- Last OnlineFeb 25, 6:37 PM
- GenderMale
- LocationDuluth
- JoinedMay 9, 2015
Also Available at
RSS Feeds
|
![]()
Dec 27, 2024
Shinsekai Yori is weird. It's great but it nevertheless feels like a disappointment, as it had the potential to be the best anime of all time.
The anime was produced by A1 studios, which is a mediocre studio that blundered the production. The visuals are plainly bad, the character designs are very bland, and the directing is atrocious. The footage was edited very poorly, and in some cases it looks like some scenes that are necessary to understand the sequence of events are removed; this probably should have been a 30-40 episode anime or so. The camera hangs around at arbitrary angles, which feels a little
...
awkward to watch but isn’t a huge complaint in its entirety. In addition to the poor directing, there are some timeskips, some of which are necessary but there are too many of them and skip over too much character development.
This poor production seems to be notable in the first 4 episodes - it’s very difficult for me concentrate on what is actually happening for reasons that aren’t known to me. Fortunately, the events of the story attract the viewers attention themselves, so the poor directing doesn’t end up making a big difference in the long run.
[spoilers]
Regardless of the poor directing, the script itself is great, as it comes from a somewhat successful Japanese sci-fi novel. The script tells the story of a group of children who grow up in a semi-dystopic society with psycho-kinetic powers. They are given the ability to think freely (though this is not known to them) and eventually learn the dirty secrets of the society they live in. After some time and necessary buildup, a rebellion led by rat people against the humans starts. This is somewhat justifiable from a moral perspective, as the humans treat the rats kind of like the way the Nazis treat the Jews. This ultimately ends in the defeat of the Jewish rats and the victory of the honorary aryans (hurr hurr hurr). The story ends with the main characters participating in the dystopian society voluntarily and mercifully killing the leader of the rat rebellion.
[spoilers]
The plot itself doesn’t sound that impressive when I give it such a short and dirty summary, but what I was trying to communicate were two things. One, the series subverts the traditional dystopic narrative where the main characters fight against society by having the main characters fight for it. Two, that there is no definitive “good” or “bad” guy - yes the humans treat the rats poorly, but they are arguably superior to them, so whether that is right or wrong depends on you.
Given that this is an older series, it got a lot of negative attention for the depiction of yuri and yaoi, which I find kind of stupid. For those who enjoy the finer things in life, this anime lacks the kind of trashy humor and fanservice that plagues the industry, making it an easy recommendation for new viewers or those who are script-focused fans.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
What did you think of this review?
Nice
 0
Love it
 0
Funny
 0
Confusing
 0
Well-written
 0
Creative
 0Show all
![]()
Dec 27, 2024
The first half of the anime is Mahiro and Yoshino running away from assassins in a post apocalyptic magical world to find the killer, largely consistent with the initial premise.
In the middle, there are about 4 entire episodes dedicated to one scene where Mahiro and Yoshino face of against Samon, a relative of the princess who they plan to exploit for information on Aika’s killer. Here, I find the same mistake that Chaos;Child made — they layered too many plot twists and reveals on top of each other and dragged out the confrontation too long.
From this conversation, we learn that there are two trees
...
which enable magic: Genesis and Exodus, the former which is protected by the princess and the latter which is protected by Samon and his clan. The princess and Samon accuse each other of trying to destroy the world, each with their own compelling narrative and it is not obvious from the outset who is right.
As the information starts trickling out, it seems obvious which tree is the bigger threat, and slowly but surely all characters begin to turn on that tree. Now, the goal has shifted from finding Aika’s killer to destroying the tree.
This anime deals with mystery quite well — it tricks the viewer into believing that certain events will happen (e.g. Mahiro and Yoshino going gay for each other, characters potentially turning on each other, or certain deaths happening) and then taking a different direction. Sometimes it settles for a different type of mystery: a character is unaware of something that other characters in the series as well as the viewer knows — the unknown is how said unaware character will react.
