Eminence in Shadow,one of my best isekai friends. Reason i started writing review is to defend this anime and it's response to certain cringe video review that one of anime YouTubers made. Of all new isekai anime adaptations they made in 2022,not including ones that got new season in 2022,Eminence in Shadow is one of the best isekai anime series of 2022 in my opinion. Why? Because it's very special to me in ways that makes me enjoy it to the fullest. It's will be difficult to explain without making long introduction,so i'll start with explaining what is Eminence in Shadow about and why i
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love it,starting... Now.
Disclaimer:
I am not really professional at writing reviews,so i don't know was it what i wrote about characters is spoiler or not since i wanted spoiler-free review to get more attention since spoiler-free reviews get more views and clicks than ones with spoilers. If there's spoiler,please send me message and i'll edit it. Also,this review contains mostly my personal opinions on characters,so it's doesn't contain many objective opinions.
Let's go with story first. Minoru Kageno,later known as Cid Kagenou and Shadow in another world,he was working hard to get strong enough to fulfill his dream,a dream of becoming a Eminence in Shadow,also known as shadowbroker,but in simple words,anti-hero who hides in darkness and hunts the shadows. One night,training to gain magic,he saw blinding light,thinking it's a sign that magic have heard his prayers,so he jumped in,revealing it's was famous vehicle that transports you to another world,Truck-kun,sooo Minoru got in accident and got reborn as Cid Kagenou in another world. In another world he is reborn,magic existed so he spent all his childhood training by getting himself stronger and faster to achieve his dream and gone around slaying bandits to get funds for his Eminence in Shadow activities and train to kill like his ideal anti-heroes do. During one night,after slaying bandits and searching for valuable loot,he spotted elf girl that has black scales on her body,she has a disease which is known as Possession in world of Eminence in Shadow. Freeing girl,Cid uses his unique magic to cure her Possession and black scales on girl were gone,revealing a beautiful elf. Cid then told her made-up story about reason why she had Possession and how Cult of Diablos,a secret society that pulls strings from shadows have manipulated history to prevent birth of heroes that might overthrow them and have spread lies about Possession being a contagious disease. After telling her his made-up story,he gave her portion of his power and new name: Alpha. Afterwards,years later,Cid found more possessed girls and took them in,forming organization "Shadow Garden",an organization devoted to finding secrets of Cult of Diablos and destroying root of evil. Cult of Diablos was fake cult that Cid made up to make a reasons behind Possession sound cool,but in reality,for some reason,Cult of Diablos actually exists and it's not made-up cult,but Cid dismissed it,thinking that Alpha and others are role-playing as he and Shadow Garden are dragged into conflict with Cult of Diablos and find out secrets of world. The story focuses on Cid playing a background character to avoid standing out,him making friends with main characters this season and special world building and cool characters that shows us more about anime and what world of Eminence in Shadow have to offer. Overall,pretty good story.
As for the characters,let me start with Cid Kagenou,also known as the Shadow. Shadow is overpowered,but he is not stupidly overpowered for bad reasons like Touya Mochizuki from ''In Another World With My Smartphone'' or any power fantasy Gary Stu protagonists. Reason why some of overpowered protagonists are hated is because of impossible expectations from those who want anime to stand out in same way their favorite anime did. When you watch anime that contains action and fight scenes,there are many moments where you don't know will protagonists win the fight or lose a limb to achieve victory. These kind of scenes invoke tension and hype,making you cheer for protagonist to win fight. But when protagonist keeps winning or has high win rate,they stop cheering for them and all tension is gone since they know protagonist is gonna win anyway,which is why so many overpowered protagonists gets hate or misunderstood as stupidly overpowered ones. There are some that are loved because of way their character is made.
Take a look at Saitama from ''One Punch Man'',for example. Saitama can't get hurt,he runs super fast and more importantly,he defeats almost any opponent with just one punch. That makes him one of most overpowered protagonists,but why is he not hated, despite how overpowered he is? Because of way his character is written. His backstory,reason for being a hero,his boredom and his struggles are what makes him stand out and enjoyable character. Those things balanced his overpowered status. Does Shadow have something like that? Yes,he does. Reason why he is overpowered because he wants to be overpowered. Why? Let me give you a backstory.
Since his childhood,in previous life,Shadow idolized anti-heroes,which he calls Eminence in Shadow or shadowbrokers. He idolized them to the point he wanted to be one and trained hard to be powerful enough to overwhelm his foes. In his high school days as "Fancy Hoodlum Slayer",he spent lots of nights beating up thugs and gangs,which was what he been looking forward to since he was a kid,but there was many weaknesses he couldn't overcome due to limits of human body. No matter how much he trains his body,if he was up against squad armed with full automatic weapons,tanks or atom bomb,he would be done for it,so he went one night in forest to train for magic because he knew that if he had magic,he would overcome all limits to become an ideal anti-hero. He couldn't get his wish come true because magic didn't exist in his previous world,but in another world,every of his dream came true. Reason he wants to be overpowered to withstand any attack is because his ideal Eminences in Shadow or anti-heroes who strike from shadows were invulnerable,so he wanted to become anti-hero like ones he idolized,and he got what he desired. Is that a bad reason he is overpowered? Not really,i think it's a fair reason for him to be overpowered like that. As for Shadow's personality,he is hilarious. He pretends to be background character to avoid standing out and getting spotlight on daylight while at night time,he goes full Shadow mode. His background character mode is funny and never gets old,i really liked how he reacted to anything that was looking cool to him,unable to resist his chuunibyou tendencies. The way he fights as Shadow is badass,it's thrilling and cool to watch him overwhelming his enemies,physically or emotionally without single care in the world. Some may find his chuunibyou tendencies cringe,but in my opinion,wanting to do something that you think it's cool it's not a bad thing. If Shadow is fully embracing his chuunibyou and wants to be anti-hero,that's fine,i don't see how it's affects quality of his character. I find Shadow to be extremely entertaining and intriguing character,overall.
I find anti-hero isekai protagonists a lot more interesting than goody two-shoes who refuse to kill antagonists who should get what they deserve and can't get accustomed to another world's standards,such as slavery or polygamy being legal or boring perverts like one whose name i can't say without getting attacked by toxic fans. Anti-hero isekai protagonists can be either extremely entertaining or have great personality,character writing and development.
As for main characters,they all have unique personalities,special quirks and internal struggles that makes them memorable and enjoyable characters. If we are talking about what Seven Shades,the seven girls that have Shadow's favor and portion of his power,are my favorite,that would be Alpha,Beta,Delta and Gamma. Alpha's devotion to Shadow and her cunning,calm and collected personality got me entertained,it's cool to see how her character develops throughout this season. Beta's cute side,how she admires Shadow to the point she would write chronicles about him and how smug she acts towards Alexia,it's funny. Delta is badass wolf girl. Her battle junkie personality and way she fights is cool and can be funny when she kills someone while they are talking and angers Alpha. She is ferocious wolf girl,but when it's comes to Shadow and Alpha,she acts like dog who answers when her master speaks,lol. Gamma is cool,but funny most of times when she trips. She is too clumsy to fight,which she makes up with her high level intelligence. She is smart enough to get Shadow Garden funds they need for their operations,but her clumsy side makes her hilarious at the times,and i really enjoyed her moments.
As for three last main characters,Alexia Midgar,Rose Oriana and Iris Midgar,Alexia's older sister,there is a lot to talk about them.
Alexia is well written character. Her personality,character development,how cute and enjoyable she can be makes me want her as my waifu. She has a such a good character development that i can't give you spoilers. Rose is really cool character with cool character development as well. There's so many great things about her,but i'd like this review to be spoiler free so i'll just say that i love her personality and how she admires Cid's fighting spirit, determination and cunning. Now,about Iris Midgar,well,in anime,they gave her inferiority complex,they made her character like this: When there are people that can beat her,she gets her pride hurt to the point she would do anything to prove that she is stronger than Cult of Diablos or Shadow Garden,underestimating their power. She doesn't believe that characters like Shadow are stronger than her because she thinks it's impossible for humans to have such magic power until she witness them herself. For someone who wants to protect Midgar Kingdom,she got too much pride in anime adaptation. She is not by any means a bad character,she is just flawed so they could make her fragile to prevent her from looking her some kind of generic Mary Sue.
As for supporting characters,they are all cool,but it's difficult to explain about some of them because how their character is written or develops involve spoilers,so there's only one supporting character i can talk about. Claire Kagenou,Cid's sister loves so much that is best explained if you watch anime and see for yourself. She is entertaining older sister and Cid is lucky to have an loving sister like her,even if she is little bit overprotective.
Now i am going to talk about antagonists who are part of Cult of Diablos. Characters who belong in Cult of Diablos are power hungry humans who would sacrifice anything and do anything to get power they desire or to become member of Knights of the Rounds. Knights of the Rounds is group within Cult that contains highest ranking members of Cult with overpowered abilities. They also have power to control nations and do anything they want to gain more power or to achieve their evil plans. They aren't exactly high quality characters,but at least they are legitimately evil and they are not corrupt nobles motivated by greed,arrogance and lust,which most of isekai have them and they cliche and overused. I talked about characters a lot,time to move to sounds.
Music is very good. Opening song is hardcore banger,ending song sang by voice actresses who voice Seven Shades sounds good and OST sounds cool. Voice acting is great,most of female characters are voiced by well known and my favorite Japanese voice actresses. For example,Alexia is voiced by Kana Hanazawa and Iris by Yoko Hikasa,Japanese voice actresses that are in my Top 3 Japanese voice actresses. You don't get to see multiple your favorite Japanese voice actresses taking roles in one anime every day. Speaking of Cid's voice actor,he sounds so badass as Shadow,watch it and you'll see how badass he sounds.
Next is art and animation. It's well made. Not unique,but very good animation and art for 2022 anime,nothing else to say. It's shines the best when Shadow uses one of his strongest attacks,where he looks most badass.
Now the best part: enjoyment.
Eminence in Shadow anime is extremely entertaining,beyond 10/10.
As long you don't set your standards too high,you are going to enjoy it like i did,every episode,every badass character,every female character that makes a good waifu,every funny moment and everything i found so freaking entertaining. If you pick Eminence in Shadow for enjoyment,you will not regret it.
Overall,Eminence in Shadow is one of coolest isekai anime i seen. If i were to say how is it,it's equally amazing like any isekai series that got crossover in Isekai Quartet. Hell,i would go as far to say that it's so great that it's deserves to be in third season of Isekai Quartet. Sure,it's has flaw or two and adaptation ain't exactly perfect,but these things are nothing to write home about,i seen isekai that have much worse flaws and terrible adaptation. I am hyped for Season 2 and waiting for Volume 5 to get official English release,that's how much i loved it and enjoyed it.
Please give to anime adaptation a try,it's not your average isekai. It's special like any isekai that got crossover in Isekai Quartet.
