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Jun 15, 2021
The story of Jujutsu Kaisen had some moments of okay pacing, and other moments of dubious pacing. The part where I thought that the pacing was okay was when they got into to the supernatural part of the story very quickly. The shifting to slice-of-life to supernatural had hardly any cracks in the road. Smooth throughout.
Now I will talk about the other aspect of JJK'S pacing: It's slow during some parts, and too fast during others. The slow parts of the pacing was where we had the tournament arc and the baseball arc. Those arcs could have been cut out.
The parts where the pacing
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was too fast was when we had the characters jumping from fight to fight with barely any breathing room. This over-the-top fast pacing is great if you want to binge-read, but it's detrimental to the characters. Since the characters are hardly given any breathing room, we don't get to connect with them deeply except for a few lines they give off while they go off to defeat yet another potent villain. When you have your brain turned on and you are in analysis mode, you feel like the characters are simply getting dragged like a mother holding a screaming child while they walk out of the store. Especially during the Shiyuba Incident arc. They were fighting non-stop, and I had this weird feeling that the pacing during this arc was too slow and fast. Too slow for character development, and way too fast for fighting scenes. Another reason I thought it was too slow because the arc went on for 50+ chapters.
The Shiyuba Incident arc was overwhelming during the middle because of the frequent fights that had no breathing room for character development, and so underwhelming at the finale. I thought that the arc was going to end of with a bang since it was so long, but the ending of the arc was so empty that I just felt hollow. I though, "Oh, it's done. I feel robbed of my energy."
I waited to the 152nd chapter so I could review the characters fairly. When reading the fandom's thoughts on the characters, I thought that the characters were going to be too cliche. Nice guy with a big heart. Sassy, bold, fierce woman. Antisocial dude who cares for his friends but obviously doesn't show it. The way that the characters were introduced and executed didn't make me feel angry. Actually, Megumi-chan (dude with the black hair in the pic) didn't act unnecessarily edgy that rubbed me off the wrong way, so I though he was cool. And I though I was going to hate Kugisaki-san (girl in the pic) because she was described as sassy and rude, but she's doesn't always act like that, and she actually gives thanks when it's needed. She can act nice when she respects a person. The main character, Yuuji, broke stereotypes that were refreshing; he was in a nerdy club but he was athletic, handsome, and sociable. Did it make him deep? No. He was quite generic when he cried about how weak he was and how he wanted to be strong. Were Megumi-chan and Kugisaki-san compelling? Nah.
I want to take the time to say this: don't believe in hype. It's the number one rule in the anime community, yet plebs like myself somehow always fall for it. Panda is talked highly about among the fandom, so I picked up this manga and watched a few episodes of the anime to get a sense of the great character that these people were talking about. When reading 152 chapters of the manga, I didn't see the O Mighty Panda that other people were frothing about. He's a side character, so he doesn't have to be treated like the main character--I get why he isn't deep. The only reason he is getting hype is solely for the reason he is a panda, and a talking panda is so cool, right? I'm starting to think that the stanning was mainly a joke. You can r/whoosh me now.
The side characters in general aren't that compelling; they just have have little "quirks" that are constantly getting overpraised as "deep and original." They only side character that was okay was Maki. Her complicated relationship with her younger sister, and the misogyny in her clan made her a character with clear goals: Become a jujutsu sorcerer so you can prove your worth and shove the misogyny to the curb.
Over the course of 152 chapters, the characters, especially the main cast, haven't developed that much. No one really changes their ideals or goals. No one really self-reflects on their actions outside of the stereotypical, "I was weak. I'm still weak. I want to be strong."
The villains are blend into one enigma. They are all cocky. They all hate humans. They are sadistic because yes. I don't know, seeing a villain display different emotions, such as wariness, would have been a nice touch to the gang. When reading the Shibuya arc, I didn't care about the main villain presented there, even if he was the only one who had a clear motive outside of "true human."
The author has never really dug deep into the curses' ideology of what it means to be a "true human." Gege has only touched it with a stick and has left it alone for the most part; she never really explored the theme deep beyond the crevices. It was just an unclear motive just so Gege can add a "layer" to the bland cast of villains. The villains aren't really developed because the story is too interested in spoon-feeding worldbuilding. We get 2-3 paragraphs of the characters mouthing off the worldbuilding towards their opponents during a regular basis that they don't even feel like characters. It's like they go into plot device mode which takes me out of the reading experience as I have to sift through the info-dump.
