Back to Reckoner's Profile Reckoner's Profile

There isn't really a middle road to be found with Bakemonogatari. It's a show that one may take in much delight or endeavor in extreme frustration. Those familiar with director Akiyuki Shinbo will know why since he brings a style of visuals and direction that is often very surreal and frantic. He meshes together typography with a world of visual captivation that accentuates every action, conversation, and detail. This style of direction is then applied to the extremely heavy, fast paced dialogue of Nishio Ishin's Bakemonogatari which also tends to include a lot of word play. Some may find this combination to be akin to ... the creation of Frankenstein, but the way I see it, the two form an awesome combination that has yielded a strikingly imaginative, engaging, and most importantly, an entertaining experience.

The story of Bakemonogatar revolves around the male character Araragi Koyomi, whom apparently has recently gone through some supernatural events that led him to temporarily becoming a vampire, though he still has some after effects, and how he proceeds to encounter more and more of these types of events where he ends up trying to help several girls get through these problems. The structure of the story thus lends itself mostly to developing its characters in arcs, which is really what this show is mostly about. The dialogues, conversations, and banter of the characters which serves as the main source of entertainment in the show, is also the main tool of character exposition. Throughout each arc the many conversation strings often to converge to propel a couple of main ideas and movements in character relations.

This of course just shows how critical Bakemongatari's cast is to the show, and like the show itself, the characters are representative of its imaginative and engaging style. Some of them are childhood friends, random strangers, potential love interests, or friends of friends, all of which bring something to the table in some form or another.

In particular the main female lead, Senjogahara Hitagi is at the forefront of this. She has several characteristics that make her a memorable, and unique character. Firstly, in contrast with the usual overly sweet cream-puff girl, Hitagi is very witty, frank, and upfront about everything. She also has a tendency for sharp and biting sarcasm. To top it all off, she is self-deprecating. She realizes that her sometimes aggressive and jealous side is a fault. Even though she is nicknamed in the story as "tsundere-chan," and even calls herself one at some point in jest, she really is so much more than that usual tsundere.

I often find that tsundere characters in anime are often dishonest with very everyone around them including themselves, often have very few attractive or redeeming traits, and are also very needy. Hitagi is not like this at all though. She is often more than willing to try and improve herself as a person. Many times tsunderes form what I call doormat relationships (One person is basically grovelling at the feet of the other character) with their love interests, which tends to be a very souring experience, but Hitagi does not. Hitagi and the main lead Koyomi actually ends up forming one of the most balanced and believable relationships around where neither serves as a doormat for the other.

It must be said though that Hitagi is not the only character that seems to flaunt their trope in one way or another, or manages to bring something with just a little more substance underneath. We also have for example the main character Araragi Koyomi. Koyomi while displaying the usual traits of being the kind and helpful main lead, also has a lot of personality about him. He is not so kind to let somebody run over him with words and is willing to trade in biting remarks, and at the same time may even be a bit of a sociopath in nature, whether it be his perversions or treatment of others. So while there is ample reason why many of the characters end up liking him, he is not sold as the perfect human being either, which really in a way naturalizes a lot of the story.

It is important to note this because the relationships in this story are not merely formed on weak pretenses such as random whims of kindness. A lot of it is how the chemistry of the characters work. Characters in the story do not simply become friends in name, but actually learn about and try to understand each other. The conversations are a two way street, where you really get the impression that there two human beings interacting and figuring out stuff about each other.

It is these types of nuances in the characters that really exemplify Bakemonogatari's strengths. The series does not rely on cookie cutter formulas or anything of the sort, but actually goes above and beyond the usual tropes to bring truly genuine story telling which is utterly indispensable to any great story. Must of this is owed of course to just how self-aware this story is and how it makes sure to come across as above the average run of the mill stuff.

In the end, love it or hate it, Bakemonogatari certainly is a unique experience that I think anyone should be willing to try out. It lives or dies by its crazy style, but it really manages to leave an impression one way or another. In my personal point of view, Bakemonogatari has offered one of the most pleasurable and interesting viewing experiences in the last few years.

If one is to look on the surface of Mashiro-Iro Symphony, one would be hard pressed to see anything that was not seemingly riddled with cliche and the usual tropes typical of visual novel anime adaptions. What is remarkable about this show though is actually how it tends to subvert or twist these tropes into a surprisingly pleasant, soothing watch.