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Mar 2, 2023 Recommended
Eminence in Shadow,one of my best isekai friends. Reason i started writing review is to defend this anime and it's response to certain cringe video review that one of anime YouTubers made. Of all new isekai anime adaptations they made in 2022,not including ones that got new season in 2022,Eminence in Shadow is one of the best isekai anime series of 2022 in my opinion. Why? Because it's very special to me in ways that makes me enjoy it to the fullest. It's will be difficult to explain without making long introduction,so i'll start with explaining what is Eminence in Shadow about and why i
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Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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0 Show all Dec 22, 2021 Recommended
It's been a while since i wrote review of my favorite anime series. Now,i wanna talk about isekai anime that blew my mind in so many levels in terms of storytelling and characterization: Sekai Saikou no Ansatsusha, Isekai Kizoku ni Tensei suru,also known as The World's Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat.
I seen lots of isekai anime and i been reading few isekai light novels and many of them share same kind of story or same kind of characters with same motivations,but there are very few unique isekai that have protagonists with strong backstory or story that you don't see in ... your typical basic isekai. This anime is one of them. Why is that? Let me explain why i think of World's Finest Assassin as an good anime adaptation and why i think it's unique. Let me get on main topics,story and characters. Story of World's Finest Assassin looks simple on surface,but the more you watch it,you realize that this isn't your typical isekai story. Most of isekai have stories where characters need to defeat Demon Lord or something like that to save the world,end some wars so they could return back to their world or characters where they want to do something they are passionate about,but they have to go through big struggles and pay price to,for example,read a real book,but there are too many obstacles through that (Ascendance of a Bookworm) or want to enjoy their lives to fullest in peace and protect people and family they care about and do anything for them,no matter what price they must pay (TenSura) and there are power fantasy stories made for escapism,where protagonists don't have motivations and they are overpowered for fanservice and lack strong features and characteristics or only one of these things. (In Another World with my Smartphone,Death March to Parallel World Rhapsody,The 8th Son,Master of Ragnarok,Isekai Cheat Magician and Conception) and there are isekai where protagonists had tragic life,lost what they cared about,gone through serious depression and abuse until their time has came then they reincarnated in another world to start from zero,to have happy new life without same pain and struggles they had in previous lives,but there are also times when things don't go by their favor in another world (By the Grace of the Gods and Jobless Reincarnation) and isekai where protagonist is reincarnated into world of game,book or any media as villain and wants to do whatever they can to reverse their fate. (HameFura) Story of Assassin is about assassin,who is claimed as world's finest assassin,who is reincarnated in another world after being betrayed by organization who raised him to be emotionless killing machine by goddess with one purpose: to kill a hero who will go insane after killing Demon Lord. This is probably the only isekai story i know where protagonist is tasked with killing someone before reincarnation. I seen lots of isekai and none of them had a story where god reincarnates someone to kill a hero. This may seem basic to anime elitists who prefer something that stands out,but for me,it's completely stands out. Assassin,now named Lugh Tuatha De,is reincarnated as baby in family of aristocrats,which may seem to make protagonist little bit overpowered,but aristocratic family weren't only family of asssassins,but barons,one of lowest noble ranks of aristocracy,which means that Lugh wasn't born in some super overpowered family,which is good and would make him balanced. Ever since the his birth,story focuses on Lugh training,growing up and training to get strong enough to kill a Hero,meeting new people that became important to story and meeting girls who would eventually become part of his harem. Then,there are episodes where focus more on introduction of this anime,characters,character developments and shows us a lot of lore to be amused and intrigued by. I would go as far to say that World's Finest Assassin got one of the best isekai stories so far,and one of unique ones as well. I could go on,but i want to make this review spoiler free to make sure that my review gets more attention and to get anime fans into watching this anime. Now for the characters. Let me start with Lugh first. Most of transported or reincarnated protagonists are either NEET,typical high school students,salarymen,office workers,dudes with random jobs,middle aged men,et cetera. This is only isekai i know where protagonist is an assassin,and old man to boot. He was born and raised into organization of assassins,where he trained to be assassin,to kill flawlessly,to be killing machine. He never had any emotions or expressed them. He never showed any regret,compassion or any these kind of emotions when he was killing people. He never learned to love or any emotions because to assassin,emotions get in the way and makes asssassin's skills rusty. That's what he thought until he was betrayed by organization. Upon his death,he felt an emotion for first time: frustration. After being reborn as Lugh Tuatha De,he vowed to live his life not as the tool like he was in previous life,but as human being who can express any emotion,to live with his own choices and decisions. As i expected from author of Redo of Healer. Lugh is not a joke. His personality is really good. I would go as far to say that he got more personality than every personality of generic power fantasy isekai protagonist combined. This anime contains harem,but in most of isekai which have harem,protagonists are often spineless,dense and don't have guts to do a hard thing when girl asks him nicely to sleep with her (in normal or sexual way) or when girl says that they wanna marry him. Lugh is Chad when it's comes to women and anything that most of isekai protagonists don't have guts for. Where else can you find this kind of isekai protagonist? As for his power level,well,it's not on same level as power level of battle shounen protagonists. Some think that Lugh is Gary Stu because of assassination knowledge he had from previous life and knowledge he learned in new life,but that's completely wrong. For me,Gary Stu is word you use for stupidly overpowered self insert protagonist who got no special motivation,no genuine backstory,got generic character design,generic and bland personality,always overpowers his opponents without paying any price,without any struggle and without breaking a sweats. Touya Mochizuki from In Another World With My Smartphone is perfect example,god of Gary Stus. I highly recommend to everyone reading this review to go read light novels or watch anime adaptation to see why is Touya Mochizuki a definition of Gary Stu and self insert. To me,knowledge doesn't make a Gary Stu. To me,what makes Gary Stu is unbalanced brute strength.immeasurable magic power and bland personality. Take a look at Senku from Dr.Stone,who uses his knowledge to restore humanity and to build many things that do not exist in stone world. Is he Gary Stu because he is super smart? No. Can be world's greatest scientific minds such as Stephen Hawking,Albert Einstein,Nikola Tesla,Isaac Newton,Marie Curie called Gary/Mary Stus? No. Unlike Touya,Lugh struggled with several opponents in light novels and paid price for using overpowered abilities and suffered a injuries from using them or fighting opponents that only Hero can defeat. He wasn't overpowered from very beginning,he worked hard to develop abilities that goddess gave him,to develop new spells for assassinations and trained hard to develop his body so he could withstand attacks that would be fatal to normal human beings. He doesn't cheat out everything like Touya does with his smartphone and overpowered abilities that World God gave him. Also,Gary Stu characters can defeat opponents alone. There are many times in light novels and this anime where Lugh couldn't do anything without his lovers or Hero. Also,unlike Touya,Lugh have personality and guts to do hard thing when it's comes to women. In conclusion,Lugh is balanced powerful character with enjoyable personality that assassin characters needs to have. Now let's talk about main characters. Most of isekai characters that are part of protagonist's harem barely have a genuine backstories or good reasons to fall in love with protagonist. Some fall in love just because protagonist is ''nice'' to them. Dia,Tarte and Maha are one of most well written female isekai harem characters,they have a good backstories and good reasons to fall in love with Lugh. I'd like to talk about them,but i can't give you spoilers,it's best that you watch this anime or read light novels to see for yourselves. As for the supporting characters,some are well made,some are hilarious,some are not worth talking about in my review. Lugh's mother,Esri,she is great comedic relief character. Every moment with her is so freaking hilarious that i can barely stop laughing. Lugh's father,Cian,he is pretty cool. He is teaching Lugh everything about Tuatha De style of assassination and to not assassinate as tool,but as human being. He have helped Lugh to grow up not only as human,but to grow strong as assassin. Maha's friends are pretty cute,that's all i can say about them and supporting characters Now about antagonists. Goddess that revived veteran assassin as Lugh Tuatha De,who told him to kill the Hero,she is very mysterious character and her motivations seem malicious rather than noble. I don't know whether is she real goddess or puppet made by bigger entity,but we will find out soon as more volumes get English release. In very few isekai novels/anime,gods are evil beings who treat everything they create as board game pieces. There are certain antagonists i wanna mention,but they are related to Maha's backstory and final episode,so,again,no spoilers. Is World's Finest Assassin good anime adaptation? I been reading light novels since anime started airing because i was too impatient to wait for new episodes,so my answer is: YES. This is one of the only isekai anime adaptations i know that do not skip any important dialogues or character developments. Most of isekai anime made to promote light novels they are based on or by request of light novel fans take 3-4 volumes,make 12 episodes of them and skip a lot of good dialogue and character developments because of limitations of anime adaptations. On what volume is World's Finest Assassin based on. One. Just. First. Volume. And they did it a justice. I can't think off any anime that is based on only first volume. They did a great job,despite being based on only first volume. Now for animation and art. Not gonna lie,they nailed it. Characters look great,some of items are well drawn,designs are top notch and animation is very good. It's not outstanding like ufotable's animations,but still very good in many ways possible. If i were to say what i didn't like about animation in this anime,there's only one thing,but not a big deal. Sadly,it's spoiler,so i am not able to talk. Music is great as well. Opening song is total fire. It's fits main characters and story perfectly in every way and visuals are god tier in opening. This song is so outstanding that it's replaced one of my top 10 anime opening songs of all times. Ending song is pretty good,i liked the visuals,melody,but i skipped it most of times because it's wasn't outstand like opening song. Voice acting in this anime is great as well. There aren't many familiar names among cast of Japanese voice actors,but some of them voiced memorable anime/video game characters. Dia is voiced by Reina Ueda,who voiced Ganyu from gacha game called Genshin Impact. Goddess is voiced by Yukari Tamura,who is well known for role of Rika from Higurashi When They Cry,Qiqi from Genshin Impact,Jibril from No Game no Life and Suzuha Amane from Steins; Gate. There's much to talk about voice actors,but i need to get to the points about important aspects of anime and World's Finest Assassin. This anime is really fun to watch as long you don't have high expectations. Lugh never ceased to surprise me with his personality,faces he made and how much of a Chad he is. Esri really made me laugh when she is such a doting mother to Lugh,lol! Oh,there are many funny moments with Lugh's harem as well,he he heh. There are many comedic reliefs that makes me enjoy anime even more and more badass,cool stuff that gets me hyped. I always enjoyed every second of every episode. And that's covers it. Now let me share my final thoughts. In my opinion,World's Finest Assassin is not a masterpiece,but it's great anime in general and adaptation is good. After liking it more,reading light novels,i got charmed by it's unique style like no other isekai novel or anime did this to me. Some may disagree with me,but i think of World's Finest Assassin as deconstruction of isekai genre. Many isekai fans debate which isekai is so unique that it's deconstruction of isekai genre,and most of them say it's anime called ''Ima,Soko ni Iru Boku'',but that anime was made in 1999,which was way before isekai craze because isekai genre was blooming early and mid-2010's,so it's can't be counted as deconstruction. Why i think of World's Finest Assassin as deconstruction of isekai? Well,because plot is not what you find in your casual isekai,protagonist was old man and assassin in previous life and was given task that no other protagonists were given,which is usally to save the world,his motivations are look special,main female characters in most of harem or isekai harem barely have strong character,also have no luck with protagonists who are spineless or dense and villains in Assassin are mysterious,but in unique way. Also,World's Finest Assassin is written by Rui Tsukiyo,author of Redo Of Healer. When he was writing Redo of Healer,he came up with most ridiculous ways for revenge plot and to make best and coldest type of dish called the revenge. It's same with Assassin,Rui turned isekai tropes upside down and created mind blowing plot with mind blowing characters. That's why i think of World's Finest Assassin as deconstruction of isekai genre. It's a great series that i found read or watch anytime if i am tired of basic isekai with basic stuff. Some may not agree with what i said in review,but MyAnimeList doesn't have option to use video clips of anime as evidence so i could prove my points. Some of things i said were my personal opinions,but most of them are facts. Please give a this anime or light novels a try,you won't regret it as long you don't set your expectations too high. Have fun!
