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Feb 12, 2025
If you want to truly appreciate this anime, you need extensive knowledge into the world of SciAdv. Namely, CHAOS;HEAD NOAH and to a lesser extent STEINS;GATE.
OCCULTIC;NINE is a supernatural murder mystery that follows roughly nine protagonists (with Gamon Yuta being the lead). The speed of the anime is lightning fast in order to condense the entirety of what I imagine was going to be the common route of the visual novel into just 12 episodes. Unlike most SciAdv animes, they actually managed to pull it off pretty well. I did have some assistance, however. Before watching the anime, I went and read the incomplete
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light novels. They're naturally paced much better, but only cover the first 2/3rds of the anime. Because of this as well of my extensive knowledge of the SciAdv universe, I was able to truly appreciate this anime, which to most people probably felt like some absurdly rushed seasonal show that came out of nowhere.
The Story: The story is very interesting, as it's a murder mystery with the entire cast being intimately involved. Somehow, 256 people drowned in one lake, all in one night, and it's been ruled a mass suicide. Over the course of a few days, the entire cast slowly comes to realize that something is horribly wrong, until ultimately the main character sees his own name read off in the list of identified victims. As the story progresses, the cast (which is now entirely composed of spirits), must crack the case to their murders to seek justice in their deaths.
Now, I can't really go into much more detail, sadly. OCCULTIC;NINE was the 5th mainline SciAdv entry, but it has been cancelled in basically every aspect. The source material light novels are incomplete and on an indefinite hiatus, and the visual novel was outright cancelled. The manga is another secondary source with its own ending, though since that was never brought to the west (as of writing this) I have no idea how it differs. Maybe it adapts the bad route? I don't know. Anyways, as I said before, my personal theory is that each of the different versions was going to have its own ending, or atleast adapt a different route of the visual novel, with the visual novel likely having a true ending. If you've read Steins;Gate, I see the O;9 anime adapting whatever was going to be its equivalent to the Stardust Sky ending from S;G, or the Silent Sky ending from Chaos;Head.
The Music: I'm not good at describing these sorts of things, but everything about the music went HARD. The opening, the ending, and all of the OSTs were amazing, especially in the final episode. I haven't seen if Takeshi Abo was involved, but it would not surprise me in the slightest.
The Characters: Much of the cast only really begins to shine in the last couple of episodes, but I think this is due to the pacing. Since I read the light novels beforehand, I was able to appreciate the cast much more fully than if I had just watched the anime, so I cannot quite relate so someone who's only seen the show. I imagine some of the development might feel forced due to the speed, and because this isn't a visual novel with branching endings, much of the cast feels underutilized and some of the MAIN CAST don't feel used at all.
The Animation: The animation was simply, beautiful. Especially in the final episode. It had this really eerie and vibrant color palette that fits O;9 perfectly.
Final notes: HO-LEE-SHIT I absolutely LOVED the implication that ghosts are the same as unrealbooted delusions. Hell, Yuta literally uses the powers of a gigalomaniac to give himself wings to fly as a ghost, and even gets realbooted several times in order to interact with the world. Absolutely insane, and all of this would be missed if I hadn't first read Chaos;Head.
This series was OVERFLOWING with potential, man... but a mixture of I imagine poor sales and Chiyomaru's eccentric release style caused it to be left behind.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Feb 11, 2025
OCCULTIC;NINE is the 5th entry into the SciAdv series, and is also the only incomplete one. Although it tells an amazing supernatural murder mystery, it appears that it never quite caught on to a large enough audience to allow Chiyomaru to ever finish it. That, and he sort of kind of tried to retcon the events of literally every previous entry with O;9, (this was walked back, don't worry) and poorly introduced series mechanics that he did not properly explain until the release of ANONYMOUS;CODE almost a decade later.
The Story: The story starts of pretty slow, but it undeniably has a unique atmosphere to it.
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Yuta Gamon, the protagonist, is somewhere inbetween Kaito and Takumi in terms of personality. By that, I mean he's undeniably a NEET (he calls himself the "NEET God" after all), but he's NOWHERE near as depraved and unsociable as Takumi, but neither is he as normal and bland as Kaito. To put it simply, he has a mild, yet well defined and engaging personality. More than good enough to lead the story. He runs an aggregator blog called Kirikri Basara where he posts supernatural and occult themed stories with the intent of having his fanbase ruthlessly mock them. Oh yeah, and his old radio will talk to him when nobody else is around.
Or, it would have been if OCCULTIC;NINE didn't flip to a new protagonist every chapter. As the name implies, there are a total of nine characters that the story will flop between from their 1st person perspectives. Yuta, being the main protagonist, will sometimes get a few back to back, but even then it can get irritating when you have to read from all of these perspectives. Especially if you're stuck on someone you don't really like. However, this allows us to experience a cast that, unlike in most SciAdv entries, isn't interacting with eachother constantly and is actually at odds with eachother most of the time.
