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Nov 20, 2022
The first 25 minutes are a recap of the series. 25 minutes of the film are a recap that contain more or less, a couple new voice lines which serve to remind you that Goblin Slayer was traumatized as a child.
What follows is rushed, incoherent, and lazy. A lot of this comes off like weird fanfiction. Everyone is loosely out of character, the fight scenes are not done nearly as well, the plans are even more halfassed than in the Water Town arc. Much of the movie is inconsistent in details such as where characters are standing in a scene, or what they're doing,
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or how far they are apart. The fight scenes are rushed, the story is rushed. I wasn't a fan of the resolution either. Noble Fencer got to do nothing more or less.
I had hoped this would be great, just as a continuation of the series. It's just bizarre really. This easily could have been a better movie with a lot of minor changes, better choreography and cinematography, etc. There are scenes in the original series that are surprisingly complex, whereas in this they can't even do a panning shot of people sitting in a circle.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Sep 26, 2022
The author just does not care. It starts out full of promise, mystery, and neat if not typical characters, and decent story progression. It's a horror/mystery/shounen which was quite rare in the day, and somehow still isn't that popular even after Attack on Titan and Death Note. the premise is pretty interesting, the setting is interesting, but midway through it completely runs out of steam.
The broad strokes of it are that the author just seems to have run out of interest, or possibly ran out of ideas but it got popular enough the author felt the need to continue it. Chapters become 1/3rd of
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the length they once were and contain little to no meaningful plot development. There's a meaningless 20 chapter arc that you could literally skip and lose nothing. The author gives away so much of the plot by the halfway point, that they're forced to create meaningless shocking twists out of nothing.
There's a reason none of the other reviewers read this far, huh?
It was entertaining for a little while but there's honestly no reason for anyone to read this ever.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Sep 9, 2022
As a teenager I read and loved this manga. I was blown away by the expressiveness of the art, the interesting designs of the aliens, and even the occasional loli fanservice. I can see why it appealed to me and others, but years later the flaws stand out above all. The story is an inconsistent mess of objectification, exploitation, fanservice, and aborted plot lines. The more I think about it, the more my opinion drops.
The art is the simplest thing to critique in this manga. It’s a double edged sword. On the one hand it’s incredibly expressive, even vibrant. I felt the dynamic action
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on the pages in a way I rarely do. I could tell what happened in 99% of the scenes at a glance. In my head it felt like it was animated. The artist renders horrific scenes in startling clarity, and ingenuity. The designs of the aliens are excellent and unique.
However, the artist also made choices that cause many characters to look very similar to each other. The fact that I often could not tell who was who during scenes, or remember who a character was affected nothing probably speaks to the story issues. The 3 main girls have similar facial features, are dressed the exact same, and their hair is covered by nearly identical looking helmets. Even when they are not dressed identically, you are left with strange choices in shading and contrast that make it difficult to tell who’s who at moments. While scenes are rendered strikingly clear, they’re almost always rendered the same way. The perspectives, the framing, the lighting, and the general mood almost never change. It often contributes to the very samey feel of the art once the explosive gore and unique designs lose their novelty.
The characters are all distinct from each other in personality, however they do not grow throughout the story in any significant way. Yuri at the start is Yuri at the end, likewise with Kasumi and Kumi and the Teacher— Which is really saying something for a bunch of girls who get murdered, mind raped, eaten alive, vivisected, ressurected, turned into aliens, and so much more. Despite the relatively static nature of their personalities, I rarely felt if I knew them either as defining character traits would be added at random.
Despite the fact the girls are given a fairly in depth introduction near the start, and you see their home lives, the author will just decide to drop things on you that have major ramifications on the story. Kasumi is the worst case of this. I don’t recall much ever being said about her loneliness except that she had a brother, but suddenly at about halfway through the story her loneliness is a key plot point and carries through for the rest of the manga. Apparently her loneliness was a core thing driving her unhappiness. Her loneliness was not brought up previously, nor was her unhappiness. The author is content to drop these things on you at random, rather than build up to them or suggest them. Another example would be Kumi’s lesbianism which both appears out of nowhere and plays into harmful tropes.
The story does not hold your hand most of the time. The world building is fluid, and you learn about the world by experiencing it, which means that even when strange plot contrivances are dropped on you they rarely feel out of place. It can be refreshing at times, until the author reminds you that he’s making things up as he goes along. Dropped plot points are abundant, and other plot points or happenings clearly exist just to cater to the author’s fetishes.