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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0 Show all Sep 19, 2020 Recommended Spoiler
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!
Ah,final season of Alicization arc,the anime of this summer. I really like it more than previous Alicization seasons 'cause it's have many extremely enjoyable stuff that blew my mind. What did this season right or wrong? How much story and characters have improved? Are there anything new? Let's start talking right now! Let's talk about story. What can i say? To be honest,i didn't expect good story. Previous SAO arcs had some flaws,but their stories were enjoyable and weren't hard to follow. Alicization arc,however,is huge improvement over previous SAO arcs. I loved how it's started and how it's ended this season. The story ... was interesting from enjoyment perspective. From fight scenes to emotional moments,it's was so enjoyable that enjoyment of this anime is beyond 10/10. Seeing how it's progressing,especially in this season makes me sweat all over my body out of excitement. What can i say more? I am not good at expressing how story is decent and enjoyable. Only problem is that A-1's directors and screenwriters cut out some cutscenes that would make characters look good and important to plot and to develop them and they even cut romance moment between Kirito and Asuna after Kirito's fight against PoH (Vassago). Why did they do that? Well,that's most common thing in anime adaptations of light novels or mangas. Anime studios like cutting some cutscenes and moments they think that they would make anime look boring and story in anime hard to follow. Would some of cut contents from this season make story hard to follow? Well,not really,but if they didn't,some episodes would be full of tedious monologues that some casual anime fans do not want to hear. Also,how do you take a light novel and try to make a 22 minutes long episode from couple of pages without skipping anything? I would like if they didn't cut more of Kirito's nightmare sequence so anime fans would see how much agony and suffering Kirito have gone through to make not only story good,but make haters understand that Kirito a balanced OP character like Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop. Romance scene where Kirito and Asuna would be cool if they didn't cut it,but i am patient person when it's comes to romance,so i have no complaints. To be honest,i kinda like some anime original scenes that are not from light novels like where Eiji from Ordinal Scale fights PoH,it's was very epic fight scene,even more with Yuna's song ''longing''. Me,personally,i don't care as long story is enjoyable,i don't care about high quality plots when i watch anime like SAO. Some may hate this season because of cut contents in story and other holes,but in their case,i would simply ignore it and let it slide and try to enjoy anime without expecting flawless story or watch Cowboy Bebop or Monogatari series. Story is 6,5/10. Animation is Sword Art Online anime series is always so freaking amazing,especially more in fight scenes. Bercouli vs Gabriel was very nice,Asuna,Lisbeth,Klein,Agil,Silica,Human Empire Army and army of ALO players vs American,Korean and Chinese was blood-boiling and amazing,Sinon vs Gabriel was inspiring.Eiji with Yuna's support vs PoH was outstanding,Asuna vs PoH was very exciting,Kirito vs PoH was great,but Kirito vs Gabriel was super duper freaking amazing,one of best animated fights ever. The way they animated Kirito in fight when he went Star King Mode was so great that i can't even describe with words. Animation in this season is 10/10. I know,i said almost same in other SAO reviews,but animation in SAO kicks the bucket that much. Music in this season is masterpiece,especially opening song? Tell me,what's color of my soul? ReoNa knows how to hit in right spots. ANIMA is definitely opening song of 2020. It's so freaking amazing that it's rivals Crossing Field. I am dead serious,this song is banger like Crossing Field. The lyrics of ANIMA have strong symbolism that represents Kirito's struggles and emotions he is dealing with and his thoughts about who he really is,or rather,the color of his soul. I would play ANIMA anytime i want,this song is 100% opening song of 2020. As for ending song,eeehhh,i heard better SAO ending songs,but since it's Eir Aoi,it's sounds decent enough. Soundtrack in SAO anime series is amazing as always. I love that they used longing in Eiji's fight,longing is fix of Kalafina songs ''to the beginning'' (Fate Zero Openining 2) and ''believe'' (Fate Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works ending 1) that i would listen anytime. Swordland is best fighting OST,it's have so much tension and hype behind that beautiful melody. Yuki Kajiura is great composer. Voicing acting it's also amazing as well. The way Sinon's voice actress Miyuki Sawashiro delivered line to Gabriel about him not being devil but ordinary human was epic. And the way Ai Kayano delivered lines in Episode 10? Heck yeah. Voice acting in SAO is superb. Music and voice acting is easy 10/10 Sword Art Online is extremely enjoyable due the enjoyable sides of story and characters. Animation in fight scenes and where serious things start to happen makes me sweat and makes my blood boil. Music is so enjoyable that i could listen to it every day. Some don't enjoy SAO because of way story is written and lack of strong features and characteristics in characters. There are many ways to make enjoyable anime besides making high quality plot or giving to characters a strong features. Take a look at one of generic isekai anime like Kenja no Mago,for example. It's protagonist,Shin Wolford is generic character with no strong features or anything that would make him strong character. He is bad,but not boring. His OP moments and powers can bring a very funny and amusing reactions from people who see how he is OP. Characters can be funny like hell when they make funny reactions like this o_O XD Kenja no Mago is subjectively bad anime,meaning it's bad only for these who want same things that Cowboy Bebop or Monogatari series have. If you just wanna watch Kenja no Mago just for laughs or to enjoy yourself regardless of how story is written or characters are made,then it's for you. It's same for Sword Art Online. It's for anime fans who want to enjoy themselves regardless of what not having what elitists always want. I will explain later after i finish debunking problems they have with my favorite characters. Enjoyment is beyond 10/10 like always. Sword Art Online is so enjoyable that it's never gets old. (Unless you are anime elitist) Now for characters. As you know,in my SAO reviews,i always defend my favorite characters and debunk them with facts because haters are completely wrong. There are two types of anime fans in this world: Casual anime fans and anime elitists. Casual anime fans are type of anime fans that love watching anime to get entertained,regardless of what kind of plot anime have and how characters are made. They can have different tastes in anime or any kind of preferences,but they do not have high expectations and standards like anime elitists. Anime elitists are type of fans who watch anime from critical perspective. They always have high expectations and standards for whatever anime they watch and they always think that some anime is bad just because it's didn't met their expectations and standards. Among all anime fans throught all over world,70% of them are casual fans,20% of them elitists and 10% of them,including myself,watch anime from both casual and critical perspective. Just because my favorite characters didn't met hater's expectations does not mean they are bad. Sword Art Online anime series are for anime fans who want to enjoy themselves. It's not for anime fans who seek high quality plots and characters with strong features and characteristics. These things are never 100% guaranteed in action anime like SAO. Action fantasy anime series hardly have any good plots or characters that matches your expectations. There are only 3% chances of action anime having high quality plot and other stuff. Gurren Lagann,Cowboy Bebop and Monogatari series,which have action scenes,have high quality plots and characters with strong features and characteristics. If you want these,go watch them right now. Anyway,let's talk about characters now. Let's talk about Kirito first. Many haters consider him Gary Stu,claiming that he have no personality and stupid nonsense like that. That's wrong. Gary Stu is type of protagonist who have no flaws and always overpowers his opponents. If Kirito is ''Gary Stu'',then why Sachi and Black Cats guild are dead? Why is Eugeo dead? Why did he became vegetable? Why is he suffering PTSD from killing three Laughing Coffin red players? Why he had nightmare sequence? Why he gone through so many agony and sufferings? Like Asuna said to PoH: ''Do you know how much Kirito agonized and suffered over that?'' He suffered much like Rintaro Okabe from Steins;Gate or Subaru Natsuki from Re:Zero did,yet they still criticize him for being OP. In Sword Art Online,there were many fights that Kirito COULDN'T AFFORD TO LOSE. You can't expect a protagonist to lose a fight where is fate of the world or someone's life AT STAKE! Take a look at finale of Gurren Lagann,where fate of Simon's and everyone's planet was at stake or even final fight from Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood,where was also many things at stake! And besides,it's not like Kirito always overpowers his opponents. He was defeated by Yggdrasil's NPC guardians,defeated by Yuuki twice,then defeated while defending entrance to boss room where Asuna was fighting boss along with Yuuki and Sleeping Knights,got frozen by Eugeo's sword and got his butt kicked by Sword Golem. Kirito had many hard times beating his opponents just like how Spike Spiegel had hard time beating Mad Pierrot. Take a look at his fight against Quinella,where he couldn't land a single hit until Eugeo gave him his broken Blue Rose Sword and told him to stand up or even his fight against Death Gun,where he had hard time until he remembered his real name and Sinon aimed at Death Gun and felt warmth of Asuna's hand,allowing him to defeat Death Gun. I can talk about his hard times in fights all day long if i wanted to. Not to mention,if he was Gary Stu,he would beat his opponent alone. Gary Stus always beat their enemies alone with their own power. Reason why Kirito was able to beat Illfang Kobold Lord on Floor 1 was because of other players depleting his HP and Asuna assisting him. Reason why he survived a Salamander assault was because Leafa was healing him and transfering her MP to Kirito. Reason why Kirito was able to reach the top of Yggdrasil because he had Leafa's,Recon's,Cait Siths and Slyphs. Take a look at Touya Mochizuki from In Another World with my Smartphone,the god of Gary Stus. Touya is true definition of Gary Stus and shows us how Gary Stu protagonists truly look like. Touya is so unbalanced and OP that he ended a war against Slave Kingdom Sandora in 15 minutes. If Kirito was THAT OP,he would have cleared SAO in one freaking minute all by himself,yet it's took him two years of survival and to find out that Heathcliff is Kayaba! Also,HOW MANY TIMES HE ALMOST DIED?! Take a look at his fight against Gleam Eyes. He managed to defeat him,but he had like 1% of HP left and collapsed out of exhaustment,meaning he got almost killed and he gotten tired from battle. Let's not forget that he gotten his legs chopped by Gabriel and that he lost his arm three times. Does that means nothing to haters? No,they value characters with strong features and characteristics over enjoyable and badass characters that actually pay price for their powers and skills by suffering,losing people they care about and bleeding. Because of all things he done and went through,Kirito hates himself so much that he almost ripped out his heart in nightmare sequence. As for his personality,he is calm and collected sometimes and other times he acts mature,wise and his personality is often described by his friends. Klein said that Kirito is bad with words,often awkward and obsessed with fighting. Sinon called him the sarcastic,mischievous,stubborn and naive. What is wrong with Kirito having that kind of personality? There is nothing wrong with it. But from critical perspective,it's not strong personality,which is why they make fun of his personality. What did they expect,to be a slothful, nonchalant,indifferent,and lazy character like Spike Spiegel? Cynic,stoic and a loner like Hikigaya Hachiman from OreGairu? Would be Kirito better character if he had personalities like that? From critical perspective,yes,but objectively,no. Action