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Jun 25, 2024
In a world where sorcerers are excluded and hunted by the Church, and sorcery is forbidden, this is the story of Zagan, a powerful individual who grew up in extreme poverty, all alone, and who learned sorcery to defend himself against an unjust world. He is now a lonely man in his castle, except for the occasional visit from the sorcerer Barbatos. However, everything changes the day he attends an auction following the death of an archdemon, one of the world's most powerful and influential sorcerers. He falls under the spell of a young silver-haired elf, Nephy, whom he buys and
...
saves.
Story: 5.5/10
The synopsis started off very, very badly, with the slavery trope, but it turns out that the anime has a really interesting universe, with rather solid worldbuilding. In this universe, some people live in extreme precariousness and must fight for their survival, while the powerful remain silent. A certain vagueness surrounds the world of sorcery, but it seems to have emerged in a power struggle with the religious order, which seeks to impose its hegemony against the inhabitants. In the course of the story, we learn quite naturally how witchcraft works, the political stakes between sorcerers and non-sorcerers and within sorcerer communities, where power is considered law and archdemons are at the top of the hierarchy.
Many mysteries surround the series' universe, starting with the magic that draws energy from the environment in order to operate, and which only Nephy is able to use. When it comes to demons and the power of archdemons, Zagan is ready to delve progressively deeper into the history behind his world, providing a goal that motivates the audience to watch the work, and that's very pleasing. However, I still have mixed feelings about the execution: there's a lot of potential, but it's not explored as thoroughly as I'd have liked, and that creates a fair amount of disappointment. The stakes surrounding Barbatos' betrayal are quickly swept aside, as is Chastille and her opposition to the status quo within the Church, giving the impression of an unfinished work. As for the romance, it progresses, but perhaps a little too slowly for my taste.
Characters 5.5/10
Zagan is an extremely powerful sorcerer, but above all he's a man who's been socially excluded all his life, had to get his hands dirty to survive and doesn't know how to behave socially, even though he has a good heart. When he saves Nephy, and even though it's a master/slave relationship, they manage to create a dynamic that works, because they share a common experience of exclusion and suffering. Zagan needs Nephy to grow as a human being and find happiness, and Nephy needs Zagan to regain a taste for life.
That said, the master/slave dynamic remains for me a real barrier to the development of Zagan and Nephy. Nephy possesses exceptional powers, which would benefit from being brought to the fore, and for the moment she remains only in the role of housewife, and without putting the anime on trial for slavery, the representation that emerges is rooted in a patriarchal vision of the family and of women.
Their relationship is one of complementarity, but one that fits precisely into today's social codes, with a strong but vulnerable man playing the role of protector, possessing the knowledge and managing the political issues, while the woman stays at home. I like them, but there's really something missing to make the couple memorable or thematically relevant, and without even getting into social justice considerations, it weakens the work's narrative scope.
For Chastille it is a similar story, she's strong and very capable, so it creates the expectation of a deep, well-written character, only to end up offering us a rather superficial development. In fact, all the show's characters fit this description, with likeable interactions and an engaging backstory that keeps viewers hooked, only to leave them hungry for more, with a relatively simplistic resolution to the conflicts that fails to touch us when it comes to the themes of love, admiration, hatred, resentment and so on. But that's about it.
Visuals 5.5/10
Without being among the season's best, the visuals are pretty decent. The character design is simple but effective, as is the background art, so this is something that's easy on the eyes. The fight scenes are a little disappointing, but other scenes are pretty clean. The shots aren't ultra-ambitious, but details of Nephy's ears moving and blushing make your heart melt with cuteness, and the succession of shots with expressive faces for comedy scenes makes for really enjoyable viewing. Some scenes stand out from the rest, like episode 2 with its absolutely adorable moment at the end of the episode.
