Back to Seppiroth32's Profile Seppiroth32's Profile

GARDEN OF SINNERS: 01 OVERLOOKING VIEW


1) Section 1: Prologue

The Garden of Sinners is my favorite type moon and Ufotable production, why? Because it isn’t Fate/Zero that’s why!
Jokes aside, Garden of Sinners offers high production quality in all aspects. The story is interesting as it loosely follows ideas and re-written philosophy based on something basic. As much as I despise some works that follow this structure, Garden of Sinners was the one that I could easily go back into for something that it isn’t, and that is what makes it an interesting production.
As the series is divided into seven novels, I’m going to write a ... script for each and every one of them.




2) Section 2: Story & Presentation

2.1) Visual Presentation:

The novel stories are divided into seven arcs, and each arc consists of a movie, now. They’re structured differently as they tell the story out of order, thus on your first viewing you maybe very confused about what’s going on. The writing follows a very basic and standardized formula. Exposition, visual presentation and narration, outcome, credits roll and epilogue.
And by doing so the movie makes the viewer think about what’s the real meaning behind the actions given in the movie. But the main problem is that just like some other Light Novel Adaptations, it’ll tell you everything you need to know by the end of the film in a very abstract and nonsensical to the common viewer way. This way of story telling ruins the experience for someone looking for a relatively dark and a semi-thought-provoking series, knowing that’s a given to the presentation, you may ask: “Well then, how will that affect my over all opinion if I’m looking for something to make me think a lot?” And I’ll answer: “The story is a mere basic concept of something little trying to be something big.” But that’s enough about the Visual Presentation.
2.2) Story Presentation:

Story-wise the first Garden of Sinners movie is alright, the movie is paced fairly well. It holds up relatively well compared to other works that need a whole 3-6 episodes to get their point across. The mysterious murders going on during this movie are just a shell of something bigger, something unexpected. As it slowly turns from a dull mystery to human philosophy, this is something that made caught my interest the when I had first watched it, keeping the tension and its intrigue. While at the same time not it’s nothing out of the ordinary. The concept of “floating” and “flying” depicting a persons ability to be free and be chained down, restricted by the boundaries which the movie establishes, foreshadowing major events throughout not only this, and the sequel series as well. This simple complexity makes the show entertaining to watch and think about, while at the same time it makes you think about how pointless it can boil down to. As I stated above, while it is intriguing, it doesn’t manage to make you care for what’s going on because the characters themselves are like empty shells, all the complexity they have is restricted to interpreting events through their own way and even, make fun of it. Mikiya, our protagonist also finds the events in the movie silly, as he states: “That sounds like something out of a cheap novel.” When he is informed about the events, making him as down to earth and humane as possible so we can understand at least one part of the movie.

3) Characters & Script/Direction

3.1) Characters:
Like I mentioned above, the main character is by far the only relatable character in the series, why? Because he’s as close to being a human being and alive than any of the characters shown throughout the movie, he questions the events that happen, tries to act normal and gives the idea for being plain and boring. But exactly that was the thing the show needed, a character who doesn’t know what the heck is going on during his absence or during an event that occurs. His acknowledgement makes him us the viewer, relatable and understandable. Sadly, I cannot say the same for the rest. Touko and Shiki, our main heroines of the movie always act abstract derived from any sort of emotion or expression. (Well, for the most part.) And because of this they seem like aliens that are speaking in another language. This minor fact makes the story hard to follow as you’ll mostly be guessing what they mean through the end events when the movie is revealing everything to us.

3.2) Script & Direction

Now, if you’ve seen the other stuff Nasu has written (Fate/Stay Night, Tsukihime, co-wrote Fate/Zero and some others) you’ll know that his style of writing is not ordinary he gives out the ideas for the viewer to add the rest of the core elements to them. So, as he’s writing something basic, we find it much more symbolic and unnecessarily philosophic exposition and it only gets worse and worse, as you continue to fill in the gaps for his mistakes, more pop up and thanks to this it’s very hard to follow what he meant and what we think. Simply because, it’s convoluted and requires you to find empty “ideas” as interesting, if you’ve seen any of his other works you’ll also notice a lot of the ideas presented here (philosophy character ideals and morals etc.) are copy and pasted. You could say then that’ll be easier for others to find it interesting as they probably liked the author’s other works so this one will also be on their list. However, I find it lacking and tame, as it really dries out without having any creativity left for this series, it leaves me wanting more which I’ll never get.

