although it was enjoyable, it was a gigantic mess. However, if you look at it as nothing more than a simple thriller (even though it tries to be much much more), you might have a hell of a time. ------------------------------------------------------------- Interesting Story ------------------------------------------------------------- The plot to Zankyou no Terror is eccentric and occasionally ridiculous, but the overall theme is admirable. The story starts out simple but slowly gets more and more complex and once you've reached the end, you feel like you've finished off with the complete opposite of what you started with. This isn't a bad thing, as the ending to Zankyou no Terror is pretty compelling. Without spoiling anything, the plot is possibly one of the best parts of the show, however, this is only because the story works in unison with the action. It's safe to say this show would be even worse if the elements of suspense were removed or altered since they can't really exist without each other. However, relying your show entirely on suspense isn't a good thing. Having more things to admire this show for would have been preferred, but unfortunately, all it gives us is an anime that's beautiful on the surface. Zankyou no Terror also uses excessive amounts of symbolism through illustration and it's rather interesting. Sometimes it feels a bit pretentious, but in most cases it makes the narrative moderately more compelling. The "villain" of the series also felt underwhelming. It seemed like she should have had more impact on the story than she actually did. Sure, she caused trouble for the main characters a whole lot, but it never feels like anything important actually came out of her. She clearly meant something to Twelve and Nine, but she never meant anything to the viewers and that's easily associated with her poor development. ------------------------------------------------------------- Perception ------------------------------------------------------------- Zankyou no Terror was never trying to develop its characters or make any type of sense. It attempts to be symbolic and meaningful, but in essence, it knows for a fact that it is a quick, heart-pumping action thriller. This is part of the reason why it's so easy to enjoy. It's similar to watching something like John Wick, it has moments where it does try to be more than it actually is, but in reality, it's just an insane "rule of cool" action movie. Does this take away from the experience? No, not entirely. In fact, only after finishing Zankyou no Terror did all of its flaws manage to find its way through my thick skull. Once you finish, you'll find an abundance of problems, but while watching, you have so much fun that you won't care enough to acknowledge the flaws. That isn't me trying to debase fans of the show or anything, I experienced the exact same phenomenon. That's why it is one of the few shows where people (including myself) have trouble determining if it should be judged on how good it is, or how entertaining it is. Occasionally, the feeling of "I enjoyed that show a lot" hits me, but then sometimes the feeling of "that show was pretty shitty" hits me. How to determine a balance between the two? I have no fucking clue. ------------------------------------------------------------- Verdict ------------------------------------------------------------- Although Zankyou no Terror has a lot of flaws, it's easy to admire. It's an anime full of mindless thrills, but when the thrills aren't happening, it's pretty underwhelming. For the most part, character development is awful and looking at it from a standpoint that is logically sound, it's a mess. However, the show is too compelling to disdain. Watching Zankyou no Terror keeps you at the edge of your seat for a majority of the time and it's unfortunate that the qualities of a good anime couldn't mix with the already present qualities of an extremely thrilling anime. Watch Zankyou no Terror for the thrills and only the thrills, don't go in expecting anything more than heart-pumping action.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Informative
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all 
Feb 9, 2017
Gundam Build Fighters
(Anime)
add
Recommended
Naturally, people don't tend to start something new without building a few first impressions. We might do this by reading a synopsis, looking at cover art, or checking out reviews. Isn't it strange that how we determine whether or not to watch, read, or play something comes from things that don't actually matter? Some of us will start an anime just because we think the opening is cool, or disregard the anime because it isn’t. Some of us will start something because there are half-nude girls on the cover, and others keep scrolling at the sight of it. Some of us will start something simply
...
because it claims to adhere to our favorite genres, regardless of what it's about.
