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Jul 3, 2016
Have you seen S1? Yes? Good then let’s stop fucking around. Let me say that I’ve always sucked at reviewing successive season to shows, because in my mind, if you didn’t like the first season, why are you watching the sequel? Ask yourself that question whenever you’re in that position.
The Short Version:
(+)If you were a fan of S1, you’ll like this season as well.
(-)IF you don’t like small changes being made from the visual novel, you’re going to have a problem.
The Story (7/10): Picking up right where the previous season left us, this season doesn’t exactly waste much time with kicking itself back into
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gear in the slightest. One of the things you might enjoy about this season over the first is that a little bit more backstory is given to the opponents than what was in S1. You come to understand them a bit better in terms of where they exactly stand and what their motivations are.
This is one thing a lot of people ragged on about when this show was airing, because 1. HOW DARE THEY DIVERT FROM THE SOURCE MATERIAL?! and 2. They didn’t do the best job when it came to giving the characters some actual development past which Master had which Servant. As the little snippets we got felt very, very forced, but that’s one of the problems you’ll encounter when you adapt a single route of a visual novel that doesn’t have a singular absolute end.
Another thing worth mentioning in this season is the actually ending of the show, of which there are two depending on what suits your taste. Do you want the canonical? Or the ideal ending? Because they did a pretty good job of throwing both onto the screen, the former of which even manages to sneak in a little bit a character fanservice from Fate/Zero. One more point about this season is that it has what is undoubtedly one of the most brutal and unsettling deaths ever put to anime (That I know of).
The Characters (7/10): The characters are mostly the same as in S1, with some more backstory given to the opponents as mentioned before, that and the show has a rather major character twist that you might’ve figured out in S1 if you paid extra attention, if not, don’t worry they make it painfully obvious without telling you until a little later.
Art & Sound (8/10) & (8/10): Did you like the art in S1? It’s pretty much the same with a mild amount of skimping on the budget in some parts.
The sound is almost basically unchanged, although for the fans with sharp ears they’ll notice a track from the previous Fate entries that has wonderfully been remastered.
What do you think of this anime?
$260 Limited Edtion Blu-Ray Boxset. That should tell you.
Would you recommend this anime?
As long as you’ve watched S1, otherwise why the fuck are you starting with S2?
Goodbye my brethren, see you in the next one.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jun 24, 2016
The concept of an adaptation is too adept (no shit) be that a book, visual novel, comic, etc. into a moving picture. One thing an adaptation should do is try and stay faithful to the source material while doing things differently from said source material so that it may stand on its own feet. But can a 2 cour adaptation of a single route from a 50+ hour visual novel achieve that?
For the sake of those that have experience with this franchise such as myself I’ll be doing a two part review. One from the people who don’t even know what Fate/Stay Night is (UNX),
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and one for those who’ve either read the visual novel or seen the previous Fate anime entries (EXP), and please keep in mind that I’m a little bit of a fanboy when it comes to this series. Nevertheless I’ll try to approach both views free of bias (I did say try).
The Short Version:
(UNX):
(+)The animation, good god the animation.
(+)The music.
(-)You’ll be wondering what all the fuss, more than once throughout the runtime.
(EPX):
(+)Pretty much the entire show.
(-)Some of the things they added, because HOW DARE THEY?!
The Story (UNX (7/10) EXP (8/10)): For those initiates among you this show will seem like a god damn shit storm half the time, The first two episode are double the length of your standard anime, and the only real reason for this is to give a massive exposition dump of the world and rule set you’ve just stepped into.
This is the reason a lot of new comers are, to put it lightly, off put as fuck to continue watching the series, you’ve got the entire concept of Heroic Spirits and the Holy Grail to contend with, the explanation of the rule set given to the mages, and almost the exactly same outline of events from two different people. Welcome to the Type-Moon way of doing things kids, enjoy the ride, but this extremely slow start shouldn’t make you drop this series because you’ll find as the show goes on, its gets just a little bit good. Just a little.
For the fans this slow start is probably expected, and the first episode itself is a little bit of fan service, because it’s the entire prologue of the visual novel, then again they are parts of the story that aren’t in the visual novel. Most of that is in S2 though so let’s stay focused. You can argue for both sides when you say that the pacing of the show is flawed and the concept of the Holy Grail War itself doesn’t even present itself unlike a certain prequel to this show, the fact that it’s supposed to be a full on battle royale. Except that you only see this “battle royale” is seen from one side and gives more of a “Me against the world” vibe.
