Recent Review: Neon Genesis Evangelion As focused on its world-defending mechs as K-On! is focused on music.
When life isn't pulling me elsewhere I watch anime and review it every now and then. I'm usually rather quiet but I don't mind the occasional discussion. Otherwise my activity here is sporadic and lengthy periods of inactivity are normal for me.
My thoughts on almost everything I've watched can be found in the comment sections of my list. I'm slowly filling in the rest.
Can you read this as a rating philosophy? Sure, if you want to. If you couldn't care less about ratings, then it's just what it says on the tin. Dissecting what I watch often provides opportunities for deeper understanding (or at the very least, its own amusement) so I do it like this.
The general attributes I care about:
*** - Plot ~ Everything involving the story & characters, and how they were used. My main focus is on structure (how) and purpose (why), as I've found that plots which can maintain those aspects are far more likely to be effective in telling an interesting story. Plots do not need to be complex, just compelling.
* - Effects ~ Animation, sound, et cetera in relation to what is necessitated by the plot. It can't just be pretty for its own sake; these need to be used effectively.
* - Cohesion ~ How much the anime's elements flow with or clash against one another. It's what separates the campy from the trash, why something you can tell is well-made can still bore you, et cetera. It embodies the idea that separated parts don't always equal the value of the whole when tallied together.
Things I don't care about:
Complexity ~ Complexity seems to get confused with depth quite often. It's not even a prerequisite for depth, it's merely how much work it takes to understand something, which isn't a meaningful trait on its own. Depth, the possibilities that arise from what is understood, is something I do care about.
Novelty ~ One of the most overrated aspects of storytelling, in my opinion. A hundred well-told stories that follow a similar structure are still well-told, and a hundred poorly written stories that are one-of-a-kind are still poorly written. Execution supersedes any inherent value that I've seen novelty be claimed to possess.
Enjoyment ~ No, this isn't to say I don't enjoy anime. Much the opposite. It's so easy for me to enjoy anime (and for the most minute reasons) that it's not a distinguishing factor.
Rewatchability ~ I rarely rewatch, and it's always either to confirm details for discussion/reviewing or for the sake of experiencing multiple dubs. I consider it no more a part of the experience than a reflection of it.
Prior Releases ~ My ratings are based on the latest version of an anime to be released (that I'm aware of / have access to). If a studio takes the time to make changes in a new version, I will consider that new version to be the only official version. This isn't to be confused with alternate versions (i.e. Toei's Kanon adaptation vs KyoAni's Kanon adaptation) rather it's when the same entry is re-released with updates.
What my rating is about:
The last and least important. It's mostly just a minigame for me, and the rest is convenient organization via numerical shorthand. I put effort into it, but merely because I find it fun (see what I mean about being able to enjoy anime for minute reasons?)
I rate between 0-100 (0.0/10.0). I used to post an /11 conversion scale, but it overcomplicates things. The idea is to make my ratings a gradient rather than have sharp cutoffs for their meaning. Numbers like 87 & 88 aren't so different from each other, even if that's my line between 8 & 9 if you were to ask me for an /10 rating. "96-100" (my "10/10") is special, but not sacred or impossible. Chances are good that if I gave an anime a 30 or higher, then there is something I genuinely liked about it (though at <60 it's easier for me to remember things I could see done better). You can probably guess the meaning behind the numbers I use with those notions in mind.
In other words, If you rate Madoka & Hyouka a 1/10 and Code Geass & ERASED a 10/10, it doesn't mean I hate you or think your taste is trash. We likely just have vastly different preferences and don't understand each other's tastes.
It means the rating I gave represents multiple separated entries within the same list entry. Presently there are two cases where I will do this:
1. When it makes more sense to rate an entry's episodes standalone rather than as a singular experience. Example: Steins;Gate: Soumei Eichi no Cognitive Computing, in which each episode is a separate advertisement for IBM's Cognitive Computing initiative. There is no encompassing story between them.
2. When various dubs of the same entry are so different from each other that they are completely different experiences. Example: Ghost Stories, in which the original Japanese dub adapts a book series and the English dub infamously spoofs it instead by rewriting the entire cast, changing many minor plot points, and making it a comedy-focused series rather than a horror-focused one.
"But what are you about?":
If you want to know more about me specifically, feel free to ask. What you just scrolled past read about my anime preferences is me attempting to be brief. I'm not good at cutting to the chase in discussion and we'd be here forever if I went anywhere else with this page.
9-10 = Very yes.
7-8 = Yes.
5-6 = Only if you were interested to begin with.
3-4 = No.
≤2 = Tell me what about it made you consider watching it in the first place and I can probably tell you why it fails to provide that.