Going on from that, the rest of the cast can be a little hit or miss. Some are a little bland, while others are far too extreme. Hell, some even feel like rehashed characters from previous entries. Ryoka, Yuta's main friend, just feels like Mayuri from STEINS;GATE dialed up to 11 in every possible fashion. Hell, half of her character is literally that she has comically (and I do mean comically) large breasts. Outside of that she's an airhead to the point where I'm pretty sure she's just autistic as hell. Well, unless she has some sort of bigger reveal which I definitely think is possible, since the LN's are (as of writing this) on an indefinite hiatus and incomplete.
As for the rest of the cast:
Sarai - An abrasive intellectual who refutes anything supernatural
Aria - An incestuous satanist
Ririka - A prophetic shotacon gay porn author
Miyuu - A mostly normal girl who can tell fortunes
Toko - An author in an occult themed tabloid with a strong 6th sense
Shin - A babyfaced otaku detective who feels like he shouldn't be within 1000ft of a playground
Kiryu - A mysterious tall man with frequent out of body experiences
Quite the lively lineup we have going on!
All in all, OCCULTIC;NINE is definitely worth reading. While I believe it doesn't truly come into its own until the end of the 2nd volume, the story is undoubtedly good and will hopefully someday be finished. Well, in this format. The anime is finished (although in true SciAdv fashion paced at lightspeed) and supposedly has a proper ending.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jan 5, 2025
The original carrier of the SciAdv anime curse... when compared to the source material, this anime is a crime.
CHAOS;HEAD is an absolutely legendary classic psychological horror/thriller about a borderline schizophrenic incel NEET slowly being driven to absolute madness as he is gangstalked by a serial killer. Over the course of the story, he meets other disturbed people with delusions just like his own, and he tries to rely on them for protection, only realizing that in the end, he needed to be able to stand up for himself. The anime, however, tries to cram a visual novel about the length of STEINS;GATE (yes, they are
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related. S;G is the sequel to C;H) into half the episode count. To make matters worse, the literal most important plot reveal in the entire story is removed and everything after that was either anime original or paced at lightspeed.
The characters got done pretty dirty, too. Don't get me wrong, one of the downsides of C;H is that some of the cast feel a bit trope-ey. This was alleviated greatly with the release of CHAOS;HEAD NOAH, which added 7 character specific endings, developing the cast fully and greatly expanding the worldbuilding. However, as this anime released before C;HN (to my knowledge) and has worse character development than even the original game, the entire cast feels one note at best, irrelevant and annoying at worst. Hell, Takumi himself feels like a completely different person. What made him interesting to me was how absolutely helpless he was in most situation. He was a victim and a pawn doing whatever the people pulling his strings desired of him, and in the anime he was just... bland.
The music, however, is great. Chaos;Head had a wonderful track, and I'm glad they were atleast able to not screw that up.
Even if the anime is barely tolerable at its best, and unfettered garbage at its worst, the source material is worth checking out. It may be unapologetically horny and gory, but it is still an absolute legendary classic of a visual novel. Like I said, it is related to STEINS;GATE, so if you liked that series it is definitely worth checking out.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Dec 2, 2024
The Robotics;Notes manga is hands down the most consistent of the western released SciAdv manga. With beautiful and entertaining art, as well as a couple of creative liberties taken with the source material, the crew in charge of making this manga were able to create an entertaining and coherent adaptation of the Robotics;Note visual novel with very few drawbacks. Although not perfect, it manages to convey the entirety of the story without too many sacrifices and even improves the original story in some instances.
The most appealing part of the R;N manga is the art. Characters like Kai and Akiho are infinitely more expressive in the
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manga than the original visual novel, and this helps the story massively. Kai has a bit of a cardboard personality in the VN, and since the story is literally from his perspective we rarely get to see his reactions. Akiho has an overbearing personality, and is often told that she's only able to get away with her antics because she's cute. This doesn't come across all too well in the VN where the 3d character models severely limit the expressive capabilities of characters. The artist likely saw this as an affront to God, as he took each and every chance possible to draw Akiho and the rest of the cast as emotive as possible. In the case of Akiho, he cranks up her "cuteness" by 11. This improves her character monstrously. Before she comes off as simply annoying, self-centered, and whiny. Now, while she is still all of those things, the delivery of those moments is far more tolerable and quite funny.