Another problem with this show is that if you’re really observant during the first two episode you’ll spot one of the major plot elements of this entire route/show, given what happens in the episodes towards the end, you’ll be able to guess it if you’re lucky. I suppose the action scenes should be mentioned, and this goes from both parties when I say that they’re some of the best we’ll ever, because they have such a sense of impact. Every time a hit lands you feel the weight of said blow, and that’s something that very hard to do given that some of the fights are little more than a couple of fast moving blurs.
The ending itself so obvious sets up for a sequel that it’s almost painful, almost. The amount of rage and hype is generated at the time was fucking hilarious, but let’s be glad that nowadays you can move straight to S2 without any hassle.
The Characters (UNX (6/10) EPX (8/10)): The characters, or rather, the main character of this show will be unpopular with the any newcomers to say the least. He’s such a hard-line Idealistic that it’s annoying, even when a much more sensible course of action is present he’ll take the moral victory over the logical victory. For the EXP we wouldn’t accept anyone but this hopeless, loveable idiot as the lead of this show.
Shirou Emiya: The annoying prick from above, and a hopeless bastard.
Rin Tohshaka: Main chick for this route and the much more capable mage than Shirou.
Saber: Servant to Shirou and an undisputed god of combat.
Archer: Main source of conflict for Shirou and has his fair share of epic fighting moments.
With regards to the other characters of the show, only some of them will that any real impact in the show while others are literally there for one purpose and nothing else. Both side will definitely, definitely have a problem with these characters. Keep in mind however that this is a single route of a massive visual novel, you should have expected this.
Art & Sound (UNX (9/10) EPX (8/10) & (8/10) 8/10): For both new comers and experienced veterans the animation that ufotable put into this show is top tier shit, but the reason UNX would be more daseled by it would be because ufotable does a great job at their lighting and blending of 3D & 2D, but when you stop and stare at it for longer than you should. You realize that it’s just more shadows than usual of on the characters and environment, that and it’s generally a lot darker than the standard anime.
The sound however of both sides is more than exceptional, the entire OST should be bought by everyone, end of story.
What do you think of this anime?
Really? You’re asking a fan-boy who spend $260 on a limited edition boxset that question?
Would you recommend this anime?
For the UNX sure. For the EPX on two conditions; don’t expect the full package of the visual novel and don’t expect another Fate/Zero.
Goodbye my brethren, see you in the next one.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jun 5, 2016
Habane Remei is one of those rare show that doesn’t have massive info dumps and still manages to answer most of the questions you’ll have about the show throughout its runtime.
The Short Version:
(+)The subtle suspense soon turns palpable.
(+)Every episode gives to some new answer and question about eh world and characters.
(+)It’s kinda beautiful on an emotional level.
(-)Definitely a slow starter.
(-)The art will throw some of you off.
The Story (7/10): The show begins with a young girl falling head first toward the ground, with a crow (or raven, whatever you prefer) trying to stop her fall, but the young girl isn’t afraid of her seemingly impending
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doom. Which perspectives and we witness an older lady discovering a massive cocoon thing taking up an entire room. This is your jumping off point into the world of the Haibane, boys and girls who have wings popping out of their backs and halos over their heads. From this point on I hope you pay attention, because there’s a lot of subtle details to take in before the show ends.
If there’s one undoubtable thing I like about this show, it would be its ability to slowing stack layers of anxiety upon your mind, and all the questions of what the fuck is going on that comes with it. Some of these question are answered within the episode they arise, others take the entire bloody show to be answered, some don't get answered at all, but it’s the theorising you commit on your own that makes that waiting for those answer all the more fun.
The Characters (6/10): The characters of the show are likeable enough but there are some that are rather underdeveloped, one of the characters that’s introduced at the very beginning of the show I felt didn’t really get much development before *spoiler* happened. There are other characters in the latter half that aren’t even named that I can’t help but feel the need to ask the question, “Are you guys really necessary?” Even some of the core cast of characters I felt should’ve been more developed than they ended up being.
Reki: The older lady I mentioned from the first paragraph, and the real mother figure throughout the show.
Rakka: The young girl/main character of the entire show and the more or less vessel most of your information will come through.