Audio 5.5/10
In the voice acting department, we have Subaru's seiyu from Re:Zero in Zagan's voice, and Fern's seiyu from Sousou no Frieren in Nephy's voice. Unfortunately, there weren't enough emotional scenes to bring out the best in these voices, but it's still very good. The opening Wakaranai Ai is very good and fits well with the anime's vibe in terms of romance, while the ending Blue Star has a rather touching nostalgic side. I didn't know about the singer Sayaka Yamamoto, who seems to be a former idol, but her voice is amazing. The ost is also pretty solid, but some of the tracks are used in scenes that I don't think match the music, and I feel it's getting a bit repetitive over the last few episodes in terms of ost, so the work would gain a lot from a wider variety of good soundtracks. With all the tension scenes using the very same background music, it detracts from the enjoyment of these scenes, and that's really what's most deplorable about the use of this very pleasant ost.
Enjoyment 6/10
An Archdemon's Dilemma delivers a high dose of wholesomeness, adorable interactions, accompanied by an interesting universe to explore. This is one of the seasonals I've most enjoyed following over the last few months, especially at the beginning of the season. However, it didn't live up to my expectations in terms of character development and the political stakes of its world. It is therefore good entertainment, very pleasant to follow, but unfortunately it doesn't exceed this qualification.
Overall
5.6/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Feb 11, 2023
With a third season that ended perfectly with one of the most memorable episodes of all anime, Kaguya-Sama established itself as THE best rom-com of all time, but it couldn't stop there. And here is the movie, finally released today, which surpasses all our high expectations to reach our heart with a very emotional story.
Story 9.5/10
Season 3 was an incredible conclusion to the franchise, and it was hard to see where the anime could go after losing its basic concept. A conclusion? Pff, this is just the beginning, the introduction to one of the most intense romances of all time. The movie just takes this
...
solid foundation to elevate the anime to something bigger, higher, more incredible. Digging into the thematic aspect and touching us on emotions we all have, playing on them to make us laugh and move us, with a representation of love that is complex, nuanced, but no less beautiful and representative of what we, as viewers, live and/or wish to live. From the first second to the end credits, the film immerses you in their world without letting go once. The comedy is hilarious, the emotions are intense, some scenes make you want to cry, all of this to form a coherent and thematically interesting story.
Characters 10/10
The cast of Kaguya-Sama Love is War is amazing, that's not new, but the movie just made them all even more awesome. Well, I could write a lot of "this is incredible, this too" for hours, I'll try to limit myself even though it will be tough.
First of all, let's talk about Maki, because she's fucking great in the movie. She's a bit of a comrade to us, she accompanies us in her loneliness as a good spectator of all this romance, and we share her feelings. It's just way too funny, because she says the same things we think, and we need her for the overall balance of the piece, and to stick to the thematic message of the movie about love in a more general way. Her way of helping Miyuki by listening to him, of understanding how difficult the feeling of love can be to deal with, it was just a fantastic scene. I could also talk about Yuu Ishigami and Tsubame-senpai because we also had the right to a little development in their relationship, or Chika and her sister who are too funny and adorable, but let's just talk about the essential: KAGUYA SHINOMIYA AND MIYUKI SHIROGANE I LOVE YOU! I just don't have the words to describe the quality of their development during the movie. In particular, the thematic aspect around wearing a mask to fit society's expectations is particularly telling. It reminded me of Bloom into You in that respect, but pushed to characters who are in a social situation that creates even more pressure.
For Shirogane, it was a necessity to sacrifice a part of himself, to constantly surpass himself in order to reach his level and hope to stand up to this high bourgeoisie. A pressure which pushes him to the effort, effort which is not vain, but whose intensity comes to destroy him, until exhausting him mentally and physically.
As for Kaguya, the very strict education induced by his family, forming the elite of the elite, pushed her to an aggressiveness, a contempt of the others and a coldness without equal. Far from the kindness of Shirogane, Kaguya was not admirable. But the reality is that she wore this mask out of fear. Not out of fear of others, but out of fear of herself, fear of hurting others, fear of not living up to the name she bears. But Shirogane showed her another way, he changed her, in her values, her behaviors, her expectations.