As for the pacing? While it starts off strong, the latter half of the story is compressed and rushed pretty bad. I would say its still understandable, with the writing team making a few changes in order to make the ending more satisfying and comprehensible, but we still lose out on some character development. Phases 6 & 7 are cut from the manga entirely, but changes were made to accommodate this. Junna doesn't seem to have the same crippling fear of robots in the manga, and her grandfather was simply slightly irritated at her for damaging a few robots instead of pushing her away over his intense guilt of not supervising her enough. Because of this, they were able to make up over the span of a couple of pages instead of needing a whole character arc. Frau Bow's arc was also removed, with the 2019 solar flair being glossed over almost entirely. Her character however is mostly the same as in the VN, unlike Junna. Because of this, the manga literally ends with Kai going to visit her, implying her character development happens offscreen. This isn't horrible, but it isn't great either. Nae's arc is heavily condensed but remains intact, with her still going on a beach date with Kai. Airi's arc is also rushed, but they managed to keep the important parts with her "big twist" and the scene was still very emotional. Phase 9 is speedran pretty hard as well, with the story cutting from Kai promising to go to the expo with Akiho to present Gunbuild-2 immediately to the expo being raided. Sawada's reveal also had to be tweaked, as Kai had no idea who he was unlike in the VN. Other than that, some more changes were made here and there, but the manga ultimately managed to stick the landing with the ending. The action sequences are all amazingly done as well, with the final fight being very entertaining.
All in all, the Robotics;Notes manga manages to tell an emotional, fun, and visually appealing story that allows it to more than stand on its own as a SciAdv manga. I would definitely NOT recommend someone read this instead of the visual novel, but I do think it get the job done. If you have read the visual novel, I heavily recommend you get this manga.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Dec 1, 2024
At the end of the day, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood tells a captivating story about two brothers willing to do almost anything to gain their bodies back and atone for what they did to lose them. However, when compared to the 2003 version of the anime, FMAB feels inferior in many regards ranging from worldbuilding, tone consistency, and art. Putting FMA '03 aside (for now), this series still has many merits that make it a must-see for those entering anime.
I would like to preface this review with a short disclaimer. All things considered, FMAB is a very good anime.
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I understand that it feels like I am saying the opposite in this review, but that is only because I went in with unrealistic expectations due to what I'd heard of online, and because of how much I loved the original 2003 anime. I believe firmly that FMA & FMAB are perfect gateway shows for people new to anime due to its popularity and lack of fanservice. Although FMAB wasn't a personal 10/10, it is still a show I would not hesitate to rewatch, and it will always hold a place in my heart as one of the first anime's I ever saw.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood was the No.1 anime on MAL for over a decade, and for this reason it would not be wrong to enter the show expecting the next best thing since sliced bread. FMAB is one of, if not the most hyped anime online by quite a large margin, with it holding the no.1 favorite spot on many a MAL profile. Unfortunately, FMAB cannot reasonably be expected to hold the weight of this mantle. While the series starts off strong with an interesting setting and a rapidly expanding cast of unique characters, many are, in one way or another, completely removed from the story before any emotional attachment can possibly be established with them. Of course, this is likely done with the assumption that the viewer has seen the original 2003 anime, and the pacing is likely so nuclear because they wished to reach the deviation point as fast as possible in order to begin adapting new content. But ultimately, this only serves to paint messy parallels to the original series. Things do begin to improve after a while, but the pacing remains inconsistent at best, and many characters feel flat and predictable, though undeniably well-written.
One big issue with FMAB is the inconsistency with the tone. FMA '03 is dark and grimy, with a (mostly) serious tone that helps keep the emotions you feel consistent. FMAB on the other hand will often rely on gags that work to sever any tension a particular scene may have. Of course, FMA '03 has its fair share of "short" gags, but I am of the opinion that they are placed better than in FMAB, where they may serve to ruin the serious or dangerous atmosphere in place.
The worldbuilding also feels a bit more interesting in '03 than FMAB. Human transmutation is integral to the homunculi in '03, where it is simply how one experiences the gate in FMAB. Sloth's reveal in '03 only served to hammer in that feeling of guilt that Ed and Al carry, especially knowing that their mother is now one of the monsters hellbent on killing them. The homunculi (excluding greed) also seemed to have far more interesting characters, personalities, and backstories in the '03 anime, and the "power scaling" also seemed far more consistent. Lastly, the idea of the gate leading to a whole new, physics based world following real-world history was a fun twist at the end of the '03 series that made the gate far more interesting than it was in FMAB. One should not overlook FMAB's greater development of geopolitics, with countries like Xing and its alkahestry, or with the greater focus on Amestris' provinces and the origins of Amestrian alchemy.
This leads to another point with FMA as a whole. In a series world alchemy exists, the combat is quite generic and uninspired. One would not be in the wrong to expect JJBA level fights of creativity and strategy, but the majority of the fighting involves transforming big hands out of rocks or simply immolating people with fireballs. It's all very one-note, and there is an egregious amount of wasted potential with alchemy and alkahestry. To reiterate, this isn't a gripe with FMAB, but FMA as a whole.
To end things off, I already said in my preface that I quite enjoy FMA as a series. It is just that FMAB (personally) falls flat when compared to the original, and I honestly believe that the hype surrounding it should be heavily curbed to prevent people from entering the series with unrealistic expectations (as I did). To put it another way, the FMA fandom treats it like the finest restaurant in the world when in actuality its simply a really solid family diner.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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