Back to SargeSmoke's Profile SargeSmoke's Profile

Arifureta, our wonderful seasonal isekai trash of Summer 2019. It is an experiment by the novelist, wondering what would occur if he culminates many different elements of manga and novels to create this narrative, hoping to find success in extracting the most praised aspects in order to replicate said acclaim.

The story follows our optimistic and kind protagonist Nagumo Hajime, as he is ridiculed for his supposedly useless skill by his peer who possesses far superior skills (hmmm... kinda reminds me of a series... *cough* SHIELD HERO *cough* ), he is later betrayed by one of his peers and undergoes extraordinary emotional trauma that damages ... his psyche, he experiences Marie Antoniette Syndrome whitening his hair and becomes more ruthless (huh... wonder where that originated... Tokyo... guru?). Later on, after traversing the many trials in his way that is easily dispatched thanks to the power of [ Overpowered Protagonist ] skill, he encounters a 300-year-old blonde loli vampire (wow, didn't know Oshino Shinobu can traverse across different shows with her abilities) who exists for the sake of fan-service and deus ex machina.

The art is lacklustre, you can immediately tell the show was created as an immediate cash grab by the producers. Many action scenes are laughable, characters are in still-frames as they dodge and weave across the battlefield, like paper cut-outs dragged across the wall. And oh god the abundance of CGI in the action scenes is nauseating, it is to be expected that CGI is used for gigantic creatures and monsters, but even his weapon is animated in CGI, not evening noting how the lack of recoil and reaction from the user whenever he fires is off-putting. The art can look at most decent in calm scenarios and some scenes can look pretty smoothly drawn, but those are seldom.

I commend the voice actor for their great performance, they do express emotions in scenes, but due to the pacing and direction of the show, it had little effect on me. The soundtrack during fight scenes is... everything? Literally, I hear jazz, heavy metal and orchestral in different fight scenes. Very disconcerting, as if the composer does not even know how to compose fitting music and so experiments with very single genre of music, mashing them into every scene. There's no motif connecting any of these soundtrack, so they just feel like a mish-mash of different music. Disappointingly, they are definitely nothing noteworthy, too bland. Have to admit, the opening isn't bad (not the visual, it's piss poor). However, the ending is as dull as the soundtrack. Also, the sounds they used for the monster are the same exact ones you can get from a soundboard... talk about effort.

Our main character is basically if Ken Kaneki and Iwatani Naofumi performed a fusion. A carbon copy of them both, which is so accurate that it bothers me, the author must have been really lazy. His classmates are stereotypical characters such as the kind and caring childhood friend, the hateful and brash bully etc. Extremely forgettable. The loli vampire's personality is created to be extremely clingy and slightly tsundere. Not of the character's backstory, motivation, personality or design is anything to write home about, the protag is made to look as badass as possible because why not?

All in all, the show is your seasonal, typical isekai anime. If you are a fan of the genre, sure go ahead it might temporarily satisfy your cravings. As for everyone else, it is best to avoid this show for something even remotely more enjoyable and memorable than this. As for me, well I will just keep watching till I hit that one episode where I will drop this show enitrely.

"I want to know what love means."

When I first saw the PV of Violet Evergarden, I was completely blown away by the visuals presented. The premise was also very interesting when I first heard of it. A girl trying to understand emotions and feeling through ghostwriting for her clients. Also witnessing the showers of praise that fell on the light novel, it was definitely a must watch for me.

Being brutally honest, the first few episodes of the anime, I felt a little underwhelmed. Although, like all the people said, the show gets much better past the first half. I can understand why the series started ... off in such a way, which is to show Violet Evergarden being an emotionally stunted girl and to set the stone in place for her future character development later on. Being a slice of life, the story is not very cohesive, but that's not the point of this show and it's done extremely effectively.

The point of the story is the adventures of our character Violet Evergarden, who recently awaken after being a ruthless and extremely deadly child soldier during a war that was fought for 5 years. Being on the battlefield all her life, she never understood emotions or feelings and cannot actively express them. As such, she joins a company started by a former soldier who knew the major Violet served under, called CH Postal Service in order to interact with clients to find out what the major during the war Violet served under meant when he said: "I love you".

The visuals are breathtakingly astonishing, I guarantee you there can at least be 5 scenes in each episode that you can use as a wallpaper. The lighting, the details, the scenes, the backgrounds, the actions and the emotions are so effectively drawn. Usually, this kind of quality can only be found in anime movies with their higher budget, so it's easy to be overwhelmed by these visuals. Such fluid animations show Kyoto Animation's talented staff at work and prove that in terms of artistic standards, they are the currently undisputed champion.

The sound is very effective to reinforce the moments in the scene, although not amazingly powerful music like Your Name, the music gets the job done very well. I personally enjoy the OP very much and look forward to it every time I watch a new episode. The ED..... well.... not really my cup of tea.

Also being a slice of life, many of the characters except Violet are quite under-developed. We never really get to explore their thoughts and feelings for more than 1 episode. The reason why I gave such high marks of 8/10 for character, is because of Violet's amazing growth throughout the series, seeing her understanding emotions more and more and changing her mindset is really a sight to behold.