+1 scale level to anime tagged as Camp. Those have a special appeal outside of their actual quality.
Fate/Zero (at least the first season)
Humanity Has Declined
It should be noted that I rarely re-watch anything unless I'm re-assessing my opinion on it, so that's what this list really represents.
I was looking through your profile and thought I liked your taste until I saw your re:zero review. I personally thought that the first half was far weaker than the second, with arc 3 being the start of Subaru's character development, which is then continued in the second season/arc 4.
You are somewhat correct about Subaru's change in ep 13 being very abrupt, unfortunately between the web novel and anime, they removed some of his more abrasive features making his breakdown seem less natural, though I still believe it makes sense due to his inability to share his many brutal experiences with those around him and how he feels far closer to those around him than they do to him because of the loops.
Arc 4 also addresses your concern of Emilia being shafted in favour of Rem. Emilia's character becomes far better, particularly in the second half of the arc.
Thanks! I wrote the review years ago when those top 4 reviews were still there and felt exactly how you felt. In fact, all my reviews that Ive written are there precisely because I find the main page reviews to be lacking and someone needed to provide a more accurate or in some cases (e.g. Shikioriori) more contextual knowledge to the anime.
Actually, at the time I was writing reviews back then, the system had an Unhelpful button as well and the top review would be the one with the highest % of helpfuls as opposed to an aggregate number. As a result, my review was actually the very top one but sadly that got changed and it declined and I pretty much lost the motivation to continue because unless you're rushing some review for a newly airing show, you'll never have the chance to get the reviews on the front page.
Yea, there's a lot of really cool stuff awaiting us in the future. I think the anime will do just fine and continue to be entertaining but if you're really interested I'd probably recommend watching the whole "Arc 1" ingame story on youtube. It's far more detailed and a bit darker. (Anime also introduced stuff that wasn't in the game so who knows what else Shaft got in store for us)
If more people get invested, I would be interested! As I mentioned I do have admin privileges and even run the current chat on a very technical level, though I'd probably just make a new Discord. It mostly would require a decent sized group of people and a good chunk of time. I definitely have thoughts on what I'd do differently (streamlined review acceptance policies, more open to reviews being accepted and less needlessly stingy, ideally a more well moderated chat room tho that's the hardest part, and so on.)
"With the current state of reviewing on MAL I see clear value in reviving this club, but frankly I don't get why everyone seemed to have floated away or what would get them to come back."
Since you posted this in the club, I would say I would be interested in bringing it back, but I'd probably want to restructure it, and hey I am admin. I mostly found a lot of issues with the chat and I generally disliked some of the absurdity of the judges that were picked, which led to some really galaxy brain stuff. When I thought of reviving it, it just seems like it'd be a lot of work, although if enough people would group up it'd work. There's my thoughts on the matter.
Including all the people in the candidates' meeting he never met? Yeah, I get that eventually he figures things out, but there's no reason to care about him throwing himself against the wall when his winning strategy is just to save-scum. As such, when he even screws that up by getting offended that a knight would act knightly or that people take the whole Satella deal seriously, it's beyond pathetic, it's inhumanly thoughtless.
Is this criticism? Are you a joke? You didnt understand Subaru's character or his way of thinking all. I think you need seriously help, you can dislike how events happened but that is your subjective take. Characters are acting like their character, there is no flaw.
Go ahead and spoil it if you need to reply on it that much, same with the rest of the season 2 leaning.
It is your fault for criticizing the character without learning why he acts that way. Don't get mad at me when i correct you.
Yeah I caught all of that. It was quite lucky for Subaru to enter crucial negotiations with someone who has a built-in lie detector, but Crusch is one of the characters I have little issue with, so it's a minor note. It doesn't have much to do with what I brought up either. If you’re bringing it up to show Subaru building trust, then 1. refer to his previous “conversation” with her, and 2. consider how much more difficult it would be for Crusch to believe his claims if she couldn’t conveniently detect lies. If you're trying to convince me Subaru isn't brain damaged, don't worry, because I believe you on that, hence why I said the idea of an explanation like that would be contrived.
Subaru taked his shot in realistic way because there is no other way. He even talked with Anastasia before as you saw. He learned from his mistakes after understanding Crusch's character and understanding Anastasia's character.
I'll have to posit that this refers to the second sentence because you couldn't determine where one point ended and another began. Good for him that he has altruism, it doesn't change the fact that he's already seen far worse brutality by this point, both upon others and himself. Couldn't have possibly dragged him further down without contriving him into a stupor for the next episode, right?