With the limitations imposed on studio Manglobe to do this adaption in one cour, they truly deserve a pat on the back for their efforts. The production values are pretty solid, and though the character designs may be simple, they are rather pleasant to watch. But ... most of all, the directing choices for the show were rather great. Knowing they could not cram in an arc for every girl, they decided for the better good to relegate certain characters to the background more. So instead of the typical rushed adaption that has been seen one too many times in the past, Manglobe succeeded in making a well paced, complete product. The pacing of this show is so important though that it is easy to see how this product could have gone easily wrong in the hands of some other, less competent studio.

The pacing and the atmosphere of the show is something that cannot be disregarded. Mashiro's strength is how it creates a soothing calmness for its audience. In a sense, it almost feels like a healing anime, one that you can expect to sit back and relax to as you let the show carry your daily worries away. It is not a show packed with tons of dialogue that one has to think hard to sort through its details, nor does it have chaotic events that require alertness, it just merely treads along at a nice slow pace that makes for quite the pleasant experience.

Still though, this could not be made all true without its cast. Again, what's remarkable about Mashiro is how it turns its tropes and cliches on their face. In this show we have the tsundere that does not quite act like a tsundere, and the sister character who is not played up for some sort of incestuous relation. If they include a fanservice scene, the characters do not ever really overreact in ways typical of anime such as the guy getting clobbered by the girl or the like. The males are not shown to be such perverted pigs that are willing to do anything to get into their pants. While there is a sense of a harem in the show, the male lead is not so incompetent so that you question the girl's sanity for being interested in such a pathetic existence. He exemplifies good character, is extremely kind and thoughtful, and it's quite easy to see how some of the girls would come to be interested in him.

Really, these qualities make Mashiro-Iro Symphony truly special to me. It is a show that does not see a need to bury itself in typically annoying tropes or cliches. Couple this with a lovely cast of really pleasant people, and you get an anime that you cannot help but find endearing. For anyone not opposed to the genre of visual novel anime adaptions, Mashiro-Iro should be a sure winner.

Being the prequel of the well known franchise Fate/Stay Night, Fate/zero certainly captured the attention of many very easily. What is immediately clear about this production though is not only does it match its predecessor, it far surpasses it in every way imaginable. Whether it be the directing, visuals, character exposition, or anything you can possibly think of, Fate/zero manages to move into a class of its own. In the end, this all adds up to a much more complex and interesting tale, which one will certainly not be soon to forget.

The very base of Fate/Zero is no different from Fate/Stay Night. It revolves around ... something called the Holy Grail War, a war between 7 magus or masters (Magic users) who through the power of the grail summon heroic spirits who are people of legend, historical fame, or myth to do battle with each other to claim ownership of the grail which is said to be able to grant the owner any wish. But while the base of this story is pretty much the same as Fate/Stay Night, Fate/Zero is decidedly more dark, gritty, and violent. Any viewer who has taken care to watch the predecessor may initially be disoriented by tonal shifts in the universe, but if one is willing to move past this, there is undoubtedly a rewarding experience awaiting.

There are several things that Fate/Zero does impeccably well, but perhaps one of the most easily enjoyable aspects of the show is the chess like manner in which the war is carried out. The conflicts are enthralling in many ways, but what adds an extra layer of enjoyment to the show is how each move made by the characters is a well thought out, planned action. The masters constantly balance every decision with pros and cons and tries to maneuver through the war in the best manner possible. The war does not consist of mindless brawling and action and it is usually the best prepared individuals that benefit the most throughout the story. As a result, the action in this show is much more layered and hence captivating than that of your standard action show.

Of course though, this show is about much more than seeing entertaining action, and cool magical powers. What the show really is at its heart is a very engrossing spiritual journey. The cast, particularly the masters and servants, are all engaged in a battle that defines their goals, wishes, and motivations in life. They all engage in a conflict for which their fate is solely in their own hands. Each character is forced to understand themselves and their foes as they continue on their quest. Indeed, Fate/Zero is very much so a character study, and a very captivating one at that. This is primarily owed to its excellent cast that surely will manage to intrigue just about anybody willing to look beyond the on the surface elements of the Fate universe.

An interesting note about the cast in Fate/Zero though is that it mostly consists of older men. This is particularly noteworthy because so few anime today dare to make a cast of older men. It showcases just how a story with older cast members, even if they are men, can be quite entertaining and that perhaps the same old tired formulas do not always need to be employed to reach certain audiences. A story does not always have to be about high school kids, and hopefully this show can set an example of that.

