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Apr 7, 2021
Mobile Suit Gundam instalments are built like an alternative to the same plotline. There is a powerful rivalry between two individuals (one rightful and moral and the other – full of power and ambition but just as righteous) in the midst of a major political and military conflict. Always present is a bratty protagonist who is a Newtype and needs to find his place.
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam delivers all of the above. Unfortunately, using Char Aznable and Amuro Ray (the main rivals from the prequel Mobile Suit Gundam) as a couple of ageing sad adults is not working. I would rather see completely different
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people play their parts and serve the same purpose in nurturing the new protagonist and antagonist of the series. Their behaviour is boring and mostly inexplicable. Amuro Ray appears and disappears without any explanation or continuity and the once-unrivalled genius pilot Char Aznable is now just Joe Bloggs in a Gundam.
We also see captain Bright Noa pretty much doing the same he was in the previous instalment, however without Mirai Yashima who plays housewife. So many recycled characters who lost their edge is just overwhelming.
The new characters themselves are mediocre. Kamille Bidan is a carbon copy of Amuro Ray, only without the obvious reason to fight and with a much bigger appetite for the ladies. As for his supposed great rival Jerid Messa, he is just unlikeable and motivated by far too erratic reasons. Not even close to the charismatic, dramatic and super-talented Red Comet Char Aznable.
The females in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam are a pathetic mass, mainly whining about male attention and the lack of it. All of their actions, be it poisoning a colony or defecting to the enemy, are motivated solely by where they can find male affection. I can only reminisce the strength and determination of Kycilia Zabi, the dramatism and resolve of Sayla Mass, the dedication of Mirai Yashima, the hypnotic charisma of Lalah Sune…
The animation, while keeping the usual Gundam style, often plunges to deformed shapes and lack detail. Still, I would not complain if there was a story to go with these rough pieces.
The sound is more than adequate and serves its purpose well, creating the atmosphere for a proper space epic. Too bad the characters cannot deliver.
What keeps the anime together are the details disclosed about the Newtypes, the political intrigues and the Gundams themselves. The idea and story as a whole, are not half-bad. However, inventing someone more powerful than the super-powerful one you needed 50 episodes to build, never worked for any anime, book, movie or whatever story. This is just an endless cycle which eventually becomes progressively boring until, eventually, no one cares anymore.
I give the series a 7 because I have seen that many horrible anime, I do not think it deserves less. However, as compared to its predecessor, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam is a pale copy with the only focus on discrediting the main characters from the previous instalment by using them to serve its storyline with no regard to continuation or credibility.
All in all, if you would like to know everything that happened in the Gundam Universe, you have to watch the series and your time will not be totally lost. However, you will probably not meet your favourite character here.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 5, 2021
A very typical shounen anime. I am not addressing originality, as this is not something required for the genre. As such, there are certain tropes it needs to deliver like the whiny insecure protagonist, the Goody Two-Shoes girl, and the explosive shouting sidekick and they are all available in the series. The animation is quite good (without the totally deformed silhouettes we are used to seeing lately) and the voice actors are doing a great job.
Unfortunately, during the second season, the series becomes more and more fragmented and the characters more and more confusing and shallow. Some are given more screen time, some less for
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no particular reason; there is no real structure so the entire storyline crumbles.
The lead character is, unfortunately, quite weak while his sidekick Bakugou becomes more and more comic and less and less likeable. The trouble for both is that they have not evolved at all within 24 episodes. It is like watching season one with slight changes and a tad more details. An example is how Midoriya seems to have discovered his resolve and the secret to his powers about 10 times and how Bakugou displays the same aggression and lack of hero morals even after a few teachers and pro heroes have expressed their concerns. There is also the classification of Todoraki as a "main" character when he is getting less background story and less screen time than Asui, for example. Yes, I agree it is difficult to tell 10 or 12 stories, but then again - why try instead of focusing on one main storyline and a few lead characters you can fully build and develop?