Directing is superb, the tension is there and there aren’t any unnecessary info dumps that make you feel dissatisfied. Because of this, I could get over some of the dull moments.



4) Art Design, Character Design, Animation
4.1) Art Design & Animation
The backgrounds are extremely detailed, they’re very well polished and contrast well with the emptiness that the world is, and it’s worth some wallpapers if you can catch the right moment, I personally think that “The Garden of Sinners” is by far Ufotable’s most gorgeous work, the transition between scenes is also excellent.

Animation-wise it’s probably their best budgeted work, aside from a few frame skipping moments, the animation is stunning, and there aren’t that much special effects covering the screen, and when they are, they don’t get in the way of the action so you can see the choreography pitch perfect. However, this cannot entirely save the overall production from being what it is, the action scenes are short while most of the animation is basic and isn’t something spectacular or eye catching. Thus being nothing more than solid.
If Ufotable animated an action show with the same quality animation (No Fate/Zero, nor Night) things would get really fun.

4.2) Character Design

The character designs are okay, they look like every other anime character and offer almost no variety, again, their designs are also taken from Nasu’s other work “Shingetsutan Tsukihime” and if you compare them, they really look identical…


5) Enjoyment. Music & Overall Score

Enjoyment-wise it was fun, but I wouldn’t recommend it to basic anime fans, the script, presentation aren’t meant to be viewed casually, so I highly suggest you try to focus and write your own story with the help of this.
Music is either good or average I personally like 2 tracks out of the ones that played the opening and the insert one during the fight, well… at least half of it.

Overall, I think that The Garden of Sinners is a must see to at least get a gist of what great ideas can actually make a great philosophy, but I wouldn’t want you to think too hard, as it may rot your brain.

Black Marks
Black marks also known as (Muv-Luv Alternative : Schwarzesmarken) is the new cow to milk out of this franchise. First let me clarify that this is a Light Novel adaption, just like total eclipse, written by YET ANOTHER author. Now, when you adapt something like that into anime you’d expect the script writer and the director to bother fixing the issues that total eclipse’s adaption had, but nope, they did not. They not only managed to make it even worse, they also decided it’d be a ... smart idea to have LIDEN FILMS animate it, now they managed to pull of Arsan Senki fine, even with issues here and there, but as I said in my TE review, you do not give a studio that doesn’t have enough money to produce a 2-cour mecha show without resorting to CG mechs. Considering 80% of what is on screen are mechs and giant aliens, if you have them cg not only does this kill the animation, but the entire fun of the show. Even a poorly done show like A/Z was more interesting, and that was done by A-1 & Troyca with even worse CG.

- SECTION 1 ART & ANIMATION -

As mentioned above, the animation mostly consists of CG mechs, regardless how fluent it is, it feels out of the place and unnecessary, even the action scenes feel weak in comparison to Total Eclipse, which was way worse in terms of production budget. Actual drawn scenes have okay animation as in they don’t do any drastic movements, lazy, but nicely covered.
The art designs and character design is decades better than TE, but then again it suffers from the exact same issues as the previous title did. Dull and repeating backgrounds that offer little variety and mostly covered in white because of the snow, which at this point pretty much shows that they were trying to save as much budget as they can from this so they can produce Arslan S2 with minimum production issues, which is sad to see as they could’ve handled it much better. Character designs look almost identical, just change the hair color and you’re done.