One thing that most certainly not be forgotten though in this story is just how much it excels at the simple things. Of course as always, studio Ufotable provides excellent visuals (Though perhaps a bit stagnant at times in animation), the show has very solid direction, a very nice OST as displayed again by the talented Yuiji Kaijura, and excellent writing as expected of the now famed Urobuchi Gen. Perhaps most of all though is that Fate/Zero manages to capture the essence of its source material supremely well. This is made apparent by even the littlest of details such as the way they truly make the servants seem super human in their abilities compared to their masters or the way they frame the dialogues between the characters as they quibble over their philosophies, hopes and goals. Little touches like these just add so much more to the experience and really display how much care and effort are put into the production. This is something I felt was sorely missing in Fate/Stay Night, much to its detriment.

Ultimately Fate/Zero is a high class production. It is something that can be both thrilling, and intellectually satisfying at the same time. It displays a level of care and detail that anyone should be able to appreciate. But most of all, Fate/Zero is a quality piece of entertainment that one will certainly not be soon to forget.


****NOTE****

Fate/Zero is a prequel of Fate/Stay Night. Some of the differences between the two can be quite shocking since really, the Fate/Stay anime was an extremely poor adaption by Studio DEEN. For newcomers into the Fate universe I highly suggest if you can to instead play the Fate/Stay Night game in preparation for watching Fate/Zero if you are interested enough. It is an extremely enjoyable story, that I think is every bit as good as Fate/Zero and I think should really be experienced the way it was meant to be experienced. This means none of DEEN's budget cutting, anime original arc injections, poor scripting, etc. If there is one thing that was made extremely obvious during Fate/Zero it's that Ufotable gets Fate, and DEEN does not. The level of difference between the two studios in their renditions of the Fate universe is truly incomparable as Ufotable's adaption leaves DEEN's adaption in the dust.

Quite possibly the most soulless show to hit the anime industry in a long, long time, Guilty Crown is a true example of "don't judge a book by its cover." Yes, this show by studio Production I.G. may in fact have some of the most impressive TV anime visuals ever, while also having a modestly good OST (Save that god awful OP by Supercell), but once one peels away these more superficial aspects and dives into the core of this production, there is nothing but a hollow shell.

Guilty Crown is supposed to be about Japan in a semi-futuristic setting after some sort of viral pandemic ... that is currently being occupied by foreign powers and how some terrorist organization called the Undertakers is trying to stand up for all the injustices taking place in the country behind the eyes of its citizens. Our main character Shu is some random high school boy who is obsessed with some singer from a band named Inori, who just so happens to be a member of this terrorist organization, and after a chance meeting with her among other things, he obtains something called the King's Power and becomes involved in some chaotic conflict with these terrorists.

It is quite easy coming into this show to be misled into thinking that there is some sort of plot that one would find thrilling, interesting, and emotionally involving. The longer one watches this show though, it becomes quite apparent that it is none of these things. The plot while seemingly complex on the outside, is actually extremely simple minded. The conflicts of the show range from the absurd to the more absurd. Worst of all, the characters of this show are either extremely boring or extremely annoying.

There are a myriad of issues that have gave rise to these failures during the course of this show, and they're easy to name, but most of all I would have to say that they mostly stem from the terrible cast.

The main character Shu is especially annoying in this cast. His motivations in the story are ill-explained, his internal conflicts are not given nearly enough exposition for the audience to understand him, and several times throughout the story he treads the line of coming off as little better than an ass hole. At times he is angsting to the audience about not going rambo on some military police, and at other times he is complaining when he discovers that the female gender actually does possess the concept of individualism. I'm not a person who hates angst, or characters that are flawed, or what have you, but this show has done everything possible to make sure that the main character is not only incomprehensible, but also someone extremely revolting. I'm not sure if it was intentional by the writers though, because I can't see a reason to portray one's own main protagonist in such a negative way, especially when at times he comes off incredibly chauvinistic.

Still, Shu is not the only offender here. The female lead Inori comes from a long list of poorly conceived dandere archetype characters in anime (Silent girls who emote very little basically). There is no established reason for the audience to care about her, especially considering that there is no reason to believe she even has a pulse. In a way she is just a doll, a mere object that is supposed to stand there and look pretty. It is hard to believe she is even a main character considering that one has to concentrate really hard to even realize she's there.