fantasy protagonists like Kirito gotta be all dynamic,spirited and gung-ho. So what if Kirito's personality isn't strong? At least he doesn't have cowardly personality like Shinji Ikari from Neon Genesis Evangelion,who refuses to take responsibilities and always runs away from them. At least he doesn't have personalities and traits of generic isekai ''protagonist'' tragedies whose names are Touya Mochizuki,Taichi Nishimura,Wendelin,Suzuki ''Satou'' Ichirou and Oosuki Masato! Despite his critical flaws,Kirito is still one of most popular light novel and anime characters. I really liked his entrance on episode where he finally wakes up. I really like how his character matured and improved this season. As always,his badass nature never ceases to amuse me. His Star King Mode or Incarnation Mode,which some call ''god mode'' is very badass when he fights Gabriel. Kirito is not best character neither the worst. He is one of most enjoyable anime characters that i ever seen. Ah,Asuna,i really like how she shines this season. As for her criticism,haters call her ''bland'' waifu because of way her character is written and developed. They are completely wrong. Just as popularity doesn't equal quality,bad or flawed character does not equal bad waifu or husbando material. How Asuna's character is made,written and developed is one thing,but her potential as waifu material is another. Her beauty,her talent in fencing,her capability to take care of kids,her skills in cooking,her warm and sincere personality,these things make her waifu material. How her character is written or developed,these are things that would make her good or bad character from critical perspective and it's completely IRRELEVANT to her potential as waifu. I really love how Asuna fought and struggled to protect the person she loves so much that she would rather die than lose sight of him. Her love for Kirito is strong as Kirito's and Asuna's romantic,but unbreakable bond. My favorite cutscene is her fight vs PoH. The way she fought after being guided by Yuuki's spirit was excellent. I like how she wrecked PoH with Mother's Rosario sword skill,it's was one of best moments where Asuna shines. And i like how she decided to stay behind to be with Kirito for 200 years. Her love for Kirito is strong like diamond. I really love Asuna so much that i posted thread on Twitter about her,explaining why i love her not only as character,but as waifu. Next is Alice. I like how she started developing after being kidnapped by Gabriel and when she arrived in real world. Her lines and quotes carried by Ai Kayano's epic voice acting are so good that i can't put it to a words. He way she fought until the end and way her personality is made,it's amused me and sent shivers down the my spines. She is best Alicization character ever,in front of Eugeo. Oh,Eugeo... Even though he is dead,his spirit lives on inside Blue Rose Sword and Kirito's soul. I really,really love how he appeared in Kirito's nightmare and his fights,helping him to overcome Kirito's holes in heart and stand up yet again to protect what is dear to him,even helping him to defeat PoH and bypass Gabriel's Deus Ex Machina powers. He is really good character,too bad he is dead in light novels and anime,but alive in Alicization Lycoris video game. He was to Kirito what was Yuuki to Asuna. Eugeo was Kirito's best friend and irreplaceable precious person. Speaking of Yuuki,oh,Yuuki ;_; I really,really loved how her spirit guided Asuna to stand up and fight. She got a 100% perfect smile and i love her spirited,energic and cheerful personality and the way she speaks. I love the words she said when Kirito logged out Chinese and Korean players. ''You said so,didn't you,Asuna? That life is for transporting and imparting souls and all people from these different countries who came to this world don't really want to kill each other. Everyone wants the same thing. An exciting and thrilling world. Like the land of fairies where you and i met. They want to go to a beautiful,fun and joyous world. That's all there is to it.'' Wow,you are right,Yuuki. No wonder she is mai waifu. She is always wise. Not gonna lie,Leafa and Sinon where very epic this season. They came in goddess account and fought until the last breath. Leafa,also known as Suguha Kirigaya,Kirito's little sister or cousin,if you prefer,had a tough beginning thanks to screenwriter doing a poor job. You know what i am talking about,the ''rape'' scene. It's was normal torture,not rape. Tentacles were draining Leafa's Life like vampires,they didn't ''rape'' her,it's just that screenwriter screwed up there by placing tentacles all over Leafa's body. Eventually,she defeated Dee Vil and then persuaded Lilipin and other orcs to join her. When she fought tons of American players and defended Iskahn,Sheyta and Pugilists,he had to endure a immerse pain from brutal attacks. In Underworld,there is no pain absorber so everyone fighting inside UW had to endure unbearable amount of pain. I am glad to see Leafa in action again and in goddess account,she was really cool in this season. As for Sinon,i really love how she consoled Alice and told her how she truly feels. By the way,Sinon loves Kirito as friend and as her savior,not in romantic way. The way she resisted and fought Gabriel was very epic,she fought until she gotten tired and wounded then she used power of bow Annihilate Ray and fired that power with her beloved rifle Hecate II. I also like how she developed in this arc,too. Man,supporting characters improved a lot in this season. Klein was more brave and wanted to defend Kirito from PoH,Lisbeth and Silica were awesome,Agil was cool,Yuuki's Sleeping Knights gotten decent development,Tiese and Ronnie are amazing as always and Bercouli? Bercouli was amazing when he destroyed Gabriel's Dark Emperor account. I liked his fight and the way he destroyed Gabriel and way his life ended after fight was inspiring and memorable. I feel bad for Fanatio,who is pregnant with Captain Broccoli's baby. About other supporting characters,i have no comment about them except for Kayaba's soul inside Niemon and Eiji and Yuna's guest apperance. When they went to disarm explosives,Kayaba appeared in Niemon's body. He disarmed the bomb and more importantly,revealed his goal to Rinko: To connect virtual and real worlds. His goal in Aincrad arc was basically to share the same feelings he had about world he created to players,to make combine a real and virtual world until no one can tell which one is reality. Wow,i did not expect to see Eiji buying some time and trying to defeat PoH. I did not expect for Yuna to appear and sing longing,one of most amazing SAO songs. I like the way they developed after Ordinal Scale movie arc. It's was very epic to see them again,even though that doesn't happens in light novels,lol. Now for the villains. Yep,they started to suck even more. Beerus (DBZ),Aizen (Bleach),Madara (Naruto),Gilgamesh (Fate Series) and Father (Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood): We are most stupidly overpowered anime villains ever! Gabriel Miller: Hold my souls. Whether is Dark God Vecta or Subtilizer,he is way too overpowered. Being able to put Alice to sleep,use any Incarnation by stealing them like Dusk Taker from Aceel World and now making Sinon and Kirito paralyzed out of fear? He is so OP that he puts overpowered villains i mentioned to shame. Yeah,some of them had OP asspulls,but Gabriel is asspull machine gun. You thought that Yui,the Kirito's and Asuna's adopted AI daughter is Deus Ex Machina? Wrong. Gabriel Miller is Deus Ex Machina. If being stupidly and unbalanced overpowered protagonist makes you Gary Stu,then being stupidly overpowered villain makes you Deus Ex Machina. I know that Underworld have Incarnation System,but how the heck psychopaths like Gabriel and PoH can have such a strong Incarnations?! This doesn't make any sense! Stupidly overpowered as he is,he keeps throwing asspulls and tries to kill Kirito,but Kirito manages to defeat him by overloading his Fluctlight with Star King Mode and Eugeo's spirit,making him die in real life and then Gabriel got dragged to hell,he he heh. That was satisfying death. Now about PoH,the former leader of SAO's murderer guild Laughing Coffin. It's has been revealed that he entered SAO so he could kill as many Japanese he can because he is racist. His full name is Vassago Casals. Vassago Casals was born in Tenderloin, a the slum district in San Francisco, to a mother of Spanish heritage. Vassago's father was Japanese and had paid Vassago's mother for sexual services during his stay in the United States of America. The affair resulted in an unexpected pregnancy and thus Vassago's mother desired to perform an abortion. However, since his older son from his actual wife was born with a congenital kidney defect, Vassago's mother was forced to give birth, as his father hoped that the child could serve as a kidney donor. As she despised the child she was forced to give birth to, Vassago's mother desired to name his son after the devil. However, since the US birth certificate agency did not allow her to use obviously disparaging names, she chose to name him Vassago after a minor demon from Ars Goetia known as the Prince of Hell,which is origin for Vassago's username 'PoH'. If you wanna know more about him,go read on SAO Wiki. It's gonna be pain in butt to explain more about him. In short words,he is racist psychopath,a mediocre villain. As for mole in Rath,which corrupted some of AI's in Underworld and gave birth to Quinella,Yanai,he sucks. He was one of Sugou's (rapist's) servants that was once slug that molested Asuna in Fairy Dance arc and managed to get away by placing all blame on other servant and then joined Rath so he can betray them to America's National Security Agency so he can fulfill Sugou's pipe dreams. *Rammestein's Amerika plays inside his head* He is rotten like Quinella and terrible like Sugou,i have nothing else to say about this scumbag. Characters this season is 9/10, 1 minus for bad antagonists. Overall: 10/10 Sword Art Online Alicization War Of Underworld Part 2 is most enjoyable anime of Summer 2020. If you are casual fan who wants to have fun watching anime regardless of flaws in story and characters,then this anime is for you. If you are expecting a high quality plot and characters with strong features and characteristics,stay away from this and go watch Cowboy Bebop or Gurren Lagann instead. Despite light novels becoming light novels of the decade,huge commercial success that anime series have,how many influences and inspirations SAO have brought in anime and light novel industry and it's legacy,it's still hated today. Reason why SAO have bad reputation isn't because anime is bad,but because haters are spreading misinformation,misunderstandings and misconceptions without realizing that SAO anime series are not bad,but rather not to their tastes. Some say that SAO is bad because of ''toxic fanbase'',but that's also wrong. Reason why some SAO fans are toxic it's because haters are picking a fights with us. Any fanbase would do anything to defend their favorite anime to death. How many of YOURS favorite anime have they made fun of and how does it feel to defend your favorite anime from haters? Think about the same pain we SAO fans are going through. I might have said this in previous SAO review,but i am going to say it again. Sword Art Online anime series have ZERO potential to be labeled as ''worst'' or ''bad'' anime. It's does have flaws,but there's nothing literally and objectively big deal about flaws it's have. I seen enough objectively bad anime that have much bigger flaws and problems that SAO anime series have and flaws in SAO anime series are nothing compared to flaws and problems in garbage i watched have. Unlike haters,i don't waste my time on making fun of anime that will be defended to death by rabid fans. I learned it hard way after criticizing some of character i hate. Someday,haters will realize that SAO is not bad anime,but anime that is not to their tastes and stop making fun of it like i did for some anime. In late 90's and early 2000's,there were many video games and anime with Western settings,like Cowboy Bebop,Trigun,Resident Evil,Silent Hill,Clock Tower and many more to mention. That was because back in these years,Japanese were interested in strong contents,especially Western culture. But we are in year 2020 now,Japanese nowadays care about actions,fantasy and escapism. Reason why some of modern anime lack strong features and contents it's because Japanese these days only care about escapism rather than high quality and strong features. What is next for anime series? Moon Cradle OVA or movies? Or Unital Ring 24 episode anime? We will see in future. Thanks for reading,stay cool. Link Start!