I also have a lot of negative things to say about this show — the time travel logic is messy, a few things were not properly explained at the beginning of the anime, the action and magic are 2nd rate, a few scenes are awkwardly written, and it references Shakespeare plays way too often, which I found to be unnecessarily pretentious; a fault which appears in other areas of the series as well.
On an objective level, the main characters are good, but I feel like something is missing from them. They feel kind of lifeless despite being multidimensional, nuanced in personality, and having extensive backstories. Another reviewer noted that it was difficult to identify as any particular character, Mahiro is too overtly aggressive and Yoshino is too muted.
Other reviewers found the princess’ crush on Yoshino to be childish and immature. I thought that was kind of the point — the anime was too self-aware about this fact. Raising this issue reflects more poorly on the reviewers than anything; perhaps they have their own hangups about love and youth that causes them to feel pain upon seeing a young, beautiful teenage girl in love.
A few times the series has scenes where a character does something slightly out of place and then a different person will feel compelled to comment on that action. It feels too insecure on part of the authors, like they felt like they were acting too out of character, when in reality these deviations did not feel that unexpected. Even Yoshino and Mahiro’s numb response to learning who Aika’s killer was felt appropriate.
In terms of production, everything feels on point: the character designs, the background, the music, and whatnot. All of the faults here are entirely in the script.
All in all, I would say the show works. I tend to get bored easily by series that are too reliant on dialogue, but I found this to be an entertaining watch all around.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
![]()
Dec 6, 2024
I’m a big fan of the writer Chiaki J Konaka, who is most well-known for his work on Serial Experiments Lain and his socially undesirable political views. Personally, I appreciate his work on Texhnolyze the most, a “Nietzschean” post-apocalyptic series about an underground city where several factions compete for power.
So I figured I would try watching Ghost Hound, which was written by Konaka and produced by the guys who did Ghost in the Shell -- a dream lineup, frankly. The concept sounded fine as well: a few teenagers who have issues with their past explore the line between the phyiscal and spirit world.
The
...
problem? It sucked.
First, there is not enough antagonism: there are occasionally threats or fights, but there is never a consistent source of tension or conflict. The protagonist is also fairly boring: both in visuals and personality. Combined with the fact that things happen too slowly in general, this leads to an overall dull and boring watching experience, despite the fact that the mysteries in the series are fairly compelling in their own right.
In my notes, I wrote down that the art and sound were both great, but both failed to leave an impression on me 2 months after writing them.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
Apr 30, 2023
My thoughts on Escaflowne are very simple. It is something that could have been good, but unfortunately the budget was cut and the plot moved way too quickly all of the time. Even if the other parts of the series are of high quality, this nonetheless completely ruins the experience for me. If you like extremely fast paced anime, then you've definitely found your recommendation. Otherwise, I wouldn't recommend it. The theme of revenge is also very overdone; I don't think this needs to be expanded upon.
Numerical rating:
Visuals and sound - 7
Value - 7
Script - 4
Characters - 7
Enjoyment - 4
Overall - 6
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
![]()
Jan 8, 2023
Review for S1/S2:
Fate/stay night is probably the best series you can possibly create with terrible writing. It feels odd to give this a 7 but I truly think it is the most fitting ranking.
This anime has what I call the villain pussy disease. When the villains have the upper hand, they always retreat because of some stupid reason. Shirou summoned swords and now he's too scary. Ilyasviel doesn't want to fight anymore. Kotomine just STOPS PAYING ATTENTION. Fuck you that's stupid.
On the other hand, FSNUBW is rather enjoyable to watch in other ways. The main cast work well with each other and develop to
...
a reasonable degree. Archer in particular was a treasure to watch. The main theme of this route - the hypocrisy of selfless utilitarianism (Effective Altruism?) - is explored to a satisfactory level.
I would say it's worth watching, but I would avoid it if you have a hateboner for bad writing.