You don't understand human psychology at all. It doesn't matter how many times he dies, he doesn't know if it was the last also he still experiencing pain both mentally and physically. More information about this is spoiler, i recommend you watching Season 2. Which will explains many question you have.
Understandable, and not even my point. In failing to care about Subaru's situation due to how contrived it was, I couldn't care for the villagers' sake either, because it was temporary.
Just watch Season 2 Episode 1 you will understand you are wrong. Problem is your way of thinking, you think like it was some game. It isn't. These characters are real and can die permanently depends on situtation. There is always stakes. I don't care if you don't care villagers, didn't you saw Rem died with them? That's the point. Also Subaru didn't suicide, he died. Another important point in that scene.
Mhm, sure, just wait 3+ Arcs for a major plot driver and main character introduced in episode 1 and present throughout to have more personality traits than letters in her one word name, masterclass writing right here /s
That one is particularly telling in my case because I'm overly fond of Emilia's initial archetype and generally very forgiving towards that type of character.
If you only watched Season 2, you would have understand it. There is no way to explain Emilia's situtation in events of Arc 1-3. It wouldn't make sense anyway. You didn't even know Emilia's past or why she was that way. No Frozen Bond doesn't explain it is in the Season 2. There is godlike writing. Arc 1-2-3 combine is not long as Arc 4. Same for future Arcs also long. Arc 1-2-3 is prologue. Real story begins in Arc 4.
I didn't even need to consider anything after Subaru's checkpoint was set to after the whale fight, Rem getting erased was laid clear by the narrative double-pointing to her "death" (more like a flat removal from the story, how blatant) and pointing to the Subaru of Arc 2 (who was narratively tied to Rem, see 4) getting slowly washed away like it was a fluke. A long list, but most of these are either basic observations collected over the course of the majority of season 1 or 1-step deductions made using them. This is also the crux of why it's a bad sign when those of us with a fragile suspension of disbelief have it shattered: The story is no longer seen as a singular piece, it's now a mechanical collection of events & drivers being assembled in front of us by an engineer (the author) into a narrative. Unless suspension of disbelief can be restored (a tall order), the emotional beats of the story are not experienced in the first-person, but rather in the second-person by following the author's rationale (which quite often is easy to decipher via awareness of the events and drivers as separate components), muting them to an extreme degree.
Perhaps it's far from the "intended" way of experiencing the story, but it wouldn't have happened in the first place if my suspension of disbelief was maintained, and I don't consider it unreasonable to expect a story to be consistent enough with itself to maintain it. A believable twist can restore it... if it's not predictable, and putting a primary focus on the story's internal components makes that difficult without sacrificing even more consistency, which in turn creates another potential situation in which suspension of disbelief can be easily shattered. At this point, Re:Zero would have to manage to reconstruct my suspension of disbelief for me to experience it like a woven story instead of a contrived machine.
First of all that is subjective, second you could have explained it in few sentences instead putting every random word. You are weird. Also third you are wrong.
Well, we're not talking about season 3, are we? At this point, Wilhelm van Astrea becomes relevant due to his own drives, separate from the mess surrounding Subaru, with a showcased backstory that has nothing to do with Subaru. It's so far removed from the rest of Re;Zero that I could suspend disbelief for it as a largely separated entity. Teppei seems to agree with that, since he turned it into the Kenki Renka spin-off.
Maybe instead of writing off everything you don't immediately understand as nonsensical, you can try to work with your conversation partners? You would be able to gain quite a lot of perspective that way.
Spin-Off is only explaining the past, it doesn't change the fact Wilheim and his wife is main plot and you will understand it in Season 3. It has critic importance in story. Season 1 covers only 10% of the story, you didn't even scratch the surface yet you are complaining like story is finished or something. Are you dumb or dumb hater? If you can't even understand how that story connects atleast seven or eight plotlines together, i don't know what i can say. You are too dumb so you can't understand masterpiece of Re:Zero.
Again thanks for proving why Re:Zero haters are so dumb. My every conversation with them prove it more and more.
Subaru espouse and act upon principles of cooperation, trust building, and responsibility one moment and act & talk in the exact opposite way the next was simply not believable outside of Subaru undergoing brain damage or mind control, and the thought of either of those suddenly being slapped on is a contrived notion.
Subaru has modern day knowledge also he got confidence after learning every character's way of thinking after restart. He failed many times at the first but after the Restart, by using his knowledge (strongest weapon in the world) he managed to convince them.
Subaru was social athlete person (Season 2 shows it) in the real world, his situtation is different than others you imagine. There is Sin / Virtue concept in Re:Zero which executed flawlessly. Again Season 2 explains it more.