And this is where we come to show us what love can bring. So yes, love is scary. It pushes us to change, to question ourselves, and also gives us a lesson in humility. It hurts us, it tortures our mind for days, sometimes even months or years, by making us doubt our ability to bring happiness to the other person, and to be loved in return. And it also leads to a paradox, since wanting to be loved is wishing to be able to be ourselves with the person we love, to drop our masks and show ourselves in all our vulnerability. But the more we love someone, the less we want to reveal our flaws, probably because we are afraid of rejection, but also because we have not learned to love these parts of ourselves. This paradox is the central point of the development of our favorite couple, and it is feelings that speak to us because they are human.
Art & Animation 9/10
As expected for a Kaguya-Sama movie, it was visually fantastic. The colors, the artistic style, the lighting, the creativity in many scenes of the film to increase the comic impact or the tension, everything down to the smallest detail was successful. A real pleasure for the eyes
Sound 10/10
A PERFECT voice acting, great music throughout, not to mention the opening and ending of the film which are fantastic too.
The voice of the mini-Kaguya is adorable, but those who represent her other masks also have a little touch in their voice that differentiates them from the others I think it's great, and the great diversity of emotions that the characters go through allow the seiyus to give their best performances. Kaguya-Sama's ost has always been of excellent quality, and not only is this film no exception, but the music is perfectly integrated into the scenes to increase the emotional impact tenfold
Enjoyment 9.5/10
I had the chance to see the movie when it was released in theaters, the first time I've been to theaters since 2019 by the way, and it was just the best experience ever. The only flaw was that I couldn't scream or pause to breathe because everything goes by at a speed you don't have time for, one minute you're laughing, the next you're stressing about your characters, the next you want to cry, it's a rollercoaster of emotions, truly. Kaguya-Sama is establishing itself as one of my favorite franchises, and it was an exceptional experience.
Overall:
9.6/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Aug 9, 2022
This is how romance anime should be made. Clannad is one of the best romance of all time, and whether you like it or not you can't deny the impact that After Story had on many people, myself included. But if everyone has already heard about Clannad After Story, too few talk about this alternative version where Tomoya Okazaki is not dating Nagisa, but Tomoyo Sakagami, this model student, strong and determined to save the cherry trees in front of the school. Clannad being at the base a visual novel where according to our choices we had the possibility to go out with different characters,
...
the main series was centered on Nagisa's path, and Tomoyo unfortunately had the right to only one 24 minutes episode... and in 24 minutes, KyoAni still knew how to create a complete, coherent, deep and touching story.
Story : 8/10
Yes, I strongly believe that this 24 minutes episode released in 2008 has a better story than movies like Your Name. From the beginning to the end, everything is extremely well done to tell us a complete story, with serious and emotional scenes and other cute and funny ones, a special attention to every detail, in the words of the characters as in their gestures and so on, a very well managed rhythm that doesn't give us the impression to have rushed the story. I would obviously have liked more than one episode to tell us this story, which the visual novel surely does very well, but what made us fall in love with the main series, the spirit of Clannad and its themes, are perfectly conveyed in this episode
Characters: 9/10
The characters of Clannad are human. They have their qualities and their flaws, their desires, their fears, their beliefs and hopes, in short their humanity. Their feelings are conveyed with nuance and their interactions and reactions are relatable.
Tomoya Okazaki is one of my favorite characters of all time for this reason, and it is this Tomoya that I love that I found in this episode, someone honest, funny, someone who wants the best to help those around him, but whose status of "delinquent" and "bad student" brings him down. And when society keeps telling us that we are bad, that we can't help anyone and that our actions even have the opposite effect, that we are just a good-for-nothing with no qualities... we end up believing it, integrating it as a part of us. Tomoya's behavior and his reaction to the critics is so realistic that it's almost terrifying, and I don't know many romance anime where we can so easily identify with the protagonist.
Tomoyo Sakagami, on the other hand, is a strong girl determined to achieve her ambitions, she has the ability to accomplish great things, and appears almost too perfect compared to Okazaki, it puts both pressure on Okazaki to let her fly (and for him to demean himself), and on Tomoyo Sakagami to do what society expects of her. When you have the ability, everyone tells you that you must not let this chance go by, to be part of the "elite", to go to university, to go abroad, to find "someone better", more beautiful and richer... Tomoyo undergoes this pressure, but even if she has big ambitions and the ability to succeed, she knows, thanks to Tomoya, what is the most important. She chooses her happiness, even if it goes against society's expectations, and even if others call it "wasting her potential". Clannad offers us an important life lesson, it reminds us of the essential, not necessarily by telling us directly, but by showing us through every detail of its story, every emotion of its complex and deeply human characters.