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!
Here is it,the long-awaited Part 2 of Alicization arc,Sword Art Online War of Underworld. Sword Art Online anime series are real phenomenon. They are hugely successful not only in Japan,but in international anime community. It's popularized light novels that it's were based on,selling 22-23 million copies worldwide and becoming light novel of this decade. However,despite the huge commercial success and praise from many fans who loved and enjoyed those series,it's been heavily criticized because of flaws in plot's and character writings, Developments and moments haters consider ''too edgy'' or ''too stupid''. Now,let's talk about War Of Underworld,the part 2 of Season 3. Story: ??/10 I only finished ... first 6 volumes of light novels,so i can't really say did anime adaptation did something wrong or not. Also,i do not care about plots in action fantasy or shounen anime at all,but there can be exceptions sometimes. I can only think of rating arcs from previous seasons. Here's my opinion on previous Sword Art Online arcs. Aincrad: 10/10 It's one of my favorite arcs. I loved it very much because of fight scenes,romance and music that fits my ears,the Crossing Field and Yume Sekai itself. This arc does have flaws,but author Reki Kawahara fixed those flaws by publishing Sword Art Online Progressive light novels. Overall, Aincrad arc is flawless in my opinion,even with Progressive light novels out there. Fairy Dance: 6,5/10 One of main reasons why Sword Art Online anime series are hated. It's not well made,but it's not bad either. It's introduced Kirito's cousin,Suguga,also known as Leafa,a waifu that made Fairy Dance arc enjoyable along with great fight scenes and music. It's also returned our little girl Yui. Yeah,i know,attempted rape. Rape in anime isn't a bad thing unless it's used for fanservice or for stupid reasons like that. Reki Kawahara didn't wrote rape because of fanservice,he wrote so he could show to his readers a dark side of humanity and how sick and twisted some individuals with maleviolent nature can be like. Not to mention,scene where Tiese and Ronye get almost raped HAD another purpose: To develop Eugeo's character. That way and thanks to Kirito's speech about what's right thing to do even if it's forbidden by the law (Taboo Index),Eugeo was able break Seal of Right Eye,allowing him to defend Tiese and Ronye Also,that content was popular term used in 2000's in Japan. Overall,Fairy Dance is pretty decent arc,thanks to things i mentioned and beautiful ending on final episode of first season. Phantom Bullet: 8,2/10 This arc had many surprises and introduced another mai waifu,Sinon. (Shino Asada) It's was kinda funny to see Kirito looking like a girl and acting cute before BoB tournament,ha ha aha ah! It's was amazing arc. They say: ''Never bring knife to a gunfight.'' This anime: ''Never bring guns to a sword fight.'' Fight scenes were amazing,my favorite is Kirito and Sinon vs Death Gun,that fight was freaking epic. Music? So amazing that i would post lyrics of it in review. Only problem with this arc is that,yep,again,rape,which made some haters hate Season 2 too. Overall: It's a very good arc,extremely enjoyable. Calibur: 7/10 Not really special,just typical arc where Kirito and his gang save Alfheim and retrive Holy Sword Excaliber. It's enjoyable and have very great ending song,No More Time Machine by LiSA,my favorite,ye ye yeah. Problem with this arc is that it's full of moments that caused many misunderstandings and misconceptions between haters and fans alike,causing them to think is SAO a harem anime or not. Well,Sword Art Online anime series are not harem anime and it's will never be,end of story. Overall,flawed,but pretty good arc. Mother's Rosario: 10/10 Why,Yuuki?! Why Yuuki,one of all-times favorite female characters had to die soo young and beautiful?! *crying* This arc is phenomenal. Asuna is protagonist of this arc and because she met Yuuki Konno,also known as ''Zekken'',her character was developed in very deep way because she met Yuuki,hearing every wise words she said to Asuna. Those words Yuuki told her inspired Asuna to be more brave and she successuly stood up to her mother,conviced her to let her stay at SAO Survivor's School. Fight scenes were very beautiful and the music- oh. My. God. Shirushi is one of the best ending songs i ever heard in my entire life. LiSA knows not only to make us energic,but to feel emotions of happiness and sadness. Overall,one of the best SAO arcs,along with Aincrad arc. Ordinal Scale: Movie was great,but there isn't anything worth talking about,except that final boss fight is the best Sword Art Online fight scene ever. Oh,and Kirito proposed Asuna,it's was beautiful moment. That's all i can say about that movie. Alicization: ??/10 Until Alicization arc is completed,i can't really give the final score or complete opinion on it. If you want to know about part 1 of Season 3,read my review of previous SAO season. If you are curious why i don't care about Sword Art Online's plot in anime at all,here's 3 reasons: 1.Flaws that SAO's plot have are common in almost every anime based on it's own individual light novels. Those flaws are so common that i don't care about that. 2.Anime did cut some contents,dialogues and scenes that were in light novels,but not important ones like Arifureta did. I wrote whole review about that anime and i explained how Arifureta anime butchered up plot. SAO didn't butcher up anything important that would make plot enjoyable or something. The plot in SAO is fine the way is it in my opinion. 3.It's an action-romance fantasy anime,what do you expect? If i want a good plot,i'd watch drama anime or Slice of Life anime. Now enough talking about anime's plot and previous arcs,let's get to a other contents and aspects. Animation: 10/10 In previous Sword Art Online seasons,animation was great,but then it's kept evolving,then it's got awesome in Ordinal Scale and previous season. Now,animation looks like artists from ufotable studio were hired by A-1 Pictures,creating a masterpiece of art. Characters and weapons are so well animated as well. I am speechless and impressed. This season have the best animation ever. Music and soundtrack: 10/10 Opening song is great. It's like mix of Courage and Catch the Moment,which is great formula for this beautiful opening song. It's very good,but it's cannot beat Crossing Field,Ignite,Ryusei,ADAMAS and RESISTER. Ending song is... Oops,i almost posted lyrics of this beautiful masterpiece of LiSA. Unlasting is literally a forget-me-not and Shirushi combined. Emotional,upbeat and heartbreaking at the same time. Soundtrack is beyond greatness,God bless Yuki Kajiura. Oh,i almost forgot about voice acting. Voice acting is amazing,as always. SAO have many of my favorite voice actors,from Ayana Taketatsu to Miyuki Sawashiro. Enjoyment: Beyond 10/10 Sword Art Online are not best anime series ever made,but it's one of the series that many,many people enjoyed watching it. It's so extremely enjoyable and very fun to watch that i'll never get bored of it. It's so enjoyable that it's breaks the Fun Factor scale. Characters,music,animation,story,regardless of flaws,everything here in Sword Art Online light novels and anime series is very fun and extremely enjoyable so much that it's can outweight negative aspects. In conclusion,Sword Art Online anime series are the one i enjoyed the most of all anime i ever watched in my life. Characters:10/10 Oh,boy,all that hate towards my favorite characters... And mai waifus too... -_- This have to stop. I can't tolerate that kind of hate. Let's talk about Kirito first. Lot's of people who disliked SAO have problems with his designs and personality and his overpowered nature,saying that he is bland,generic Gary Stu and that he always win and have ''no personality'' (which means that his personality is bland or generic) That's completely wrong. Kirito is indeed powerful character,but he is not always winning and his powers are balanced. Just because some characters are powerful doesn't mean they are bad. There are 3 types of OP character: Balanced,Power Fantasy and Gary Stu. Balanced are type of OP character that are enjoyable because of their traits,personality and because their powers are balanced because of their internal struggles,holes in heart,core motivations and they faced difficult challenges and conflicts and they are paying price for their powers. Example: Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist),Simon (Gurren Laggan),Saitama (One Punch Man),Spike Spiegel (Cowboy Bebop),Ken Kaneki (Tokyo Ghoul),Tanjiro Kamado (Kimetsu No Yaiba),Guts (Berserk),Lelouch (Code Geass),Naofumi (Rising of Shield Hero),Goblin Slayer,Meliodas (Seven Deadly Sins) and Hajime Nagumo (Arifureta light novels) Power fantasy are type of OP character that are OP for readers or audience who enjoy OP characters kicking asses,but they lack some balance in their powers and do not pay price for their powers very often. They can be enjoyable and they have motivations or at least one bit of difficult challenge,but not to everyone. They are OP just for fanservice,in short words. Example: Goku (Dragon Ball),Luffy (One Piece),Naruto (Naruto series), Tatsuya Shiba (Mahouka Koukou No Rettousei),Asta (Black Clover),Ichigo (Bleach),Natsu Dragneel (Fairy Tail),Eren Jaeger (Attack On Titan),Shin Wolford (Kenja No Mago) and Ikki Kurogane (Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry) Gary Stu character is kind of OP character that is aimlessly OP with completely unbalanced powers,lacking core motivation,wandering around,defeating anyone without losing blood,breaking a sweat or paying any price at all. Even if one of Gary Stu bleed and break a sweat,they can be boring also if his character design and writing is bland or generic,it's can be somewhat annoying. Example: Touya Mochizuki (Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni),Taichi Nishimura (Isekai Cheat Magician),Ichirou Suzuki (Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku) and Christopher Chiaki (Garzey's Wings) What type of OP character is Kirito and where he belongs? The answer iiisss.... Balanced. He had many internal struggles and holes in heart. Blaming himself for Sachi's death,not being able to save Eugeo then he had PTSD for killing Laughing Coffin red players,but he overcame them thanks to Asuna's warmth and accepting his past and atoning for his sins. I can talk about his OP nature aalll day long,but let's talk about his personality and designs now. According to SAO Wiki,he's calm and collected,socially awkward,overconfident,sometimes cheerful or gloomy,fierce and aggressive in battles,kind,very emotional and bit of a jerk sometimes. He gotten mature after spending 2 years in SAO,which made him to fix his family relationship with Suguha and he have strong resolve when he wants to save Asuna,et cetera. What's so ''bland'' or ''generic'' about that? That's doesn't make any sense! His hairstyle is maybe generic,but he is Japanese,what do you expect,to have ugly hairstyle