The terrorist leader Gai is supposed to be some sort of badass, but everything he does just makes his character look really stupid. He does not seem to care about the future of his terrorist organization at all considering he enjoys engaging in extremely dangerous stunts over and over again without any concern for his or his organization's safety. Perhaps this type of character would fit better in some sort of shonen action show, but considering how seriously this story takes itself, one can't help but feel that everything he does is way too over the top. This person apparently can take down giant mechas by himself, dodge near nuclear scale explosions standing still, and charm any girl he wants just because he can. It is especially overbearing for the show to really try to make you think he's really cool.

The worst side of the cast is definitely the villains though. Any subtlety in storytelling that one might expect form this sort of show is tossed out the window as this setting is divided into white, black, and more black. Some of the villains are downright insane. The overall seriousness of the show takes a huge hit as a result. It is hard to take a plot seriously when you have bulging eye crazy villains beating up poor women in the slums. To top it all off there is a very prevalent xenophobic attitude in the show, which can be seen in all these villains, but especially the one named Dan who is some big shot evil American dude apparently. This sort of attitude is definitely not helpful for Japan, and is not very flattering to have your show perceived as being a bit racist in portrayal.

More or less the rest of the cast is of the same poorly written shtick. They're extremely cliche and archetypal, which leads most of them to either being boring or annoying because the story does nothing to make the character feel like they have life or feeling. There's nothing relateable about them, nor is there anything about them that the audience can use to see that they are just more than their character archetype. In the end the characters come off as a sign of extremely lazy writing in the show, or a desire of the creators to pander to every audience imaginable in an attempt to grab as much cash possible, or perhaps both. Frankly, it just makes for a very nauseating experience.

More generally, even beyond the characters, the show just doesn't have anything compelling going for it. The plot has this weird dichotomy where it is wanting to be taken as seriously, but at the same time does everything in the most over the top manner that can't help but make one roll their eyes over each scene. A show that uses the rule of cool effectively isn't bad, there's been plenty of examples of anime in the past that have done this, but because of this weird dichotomy, the attempts to employ it here just fall severely flat. Perhaps again it is the fault of this cast, but it is also this incredible misuse of the setting for this story. I think placing this story in a much more fictionalized world would have helped it tremendously for one thing. Still, every episode seeks to top itself, no matter how ridiculous it is getting, and it is hard to believe that this should be a good thing for a show of this kind.

The plot also has very distracting elements at play, in particular, very poorly used and unsubtle fanservice. Several times throughout the show, even in the serious action scenes, the audience has to bear witness to blatant fanservice that comes off enormously tasteless. Things from females butt tapping computer screens in body suits, to boobs swaying in a very sexualized manner after physical violence, are just very distracting to a show's enjoyment when the show does not seem to be about this kind of senseless fanservice. It again just feels like a money garb in this show to pander to a certain kind of audience in this show in a very disgusting manner. The worst and most blatant example of it is Inori's outfit that shows so much skin that it ends up just looking hilariously stupid rather than hot and appealing. Honestly everything portraying the females in this show just seems extremely sexist. The female characters feel little better than sex dolls.

Without making this too long winded, I think I can safely say that Guilty Crown is an amalgamation of all the worst aspects of modern anime industry. This is the type of show that reminds me of why I went away from American TV shows in the first place and it makes me very sad to see the same sort of attitude being placed into anime. For a Production IG show, this is an incredibly disappointing affair.

Like other PA works animes in the past, Hanasaku Iroha has managed to provide quite the unique experience, but this is not necessarily a good thing. If I were to sum up the idea of this anime, it could be put quite simply as learning to love your work. It is a fairly down to earth idea, and I would have been hard pressed to imagine that I would be coming into a show with such an identity crisis as this one.

The story begins with the main character Ohana being forced by her mother to move in with her Grandmother who happens to be the ... very strict owner of a hot spring inn. Being forced to work for room and board, Ohana decides to do everything she can to make the most of her life.

The series really started out quite wonderfully as a very promising coming of age story. It had top notch visuals and had a compelling enough premise to get behind our main character Ohana as she tries to "fest it up." The problem is that this show had an odd balance between trying to be a drama that could be taken seriously, and a story that often disgraced its cast in favor of some not so great comedy. This would surface as soon as episode 3 in the show where all of a sudden the show is injected with odd fanservice and the cast is beaten with a stupid stick.