Crusch believed Subaru because Divine Protection of Wind Indication. It enables her to read the wind and to see invisible things just like the wind. Crusch can also use it to read the situation of others' emotions, making her able to tell if someone has lied. Divine Protections are one of power system in Re:Zero which you probably missed while others explained it. Subaru also backed up his claim with Metia which make others to listen him. Because no one else can expect to be this guy so good, he is mysterious, confidence managed to convince everyone in first sight (in reality he died before but other characters don't know it)
That is ultimately the cause of episodes 12-18, I cannot ignore the dissonance for the whole duration. His sudden PTSD upon seeing the village burnt to the ground, long after seeing and personally experiencing dozens of brutal deaths, fell flat on me.
That is your subjective take. It affects Subaru because again watch the fcking Season 2. He cares people for a reason because how he grown up and lessons from his parents.
I couldn't even remember a single villager's name to be concerned over their (temporary, thanks to Return by Death) deaths.
Watch the fucking Season 2. Return by Death is not overpowered and has many weakness. Not everyone can be saved with it.
Seeing Emilia get sidelined like an Arc 1 side character while time was taken out to ship-tease Subaru & Rem was a total bore, because it was obvious that the Subaru & Emilia relationship is a central plot point and that this isn't School Days. Rem subsequently getting swept under the memory-erasing rug was laughably predictable in turn.
There is a reason why Rem got more screen time and Emilia get sidelined because watch the fucking Season 2 already? It isn't predictable, i don't know how you possible think that. There is no way you can predict her get erased by Archbishop of Gluttony after Mabeast defeated. Did you know letter was blank and that was the reason why Subaru dealt with Ram situtation because letter was written by Rem and she got erased so as her writing?
All in all, the Wilhelm van Astrea side story was the only thing I could appreciate in full from episode 12 (ep 7 of the director's cut IIRC) onward, and only because it was so far removed from the rest of the plot.
Van Astrea family is main plot of Season 3. It is main plot, how you say it is removed from the rest of plot are you dumb?
So in the end your criticism either doesn't make sense, subjective or wrong. Just like every Re:Zero criticism. Thanks for proving why Re:Zero is so underrated again. Next time don't force yourself to hate it so much and watch every episode before discussing it.
Problem is Re:Zero never sucks. If you have questions than it will be answered later because it is also mystery series.
Again you say it sucks halfway through without explaining why it sucks? Come with real arguments.
Death Note you gave 9 is full of plot holes, plot conveniences and one dimensional characters. Re:Zero is better than your favorite series by far. Same goes for Steins;Gate & Fate/Zero etc. i love them but they are worse than Re:Zero in every way.
All Comments (56) Comments
You are somewhat correct about Subaru's change in ep 13 being very abrupt, unfortunately between the web novel and anime, they removed some of his more abrasive features making his breakdown seem less natural, though I still believe it makes sense due to his inability to share his many brutal experiences with those around him and how he feels far closer to those around him than they do to him because of the loops.
Arc 4 also addresses your concern of Emilia being shafted in favour of Rem. Emilia's character becomes far better, particularly in the second half of the arc.
Actually, at the time I was writing reviews back then, the system had an Unhelpful button as well and the top review would be the one with the highest % of helpfuls as opposed to an aggregate number. As a result, my review was actually the very top one but sadly that got changed and it declined and I pretty much lost the motivation to continue because unless you're rushing some review for a newly airing show, you'll never have the chance to get the reviews on the front page.
Since you posted this in the club, I would say I would be interested in bringing it back, but I'd probably want to restructure it, and hey I am admin. I mostly found a lot of issues with the chat and I generally disliked some of the absurdity of the judges that were picked, which led to some really galaxy brain stuff. When I thought of reviving it, it just seems like it'd be a lot of work, although if enough people would group up it'd work. There's my thoughts on the matter.
If you have valid criticism (which clearly you have not) you can write it to me unless stop wasting my time.
I asked you for flaws in Re:Zero, still waiting answer? Did you saw any plot armor? Did you saw any plot holes? Did you saw any plot coincidences? No?
Most important question is how old are you?
Is this criticism? Are you a joke? You didnt understand Subaru's character or his way of thinking all. I think you need seriously help, you can dislike how events happened but that is your subjective take. Characters are acting like their character, there is no flaw.
It is your fault for criticizing the character without learning why he acts that way. Don't get mad at me when i correct you.
Subaru taked his shot in realistic way because there is no other way. He even talked with Anastasia before as you saw. He learned from his mistakes after understanding Crusch's character and understanding Anastasia's character.
You don't understand human psychology at all. It doesn't matter how many times he dies, he doesn't know if it was the last also he still experiencing pain both mentally and physically. More information about this is spoiler, i recommend you watching Season 2. Which will explains many question you have.