- SECTION 2 DIRECTING & SCRIPT –

The directing in this show is all over the place, the guy thought it would be a smart idea to have the characters take their setting and outcomes so seriously that that it makes attack on titan look like the little baby in comparison, there’s usually a level of how much the voice actors have to get immersed to make you feel like you’re really there, like you understand them. However, if you have them take it WAY to seriously, they’ll come out ruining the moment or being too noisy. For example Attack on Titan was a nicely animated drama, it had top tier direction and immersion, but the voice actors tried too hard to make it sound like its life or death, which led to the most anticlimactic outcome for me. However, for short stories it worked, like Levi’s ova’s, so you’d expect it to work here as well, no chance bud.

Script writing is almost average… As in, they managed to get it to the setting properly, but still feels uneasy to read through, there are very weird moments example where she sleeps with her brother because she felt depressed because no one trusted her, like WHAT?! During action scenes and crucial moments it’s below to average at best, having melodramatic characters and ideals that seem extremely out of place for what this is, it’s even a political drama as well as an alien war drama because NATIONALISM! And REASONING! Corruption and such, so when he tries to make the script for one scene it comes out even worse in the next, so you’d expect the director to even it out, but no it didn’t happen. He was over blowing the scenes with characters trying to make it seem like hell when you can’t even relate to them.


- SECTION 3 PRODUCTION VALUES & MUSIC –

Production values aren’t even on the norm to be considered decent. As 80% of the show is CG, and the animation is at a minimum the voice acting over done and script thrown out of the window, there is almost no satisfaction in terms of watching it, the designs are forgettable and basic; uniforms are standard with no unique touch to them.
The music is even more forgettable, it’s better than Total Eclipse that’s for sure, but I cannot recall any specific track, maybe the one that played during episode eleven, but damn, it seems to be very difficult to hit the proper score for this, I mean, the Visual Novel adaption of the Alternative Light Novels had 30 tracks, but mostly used 5 of them on certain sections, the others were so played for less than a minute so you’d forget them, what I aim to say with this is that, it had almost no music being played, and yet. Was more memorable and better directed and presented than this misery, if you so want to see Schwarzesmarken for yourself, I’d suggest you turn off your brain if you want to get past episode 4. Or read the Novels it is based off, as they are most definitely better.

- FINAL SECTION ENJOYMENT –
Having liked the Alternative VN, I wanted to give this a go to see if it’ll be as interesting as I expected it to be, but was disappointed severely with it’s production and presentation, it seems these kinds of stories need at least 20 episodes to be something more or a long running 10-15 novels (50 hour if it’d be a VN) to flesh out and finish it the story. However, with the budget it got and timeslot it had to run through, it couldn’t be more than a mere distraction. I disliked the series after the 2nd episode and it started getting on my nerves towards the end. I highly suggest you look elsewhere if you want a war drama; it’s slightly better in terms of production than TE, but worse in terms of script and direction, so it fails to deliver the expectations and would leave you wanting this to be much better.

Prelude



Muv-Luv is a franchise well known amongst westerners as “the best” visual novel ever made, and has a surprisingly big fan base. But most don’t know that the Visual Novel franchise is actually based on a Light Novel series, which no one has probably read outside of those who read Chinese translated books or Japanese…The reason why everyone liked the whole game was because it takes itself seriously and the characters have actual motifs for their actions, not feeling like dolls that can be played around with.

And thus, it became what it is today, but I’m not here reviewing the Visual Novel, but the ... animated adaption of the side Light Novel.

Review Part: Intro Presentation



Total Eclipse is set in the year 2001 where humanity is on the verge of extinction due to encountering an unkown species, which later are named to The Beings of Extra Terrestrial origin which is Adversary of human race or shortly put (BETA).
The first character to die halfway in the first episode with the phrase “eh?” which she states after a character blatantly warns her 5 seconds earlier that she should watch out.
And you’re support to be like “OH NO! WHY?!” or the scene where her friend tells her “Shoot me!” but she misses every single shot with her dying in vain, crying like a baby, which afterwards she gets saved by plot convenience to extend her role in the story, pretty bold if you ask me.