Art: 9/10
The visuals are not only beautiful, they are stunning, especially for the time. From the choice of colors to the light and shadows, with an impressive attention to detail, each scene of the episode is thought out, reflected, to best match the feeling they are trying to convey to us. As usual, Kyoto Animation leaves nothing to chance, but what I found most fantastic was the animation of the main characters. A small movement of the shoulder, a look, a facial expression that comes to tell us what the character cannot say aloud. To show their feelings, their love, their fear, we use visuals. KyoAni's works are not just about making beautiful visuals, they use everything they have for storytelling, to convey the message and the feelings they are trying to communicate.
Sound : 9/10
The soundtrack of Clannad has something almost magical, with melodies that have marked me and that will remain among my favorites. The English insert song was perfect for the scene it was used for, so it's great. The voice acting is also good, and nothing to say about the sound design in general, everything is excellent and contributes to the overall atmosphere of the anime.
Enjoyment : 8/10
Clannad is a fantastic series that affected me on a deep personal level and contributed to make me the person I am today. With After Story, the romance between Tomoya and Nagisa was just perfect, and even though I love Tomoyo Sakagami it still makes me feel a little weird to imagine the other paths that Tomoya Okazaki ended up taking in the main route, I reacted the same way when I had to do the other routes than Emi Ibarazaki's in the visual novel Katawa Shoujo, and I would probably react the same way if I had played the VN of Clannad. But even so, I can't help but love this episode, get attached to it, and consider it a masterpiece. Sure, it's just a special episode of an alternate history that won't leave a long-term impression on me like the main series did, but it's a brilliant, beautiful, emotional episode that needs to be seen by everyone.
Overall: 8.6/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Aug 8, 2022
This review contains spoilers in the second paragraph, the rest is spoiler-free
Bubble plunges us into a universe... dreamlike. With its magnificent visuals and a quality ost, we discover an enchanted Tokyo, in an enormous bubble, where groups of young people live their lives to the fullest by doing parkour through the city that has become deserted because it is dangerous. Independent and autonomous, these kids have understood that their paradise is not order and security, but this feeling of freedom while they do their passion despite the danger it can represent. It is almost like a Makoto Shikai movie, like Tenki no Ko, there are
...
so many things to do with this beautiful universe that we quickly get hooked. The story is very poetic, it puts us back in our place, as an insignificant part of a bigger universe, so magnificent functioning in a cyclic way, at all scales. A beautiful but ephemeral story, a meeting, a girl who like the little mermaid met her prince charming, but ends up having to return to the sea and transform herself into foam (here into bubbles). Caught in the universe thanks to the great visuals, one can quickly be charmed by this simple but touching story. But like a dream, as soon as you pay a little attention to the details, you quickly become aware of the inconsistencies, and you end up waking up, and quickly moving on. Bubble doesn't try to do something really deep and coherent in its story, it's far from the talent of Shikai and its deep story of Tenki no Ko, and it's probably because of that that so many people were disappointed by the result. The big flaw of Bubble is its worldbuilding, nothing is explained about the logic of the world, simply because there is none. I'm telling you, it's a dream, with a lot of inconsistencies.
Let's take an example, spoilers ahead. Towards the end of the movie, Shin's prosthesis is perfectly fine to hit the steel of the Tokyo tower AND good enough to continue doing inhuman parkour without any problem, but it breaks when Hibiki jumps off the prosthesis. Also, in the logic of this parkour world they created and cherish together, the group using ultra cheat equipment come from nowhere, cheat, are ready to trick their "enemies" to the point of sending them to be killed in the whirlpool in the water, go as far as kidnapping someone, all that... to make a buzz on the internet, that's all? And they're not forbidden to use their equipment, and then they become nice at the end, only because they were impressed by Hibiki and Uta's performance, I guess. I agree, it makes the visuals in the courses look very nice, and makes the final parkour scene look more impressive, but it's totally lacking in worldbuilding quality.