For example, when the Sunflower aliens invade, what it’s showing you is that they’re simply trying to bond with the hosts but are inept at it and causing unknown casualties. What it tells you is that they made a concerted effort to attack and wipe out everyone at the other schools. Particularly bizarre is the repeated insinuations that the girls are being prepared for something, but never the reveal of what exactly it is. It can’t be a symbiotic bonding with the Borg aliens, because when that happens it’s listed as a failure. Yet, later on in the teacher’s desperation she attempts to force that on Yuri multiple times. At that point Yuri would be a failure regardless, so why? It could be inferred that the Borg are a part of the Drill clan, but not related to the leaders of it, but that’s never even implied. I just don’t know what the point of the experiments even was when ultimately super weapons like Kumi are failures. The teacher herself even seems to be in the same position as Kumi. Many things such as resurrection are relayed so haphazardly that it’s unclear what the girls even know about their world.
Many of the aspects that are unexplained or make little sense seem to circle around the author’s fetishistic desires. Boys are shown to be able to bond with aliens, but the Borg only choose female hosts. I cannot recall any explanation given for this, and it’s particularly weird since boys are repeatedly shown to be ultra willing hosts to just about any alien lifeform– Eager for the combat and the bonding. The Borg themselves feed by licking the sweat off of the kid’s naked bodies, which is quite a lot to take in. It also doesn’t make much sense if you read further and learn more about them, so you just have multiple scenes of aliens tongue bathing naked children. The fanservice does not really go toward a greater point, nor is it even consistent. At one point the chapter cover is a closeup camel toe of one of the girls, despite no other cover being of this nature. Sometimes there’s panty shots, sometimes the girls are respectfully covered. The author seems to have a Made in Abyss tier loli-gore fetish though.
The author often has a lot of negative influence on the story that seem to be typical of guys writing girls. When Kumi bonds with her Borg, we see a screen that lists her as no longer human. It goes on to say that this means she no longer has human functions, and its example is reproduction. It’s not important to the story that any of the girls be able to reproduce and also they’re still grade schoolers. It’s not that she doesn’t use the bathroom anymore such as with Vampires in fiction, or that she no longer needs to eat, it’s specifically reproduction. This kind of reduction in which being a human, or even a female is tied to your ability to reproduce is all too common in fiction.
I think it gets worse though, because it’s not until after this point that the author chooses to insinuate that Kumi is a lesbian. In Japan, lesbianism is considered a passing phase young girls will have then grow out of. The author further plays into this by having Kumi talk about her desire to be with girls, rather than explicitly state it. It’s worth noting that both girls only engage in this behavior when they are no longer fully human as well, and the character who is fully human never displays these tendencies. Lesbianism is okay when it’s young girls, who are not biologically female anymore or who are already othered by being turned into monsters.
These are story beats echoed by many stories of this nature. Take Madoka for example. It’s not uncommon for the other girls, all young girls, to be interested in each other without ever stating explicit identification of their preference, only implying relationships and implying desires. Furthermore, good friends who are ‘corrupted’ express this desire, and they in turn must stop the pure girl from becoming corrupted. The pure girl is largely useless, and a non entity in the story except as a magnet for things to happen around, or to be in the vicinity of plot events. Ultimately, the pure girl falls at the end of these stories. You’ve seen it a dozen times in these young girl, mature themed stories that contain all of these themes which further goes towards making the story less remarkable. It wasn’t a new plot trajectory in 2003 (certainly not when so much of the story mirrors Evangelion), and it’s even less fresh now.
The thing that really strikes me though, is how callous and uncaring the world and the author is. Friendships in this are not organic, they seem to be the result of a symbiotic, psychic link between the girls. No one in this world cares what happens to the children, barely even their parents. No one is concerned as the children are gored and forced into awful situations repeatedly, and neither does the author. It’s all in service of providing more twisted spectacle. It’s utterly devoid of compassion or empathy for the characters, which makes the story feel even more hollow. In the end I’m left with a feeling of emptiness and disgust. I may have well just gone and read some loli-gore-rape hentai with a slightly better plot.
There’s a lot more I could say as well about the fact the girls are forced into bizarre, sexually tinged relationships with these aliens. Overall, I would never recommend anyone read this, but the art is interesting.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Aug 13, 2022
There is not a lot to say about this show. It's what I would colloquially describe as a 5/10 show, but even that's a little generous. This is watch and forget television. It has a pretty unique premise and setting, however it manages to do less unique and interesting things than something like Komi-san or Azumanga Daioh, both of which have arguably mundane and retreaded settings and plot devices.