While the two characters above really dominate the show’s runtime, that’s the exact problem I have with them, there’s other core characters we could be seeing this world through that we ultimately only glimpse. That being said I wasn’t entirely bothered by either of them as the written characters they were.
The Art & Sound (5/10) & (8/10): This show aired in 2002 so I expected the art to be dated but not quite as dated as it actually was, maybe that’s just my brain that’s been tuned to expect Production I.G., ufotable, levels of quality from everything. BUT. I will admit that while the actually style of the art wasn’t that appealing (to me), the imagination behind what’s actually shown on scene was more than enough to find some enjoyment in it.
The sound of the show was my favourite part, particularly the OST, the background music is excellent and one of the pieces used for the sadder parts of the show will definitely stick in my mind for a while yet. Every other element of the show; the voice acting, sound effects, etc. Was entirely standard for me however.
What do you think of this show?
I ended up buying it, don’t know if I’ll ever open the box, but I still bought it.
Would you recommend this show?
Do you need a show to casually watch when it’s raining or something? Or want something to think about for a while? Then this show has got you covered.
Gopdbye my brethren, see you in the next one.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 3, 2016
Have you ever wondered what lies inside the deepest parts of your heart? An unwavering will to commit evil for the greater good? The ability to sacrifice everything you have to protect the ones you care for? Or something much more insidious?
Story (9/10): Imagine for a moment that a couple thousand people in the world suddenly have the power of psychokinesis, then imagine WW3 where people like you and me, lost to those with PK. Throw in some more fantasy elements and you have the world that this show is set in. One thing I did like about the story is that the characters within
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in all age, I know that sounds kinda weird at first but when you think about it. How many anime are there where you actually see the characters age? Cause I can only think of this show and 5 Centimetres per Second.
The actual plot line of the show follows a group of 5 young people as they try to find out the truth behind their village, school, the outside world, and their entire society in the process, and past the first 5 episodes that the show uses to introduce the characters and world, it’s actually genuinely enthralling, but those first 5 episode are a bit tough to get through.
Characters (9/10): Remember the question I asked in the beginning? That question applies to the five main characters specifically and part of what makes this good is that you get to find out which one of the characters will turn out as what.
Saki Watanabe: The central female protagonist, and the perspective you get the entire show from.
Satoru Asahina: Who I’ll call central male protagonist, and the one who fights the most aside from Saki for the truth.
Shun Aonuma: The most gifted of the five, and the one who makes the first big change in the series.
Mamoru Itou: The shyest of the group, and easily the most sacred of the five.
Maria Akizuki: Close friend to Saki, and the most unwitting of the lot. (Watch the show and you’ll get it)
Again the thing I like with this show is that the characters not only change, as characters should, but they also age along with these changes and to give you an idea, when Saki gives narration at the start of the show, she’s 40 years old. The actual characters at the start are all 12.
The Art & Sound (6/10) & (8/10): The art of the show is done by A-1 Pictures, and it’s hardly their best in terms of detail. In terms of fluidity and symbolic imagery it’s all the way up there, giving you some rather pretty movement at times and at others you’ll swear that SHAFT did the visuals instead.
The sound is also very nice, from the voice acting of the main and side characters to the OST, to the sound effects used for certain sequences it’s all very nice. I don’t know what else to say.
What do you think of this anime?
I brought the Blu-Ray box set.
Would you recommend this anime?
Yes, but don’t watch it unless you consider yourself a veteran, this show for the inexperienced will be daunting.
Goodbye my brethren, see you in the next one.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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May 10, 2016
Don’t worry guys, I’m not dead.
The Short Version:
(+)Your eyes go for a massage in God’s day spa. (The art is good)
(+)The music is much more than exceptional.
(+)Credit to the character designer.
(+)Gets a really good message across.
(-)Bit slow for my liking.
The Story (8/10): You, the person reading this, has probably been a part of a club or team at some point. One of the things that probably ran through your mind at some point when you were part of said club or team was, “What do I want from this?” Do you want to merely have fun with the team, or do you want to go
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for gold? That line of thinking is more or less the reason this show exists. We start by following the MC, whose part of a concert band club, and not 5 minutes into the first episode someone says, “Weren’t we trying for nationals?” After the club gets first place but doesn’t perform well enough to advance. Then we have the high school club asked the question above, they want to go for nationals, and then they realize how hard they’re going to have to work to get there. From that point onwards we follow the MC and her friends in their journey to GIT GUD.