Review Part: Characters
The characters in Total Eclipse are a mix of all types of anime
stereotypes sexualized to the point of no return. Of course, there are a few exceptions. But the main dish just feels uneasy on the eyes or distracting to focus on the story or character motives, because you’ll be staring at their huge melons or the weird spandex suit. The characters themselves are barely memorable as well. We have the MC being that arrogant pro who can’t do anything because he hasn’t mastered the ways of Japanese Tactical Surface Fighter, as different countries build them based on different uses. Americans brute force, Russians Maneuverability and power, Japanese mostly Maneuverability so it can jump around like Mario.

The rest of the cast are there to help him change his view on how he should use them. As they pretty much can’t afford to lose trust between themselves. Seriously, the characters were so forgettable except one or two that I’ll end up missing them entirely. VG is a notable character who cracks/does perverse jokes but has an attitude which actually hits the soft spot.

Especially his Dub actor, he did an outstanding job to portray him. Bridges is your Eren Jaeger who has no personality or reason at all except being there causing drama or dumb plot-twists that will make you raise a brow or scratch your head. Takamura is the main female lead that is a literal tsundere, nothing much to note on her, throughout the course of the story she doesn’t change. And no, her relationship with the Bridges doesn’t go anywhere. Cryska and her sister are pretty much the equivalent of little sister loves MC, elder one doesn’t but eventually falls in love. Yes folks, it’s a love quadrangle. She’s an emotionless killer who turns into a yandere because plot called it. There are of course. Much more characters, but I hardly remember what they wanted to do or their motives in the show, which leaves a very poor example of the show.



Review Part: Storytelling & Arcs


The story telling is led by a predictable outcomes and unconving reactions to be taken seriously. It constantly changes to unrelated topics about the show and its characters. First it’s a training drama about surviving the beta attack and helping humanity in further developing TSFs to improve their chance of survival then all of a sudden we go to a Beach arc about how the MC is treated as shit because he’s Half-Japanese I mean seriously? Oh and it gets better. Another few training sessions come in, but focus mostly their back stories which is good, but when the story does nothing so you can remember these characters you just don't want to care either way. The pacing changes from fast to slow at random, throughout the first 5 episodes where they build on relationships with characters and their motives they change to drama about going to the girls hot spring then all of a sudden into a the-military-does-not-respect-us-civilians drama. The whole testing pilot thing literally stays true for only ¼ of the series and no more. Presenting multiple plot holes and nonsensical reasonings which of course mean nothing in the long run, because it ends up being a shonen-style storytelling where the power of believing will make the day bright again. Technically after the arcs could’ve been made way better by expanding on the series for more than 26 episodes and actually do something with its themes and characters and not end up in just another forgettable cash-in.


Review Part: Production values and music
Animation

Oh boy, here is the thing where it made me want the show to have been done by Sunrise and not Satelight. For a war drama that focuses mostly on robot fighting, the robot themselves are Computer-Generated meaning that half of the animation just dies, which not to say that it had any spectacular animation to begin with. So the drop in quality is quite high regardless of what you’rewatching…The PowerPoint presentation walking or running animation is distracting, so to save budget they mostly sit around doing nothing and talk for an eternity, even the enemies are CG it really fell flat here, there was nothing redeemable about it.

Character Designs

The character designs are one note and pretty basic, you have short hair mid length hair short hair differences. One note backgrounds, and semi-post apocalyptic landscape here and there. Nothing special really, they didn’t even try improving the already existing designs or backgrounds.




Music and usage

The music is mostly forgettable, but fits the scenario pretty well. Considering most of the times nothing specific happens, and the overall action scenes are little. There was one insert song by Granrodeo which was a good insert song that played twice. And one at the end of ep 4, the rest is either reenacted from the VN ost mixed with anime original, and it’s pretty poorly used. The 4 action scenes that actually played those 2 insert songs was nice to listen to while the fight was going in the background but in the end, it fell off the rope and went straight down the lake.

Conclusion:
In conclusion it’s a below average production that really has nothing for you to bother wasting your time with, I have a dim recollection of the characters exactly 7 days after I finished it. Of course, it may only be worth it if you want to break it down.

WHITE ALBUM (2009) SEASON 1 REVIEW :
Direction : The directing is great, the people knew exactly when to blend boredom with music and drama, the love drama is nicely done the characters know how to properly hold a conversation between each other and provide maximum boredom for you plebs who don't get the visual aesthetic over dialogue.