I do not have a problem with trying to have comedy in this show, but in a story that tires to take itself seriously it should never come at the expense of each character's dignity. One of the best representatives of this in the series is the character Minko, who is supposed to be a very moody, but beautiful girl with a one tracked mind of fulfilling her quest to become a chef. Unfortunately, her mannerisms and actions often lacked grace and style, so she often just came off as an unnecessarily angry and unlikable person. The balance of her character definitely became better as the show went along, but the handling of her character was pretty poor and led to several awkwardly bad moments in the series.

Still though these problems usually came at the expense of the male cast rather than the female cast, which made Minko look good by comparison amazingly enough. Throughout the show this anime had a penchant for showcasing males to be far more incompetent at everything they do compared to their female peers. Ohana's uncle Enishi is always shown to be an incompetent fool who could never compare in ability to his mother or his sister when it came to running the inn Kissuiso. The cook Tohru is first shown to be a serious chef, but then is often displayed as an insensitive, bumbling fool. Ohana's romantic interest in this show, Kou apparently only ever knew the method of inaction in his one sided romantic relation and preceded to waltz around in melancholy the whole time.

As far as the female cast went, Ohana's character was the shining star of the entire show, and I would be hard pressed to find someone who actually dislikes her character. Her little phrases like "fest it up," or "sparkling" would become trademark aspects of her character that both the cast and audience would come to love her for. A character once said in the show that the "Kissuiso is fun because she's there" and I could not agree more. Without her character, I doubt this show would have ever worked at all. She was a bullheaded girl who often charged into a chaotic world. She would constantly butt into people's problems and try to fix everything up. The cast would label her as inconsiderate for doing so, but this inconsideration is precisely what made her character so likable.

Much like some of the characters, the plot often was handled very awkwardly. The main plot threads consist mostly of Ohana's romantic troubles with Kou as she moved from Tokyo, Ohana finding a place for herself in this new life of hers as she learns to appreciate her work, and the impending crisis that is the Inn's future, both financially and in leadership. This was all clear at least by the very end, but it often got side tracked.

Several of the arcs throughout the show seemed to be pointing in different directions altogether. Worst of them all was the ones involving Enishi. Several times we are led to believe that he would take leadership of the Inn, and truly lead it in a good direction only to find out that he is incompetent and incapable of doing so. Many times in the show we are shown Ohana making progress in her new life in certain arcs, but then it flips around and paints her as a distressed person who does not know quite what she wants to do coupled with huge self-esteem issues.

These are but two examples of the sort of backpedaling and moving forward at the same time that this show constantly treads, which really does become tiresome as it goes on. It is hard to know what the anime is quite trying to show us or tell us. Sometimes it hamfists certain messages through that are very disagreeable, and other times does not capitalize enough on the good things it's trying to tell. Despite this of course, the main message of this show always was learning to love your work, and that is something I think anyone can get behind.

In considering the production values of this show I must say the visuals were very good as always for a PA works show, but not perfect. I did not absolutely love the character designs, but they were not bad. The audio side of this show on the other hand had lots of issues. Too often there was a complete absence of a BGM track to set the mood and pace of this show properly. The few tracks they did have were quite forgettable.There is nothing wrong with utilizing the magic of silence in a show, but it needs to be used properly, something this show definitely did not do.

Despite my tone, this anime was not all bad, and I definitely found entertainment throughout it even if at times for the wrong reasons.. The anime's best moments were definitely at the start, the very middle, and towards the end. There were enough highs in this series for me to look upon it sort of fondly. It was indeed a unique experience, precisely because it was such an infuriating mesh of love and hatred.

I can justify this anime as a passable "good" watch, but nothing more. It was much too flawed and mishandled for me to consider it anything more. It started beautifully and ended beautifully as a series I must say, but there were many problems between the beginning and end points to drive me more than a little crazy. This leads me to believe that this show should have been 1 cour, but alas PA works seems like they have some issues on reigning in their productions properly as this is not the first example of an anime with tons of potential just not doing enough with it. I definitely would not say this anime is a waste of one's time, but it also is not something that I would jump to recommend to most people.