The Characters (8/10): Do you like various archetypes of cute girls? Then you’ll like most of the characters in this show….. Well that was a short section.
Hazuki Katou: The tuba player and the eccentric one of the core characters.
Sapphire “Midori” Kawashime: Contrabass and the curly headed one.
Reina Kousaka: Trumpet and the hardest working.
Kumiko Oumae: Euphonium of the title and the main character.
Again as I said above if you like cute girls this show has got you covered. However there is another character that is pretty monumental throughout the show and that’s the club adviser Noburo Taki who basically adopts the outlook of, “Sit down and shut up you little shits you told me you wanted to win nationals, I’m going to make that happen and it’s sink or swim for all of you at any point.”
The Art & Sound (9/10) & (8/10): The art is really good, visual quality is awesome, but the detail of most things that aren’t the instruments is kinda lacking, and all of the characters look like they’ve dumped their faces into a basin of vegetable oil.
This being an anime about a concert club, I expected the sound to be really good. Except it turned out to be really really good. Even when the band first gets together to play an ensemble you can tell the difference between then and the next time they play, they genuinely improve over the course of the show and that’s a very positive point for the show.
What do you think of this anime?
Do you want a detox from all of the full paced anime out there? Then do I have the anime for you.
Would you recommend this anime?
Yes. Go watch it.
Goodbye my brethren, see you in the next one.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Mar 14, 2016
As a guy who’s never played volleyball in his life I always thought it was a much slower and less interesting sport than others. I was really, really wrong.
The Short Version:
(+)A critical point for any sports anime, the matches are really intense and they draw you in.
(+)The anime doesn’t focus solely on the main character, instead focusing on the entire team.
(+)Kinda helps the entire anime that the animation is really good (Apart from some parts in the matches).
(-)Can’t remember any of the soundtrack.
The Story (7/10): The story is pretty basic, because there’s really only two options when it comes to sports anime, either the protagonist
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is really horrible at everything then they find a sport they’re passionate about and, as the kids say, “get gud”, or it’s about someone whose got unbelievable talent that they don’t even know about, then they randomly join a team and turn out to be the “one in a million” that that team needs. Haikyuu!! (Yes there must be !!!!) I feel falls into the first category.
Once you get past the first episode and the MC gets into the volleyball squad the show very much turns into the run of the mill high school sports show, the only real reason they give for the team turning so hard is because, “It’s the third years last chance.” And that part of the show I rolled my eyes at, however. I didn’t hate the show, because most of the matches in this show actually have some sort of meaning to them, and even when a character isn’t growing in terms of talent or development, the matches are still entertaining as hell to watch, I go the same vibe from a bunch of high school kids playing with their balls that I did from Hajime no Ippo, an anime about adults beating the shit out of each other.
To speak about the ending briefly, couldn’t have asked for a better ending to a long sports anime, it had an intense matches that I was so into I was breaking into a cold sweat, such a bittersweet down fall that for a moment I felt like my life had just imploded on itself, and such a remarkable set up for a second season. (Which is just as good imo)
The Characters (7/10): The characters of this show are varying to say the least, everyone on the main team has their own personality and motive on why they’re playing I can’t really find fault in any of them, apart from the fact that I wish one of the side characters was a bit more involved in the show, apart from that nothing to complain about on the character side.
Shouyou Hinata: A very small, very quick spiker and one of the characters with a larger presence (Almost like a Little Giant…..).
Tobio Kageyama: A protégé in tossing and the most punchable character early on.
MAL only has these two as main characters and that’s why I mentioned them here, you could however argue that the entire team is the main character, but moving back to these two. If you’ve seen another little sports anime called Kuroko no Basket, these two will seem a lot like Kuroko and Taiga, you can’t really have one without the other, because they bounce off of each other so well.
Art & Sound (9/10) & (5/10): The art is done by Production I.G, that’s all I really need to say. If you’ve seen anything done by those guys in recent years then yeah, you not what to expect in terms of quality.
The sound however was entirely forgettable for me, me being the type of guy that if the soundtrack doesn’t grab me by my neck and demand my attention then if probably went straight past me. As did this soundtrack.
What do you think of this anime?
Hurry the fuck up and licence it so I can buy the blu-ray.
Would you recommend this anime?
Yep, doesn’t matter if you’ve never watched a sports anime, this is a great jumping off point, even if you’re a veteran sports anime watcher you should watch this, you’re in for a good time.