Onto the art. The art was fair. The characters are drawn to look like actual humans; very proportional. Some of the girls are given big busts--Maki, Nobara, Mai--without it being overtly sexualizing.
Some of the fight scenes didn't really excite me because of the info-dump and the art choices during these scenes. Some of the fight scenes are just barely easy to follow. Oh, his fist went this way, and the cursed energy went that way. But on other panels, the pages are just covered with blinding white and black dots, that you can't tell which arm is whose, and if the guy got shot with the cursed energy or if he evaded it and is now coming with a secret attack. It all gets really confusing until the next panel, where we can see who is the victor and who is the loser, or they straight up tell us, "Haha, I used my technique in a way you didn't know." Because of this, I just waited until the fights were over and just wanted to see the characters interact so we can get deeper characterization. I'm not saying to exclude fights all together, but the mangaka has got to please work on making the fights clearer; oh, and less info-dump. It makes the fights less fun and more of a chore.
My enjoyment was fine, so I gave a seven. There were nice aspects of the manga, and there were bad ones. It was quite easy to binge so I had fun reading through it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jun 2, 2021
Now, I was a little deterred in season one when none of the characters were memorable, but I gave it a pass since it was just the first season, and maybe the author would develop the characters later in the series. Well, nope. We are four seasons in, yet barely any characters are developed past the surface-level, and yet the author adds more surface-level characters to our bland cast. Your investment in the show naturally decreases when the characters are two-dimensional, lacking the tools needed to make the show interesting and add flavor.
The beginning episodes had questionable pacing. Most of the arc was dedicated
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to saving a girl. For six to seven episodes, they were sitting around and talking about how they are going to save the child. It makes sense that they would make plans to her, but those episodes could have been condensed to one or two episodes. The beginning of the season was boring because the author was unnecessarily dragging stuff out.
Then, from episode eight, the writer spent a few episodes with drawn-out fights with the goons that are holding captive the girl they are trying to save. They managed to make the fights, the main sell of this show, boring. There were a lot of cuts in the animation; it wasn't as smooth as the first and second season. The fighting moves were predictable, and it would have been nice if the director had added more distinct fighting techniques. Aside from Eraser Head, it felt like every other character fought the same: With their fists and a jab with their foot. What made Season One and Two great was that characters had different fighting techniques, like Bakugo, Midoriya, Todoroki, and Iida. It was nice to see them use specific fighting strategies to take down their opponent; also they incorporated their opponents moves into their own fighting style, and that was great. The fighting scenes in season four, however, looked the same: them moving their fists at inhuman speed, stark lines in the background to accentuate their fist, their opponent getting knocked back like a fish, boring dialogue, excessive boring inner-dialogue, and many, many cuts. (Thankfully, the fights got better mid-season when they toned down the inner-dialogue. The animation also got better, too.)
Especially the inner-dialogues. That made the fights and the overall season boring. Instead of gracing the viewer with awesome fights, we are left with the characters standing there, giving out multi-paragraph essays of inner dialogue that state the obvious or something that we can gradually infer. Sometimes they would throw a few punches and kicks, and then they would continue to stand there to give the viewer more inner-dialogue, as if the main audience are little children instead of teens. The inner-dialogue was also accompanied with flashbacks, too, which made the pace even more unbearable.
Even when they weren't fighting, it was inner-dialogue non-stop. All day, every day.
Inner-dialogue isn't necessarily bad; it just gets bad when it's overused. I just think that expressing inner-conflict solely through inner-dialogue is lazy. This isn't a manga, this is a show. You express feelings by showing, not telling.
Onto the characters again, because I'm still not done dissecting them. The characters had little growth over the noticeably long period. They tried to give some "development" to some side characters, like Kirishima, but their development was the cliché, "I want to become stronger" or "I want to save people." Or it was just other surface-level stuff. Kirishima's "development" was a copy-pasta of Midoriya's: They were weak, they were determined to get stronger, they became stronger, now they want to be more stronger than ever. Oh, and both Kiri and Midoriya-kun both have a superhero idol that they wanted to be when they grow up. Speaking of Midoriya, he has no flaws except for "shy" and his characteristics have no nuances. He's still the same from season one, except that Midoriya-kun in season four is stronger.
