-Adolf short review.-
This started off great but along the way, it became kind of a mess.
This started as a suspenseful thriller but halfway through it added side characters, arcs, and subplots that felt uninteresting, could have been avoided, and most importantly fucked up the pacing thus losing the sense of suspense and tension.
Not only that, but at times the poorly implemented comedy breaks the pathos, and Kauffman´s descent into madness at the end feels rushed and inconsistent.
That being said, this is a very ambitious manga, Tezuka´s paneling is unmatched as is his ability to render drawings in different styles, the setting is used cleverly by
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Feb 2, 2025 Recommended
-Tommie short review.-
One of the most famous manga by Junji Ito, Tommie is, for the most part, a set of one-chapter, short, independent stories that are only connected by the presence of the monster?, ghost?, alien?, experiment?, god????????? named Tommie. There are, however, a bunch of chapters (2 -3 , 4 - 6 , 18 -20) that are connected and form three different arcs that form distinct larger storylines (although each arc is independent from one another). What’s interesting about Tommie is that, while these are a bunch of separate stories, each one gives us more information on how Tommie works and plays with the concept ... in a different way. Which makes it feel as if we were unraveling the mystery of the monster while at the same time making the work cohesive and avoiding repetition. Luckily the author avoids going into too much detail about the monster and still leaves a lot to the imagination, thus not ruining its own horror. The manga tries to tackle themes about beauty, envy, abuse, impulse, identity, obsession, etc. And at times it does a great job at covering those, but for the most part the story is plot-focused and puts its emphasis on creating horror, which is pretty good at. The first chapter of Tommie was the first story that Ito published, and you can tell by the art (although the paneling and composition were fantastic even then). The rest of the chapters were published a lot of time after the OG and with a lot of time in-between them, so you can see Ito get better at drawing people, backgrounds, creatures, and more with each chapter. Already by chapter 6 he is at an impressive level. Paneling-wise, Ito is known for his “page turn” and his control of pacing, and all you need to know is that both are incredible all the way through. The worst that you can say about Tommie is that the chapters vary wildly in quality and that at times it can get a little bit repetitive. Also, given a point, most of the stories stop being scary due to overexposure to the monster. Yet, Ito manages to keep them thrilling, creepy or shocking at the very least. Aside from that, it is a very good read. Here are some small reviews for each chapter: Chapter 1: Basic, but it works well. 8. Hospital: The concept here is horrifying. 8.5. Basement: A good finale for the first “big” arc. One of the best page turns, not for being scary but unsettling with a sense of weird beauty to it. 8.6. Photographs: Amazing sense of growing tension + the ending is just plot turn after plot turn of insanity. 9,1. Kiss: This was just bad, boring, and too long. Yamazaki is retarded. 5. Mansion: Fun at times in a goosebumps kind of way with the mansion setting, it has one of the best monstrosities out there (I wish I hadn’t seen the monster before online to get the surprise here) and an ending with a good sense of tragedy and sadness to it. I wish Yamazaki wasn’t so retarded, although she is smarter in this chapter than in the last. 8,5. Revenge: Ok. 7. Waterfall: SPOOOOOKYYY. 8,7. Painter: It’s fine, but I don’t see what everyone else sees in this chapter. 8,2. Murder: Ads a lot to the monster mythos, and the ending puts you in the shoes of the protagonist in a clever way by playing with information and the core concept of Tommie. Incredible. 9. Hair: Has potential to be fleshed out more but is cool nonetheless. 8,6. Orphan girl: Fun. Tommie is a bad person. 8,2. Little finger: Just fucking cruel with how it deals with abuse (positive). Great ending. 8.7. Kid: P.Diddy ahh chapter. The premise of an “open-minded (liberal)” family teaching his son lefty stuff so that he can be taken advantage of by a much older woman traumatizing him for life, therefore building a warning for the dark side of these ideologies, is clever, but it is barely explored. Still, the ending is creepy and a good example of Tommie just fucking around with people for her own enjoyment, thus making it more cruel (these last three chapters have been cruel, holy shit). 8,7. Moromi: Goofy and dumb, the two mains are painfully stupid. Kind of breaks the lore of the character. Has some of the most beautiful illustrations, though. At least it is not as long as Kiss. 5,5. Babysitter: Boring and completely inconsequential. At least Kiss was part of a larger storyline. 4. Gathering. Okay. Seems like a worse version of Lovesickness (another Ito manga), with much less build-up, more predictability, and a lesser sense of paranoia. Still kind of fun in a goofy way. 6. Passing demon: Fun. 8,5. Top model: The best commentary on beauty, vanity, and ego of the series. One of the best page turns and great grotesque imagery. The twist at the end is fantastic. 9. Old and ugly: Bruh. Could have been great with the chaos caused by the confrontation of the "three" and shit, but the protagonist (Ayako’s sister) actions make little sense, and the pacing feels too fast. The ending is great, though. 7 That’s it. Overall, I really recommend this series. Bye bye. Thanks for reading.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Dec 21, 2024 Not Recommended Spoiler
-SNK Kanketsu-hen long ass review.-