The secondary characters are reduced to a single personality trait, again far, far away from the complexity of secondary characters like Keisuke in Tenki no Ko, and this beautiful family that lives life to the fullest doesn't seem as real as Ekko's group can be in Arcane. And that comes into play when it comes to making an anime that makes an impression, not just beautiful visuals. In fact, I think the term I used at the beginning, dreamlike, is really perfect to describe this movie. We are enchanted with a beautiful universe, a beautiful dream that comes to free us from this bland reality of the current society, but only a dream, ephemeral, certainly poetic but still rather simple, often incoherent, which evaporates quickly after waking up.
It's still an interesting film that's worth seeing, but you shouldn't expect any masterpiece.
Overall: 6/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Aug 7, 2022
This review contains some spoilers from both the manga and the anime.
TPN has always been a bit special for me, the anime was one of the first I watched and the first season had a strong impact on me, because it managed to create a tension and tell a compelling story like I had never seen before. Emma, Ray, Norman and the other GF kids, but also Isabella, were such well-written characters, in a universe where these humans are just cattle being used as food for demons, to see the kids fighting for the survival of all of them, with the
...
fear of losing a family member and the bond that united all the kids and especially the 3 protagonists, was great. The parallel with anti-speciesism was already obvious and is only reinforced later in the manga, and at a time when I was still discovering a lot about veganism and animal right activism, I couldn't miss this message either. This hope carried by Emma to save all the children without exception, this altruism so pure and disinterested, Norman following his friend by being ready to sacrifice himself for her, the complexity of the character of Ray and all the suffering he endured by knowing the truth about GF and the demons since his birth, all the family of GF with these so adorable and innocent children, without speaking about the genius of Phil who is great. And of course, Isabella, who deep down really thinks she's doing the best and really loves her children, even if it only makes her creepier at first before we discover her past and the suffering she also endured, facing a literal and figurative wall that convinced her that fighting in this cruel world is futile and made her take the path she did, even if she changes thanks to all the children at the end of the manga.
Season 2 was the first anime season where I followed the episodes as they were released, we finally discovered the outside world, the difficulty to survive in it, we discovered Mujika, we learned more about this universe that I wanted so much to discover... then we removed all the best parts of the manga, we botched everything to finish on a slide show. My favorite anime became one of the worst, in one season, the disappointment of seeing all the great things that could have been done before spoiling everything. One year later, I didn't want to hear about TPN anymore, associating this anime to a period I would rather forget, and having discovered a lot of new anime, I found stories that captivated me as much or even more than this first season of TPN, so many unique and beautiful universes, so many human characters.
But I had to come back to TPN one day, because I knew that what I wanted to discover when I saw the second season was in the manga which is well-paced, well-constructed, so I read the whole manga, and with no big surprise it's what I expected. The universe is so rich, so beautiful and at the same time so terrifying, the themes go even further than in the first part of GF, the new characters that we didn't have in the anime are great, and Norman's return seems much more natural, much better brought, and the way his behavior evolves is fantastic. I forgot how much I loved Emma and Ray too. The hunting arc is just amazing, all the characters in it are really great, they manage to show us all the horror of the demons but also all the feelings of the kids locked in this demon hunting ground. The tension that there is at the moment when they apply their plan to kill the hunters, woah, it's really a shame that the anime did not adapt this part of the manga, and then the development of Yuugo...