The lack of development and clear idea or message in the series pretty much makes the "great rivalry" in the show ridiculous. Appears like Todokari, Bakugou and Midoriya are all confused by who motivates who, who challenges who and why. It is hard to take seriously or be interested in a three-way rivalry where people often lose motivation and focus.
All in all, it is a good pastime shounen anime but overall a hot mess with no real purpose or idea.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Apr 2, 2021
19 years after its release, I came across Witch Hunter Robin while looking for a mystery anime. I wondered why such a series with a striking female lead and catchy summary had so little popularity and decided to watch and see.
Beautiful music and animation, classy and intriguing character design. It has been a serious while since I have come across an anime where every person has their own look, style, attitude, and even facial features. Lately, I have been doing an experiment by imagining each character without their hair. Usually, this proves they are all drawn in the exact same way and their differences
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hang by a hair (sorry, could not resist). Well, in Witch Hunter Robin, this is not the case – appears actual care was taken when each character was created and animated.
The series’ Goth-steampunk-y reality gets an additional boost by its great soundtrack. The opening and closing songs are amazing and so is the music used all around the scenes. It is strong and beautiful and, at the same time, melancholic, alluring and mysterious – just like the lead character should be.
Unfortunately, somehow this is all wasted. The anime fails to provide any background and any chain of events, but rather stays in the dubious genre of an action slice of life and this is a paradox on its own. The development is so slow that I had to watch on double speed. Even then, I would still get bored while waiting for people to turn their heads while speaking. This is not the full-of-details-and-context atmospheric slow of Akira Kurosawa. This is just pointless, annoying slow.
There are no relations built between the characters. They appear to have feelings towards one another but there is no reason why and how.
In the second part (starting with episode 15) the series’ creators try to introduce some conflict, but it is too little too late, especially in the crumbled mess of events slowly and gradually spread out during the previous 14 episodes. It seems like they had an individual story in mind for each character, then quit on each one of them, leaving multiple loose ends for the story to trip on. Seeing this, the creators probably got annoyed and, taken over by hopelessness, decided to quit on it altogether leaving us wondering about basics such as who and what’s behind each clashing side.
All in all, we have a great setting and promising characters but no story. The team behind the series fail to even develop such simple and basic conflict as the torment and doubt when hunting your own kind. The anime ends up being the longest build-up in history without ever reaching a point. And anything that does not have a point is just pointless.
I give Witch Hunter Robin a 4, as it is living proof of how difficult it is to create original content.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Mar 30, 2021
What an utter disappointment. Cannot believe this season is rated as highly – for me, it is inexplicably all-over the place.
We skipped years of important events and developments only to meet brand new characters for the first time. There is the same build-up we have already seen with Eren, Mikasa, and Armin. The story now revolves around this new bunch of kids we suddenly are obliged to deeply care about.
Suddenly, we are thrown into a flashback where we are told (yes, not shown) all the truth about the world “Across the Sea” and quickly “walked through” the events three years ago which lead
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to what we saw at the beginning of the season. Why choose a flashback instead of doing it the proper way and showing the actual events?
In fact, the main story also plummets as soon as we discover the “secret” of the Titans and the motivation of the characters seems to be hanging in the air. Like a substantial part of the development was just cut off for no apparent reason leaving us with quite an unsightly piece to chew on for 16 episodes.
Leaving all sense aside, the story itself loses pace and jumps from situation to situation without any relevance or rhythm. The anime seems to have switched from action to talk and from showing to telling which does nothing for the story.
One of the anime’s strongest points - the fights and the incredible Survey Corps, are thrown so back into the picture that they seem completely blurred out. Every episode has at least 10 mins of sitting and talking unnecessarily without reaching anything meaningful.
This is just bad storytelling or a really bad adaptation.
The animation itself has taken a sharp plunge downhill with everyone looking alike, so overall, we end up with odd CGI and a bunch of potato-heads sitting and talking.