like Yu-Gi-Oh protagonists? In my opinion,there's nothing generic or bland about his personality. Kirito is made that way so some part of audience can relate themselves to. Many other anime have characters made just so audience can relate themselves to characters. Honestly,i can relate myself to Kirito because we have lot's in common. I love RPG's,sword fights and i like to dress up in black clothes 'cause i look badass in them. In conclusion,Kirito is indeed flawed character,but he have something that some bland or generic protagonists don't have. Kirito have ZERO potential to be a bad or worst anime character. This season,he ended up in wheelchair because of attack on Ocean Turtle. The power that ran Kirito's Soul Translator was forcefully turned off,causing damage on Kirito's power of brain,erasing his ego and ability to stand and walk. Will he wake up on next season? We can wait or just go and read light novels if we want. Ah,i really appeciate that Asuna is back,and on badass Stacia avatar. Episode 9 filled be with tons of goosebumps and i was so happy to see her kicking some butts again. That one scene where she meets Kirito in wheelchair... I feel sorry for her... ;_; I am so,so happy to see her back on action! As for Alice,wow,she is really golden knight in shining armor,especially in gacha game SAO Memory Defrag with her badass dragon Amayori. It's was so amazing to see her destroyed her enemies with Sacred Arts and Enhance Armament. She is beautiful badass girl,just my type of girl. I love kind of woman that can kick my back. Sinon in this anime was good until final episode,where mai waifu started to shine as Solus. I am happy to see her again in action. I hope that she will be great in next season like she was in Phantom Bullet arc. As for supporting characters,well,i kinda like new characters they introduced,especially commander of Intergrity Knights Bercouli. I don't like him because he have same voice actor who voiced Archer (Fate Stay Night) and Youji Itami (GATE),but because he is unstoppable badass killing machine in SAO Memory Defrag once he's level 100 with Time-Stopping Sword in his hands. He is so cool that i nicknamed him ''Captain Brocolli'',lol! I am glad to see Suguha again and i hope for more of her in next season as Terraria. As for Lisbeth,remember her? She was good character in Episode 7 of first season. Then much later,she became somewhat boring and annoying in later arcs,until Episode 11 happened. Lisbeth threw a speech to ALO players that blew my mind. Her speech was getting more deeper and deeper as LiSA's unlasting kicked. She shone like diamond in the rough. And about Silica,Klein,Agil,Yui,Renly,Scheta,Fanatio and her knights or other supporting characters,no comment. Now the villains. Jeez,Reki,be more creative! Ever since tragedy called Deadman's Wonderland,i am sick of psychopathic antagonists with stupid motivations. Reki done great job at making a only good villain called Quinella. Is it really hard to make that kind of antagonist? Gabriel Miller is bad villain,just like Sugou and Laughing Coffin members. His motivations are based on psychopathic disorders 'cause he is dumb sociopath. Only psychopath i like is Light Yagami from Death Note,he had good reasons and motivations until he lost his mind.but in well written way. PoH,however,he is bearable,nothing else to say. SAO have good share of characters and bad ones. Antagonists,expect Kayaba and Quinella are only bad characters in SAO,end of story. Overall:10/10 This anime always made my day. Every season and every arc have it's own unique style and aspects. Sure,it's have flaws,but flaws in anime series are not really worth complaining and they don't ruin my enjoyment at all. The issue isn't how to make anime with flawless story and character,but anime with ENJOYABLE story and characters. If flaws were such a big deal,anime series wouldn't have get a huge commercial success worldwide in a first place and we would never get English release of SAO light novels. I'll say this once: Sword Art Online anime series have ZERO potential to be labeled as ''worst'' or ''bad'' anime. It's does have flaws,but there's nothing literally and objectively big deal about flaws it's have. They are not greatest of all times,but they are extremely enjoyable if you overlook the flaws it's have and lower down your expectations and standards. Maybe it's doesn't have flawless story and characters like Cowboy Bebop,Monogatari Series,Gurren Laggan and Monster,but just because it's doesn't have something you expected doesn't mean it's bad. On every English volume of SAO light novels,at back,it's said: ''READ THE NOVEL THAT IGNITED THE PHENOMENON!''. Even with all criticism,thanks to fanbase and huge commercial success both in Japan and international anime community,Sword Art Online,both light novels and anime,are the most phenomenal series ever made. Thank you for reading,i'll see you in the next SAO review! Link Start!
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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0 Show all Oct 7, 2019 Mixed Feelings
Arifureta,one of isekai anime that came that summer. Is a good anime or bad one?
Answer: Both. It's have some good aspects that made anime looking good and enjoyable,but it's have also negative ones that bothered some part of audience,which is one of reasons why is heavily criticized by anime fans who take flaws in this anime too seriously. What anime adaptation of masterpiece light novels did some things right and where did it gone wrong? I'll tell you right now,but without spoilers. Let's talk about negative aspects first. Let's start with story. In light novels,plot was understanding and easy to follow and i like how it's progressing ... right now. Anime,however,completely butchered up entire plot. Remember Episode 1 and how things started without prologue? That's not only thing they messed up. They cut away a important parts of plot,which had very interesting writings and dialogues between characters that you can read in light novels. You have no idea how much they butchered up the entire story and skipped amazing moments and parts they cut 'cause they were 'too violent' and stupid stuff like that. This anime,without doubt,have most butchered up plot. In most anime adaptations of light novels,those mistakes are common because of low budget and because there are not too many anime fans who enjoy anime with slow pacing. Arifureta have pacing and plot butchered up beyond repair. 1/10 Another problem is the animation and supporting character designs. Main cast,Hajime,Yue,Shea,Tio,Kaori,Myu and Shizuku have pretty good art designs which look better than in light novel's illustrations. Other character's art designs are generic,except female characters and Kouki's character is generic on purpose. Animation is okay,but CGI,oh boy. In first couple of episodes,it's was okay,but they it's gotten even worse. The CGI on monsters look like they used 90's computer programs and art editors. They even made CGI for Hajime's weapons and vehicles. They look cool,but not to everyone. CGI is this anime is close to Berserk's (2016) level. 5/10 Now for the good parts of anime. Music,opening and ending songs,are great. They are catchy and worth listening. Another thing about OP song is that it's on English. There are not too many anime songs with English lyrics,which is pretty rare to see. Soundtrack in anime is pretty decent,but sometimes whatever. Voice acting is good,thanks to my favorite,Youko Hikasa. She done her role of Tio Klarus so well,she is amazing voice actress. Other voice actors were good,some were average. Sound in anime is great,so listen to those amazing songs. 9/10 Characters are well made in anime,except some supporting ones. Mai waifus first. We have Yue,a beautiful legal loli vampire who is very,very cute. An S class waifu material. Next we have Shea,a blue-haired bunny girl with sexy body and beautiful looks. Then here is Golden-Eyes Black Dragon,Tio Klarus,who is masochist. Yep,she is masochist and one of the best. Her looks and body are extremely sexy and i love her voice actress. She is also a S Class waifu material. Then we have Kaori and Shizuku,the pure Japanese beauties. Next is a Hajime Nagumo. He is one of most badass and best harem protagonists i ever seen. He is not a coward or dense like 99% of harem protagonists,plus his personality is similar to Accelerator's. (A Certain Magical Index series) He is not crazy as him,but in episode where Myu showed up,he totally went Accelerator Mode and kicked some butts. He is so badass that he makes other badass anime protagonists look like a losers. Hajime have so much guts and many things that makes him a great protagonist. As for supporting characters,some are okay,some are average. Myu,the little girl who sees Hajime as her father figure makes Hajime go to Accelerator Mode everytime someone messes with her is a really cute and good character. Now,let's talk about the symbol of dense and bland characters,Kouki Amanogawa. This character is generic,dense and bland,but on purpose,to show to audience and light novel readers how those kind of characters or protagonists look like. They got him to play a hero while Hajime is anti-hero badass edgelord. Characters like Kouki and Hajime show us how most protagonists from anime,manga,visual novels and light novels look like and how they SHOULD be like. That's what i love about them. Pure badass harem protagonist who is not like other harem protagonists and generic character made to symbolize and define generic and bland characters. 8/10 Did i enjoy it? Yes i did,very much. Even though it's messed up. I really enjoyed fight scenes in anime,even though they were short and i loved Hajime's harem moments,they were totally hilarious. I laughed when Tio was so perverted towards Hajime,lol. Plus,romance between Yue and Hajime was beautiful. It's not well made,but very enjoyable. 9,5/10 Overall: 5/10 This anime adaptation of great light novels should have been great if plot wasn't completely butchered up,if they didn't cut important and interesting contents and moments and if animation and CGI were handled perfectly. This anime was so rushed and messed up that author of light novels,Shirakome Ryou himself sent complaints to White Fox and Asread studios. But even so,it's still have great main cast of characters,amazing music and it's shows how harem protagonists should be like. Honestly,it's so butchered up,yet it's so fun to watch. If you want to watch this anime to see how protagonists should be like,go ahead. Just one warning: Read the light novels,they are way better and more enjoyable than this anime. I seen worse anime,which are bad and boring. Arifureta is not well made,but still enjoyable show regardless if you don't pay too much attention to flaws. If you like this review,please give it a thumbs up.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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0 Show all Sep 23, 2019 Recommended Spoiler
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR CHARACTERS!