Coming in as a Western anime fan it is hard to not be skeptical of an anime about superheroes. Considering our own comic book industry and how it contrasts to anime in general, I almost would never consider the possibility of an anime successfully capturing the world of superheroes. Perhaps this is why I consider Tiger & Bunny to be one of the most pleasant surprises I have seen in quite a while.

Tiger & Bunny is a story about corporate sponsored superheroes called "Next", essentially mutants like those of X Men, who are constantly filmed on television in Sternbuild City. By engaging in heroic acts ... the superheroes are given points in a contest to determine who the "King of Heroes" is, and by doing better in the competition the heroes provide better advertising for their sponsors.

The premise of the story lends itself to an interesting twist on superhero ideals. This is best represented by our two main characters Kotetsu who is known as the superhero Wild Tiger, and Barnaby, who Kotetsu nicknames Bunny. Kotetsu starts out the show as an old and washed up hero who believes in superhero ideals that are considered old fashioned by his peers. He values justice above all else, makes saving people his top priority, and could care less about what the sponsors want.

On the other hand, we have Barnaby, or Bunny, who got into the hero business as an avenger seeking justice for his parents' death. At the start he only really cares about earning points in the hero competition, and doesn't place that much importance on Kotetsu's old fashioned ideas, and does everything to appease all the sponsors. The partnership that Barnaby would form with Kotetsu, Tiger & Bunny, would go on to be the defining relationship of the show. Their clash of ideals would lead both on to balancing each other out, as well as serve as one of the most amusing sources of comedy throughout the entire show's run.

It should be stressed that Tiger & Bunny, while not afraid to get serious at times, is overall a very fun and entertaining story about superheroes. The character interactions and development are often very amusing, and the world is built up magnificently. While also having nice action scenes throughout the story, Tiger & Bunny's greatest strength would definitely have to be its character building. As a great character driven story, the cast ends up being very likable and well made.

Another remarkable aspect of this show is its seamless ability to blend Western superheros into the world of anime. The costume and abilities of Kotetsu as Wild Tiger are all too familiar of more Western heroes, as are the villains like Jake Martinez who capture the Western psychopathic antagonist really well. I give the show a lot of praise because of its ability to connect to me as a Western fan, especially when so many animes are so confined in the Japenese markets.

Overall, the show just manages to be a fun, and adventurous tale. It is one of the least offensive shows out there, and can be recommended to almost anyone. This show is perfect for anyone who gives a damn about superheroes, but is also compelling enough for almost anyone to enjoy. I hope to see more anime like this in the future.

Some of the best stories have always been about the most simple things in life, and in this respect Usagi Drop manages to excel greatly.

The story of Usagi Drop revolves around the 30-year-old Daikichi who decides at the funeral of his grandfather to adopt an unwanted and illegitimate 7-year-old child, Rin. The very premise of this story lends itself to quite the heart warming tale, but the story is at the same time undoubtedly mature. In a nutshell, Usagi Drop is a story about parenting, and the societal worries and responsibilities that come with parenting, and in this case, adopting a child. As it ... so happens, Daikichi's act of kindness would lead to a complete restructuring of his day to day life.

Some of the most enjoyable aspects of Usagi Drop are its explorations of some of the simple responsibilities being a parent entails. Things like feeding your child, taking your child to school and trying to pick her up at a reasonable time, shopping for school supplies, shopping for groceries, and much more. These are all simple activities and tasks for most people that we take for granted, but become all the more complicated with additional layers of consideration when raising a child. Usagi Drop manages to bring up issues like these and more generally in a a very interesting manner.

Furthermore, Usagi Drop never becomes heavy handed in its approach. It does not show the process to be without reward, nor does it overly idealize parenting. It tries to present the topic realistically, and does not try to ham fist any sort of hidden agenda. Rin is very cute and/or moe, but the anime never tries to overly exploit her in a way that many more otaku shows would. It is just a very genuine story, that really feels like it came from the heart of the creator. All the meanwhile, it manages to blend enough fun and comedic moments to make this a very entertaining experience, but again in a mature manner.

Like the story itself, Usagi Drop just has such genuine characters. The interactions of the characters are never expressively overly dramatized, and they just seem to feel very natural. Daikichi and Rin in particular have a very enjoyable relationship that really resembles that of a father and daughter. Generally empathy is felt for Rin and Daikichi throughout this story both because Rin is such a great young girl in an unfortunate circumstance, and Daikichi is an incredibly admirably human being for taking on child rearing head on.

