A pretty solid feel good series with some real heartfelt themes on family, belonging and finding purpose in life amongst other things.
I think it's important with series like these where real problems like bullying, abuse and standing out for things you cannot help to stay fair to the actual series because although they are real serious topics I feel like people get caught up in their emotions and throw this series a quick objective 10/10 just because it related to them in ways and let them embrace in something that gave them comfort and made them happy, which don't get me wrong, I think
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Oct 1, 2018 Recommended
I REALLY wanted to like this series, but I really need to remind myself that stunning visuals cannot carry an entire series and if it was based on just the animation then I would easily give this something like a 9 but it really must be mentioned it's major flaw of it's writing.
The only real reason that I have put this as an 8 for my own anime list is because whenever I look back over what I have watched, personally if something is higher than a 8 that means it's truly very enjoyable and memorable for whatever reason. It's strange because I could put ... this as a 9 as a reminder to myself that this series has amazing, fluid animation combined with what I'd say was great sound design and together could be a pure basis on why to watch it, but after some consideration I feel like a 7 is better suited just because the writing simply counteracts that 9 in such a way that if I were not to consider it then it would simply be a disservice to people who want an honest opinion on if this a good series or not. Story For starters, throughout the 12 episodes I was repetitively questioning what the main thrive of the story is. With Nagisa, one of the main characters, I can completely understand that she wants to improve because of facing defeat and waking her up to the level she needs to reach, however with Ayano, I have no clue what I'm supposed to be understanding. She has some strange complex about her mother that makes her amazing at the game of badminton yet personally to me makes no sense why the fact that she gets so competitive or out to prove something. She says that the only reason to play badminton is to win and to prove that she can be the best without her mother, yet she gets presented as if she's someone to root for when she arrogantly has no sense of social skills what so ever and doesn't think when she speaks and comes across as a complete asshole, yet we need to feel sorry for her being abandoned as if it's completely reasonable to be the way she is only when playing badminton but somehow two faced when not playing to be a normal girl. Is she a main character or what because I'd much rather she be a stepping stone for Nagisa rather than be someone who is probably Nagisa's main reason for not being better in the first place with her constant dickish criticism. Art and Sound The animation is awesome, no doubt about that. No problems with the sound that make me want to mention anything wrong with it, so it must mean it was pretty good as well. Characters So with the story segment of this review I suppose I haven't really stated what the story was besides these two girls trying to become the best for debatable reasons at least in regards to Ayano, which is either because there is just no story or because the characters are written so annoyingly that it just makes the story as a whole of Nagisa becoming a great player less clear. For me, the worst thing about this series is the characters. The other so called badminton players apart of this school club are so bloody useless it hurts and I cannot remember any of their names. First of all, you've got Nagisa's friend who is basically there just to root her on because she's terrible at badminton in comparison. Then you have Ayano's friend, who is useless because even though she's been friends with her for years and introduced her to the school badminton club after her long absence from the sport she doesn't take any responsibility for looking after her or being that one trusty person to keep her in line. Then you have all the other bimbos in the club who aren't important at all, because they're either terrible at the sport or most crucially just are there to be on the receiving end of Ayano's dickish personality yet act like they've been friends for ages and are surprised she's been so antagonist to any support or team spirit. Literally everyone watching can see how much of an asshole Ayano is and there is no reason to be friends with her at all, it's like these other characters just have some internal AI to always try to saying friendly things and get it smacked up in their face yet