F/SN: UBW:
Visuals and sound - 9
Value - 8
Script - 4
Characters - 8
Enjoyment - 8
Overall - 7
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
![]()
Dec 26, 2022
This anime was better than I expected - I was looking forward to another overhyped bad anime like JJK or chainsaw man, but it was still passable. Better than what the elitist critics say about it, but it is still reasonably overrated.
Very little story to speak of - the story is fairly simple, barring a few asspulls and twists. In terms of characters, Lucy and David are the only ones that really matter - some of the side characters are entertaining but aren't particularly relevant. The antagonists are really bland and shitty.
There is a significant timeskip: by far the worst decision the directors made, as
...
they skipped a lot of implied character progression in both Lucy and David. It almost feels like they removed 6 episodes from the series and decided to run with it for shits and giggles. In addition, the plot progresses way too quickly, though many modern anime have this problem as they are geared towards tiktok zoomers with the attention span of a fish and low IQ middle aged losers.
The style is very overdone. Gritty cyberpunk social critique gang shit tits yadayadayada. This point has been nailed to death by the community, but it's worth noting anyway.
As I stated before, Cyberpunk Edgerunners is still passable. Mostly because the series did not spoil the viewer, and was willing to be subversive. For instance, instead of kicking David to the street like the stereotypical snobbish private school principal, the principal realistically was willing to be more loose about a successful student with a poor family situation. Anecdotally, the preppy private school I went to was fairly loose about expelling students, even when they did some crazy shit.
The ending seems to be contentious in the community, but I appreciated it. Not interested in going into the details.
Cyberpunk Edgerunners:
Visuals and sound - 9
Value - 1
Script - 6
Characters - 7
Enjoyment - 6
Overall - 6
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
![]()
Oct 31, 2022
What started as one of the most exciting and fascinating anime I have ever watched unfortunately developed into one of the most wasted series of all time.
The start is incredible - the fight scenes are on point, the homoeroticism satisfies the trashy parts of the soul, the mystery is intriguing... and then everything starts to crumble about half-way in or so and become inexplicably gay. Every single male character just happens to be gay for shits and giggles and they recycle the same rescue and bondage plots 5 times in a row. I'm very confident this is only famous because of horny people who are
...
really into seeing male on male action. And I can't really say I don't share their desires - but I am not so unbelievably horny that I would look past the mediocre excrement that is the script of the series.
Banana Fish:
Visuals and sound - 9
Value - 4
Script - 5
Characters - 7
Enjoyment - 7
Overall - 6
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
![]()
Oct 29, 2022
The premise sounds generic: scientific experiment gone wrong causes a catastrophe, children flee from group 2 and settle in with group 1, group 1 and group 2 fight with magic. Though this genericness is not felt at all, as the series goes out of its way to distinguish itself. Most of the characters are amoral and self-interested, not the usual pure heroes vs villains horse shit. Most of the focus is on character interactions - kind of like a slice of life, except with infinitely more edge and higher stakes.
Yes, Gilgamesh is very edgy. That is not necessarily a bad thing (e.g. Ergo Proxy),
...
but the execution is not on point. Some of the characters look too ridiculous - particularly those of the villains. This can be pulled off if the designs are properly ridiculed, but unfortunately they did not take this opportunity. Some of the edginess is very entertaining - the incest, age gap things... though this is a little spoiled by the meme-tier edge that looms over the series.
The art looks a little off to me, but it adds flair and communicates the intended atmosphere well. The animation is low quality, full of still frames and mediocre motion. The fight scenes are very poor: the choreography is uninspiring, the abilities and action of the characters feel arbitrary and suited to whatever moves the plot. The sound volume is very inconsistent, with character voices being too quiet, sound effects being too loud, and shouting being too loud.
The characters feel very bland to me, particularly the villains and the brown haired boys. The others are fine for the most part, with the main girl being a personal favorite of mine. Unfortunately, she doesn't get that much screen time. This blandness is a particular issue as character interaction is a focus point of the series.
