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I watched this peculiar short film with no expectations and minute after minute it was impressing me more and more. I don't like the set and character models too much but love the claymation. As a short film not much of a story is needed or expected, but basically there will be a maid slaughtering zombies with a chainsaw and it will be awesome. I don't know about anyone else but I thought this thing was hilarious. I was literally laughing out loud thoughout the films run. But this thing is super gory. I had no idea claymation could be so effectively violent. Overall I ... found Chainsaw Maid to be really fun to watch and reccomend anyone check it out. Hell, it's only six minutes of your time.

I enjoyed Baka & Test when I started watching the show. It looks cute, has a fun and colorful cast of characters, and I still really like the first ending song. But, by the fourth episode I was tired of it all. The story wasn't going anywhere and the same old jokes were coming up leaving me more irritated than amused.

Baka & Test is primarity a comedy, and most of the time their jokes contain dark humor and or hyperbole. For example, one girls cooking is so bad it kills people, and when a particularly pervy boy catches a glimpse of a girls underwear ... the resulting noseblead is so massive he is left lying in a pool of his own blood.

There really isn't much to Baka & Test besides it's humor. It's kind of like a sitcom. A school segregates their students by inteligence and has this virtural system where students battle each other using avatars who gain power from their test scores. Everything following the set up is more or less a string of jokes. I would have enjoyed Baka & Test a lot more if the characters were more likeable and if the show contained better jokes or at least ones that were less repetitive. But, because the show is what it is I was irritated by a majority of the show and find it to be below average in quality.

I really like this OVA. I watched it right after finishing red garden and after the immediate shock I quickly grew to enjoy everything about the OVA. It's quite radically different from the show and might turn people off. I would like to encourage others to try looking at the OVA without comparing it to the series but I know that would be quite difficult. It was because I did such that I was able to enjoy the OVA so much. That's why I would first recommend the OVA to someone who's never seen the series rather than someone who has.

The first thing that may ... annoy a Red Garden series viewer are the personality changes in the characters. If you can't deal with that I'd recommend not watching this OVA. What would next annoy a Red Garden Series viewer is that after having the contact information of their friends and family on their person at the end of the series they claim to know nothing about their past in the OVA. My mind kept drifting away due to this plot hole in that even if they lost the information their still living friends and relatives would have found them somehow. Lastly, perhaps to keep Red Garden series viewers comfortable or out of necessity, many characters from the series appear as different people in the OVA. I say it's a little bit of both.

I guess I mostly fell in love with the OVA due to its strange familiarity. I liked seeing the characters I knew as completely different people and in a strange yet familiar setting. In that way people who just jump into the OVA without having seen the series wont get that affect. Then for those who have seen the series the strangeness may be a complete turn off and the familiarity seen as tarnishing their image of the series.

Enjoyment- 10

Angel Beats is a whole lot of fun. It's Pretty to look at, funny, has exciting and pretty music, and a mass of characters to choose a favorite from. It can very well appeal to all kinds of audiences. Those who indulge in silly comedies, those with a soft spot for emotional drama's, anyone who likes touching romantic stories, and even the action lovers. With so much to love I had a great time watching Angel Beats, but something about it bugged me. I wanted to love the show but couldn't bring myself to. It accomplishes a lot but fails at some key elements ... that I often most enjoy about a series.

Sound- 9

As mentioned above I thought the music was great and enjoyed it very much.

Art- 9

While not my style the art managed to grow on me and no one can deny that the show looks great.

Character- 6

While everyone was pretty likeable not many were fleshed out very well. Even for some of the people that received a lot of screen time. I love to connect with the characters of a show and with Angel Beats I wasn't able to do that. I had fun with the many personalities though.

Story- 5

Until the very last episode I was hoping the story would blow me away. When the fun and games became less frequent and the drama started to kick in I was anticipating a unique tale to sprout from this first perceived gimmick of a scenario. I was quite disappointed that the story I wanted wasn't there. All the Angel vs. The Guild episodes were enjoyable and introduced the world pretty well but thinking back they feel a lot like filler. Getting to see some of the tragic lives the kids lead was sad and explained a bit of the story but even in the moment they seemed only to be there to make viewers cry. The romances were alright. I might have cared more if the characters were more developed. The romances even came across a bit generic and forced to me.

Overall- 8

It wouldn't be fair to say Angel Beats is nothing but a pretty package. The story and characters may be disappointing and unimpressive to some, but it greatly excels in being fun. Every series doesn't have to be epic or unique. I for one enjoy a simple and fun show when a good one rolls around. Lastly, due to it's mass appeal I would recommend the show to anyone.

After watching Elfen Lied I had a lot of questions. Above them all being what exactly did I just watch? What was it trying to accomplish? Is it a romance? An action show? An ecchi harem thing? A psychological drama? The show could be all of these things, but I was left feeling as if it failed at being any of them.

Character-1

I say for a romance to be successful the audience must at least like the characters. The characters in Elfen Lied are much too easy to hate. From their irrational decisions to cardboard personalities every character is frustrating to watch and hard to care ... about. So, I was left unable to enjoy the romance of Elfen Lied.

Art- 6

The art was nothing special, looked good enough though. Character designs could have been more creative. I like action shows that have great art and interesting fight scenes. While descent on the art side of things, Elfen Lied's fight scenes are more often then not one sided and bland. Then there's the blood everywhere. Not at all scary, and if anything it's gross. I can see people enjoying the action in Elfen Lied though. But because it's dispersed between all of the romance and drama I wouldn't recommend the show to anyone based solely on the action.

Other things to look at would be the ecchi/harem-ish aspects of the show, also the source of it's comedy. I believe there's nothing special or inventive about the various situations and didn't find them very funny. Then there is the, quite random, nudity everywhere. So if you like action, blood, harems, and random nudity you should give Elfen Lied a shot.

Sound-6

Lillium is cool and anything else they bother to play is decent. Voice acting is average.

Story-2

What ticks me off about the story besides it not being complete is that there was something interesting going on. I hate to be disappointed and that's what Elfen Lied gave me. The primary focus of the story seems to be the psychological drama aspects of the show. Which is hard to take seriously with the random nudity and silly ecchi scenes. The subject matter they deal with is nothing new, some secret organization and mutants, but my interest had been piqued. Then the logic of Elfen Lied slapped me in the face.

In Elfen Lied the characters are either good or bad, and there are an awful lot more bad characters. It's fine to explore the evil within people, but Elfen Lied doesn't do that. It rather shows you people doing evil things. I know there are not that many sociopaths in the world. Then with the incomplete story too much is left unexplained. It's so extreme it's unforgivable.

What Elfen Lied often accomplishes with it's story is tugging at people's heart strings. Now I don't have a heart of ice, many movies and series have left me in tears, but Elfen Lied even failed to impress me there. I just found myself incapable of empathizing with the terrible characters; some gained my pity, but that had no effect on me.

Enjoyment- 3

I can see the appeal of the show, but in many ways it just wasn't my thing.

Overall- 4

To sum all of this up, Elfen Lied failed to impress me and I found the show to be below average. For all of the people who love this show, I can see why. But if you expect everyone else to love the show as well, then you're crazy. Elfen Lied is just not for everyone. I say it's all up to your taste and interpretation.