The end of the manga has a political vision that can't be neglected either, and Emma carries this vision throughout the manga, the rejection of individualism, the idea that our freedom comes through revolution, the idea of rejecting the "merit of suffering" in spite of all the hatred that she can carry towards the demons, because in the end they are like us, they eat like us to survive, and maybe if they had been born differently, we would have been friends. It is our status and our birth that makes us despise, hate or fight our neighbor, but when you think about it, in other circumstances we would not hate the other. The portrait of human society is very clear on this point, individualism, the profit of one over the other, was no longer a viable system following the many crises, revolts and natural disasters they all suffered, and the borders were abolished, but this is only the beginning, there are still a lot of challenges to face, but at least the world was moving forward. In the world of demons, even if the change is not as great, the people are becoming aware that they must also get involved and act in political life. And that is beautiful. A manga ( this popular in addition) that addresses these themes so clearly, this rejection of hatred and this call for solidarity at all levels in which I find myself totally, it was beautiful to see. After, the manga is not without flaws and some things bothered me a bit, even if it didn't prevent me from loving the story. The fantastic and supernatural elements came sometimes a bit too much from nowhere I had the impression, we put things to be able to give reason to Emma but as for the promise by finding the 7 walls, I would have preferred a more rational explanation especially as there were things to be done on that level. The same goes for the ending, the fact of choosing a new queen for the world of demons was maybe a bit of a pity, even if it was still coherent with the story. And then the girl with her wolves too, even if I understand the story around the fact that she loved her "father" who was a demon and that she came to bring this vision, she didn't seem to me to fit into the story anyway.
Finally, the manga gives me the universe that I wanted to discover and that I couldn't with the anime, it's just a pity that I saw the s2 of the anime which spoil me some events of the manga. I can't help but associate TPN to the time I saw the anime adaptation, so my final feeling is not so clear-cut, but without being perfect, TPN is a masterpiece with great themes, complex and endearing characters, a very good worldbuilding, a well-paced story, sometimes moving, very beautiful visuals, and I recommend to everyone to go and read this great manga
Overall:
8.5/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Aug 7, 2022
About a year after the first time, I finally saw Violet Evergarden again, and I need to write about this masterpiece.
This review contains minors spoilers, but nothing that would ruin the experience of the show.
Story: 8.5/10
"Live, and be free. From the bottom of my heart, I love you." These words, the last ones spoken by Major Gilbert to Violet during the last battle where he was declared missing in action, constantly accompany the thoughts of the protagonist, Violet Evergarden. They are so striking, for Violet as well as for us, at the same time so full of meaning and emotion while at the same time
...
seeming so vague and incomprehensible. Does she have the right to enjoy life, she who has taken the lives of so many people? She was only a tool, an orphan unable to understand emotions who only served as a battle doll, killing the enemy without mercy. She only knew how to follow Major Gilbert's orders, so what was the point of being free? And above all, what does "I love you" mean?
The anime seeks to answer all of these questions, through the long, often difficult but above all very human path that Violet takes. It's a journey of learning empathy, it's a realistic portrait of the psychological wounds of war and how to live in spite of its traumas. The episodic format may not appeal to everyone as much, but is perfect for the story the anime tells us. Violet Evergarden is probably one of the best examples of what makes the excellence of the studio Kyoto Animation, managing to build an emotional masterpiece in a world with excellent worldbuilding that makes the world alive, with a story that brilliantly addresses complex and important issues ... and somehow the movie is even better, but that's not the point here.
Characters: 9/10
Violet is one of my favorite characters of all time, and for good reason. This orphan girl who was only good at obeying orders goes through one of the most impressive and human developments I've seen in anime, slowly learning to live and move on despite her past wounds, to understand emotions and feel them herself, to accept reality and be free. Her experiences convey human emotions, her personality is touching, and by becoming an automatic memory doll, she manages to convey all of this and really help others. She had to go through so much to get to this point, going through all the stages of grief, and feeling her whole body burn due to the horrors she committed in the past, but her evolution could not be more touching. But the thing is that it's not only Violet, it's all the characters of the anime, even the ones we only see in one episode, who seem human, complex and touching. All of them didn't necessarily mark me as much and they would have deserved to be given more time, but we still have this impression that they continue to live when we don't see them on the screen, thanks to the excellent worldbuilding which makes the universe realistic. I could go on and on about each character, from Major Gilbert who never considered Violet as a tool, gave her a name and taught her to read and write, to Luculia's difficulty in conveying her feelings to her brother who blames himself for the death of his parents during the war, to the scientist Leon who locked himself up at the observatory hoping in vain for the return of his mother while he dreamed of going out to discover the world, to the war-suffering man wishing to say one last word to his brother, to the -
I could go on and on, and develop much more on each of these characters, because they are complex, all living with their fears, their desires, their faults and their qualities, in short their humanity. In fact, I think that the anime is just perfect for what it undertakes, if I don't put more it's simply because except Violet the others didn't mark me so much on the duration, and that there were only 13 episodes with a lot of characters so very little time to develop them, especially that the people who are opposed to peace deserved a much better development so that we can understand their reasoning and their claims which seemed to me rather legitimate.