We all make a few pointless assumptions about the quality of a series, but in reality, there's no telling how good or bad something might be until you actually watch it, regardless of its reputation, score, and reviews. We all have minds of our own, and it seems kind of ridiculous that we have these premature opinions on things we've never consumed. However, is there really any other way? How else are you going to determine a first impression without watching, reading, and playing everything you come across? Clearly no one is going to do this, as it would be absolutely maddening. So, due to the lack of any solid alternatives, we have to make due with what we can. I mean, haven't you ever watched something that looked bad, but when you finished it, you were impressed by how good it was? On the other hand, have you ever thought something looked good, and once it was over, you were ultimately disappointed? Well… prior to Build Fighters, I had never seen a Gundam series before, and since I have a friend who is a huge Gundam nerd, he desperately wanted to watch anything related to the franchise with me. As a joke, I decided to pick up the stupidest looking Gundam anime possible. From reading the synopsis, I didn't expect much. I wasn't particularly impressed by the idea of some ridiculous god-like particle allowing plastic models to fight to the death. It genuinely sounded stupid, and I was excited to gauge my friends reaction on the series that was so clearly not the "real Gundam" that he wanted me to experience. Instead, however, I got a very nostalgic, homely, and charming anime with a genuinely impressive understanding of how to make a kids series a lot of fun. It lacks depth but it isn’t pretentious, it doesn’t pretend to be sophisticated or more than what it actually is. It’s just plain and simple fun. ------------------------------------------------------------- The Simplicity of Childhood ------------------------------------------------------------- The initial plot for Build Fighters is actually pretty simple. Our two protagonists, Sei and Reiji, are trying their best to win a tournament because of their obsession with Gunpla. For the most part, there’s not much going on besides from this. They have to fight and fight to get to the top, making a bunch of friends and rivals throughout. However, once you get passed the initial ideas, there are a few extra plot points they introduce in order to change up the formula. For the sake of avoiding spoilers, I won't talk about what exactly happens, but what the writers do is a rather effective way of keeping the series interesting. I'm not going to pretend it was foreseeable, but it was definitely intriguing. Additionally, it's pretty cool how it tries to make every little bit of this world as fun as possible. In this universe, Gunpla battles are as popular, in fact, even more popular than any other sport on Earth would be. It seems like everywhere you go, people will be talking about or fighting with Gunpla (I’m sure this is Sunrise’s ideal marketing environment). It’s so exciting to see a world where everyone is equally as passionate about something, even if the subject matter is as silly as Gundam. ------------------------------------------------------------- An Incredibly Fun Cast ------------------------------------------------------------- Build Fighter's characters aren’t deep or complex, but they're all quirky enough for a lot of fun to happen on screen. Sei Iori, the protagonist, is a huge fan of Gundam, and since his father is a world renown Gunpla champion, he feels obligated to live up to his name and get good at the game. Seeing him go crazy over every little thing is pretty entertaining, especially when he goes into hyper-nerd mode, quoting line to line from a Gundam series. He’s great at building Gunpla, but he’s an awful fighter, and that’s where Reiji comes in. Reiji is very close friends with Sei, and although he’s pretty edgy in battle, he has a great understanding of fun. His cluelessness and warped perception of the world makes way for solid entertainment, too. In terms of skills, he's the complete opposite of Sei. He’s not good at building the Gunpla, but he has a great sense of how to fight. Additionally, there’s a huge secret surrounding Reiji. It’s hinted at since episode one, but it’s never actually revealed until much later on. This “secret” really adds some spice to the series, making it feel like more than just a systematic tournament about trying your best to win. These two meet a bunch of other quirky characters along the way, too. The most notable addition being Aila Jyrkiäinen, a fellow Gunpla fighter who has a chance encounter with the cast around halfway through the series. The chemistry between Reiji and Aila is incredibly adorable, as they compliment each others personalities pretty well. They’re similar in many ways, which is essential to Reiji being the one who is able to get closest to her. They definitely deserve each other in every sense of the phrase. Additionally, there’s Kousaka China, Sei’s romantic interest throughout the series. These two do have pretty okay chemistry, but she’s not particularly impressive as a character. It feels like Kousaka exists for nothing more than cheering Sei on. She doesn’t really do anything throughout the series besides from show up in scenes meant for the sole purpose of comedy, or in the crowd to go “You can do it, Sei!!!” Another important character would be Ral, the man who sorta coaches the two. He helps them learn tricks and secrets to assist them in battle, and although he does have important moments, he’s very similar to China in terms of how much you should be expected to care. He feels irrelevant, even when the series tries to make him relevant. There is an antagonist, but they’re not revealed until quite a bit into the series. So, in the interest of avoiding spoilers, I won’t mention their name. As villains go, they’re not