The art, the animation, the character design, the jokes, none of it is particularly bad, none of it is particularly good. Even by the standards of feel good, by the numbers romance, when you have so
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many options out there why would you pick this? If you've ever walked into the cereal aisle, seen 20 boxes of Korn Flakes, from 20 different brands, this is that. This does not contribute anything, nor does it take away.
I understand that sometimes you just want a mid tier show to not focus on, but even then you have so many choices. The one character I did like was the warrior on the evil side, who constantly gets clowned on. Even she is just an archetype of the character I like, that I have seen done better 100 times. This is not a terrible show, but just why? Why does it exist?
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Apr 20, 2022
Unironically one of the best films I've ever seen in my life. No anime has ever made me this happy. It's like a movie almost custom made for me. It's not perfect, and it's not particularly deep, but I've also never smiled for almost 2 hours straight before. There is nothing to be lost by watching this movie and everything to gain.
If you love cats, and love adventure, let nothing stop you.
This review needs to be longer, but there is nothing else to be said. Anime doesn't need to be a constant stream of sakuga, tits, and violence. This is like much of
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the joy one captures from Yotsubato, or Chii's Sweet Home, packaged with the adventure of a children's fantasy story. It is different from what you watch seasonally, it is different from what is in theaters, and it is excellent.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Aug 5, 2021
G-Reco is a mix of the best of the UC with the politics of Wing. Very human, sometimes autistic-like characters go through strings of mini arcs that defy conventional plot structure. Along their way some of these arcs may have "pointless" conclusions. In a traditional anime a character will go through an arc and then they will be changed. In G-reco, a general may learn the truth in one arc, but then go back to his home country and choose to still continue with their potentially improper military campaign. A girl will learn her enemies are human, but still choose to continue trying to kill
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them for selfish reasons when her mettle is tested. Exposition is rarely given except to subvert expectations, and people do not always grandly declare their motivations. Sometimes extremely important plot-related dialogue will be delivered in passing conversations. This is all classic Tomino. Throughout it, you also see an extension of the themes of Zeta, Turn A, and other Tomino classics.
One thing that's truly wonderful is how it presents combat. When combat occurs on Earth, especially early on, you see it from the perspective of nature. A mobile suit moves, and dozens of animals are displaced. A shot is fired, and trees in the forest burn. This is presented the same way some earlier Gundam and many other series present character deaths. However characters dying is treated as secondary in many of these scenes. You can see that the real issue is the destruction being caused to the Earth. Even in scenes where people are passively outside of their Mobile Suits, the Earth brims with life.
It's through storytelling like this that many of the themes of the story are relayed to you.
Tomino, like Anno, hates the average anime fan. He hates the Otaku, the Gundam Fan. He hates people who feel they're owed something by a piece of art, or that they own it. This can be seen in much of his storytelling structure. Early on characters give "awkward exposition" but they don't tell you anything you don't know. When they begin to speak about something new, that would allow you to "make sense" of the world you're seeing, the scene focus will shift or they'll be cut off. You are forced to piece together much of the important information yourself.
I love this anime. I love how it relays information. I love the characters. I love the very normal ways it displays characters doing things like eating, or screwing up. I like the lack of grandiosity to most of it. In my opinion it's at its worst when it's having epic battles, or the finale.
My main critique is that it could have used about 10 more episodes of breathing room, to properly decompress, as the ending is rushed. Truthfully though, almost every Tomino Gundam series ever has been rushed or cancelled, so that's just par for the course.
Many people will not like this anime, because it is not traditional anime in any way. It is a rejection of convention on almost every level. Much like Turn A, it is at times intentionally produced in a way to upset people who feel certain ways about how things should be done, how characters should act/be presented, and things of that nature. It was on a budget, so at times it's also not a feast for the eyes, though to me it never looked ugly. I often found it quite pretty, but I can't deny it doesn't have the budget of some anime.
If you are used to Tomino's work, or looking for extremely unusual structure and character actions in an anime, then embrace this one.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jan 18, 2021
This show can basically be split right in half. Episodes 1-6, and episodes 7-12. The first half of the show is a solid 3, and the second half fluctuates between a 6 to a 9.
The first half of the series is vapid, shallow, predictable, and cliche. While it's never painful and rarely cringey, it's often incredibly stupid. The main characters often fail to react to things in ways that manage the weight of the situation, and the push for freindship is over the top. It's a little too friendship heavy. Friendship overpowers things that really, people should just take a moment to understand. Life
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and death situations are shrugged off with 'I'm so happy to be on this journey'. Shockingly, this is addressed and relevant in the second half of the series. It's even understandable? But you still have to sit through 6 episodes of this to get there.