Would you fall in love with the pervert as long she is cute? My answer: I would,but depends how perverted she is. This harem anime is in different level. Most female characters in other harem anime have same kind of personalites and looks,but some of them are unique either because their beauty,cuteness and sexiness is in high level or because protagonists are not like 99% of harem protagonists who are cowards who don't have guts to do what girls want from him or dense as black hole. Many harem anime series fail to make good harem protagonist,but they are always sucessful at ... making female characters that would be great waifu materials. This anime have perverts,just as title says. What kind of them? Let's talk about many things first before i go to characters. Story is simple. Our semi-dense and gutless protagonist who can't accept girl's perverted natures Kiryu Keiki finds a panties and love letter in club room adressed to him. Not knowing owner of the letter,he befriends a girls who might have left panties and letter to get clues,then he found out that every girl he befriends is a pervert. It's full of surprises and good twists,so story is good,even though with perverted moments,lol. 7/10 Art and animation are good. It's not ufotable or anything special,but character's art designs are good. I most like designs of female characters,girls look so cute or sexy or beautiful. Why? Because i am WaifuMaster. Animation is good,but not flawless. In some moments,it's looked great,in some moments pretty good. No problemo with anything. 7/10 I know that many anime fans who watched it find art and animation lazy,but come on,it's not on Hanoka's level,that anime have worst art and animation ever while HenSuki's is nowhere near that level. Soundtrack,music and voice acting are good as well. Soundtrack is decent,nothing too special about it. Music,however,OP song is very good. ED song? To be honest,i skip most of them because some of them are not good as OP songs,but songs like Shirushi (Sword Art Online 2),The Real Folk Blues (Cowboy Bebop) and Brave Song (Angel Beats) are different kind of songs. Voice acting is good,thanks to my favorite ones,like Ayana Taketatsu,who voiced many tsundere lolis,Azunyan,Koneko,Leafa and Yui Kashii and familiar ones like Rina Hidaka and Hiro Shimono. All of it is pretty good. 7/10 Now let's talk about characters. Be prepared when you get spoiled once you find out what kind of perverts some characters are. First,let's talk about MC-kun,Keiki. He is half dense guy,who is also half spineless. I can understand that some people can't handle perverts he encountered,but would it's kill him to date a perverted girl or at least be a real man? He sometimes touches girls,but only to get out of some situation or because of accidental moment cliche. Even on final episode,he gotten more spineless. Take a look at anime like Trinity Seven. Here,protagonist have guts and he is honest and straightforward person, Why is so hard to someone to make that kind of harem protagonist?! I don't get it! But there is one possible reason. Those kind are rare because they would get too old for audience who saw same kind of protagonists. Honestly,i would never get tired of harem protagoinsts like Arata Kasuga,Hajime Nagumo and Yuuji Kazami. Who would get tired of those guys? Now let's talk about perverts. Ladies first. Sayuki Tokihara,a big breasted beautiful girl. She is charming and soooo cuute. But she is masochist pervert. Not complete masochist like Darkness (Konosuba) or Tio Klarus (Arifureta),she only wishes for a guy to treat her like a dog,a pet. With patting her head and stuff like that. Would i want her as waifu? Yes,i would,masochists like her are not a problem for me. Yuika Koga,the cute loli with blonde hair who likes to read a books. She can be funny girl and somewhat beautiful. But she is sadist pervert. She wants a slave. If you wanna know how sadists can be like,watch this anime and see for yourself. Would i want her as waifu? Uuuum,no,i don't think it's gonna work if she wants me to do something horrible or humiliating. Well,she is cute,so screw this,i'll take her. Mao Nanjou,a beautiful girl with mild tsundere personality. She is very attractive girl,so attractive that i would take her on dates anytimes. But she is fujioshi,a pervert who likes to draw Boy's Love or yaoi manga. She uses Keiki and his friend Shouma as models for his manga and wants Keiki to get close to Shouma so she could draw more chapters for her manga. Would i want her as waifu? I would as long she doesn't make me to date a some random guy so she could draw BL manga. Ayano Fujimuto,cute quiet girl. Her looks are intriguing and she have a warm side. But she got a man's smell fetish. She likes Keiki because she finds his odors very appealing to her fetish and her sense of smell. Would i want her as waifu? Yeah,i don't mind if she wants to smell my sweat or my clothes or my underwear,i am fine with that. Koharu Ootori,nice legal loli. She is so cute that i would want her as little sister. But she is stalker. She loves Shouma Akiyama so much that she have tons of photos of him. Would i want her as waifu? Nah,i'd like her as little sister. And last girl,Keiki's imouto Mizuha,a good little sister material. She is cute,beautiful and she have nice body. But she is exhibitionist,plus she got a brother complex. She likes to take semi-naked pictures of herself and she is in love with her brother. Would i want as waifu or imouto? Waifu: Probably if she resists her urges Imouto: Not into brocons,but as long she is cute,why not. As for other characters,they are not worth mentioning,expect Keiki's friend Shouma. I can say that Shouma is lolicon,he liked girls with small heights,who are younger that him. Some characters are well made,some are all right and some boring (Keiki),but nothing too bad about them,just few annoying things. 7/10 Did i enjoy it? Yeah,anime is enjoyable,but in some moments in anime,i found myself hardly enjoying it,like scenes where Yuika is humiliating Keiki. Overall,it's pretty enjoyable. 7/10 Overall:7/10 This anime is pretty good,even with couple of middle flaws. Just like the most of harem anime,it's succeed in making great female characters,but failed in making good protagonist. It's just a typical harem anime,but with perverts. Girls are great waifu materials and it's enjoyable. If you are into harem anime and you don't mind perverted girls,then this is for you. I give you WaifuMaster's stamp of approval,so you pass,HenSuki.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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0 Show all Sep 19, 2019 Recommended
Usagi Drop + fantasy setting = this anime.
Slice of Life anime series and movies mostly took place in modern day Japan. However,this one takes place in fantasy world,the fictional one. I never seen that kind of anime,which was very surprising to me because it's rare to see Slice of Life in non-realistic setting. Now,let's talk about anime's story,art and animation,music,soundtrack,voice acting,my enjoyment and characters. Let's start with story first. Young adventurer named Dale Reki stumbles upon a young devil girl,feeds her,helps her bury her dead guardian,telling her his name and she told him her name: Latina. Afterwards,story focused on Dale raising Latina is cute way.Latina's development ... and many great things that happened to her and their adventures. I can't tell more without giving you spoilers,so i can only tell you this much. Story is very good. 8/10 Art and animation is like watching artworks of your favorite female character. (Waifu) It's well made,even if some character designs are somewhat generic-looking ones and animation is solid enough,nothing bad about it. Both of it are almost great. 8,7/10 Music is very good,somewhat like Usagi Drop's. It's nice to hear that OP song was sang by Latina's voice actress,Kanon Takao,it's so good that i have it on my phone. ED song is good,but not catchy or anything special like OP song. Soundtrack on each episode is played the way it's should in many moments,whether is cute moment with Latina or fight scene. Voice acting is decent,there are some that look familiar to someone,but not to me. All together,that would be 8,5/10 Is anime enjoyable? Yep,it's extremely fun to watch. All those cute things that Latina do,Dale's hilarious overprotective personality and many fun things happening in anime,everything is so enjoyable like hell. 10/10 Characters are well designed and developed in way they could be for this kind of anime. Dale is really fun character when he goes like: 'Latina is so cute!' or like 'Latina,wait for me,i'll be back or something like that,lol. He loves Latina so much that he would kill anyone who dared to harm her,but he is not monster so he got his own restraints and limits. As for our adorable,beautiful and soooooo cute little girl called Latina,she is amazing. She is so cute that i would want to have daughter like her. In every episode,she was so cute that she broke the Cuteness scale! Moe Moe Kyun!¨As for other characters,they are enjoyable ones,for an supporting characters,especially Kenneth,Rita,kids that Latina made friends with and other characters who love Latina so much that they don't wanna let go of her. Characters are not perfect,but they are great enough. 9/10 Overall: 9/10 This anime is absolutely amazing,there is so much to learn,even if it's fantasy anime. This is great show for anyone who like Slice Of Life or Usagi Drop. I didn't had high expectations for an Slice of Life anime in realm of fantasy,but it's executed in the way to surprise the audience. I see nothing too bad in this show that should ruin my enjoyment,so it's gonna be a great anime for almost everyone,except to anime fans with high standards. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes Slice Of Life genre and fantasy genre. Sorry if review is short,but like i said,i can't write down without giving you spoilers,so watch this anime and enjoy it!
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Maou-sama, Retry!
(Anime)
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Maou-Sama Retry. What can be said about that anime? To be honest,i am going to explain it in many categories.
Let's talk about story first. Player called Akira Ono gets transported to another world,inside the game in his game character,Kunai Hakuto for many unknown reasons. Once he saved a Rem-looking girl named Aku from demon Greole,he gone with Aku on adventure to find out why was he summoned in this world and who summoned him and to find a way to be invincible against some magic attacks. Many things happened,from Maou-sama slapping Luna Elegant's butt to him transforming into his alter ego character,Zero Kirisame. Story is ... uuuhhh,whatever. 6/10 As for art and animation,it's pretty solid for isekai anime. Art for characters is little bit lazy and generic. Aku somewhat looks like Rem or Ram from Re:Zero,Killer Queen looks like she is cosplaying Saber from Fate/Stay Night,Luna Elegant's and Angel White's color of eyes and hair kinda reminds me of Mine from Akame Ga Kill. Other character's art look somewhat original,especially Kunai's. As for animation,it's looks decent,nothing special or bad to talk about it. Art and animation are decent. 6.5/10 Now we go for soundtrack,music and voice acting. Soundtrack have a very nice jazz fusion vibe when they are not fighting against someone until it's get ruined by weird battle music or something like that. As for OP and ED songs,they are pretty good,but forgettable. Anime's opening would be good if it's had better animation without using cutscenes from Episode 1 and 2,that's all i can say for music. Voice acting is,without doubt,not bad at all. I like that Kunai's voice actor spoke with mature when Kunai and calm and collected and how he sounded serious when slapping Luna's butt,lol. Only ones that were familiar to me were Yu Kirino's,Killer Queen's and Angel White's voice actresses,Rina Satou (Mikoto Misaka,Vert,Ryou Machiko),Haruka Tomatsu (Lala Deviluke,Asuna Yuuki) and Aki Toyosaki. (Yui Hirasawa,Momo Deviluke) Overall,it's pretty good. 7/10 Did i enjoy it? Yes,i did. Why is so fun to watch,despite how flawed is it? Because it's have some nice stuff to offer that you don't see in every anime,such as seeing protagonist slapping girl's butt. I really liked shocked faces of shopkeepers when Kunai offered a gold coins,it's was priceless. Plus fight scenes were pretty good. I really enjoyed almost everything. 9/10 Here is it,now i'll talk about characters. Let's start with protagonist,Kunai Hakuto,also known as Demon Lord. His looks,the way he is dressed,it's surprising. Also,his personality is something unique. He was so hilarious when he was punishing Luna by slapping her butt and sometimes funny when Yukikaze flirted with him. Unlike other protagonists,he is calm and collected when there is naked girl in front of him and he acts like gentleman,giving them towel or clothes to cover themselves and he is open minded and honest towards them. It's very rare to see that kind of protagonist,i am impressed. As for main cast of girls,some of them are cute and some of them should be waifu materials,some of them not. Supporting characters are all right,but not worth mentioning,they are nothing special. Villains are generic and very poorly developed,thought,they are only thing i don't like about this anime. Characters are decent,expect villains. 6.7/10 Overall:6.8/10 This anime is not bad neither good. It's just plain,enjoyable show made for isekai fans who do not mind flaws that this anime have and other critical problems that only anime fans with high standards care about. If you are tired of protagonists with generic and bland looks and personalities and you don't care about middle flaws,then this is for you. This is also good to anyone who want to see protagonist slapping girl's butt. I know,i know,i mentioned it like 4 times. Like i said,it's very rare to see protagonists doing such stuff. In conclusion,it's enjoyable show,worth watching at least once. However,i don't recommend it to anime fans who watch anime from critical perspective,it's for casual anime fans only.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni.
(Anime)
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Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni or In Another World With my Smartphone if you prefer.