Presentation & Storytelling : Life has never been portrayed as dry as this. When you start to watch a show, you want to escape reality, not be thrown back in it damn it!
Why are the better shows so boring?
Because they are a representative of human consciousness, something this ... show presents very well. The watercolor blend between actual animation to change the sense of feeling and atmosphere before/mid episode or the actual characters feeling like ACTUAL non-otaku perfect characters, whether it'd be Rina's smooth talking twoards her brother and MC, or Haruka's tomboyish attitude and cry for help because the sense of loneliness hits her hard. After all, she's just a girl that doesn't get any attention.

- EVEN EMOTIONS/CHARACTERISTICS REPRESENT SOMETHING MEANINGFUL THAN -
Ever wondered what if being too kind be presented in a harem make more than just baits? Just were you ever curious how boring reality is? Well.. _This is for you_.
Most anime portray 'realism" simple and straight forward happiness, families cheering each other or Depressed over the fact someone close to them died, in the most cartoony and unbearable way. When in actuality, reality is much MUCH harsher then what most think. Kindness here is presented as, suffering because it is just that. It is not suppose to be funny, entertaining or happy. Hence the dry presentation in thematics and characters compared to most works, using style and silence over dialogue and narrative. Everything is methodical, thus being slow.
There are no inner monologues, just text to present feelings. Characters suffer from identifing themselves as anything else but "Goddesses" of the day for the MC, because they'd help him in some way or form. However, there are certain characters which take advantage, I'll explain later. The story telling, as mentioned before is extremely dry. In a sense of characters make the progression, while it is adapted from a Visual Novel, the obvious taking ALL character routes is there, turn off for some. But in retrospec it's handled properly, fitting in all character reactions and outcomes to the fullest. They have their fair share of problems, but overall show progression and not cut out with time resets, it's not perfect. But it's solidly done.

Characters & Thematics : The thematics aren't special, but they're hidden. Through obscure reactions.
example : Yuki singing the song "White Album" while the text portrays words of sadness and emptiness, she shows her true emotion. And as an added bonus snow falls down on the stage, giving more sadness and emptiness to the scenary. Or when the MC gets fired he runs in despair crying, throwing his angst on a black and white rough sketchy background with 0 to no animation. The watercolor opening/endings present also some spoilers for the series, but they present at the same time alot of character understanding. And their character reaction, emotion.

And now for the characters, they're pretty simple. But have a weird mindset they're never straight with each others, they lie deliberatly to hide themselves from the audience. The characters may suffer at times from an identity crisis. You'll just be like GET MARRIED ALREADY JEEZ! When, it's not that simple. The characters are in a state of depression and resent themselves and others, so they need something to "bring" them together. And that is, those who completely understand each other something that may seem typical. But it's hard to execute, because no one have eyes for each other until they realise their mistakes.

Our harem Protagonist may seem like a typical VN character, but unlike most of them. He is the polar oppisate, in otherwords he doesn't understand at first but gradually gets what the characters mean, what he has to. What he can't do, as I stated above, not everyone is kind hearted. There are some characters that want to take advantage of him, they do so. He gets confused, but in the end, he can't do anything about it because of his kind personality, the rest of the cast question his sanity and reactions hence he get gets angrier and angrier, even after being told the truth by his boss before getting himself fired, he realizes how bad he messed up. He slowly grows throughout the first season and gets developed.

Yuki, the cheerful moeblob tries her best to be with her boyfriend Touya, (The MC) but sadly is forced to become a cold and forget about him so she can succeed, but her innerself wants to be with him. So they are constantly mislead in a game of cards, you never know for what they're aiming.

Misaki and Akira, they have oppisate way of percieving and doing things. In other words they are the main couple but their personalities are the other way, Akira isn't cheerful as Touya, while Misaki is cheerful as Touya and does not do anything outside of being the character to mentally connect Akira and Touya's friendship from turning into nothing.