Again, I am stunned this season is the best rated yet. I would honestly rather watch paint dry…
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Mar 12, 2021
With this being one of the highest-rated Mobile Suit Gundam instalments, I must be missing something. Unfortunately, I strongly dislike this OVA. Watching it lead me to the point of putting on hold all MS Gundam-related anime.
Firstly, a bit of background. My Gundam journey started in an unusual way - with Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War In The Pocket. I was absolutely stunned by the skilful storytelling and the full-blooded characters whose naivete made me truly feel how terrible war is.
After completing Mobile Suit Gundam 0079, I was absolutely hooked, so I decided to move on by following the recommended watch order, eventually reaching Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th
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MS Team.
Once the first episode started, I was surprised at how unpleasant and weak the characters were - a pack of cliches bundled up together. The "lead" Shiro Amada is probably the worst protagonist in similar series. He has a burst of bravery a few minutes in but quickly proves he has no characteristics whatsoever except for his uncanny desire to always be looking for love in a way a 13-year-old would.
The rest reminded me of other MS Gundam characters' pale copies. Example: Aina and Ginias are brother and sister, brought close by family drama and torn apart by their ways of overcoming it - just as Casval and Artesia. The difference is, Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team fails to provide any background and development for the pale doppelgangers, making them underdeveloped and useless alternative versions, screaming statements instead of acting like full-blooded humans.
As a whole, the characters themselves are so weakly introduced that their "emotions", once displayed, seem unreal, forced and theatrical. I will only note the cellar scene between Eledore and Michael in episode 5. I have honestly never seen something so deranged and ridiculous in a non-comedy anime.
You cannot argue with facts and it is no wonder the characters for this OVA are added to so few Favourites. They are underdeveloped, weak, and unmemorable, which is unfortunate for an MS Gundam series.
Story-wise, the centre-stage romance between the protagonist Federation pilot Shiro and the Zeon genius-test-pilot-disgraced-aristocrat Aina seems to come from nowhere and appears very pretentious and forced. If people's upbringing, resolve and motivation were as easily overwritten as they were with these two, there would have been no wars. This is a wonderful but, unfortunately, unfounded and superficial belief. The worst part is, this extreme pacifism is something I came up with to try and make sense of all the corny scenes.
I am surprised how far behind war strategy, and even MS Gundam are in these series, following behind sex drive, romance, friendship, jokes, hobbies, talents etc. The stories are messy and do not really build-up to anything significant. There is also no particular continuation or purpose in any of the occurrences - people randomly grab boobs and blabber about their dreams, there are random enemies and intimate sharing between characters who never before spoke to each other. For the latter, I will mention episode 6 and the conversation between Michael and Kiki.
I will spare any spoilers, but another awkward moment is the extra-dramatic scene between Aina and Norris in episode 10, when we have only seen him acting pretty much as her silent bodyguard.
When battles happen, they are mostly quick and without much display of either the pilot or the craft's skill. Mecha are shown as pretty standard clunky huge robots pushing into each other, smashing in-between mountains or getting shot by a rocket. This is all very impressive unless you have watched some of the other MS Gundam series and gotten to know what these mecha mean and are, what they cost their creators and how many lives they changed.
The last two episodes (11 and 12) were as inexplicable to me as possible. They defined logic, physics and anatomy in a completely bizarre way, expected maybe in an otome game but never in a war drama mecha adventure.
The animation is quite good and the voice actors are doing a great job. Music sometimes gets in the way by being a bit too forceful while playing its part as an atmosphere-builder. Still, I did not mind it too much.