particularly impressive. Very standard motivations with the kind of actions you would expect. Not the series strongest point, but still easy to hate. You want them gone, because the things they do will probably make you furious. ------------------------------------------------------------- Surprisingly Inspirational ------------------------------------------------------------- Build Fighters is surprisingly inspirational. Although it seems like nothing more than a kids series advertising Gundam, it’s so obsessed with the idea of chasing your dreams, never giving up, and doing what you want because it’s fun. From the cool soundtrack to the exciting openings, they really understand how to set the mood. Fight scenes are just so damn awesome in this series, with the soundtrack making fast paced fights feel exciting and powerful, yet dramatic scenes feel heavy and emotional. Additionally, there are quite a few genuinely memorable battles that take place throughout the series due to how gorgeous they are. It wants to show you that competitive spirit should never die, even when the stakes are as high as they are in Build Fighters. You might be thinking that there are no stakes since they’re fighting with plastic models, but there definitely are. It may not be as crazy as risking your life, but in the midst of a tournament where millions of people are watching, if you lose, your Gunpla will probably be destroyed. It takes a lot of time and effort for these people to build their Gunpla, so seeing that happen to their hard work is devastating. ------------------------------------------------------------- The Power of Accessibility ------------------------------------------------------------- So many titles these days are obsessed with being something deep, complex, or substantial. It’s very rarely that I see a series that isn’t under the “slice of life” tag and has been made for the sole purpose of being fun. Even if you take some of the most brainless series’ out there, they usually have moments where they try to convince you that something greater is going on. Build Fighters is so focused on being cool, fun, and entertaining that it doesn’t have time to be convoluted. It has plot twists, and surprising betrayals, but even these can be taken at face-value without any deeper thinking. This makes the series so easily accessible. It’s not edgy, it’s not full of convoluted dialogue, and it’s not annoying as hell. Just straight up fun. This is likely because it was made for kids to begin with. ------------------------------------------------------------- Childish Comedy ------------------------------------------------------------- Gundam Build Fighters is still a kid shows, and unsurprisingly, the comedy style is pretty childish. Unfortunately, most of the jokes it makes aren't very successful. It’s one of those situations where you're probably going to laugh because it's cute, not because it's actually funny. However, this isn’t a big deal. Very rarely do I not have a smile on my face while watching Build Fighters, and even if it doesn’t do a great job at being successful with its comedy, (although it does have a few funny moments) it’s genuinely adorable. The character interactions are silly, and they yell, laugh, and overreact to the stupidest things, but it’s all done in such a lighthearted way that it’s hard to stop smiling. There's something soothing about this homage to nostalgia and childlike innocence, which takes me back to my perceptions of the world when I was a kid. Sure, it does have moments where it isn’t innocent, but these scenes are rather minor. ------------------------------------------------------------- One Big Advertisement? ------------------------------------------------------------- Throughout the series there are pretty frequent ads encouraging you to purchase Gunpla, and this is because Build Fighters was made to be an advertisement to begin with. It’s trying to get kids excited for Gundam models so they can convince their parents to go out and buy them. It feels kind of dirty when you think about it for a little, since the way they portray Gunpla in the anime is so legendary. It's painfully obvious that they want you to buy their products. They make it seem like so much fun to build and work on your Gunpla, when that’s probably not the reality. If you can look past this, it’s not that big of deal. Sunrise just desperately wants to make money, but that doesn’t really make the show any worse. ------------------------------------------------------------- Verdict ------------------------------------------------------------- Build Fighters is an incredibly rewarding experience. It does have its fair share of flaws, mostly having to do with the side characters, a lackluster villain, and a mediocre understanding of comedy, but for the most part it’s an absolute blast to watch. Its lack of sophistication might bother some old-school Gundam fans, but a show trying to be fun for the sake of fun is genuinely refreshing. From the chemistry between Sei, Reiji, and Aila to the exciting soundtrack and great fight scenes, Build Fighters has a lot going for it. Even if these things are extremely basic, it’s still a good time all in its own respect.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Informative
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all 
Feb 1, 2017 Not Recommended
Why do we hurt each other? Have you ever walked by a couple on the street, bickering and arguing, and suddenly wondered why people are so keen on making each other suffer? Why is it that we feel so frustrated seeing someone get viciously angry in an argument, yet when we’re actually a part of the argument, we feel justified to do so? Why is it that when we witness conflicts revolving around things we deem insignificant, we think people are ultimately petty, yet we have arguments equally as petty all the time? Why is it that we feel so frustrated when someone talks behind
...