Goodbye my brethren, see you in the next one.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Dec 20, 2015
One Punch Man, I feel, is going to become one of those anime. You know, the ones like Evangelion, Code Geass, Cowboy Bebop, Baccano. The shows that if you haven’t seen (and liked) you apparently aren’t a fan of anime….somehow. I’m going to say this at the start so people don’t lose their fucking minds when they actually read the review (Even though they still will). I don’t hate One Punch Man. There. That’s it.
The Short Version:
(+)The show is so over-the-top it’s actually entertaining.
(+)The fight scenes are the best reason to watch this show.
(+)The soundtrack gets you hype.
(-)The art in some of the fight scenes
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is actually kinda shit.
The Story (6/10): The story of One Punch Man is probably one of the easiest stories to digest that anime has ever produced. The entire show is literally about one guy, who’s a superhero for fun, trying to find an opponent that can actually take more than one of his punches, but it’s okay that stops at about episode 5. The stuff that actually happens in the show is….extreme. I mean, in the first episode three big villains get wrecked and there’s two fights that are so over-the-top that you can only really react to them by just screaming at your monitor in the deepest and manliest voice you can possibly muster, and that screaming part of the show keeps building upon itself until the final credits, and those moments before the final credits are amazing. The ending of the show was predictable if you read the manga, and that’s exactly what the end of the show tells you to do. Go read the manga. Normally I’d have a problem with this, and I still do, but seriously you should go read the manga. That and you couldn’t really ask for a better ending.
The Character (8/10): If there’s one thing in this show that I can agree with all of its fanatics on, it’s that the two main character are just awesome, speaking of mains.
Saitama: The most laidback hero to ever exist and the ideal protagonist for a show like this.
Genos: Sort-of sidekick to Saitama and complete polar opposite to him as well.
It’s because of these two characters that I think this show works so well, the complete juxtaposition between these two are a much needed fresh air on the whole ‘hero’ angel. Instead of something like, “I’m doing this because my family died before my eyes and blahblahblah.” Saitama would just respond with, “Cause its fun.” Genos on the other hand is very much the generic hero. This is the reason I like watching this show, because in any situation you can probably guess exactly what Genos is going to say, then Saitama just comes out of nowhere and throws the serious vibe right out the fucking window.
The Art & Sound (7/10) & (7/10): I will admit that the art is pretty fucking smooth by any standard, but it isn’t the greatest I’ve ever seen. Sure in the normal dialogue scenes the animation looks great, but then when some of the fights go down, it turns to shit. It’s like your flying in a F15 Raptor or something, then suddenly that jet turns into a pair of wings that don’t work properly. I understand that sometimes it’s a lot easier to animate a fight scene by dropping the quality of the visuals, which I’m fine with so long as the scene retains that thing that makes me yell, “FUCK YES!!!!” Then again I still can’t ignore how off-putting it is shifting between the two. One thing I find infinitely impressive is that the lead animator himself said that the budget for this show wasn’t anything above average and I quote, “We aren’t working with a colossal budget, we’re working with an average budget. Everyone’s just putting their hearts and souls into every frame to make it look as great as we possibly can.” Makes me think how little effort goes into every other show really, but a round of applause is deserved by the animation team so here you go. *Claps*
The sound of this show is pretty fucking blood pumping, from the moment the OP clicks on I’m ready for shit to hit the fan, and the main battle theme with its shredding guitar just…man it’s gets me going. There are other parts of the soundtrack that caught my attention but that was really only the parts with a guitar every other part was meh, the voice acting across the board is pretty standard as far as I’m concerned.
What do you think of this anime?
This is the sort of anime I’d watch when piss drunk with my roommates, and I’m probably going to buy it when I can. Not for the Holy Grail collection though.
Would you recommend this anime?
Yeah, if you’re stuck on what anime to watch sure. If you’ve got a friend you want to get into anime? Sure. If you’re looking for the next critically acclaimed anime? Nope, not even slightly.
Goodbye my brethren, see you in the next one.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Dec 11, 2015
Intense as fuck boxing, and dick jokes.
That’s the shortest review I’ve ever done.
The Short Version:
(+)The show doesn’t feel like its 75 episodes long.
(+)The fight are AWESOME!
(+)(Almost)Everything happens for a reason.
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(-)The soundtrack gets repeated a lot.
(-)The art is a little bit dated.