will keep trying to approach them with the same attitude without even addressing the fact she's an asshole. For example, Miss Short Girl whos name I cannot remember who's terrible at the sport. Keeps calling Ayano Ayanon or something because of ONE time on a bus where she came up with it on the spot while the team were out on some kind of training camp. Ayano on that trip displayed no real sign of being one of the girls besides occasionally being obliviously cute and apart of one photo she doesn't even embrace. This girl I'm talking about throughout the whole series is like "Keep it up Ayano, I'm rooting for you." and Ayano is like "Shut up bitch i don't need you, leave me alone" yet in the next scene with them together in a similar badminton situation she's straight back at it with the "Keep it up Ayano." Sure, she's just being a nice person I guess and isn't the conflicting type but she and others are on the receiving end of this abuse and throughout the whole series hardly anybody punishes her for it or tells her "Stop being a little cunt and be our friend, we'll help you with your abandonment issues with your mom and teach you to live on your own without weighing on a childhood trauma." It's so frustrating, because even the team coach is like "Hmm Ayano is acting pretty weird" yet doesn't address her or realise the fact that's she unhealthy for herself and the team even when she's downright telling people to basically fuck off. And don't even get me started on her mother. What's the game plan here!? Is she in the right for leaving her daughter or not and why did she actually leave in the first place? All we know is that as Ayano was a child she abandoned her and adopted a new child in a different country. What? WHY? Then she comes back and is like "Ooh you've gotten pretty good at this badminton sport that I've taught you" even though she left with no warning or reason and comes back with no reason or warning. Her adopted child doesn't even matter either, just to remind Ayano of her complex that she needs to get better for...providing she's good at badminton in front of her mum to punish her for leaving her? Are we expecting that Ayano goes to the Olympics, wins all her games and as she stands there with her golden medal she's like "Take that Mum, I did it without you." Then what? Is that her story complete? I don't even know. Why not just get a firm beating by her team to realise that they're together and simply play badminton to get good while also having fun like Nagisa. Overall I could really rant about Ayano for a decade and why everyone besides Nagisa is stupid. Maybe I've been blind in some aspects and not emphasised points, but I'm writing this as if people reading it have also completed the series and can understand why Nagisa's drive is much more understandable than literally anyone else. Pretty much, I feel like this series could have been much better had they made the mother an actual antagonist who left for selfish desires because her daughter wasn't good enough for her and turned Ayano into a sort of redemption story properly because they try to make this a psychological thing but it's never even addressed and just played off at the end as "Hey, I'm having fun playing against you Nagisa for you are a worthy, challenging opponent" but basically meaning that it's alright that I'm a dick to you and also meaning that she's still gonna be a dick to everyone else because they aren't good enough. This entire series is carried by it's stellar animation, and is it's saving grace. To be honest, for anyone considering watching this series, it's not absolutely awful in it's writing. I think that it's passable as it's just a necessary context for the characters to be playing badminton and in turn a reason to show the great animation, so I'd still recommend to watch it if you want to watch something about badminton and have your eyes pleased because you'll most likely forget about the story until the end and I'd say it's much easier to enjoy the series as a whole if you just put Ayano and her mother as a constant antagonist and Nagisa as the protagonist to root for as opposed to having them on some kind of even footing. 7/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jul 4, 2018
Darling in the FranXX
(Anime)
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(23/24 eps)
Alright, so enough of these 6 episode reviews suddenly becoming a trusted source of information from people who think they're hired by the local news agency and got an A in one test of English class to warrant their paragraphs about every little god damn thing. I'm just gonna be as simplistic as possible but hey that's pretty much me, except I write reviews once a series is over not when it's just fucking begun.