Yayoi, oh my this character is the equivalent of oberstein, you can't get her motives until the very end, she shows no emotion in her words and actions, and tries to be something more than your typical female, she succeeds. But is on a level of annoying. In the good way of course.

Eiji and Rina, Brother and Sister, they have a playful and arrogant way of doing their things, but they are for the most part. A duet, they are the balance between Yuki's inner sadness and Touya's depression from not knowing how to handle stuff. They affiliate themselves with the MC's even if they're not directly connected. They strive for being themselves, don't try to go beyond that. So far, they are the most playful out of the cast.

Sound & Animation/Art : The sound track in WA is beautiful, the piano pieces properly synced with the setting provide maximum level chill and sadness when the time is right, something alot of shows nowadays seem to lack. They're used properly, and play little, but when the time is right.
Animation is pretty slide show-ish there is little to no animation when characters do something and the scene in EP 13 oh my, the budget completely died there.
Most of the time it's standstill and basic movements such as talking or sewing nothing substancial and hard to understand.
Art design is okay, the designs are basic but do the job, the backgrounds are nice to look at and its over all well polished.

Production Values : Very solid. No issues there, hard on the eye sometimes with lacking animation or influence. Overall good, dry, and hard to swallow but its great.

Before we start let me give a basic example of what a GOOD written dialogue between two characters must play out :
- Hey pull my finger.
- No, I'm not falling for that again.
- Then walk through that door
- Already seen the trap there
- Pull my leg
- I see sleeping gas bombs.
- then take this cigar
- why thank you.
- *Pulls out his own lighter and finds out the trick behind it while trying not to overlook for something*
... And well... That sadly did not happen in Code Geass. OK moving on to the review
- REVISION -
Since most didn't like my Cringe of the Rebellion (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pMTt8x6Kbo) because I was poking fun at Code Geass, I decided to take my time and rewrite some of my points on the review I gave, because. It was vaguely explained, and I could sense it.
As much as I didn't want to do this well... Lets begin.
As mentioned before Code Geass takes a grand-scale war setting with characters taking war seriously, feel discriminated and overwhelmed... It doesn't work here.
A well written war story needs inspirational characters on both sides who don't overshadow the rest because they're smart and the others aren't.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes did the same but the characters there were equal and people could like and decide who to vote for even wwith corrupt nobles. Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 took war seriously, even if it felt Amuro had plot armour because of the Gundam.
Lelouch however... Automatically overshadows and overthrows everyone with almost no effort because of his power, he isn't a tacticion like Char Aznable or Yang Wenli, he's a manipulator taking advantage of his power to earn anything. Sure, there was a moment where he used his brains, before forming the personality of zero.
But at the same time, he's just a child abusing his power to win over anything. (And regarding his questionable decisions and plot armor when it comes to doing something)
Suzaku, the supposedly equal opponent to Lelouch doesn't feel like an opponent as much as a taunt buddy, which is further proven in the second season where he becomes an aristocrat. Which he had hated after seeing what they can achieve just from a nuke. (Also did I mention he killed his father by accident thus gaining the power to a Britannian loyal soldier? And the fact that he denies Zero's choices because he thinks they are wrong and by the end he starts questioning whether the Britannian Empire was a right choice yet decides to join them to the end?)
So he betrays Lelouch and lets him have false memories and live!? Yo Suzaku Didn't you like... Want to kill him for killing your waifu or sth? WHY JUST WHY DID THE WRITERS SAY THIS IS OK?!
C.C the MAIN HEROINE is as dry as any lead can be, she's just a whole pizza hut waifu advertisement for people with really REALLY REALLY bad choices of girls. Nothing much I can say for her.
As for the other characters like Karen, Villa, Orange, Charles, Rolo and other characters which were one of the few far-fetched characters main characters that felt like they were supposed to be left as side characters that wouldn't matter, other than when LELOUCH VI BRITANNIA ... I mean Zero tells them to do something they're characterization is as bad as the characterization of the side characters in Galactic Heroes, 0079, and even Vision of Escaflowne. And the cast isn't even that overwhelming to need more than a few episodes of development but its so niche it's pitiful, if they were more put on as a focus than mostly Lelouch & C.C, it would of had better fleshed out and side characters.
While it could of been better here and there not much complaints in terms of the first season but oh boy, the second one just rocks the boat!
And yes, Galactic Heroes did the same bullshit with its aristocrats they feel one note or barely have any redeeming quality and so do the side characters in Code Geass.
Half of my problems with the show were not fixed with the second season, infact there were MORE problems than less once I had finished it. Regarding the ending well... It was magnificent, well done and perfect. Sadly the show didn't do as much, oh well. Atleast the composer did his job.
Code Geass is plagued by pathetic writing, horribly developed side charactersm shock factor/sudden character deaths for the sole reason to make you cry and nothing more. Plot convinence to extend the series so that the Sunrise to get earn more money than it should so the studio can go on and re-release another gundam each year because the writers/authors of gundam are suffering from brain damage at this point.