Just watch Season 2 Episode 1 you will understand you are wrong. Problem is your way of thinking, you think like it was some game. It isn't. These characters are real and can die permanently depends on situtation. There is always stakes. I don't care if you don't care villagers, didn't you saw Rem died with them? That's the point. Also Subaru didn't suicide, he died. Another important point in that scene.
That one is particularly telling in my case because I'm overly fond of Emilia's initial archetype and generally very forgiving towards that type of character.
If you only watched Season 2, you would have understand it. There is no way to explain Emilia's situtation in events of Arc 1-3. It wouldn't make sense anyway. You didn't even know Emilia's past or why she was that way. No Frozen Bond doesn't explain it is in the Season 2. There is godlike writing. Arc 1-2-3 combine is not long as Arc 4. Same for future Arcs also long. Arc 1-2-3 is prologue. Real story begins in Arc 4.
Perhaps it's far from the "intended" way of experiencing the story, but it wouldn't have happened in the first place if my suspension of disbelief was maintained, and I don't consider it unreasonable to expect a story to be consistent enough with itself to maintain it. A believable twist can restore it... if it's not predictable, and putting a primary focus on the story's internal components makes that difficult without sacrificing even more consistency, which in turn creates another potential situation in which suspension of disbelief can be easily shattered. At this point, Re:Zero would have to manage to reconstruct my suspension of disbelief for me to experience it like a woven story instead of a contrived machine.
First of all that is subjective, second you could have explained it in few sentences instead putting every random word. You are weird. Also third you are wrong.
Maybe instead of writing off everything you don't immediately understand as nonsensical, you can try to work with your conversation partners? You would be able to gain quite a lot of perspective that way.
Spin-Off is only explaining the past, it doesn't change the fact Wilheim and his wife is main plot and you will understand it in Season 3. It has critic importance in story. Season 1 covers only 10% of the story, you didn't even scratch the surface yet you are complaining like story is finished or something. Are you dumb or dumb hater? If you can't even understand how that story connects atleast seven or eight plotlines together, i don't know what i can say. You are too dumb so you can't understand masterpiece of Re:Zero.
Again thanks for proving why Re:Zero haters are so dumb. My every conversation with them prove it more and more.
Subaru has modern day knowledge also he got confidence after learning every character's way of thinking after restart. He failed many times at the first but after the Restart, by using his knowledge (strongest weapon in the world) he managed to convince them.
Subaru was social athlete person (Season 2 shows it) in the real world, his situtation is different than others you imagine. There is Sin / Virtue concept in Re:Zero which executed flawlessly. Again Season 2 explains it more.
Crusch believed Subaru because Divine Protection of Wind Indication. It enables her to read the wind and to see invisible things just like the wind. Crusch can also use it to read the situation of others' emotions, making her able to tell if someone has lied. Divine Protections are one of power system in Re:Zero which you probably missed while others explained it. Subaru also backed up his claim with Metia which make others to listen him. Because no one else can expect to be this guy so good, he is mysterious, confidence managed to convince everyone in first sight (in reality he died before but other characters don't know it)
That is your subjective take. It affects Subaru because again watch the fcking Season 2. He cares people for a reason because how he grown up and lessons from his parents.
Watch the fucking Season 2. Return by Death is not overpowered and has many weakness. Not everyone can be saved with it.
There is a reason why Rem got more screen time and Emilia get sidelined because watch the fucking Season 2 already? It isn't predictable, i don't know how you possible think that. There is no way you can predict her get erased by Archbishop of Gluttony after Mabeast defeated. Did you know letter was blank and that was the reason why Subaru dealt with Ram situtation because letter was written by Rem and she got erased so as her writing?
Van Astrea family is main plot of Season 3. It is main plot, how you say it is removed from the rest of plot are you dumb?
So in the end your criticism either doesn't make sense, subjective or wrong. Just like every Re:Zero criticism. Thanks for proving why Re:Zero is so underrated again. Next time don't force yourself to hate it so much and watch every episode before discussing it.
Again you say it sucks halfway through without explaining why it sucks? Come with real arguments.
Death Note you gave 9 is full of plot holes, plot conveniences and one dimensional characters. Re:Zero is better than your favorite series by far. Same goes for Steins;Gate & Fate/Zero etc. i love them but they are worse than Re:Zero in every way.
"It sucks because it sucks" nothing more.
Without spoilers discussion there is no point to argue anyway. There is no flaws, if you think there is feel free to put in spoilers tag if you want.
It is 8-9 Season very depth, long running series. Nothing is random, nothing is poorly planned. Everything is perfect.