The short stories contained within this series, are more grounded and relatable to almost anyone that experienced love. The feeling of loss, unable to express one's love before it was too late, accepting the death of a loved one. Every short story is executed perfectly even there isn't really anything new. But it delivers its message powerfully and it's relatable (unless you love no one or never been loved, then...). Seeing how Violet relates to these moments makes us more empathetic towards her and reinforces her development.

My final thoughts. Violet Evergarden I believe is a much watch for almost anyone that is willing to experience the many stories that they can find themselves similarly happening in real life, and how a fictional character learns and grows from these experiences. As one that had experienced many of the same feelings the characters in each episode felt concerning love, I can be more relatable to this show and in the end, cry much harder than I thought I would.

Kimi no Na wa, another one of Makoto Shinkai's outstanding and beautiful works.

Story: 8

I have to admit this though the plot at the start was kinda weird. It went 0 - 100 really quickly in a messy way halfway through the movie. From like a slice of life comedy style anime to a very dramatic. I can't say it's bad nor good. But other than that the story was pretty nice and has captivated me in a way to just keep watching.

Art: 10

Kimi no Na wa is no exception to the beautiful art of Makoto Shinkai's films. Stunning and beautiful, the camera angles and ... colours all mix very well together. The scenes are perfect, the background and wide-scale landscapes were also perfect. If you really love artistic style in anime this anime is definitely a must watch.

Sound: 10

The sound in this anime were amazing, soundtrack and songs were played at the right moment every time. They were well-planned and the songs were well written to fit what is happening in a scene. The voice acting for characters were also perfect. They really emphasise their feelings when they talk.

Character: 7

Now here's where Kimi no Na wa has it's downsides. The characters were kinda underdeveloped. There were some unmemorable supporting characters and the main character's relationships seems underdeveloped. Even so, I like the main character's personalities as they do make sense and are likeable.

Enjoyment: 9

I enjoyed almost every part of the anime. All these together creates a very fun ride that starts off kinda slow but at the end, it was well worth it.

Overall: 10

Kimi no Na wa has became one of my favourite animes. I've planned to re-watch this at a later date. But overall, a great story, perfect art and sound, ok good characters and a fulfilling enjoyment. I recommend this to anyone but if it's your first time watching anime, come back at a later date and watch this masterpiece. You will not be disappointed.

Great job, Makoto Shinkai

*SPOILER ALERT* Actually doesn't even really matter
Divine Gate... When I first saw it I thought this would be like the newest shounen 100+ episode fairy tail anime... I was absolutely disappointed with what was presented here though. I'm a guy who enjoys the shounen genre because I really like seeing people getting stronger overtime to overcome obstacles. But this is not shounen, it's overhyped disappointing mess.

Story 1/10

Story? What story? Did you come here for a story? You should turn away before your mind will shut down or explode. All serious though, the story is just a mess... You understand what happens then something completely strange ... then happens, which is unrelated to the previous event that happened the last episode.
The first few episodes are flashbacks which are unrelated to each other at all. Then they jump to different things and different things like training which end up fighting some mutants which are then forgotten for the rest of the series.
The first like half of the series is about stories that have like 0 connections to each other. But the last half albeit connected, are still mumbo-jumbo like people that are briefly talked about previously came out of nowhere and then immediately killed off.

Art 7/10

Now I must say the art is above decent, it's pretty nice. Designs are good, fight scenes are good, just a little flashy sometimes. But it doesn't really matter if it's a good-looking shit, it's still a pile of shit.

Sound 6/10

The sound is pretty good! The best was the OP! Really nice to listen and I would play the OP after watching the series... (I stopped now though) OST is well-placed in some scenes. But again, nice sounding shit is still shit. (That didn't make the least sense whatsoever, but you get the picture).

Characters 2/10

I favour quality over quantity, but the characters oppose these ideals. They throw characters like a basket filled with rubbish and dropped it in the trash burner. They fill the anime with random minor characters who would later be dead or are so minor you forget about them in around 5 seconds. But I didn't care cause they don't even let me care. They also had 3 supporting characters with the other 3 main characters, but they also are more like minor characters than support cause they have no redeeming qualities.
The main character's personalities are chliće. You got your typical emotionless guy, the guy always wanting to use his fist to do the talking and the girl who is brave yet whiny.. Your typical Naruto, Fairy Tail trio of main characters, adding to the shounen cliche.

Enjoyment 2/10

I would've given it a 1, but the OP gave it higher. I enjoy some fight scenes and maybe some parts that get somewhat emotional but like at times my mind would not care about the situation or is mindfucked on what's going on. Which means I couldn't enjoy this anime well from all this.

Overall, the show got me interested, but in the end, just the biggest and most expected letdown I've seen in anime recently. But what can you expect from an adaption of a mobile phone game to TV? Spare your time and life and do something far better than spending a single millisecond of your time on this show. Don't be like me.

2/10 that's the score I give, summarise my review.
+ Sound is good, OST and definitely that catchy OP
+ Art style is pretty decent, up to good standards for an anime
- Non-existent plot nearly, not connected enough, all messed up and not connected
- Poor character development, 90% of characters I won't give a fuck about
- Unenjoyable
- Extremely cliche plot and characters