The "final conflict" was also poorly planned and rushed - basically everything happens in the last episode. The underlying idea/conflict is very interesting: whether it is worth it to rearrange/destroy/change the world to accommodate a supposedly superior lifeform. This has links to a lot of pressing and interesting conflicts: eugenics, genocide, ship of theseus, utilitarianism vs deontology... Yet as they have crammed this entire idea into the last fking episode none of it could be properly explored.
Overall, this feels like something that could have been very good, but due to issues with creative skill and production value it regresses to mediocrity. I did enjoy it for the most part though, especially the parts with the countess or the main girl.
Animation and sound - 4
Story - 7
Character - 6
Value - 5
Enjoyment - 8
Overall - 6
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
![]()
Aug 23, 2022
School days is definitely underrated.
The anime falls into most of the traps harem anime fall in: every girl is attracted to the mc, the male sidekick is a bozo, use of anime school tropes... but... the MC isn't some retard beta and actually fucks the chicks. Sure, he is a piece of shit, but a piece of shit is much more refreshing than some bugman who has 50 bitches on his dick for no reason. That's the only reason to like him, given he lacks dimensionality when you get passed the "i am a selfish guy who fucks chicks" schtick.
Saiki definitely the best character in
...
the series. Very self-deluded, given that she convinced herself she was doing it all for Makoto when in reality she was just trying to court him. The pregnancy question is also an interesting twist; while she clearly thought she was pregnant, she may only have been deluding herself in order to get with Makoto. These kinds of characters who trick themselves into doing selfish things are real and unique characters, something which has been missing from the medium recently. This isn't her only trait, she also has a temper and high intelligence.
The other characters are not worth talking about, being cardboard cutout school characters.
The art and animation are terrible.
The plot sans the ending is not particularly intricate or complex. Basically, the whole series until the last two episodes can be reduced to "makoto is fucking chicks, his girlfriends are delusional, and everybody is a selfish asshole besides Kotonoha". Besides this, I personally found the midsection of the series much more exciting than the beginning. I think this is because I was more eager to see how many girls the MC could bag until his girlfriends got wind of his efforts. This shock factor wears off as your realize that neither of the girls care that much about his sexual exploits and stay with him regardless of what he does. Fortunately, the ending sweetens it up for you.
It is impossible to review this series without talking about this ending. The anime tricks you into thinking that Kotonoha will kill Makoto due to his treatment of her, instead, Makoto ends up cleaning up his act and coming back to her. Eventually, Saiki kills him once she realizes he cant be hers, which did catch me by surprise. I must admit this makes sense, given that all of the evidence prior to the incident pointed to her being a selfish bitch. Kotonoha killing her in return wasn't particularly surprising, though the events that came after that definitely were.
I disagree with the consensus that the ending is just cheap shock porn. Yes, it is very unusual, but there should be an unusual ending among anime. Too many FMABullshit endings that try to go for the perfect ending to achieve 100% critical acclaim, and there should be more room for endings that are not probable when observed in isolation, but are probable when the whole medium is observed holistically. In plain english, if there is an ending with P(Ending)=0.01, you should still observe an ending like this 64% of the time in a random sample of 100 anime. It is also decently credible in ways that most school anime are not, though I find most of the characters unusually selfish and sexual in ways normal humans aren't.
Overall, School Days was an uncomfortable, and sometimes unenjoyable watch that nonetheless has a lot of artistic merit to it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
Aug 25, 2021
Cowboy bebop is an excellent anime. Despite being made 20 years ago, its art, animation and sound outpace many modern anime. It does not cave in to anime tropes and because of that, it manages to stand out in the space. However, cowboy bebop is not a masterpiece and it struggles from several notable flaws.
First of all, it has an episodic structure. This distances it from the traditional arc-focused anime storytelling, giving it uniqueness which is rare to come by in anime. However, it suffers from the fact that individual episodes wont feel as meaningful, since you know in the end there wont be substantial
...
changes to the status quo.
Also, some of the episodes lag behind in terms of quality. Episodes 7, 10 and 17 in particular didn't do it for me.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
|