As soon as episode 7 hits, the show becomes considerably better. The stakes change, the events become less formulaic and more interesting, it expresses some interest in being more than a generic, forgettable, space adventure powered by friendship. If the first half of the show had the quality of the second half, this would be a stellar series. The plot points are interesting, but more shockingly the character's growth becomes rewarding. The overbearing power of friendship in the first half actually pays off somehow, and the characters become meaningful and enjoyable. It even becomes satisfying to see situations resolved through friendship at points, and the emotional stakes raise considerably.
There are some weaknesses that remain though. The characters are bizarrely uncurious about everything in life. That's somewhat explained, but they barely (if at all) make any effort to explore the Astra or wonder about its origins, or mysterious placement. They don't search the ship for clues, look in records. Even later when the have access to more Astra related things and another person, they really just... Don't care. I think even with the later characterization, that's a bit of an oversight. There are many weaker plot points like that which bring the series down overall.
The end of the series also goes on a bit longer than is earned, and doesn't cover some of the things I would have liked. It resolves all the plot points, and the characters get satisfying enough endings. I would have liked more emphasis on the fates and reactions of the perpetrators though.
I am a big fan of older, space-adventure anime such as Outlaw Star, Nadesico, Gundam, etc. I should be squarely in the target audience for this show. I do think it's worth watching, it's just such a mixed bag. At least make it until episode 7 if you can.
Another point for anyone else who hates romance, the romance; this show doesn't focus on it. It does have it, and it is present now and again, but it never takes away from the focus or becomes a distraction. Characters do not do stupid things just because they're in love. Bizarrely, this isn't a harem anime either? The female characters are actually decent enough even if they're pretty stereotypical.
I ended up watching the Dub, because the Funimation subtitles were pretty blatantly using the English script. The dub is stellar though. I have no idea how close it stays to the original, but the voice acting is pretty good. I say this as someone who is not a huge fan of most dubs. It's probably up there with Nadesico and Outlaw Star. The energy, nuance, and character given to the lines is great. It's not even out of line with the 1 episode i did watch in Japanese either. Plus, you may want to throw on the dub just so you don't have to pay extreme attention for the first 6 episodes.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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May 14, 2020
Outlaw Star is one of the greatest Anime ever put out. It is easy to argue how something is not perfect, because nothing is perfect. Where some things are bogged down or made up of their flaws though, Outlaw Star puts such loving effort into every single piece of it. The art, the characters, the sound, the story, in such a way that flaws are merely additional character to the production.
There are certainly rough edges to things, particularly due to being a product of its time. There are moments where the art dips in detail, however you can find that in any modern anime
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production. The fan service can seem a bit much, and fan service in the service of a joke or plot point is still fan service; but it's not really more fan service or more offensive fan service than modern anime. That's especially true when the women of the show have so much personality and character. They're Gene's equal, or sometimes even his superior in both combat and intelligence. Melfina herself, the main romantic interest, is a fully robust and interesting character as well.
Outlaw Star is a satire of the entire scifi adventure genre, and a homage to it, and a serious engagement with it much like Scream or Nadesico. In any other series, these characters might simply be piles of tropes. In Outlaw Star, every character is given a uniqueness to them. The way they move, the way they speak, the way they act, even the way they're presented. Each scene is also given a variety of styles which play with how we see them, and change the mood. While other anime often display similar animation and art techniques, they typically put them at the forefront in a showy blast that hides the shallowness of the characters and story. Outlaw Star uses these to prop up the characters and give them depth. Even the exposition filled opening narration is full of character, and delivers important information.
All in all the world of the series feels alive in a way very few other worlds do, and that's without the need for endless lore dumps and symbolism. At every moment you are both comfortable and familiar with the world presented, and experiencing something new and exciting. This show nails adventure, and drama, and comedy. In much the way a series like Cowboy Bebop engages the episodic format with overarching plot to tell micro adventures in different genres, Outlaw Star does. It would be hard for me to say rather Bebop or Outlaw Star does this better, but Outlaw Star really engages with the material.
Outlaw Star is a production that is outside of itself. It was made to be a franchise that never took off. As such, there is so much background information to it, and work, which shines through in the production. It's not full of pointless sequel hooks and spinoff opportunities, but rather it's full of character and a fully realized universe.
Some people may have issues with how characters like Fred are portrayed, who is gay and lecherous. However, Outlaw Star is engaging with its roots satirically. Fred is not less of a womanizer than the main character (Gene), nor any other well loved character such as Master Roshi or Miroku. Fred treats Gene exactly how Gene treats women. However, Outlaw Star is also engaging in the material seriously. The joke is not on Fred, and Fred is not a joke. Fred, like everyone, is a character who is fully realized and a part of the series. An important part.