So lets get this straight. This series is pretty much over at the time of writing this and I personally believe it's slowly descended into an overall below average anime. I ... think it started out with real potential and well worthy of being one of those weekly series which you know is gonna be interesting or like one of the "biggies" if you're like me and basically watch everything a season has to offer. So pretty much it's this futuristic Earth where shit has gone down because a minority of elitists with optimistic but strange characteristics have took over as rulers of the earth voluntarily and their main changes are discovering that the Earth's core can be harvested as a great alternative source of free energy, but doing so has awakened far into this future some creatures that have been attacking the colonies of humanity thought to be attracted by this earth magma that's being resourced. To defend the colonies, the Franxx pilots were introduced which are kids brought up with complete obedience to the rulers who have called themselves 'Papa.' The story follows them gaining their own conscience and realising what they're fighting for, if anything and basic philosophy of their own purposes in life, including relationships and all that shiz. That's basically it, of course you can trivialise and explain how much more to it there is but I couldn't care less because it would get to spoilers. I am not very experienced with Mecha genres but I really don't think there is any need to. This opening concept is pretty interesting and in the first couple or maybe half of the series it's great at building this world and the kind of environment in which these kids live, however I'd argue it's main flaw later on is abandoning this great concept and focusing too much on the character relationships which turn into a confusing shit show with it turning into some kind of waifu argument over anything else. The majority of battle scenes etc are well animated. Not to the point of One Punch Man or the Gatari series or whatever, but sure it's good. Some others however feel quite confusing to watch, as during battles you may not understand what's going on with all the lasers flying everywhere and expecting that just because you hear a typical "HEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAGH!" from a character as they're preparing an attack in their mech, something must be going on because you sure as hell cant visually see what's happening. Sound is also pretty passable, with the voice acting being nothing to complain about and soundtracks being fitting enough but not necessarily fitting the same impact as the context on screen. My main problem with this series is how it turns from an interesting hook on future reality to some kind of teen rom com, which although I don't shy away from usually, there's an extent where I am willing to join the ride and I did stay till the end but just to see how far it would go. I like the little relations between the characters but it just seems way to quick of a jump and ignoring the premise of what happened to this world and why things are why they are, being replaced with all these mind boggling plot lines that add pandemonium and not really being explained, leaving someone like me to go "Wat just happened." Basically, it's a decent series and I guess you can watch it if the synopsis and theme is interesting enough but I'm just saying none of that synopsis explains anything about face mechs or random 'magic' that just happens. I rate an 7.5. 8 for me seems to generous seeing as I never give anything a 10 and rarely a 9. I apologise for giving as little information as possible in this so called review, but most of all I think this series requires some kind of warning to it's initial hook. It's really not concerning as you get what you see, but it really does strange, confusing and hard to find any real conclusion that you actually understand.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Nov 12, 2017
Kujira no Kora wa Sajou ni Utau
(Anime)
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Recommended Preliminary
(5/12 eps)
Ok, so I'm not gonna be prejudice and start throwing around facts before the series is even over like everyone else but all I can say 5 episodes in this is one of the greats of the season. If you're on the fence on watching, let me personally encourage you.
In a weird way it feels like a game of Civilization - little countries with hidden motives and philosophies, some are stronger than others in debatable aspects and dreaming of expanding your knowledge of the world to truly understand you're place in it. That is all. Watch along this series, it's looking like it's already and gonna ... get good.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jun 17, 2017 Mixed Feelings Preliminary
(10/12 eps)
I'm currently watching this about 10/11 episodes in, I can't really remember at the time of writing this what episode number I've most recently watched is but I do remember each of the episodes so just take my word for it that it's near the end of season.
Let me first start off by saying that I am a huge fan of the original Dan Machi anime, as it was my first in terms of starting to watch anime. Of course that may result in some nostalgic bias but I think that allows me to be just as critical, especially for this spin off. Story To begin ... with, the story. Before the series started, when I heard that Dan Machi was returning I was so excited. Not knowing the nature of the series and just instinctively expecting just a second season, I was looking forward to a reminder of why I loved the first instalment. I was very disappointed. It's important to know that is not a continuation of where season 1 left off, and in fact offers nothing on top of what happened last time in my opinion at least. I feel like the season 1 story wasn't by any means outstanding in it's story, but the simple idea of a guy trying to become stronger even if that was surpass someone and being so good at it is just a no brainer. This spin off does not follow that, yet I suppose I guess that seemless role has been given to other characters. This series is basically just a viewpoint from outside the POV of the main character, Bell, from the last