The following is a review of Snk Final Season Part 1, Snk Final Season Part 2 and Snk Kanketsu Hen. I’m going to be perfectly honest here, I’m glad that I don’t give a shit about this series anymore. After watching the admittedly impressive s3 p2 I was eager to watch more of this series, but because I knew that the series finale was close I preferred to wait until the whole thing had ended before devouring the last seasons at my own pace, instead of watching them weekly. While I was waiting for the whole series to be available, controversies surrounding both the ... production of the show and the narrative as a whole came and went. And when the final chapter of the manga dropped the internet exploded in rage and disappointment. People made so much noise about how horrible the final chapter was that even if I had promised myself to not spoil myself I had to check out the famous chapter because, how bad can you fuck up a story at the last possible second? Well, turns out that a lot, as I was in DISBELIEF about what I was reading. It was so baffling that in a completely shameful, retarded, and immature move I made a post here suggesting that maybe if we complained a lot, the ending for the anime could be changed. It was dumb and childish behavior on my part (I deleted it) and I’m surprised at myself for making that post in the first place, but the thing is that the ending for s3 p2 had so many great fucking concepts that it felt absolutely insane to me that they had been wasted by a catastrophic ending like that. Like, how the fuck does the guy that wrote the tense, riveting action scenarios of s3 p2, and the insane reveal of said season also happen to write that Game of Thrones tier finale? How the fuck does that happen? Well, at the very least, while I was disappointed and frustrated by that finale I was able to cope better than others since I had already kind of forgotten about this show. While the show meant something to me when I finished the Return to Shiganshina arc, with time other more interesting shows took that place in my heart that Snk occupied back then. By the time the final chapter was released, Snk was a show that I was interested in and hopeful for, but it wasn’t among my favorites anymore. To be honest though, I hadn’t watched or read Marley or War for Paradis before reading the final chapter, I was aware of what happened in them because I rushed through summaries to be able to experience the chapter that made everyone go crazy but I hadn’t experienced the arcs in their totality. Well, if I had watched/read them my expectations for the final probably would have been lower…. The Marley arc must be the second worst in the entire series and that’s because the focus of the narrative in this arc is in its newly introduced characters and themes. While this criticism extends to the last few arcs in general, and I will proceed to criticize all three final arcs, not making a distinction between seasons until a section at the very end of this review, it is in Marley when the downfall begins due to its focus on characters and themes, with the second to last arc adding a lot of plot issues to the mix and the final arc just shitting the bed completely in every regard. I’m sorry to break it to you all but Snk’s character-work has always been weak. All the characters are the definition of one-dimensional, proof of which is that two of the most popular ones are “the cool guy” and “the girl that ate a potato once”. There are some exceptions like Reiner’s double personality bullshit and Eren’s painfully slow growth throughout the series but overall, the characters were just serviceable. Which isn’t something bad really! The focus of the series has always been on its plot and worldbuilding, that’s what this show has excelled at, and precisely because it focused on those aspects the characters were left as simple but effective ways to move the plot forward and keep the pace tight. But the problem is that now the show wants to play the sympathy card for newly introduced characters, which means that it has to spend time fleshing out characters, which is something terrible for an author who has spent hundreds of chapters with extremely simple characters. And the results are what you would imagine: One note characters with personalities that are as attractive as a class on paper materials whose entire character trait is either saying: ELDIANS DEMONS or ELDIANS MIGHT NOT BE DEMONS. The character writing is so fucking weak that after finishing p1 I literally couldn’t tell you anything about these new characters other than the fact that they were flesh puppets to deliver “muh racism bad” message. Like for real, tell me ANYTHING about Falco or Gabi outside of the mental conditioning or that Falco likes Gabi and his brother. Hell, tell me anything about that third fucking wheel of a girl that dies in the declaration of war scene. You probably can’t. The only newly introduced character that will leave an impression on anyone here is Pieck because she is cute and autistic and Yelena because she is a retard. But worse than any of this is the new themes brought to the table in these three last arcs as well. The holocaust allegory is as in-your-face as possible, but every other attempt at exploring war and the systemic racism of this world feels preachy at best and simplistic at worst. Really all of it just amounts to “racism bad and war bad” with nothing to ponder about. There is absolutely nothing in the last few seasons to explore these themes outside of the mental conditioning to which the Ymir descendants in Marley are subjected to, which at the same time is as simplistic as you could imagine: Every Ymir subject in Marley is lead to believe that Eldians are demons that need to be exterminated and that’s bad. There are so, SO many fucking scenes that consist of showcasing racist behavior (or mental conditioning) or soldiers being sad and the show basically saying: Look THAT’S BAD! Worse is that the show PRETENDS to have something to say about any of these topics while at the same time saying nothing. I remember a scene in part 2 in which most of the main characters from opposite sides, who had united against the greater threat of Eren, were sitting together around a campfire. The point of the scene (or episode really) was to showcase how none of them were angels and all of them had blood on their hands despite being on opposite sides, so no one had the moral high ground here despite the intense discussion that was displayed between both sides. Okay, that’s fine, but the problem is that the show actually pretends to have a “solution” to their situation and the sins that they have committed, a sort of message that presents itself as a way of ending their conflict and probably future conflicts. There’s a line that encapsulates this message in the episode and it went something like “If we had only talked it out before!” and honestly, this just gets to show the teenage-like mentality of this series in regards to the themes that it tries to tackle. Yeah sure, common folks and low-rank soldiers “talking out their differences” is a way of resolving wars revolving around geopolitical issues, resources, and struggles of power between rapidly developing nations in conflicts that date back centuries ago and in a setting in which there is a race that can literally transform into a weapon of mass destruction in an instant. LMFAO man, the author has the weird fucking idea that the only reasons why soldiers kill and wars happen in a world in the process of industrialization is because of hatred and racism and that could be easily solved if people just “didn’t hate each other”, completely ignoring the way in which nations, politics, resources, cultures, and societies in general work. Some of the scenes featured here are so fucking cringeworthy, Jesus Christ… In the “War for Paradis” arc one of the characters told a girl after being saved by Gabi (whom the girl tried to kill btw) “Don’t worry, we all have an interior demon” and I just hit my face against the keyboard so hard that I probably woke my neighbors. To paraphrase probably the best game reviewer out there (Running Shine): “Did you get that line from an Instagram post of an Indian on a Mountain?”. Because really that’s how it feels like, it feels like superficial “higher than thou” preach from a teenager who knows nothing about how the real world works, the kind of mentally deficient individual that honestly thinks that all of the bad in the world only happens because “white people bad” and that “real communism hasn’t really been tried yet”. Also, as a note, it’s very funny that the story wants to depict “racism” against a race that can LITERALLY transform into fucking man-eating monsters and want to make us think that the people that fear and ostracize them are bad. Look, I don’t care how human something looks, if it can transform into a violent insane man-devouring creature then I’m on my god-given right to fucking kill it, this weird symbolism for the Eldians as Jews just doesn’t fucking work at all if you think about it. Like, as far as I remember, Jews cannot transform into mindless man-eating brainwashed cannibals when their “leader” tells them to. Probably the worst example of the theming here is the moral dilemma that comes with the rumbling in which the author basically trapped himself into a situation in which massive genocide is literally the only way out, so Isayama realizing that this “might” offend some people wrote the most contrived and stupid solution possible, one that makes absolutely no sense and only works because he wanted the solution to work, because character and plot-wise it makes no fucking sense. But more on that later. Now, I know that some of you might say: “But wait, the themes go beyond that simplistic and preachy approach, ACTUALLY, the show tries to cover the cyclical nature of violence, freedom, and destiny, themes that it has tried to tackle since the very beginning of the series and therefore racism and war are only founding blocks from which to speak of this higher concepts.” And well, I agree but it also does a horrible fucking job at that. The cyclical nature of violence is represented in an overly simplistic manner here because, on a micro level, this show pretends that evil only comes from brainwashed people killing each other, therefore the cycle can end if they just stop being racists and hating the other side for having killed their loved ones. And there lies the issue. “Killing in a war (or in the camps for the eldians in Marley, in whcih the only evil thing they show is either guards killing Eldians or being moderately mean to them)” is the only crime from which the cycle of violence for small groups or individuals is explored, which is an easy crime to forgive considering the conditions of the parts involved in oppsite sides in a war. But do you know what also happens in a war and would completely change this stupid fucking approach? Rape, torture, human experimentation, chemical weapons used against the innocent, the list could go on… The thing is, that the show can only justify its message about how we should stop hating each other (on a small scale that is, “personally”, for individuals) because it only features killing people as a way to explore hate. If it started showing the other things that happen in a war then the message would be far less justifiable. And it doesn’t show any of this because remember, this show is made for teenagers, so the setting and themes have to be compromised and at odds with its concept (that of a brutal WWI-like war) so that the show conveys this message from a child-like perspective. On a macro level on the other hand, what the show wants to present which can be summed up as “on a grand scale, wars and acts of violence will constantly repeat again and again in the far future due to the nature of humanity even if we stop some conflicts” actually makes sense with the circumstances presented for fucking once. But at the same time, I don’t think that the show is saying anything new or presenting this in an interesting or compelling way. And really, due to how this message is presented on a smaller scale it kind of comes off as an afterthought, as if the author is just saying “Oh see, yeah we forgave each other because I wasn’t able to show how war truly is, but our future generations won’t learn from history”. It is just awkward. Now onto “freedom” I don’t know how to tell this to Isayama but it doesn’t matter how many times you repeat the word “freedom” ad nauseum, it won’t make this show deeper. Freedom as an idea is presented in different ways throughout the show, the most obvious one being “freedom from racial oppression”. But again, as I said earlier, that example isn’t necessarily showing or exploring anything new or in an interesting way, and the other ways in which freedom as a concept is present make absolutely no fucking sense from an ideological standpoint. The worst example of this might be Mikasa and Ymir. Mikasa somehow is “chained” by Eren and will be “free” from him when she kills him. This tries to make a parallel to Ymir who has a slave mentality and therefore keeps working for her descendants and King Fritz in the paths to keep creating titans. The problem is that this doesn’t make any fucking sense. Mikasa isn’t “enslaved or chained”. She is free to do whatever she wants, hell even Eren tells her to fuck off clearly, and even if you were to argue that her love for Eren “chains her to him”, it