You can look to the unfinished sequel for more evidence of this in which Gene would drop everything he was doing to rescue Fred, because they are friends. Likewise, you can even see it in how it treats the romance, but that would contain spoilers for the actual show discussed here.
Nothing in my life has ever triggered the sense of excitement, wonder, and love I feel for Outlaw Star. Rarely do I rewatch something, let alone multiple times. Outlaw Star is one of those few things. I own it on DVD, on Blueray, I watched it countless times on TV, I show it to friends.
If you have even a passing interest in scifi-adventure, 90s-2000 era anime, Star wars, Star Trek, Treasure Island, Star Blazers, Cowboy Bebop and the like, this is a show you will love. It is truly a special show that constantly conveys a unique identity in everything it does.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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May 11, 2020
Some people seem to think that this show does not know that it is a comedy. Maybe that's because they think everything 'quirky' in anime is just Japanese story telling, or perhaps it's because the show does present serious drama every now and again. Still, I would question anyone who watches the bus introduction scene and does not become aware that this show is not taking itself seriously. That's not to say that it never has anything serious to offer.
The characters in this show are exceptional, and often used in ways that I did not expect. The psychological troubles they experience are far more
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relatable and real than something like Persona 4. while there is some levity to being afraid of a pattern on a table, I don't think that prevents it from also being acknowledged as something serious. an enemy in Silent Hill 2 is literally just a horny table, and that's one of the greatest psychological masterpieces of all time.
There's meaning to the sometimes ridiculous manifestations of their fears though. They are humiliating to talk about it, humiliating to have others see them. We often feel humiliated by our own problems as well no matter how major or minor. We feel like we can't tell people extremely simple things, or can't relay stories that shaped us due to how we feel people will perceive them.
Another issue people seem to have is that the show does not explain things every episode. It is literally a mystery show, if it explained the mystery then there would be no mystery and thus no reason to watch the show. That being said, the show is not simply filler until the reveal. The characters back stories, interactions, and attempts to solve what's happening are all valuable and entertaining meat to the story as it builds towards the final reveals.
This anime is deeply misunderstood by people, but if you enjoy psychological horror that drops pretentiousness all together then this is a classic anime that deserves a watch. This is the definition of a hidden gem that's misunderstood. It's not edgy, it's not serious, and it's not a straight out comedy, so that put people off. It's more than the standard anime.
To top that off, it doesn't fill itself with waifus, and romantic angst plot lines. Pairing people off isn't important, even when romance comes up. It doesn't revel in the usual battle scenes that popular anime love. It's all about the characters and their psychology. Please give it a chance. I think every review should have a purpose, and the purpose of this review is a plea for someone to give it a chance.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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May 11, 2020
This is a very Japanese anime, not just in the usually observed ways in which things are wacky and characters are quirky. The events in the anime are very symbolic to Japanese culture. I can appreciate them, but most of them go over my head and I am not the target audience.
The characters are interesting, some are even surprisingly likable when I would expect to hate them. The episodes vary widely in scope and even genre. At times I was not really interested in some of the individual episodes like the urban legends themed one or the interrogation. At other times I was a
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little lost by the somewhat abstract story telling in the middle of the series. Keeping characters straight was momentarily difficult. Some episodes were expert examples of controlling the audience, such as the episode in which the trio of suicide website members meet up. I loved that episode. Even there though, the suicide websites were a very Japanese issue.
Overall the themes of the anime seem to be about Japan's past war crimes, and the the refusal to take responsibility by playing the victim. There are many nods to WWII and reconstruction era Japan. The atomic bomb in the start of the series, the detectives fantasy and notations to the rising sun, or when he literally says that destroyed Tokyo looks like post-war Japan.
Still, the themes of playing the victim or relying on being victimized to escape your past is something that extends past that to something we can all relate to. They're pressing issues today. There are also critiques of consumerism/capitalism, and relying on 'wholesome' or 'cute' or 'kawaii' (or moeblob, waifus) to step away from your problems that are pertinent today. The Isekai genre still contains many of the things that one might socially critique the old cute girls do cute things genre for socially. It takes jabs at Otaku and anime fans in general which are still on point to this day at times.
Overall the anime remains a very memorable and unique experience that has depth to it that few others do. For me, I prefer when the depth isn't almost entirely constrained to symbolism. None the less, the whole thing is a ride which I enjoyed watching. I hope the people watching on Toonami have a good experience as well, it was what spurred my own rewatch.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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