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Apr 5, 2017
Was Love Hina good? It spawned a generation of imitations. It's said to be a "classic" harem anime. How much mileage can you get over Naru punching Keitaro over some misunderstanding? Apparently 24 episodes worth! The main character is such a cool guy that every last girl in the story is chasing after him. I suppose it was good enough for me to read the entire series and then watch all the episodes, but it's not something I ever need to see again.
The setup follows the pattern of Maison Ikkoku. Take a young man, studying for college entrance
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exams, put him in a boarding house with some colorful characters and a woman with a short temper, sprinkle in a bunch of misunderstandings and watch love bloom. For bonus points, have them both go on vacation at the same time and meet up! Unfortunately, Love Hina lacks a lot of what made Maison Ikkoku work so well. Naru's violence is played for laughs, but Kyoko's outbursts and emotional immaturity are serious character flaws (and she knows enough to try and hide them). Keitaro is a nice guy who is loved by everyone and just needs to get into university, but Godai's outlook is a bit more bleak and he has a lot of real character growth to go through before he can win anybody's heart.
What does work for Love Hina is the cast. The individual characters are tiresome, but as an ensemble, they work very well. The show promises silly adventures with wacky people, and that's exactly what you get. Should you watch it? Maybe. It's a fun show, the humor just hasn't aged well.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Apr 5, 2017
I guess isekai (alternate world) is its own genre now, and everyone's jumping on the bandwagon. You'd naturally be skeptical of KonoSuba after reading the synopsis, just like I was, but you should watch this show.
Yes, it's a parody. Cliches piled high. Half the cliches are taken seriously, and the other half are parodied or deconstructed. That's the whole point, right? Kazuma has to be an otaku shut-in because that's the formula for these shows. He picks up a sword and teams up with a woman with magical powers, again, because it's the formula. And when a goddess
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asks him what he wants to bring with him into the other world, is anyone surprised by his answer?
The part where the show shines is how it takes itself seriously even when the whole concept is ridiculous. If adventuring is a job, would you get sick of it, and take up construction work instead? If you're a team of ill-suited newbies, what kind of adventurer would be crazy enough to join you? Can succubi coexist with humans? How can a headless horseman sleep with all that racket?
The good--the humor. The characters are perfect for comedy. Great animation. The show is fast-paced and fun. Kazuma's deadpan response whenever someone says his name.
The bad--if I never see another anime where women talk about breast size it wouldn't be too soon. Full, full, full of cliches.
Basically, if you have any kind of nostalgia for fantasy RPGs or adventure anime, and you want something that's made of pure fun, this is the show for you. If you want something a bit deeper, or if you think it's too childish to watch girls get their panties stolen, then pick something else.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 5, 2017
Exactly what it looks like: otkau-bait, moe, generic medieval fantasy, and maids. But it's so fun to watch!
The show's not going to change your world, it's not going to surprise you, but it's going to entertain you. Nice characters do cute things and live together. Beings from another world don't understand our Earth customs. People who seem different find strange reasons to be friends, and people who seem like they're cut from the same mold find a reason to be friends that you didn't expect.
When the world is more cynical and scared than ever before, when we're retreating behind our national
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borders, that's when we need shows like this to remind us that strange friendships are waiting for us, out there somewhere. Shows that remind us that the best thing in the world is other people, even if--like Kobayashi--we aren't the best at expressing how we feel.
The good--it's pure unadulterated fun. The OP and ED are fantastic (the OP is stupidly good). The power of friendship. The way Kobayashi is presented--someone who's suddenly realized that they're a serious adult, kind but not good at expressing it, mature in some ways but at other times not really prepared to be an adult. Then again, maybe I just relate to her because I'm the same age, have the same job, living the same life, and have the same problems.
The bad--predictable. The lesbian schoolgirl Rika and the oversexualized Quetzalcoatl are a bit too much, especially Quetzalcoatl. If I never see another anime where characters have a conversation about breast size it wouldn't be too soon.