our backs, yet we tend to do the same to others? These are the common hypocrisies which are the unfortunate circumstance of not being able to truly understand each other. Everyone thinks differently, feels differently, loves different, and hates differently. You can’t expect to know everything that’s going on in someones head, and trying to base your friendships, conflicts, and discussions on assumptions like this will no doubt cause trouble.
But… what if we could? What if we could understand everything that someone thinks and feels? If we could get so impossibly close to someone, would we ever argue? Would we ever hate each other? I mean, how could we? If someone is basing their arguments on certain emotions that we can ALSO feel, how could we disagree? We can’t really agree, either, but when we manage to understand them on such a fundamental level, it’s hard to know what exactly would happen between us. How about we take this a step further: What if everyone in the world could feel every bit of physical and emotional pain together. Would there be no wars? No conflicts? World peace? This may seem a bit ridiculous, but it’s the main idea of Kiznaiver. Unfortunately, however, this idea is only cool on paper. What could have been an excellent character study turned out to be no more than a melodramatic trainwreck with very few redeeming qualities. ------------------------------------------------------------- Terrible Execution ------------------------------------------------------------- The thought of what Kiznaiver was trying to accomplish and the original ideas it had are still intriguing. It's incredibly interesting to think about what would happen if a group of people did share their pains, and if done with better direction, it could have been a fantastic anime. Unfortunately, however, the show takes itself in the most boring direction possible. It's got a stupidly complex love story, it focuses on certain characters and leaves others in the dust, and some have nice arcs while others don't even get arcs. Maki got a very long arc yet Niko got absolutely nothing, and not only did Niko get absolutely nothing, she got development that was based around her unexplained love for another character. It can't help but feel like Kiznaiver would have done much better if it were longer. It's hard to develop that many characters in 12 episodes and that was the biggest problem I had. However, it does a pretty okay job of developing the characters it favors. Maki's and Katsuhira's backstories are the best parts of the show. It's sad to think that we could have gotten an interesting backstory on five of the other characters if the creators thought to lengthen the series. Disregarding the mini-arcs, the plot itself is unsatisfactory as a whole. The direction of the series towards the end wasn't as interesting as I had hoped, and the way they executed the final minutes feels like a cop out compared to what could have been. ------------------------------------------------------------- Stereotypical Characters ------------------------------------------------------------- A friend of mine praised Kiznaiver's "colorful" cast of characters and claimed they loved how different they are from one another and how much variety the creators put into them to make them stand out from each other. Sure, I can agree. Kiznaiver is full of contrasting characters, I didn't find a moment where I thought any character was similar and that's a very important part of the story. All seven are supposed to be incompatible or else this experiment wouldn't work the way the scientists hoped. However, them being different from one another does not make them good. The cast is full of tropes. They may be different from each other and they may vary in personalities but they never stray outside of their tropes. They're trapped inside of their stereotypes and almost all of their actions are unsurprisingly predictable. Some characters got developed but even then a majority of the characters were never touched upon. Trigger plays favorites with their cast and anyone who watched the show would understand that. Specific episodes were made developing Maki and Katsuhira, yet not a single second was spent developing Hisomu. He was comedy relief and poor comedy relief at that. To make matters worse, the romance between the characters was the most frustrating aspect. The creators just forced every character to fall in love with each other in an attempt to create drama. There's absolutely no basis to these feelings and the characters seem to think "it was obvious that they were in love with you" yet none of it is noticeable besides from Chidori's love for Katsuhira. The characters have their moments and they're entertaining to watch, but as soon as the drama starts it all hits the fan. ------------------------------------------------------------- Forced Drama ------------------------------------------------------------- Kiznaiver displays copious amounts of drama that