- REVIEW -
1. ART & ANIMATION
The character designs are like your typical Key show, some look ok, others look generic, but to be honest the character designs look like a bland Angel Beats re-hash/palette swap. Artistic background and designs are amazing, as expected from P.A WORKS everything is touched upon from the smallest details and feels lively and colorful... Never a dull moment when they do their backgrounds.
Animation-wise the show lacks it in later episodes where time just stands still most of the time and characters seem to sit in stone talking for a decade while the episode just flows until it ends. It feels ... sloppy at times, but at some others it looks good. But overall the characters distract you from paying much attention to the animation errors so you probably won't notice them.

2. SOUND
The soundtrack in Charlotte is great, like all Key shows, but of course. SAD MUSIC DOES NOT MAKE THE SHOW ANY BETTER THAN IT SHOULD BE! Just because it made you cry.
It has a certain charm to it that it'll never get tiresome if you're a fan of relaxing tunes and insert songs. OP & ED's are great aswell, it just proves to show how Maeda knows how to handle his audience when it comes to music.

3. STORY & CHARACTERS
Jun Maeda is known for making the script of most if not all key shows, and just proves how lously he does it, it focuses more on the moment when you're suppose to feel bad or cry and not developing the actual characters to make you feel like they are a part of the cast. In most cases they feel like wooden planks who cry for the sake of depression, and that he has no idea what character drama or how a character could be written without feeling like a plot device.
The directing is somewhat better because Maeda isn't directing it, but that isn't saying much. There is almost no tension because it gets killed by a predictable outcome, character interaction feels like they are loafs to be loafs so people can laugh along side them.
STORY-wise the show lacks any decent outcome and through the most basic things it's as predictable as ever, and like every key production it ends with an overblown ending that either, makes the viewer facepalm from stupidity asking why? Or making them cry a river just because the song was sad. Or these blobs got sad because someone died, the story lost its tension and interest after the first episode. It wasn't surprising it was just over blown for the sake of making ISFP's or people who like goofy characters because they could relate to them.

4. PRODUCTION VALUES & ENJOYMENT
Production values are great, yes they are that good. Detailed put alot of work and heart put in All key shows look great and sound great but that's all.
Enjoyment-wise unless you're a fan of stupid things and goofy comedy or a crybaby this is for you, for me this is boring, uninspired, dull and boring.

Okay, it's been years since I had a chance to enjoy haruhi again.. seeing that there's a spin-off coming out I decided to re-watch the movie and remind myself of how much I loved the series. Oh how I was wrong.
Before I start I have to clarify that this 3 hr movie adapts an entire novel, so please don't get your hopes high while watching it.
Story : There was nothing much to the story that can leave haruhi fans (excluding those who have watched the endless 8) with an everlasting impression nor, haters would find interesting.
The story is as simple and straightforward ... unlike the previous series, this takes more of a psychological turn with some romance added to the mix, which was interesting but it's so up and down, the plot feels like it's stopping to advance and then advance and then stop again, it feels like it has no idea if it wants to continue or not. It has some very interesting ideas, but it doesn't use em properly, the whole plot twists and erratic what the hell moments were predictable as hell. Now now, I don't wanna spoil the plot nor what happens, there's a sypnosis for it.
6/10 or 3/5