Other notes--The final episode tries to extract a climax out of the source material, which works better than you'd expect. It gives the series a good note to end on even though the series doesn't need a climax.
So if you're looking for a pick-me-up in a world that seems a little too real, or a bit of fun after a long day of Python web development like Kobayashi, maybe thirteen episodes with a dragon maid are exactly what you need.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 5, 2017
No doubt "mature" shows are hard to get right, it's too easy to just put sex in a show because sex sells. Kuzu no Honkai straddles that line. Sometimes it seems only voyeuristic, at other times it shows real substance. In the end it has enough substance to earn a recommendation.
This is a fresh look at love. In Kuzu no Honkai, love is stripped of all its romance. It's awkward, everyone has different desires, sometimes terrible desires, and people make real mistakes trying to get the love that they need. And yet the show avoids devolving into pure fan
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service and avoids taking the easy, cynical way out. This isn't School Days. In other words, the show avoids cliches but isn't just some deconstruction.
The good parts--the story and characters are fairly solid. The show actually does leave you wondering what's going to happen next, right until the very last episode. It always looks like the show is setting you up for some cliche character arc but the characters are a little too real to follow the cliches. OP and ED are fantastic.
The bad parts--I'm not a fan of the way still images are cut into the show. The second half of the show focuses on Akane, the music teacher, a bit excessively. It's not that she's a bad character, it's just that her character can't carry the show, and she's subject to the navel-gazing that plagues anime.
Anyway--if you're looking for something a bit different, and a bit more focused on adult issues, this is a solid choice.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 4, 2015
"5 Centimeters Per Second" sets itself up as a very romantic work, not in the sense that it's a story about love, but in the sense that emotions are the centerpiece to the story. It then manages to subvert all your expectations about what makes a good love story, and it's worth watching for that reason alone. As an added bonus, it's a visual feast from start to finish.
The part that makes this movie most beautiful is how it takes all of the trappings of a romantic love story and juxtaposes it with a more somber, realistic narrative. Cherry blossoms fall, lovers
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meet in the snow, a boy and a girl go for a bike ride by the ocean—it's the perfect setting for love. But what if those feelings you have never reach the person you love? What if you get worn down by the boredom of everyday life, or what if you forget, or never make a move? Even though love is supposed to surpass all boundaries, what if it's the world's most mundane problems which defeat love in the end?
Yes, I think "5 Centimeters Per Second" is basically perfect. I don't have anything bad to say about it.
Now, if you get to the ending and think, "That's it?" Just think for a moment. Think about what was missing from the movie. This is a movie defined by its negative space. The "missing" parts of the movie are the expectations you bring in from having seen other romantic movies. With a minimalist approach to plotting and characters, Shinkai uses this "negative space" to accomplish more in 63 minutes than most stories could accomplish in two full hours.
The movie stands up very well to repeated viewings, and is well worth watching just for the fact that it doesn't take the easy way out. Although the characters are young and the story is innocent, this is a very adult movie, in the sense that it speaks about adult experiences. I suspect the movie is not as engaging for younger viewers (by "younger" I mean early twenties).
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Apr 4, 2015
"Your Lie In April" is a transparent attempt to pull at your heartstrings, and it works well.
The best part of this anime is how it ties character growth to musical ability. You can have fantastic piano technique, but if you're temperamental, immature, or just plain boring, it will come across in your music. Kousei's character growth comes across well in his playing, and that goes for the other characters too. The show manages to make multi-episode piano competitions interesting, which is itself quite the accomplishment.
The other good part is how it depicts the characters' struggles to figure out what they want from
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life. Becoming a world-class musician requires immense sacrifice, and finding the motivation to pour your heart into one of Chopin's Etudes for the hundredth time is no small task for a child. The struggle to produce collides head-on with the cold reality that sometimes you're just not good enough... something that's mirrored in the athletic careers of Kousei's two friends.
The characters are well done all around. They all get to show their strong and weak sides, they have motivations and doubts, they lie and do things that they'll regret. Kousei's mentor, Seto, is refreshing when she arrives, because she brings both a mature perspective to the situation as well as a more adult set of problems.