The Story (8/10): The story starts out as a classic coming-of-age journey of a young man who is bullied at school, and upon being saved by a boxer decides that he too wants to become a boxer. This is where the story threw me off a bit, because instead of taking revenge out on the people who bullied him, the main character whole heartedly focuses his being on becoming an absolute beast of a boxer. After this we follow the MC throughout his professional career and all of the quite frankly awesome boxing matches that come with it, and the fights that happen in the last third are on an entirely different level of awesome. As someone who has seen and fought in a couple of boxing matches, if actual matches were this intense I’d watch it a lot more, and I would’ve also never stepped into the ring.
The Characters (7/10): The characters of this show I feel are the base standard for a sports anime, you have the really experience character who inspires the protagonist, the protagonist who is willing to work his arse off to get to the top, the old-timer trainer whose experience comes in handy on multiple occasions, and the comedy relief character(s).
Ippo Makunouchi: One hell of a natural fighter and apparently has a massive dong.
Takamura Mamoru: The one who saved/inspired Ippo and apparently has a devastating punch. As in all of them.
Aoki Masaru & Tatsuya Kimura: These guys are the comedy relief and I only remember one of their fights.
Genji Kamogawa: The old-timer who teaches Ippo ‘how-to-box-like-a-badass’ and can hit Takamura like it’s nothing.
Another thing about Ippo as a character that I can link back into the story section, instead of taking up boxing for revenge he takes it up to figure out what ‘strength’ is. I think that speaks to how unique his being is within the action sports genre or even bullied protagonists in general.
The Art & Sound (7/10) & (6/10): Considering this show first aired in 2000 the art looks a bit dated, but then again I’m talking about an anime that’s 15 years old. That fact doesn’t take away from the point that the art is all there when it counts, and when it counts would be the fight scene and HOLY SHIT the art just amplifies the fights vibe to the same vibe that you probably felt with One Punch Man, just a lot of screaming and losing your shit.
The sound, in terms of OST, its nothing remarkable but it definitely sounds very different however no one part of the soundtrack jumped out at me. A couple of the OP’s on the other hand were very good in my opinion and the voice acting by everyone was at their best, when the characters are throwing their entire being behind one punch, it really sounds like they are. The ED’s however slipped entirely under my radar.
What do you think of this anime?
Buying it, if I can find it.
Would you recommend this show?
Yes. As long as your cool with maybe losing your voice because it’s so intense.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Dec 9, 2015
Mawaru Penguindrum really is one of those anime that you sit on one side of a fence for, if you don’t like it you just don’t really like it, and if you like it you REALLY love it.
The Short Version:
(+)COLORS!
(+)Took a single episode to reel me in.
(+)I like the art style.
(-)Characters take a bit to kick into gear.
(-)The story gets a bit confusing after a while.
Story (6/10): The story is a bit complicated. I swear that’s the first time I’ve said that one of my reviews. It starts with easily one of the fastest first episodes ever, I shit you not the episode
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finished and I thought it was just that little intermission in the middle of most episodes. But it does slow down a little bit after that first episode, right after it throws in a stalker, a love triangle, and a mysterious red-headed person running around with a fully modified combat slingshot. Anime.
One of the things I heard about this anime before going in was that there’s a fuck ton of symbolism in this thing. Me being the guy who doesn’t really look below the surface with anime, and just being a little bit dumb some times, I couldn’t for the life of me find any major symbolism in the show, apart from the rather in your face, “Do you want to challenge fate? TOO FUCKING BAD.” That and one of the themes later on is about acceptance or childhood abandonment….Glad to see them extra years of English haven’t gone to waste.
To touch on the ending. If you have a heart you’re probably going to cry. Just know that before going in.
Characters (7/10): The characters aren’t all that special at the moment, I like them sure, but none of them have that reason to make me really like them. Granted I got attached enough that in the first episode I almost cried when a particular thing happened with the main trio.
Shouma Takakura: The quieter of the brothers and the one doing most of the field work.
Kanba Takakura: The louder brother and the one keeping the house together through… not so legal means?
Himari Takakura: The plot device of the story and “SURIVIVAL STRATEGY!”
Ringo Oginome: A stalker and more or less gets roped into the story, which ends up convenient for her.
One thing about the characters is that they take about 8 episodes to start showing signs of change, “But you just need to wait for it to get good.” That’s what they said with Final Fantasy 7 and I stopped that after half an hour so if you don’t like really slow dynamic change with the characters, might not like the character’s that much.