Other characters had their development through flashbacks, and others were given more screen time, but this never made me feel connected to the characters.
I didn't like the ED, and the OP was nice, but I skipped the OP a couple of times. The other OP they introduced didn't sit right with me at first, but on an odd day, I would take the time to listen to it. I was mostly skipping it because I was bored with everything.
The background music for the fights were unnoticeable in the beginning episodes, but were enjoyable during the mid-episodes; i.e. during the climax and finish of the battle between Midoriya and Chisaki. The music playing during the fight scene and other mid-episodes fit very well.
Meanwhile, after going though the brunt of the first arc, we got some episodes that had some good pacing...but on episode 16, and half of episode 17, the writer decided to add in unnecessary filler that neither added to the plot, or fleshed out the characters. They only gave some teensy development towards Bakugo during this two-episode filler arc, but that development didn't stick, since he still acts laughably cartoonish. The development would have stick better if his anger was toned down. I'm not saying to make him a nice do-gooder; just make his aggression realistic, like cold fury in a way. Eren from AOT was aggressive, but he was an aggressive character done right because he didn't always lash out, and when he did, it wasn't cartoonish. His anger during that time was understandable.
Another problem with this season is that it can't decide whether it wants to be serious or funny. You can mix in both elements, but the way the show does it is like smashing two different colored Play-dough together. They'll bring topics like child abuse and death into the show, and then they'll turn around and have the characters act unabashedly cartoonish.
My enjoyment was soured. There were good moments, like reasonable pacing mid-season and later episodes, better fights mid-season, and some fun moments in the School Festival Arc, but they were heavily outweighed by the bad. If I were going to recommend this show to somebody, I'd tell them to skip to episode ten/eleven and they wouldn't miss much. But to leave on a positive note, I really enjoyed the fight in the last episode. The art was magnificent highlighting Endeavor's fire, making the frame pop out. The animation was extremely stellar, too. The later episodes were better than the beginning episodes art-wise because the beginning episodes used a lot of dull colors in the background, making it look mucky. In the last episode during the fight, the exaggerated fighting techniques complemented with their respectful colors made the scene look very pleasing.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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May 31, 2021
After feeling deterred from the lack of character development from the first two seasons, I was immensely happy when the writer took time showing the backstories of the Sins. It helped explained why the characters acted a certain way, and it also deepened them, especially Meliodas-sama. Any doubts I had about him are swallowed. The show even took it a step further in the last episode, where we see him express his fears and internal conflicts.
Unfortunately, other characters weren't developed like the Sins. I'm talking about Elizabeth and the new villains, here. Elizabeth is the same from season one, and since she has no flaws,
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except from cliché ones, she can't get any character development. I didn't hate her character, but I didn't like her either because she was just there. Her role was just to heal and get groped by our Meliodas-sama.
The story did a horrible job in setting up our villains. When I first heard about them, I thought, "Ooh, we're going to be in trouble" but sadly, there is nothing that makes the villains distinct. They are just the reincarnation of the Holy Knights. All the villains were just standing around and talking *menacingly*, as if that's going to make me feel threatened for the characters.
What makes them even less scary is the fact that they have no motivations except for world domination. Obviously, that motivation is extremely vague and does nothing to help flesh out the antagonists.
Besides the development of the Sins, what the show did right was the pacing. The show has very little inner-dialogue and a bunch of fights, so you can power through the episodes feeling enjoyed. The pace makes you feel pumped up, like all action shows should be. Personally, the fights got better in the later episodes. The over-the-topness of it all gave my enjoyment the a score of 10/10.
Sometimes, the art took a dip in the mid-episodes, but the rest looked fine. The characters still looked vibrant, and the backgrounds didn't really catch my eye.
The VA's also did a good job voicing the characters. Their tone completely matched their attitude and personality.
I heavily recommend this season to anyone who's in the mood for binge-watching.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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May 29, 2021
Story: 7/10 (Good)
I don't really fancy myself post-apocalyptical stories since most bore me, but I like AOT'S approach to the this because the worldbuilding is logical. The humans had built three walls, hindering the Titans from killing civilians.