makes no fucking sense for the solution for this to be killing him. Because she can always walk away from all of this situation, move to the mountains in the middle of nowhere, and never come into contact with Eren ever again (I remind you that Eren is going to die in like 3 years or so if I remember correctly), therefore being “free from him” (remember, he essentially tells her to fuck off, she isn’t forced to be by his side). Yet the only solution that the author presents to her to be free from her “enslavement” is to kill him as a way of freeing herself. It is a false dichotomy considering that she has millions of options at her disposal to be “free” from him and he doesn’t even want her by his side in the first place. But of course, the funniest shit is that Ymir’s situation is supposed to be a parallel to Mikasa’s. Ymir was enslaved since she was a child and conditioned to obey Fritz like a slave, Mikasa was literally saved by Eren and lived freely her whole life dedicating that life to protecting Eren. Ymir’s conditioning was so strong that even after being raped, killed and her corpse eaten she obeyed Fritz until the end, who constantly used her btw, or did things for Fritz's wellbeing while not wanting to do them, the implication is that she did them because of a slave mentality and stockholm syndrome. Mikasa did everything due to her own will, she protected Eren because of her own will and because she wanted to do it, also Eren almost never gave her an order, and if he did it was to leave him alone, not to use her. You cannot even argue that the Ackerman’s bond “forced her” in any way, shape, or form, because Ymir’s case is one of trauma, pain, brainwashing, and a toxic relationship in which Fritz was the abuser and manipulator while Mikasa’s case is one in which she was truly happy and just wanted to protect the guy that saved her life and that guy wanted to be left alone and for her to not bother him (if anything the Ackerman´s bond appeared after she willingly formed a bond based on care and love with Eren after he literally SAVED HER LIVE and his family adopted her as one of their own), even while taking the Ackerman’s bond into the equation both cases have nothing to do with each other, and hell to try to make a parallel between a genetic condition like the Ackerman’s bond and what Ymir went through would be, at best, very disrespectful towards people who have suffered abuse.. Mikasa won’t be “free” from anything substantial aside from the fairytale fantasy quircky bond that the author invented because she always wanted to protect Eren from her own will due to them being literal family for years and that brought her genuine purpose (even without the bond thing) while Ymir had an unconscious desire for “freedom” due to her whole life being fucking miserable because of Fritz causing her to develop literal stockholm syndrome. It’s fucking stupid and feels forced as fuck to try to make a parallel out of the two since the only thing that is parallel to their stories is “girl kinda does things for guy, and eventually she stops doing things for guy”. The final case that showcases the “muh freedom” theme in snk is Eren himself, who wants to be free from Destiny, he wants his friends to be free from war and suffering, and he wants to be free from the cruelty of the world that he lives in, and that finally brings us to the last thematic string of this stupid fucking show. Now about Destiny, this isn’t a theme really, nothing is pondered or explored in relation to this idea, it’s literally just a contrived plot device so that what the author wants to happen can actually happen. Destiny in this show is not only a bunch of nonsense thematically, but plot-wise as well. You cannot establish that destiny is something fixed in this universe while at the same time presenting information at odds with that message. The show wants to make you believe that Eren saw “all possibilities” and was “cursed with knowledge” while at the same time establishing that destiny is set in stone (everything leads to the same scenario), it wants to make you believe that Eren could not change anything and that the future that he saw was the only one possible given his means while at the same time making him essentially a god by giving him the power to control all Titans in past, present and future. I don't know how to tell you this but these concepts contradict themselves. The huge problem that this series has in relation to this theme is that it achieves the incredible writing feat of establishing concepts like destiny, fate, and casualty with rules and explanations for how they work in this universe that are concrete enough but at the same time vague enough that they end up being confusing as fuck, especially when the author contradicts itself. That's why, when seeing opinions or explanations of the ending of this show online you will see a lot of extremely different takes on how time, fate, memories, etc. work in this world. Because the author wasn´t vague nor concrete in how he explained any of this, because most likely he never knew how it worked in the first place and he was making it up along the way as he wrote. If not, how could you explain Eren knowing that the rumbling and his friends killing him will solve the whole fucking plot and bring peace making them the “Heroes of the world”, while at the same fucking time stating to Armin “I brought you into a fight that I don´t know if you will survive”? How could you explain Eren saying that he advanced so that Mikasa can bring a “result” that he doesn´t know of, when he KNOWS THAT AFTER THEIR FIGHT HIS FRIENDS WILL BECOME THE HEROES OF THE WORLD AND STOP THE RUMBLING WICH IS THE FUCKING FINAL RESULT OF MIKASA KILLING HIM? HOW THE FUCK DOES ANY OF THIS WORK? DOES HE KNOW, OR DOES HE NOT KNOW? Moreover, how does Eren controlling all the titans in the past, present, and future and seeing/exploring all possibilities not lead to different results and timelines? Eren mentions that it “all leads to the same path” (or some shit like that) which to anyone with more than two brain cells makes no fucking sense when you realize that by controlling all past, future, and present titans he is essentially almost a god in this world and the variations and timelines that he could produce by controlling these weapons of mass destruction throughout time are insane. Again, as I wrote previously, the show takes a “destiny is set in stone” approach