Art & Animation: 10/10
Simply the most visually beautiful anime that exists. Everything is perfect, in the animation, the colors, the lights, I often say there is an impressive attention to detail with KyoAni but it is the case, every second is breathtaking visually, in short, masterpiece.
Sound: 9/10
One of the anime soundtracks I listen to most often, with music that is both relaxing and often very emotionally charged, giving an almost enchanting atmosphere to the universe. The characters go through so many emotions and the voice acting is therefore also particularly important to make it all as touching as possible... and it is perfectly done here. The seiyuu of Violet Evergarden, who also did Mikasa Ackerman of SNK, is extremely talented, but it is also the case of the other characters. Anyway, in terms of music, voice acting and sound design, Violet Evergarden is clearly among the best.
Enjoyment: 8/10
At the beginning the synopsis didn't interest me, and I didn't think I would enjoy watching this anime so much that I ended up finding it incredible. It seemed maybe complicated at the beginning to identify fully with Violet Evergarden since her life is so far from mine, but finally the almost perfect realization of the anime manages to make us get hooked to the universe, and it's just great. One thing that always disturbs me is that despite the quality of the anime, I still can't cry in front of an anime, and I still wonder about what empathy is and about some emotions. But as we saw with Violet, it takes time, so we'll see. If Violet Evergarden is such an important anime for me, it's not so much for my appreciation at the first viewing, nor at the one I just did, but more for the movie, and for the reflections I made on the themes that are covered in it, because even if I tend to think it's one of the best anime of all time, in terms of enjoyment at the time, there was always better.
Overall:
8.9/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Aug 7, 2022
Bunny Girl Senpai was one of the most successful anime and for many one of the most striking of 2018. Contrary to what its name indicates, we are on an anime that looks a lot like the Monogatari Series, with a lot of similarities. A male protagonist who meets and helps girls with "problems"/traumas that manifest as something supernatural, the aberrations of Monogatari and "puberty syndromes" in Bunny Girl Senpai, all with often a lot of dialogue, very good characters, and each arc that manages to give us a facet of the difficulties that people can encounter, presented philosophically. Rascal Does Not Dream of a
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Dreaming Girl, released in 2019, is the film that comes to close this story in beauty.
Story : 6/10
Bunny Girl Senpai was a really good anime, but it left its last story incomplete, the one around Shouko Makinohara, who had saved the protagonist years before as a high school girl and that we find in the story as a middle school girl. The film brings a satisfying and overall well-told ending, which will make the fans of the series cry. The explanations of the phenomenon are still very confusing and not everything is explained, but the whole thing is sufficiently gripping to create an emotional and captivating climate, all that ending on a satisfactory end to the series. In short, the story is incoherent but we like it anyway
Characters: 7.5/10
The characters are all great, and the dynamics in their relationships are very pleasant to watch. We stay on something rather classic and nothing extraordinary either, but to see each of the main characters - Mai, Sakuta and Shouko - suffering in front of difficult dilemmas and showing their attachment for others, it was beautiful.
Art & Animation: 7/10
It's clean, it's in the same style as the series and even if it doesn't compete with Your Name/A Slient Voice, the visuals are good. Some flaws in the use of CGI in particular, but nothing that is shocking or that really disconnects us from the film.
Sound: 6/10
The OST is not very good, just a few piano notes in the background, and it's really a pity when we know that a good soundtrack can really make a work much more impactful. Especially since the voice acting is great, which makes the whole thing satisfying but not memorable.
Enjoyment : 7/10
In conclusion, the movie has its flaws and its qualities, but is still very pleasant to watch. It offers a satisfying end to the series, and the successful direction with interesting and likeable characters makes the whole thing very good.
