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Nov 28, 2023

Trigun Stampede (Anime) add

Not Recommended

Funny

Preliminary (3/12 eps)

Just don't. This show is more of an animation studio's failed attempt to make a showcase for their 3d animation prowess than a piece of entertainment made for your enjoyment.

Hate to have to say this, but while this show might be on par with Appleseed from 2004, this isn't what good 3D looks like in a post Dorohedoro world, and yes, everything 3D moving forward WILL be held to that standard Mappa set.

The animation is passable in the same way the old 3D berserk was passable as a means of watching and listening to a story... there is no story here though. Whoever wrote this ... garbage is about on the same level as the average recommended review in here. They never watched the original, never read the source and probably couldn't be bothered doing so unless they were to be paid to.

The original show came out pretty soon after the manga began releasing which was standard affair at the time and still is to an extent. This lead to the plot of the story only really taking hold halfway through instead of lasting much longer, but I doubt Madhouse was expecting to get a second season so they did what they could...

and what they did was incredible. The whole point of an anime is to take a story and ELEVATE it while bringing it to an easier to consume format. Trigun has a soundtrack that I will STILL listen to in the same way I'll still listen to Cowboy Bebop's soundtrack. It's art was inoffensive for the late 90's to early 2000's but by no means looks bad even by today's standards... and something that is completely unheard of today, it's dub wasn't bad. Beyond that it told a cohesive story even if it didn't have the entire source by the time it ended, it told a great story and it paced itself well enough that you could emotionally invest in characters by the time the real plot started.

So... what does Stampede have going for it to justify a "reimagining"?... Not much.

It is INSTANTLY trying to show all of it's cards. This story can't help itself from just blabbering "look at everything I want to write next" incessantly. It feels like it was made when it was... in the age of TikTok brainrot. It feels afraid that if it doesn't blow it's load right away then it's viewers will get bored and leave. This gives you no time to really give a damn about anyone. "Here's this character. Their only purpose is to tell you that Vash is a good guy. You'll never see them again." "Here's Knives. He is evil because we made him cartoonishly evil without any reason." Characters aren't allowed to be written like people apparently. They've got to be incredibly strict stereotypes.

Speaking of characters, Milly. I guess we have to overcorrect for the film industry and start replacing female characters with males. Milly was a pretty flat character in the original who served as a kind-of ordinary person to keep the group grounded... so let's just replace her with a boring old dude who's sole purpose is to exude "I'm too old for this shit" every time he can, and to exposition dump all of the information we want to convey because showing people is harder than just writing everything into dialogue.

But let's be real, trigun had a great story originally but what cemented it was the MUSIC. I am happy to tell you that Stampede's music is... mid at best.

How... THE HELL... did this studio take Tatsuya Kato and make him compose MID? This is the guy who did music for WorldEnd and Dr. Stone and yet Stampede makes him sound like he never grew after working on Demon King Daimao.

The soundtrack for this show doesn't hold up. It sounds like they told Mr. Kato "make something sound western in space" without even telling him what he was working on... and then probably got his first draft and said "not enough modern instrumentation". It's passable, but compared to that original soundtrack from Tsuneo Imahori it feels more like an insult to the original in every sense of the word. All they had to do was emulate some of that old rock and western feel and it would have been completely inoffensive, but apparently it needs to be overworked and understylized to fit the director's "taste".

So, the real question is... if this is supposed to be Studio Orange's way of selling their 3D animation to licensers and get them to shower the studio in series to work on, then why can't they even decide whether they want to make it hyper stylized or realistic between the over-exaggerated movements and the dull-in-comparison "more realistic" facial animations? Better yet, why can't they even pay attention to details on their props so that things beyond characters, settings and things characters are holding can add to the motion they failed to produce? Just go watch the first episode. See the vehicle bumping around in the desert? Are you going to tell me that a cup full of cigarette butts are going to stay perfectly still like some unity store asset they threw in?

Just go watch the original after you've put the constant feed of tiktok videos down and touched some grass.
If you're craving good 3D animation, just go watch Dorohedoro.
This show, however, is a HARD pass.

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Jun 3, 2020

BNA (Anime) add

Mixed Feelings

Fuck.

Okay, so I think we can all agree furries are degenerates and we don't need them fucking up our weeb shit too. And now our prodigal child has been lead astray.

I hate to do this, but you need some background. Studio Trigger is a "young" studio. It started as some employees of Gainax breaking off to start their own studio. THIS MEANS THE EXPECTATION OF QUALITY IS HIGH, SOME OF THESE PEOPLE ADAPTED GURREN, FLCL, EVANGELION, PANTY AND FUCKING STOCKING. This isn't a studio that just gave us smash hits like Inferno Cop and Kill la Kill, this is a young studio full of veteran ... animators.

So, Trigger started out with Inferno Cop, which is the best anime ever made. It's animation quality alone puts everything else to shame and has never been topped since. Then they made a bunch of flops until Kill la Kill. KLK basically shows their animation style at it's best, lots of skip-frames, over-emphasized movement, overall a fun look. It's what made FLCL great, it's what made Gurren great. It's good.