while giving information at odds with that message, at the same time it contradicts itself in how most of the concepts related to fate, destiny, memories, events, time, etc, work while spouting lines of dialogue related to these concepts constantly in the last scenes of the show and not giving sufficient explanation on how they work. This essentially means that the author had absolutely no idea of what he was doing and the work ends up being a completely fucking confusing and incomprehensible mess. So the way in which Isayama introduced destiny as a concept not only produces plotholes and contradictions, but also affects the poor exploration of destiny as a theme, because its impossible to explore what destiny or fate is when not even the fucking writer knows how to even properly define what he wants to do with, or what even are these concepts. Well, at least Isayama knew to use fate for one fucking thing for sure: As a contrived plot device. Now, earlier I wrote, “With the rumbling in which the author basically trapped himself into a situation in which massive genocide is literally the only way out, so Isayama realizing that this might offend some people wrote the most contrived and stupid solution possible”. And this is the perfect moment to bring this up because the ONLY WAY FOR THE SOLUTION PRESENTED FOR THE WHOLE CONFLICT TO WORK IS TO FORCE IT THROUGH DESTINY BECAUSE THERE IS NO FUCKING WAY THAT IT WORKS OTHERWISE WHEN YOU CONSIDER THE PLOT, CHARACTERS AND SETTING. Only 20 % of the world remains, Paradis is run by ethnonationalists who have unparalleled devotion to Eren justifying the genocide, and the whole world has seen their fears 100% confirmed and what the subjects of Ymir can do. What is the solution to this you might ask? Well, simple, like 8 fucking guys (some Eldian, some from Marley) will kill Eren, stop the rumbling, and will negotiate with both sides as “heroes of the world” and therefore bring peace for hundreds of years. Yes, you heard that right, these groups of like 8 or so guys will kill the leader of the Etnonationalists, and then just speak calmly with these Ethnonationalist that were completely devoted to him (they cut off the fucking head of their leader by the way), the same ethnonationalists that justified the massive killing not only because of fear of retaliation but because of the anger that they felt for being trapped like animals behind walls for years and the thousands that died because of Annie, Reiner, and Berthold. Not only that but they will just bring Annie and Reiner with them to negotiate with the ethnonationalists as well. Don´t forget by the way that this eight guys killed dozens of Yaegerists when they left the Island essentially becoming terrorists. Yeah, bring them the head of their leader, they will surely love it because they want to “hear your story”. Even better, they will negotiate peace between the subjects of Ymir and the rest of the world, after 80% of said world has been annihilated by the very same thing that they thought would happen, the very same thing that they wanted to eliminate the Eldians for. Oh, and they will have to explain to them that they shouldn’t go near Paradis because the whole fucking Island facilitated, helped, and supported Eren in doing the rumbling. They surely won’t want revenge after seeing literally almost all their family members, nations, cultures, and land entirely annihilated in one of the most horrific ways imaginable, especially after knowing that the people on the Island (most of Ymir's subjects) SUPPORTED AND FACILITATED IT. Na, they won’t want retaliation because like two fucking Eldians helped stop the rumbling apparently. Yet for some godforsaken reason, the show implies that this is the only way out for hundreds of years of peace and reconstruction. HOOOOOOOWWWWWW?!?!?!?!?!?!?! HOW IN THE FUCK?!?!?!???! THIS SHOW IS THIS FUCKING RETARDED. How does this even fucking work? Who the fuck thinks that this situation will end in hundreds of years of peace? My fucking god. Not even taking into account losing millions of kilometers of fertile land, essentially most of the cattle in the world, an insane amount of infrastructure and sources of energy, and entire cultures and countries leaving the world in a power vacuum that will surely result in more wars, famine, and social chaos, not even taking into account all of that bullshit that the show ignores to have a hopeful ending and telling you that there will be “hundreds of years of peace”, not even taking into account all of that, THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO POSSIBLE WAY THAT THIS SITUATION GETS RESOLVED IN THE WAY THAT THE SHOW DESCRIBES, IT MAKES ABSOLUTELY ZERO FUCKING SENSE. HOLY SHIT. It's the definition of “contrived”. “Artificial”. It happens because the author wants it to happen. So it says that Eren saw this future through destiny and it was the only choice (it wasn’t by the way, given the power that Eren holds, the connections that Eldians have to the outside world with the Azumabito, the hatred that many nations hold towards Marley stated by the show because they are an imperialist nation, as well as the unstable political situation for Marley and the world in general and the resources found in the Island, there were a million ways in which a “stable” future could have been achieved but the show is too stupid to even conceive this option). It makes no sense given the situation provided, but because it is “destined”, then it happens. It's beyond contrived, illogical, stupid, and the final nail in the coffin for this stupid show. So no, the themes don’t work, and nor does the plot, but more examples of the plot not working by the way (nothing makes any sense plot and character-wise since the rumbling started and probably since before that): -Levi hates Zeke because he killed a lot of the survey corps and Erwin but he remains indifferent towards Reiner, even though Reiner also killed and helped with the massive survey corps massacre and therefore contributed to Erwin’s death. -When they encounter Annie after the rumbling nobody cares about her having killed thousands of their own. Annie acts like a saint with Mikasa and company, telling them while she cries that she doesn’t wanna kill her or the group if she refuses to kill Eren. I remind you that these characters have barely interacted before, therefore they shouldn’t have any feelings toward each other, why the fuck does