originates from nothing logically sound. Characters will do things for no obvious reason, which creates problems that favors the writers ongoing story. Similar to what I said early, the forced romance induces forced drama which in turn makes everything unbearable. There are a lot of moments where a character will start a conflict because of their "love" for someone which in most cases, makes no sense. Tenga hated Katsuhira because of what he "did" to Chidori and at first it made sense but even after hearing all about Katsuhira's backstory, he was still pissed off for no obvious reason. There's also how Niko was so sad about Tenga loving Chidori even though there's is absolutely no reason for Niko to love Tenga. It is never explained and Niko went so far as to take drastic actions based on something that was never developed. How does that make sense? One episode Niko wasn't in love with anyone, next episode she was full blown in love with Tenga. The only parts of the romance that felt justified was Chidori loving Katsuhira, and Katsuhira loving Noriko. I would also count Yuta's fixation with Maki but that seemed more like lust than love in my eyes. It feels like Trigger really wanted every character to have a romantic interest so they just forced the romance onto everyone else. It was baffling and without a doubt one of the most annoying parts of the show. You're probably thinking, "people do overly-dramatic shit for stupid reasons all the time" This is true, however, if you ask any of these people they will always give you a reason. If you ask anyone in love, they will always give you a reason. Even if it's a stupid reason or over simplified, it's still what drives them. Kiznaiver makes absolutely no attempt to show or tell us why certain characters do the things they do, or why certain characters love the people they love. For some characters, you can deduce reasoning behind their actions, but for others you might as well guess. ------------------------------------------------------------- Aesthetic ------------------------------------------------------------- Kiznaiver is beautifully illustrated and the soundtrack is likable, as expected of Trigger. Character designs look much different from your typical anime and the art-style itself feels much different than typical Trigger titles (which is what a lot of anime studios struggle accomplishing) Also, the opening is fucking fantastic. ------------------------------------------------------------- Ridiculous Inconsistencies ------------------------------------------------------------- Kiznaiver felt like it was doomed from the start. When you look at a studio like Trigger and consider the idea of them making a science fiction drama, it seems a bit insane. If you've ever seen a Trigger anime, you would know that they're usually full of the most ridiculously goofy content in the industry. The titles that come out of Trigger are usually never meant to be taken seriously with the exception of shows like Kill la Kill, but even that wasn't serious most of the time. Kiznaiver tries it's best to retain those goofy elements that made me like Kill la Kill, but it just doesn't work out well. It's hard to sit through a really dramatic scene and then half a minute later something unbelievably silly happens. It's seriously risky to mix drama with over the top goofiness and expect it to work out well. Some anime like Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann do this very well, but it's a rare occurrence. In the end it feels like the creators of this show clashed with creative differences and had no idea what they wanted it to be. It often made me wonder if I should laugh at something or if it should be taken seriously. There are specific scenes that seriously stand out from the rest, though. A few parts made my skin crawl and I felt goosebumps all over my body. Unfortunately, the immersion quickly breaks when something stupid happens. ------------------------------------------------------------- Verdict ------------------------------------------------------------- Kiznaiver shines every once in a while but for the most part watching it was frustrating. It had moments where it seemed like it could be great but in the end it disappointed me beyond belief. The stupid drama, nonsensical romance, and underdeveloped characters took away any semblance of enjoyment that was present. For the most part, it's still worth a watch simply because the parts that shine happen to shine very brightly. The comedy is enjoyable and the characters spasms are always fun to watch, but once it gets to the drama it's usually unbearable. Kiznaiver would have worked better as a goofy slice of life rather than the melodramatic train wreck it became. Either that, or the writers at least trying to fix their mistakes especially since this show had an insane amount of potential.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Informative
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all |