Character : Like always Haruhi is annoying as hell, Mikuru is the moe blob for the fans to fap too.Ah yes,
Kyon or John Smith whichever you prefer. The star of the series and especially the movie he is no exception. The true definition of a well done MC in a show,unlike most overpowered or over the top "best" MC from anime would react to and would know how to deal with this situation, while Kyon is more on the realistic side than most. I cannot hate him for it, infact he is one of the few anime MC's that I like because of his dialect and way of handling things. As being one of the plot points for the film, I have to add the trials he endures in this film. Are well put up for him.
Koizumi, the knowledgeable troll who ironizes Kyon when he wants to. There is..... nothing much I can say about him expect being a comediec point for it.
Nagato, her development is one of the critical points of the movie, her fans will be delighted to see what happens to her.
P.S (you'll be in a surprise to see who came back, to haunt you at the end.)
Overall : Since Koizumi and Haruhi got 1/4 screen time. The movie was more enjoyable than it should of been. 9/10 or 4.5/5 however you prefer.


Sound : The OST and in the movie is limited, but it's good, it's not memrable that's for sure but it fits when it plays. Sound Quality is high though.
7/10 or 3.5/5


Animation : As being one of the most budgeted movies to have ever been made, the animation at times felt lacking, or unpolished. I guess putting so much time on the screen doesn't always mean you'll get superior animation
as well.
7/10 or 3.5/5


Enjoyment : I've started off with Haruhi as one of my first shows, and I remember enjoying them alot this movie for me was no exception. I wasn't disappointed.
10/10 or 5/5


Overall score : 8/10 or 4/5
As much as I wanted to give this higher I just cannot, there are too many flaws, per say. But it's a good watch I recommend watching this to every Haruhi fan or Hater you'll get a somewhat decent experience off of it.

1.STORY AND PRESENTATION

Lelouch of the Rebellion draws inspiration from great shows such as Legend of the Galactic Heroes, 08th MS team and other shows that use a grand-scale wars and moral ideas to make a thrilling narritave, but... decides ... to take a turn and use uninspired plot-twists , shock factor and massacre to "surprise" the audiance and has very little geniune executing plot points, while attaining a low-quality inspirational mech war drama about revenge.

4/10

2.ANIMATION/ART/CHARACTER DESIGNS
Code Geass's animation is good and makes battles feel alive, my only issue is the slenderness of the characters they feel like stickmen than human beings... Seriously do the characters need to have such triangular chins? While the art quality is as good as a Sunrise show and 2007 can be.
7/10


3.SOUND/OST
The sound quality and tracks in Code Geass are well... Limited but decent, nothing much I can say here as I didn't like most of them. The ambient music and usage are great though.
7/10
4.CHARACTERS
God forbid any development in this show, other than LELouch no other character gets any decent charactization and it's limited as all hell. All the characters feel like wooden planks with their horrible development, and the antagonists feel as idiotic as the rest of the characters, there personality is one-sided and feel like they were written by an idiot who doesn't know anything other than the stereotypical "I am rich and powerful let me show you that power rules over brains bla bla bla"
4/10

5.ENJOYMENT
I didn't enjoy myself much by taking it serious, but taking it as a joke it's literally the way its ment to be watched.
5/10

OVERALL : 5.6/10

The cast of Log Horizon seemed kind of ... how should i put it "Stupid" and started as more comedy oriented than straight out getting to the point, HOWEVER when it gets to the action scenes and some story telling / turning points it shows how its done.
the visuals during some parts may not be as good as the previous MMO-related anime which was a catastrophy from start to end Sword Art Online
But of course music and visuals don't always make the best thing, yes?
The well written story and fact that no one knows why is it happening why are ... they there? what is the reason? it's all a mystery which you feel apart of and not just to be there as a story element which you would forget after you end the animation and will totally forget what is going on, the "penalties of death" are quite severe if you think about them in-depth
Log Horizon is an adventure telling story which will be remembered until something better releases.