she care if she kills them or not? -All the governments of the world have a plan to kill Eren with (quote) “the most brilliant minds of the world working together”. Their brilliant plan? To put boats on a line and just shoot the rumbling. Lmfao. -At the end when the main group is surrounded by Marley soldiers pointing a gun at them, after the soldiers have just witnessed almost all of the group transform into Titans, Armin says as a defense that they cannot transform into Titans anymore because if not, they would have already done it, even though there’s a million fucking reasons of why they wouldn’t have already transformed into titans (if they were still titans I mean). -Zeke changes his entire ideology, one built by a lifetime of experiences by a 2 min speech by Armin -The paths are a bunch of fucking confusing nonsense that also work as a stupid deus ex machina used to save Armin and company’s asses for no reason at the end: some Eldians could just come back from the dead in the form of Titans for no reason. Honestly, I could go on, but I’m just tired. Moving on so I can just end this shit, there is fucking awful exposition dialogue from Marley onwards, in which characters that already know what’s going on explain to each other things for the audience’s sake, and at times those things are just reminders of events and information that the audience already knows. And also everything from the final season onwards from an audiovisual perspective is just worse than before, although final season s2 and Kanketsu hen are a little bit better than the first final season. Some short final notes (I have more to say, but I´m tired af and I don´t care anymore): In fss1: -The compositing looks awful with smoke and fire looking extremely bad, blurs being heavy and ugly, horrible line filters on the characters, ugly color filters on most scenes, etc. -The art direction also suffers, never getting even close to the beauty of prior seasons. And the same could be said about the camera movements, never achieving the same awe-inspiring moves that prior seasons achieved. (This also applies to s2 and final s) -The character designs are a fucking eyesore. (This also applies to s2 and final s) -Some horrible oblique camera movements (Mostly done through editing in the compositing phase though, also applies to s2 and final s) -The implementation of music is horrendous. There was one scene in which Gabi and her gang were chilling out and I swear to god the music seemed like something out of precure, it wasn’t something bad per se, but in this setting, it sounded so fucking jarring I swear to god. Same with another scene in which the music seemed like it was building to something epic because they used some version of the main theme “Ashes on fire” while they were “bullying” (more of a discussion but whatever) Reiner but NO, the scene just proceeded to an ordinary dialogue scene for some reason. The music as a whole is great though (regardless of its implementation in this particular season). -The CGI is horrendous. In fss2: -The compositing gets a little bit better, although halfway through it gets to shit again. -The CGI gets a little bit better. -The character drawings are awful in the second half. -The art direction gets REALLY, REALLY bad in the last half. -Ep 11 had some great animation cuts and camera movements. -The show had some cool things when it comes to directing and storyboarding even in s1 (although nothing incredible) but ep 9 in s2 was just great visual storytelling: using the same shot of every character to build a parallel between them, using shots behind tree branches to “obscure a way out” until the end which is thematically appropriate, separating the characters in creative ways visually, etc. In Kanketsu hen: -It's the best out of the three seasons on a technical level, and I guess they achieved the best version of whatever aesthetic they were going for (still worse than everything that Wit did though and I don't find anything here impressive, just very competent). -It's the worst story-wise. -The pacing is HORRENDOUS, especially in the second episode that feels like it has no build-up or tension whatsoever, just constant overextended action with no rhyme or reason. To conclude this monstrous and honestly directionless review (not more directionless than the show though), yeah this fucking sucks. The reason why Fss1 and Fss2 have a 7 and 8 respectively on my page is because while they were slowly shitting themselves, the show did still have some self-respect and some semblance of sense in it (Fss2 had a better production overall, especially in its first half and episode 11) and they were able to produce interesting, tense and well thought action sequences (especially the first half of fss2). But by the end of Fss2, the cracks were too big and Kanketsu Hen just couldn't keep the boat afloat with one of the worst ending stretches that I have ever experienced in my life, made worse by the horrible pacing. The presentation while competent pales in comparison to what you would expect from 2 one hour specials and the story is so fucking bad that even an audiovisual masterpiece could not make me give it more than 6 AT BEST. Now, I wrote like 75% of this review when I finished the show at the beginning of this year. I literally forgot about finishing the review and since I was bored today I came back to finish it due to boredom. That kind of resumes the relationship that I have with this whole franchise really. Frustrated when I finished it due to the missed potential of this show, but just a faraway memory months after the fact that only comes to my mind when I'm extremely bored. So as I said, I´m glad that I don´t give a shit about this series anymore. Thanks for reading.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jul 12, 2024 Recommended
-The Big O short review.-