For the production side of things, Usagi Drop excels at visuals while it's audio merely sufficed. The audio was not bad certainly, but nothing really worth remembering on that front other than perhaps the OP, which really manages to brighten your mood upon entering each episode of the show. The visuals deserve praise though. The water color effects reminiscent of another Notamina block show, Wandering Son, are very pleasing and they generally compliment the tone of the show very well. Usagi Drop's style is something I would love to see in more shows.

Usagi Drop manages to cement itself as one of the best slice of life shows around. It manages to transcend anime in the fact that I think the story is one that can be enjoyed by both anime and non-anime viewers alike. The story is very heart warming and provides many uplifting emotions throughout its run. It is a show I would recommend to almost anyone, and it is definitely deserving of much accolades.

As the latest visual novel anime adaption to come out in the anime industry, Steins;Gate goes above and beyond what many of its contemporaries have accomplished.

The main plot of Steins;Gate revolves around the experiments and activities of a certain group of friends who managed to customize their microwave into a machine that could send text messages into the past, and the resulting consequences of their actions as the organization SERN, researches on time traveling, tries to capture them.

While Steins;Gate is a science fiction story, the core of its story was always the characters and it was the science fiction elements that acted as its framework. ... Most of the story is built upon highly entertaining interactions, as well as wonderful character development that really manages to come through to the audience and elicit empathy. As the story goes on, one cannot help but feel the desire to root for the cast to succeed.

On the production side of things, the budget certainly could have been better, as the anime's visuals sometimes lacked the impact I felt they deserved. The audio was generally very good, but not spectacular. What really shined through though was the quality of directing. The way the camera moves around during certain climax scenes, and the use of the few stand out songs from the sound track managed to bring out the best of certain climax moments throughout the show's run.

Another thing that most certainly should not be forgotten is the quality of the voice acting in this show, especially that of Okabe's voice actor, Miyano, Mamoru. Miyano's performance in this show seriously deserves a standing ovation. The sheer emotion he managed to express in his role was chilling. It really helped in engaging the audience during key scenes.

One thing that must be appreciated in this anime is studio White Fox's ability to adapt the story well. Too many times in the anime industry have we seen a combination of poor planning, production values, and an inability to stay faithful to the source material ruin an otherwise quality source material. Coming into this anime it was hard to not be wary of the same problems arising due to its predecessor Chaos;Head being an absolutely terrible adaption.Thankfully, Steins;Gate manages to trump the usual issues of many other visual novel adaptions, earning its place as a very enjoyable anime.

Overall, while Steins;Gate is not a hard core science fiction story, it manages to bring enough intrigue plot wise while balancing out a very endearing character driven story. The amusing character interactions manage to make sure that the story never becomes stale, and its build up to its most shining moments always draws you in for more. Steins;Gate has it least in my book earned its way as one of the most impressive visual novel adaptions to date.

In a future where every family is in possession of androids, for which all basic human chores and tasks are delegated to, how does the relationship between humans and their robotic creations pan out when androids seemingly have artificial intelligence?

This isn't a new topic in the science fiction genre by any stretch of the imagination, but as a film Time of Eve manages to be a huge breath of fresh air with both its approach and execution to the topic.

The setting of the film mostly takes place at a cafe, called Time of Eve, where inside the cafe there is a rule that there will ... be no discrimination between humans and androids. Because of this rule, the androids which enter the cafe do their best to be like human beings, blending in with all the customers. Normally androids are not allowed to act like humans in the outside world, but the rules of the cafe dictate that they must.

It is through this setup that we explore the story of two friends Rikuo and Masakazu, and how they manage to deal with the unsettling notion of androids acting independently of humans and pretending to be humans in a way that makes it impossible to distinguish them as androids. Throughout the story we are constantly shown how androids are put into a demeaning, subservient role for the humans and it really raises some interesting questions to its audience. Can human beings learn to accept artificial intelligence as equals to themselves? As beings worthy of the respect we can give other human beings? Or are they merely to be reduced to mere slaves? I give Time of Eve considerable praise for its spectacular job at expressing these themes and managing to make its audience actually think while watching.