Overall:
6.7/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Aug 6, 2022
This review contains minors spoilers, but nothing that would ruin the experience of the show.
Mushoku Tensei is a long journey in a universe as immersive as it can be terrifying, as beautiful as it is unjust. It's a redemption arc for Redeus, and like any redemption when you want to produce something built and coherent, it's not done in a few episodes, it takes time. Especially for Redeus who starts from far, a traumatized scumbag in his former life following the harassment he suffered, who spent his life locked in his room to jerk off in front of hentai and play
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ecchi games. He is a pervert, mentally stuck on who he was when he was still a teenager, who never could gain in maturity, who never evolved, never dared to take that step. He is a scumbag, who behaves like a scumbag, in his image of women and his vision of consent. He comes from far away, all that is anchored in the deepest part of his being, but it doesn't come from nowhere, he is not a bad guy to be bad, he is a human, much too human in fact that it is almost disturbing. Yes, he is detestable and he commits immoral actions, that's precisely why he is interesting, without that there would be no redemption to be made. Yes, the way we present his vision is disturbing, that is precisely the point. Nothing in the series is left to chance, absolutely nothing, and every bit of ecchi content is there to show this vision he has, a vision that will gradually change during the story. And during this first season, Rudeus evolves, he learns, even if it goes unfortunately through horrible things. And this second part shows how he has matured, how he starts to evolve in the right way. It's only the beginning of a long redemption, it takes time, because again he comes from far away.
Almost everything is perfect in this 2nd part of the season 1 of Mushoku Tensei. It's one of the most immersive anime universes out there, the world is just fantastic, and the journey of these 3 Dead End teammates is just amazing to follow. From the main characters to the secondary ones, all have their flaws and qualities, their backstory, their problems, their desires, all are deeply human. The worldbuilding is just incredible, everything is connected, everything is mastered. The music is just so beautiful, it transports us into the universe, and it's just great. The rhythm is extremely well managed in the whole season, and we manage to go from slice of life episodes where we can settle down and discover this magnificent world and its magic, to sometimes very busy episodes in their content that make the plot move forward in one go... because well that's what life is, and the anime has understood it very well.
A character that I didn't particularly like in part 1 and that is now my favorite character of the anime is Eris. In part 1, she was the angry, not very bearable, violent loli, but now her development is just incredible, and even touching, she became this strong woman, and not only physically, in a few years she became unrecognizable so much she is impressive. But it's not just her, all the characters have grown, during these years, they have matured, evolved, starting with the protagonist, Rudeus. So it's true, he's still a pervert. And it's also true, he continues to have problematic behaviors. But then again, he's come a long way, you only have to remember the vision of concentiousness he had a few episodes back, and that 10 years before he was a traumatized scumbag who jerked off on lolis in pickup games without leaving his house. I was afraid that he would do even more immoral things than the first part, that he wouldn't evolve, and that's a complaint I heard. But no, despite his desires, his view of women is gradually changing, and what used to seem like a harem at the beginning because that's how he perceived it, now it's evolving, really. Now he likes Eris, not as a potential sex object, but as a human, as a fellow member of his group, who he cares so much about that he would be willing to sacrifice himself for her. Even though it was difficult to watch in the first part, now he respects her consent, he moderates his desires, although they are still present.
And we're at the very beginning of a great adventure of redemption, he's not perfect. But he's the best “hateful” character I've seen, clearly. And it's okay to like hateful characters who do immoral things. After all, he's far from being the only one to have committed the irreparable in the anime, and let's not even talk about other anime, Eren from SNK has done far worse than Rudeus could ever hope to do in his life. I haven't even talked about what we learn about Roxy, the impressive development of Paul, Rudeus' father, or the special episode with Eris which is a masterpiece, nor about everything that could really spoil the story in fact, there would be so much to say. The main plot is really just beginning, and I'm really looking forward to discover the continuation of this wonderful adventure, I'm really looking forward to see Rubeus and all the others evolving, improving, growing, maturing, while discovering more about this extremely immersive universe.
Overall : 9/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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