The pacing in this season was good. When the Titans attack for the first time in one hundred years, it doesn't feel like a plot convenience to get the story moving; it feels realistic because the Titans have always been this looming threat, always evolving, trying to find new ways to kill humans. The way that the Titans suddenly attack effectively establishes their scariness and threatening level.
Art: 9/10
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(Great)
The art was very clear and the characters looked 3D in a way. I really liked the way that the black lines highly contrasted against the characters, making them look realistic. The author also gave the characters subtle features that highlighted the differences in each character's ethnicities.
Sound: 8/10 (Very Good)
The Japanese VA's were well placed for their roles. For example, Mikasa's cold demeanor was demonstrated perfectly by Yui Ishikawa. The English VA's were decent as well, but they felt a little clunky compared to the Japanese actors. I just couldn't get behind Bryce playing Eren. It sounds weird because Bryce's voice sounds too light, and I imagine Eren's voice to be more...coldly furious. The Japanese actor for Eren portrayed it perfectly, and he delivered Eren's hotheaded scenes perfectly, too.
Character: 7/10 (Good)
I don't take kind to hot-headed characters filled with angst, but I make an exception for Eren because the way his hotheadedness is portrayed is realistic. He doesn't act all cartoonish like other anime characters; his anger is more toned down in a cold way. Eren's behavior is more plausible because his Mom died.
His friend, Mikasa was well done, too. Mikasa is cold and strong. She doesn't show any emotion because her parents died. She only has a special place for Eren, since he is her only family.
My enjoyment of this season is a 9/10 (Great) because I loved seeing the action scenes in the show. They are well animated. I'd recommend anyone this show.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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May 29, 2021
Kakegurui Season Two was less exciting than the prior season, but it never failed to excite me as the viewer. Personally, I liked the new plot line they had introduced in this season: Gambling to vote for a new president. The system to count in your votes for the new president had me intrigued. I was a little hazy on how the rules worked, but over the course of twelve episodes, the show helped me truly understand how everything works for the election.
Most of transfer students from the Momobami clan who came to run in the election were quite two-dimensional. There was only one character
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who was given a backstory and had a clear defined goal for winning the election. This character had her family name stripped and had to adopt a new one. She had lived her entire life as a "lesser being" and she ran in the election so she can take back her name and run the clan. She was the only fleshed out clan member. Others just wanted power because of power, and that's not a bad motivation. It just makes them less interesting since their flaws and other characteristics were hardly explored. Other clan members were given backstories, but it just didn't stick right with me and it still made me feel like they were two-dimensional.
Yumeko Jabami hasn't progressed in terms of character, but she has still maintained her interesting attributes.
Mary was extremely fleshed out. She was a sadistic person, but when she truly experienced the pain she had inflicted on others, she turned a new leaf and started acting nicer. She didn't turn into a goody-good girl immediately, and that's what I liked about her. She still acts cocky towards her opponents, but in a more toned down way. She is also a little nice towards Yumeko and Ryota, but she will still act like a tsundere. Her character progression was gradual and in-character.
Ryota is still the background character, but the show gives him more agency. It's not a lot, but it's more bearable than the beginning of season one. But he isn't compelling like Mary and Yumeko.
The current president, Momobami, still acts the same from season one, but her cold, calculating, calm demeanor make me attracted towards her character. Her performance instantly catches me whenever she is on screen.
The story had less stakes than in season one. If you lose a match, you just lose your votes. You don't lose your life and devote it to the life plan that they set up for you like they did in season one. Regardless of the lack of stakes, the games were kind of interesting, but they mainly lost the scary appeal.
If you liked season one of Kakegurui, you'll like the next season.
SCORES:
Story: 8/10
Art: 7/10
Sound: 9/10
Character: 6/10
Enjoyment: 8/10
Overall: 7/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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May 29, 2021
Izuku Midoriya is still the same. He's not fleshed out of his trope yet, but I find him more interesting in this season because of the handicap he is put under. Since he can barely use his power without breaking his bones, he has to work his way around that so the outcome can be more desirable, i.e. using only his fingers to distribute his power. His struggle and smarts made me more drawn to him. In the first three episodes of season one, he was painful as a character. After that, he slowly starts to become more likable.