While of course the film raises interesting philosophical questions, it also is merely a great drama. Too many scifi works get caught up in trying to show off lots of action rather than just explore interesting aspects of its setting. Time of Eve keeps its focus very simple, a slice of life story about humans and androids in the future, and it is incredibly successful at it. The character interactions and the emotional highs of the film all strike the right notes at the proper times. Everything just feels very genuine and fulfilling. It manages to pass through moments of sadness, laughter, dark moments, light moments, and offer an overall very satisfying experience. In particular, the final moments of the film are very touching.

On top of all this is a generally pleasing to the eyes art work and animation. The camera work is absolutely spectacular. There are several shots in the movie that convey so much emotion without even a single word. Even the completely mechanical looking androids shined in moments through mere clever camera focuses. It's hard to not be impressed by the director's techniques throughout the film.

If there is any reason why I didn't give this movie a perfect score, it is because there are many questions it leaves unanswered, though this may be on purpose. While the film is great as a standalone, the plot going on the side of all these things was too interesting to just not explore it (Though there are several indications out there that there will one day be a sequel). If some more closure is ever given to this film in the future, I'd have no qualms calling it a master piece.

There are many times in anime where I've been left dry simply because I was out of the target audience. However, there is a time, rare that it may be, that an anime is created with absolutely no target audience in question. Unlimited Blade Works is lucky that I don't consider it a movie because it would be one of the worst, if not the worst anime movie I have ever seen. Unfortunately compiling a slide show of random fights without any well established context, background information, plot, scene transitioning, and character development does not qualify as an actual movie.

First thing's first though and for ... an animated film, Unlimited Blade Works has pretty poor production values. This should not come as a shock, seeing as this is studio DEEN who are notorious for budget cutting anime, but it is nonetheless disappointing. Several times through the anime there is a constant abuse of distant still shots and camera rotation. The designs were mostly alright, but the worst issues are around Archer and Shirou's UBW, and Gilgamesh's Gates of Babylon where it initially renders the swords properly, but then turns them into glowing sticks flying across the screen. Personally, this is not appealing and is yet another corner costing by DEEN.

The true problems of the movie are definitely the direction and content. Whoever thought that adapting a 10 plus hour long visual novel route, longer than the Fate route adapted in the original anime, was a good idea is extremely naive. It was clear from the onset that this movie could only ever serve to be a taste of this story to the original anime watchers, and/or a treat to the original VN players with the animation of many of UBW's few key scenes. But the execution of this entire film by DEEN was just horrible.

Frankly, for any newcomer to the Fate/Stay Night universe, I'm not even sure how this film was in anyway comprehensible whether it be the plot, the characters, or even just the action. Many of the events of the first episode or two of the original Fate/Stay Night are quickly glossed over in but a mere few minutes, and to exasperate the problem, the plot never slowed down, if even for a moment. Each new scene began with a new character showing up, followed by a fight, concluding and then doing the same thing all over again in the next scene. There was no real established context, and each fight was fought for vaguely defined reasons at the beginning of the film (That one would only understand if they saw the original anime or played the VN).

This is in no way, shape or form to show a movie. This is but a slide show of events. And what's worst, these events are not even a treat to the VN fans since they muck up so many of the plot details, that one cannot help but feel enraged. Whether it be how they disproportionately stronger Shirou is in the movie compared to the VN, the way Shirou and Archer fight, the quick conclusions of the battle, or especially the last fight in this movie, everything was so off detail from the VN that no VN player would be able to truly enjoy this anywhere near the level of their respective scenes in the VN. Not to mention that if you were a Rin fan before the movie you would have been severely disappointed by how much interplay between Shirou and Rin was cut out in this film as well.

Perhaps some of the original anime waters could have managed to find some enjoyment in this film (Without any VN knowledge), but I can't imagine it can be seen as anything but a huge fan service movie with many random fight scenes between their beloved characters. It is my opinion that no matter what, this movie has to stand up on its own, and it is clear that it doesn't.

Now before I finish, let me break down all the possible target audiences they could have went after, and why in the end, it was for none of them. You have people who have played the VN, people who have seen the original Fate/Stay Night anime, and then you have the people who are entirely new to Fate/Stay Night.

A newcomer would find this movie utterly incomprehensible. An anime only viewer would find this film extremely confusing, borderline incomprehensible as well, but might enjoy the fights to a degree. A VN player would be utterly disgusted with this trash adaption.

In any case, I think it is impossible to view this in anyway as good story telling, or top notch anime productions. DEEN is good at wrecking franchises for sure, and it seems they are no different with Fate/Stay Night.