Overall, I am surprised this anime is not tagged as a comedy as well. I am giving it a 5, just because of the animation and how much I love other MS Gundam series. However, if this was the first anime I see, I would have never continued watching.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Mar 10, 2021
I am not familiar with the work of Junji Itou and this may render my opinion irrelevant for most. However, the series was suggested to me by someone who knows Itou's incredible manga as "an introduction to his works" - something that will give me a good overall idea of what it is all about story and idea-wise. As such, I can say, the series did their job. I am absolutely hooked and willing to know the actual stories behind all those wonderful "teasers" called episodes. I am eager to see the detailed and graphic art behind those stylised and simplified characters. Of course, it
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is beyond my comprehension why that many wonderful and deep stories were cut and condensed to a teaser-trailer length of 10 mins each and stuffed together in a random mixture. I have no idea why some characters are reoccurring and how this helps the series. Having said this, I perfectly understand the low scores and the disappointment of almost everyone writing a review here. I am also not a fan of the sound and music, they were just okay - nothing to remember. In the end, I recommend the series to everyone who is not too familiar with Junji Itou's works as it will be an eye-opening experience, just as it was for me. However, if you are a fan, you will most likely be left disappointed.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jul 10, 2020
Unfortunately, this anime was one of the most fragmented and messy ones I have seen.
Firstly, I thought this is one cool interpretation of the overexposed and overused Sherlock Holmes myth created so skillfully by Sir Conan Doyle. The odd rakugo-crazy Shinjuku Sherlock seemed unique enough to carry this on.
The addition of Moriarty as his best friend was also unexpected and thrilling, regardless of him being just a teen.
Watson himself was quite alright as the embodiment of normality in this crazy world of rejects and geniuses.
However, things went very wrong. The anime was probing the line between comedy, mystery, and drama so much
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that is lost itself somewhere in-between.
The first 12 episodes were a boring variation of the Jack the Ripper case, mixed with some ridiculous investigations varying from a corrupt sumo wrestler to a murder in a masked pop band.
The second 12 episodes were even worse, with nothing to hold them together and villains, heroes, and madness splattered all-over.
The characters were never presented properly and could not develop at all. The weird thing is, few of them (the Morstan sisters and Kyougoku) had their own mini-stories, but this was quickly abandoned, leaving the plot and the whole idea of the anime even messier.
In the end, I was left with the feeling of watching 24 promo specials or 24 "filler episodes" while waiting for the real story.
Too bad it never came to it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jun 8, 2020
Firstly, I have never trained any sport competitively, so I will not comment on how this is represented. I do, however, have experience with writing and watching, so here I see the real issue.
I wanted to like Free!, honestly. However, it is all over the place - too many personalities, too many characters and destinies. At some point, you have at least three teams of people of various ages who have the exact same stories and backgrounds. This is not only tiresome, but it is also boring and not working. I, personally, could not follow any plot or story, as new drama appeared behind
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every corner.
There were also these terribly-long unnecessary recaps where random people talk in great lengths what happened in the previous three episodes...and there is not much to discuss.
The ending was also laughable. Honestly, this is not a cliffhanger. It is just poor writing.
The reason I am giving this 4 stars is because of the lead character Haruka, whose story, should it have been properly told and developed, would have been quite captivating.
Unfortunately, the creators choose to flood the anime with various fangirl bates without giving them any time to build or show some substance.
Overall, not worth the time, unless you watch it while working, studying or doing something similar, which requires your attention.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Dec 22, 2018
Seriously, no idea how all viewers should be 17+ and this is getting positive feedback. Lots of "cheaters", I guess :D
An anime, which could have been a proper street gang story, totally ruined by a forced love story making creators believe they need nothing else. To the feminists' joy, the useless, whiny, delusional character with zero development, this time is a male.
Plot is unoriginal and built around torturing the lead character repetitively because he is all this anime has, then kidnapping the useless character bound to be his supposed love interest. Gets boring after the first attempt and unbearable after the second. The suspense
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comes from your wondering how many times people can use the same "hooks" and deliver the same lines without thinking any character, especially a smart one, would not bite the same bait 4-5 times. What is also amusing is that every time the supposed tough guy "accepts his fate" and "takes responsibility", he eventually agrees to be saved. Because if he doesn't, there will be no more episodes without the need to dig deeper and develop an actual plot.