But there are two issues.
First, this anime has no business being 22 episodes long. There is simply not 22 episodes worth of content. It matches the source material rather closely, but I would rather have seen a couple filler episodes with new content rather than have it stretched out so much. Some parts drag on a bit, and in a few parts, the events are depicted in anachronic order to pad out the time a bit.
Second, the drama is far too obvious. Did you see the ending coming? You should have. This is a very "architected" plot: everything that happens supports the plot, and the characters never get the opportunity to go off the rails.
Reviewers on this site are a bit too fond of shows that try to make you cry. This show currently sits at #14, not far below "Clannad: After Story" at #6. Yes, "Your Lie In April" is good, but it's not that good. It hits all the right notes but it never gives you any doubt about what's going to happen next. You'll enjoy the show but it will never challenge you.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 4, 2015
Lodoss follows in the tradition of D&D rather than literary fantasy, and it suffers from it. It has a nostalgic appeal, but only because back in the 90s, we didn't have many options for medieval fantasy anime, and this scratched that itch. It does have its good moments, but it is otherwise forgettable.
Let's get this out of the way first: "Record of Lodoss War" is an adaptation of a D&D campaign run by the author. No attempt is made to hide it. The grand back story and world building by the DM/author are used for flavor and to motivate events, but
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they otherwise have little connection to the story. The characters are straight out of the early D&D manuals, and obvious choices at that: fighter, elf, dwarf, cleric, magic user, thief. In episode 8, the group must have got their hands on a supplementary D&D manual, so they introduce a berserker. The final battle is at the bottom of a multi-level dungeon, just as you expect. Even villains seem to come straight from the D&D manual—you can pick out the chaotic evil and lawful evil villains the moment they appear on screen.
In the end, what makes up the story? A love story for the hero, training to become a better fighter, and a bit of a tragic love story in the background, all set in front of an eternal battle between light and dark. This comfortable predictability makes it an excellent target for nostalgia. The pacing becomes problematic as the series goes on—more characters, more stories, more viewpoints, and more exposition all slow things down towards the second half. The story then lurches forward to meet an ending that it hasn't quite earned. In the meantime, characters and plot seem to happen independently of each other.
But it's not really that bad. In spite of the cookie-cutter character concepts, the characters themselves are filled out and seem real. We sympathize with heroes and villains alike. The story treats its setting and characters with respect. Finally, he animation and soundtrack are great—at least, much of the time.
So if you can't get enough medieval fantasy, or if you're on a nostalgia kick, Record of Lodoss War is just what you need. However, if you're just curious, don't bother. The 90s has better series to offer.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Feb 22, 2015
"Be Invoked" is absolutely fantastic, but it doesn't stand on its own (unless you just like pretty animation and gruesome deaths). If you want to care at all about any of the characters or understand any of what's going on, you'll either have to watch "A Contact" or the TV show first, neither of which quite match the standards of Be Invoked. If you watch "A Contact", you'll get a compressed version and miss much of the characterization. If you watch the TV series, you're in for a long haul of 39 episodes, some of which are just garbage, but the last
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~17 episodes are great and set the stage for "Be Invoked" in the way that "A Contact" doesn't.
Let's get this out of the way first: this movie is infamous. If you've seen End of Evangelion, you know what to expect, since Evangelion was partly inspired by Ideon. The only reason I can imagine that this movie is listed as being PG-13 instead of R is because the characters almost never bleed, even when they have massive head wounds—and the movie hands out massive head wounds like candy. If you are feeling down, or in the mood for something light, just watch something else. But this movie isn't just infamous for body count or on-screen decapitations, it's infamous because it makes you care about each one of those deaths.
That's because the characters are superb. Everyone has been pushed to the breaking point and shows their growth. Karala is confident, Sheryl is broken, Lotta is courageous, Kasha shows restraint, and Cosmo has the tranquility to accept his fate when he can't change it. It's unfortunate, but if you missed the first part of the story, then none of this means anything to you. The villains are also a cut above the standard fare from the TV series: Doba is not only fearsome but conscientious, and Harulu is strong but at the same time she can't see beyond her own pain (again... which you missed if you skipped first part of the story). Kasha and Cosmo get a nice moment together which stays true to their characters and doesn't resort to cliche.