So, now that you know who made this piece of shit, let's get started.

I'ma get this out of the way first. STORY: 0. Nah, I'll give it a 3, but it's still dogshit. That said there's no source material, and I've yet to be impressed by an entirely sourceless anime. Not even Mappa's attempt recently with listeners worked as a story, and Mappa can do no wrong.

It's rushed, it's predictable, it's a mess. Story's bad, I'm done thinking about it.

That said, the art's a 9/10, the sound's a solid 10, and the characters are a respectable 7.

The art's good. If Trigger made a bad looking show I'm pretty sure hell would have frozen over first. But yeah, it's good because of their style that feels unique to Trigger and some of their previous work with Gainax. I went over why it's good in the pre-face.

SOUND. FUCK. These people made me listen to japanese rock/pop, and even lo-fi, AND I LISTENED LIKE A FILTHY ANIMAL. It bops. The soundtrack carries this anime, sets the tone, and sounds incredibly good. If you want to know why the story's a 3, even though it should be a 1, it's because the anime sets a tone incredibly well and creates a fun atmosphere which props the child's attempt at a story up on some crutches. As far as non-music sounds go, it's good. Some voice acting sounds pretty cringy but I'm not gonna let that force me into a 9/10 despite that soundtrack.

Characters are flat, one-dimensional, they don't have development they just have revelations for the audience. That said, they also have chemistry and the interesting mix along with the non-serious atmosphere of the work allows for one-dimensional characters to play their part. Trigger basically gives every character a role, instead of going too in-depth on just one or two of them. In a more serious show this would be a bad thing. Here it's not.

Overall I enjoyed it very much. I'd still say Trigger should stick to adapting works for a while though, 2020 is not the year that animation studios finally learn how to write their own source material.

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Mar 29, 2020

Dorohedoro (Anime) add

Recommended

Yes. It's entirely cgi (at least for character models). No, it doesn't look like RWBY or some other garbage.

I need a minute so let's talk about how this anime is probably going to take the top spot on Mappa's trophy shelf.

This artstyle is the most experimental thing I've seen... probably ever in an anime. Using beautifully hand drawn backgrounds that show there isn't a lack of budget or talent, cgi models that move well and don't feel like a rubber doll flopping around, amazing hand drawn skins over those models that feel almost borderlands-esque, and of course the occasional still image thrown in for sight ...

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Mar 14, 2020

Somali to Mori no Kamisama (Anime) add

Recommended

Preliminary (10/12 eps)

Alright, I didn't intend to use this account for reviews, was just here to make a list of things I've re-watched/recently watched to help recommend stuff to friends.

That said this anime's pretty under-rated right now because of the lack of reviews, and that's downright heartbreaking for this passion project.

Right out the gate you can tell a lot of love went into this anime, I'm not going to be talking about manga/light-novels or any artists/studios in particular because tbh I haven't read them. They don't interest me, haven't read a manga since FLCL, it's not my specialty.

So, first off, best thing I can do for my ... reviews is give you two other animes that this one "falls between" for story/atmosphere/whatever.

This is somewhere on a spectrum between Mushishi and Violet Evergarden.
- chillwave and shinto-esque feel of Mushishi
- character development style and um, honestly character design in general of Violet Evergarden.

This anime is more of an art piece than it is an engaging story however. It's a mood you want to feel while watching it. If there was another rating option for world-building my story score would definitely be lower but that world-building would be a 10/10. There's a lot of thought and love that went into designing this kind of post-human world, and it feels like all those isekai's that everyone loves these past few years.

Art-wise this anime is gorgeous. It's not as free flowing or colorful as something like mob-psycho, but it can really set a scene in some vibrant colors and looks beautiful the whole time.

Sound... Honestly I've got nothing against what it does. technically it takes full advantage of stereo audio during scenes, the music is fitting, and the voices are for the most part pleasant to the ears (I've been watching subbed, can't speak for what any of the 8 english-speaking voice actors in existence have been doing for it but I'm sure the studio's putting as much quality into that as they are in the art).

Characters... is really where I hit an impasse. There's two main characters. Sometimes-generic and sometimes-too-smart-for-their-age child, and unfeeling-but-learning-emotions robot. Honestly they're why I rated characters at a 7. Because for the most part the side characters and their stories are where this anime can shine.

As far as enjoyment, it entirely depends on what you like. This is subjective as all hell and I personally deeply enjoy what this anime is doing. If you're the kind of person who enjoyed shows like Mushishi, Violet Evergarden, Magus's Bride... maybe there's a bit of Girl's Last Tour in there... then you're going to enjoy this one.

Which is why I'm giving this one a 10. Yes, I should give it a 9 but I think there's enough in the art and world-building put into this to say it does everything it's trying to do perfectly. It's a chill anime with a bit of emotional exploration and occasionally a bit of tension. Which may or may not change next Friday into a chill anime that builds into a lot of tension and an exploration of how far a father-figure will go for their daughter, who knows?

Obviously the season's not over, and I don't see them quite wrapping the story up in one season with only two episodes left. That's probably fine. Expect a season 2 to get announced and never actually happen, and just enjoy the ride.

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