Extremely unique premise and world with tons of style, great animation, a unique art style, great story boarding, and fantastic music to back it up. Suave and cool characters with tons of charisma, and thematically it does a pretty good reflection, in a cool and smart meta way, on the idea of memories and how it makes us perceive reality by exploring the existential crisis that comes with having no memories as well as playing and blurring the line between what’s real and not in the narrative while, cleverly, not giving a solid answer in the whole final arc of the show ... and at the same time delivering a solid message despite many of the concrete mysteries of the plot not getting resolved. Wild, dreamlike stuff, but expected from Chiaki J. Konaka. Unfortunately, the second half feels more unfocused than the first, the animation takes a hit as well, and some character arcs feel rushed while other characters feel like they were forgotten halfway through (Dorothy, unfortunately). It also features some dumb plot holes and some big contrivances here and there. But overall pretty good, better first half, and episodes 13 and 14 are masterpieces. Bye bye. Thanks for reading.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Dec 30, 2023
Macross Plus
(Anime)
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Recommended
-Macross Plus short review.-
Slightly pretentious top gun for weebs. Some of the most beautiful art and animation that I have ever witnessed along with some incredible directing, storyboarding, sound design and music. All of these elements work in tandem to elevate a, for the most part, smart script that is able to seamlessly intertwine in its plot interpersonal romantic melodrama and sci-fi military action to explore themes about technology, emotions and what makes us human. ... An ending that feels somehow rushed, some plot contrivances on episode 4 and a lack of an epilogue are the main flaws of this Ova that otherwise is just a narrative and technical achievement. Recommended for all mecha fans. Bye bye. Thanks for reading.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Dec 29, 2023
Jujutsu Kaisen 0 Movie
(Anime)
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Not Recommended
-Jujutsu Kaisen 0 review.-
This has to be one of the most pathetic attempts at sentimentalism that I have ever had the displeasure of watching. Usually, shōnen anime has this issue in which a character’s personality basically consists of 1 single quirk and a sad 2-minute backstory that can be summarized in: everything was sunshine and rainbows until “the event happened and that’s why I fight”, because apparently to give depth to a character in real time and to build a multidimensional character is just impossible for most shōnen writers. And really, that’s basically this entire movie. ... If you are able to withstand the manipulative tone, the cliché dialogue and the cardboard character interactions that really want to touch at your heartstrings in the most pathetic way possible, and you don’t mind being interrupted by flashbacks of things that you have already seen all the time, what you have left is a movie with an awkward structure in which the first half is dedicated to present you three characters whose entire personalities consists of what I described on the second paragraph in this review and the second half is an unearned climax that literally comes out of fucking nowhere since there hasn’t been any tension built over the course of the film and that ends with a Deus ex machina that feels unearned. As bad as this all sounds, at the very least the jujutsu sorcerer’s world feels more fleshed out thanks to this film as, unlike the OG series, it shows more than 4 sorcerers to cover the curse incidents of the entirety of Japan. Also, presentation-wise, the action animation is still impressive as expected, but the awkwardly implemented stills, the for the most part mediocre art direction (for a movie that is, it looks better than the series) and the at times ugly compositing (still better than the series though) feel really disappointing for what’s supposed to be a cinematic experience. Conclusion: If you are more than twelve, the only thing that you are going to get from this narrative and presentation wise is some nice action animation. Bye, bye. Thanks for reading.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Dec 17, 2023 Mixed Feelings
-Mind Game review.-
Do you know that feeling that you get when you are watching a director’s debut film and you just feel exhausted and think that half of the techniques used were unnecessary and a way for the director to show off? Well, that’s mind game for you. To be fair, Yuasa had already occupied the chair of “Director” before as episode director for “Rakugo Kan” and director for short films like "Slime Adventures: Yay, the Sea!” among other important creative roles. But Mind Game was his directorial debut for a feature-length film, and it fucking shows. The movie is constantly visually stimulating, using ... eye-catching techniques to emphasize every single fucking action that the characters do or events that happen on screen, to the point in which many scenes would have benefited from a more conventional directing approach. Great directors are able to emphasize and exaggerate actions or moments for the scenes that need it and present other more intimate scenes with subtlety, atmosphere, and quietness. This movie only does the first thing, and the result is a visually exhaustive work in which half of the time I was asking myself: Was this really necessary? There are a lot of scenes in this film that are technically and creatively really impressive but come out of absolutely nowhere, mean nothing, and are such a waste of time to the point that despite the crazy shit happening on screen, it feels dragged out and boring, like they were only there for Yuasa to show off. Not only that, but there are some techniques that just look awful or feel cheap. Using real-life photographs for faces while the rest of the shot is animated sounds like a good concept, but in execution, it ends up looking horrible. There is also a weird sequence in which a girl paints herself with paint several times and fucking jumps into a windmill or something weird like that, and they just straight up repeat the same animation with different coloring like 10 times, which of course makes the scene feel boring and repetitive. I could go on, but the thing is that the whole movie, both story- and presentation-wise, just feels like a first-time director trying his best to impress you with what technically impressive feats he can achieve without really understanding restraint, meaning, pacing, or subtlety. The final result is a visually interesting mess that feels like a drag, exhaustive, wasted time, and even pretentious. I give it an okay score because it's still visually interesting at times and because it has the best sex scene ever presented in any audiovisual medium lmao. Anyways, “Night is short, walk on girl” is still king among the Yuasa works that I have watched until now. Bye bye. Thanks for reading.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Nov 23, 2023 Recommended