Art & Sound (7/10) & (7/10): The art of the show is really unique in my opinion, it renders anything out of focus or unimportant in a pedestrian sign type of drawing is the only way I can describe it. The art of the characters and environments are pretty good though, minus some choppy parts here and there. The colour pallet for the show is really. Freaking. Broad. You look at the main trio’s house and tell me if you don’t see a particular colour somewhere there. One thing I do want to point out in this show, count how fucking many penguin symbols you see, there is too goddamn many.
The sound for the show is, in a word, catchyasfuck. The OP is one of the rare examples where I didn’t skip it at the start of every episode, instead I actually wanted to listen/watch it, every single time. The OST for the most part is standard but there's a few tracks that really bring home a creepy vibe, a lot of low and slow piano and strings, and, “Welcome to Rock n’ Roll Night. Welcome to Rock n’ Roll Fight.” Best song of the entire fucking show. Also the voice acting is pretty good for everyone I suppose.
What do you think of this anime?
I liked it a bit, not enough to buy it, but enough for me to be invested in the characters a bit.
Would you recommend this anime?
Yeah why the fuck not. You’ll probably enjoy it more than me.
Goodbye my brethren, see you in the next one.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Dec 9, 2015
It isn’t very often I can watch a rom-com and genuinely believe the romance between the two main characters, then for the comedy to also not be on the ecchi side and still make me laugh. That’s a pretty good rom-com.
The Short Version:
(+)They get that kissing shit out in the first episode.
(+)The comedy is pretty alright.
(+)The main character actually thinks like a teenager. (You’ll get what I mean when you watch the show)
(-)Standard rom-com bullshit (Does she like me? Doesn’t he like me?)
(-)The soundtrack is very forgettable.
The Story (6/10): The story behind this show is an age-old classic. Girls like guy, guy likes
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girl, and then we have to sit and watch them run around in a circle for the entire runtime and maybe just MAYBE get to see them kiss in the last episode. Not this show however they get that kiss out-of-the-way in the first episode, but you still have to deal with the endless running around in circles. As annoying as that is this show somehow manages it, and the relentless back and forth isn’t as exhausting as something like Kimi no Todoke (BOOM!) and this is due to the story actually acting like it’s placed in a high school setting, example; A girl says, “I want to touch you.” What the first thing that runs through your brain, it’s that exactly thought that the protagonist thinks in the show and he shows it, so when the girl just puts her hand on his cheek he thinks, “Oh that’s what she meant.” See what I mean, the show acts like it’s actually real. Making the back and forth, as I’ve said a couple of times already, a lot more tolerable. In the latter half of the show however there’s an entire sequence of events involving the relationships of a few side character and I can’t help but feel like that’s only there to fill time. The ending, sucks. There’s no sort of romance conclusion with the two leads apart from, “Yeah we believe we love each other.” Yeah didn’t figure that out back at episode 7.
The Characters (7/10): The characters are pretty important considering the genre of the show and I can say that for all intents and purposes the characters fit their roles remarkably well, if differing only a bit from the standard clichés.
Haru Yoshida: Intimidating bastard when you look at him wrong and a bit of a bro-con (hehe).
Shizuku Mizutani: Egghead and bleeder of the nose.
There are about three or four other characters that are important to the show (But because MAL doesn’t list them as Main, I’m not going to talk about them individually) and they also serve their purpose well within the show. One thing I did like about Haru is that, while not immediately clear, is that the dude isn’t at all adjusted to school, and because of that you get some pretty good comedy moments, like when he brings a chicken to school by hiding it in his shirt. That’s about the level of the comedy, especially when Haru is invovled.
The Art & Sound (6/10) & (5/10): The art of the show is solid, exceptionally solid, for a three-year old show it could’ve been a lot worse. Apart from that there’s not a lot at all about the art to say, is good, that’s all I can really tell you.
The sound on the other hand is entirely forgettable I just finished the show not even an hour ago and I can’t remember shit is terms of sound, the characters VA are good I was convinced that these were in fact the character’s voices. Everything other part of the sound, excluding the OST, was alright.
What do you think of this show?
Better than average rom-com that’s for sure.
Would you recommend this show?
Yep. If you’re looking for a better than average rom-com sure.
Goodbye my brethren, see you in the next one.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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