I like this season because it
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gives other characters some lime light. It helps define their smarts, strategies, and cooperation. The characters are still not fleshed out beyond their tropes, so that might be annoying for some viewers. The Tournament Arc was simply the most exciting in my opinion. Seeing different fighting techniques, and the three things I listed above in the same paragraph made me more invested in the show as a whole.
SCORES:
Story: 8/10
Art: 8/10
Sound: 8/10
Character: 7/10
Enjoyment: 9/10
Overall: 8/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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May 29, 2021
This story was very intimate. There wasn't that many over-the-top battles like the previous two seasons, and the show mainly focused on character interactions. Some of them were bland, others were memorable. The only memorable ones were with Ban and Gowther, since they are the only ones that have more depth to them. The bland ones were with the redeemed villains. After the Holy Knights were redeemed, they had no purpose. Their only purpose was to stand there and provide small talk. Oh, and to provide surface-level drama. Even Howzer, who was interesting in the first season, just went to a lifeless being who had
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the hots for Diane. The reason he was interesting in the first season was because he gave mercy to Diane. Although she was a Sin, Howzer still showed concern for her despite him being a Holy Knight. This showed his internal conflict. Now, all he does is argue with King and pine after Diane.
Gilthunder was the most boring of the cast. He was interesting in Season One because he had personal goals for defeating the Sins, and he was ruthless in his way of trying to achieve that. All he does is pine after Elizabeth's sister while blushing, and he talks to the ex-Holy Knight bros.
Elizabeth shows no growth over the series since all she wants to do is talk about saving instead of taking actions. Why doesn't she ask the Sins to train her in combat?
Meliodas-sama hasn't shown much growth either, but we are hinted his backstory. Plus, the show tones down his happy-go-lucky bullcrap and gives him broader emotions, which made me liked him slightly more, but not too much.
I still watched the show because of the interesting dialogue that was frequently exchanged. Overall, I would recommend this season for someone who wants to sit back and relax.
SCORES:
Story: 5/10 (Mediocre)
Art: 8/10 (Very Good)
Sound: 7/10 (Good)
Character: 5/10 (Mediocre)
Enjoyment: 7/10 (Good)
Overall: 6/10 (Fair)
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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May 28, 2021
[SLIGHT SPOILERS]
For the first three episodes, the pacing was slow and I felt bored. The main character, Midoriya Izuku, wasn't even that compelling. He was introverted, determined, and bullied by everyone in his life. He's a great character for relatability, but a bad character interesting-wise. It doesn't help that the "shy, but determined" trope has been done multiple times that it has become a cliché.
Izuku also didn't deserve the power. The reason behind it was silly. Izuku had caused more trouble than good, but All Might decided to give him power because Izuku was brave and he "didn't think," i.e. he charged in trying
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to save somebody without any hesitation, and that's heroic and brave.
Wouldn't have been heroic and brave if he had caused a causality, but all right.
Onto the worldbuilding. The worldbuilding is weaker than Izuku's character. Something magically happened, and now people have super powers. The show doesn't explain how or what, it just says. I had my brain mostly turned off to enjoy, but this glaring point slapped me in the face harder than my Mom. This tiny aspect made the show weak.
The other characters are archetypes, and none of them are particularly interesting. They aren't fleshed out as much because the show mainly focuses on Izuku, and the people close to him. Even the people close to him aren't fleshed out; they are still bound by tropes.
For the emotional part of the story, it wasn't strong at all. This was a given since the characters themselves barely have depth. The emotional aspect was just Izuku screaming and shedding an abundant amount of tears that is inhuman. Crying is his real Quirk. Good lord. This makes me take the scene in a non-serious way. The "emotional" scenes clash with the light-hearted scenes; the light-hearted scenes are what make up the majority of the show.
I'm ambivalent on whether I would recommend this. I'd recommend it hesitantly, and warn that person that the show is full of tropes, and that the first three/four episodes are sluggish, but if you turn of your brain and ignore most of the detriments, your enjoyment of the show should be fine.
SCORES:
Story: 6/10
Art: 7/10
Sound: 7/10
Character: 6/10
Enjoyment: 7/10
Overall: 7/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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