season. It's sort of as if in a game where you're third person behind you're character you have the ability to go into a sort of camera free-mode and fly around to anywhere in the map to see what the antagonists or allies are currently doing at the time you have paused, and it's like that for the progression of this spin off. Yet in this series, it doesn't deliver any thing I was looking forward to. We were introduced to basically an entirely new story, because in season 1 there was no real evidence of what is happening in this spin off having an affect on the story so it makes me think even more that this was a pointless addition to the Dan Machi story. Sure, it gave some kind of insight into the thoughts of other characters during the main characters adventures/events but they felt so irrelevant and not even believable that at times I assumed that the writers were held at gunpoint to give these people a backstory or motive. For example, one of main characters present and important to the MC in the first series Ais Wallenstein is now being presented as having internal troubles with wanting to become stronger and although I find this a admirable motive especially alongside Bell, it just feels so out of character when she then later in a more recent episode is, at least my view, been made out to be as if she has to contend with Bell? In their training(to keep it brief and non spoilery), I get the assumption that she is about to scream at Bell and force him to give up his secret to becoming so powerful, yet in the original series we're led to believe she's just a naive fighter who is seeing something in her time with Bell which I find much more enjoyable. It's just not what I was expecting, especially when I had high hopes this was a second season. To put it simply for the story, they've tried to expand the universe or depth of characters we sometimes see in the main series as side characters and give some kind of reason for problems occurring yet they don't even seem to have had any affect whatsoever when looking back over, so it felt almost pointless. Art In terms of art, there really isn't much to say, yet once again I must refer back to the first or orignal Dan Machi season. Some of the fight scenes were definitely spectacle, and the animation combined with radiant colours during them made them all visual pleasures. I would reference some of the scenes yet of course that would be spoilers in a sense, but I must say they were very memorable for me especially when considering it was my first anime, and I was enraptured by the sleek and smooth movement on screen. It definitely felt like there were more frames per second per say, as moments felt much more cinematic and higher quality if that makes sense. This is important when comparing it to Sword Oratorio. This spin off can only really be described as lack lustre. I am not sure if this is because I am already holding the grudge of it not being a second season and am naturally pessimistic, or that perhaps it is actually just at a lower quality, but it must be said that the cinematic spark from last time was not present. Whatever fight scenes there were did not feel as vibrant or 60 FPS as before, and can be probably be portrayed as if they didn't have as much of a budget to fund the flashy things with. Of course this is understandable for a spin off, but then one has to wonder why you would attempt to replicate the series which I'd say was popular because of the inclusion of such animation and visuals in general. You couldn't really feel the emphasis of blows or movement, and so you couldn't exactly get riled up within a battle. That's all there really is to be said about art. Sound Sound played an important part in, once again, the original series. Battles were made that much more emotional and dramatic with the effort of the score in the background. Most notably, the "Argonaut/Eiyuu Ganbou" piece that can be found on Youtube is one the most memorable and tense pieces of art I've actually recognised and felt something from when watching anime. My watch list ain't exactly full of work of arts, yet if it's only Dan Machi that made me realise that then perhaps the answer is clear that it's a fantastic piece of music, just in that one scene at the very least. In terms of diegetic sound effects, blows and clashes of weaponry are again very emphasised, and all adds together to amount to an immersive experience and all feels very weighty behind each act. The spin off again feels lack lustre. It just doesn't seem to have the same hit or feeling, and I'd say is possibly because of the lack of important or engagement in the majority of fight scenes because you don't really have any reason to rally for the protagonists present since you don't care or understand for their motives, thus even if there was an amazing score occurring during one scene - I most likely missed it because the action on screen did not warrant it and there was no intensity behind the event for the music to be even be engrossing. All of this is most likely down to lack of funding or similar care that was given to the original series, yet with this being an amateur review and not really taking the time out of my very vacant schedule to go check if that was the case and it then turning out the team behind this gave it their all with the same resources available from last time - I would be very angry, as this is a pitiful excuse compared to the prior. Character I think this makes up for a lot of the series, as there is an overwhelming lack of it. One part of why many people loved the original was because of the child-like ambition of Bell, the MC, the admirable but cheeky Hestia, and so on and so forth. Yet this time round, those characters from the main cast around Bell were not present at all or at the same quality. Instead, we are given other side characters who we don't really care about and have no character development besides some first-look quirks from their limited screen time from last time, and even now with more screen time they are not being fleshed out at all. It seems the only motives we learn about are Ais, the new antagonists, other people I don't care about, and god awful Lefiya. Lefiya is the bane of Dan Machi's existence, and is