-Inu-Ou Review.-
Most modern anime movies (that aren’t tied to a series that is) usually fall into one of these two trends: Makoto Shinkai rip-off or Ghibli rip-off. But there was a time, years ago, when this wasn’t the case. You won’t believe this, but there was a time when weird movies like “Memories”, Satoshi Kon films, and Mamoru Oshii movies got made and released. ... If they were successful or not at the box office, it does not matter, because the thing is that they actually got made and became classics that will be revisited for years to come. But because anime nowadays is as popular as it ever has been, “weird” films are just not going to get made because if you are gonna appeal to the widest audience possible you have to play it safe. So make a movie that’s a sequel to an already existing series, or just imitate Shinkai/Ghibli's visual and narrative styles if you are gonna make something original. That’s not to say that all the films among this trend (or the films that have inspired this trend) are bad, but it means that there is less variety overall, many of them just seem extremely generic, and the landscape for modern anime movies as a whole is just really not interesting (proof of that is that I have no interest in most modern anime films). But well, as Inu-Oh demonstrates, there is always hope that something weird and unique will eventually get made (even if it doesn’t end up being great). And weird it is. Inu-Oh is about a guy in search of something similar to revenge in feudal Japan who talks to his dad (who is a ghost) and is also blind, and is also a Monk that plays the Biwa (a guitar of sorts) that meets a deformed idiot with a giant hand that is cursed (the idiot, not the hand) and starts a rock band (I remind you that the film is set in feudal Japan btw) to get back at those who mistreated him, making this essentially a musical. Yeah, it’s a trip for sure. All of this weirdness works in its favor, as it fits really well with the insane fast pacing, comedic tone and anti-traditional/authoritarian attitude that the film presents, creating an intense, crazy and fun experience. Its art also deviates from most modern anime movies, as desaturated and grey colors are present throughout most of the backgrounds, and its world is populated by ugly and simplistic character designs. But all of that is meaningless if we don’t have a strong core, and luckily, the movie features a strong core in the form of the relationship between its two main characters. Both are presented as cursed beings who are unfit for society, and their friendship is pretty charming and the strongest part of the film. A word must also be said for the unique directing and storyboarding (unique as far as modern anime movies are concerned): There are lots of Pov shots (some really unique, like the ones from the perspective of the blind character), beautiful jump cuts are also constantly used to present the passage of time, there are some very interesting camera movements throughout the film, a scene in which a swordsman kills multiple guys over a stretch of time is presented as five different horizontal panels in one single shot...The list could go on. All of this being said, the movie is still extremely flawed. Its main problem is that musicals go on for far too long, and even worse, in all of them they repeat shots of looped animation several times in a row. Also, while the relationship between its main two characters is charming, the insanely fast pacing doesn’t give this relationship the proper weight that it should. In fact, the first third of the film used to present both characters and their relationship is literally the highest point of the film (and the relationship isn’t explored much after that). Its art might work well for presenting the bleak world of our two cursed main protagonists, but on the other hand, it doesn’t fit the most upbeat scenes of the second half of the movie. And finally, the cgi and vfx at times are just fucking ugly and ruin some shots. But at the end, I still think that the final result is a very fun and unique experience. Maybe it isn’t great because of the flaws mentioned but it’s worth your time if you are looking for a fun and different film. While I haven’t watched most of Yuasa’s work, this and “Night is short walk on girl” (which is better and more consistent than this film btw) have been a pleasant surprise (a shame about Devilman midbaby). I hope that I can explore more of Yuasa’s work in the future. Bye bye Thanks for reading.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Aug 30, 2023
Katanagatari
(Anime)
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Mixed Feelings Preliminary
(3/12 eps)
-Katanagatari: my feelings on the first three episodes of the show. This isn´t a "review", it´s just a presentation of my issues with the show up until the third episode. I consider "reviews" to be only fair if you have watched the anime until the end, so I wouldn´t consider this a "review".-
I love Bakemonogatari with all my heart. so I thought that Katanagatari was going to be an excellent experience, but I ended up dreading having to watch another episode. The dialogue is incredibly well written, the main duo is interesting and has a pretty funny dynamic, the backgrounds look great and the character ... designs are really charming. But the directing isn't there. There are some creative scenes and some interesting storyboards here and there, but for a series that is, without exaggerating, 95% dialogue, the amount of boring-looking medium or wide still shots with a slow pan to the left made this feel like a slog to get through. This just goes to show that what made the Monogatari series hit so hard was the combination of the great writing with the borderline experimental directing that built its surreal atmosphere and made every scene feel dynamic and interesting. This isn't to say that Katanagatari is bad, since the writing and the aesthetic are on point, so you can get a lot out of it, but I definitely can't get through the show. And if you come from the Monogatari series you might not like what this show has to offer even though it shares many of its narrative qualities.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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