The reason Ash Lynx (lead character) loves Eiji so much is also as badly thought of as the anime. No spoiler really. It is "because he wants nothing in exchange". Besides you changing entirely as a person, that is...Even if we accept Ash feels this way, we all know he had at least one true friend, who was not using him long before ever meeting this guy. Name is Shorter. So, what did he want? Surely, no one let us know.
The lead character is constantly contradicting his own life philosophy on whether he is way beyond any physical harm, free to use his own body as a weapon or he is just a poor suffering soul. Guess it is hard to create a full-blooded character who will suit the popular opinion and be able to get on the fanservice bandwagon.
True, there are few worthy moments such as exposing (or explaining?) US politics in the Middle East and...well, think that was it.
Art is pathetic, leaving characters looking deformed and literally faceless at times. Animation is getting so much worse as episodes progress, you start to wonder if the "star-boy" is even worth all the fuss. Ridiculous, taking into account that according to its creators, the main character Ash's looks displayed later in the anime are elaborately inspired by the late River Phoenix. More likely, you can say his entire character is "inspired" by Makishima Shougo. Someone we also know pretty well from Psycho-Pass.
If you liked Psycho-Pass, you will also love the B1 "test space", shown in the second part of the show. Very original indeed.
All in all, the closest to this anime is Togainu no Chi, which at least did not hide under the false pretences of being something more than a character market for fangirls with an emphasis on "special" drugs, sexual crimes and extreme violence. Wonder why it was not liked and Banana Fish is, but my guess is it's because of how the anime market is lately.
I have only finished all episodes to see how bad this will be. I started with a 7 and now reached 3. That bad. I really hope this is the end and there are no further seasons. At least not with these compromised characters.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Aug 29, 2017
First of all, DO NOT start watching because you liked the promo photo. The protagonist in the anime has very little to do with this intriguing and mysterious guy. He is, in fact, a whiny child with no goals and no basic thinking abilities. Someone ready to panic for no reason whatsoever to the point of being ridiculous.
Honestly, I am not sure what was worse in this anime - the Swiss-cheese-like plotholes or the mostly-abysmal characters, who acted with no reasoning, so let's say both.
I am still struggling to understand what this was all about - was it love or was it aliens?
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Anyway, it was ALL very bad.
The screenplay is terrible. I have watched the anime on double speed and still had some moments, which dragged on endlessly, needlessly.
The story began with a walk through the lives of two (supposedly) genius students and quickly turned into a sci-fi mess with "superbeing" elements. One of the students was fascinated with the other. We, of course, were in the dark why, while the other student was very attached to her professor. We, of course, were once again not informed or shown what made him so great.
Later on, we met a little girl and her grandpa, then moved in with a super-squad fighting the super-bad aliens. Suddenly, our protagonist appeared with a new name and a brand new background, and guess what - we had no idea how this happened and what part of the new story was reliable (if any).
In episode 20, few somewhat new heroes appeared and the story finally began to make sense. Why, oh why they had not chosen a different protagonist or at least given us some background on the key characters? This would have helped save this mess or at least would have added something to grab on to.
The final battle was also a useless effort, as none of the characters ever grew on me, so I could not care less what was happening to them.
The end was disgustingly stupid and came out-of-nowhere. No background, no reason for any of the events shown or the relationships demonstrated.
The final nail in the coffin was the "soma" itself. One would think a word, so pretentiously used in the anime title and as a very prominent alias would mean a lot, wouldn’t it? No. I would not disclose any details, but this “subject” was shortly mentioned as something VERY important at the beginning of the series only to reappear shortly in a newspaper article and never to be mentioned again. Ever. Did the anime creators forget about it?
The storyline was a mishmash of many different stories, which collided at some point and got badly mutilated in the process, leaving us with nothing to see and no one to care about.
Admittedly, the opening and ending were beautiful.
Still, avoid this anime at all costs. It is poorly made, boring and lasts far too long.
TL; DR: Do not watch this, it is not worth it. Characters are weak and uninteresting or totally undeveloped. The storytelling is sloppy and full of plotholes. People calling this anime a "hidden gem" are either devoted hipsters or actually meant "jam".
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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