hands down the worst character to have come out of this series. I'm sure in the manga and other materials she is well motivated and much more likeable, but in this case she is a sorry excuse for a replacement for Bell. We are supposed to believe that she is someone who was always in the background and never covered in the original, yet her affect on the story is so minor that you would have never eve known she was there in the first place. I am not sure if we are supposed to be rooting for her the same way as Bell before, because she just seems so incapable and annoying that it begs the question why she is even in the Loki Familiar(circle of characters basically) in the first place. Her inability to do anything does not make her a subject of pity or compassion, it just makes me think why this is the person that I need to be following when she has some kind of fantasy to impress Ais yet does it with such nativity and obliviousness it's not even funny. She just never seems to get a chance to amount to anything, and still feels like a side character with too much screen time. Her affect on the story just makes me so frustrated because she is almost the exact opposite of Bell, and I sure hope she was not given to us as someone to be a rival to Bell because I just want to see someone shout to her our pathetic she really is, lol. She really is a horrible character, and words from my naive mind cannot possibly describe my detest for her so I can only insist you find someone who really has the comprehension to do so. Enjoyment For enjoyment, it does not have by any means the same spark as the original. To cover what I've said previously, it just feels watered down and at an intentionally lower quality in everything - thus I just can't really feel engaged with what is happening. It's watchable at a stretch, as there is not much reason to keep coming back each week and the only reason I did was to hope the main cast would make an appearance or there would be spectacle that was being saved up until the end, as if there was a budget was gonna be blown on a single scene. As of 10 or so eps in out of 12, there has not been. *SPOILERS* I cannot continue without saying my main reason for continuing to watch, and that was hopefully to rewatch a paramount scene in the previous/original series. The minotaur scene is by far a pinnacle moment that is the most memorable by I'm sure many fans, as everything I've referenced to prior with art, character, sound and so on is combined into a scene that even non watchers can appreciate. I just believe it is so well done, but that can not be reinforced or compared to anything that someone else may say is an even better scene from an entirely different anime series because I'm still quite relatively new to the anime scene - the passion in that single scene and the victory by the end of it is something that happens seemingly so fast but makes you want to rewatch because of the emotion that enraptures the screen. It's the cliche of beating the enemy that had beat you down once before, and had overcame the obstacles that prevented you from beating him in the first place, yet it's done in a way that can be admired by I'm sure many people as well as myself. Now let me compare that to the relative rehash of Sword Oratoria. Imagine if someone recreated a favourite scene of yours from any anime but with lego, that's what it felt like in comparison. Again, let me remind that this series is basically a view on the same timeline as the original series but that included a different interpretation or sort of behind the scenes of the actual MC Bell but instead with Ais or Lefiya as MCs instead. In this minotaur scene, Bell fights the minotaur while Ais and her group watch on dismay as this supposed rookie is showing true promise and talent despite them all knowing about him previously for being weak and laughable when he was victim to another minotaur which spurred the story on in the first place. Now that we have the view of Ais of that same battle, I was looking forward to this scene being a redeeming factor. It didn't really even have to do much, as I would probably would have accepted if they just did a copy and paste of the scene from the original and plugged it into this spin off yet this time around all they've really done is made it feel saturated and so much not like the same. There are times where they cut from the action and not build anything up for when the camera returns to them, so it feels so less energetic. It's nowhere near dynamic or dramatic, because they've paced it so strangely by focusing on the onlookers besides the actual action. Maybe it's just because of the context that this is not Bell we are now following but Ais and I'm so used to the scene but this is a huge disappointment and does not offer a sign of good things to come for the remaining episodes of the series or in fact redeem anything that had happened for the 10-odd episodes prior. Overall To conclude, it's just a let down. That it. If they had perhaps released information about the nature of the series before it had aired, then there would be so much hype which was only going to be shot down. If people had known this was a spin off, and made it clear there would be no Bell, and possibly given clues as to if this was just a taster until the actual season 2 which will come whenever (I hope) then maybe I would have seen it differently. I just think this was a poor choice to go, and I'm sure manga readers may have got some kind of pleasure behind this story and Lefiya too but for someone like me it just felt irrelevant and forced within the context I had already known. At least on the bright side it means that things can only go up from here and that season 2 will either just be better than this or just as good as the original. In terms of recommendations, obviously I wouldn't suggest you start the entire series on this and by no means should you go out of your way just to see this because with the original in mind - this just does not amount to it, is very forgettable and you're probably better off not watching it at all and just wait for season 2 with the rest of us.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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