By modern standards, the animation and action sequences hold up remarkably well. Gone are the copy-pasted fight sequences from the series, and we have beautiful, fluid scenes in their place. Itano, who also did key animation on the Cowboy Bebop movie and the good Urusei Yatsura movie, is said to have inspired a generation of animators and this movie is a part of that legacy.
In spite of the plot's galactic scale, the movie is economical. Scan through the movie all you like, you won't find anything worth cutting. No clumsy exposition, forced plot movement, or shoehorned character development. It all fits together organically. This beautiful economy starts right from the opening scene, which does more justice to Cosmo and Kitty's relationship in two minutes than all of episodes #23-25 could manage in a full hour. This is followed by a rework of episode #39, which shows a marked improvement over an already great episode in half the running time. With the occasional pause for breath, the pace continues for the full running length of the movie. If this had aired on TV instead, it would probably be a full 13-episode cour all by itself.
Be Invoked's theme is about whether people can escape bad karma. To that end, you may want to read a little bit about Buddhism before you sit down with the movie. The story's conflict started almost accidentally, perhaps it was nothing more than a misunderstanding, but at this point both sides are so attached to the conflict that they can't escape its gruesome conclusion. Even when the Ide delivers the possibility of peace on a silver platter, nobody can see past their own desire for war. Sometimes your only hope is to find happiness in the next life. This core message is why people can say that Be Invoked has such a happy and sad ending.
I find it difficult to think of any real flaws in the movie, except one. Simply put, this is not just a hidden gem of 80s mecha anime, but a masterpiece. It's such a shame that the movie doesn't hold up by itself.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Feb 21, 2015
Let's be honest here. You're probably interested in this series because of the movie's reputation, and you're wondering if the TV show is worth watching. Let's get this out of the way first: you CAN skip the TV series and just watch A Contact (the compilation movie) followed by Be Invoked (the new and improved ending). This may be fine for you: you'll get skip some of the repetitive bits of the series, but you'll also skip characterization. While the TV show is a bit slow at times, A Contact and Be Invoked try to cram everything together... things develop a
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bit too fast.
The problem with Ideon becomes apparent as soon as you watch the first episode. At its core, the show is a series of 22-minute commercials for toys which haven't been sold in decades for a country on the other side of the world. Animations are reused heavily, early plots mostly follow a predictable formula (land on new planet, aliens attack with new strategy, mech pilots save the day), the characters can be hard to like, and you get tired of the revolving door of villains. But there are also episodes where the show takes itself seriously. Tensions between the main characters are handled with respect, and most of the main cast develops quite wonderfully, even if it seems a bit slow. The plot is sometimes stitched together with crude seams, but at other times it flows quite well.
Once you get to episode #23, the tone changes, and the series discovers its purpose. Remember how the conflict in episode #1 seemed almost accidental in origin? By episode #23, the conflict has grown so large that no matter what anyone says or does, the fighting will continue, and the consequences are always serious. Even if you save the day, you can't save everyone. Even if you surrender, you can't stop fighting. Even as you work towards the same goals, you can hate and betray each other. The plot picks up the pace, characters develop and break down quite spectacularly (they don't cope with things by whining about them, thank goodness), and even the deus ex machina that saved the day in the first half of the series gets turned on its head. Everyone gets a moment before the end to show their true depth.
Episode #39 should be skipped, just watch "Be Invoked" instead, since episode #39 was recut, improved, and made into the beginning of the movie. It is a great episode, but the movie gives you a better version.
All said, I would give a 5/10 or 6/10 to the first 22 episodes, with the acknowledgement that a few of those episodes are fairly good. I'd give the last 17 episodes a 8/10 or 9/10—again with the acknowledgement that there are a couple stinkers, such as episode #34. I might rewatch this someday, but I'd skip over most of the episodes.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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