What can i say about this anime i watched? I can't tell is it good or bad anime because it's got so many things that made me enjoy it and huge flaws that prevents it from being good anime. I watched because i wanted to know is the protagonist really bad as some anime fans think and does anime have what it's takes to be worst anime or just normal bad anime. I'll explain it what is good about this anime and what is bad about this anime. Story:5/10 Well,it's whatever story. ... Protagonist called Touya Mochizuki died because God accidentally threw lightning at him and then God offers him new life in another world,giving him power to use any magic and lets him take a smartphone 'cause Touya wants it for some reason. When he arrived in another world,he began adventures with getting his harem of girls he gotten because he is alpha male who attracts any girl who likes strong or smart men. I can't spoil rest of story,so i highly recommend you to watch it if you wanna know how it's ends. Characters:5/10 Let's talk about our MC,Touya. He can use any kind of magic and defeat his opponents and enemies too easily,which is kinda surprising. But unfortunately,his power is way too unbalanced. There is nothing special about him to balance his power,no core motivation,no dark or complicated past,no internal struggles,no holes in heart,his challenges are way too easy and he hardly faced any difficult challenges or conflicts. As for his personality,he got personality of normal Japanese teenager,which is kinda weak. Not to mention he is dense,but not dense as Ichika Orimura from Infinite Stratos. He is not bad protagonist because he is real laughingstock sometimes,but he is worst OP protagonist ever made. He is true Gary Stu,unlike fake Gary Stu's who are disliked because of stupid and trivial reasons. Now for main characters,the girls who love Touya. Well,there are couple of girls that are A and B tier waifu materials and they are well made. I mostly loved Yumina because there aren't many beautiful anime girls with cute personality and eyes of different colors or odd eyes if you prefer and i also liked Elze because i like her tsundere trait and because she is voiced by one of my favorite voice actresses,Maaya Uchida. One more girl that i love much as Yumina and Elze is Yae. I really like her character design,her fighting spirit,her beauty and how cute she is when she thinks of Touya,he he heh. As for other girls,i don't really care about them as much i care for Yumina,Yae and Elze,but i can tell you that they are very cute and very good waifu materials. As for supporting characters,some of them are okay,some of them are uninteresting. I don't know what else to say. Villains,in other hand,are very poorly made. They did not focus on them very much so they kinda suck,i must say. Art and animation:7,5/10 Art and animation is somewhat very good. Touya's art is generic,but i do not care about such things. Art of female characters is great,they look either cute,beautiful or sexy. Art of items,weapons is all right,nothing to complain or talk about. Music and sound:6/10 Opening song is hit and miss,it's so bad that you will get sick of it once you hear in Episode 1 and you will skip the opening all time. Ending song is great,however. On different episodes,the different voice actresses sing a song,which is really cool. I really like Maaya Uchida's singing voice,she is great at singing opening,insert and ending songs from anime where she sang a songs like GochiUsa,GJ-bu and Charlotte. Anime's OST is pretty decent,nothing special about it. As for voice acting,it's gotten pretty well,except Touya's,'cause his voice is too childish. Enjoyment:9/10 This is worst part about it. Anime have serious flaws,yet it's so enjoyable that i cannot tell is it good or bad. I laughed when something funny happened in anime,Touya's OP nature was surprising me,even though he is very unbalanced. I also enjoyed the fight scenes,even though they were short. And even i liked the cute moments like mai waifus Yumina,Yae and Elze,seeing them blushing in very cute way. Same goes for other girls. There are so much things that makes anime enjoyable for some part of normal audience,who watch anime from normal standpoint for fun. Overall:5/10 How to put it? It's a whatever anime,i can't tell is it good or bad. My standards are very low thanks to worst anime like Mars Of Destruction,Pupa,Skelter Heaven,Wounded Man,Garzey's Wings,Psychic Wars,Hanoka and Dark Cat. It's does have flaws,but not same ones like in the anime that i mentioned. I can only say that anime is average from my critical standpoint. From enjoyment and critical standpoint,i should say it's pretty decent and fun anime to watch once or twice. It's have serious flaws,so many ideas which sounded great on paper but they were poorly executed in anime,but... It's have great female characters which are very good waifu materials and some funny moments. This is great anime to show to people who disliked your favorite anime that OP protagonist from your favorite anime is nothing like Touya Mochizuki and that he is not unbalanced and dense him and that your favorite anime is not a 'harem' anime and how to recognize a REAL harem anime. If you have annoying haters in your back,they will change their opinion after watching this anime.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Sword Art Online: Alicization
(Anime)
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THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!
I wrote SAO review about my opinions on series and opinions of those who disliked it or hated it. Now i'll write more opinion on series and Alicization. Before i could review Alicization arc,i have to get this off my chest. Sword Art Online anime series do have problems that some part of audience can't overlook and made them dislike it or hate it,but problems that SAO have are not THAT bad! I have watched the worst anime such as Mars Of Destruction,Pupa,Tenkuu Danzai Skelter+Heaven and Wounded Man (Kizuoibito) so i could tell you how to recognize a REAL bad anime and that ... problems that SAO have are not a big deal in worst anime i watched. SAO anime series does not have same problems that Mars Of Destruction,Pupa,Tenkuu Danzai Skelter+Heaven and Wounded Man have! They are not on same level either! I can't spoil them so now that i gotten that off my chest,let's talk about Alicization anime now. Let's start with story first. SAO anime series along with Alicization DO have story that is not well written,but it's not horrible either. Alicization's plot have decent writing and interesting dialogues which makes this anime enjoyable,but problems that it's have is not big deal and it's have problems that can be overlooked. 6/10 because i don't care about anime plots and i have nothing to say about story. Art and animation in Alicization is great. I loved how fight scenes and other great scenes in anime are animated,especially the fight scene between Kirito and Quinella. Also,weapon and character's art are great as well,i liked Kirito's new black sword (Night Sky Sword),Eugeo's Blue Rose Sword and Alice's golden Fragrant Olive Sword artworks are designed. Character's art design of Alice i loved the most,she is beautiful like Asuna. 10/10 for great art and animation Music,soundtrack and voice acting is great and flawless. I love both opening songs,which are great for my ears and lyrics is great as well,but they cannot beat Crossing Field,one of my favorite anime songs of all times. Ending songs are great too,i loved forget-me-not,it's melody,lyrics and vocals,it's like Aimer and YUI (one who sang Again,opening song for Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood) combined together. Forget-me-not is in same level as Shirushi and Yume Sekai,very addicting and great songs. Soundtrack in Alicization is music to my ears and voice acting is great as well. I liked how my favorite voice actresses like Haruka Tomatsu and Ai Kayano voiced the Asuna and Alice flawlessly with spirit and Kirito's voice actor done a great job with Kirito's lines. Yoshitsugu Matsuoka is very good at giving voice to characters that have warrior's spirit and confidence. 10/10 for that. Now here we are with characters... Oh,boy,all that hatred towards my favorite characters... Especially mai waifus... -_- Regarding Kirito,he is not a bad protagonist. Generic looks for which i don't care about aside,for those who said he got no personality: 'No personality' is not right word to describe the characters who are not lacking any kind of emotions and who are not Kuudere. Just because his personality changed every time because SAO turned into death game,lost people who cared about such as Sachi,helping players in trouble,fallen in love with Asuna and all other things that happened in SAO anime series and Alicization or because his personality is lacking some certain characteristics or features you expected does not mean he have 'no personality'. He just acts like a normal human being would. Any normal human being would act calm and collected,emotional and hot-headed in battles,depending on person's nature. Personalities of male protagonists are not easy to write or describe. Kirito's personality is not written well,but it's not horrible. It's have pros and cons and i don't see anything wrong with him behaving like that. Now about Kirito being OP... OP or overpowered characters can be good characters in many ways,but their powers can be unbalanced if character or their power is not well written or because character lacks something that makes his OP nature enjoyable. Kirito is very powerful,but not OP. To be OP,he must be completely invincible like Saitama (One Punch Man) or Tatsuya Shiba (Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei) or any unbeatable OP character. Kirito have weaknesses and almost died many times and also he was defeated 4 times. (once in Fairy Dance arc fighting NPC guardians,twice against Yuuki in a duels and once to protect Asuna,Yuuki and Sleeping Knights so they could defeat a boss) That is not only reason why Kirito's powers are balanced,he also have motivation to use his powers,internal struggles and faced many difficult challenges and conflicts. (also he lost his arm in Alicization) He is not mere 'power fantasy' OP character and also,his powers are unique. Some of people don't like when some protagonists always win,but anime is not about winning or losing! How would plot progressed if Kirito wasn't powerful? He is smart and great swordsman,which makes him worthy opponent. Overall,he is decent protagonist with balanced powers and mixed personality and traits that make him fun and enjoyable character. Now for main characters,antagonists and supporting characters. Asuna is cute and beautiful,as usual. Same for other female characters from previous seasons. As for Alice,she got a great figure,many cute traits and she is beautiful. Such a beautiful blue eyes,golden hair... Also she can cook like Asuna and she got a cute personality at the time when Kirito and Alice were climbing at tower :) Great waifu material,i gotta say,even thought she became Integrity Knight with some of her memories and emotions weakened. Alice's role is written very well,i gotta say. As for Eugeo,a village boy who is Kirito's best friend,he is good character. I like how he grows up by learning Kirito's sword style and his speeches,which is good to see character who grows up and having very important at this arc. Even though he is weak person,but his heart and swordsmanship and determined personality is strong enough to sacrifice himself to defeat Sword Golem. As for supporting characters,i don't really care that much about them so i have nothing to say about them. Here we are now talking about antagonists in Alicization who i hate the most. First,corrupted noblemen who tried to rape two girls who were Kirito's and Eugeo's disciples,Ronnie and Tiese,i hated them sooo much. Second,that Chudelkin is real ugly mother*****r,i hate him sooo much. And finally,Quinella or Administrator,she is despicable like Oberon. Not only she got a God complex,but unlike Oberon,who planned to mind control 300 players he trapped,Quinella is power hungry evil ruler who treats her people as a food for Sword Golems and steals a memories to mind control some people giving them fake 'love' and stuff and making them Integrity Knights. I hate her so much in same way i hate Oberon and Prime Minister. (Akame Ga Kill) 9.5/10 for characters (antagonists not included) Enjoyment: 10/10 I really,really loved and enjoyed it to fullest. I loved the fight scenes,my favorite is one in last episode where Kirito defeats Quinella with Vorpal Strike with a badass way. And that opening and ending songs were sooo amazing that i put then on my phone. Alicization,just like the movie and previous seasons,were very fun to watch and very enjoyable. Overall:10/10 Alicization was a masterpiece! I loved almost everything on it. I know that anime series have flaws that ruined someone's enjoyment,but flaws in anime series are not bad enough to ruin huge success it's gotten. Why some people who dislike or hate flaws that are not a big deal? Because some flaws that are not fatal or can be overlooked are too much for some part of audience who were high at expectations or have different tastes and standards. They focus too much on problems rather than thinking of good points and hidden gems. Sword Art Online anime series have huge commercial success and look at stats at MAL,so many people gave 10/10's,9/10's,8/10's and 7/10's. That means that majority liked or loved them. What kind of 'bad' protagonist is number 13 and have 32,839 favorites in MAL? What kind of 'bad' waifu is number 37 and 20,164 favorites in MAL? What kind of 'bad' anime gets this huge success? What kind of 'bad' light novels sold 22 million copies worldwide? What kind of 'bad' anime movie gets 38.2 million dollars at box office? From merchandise to video games such as Hollow Fragment,Lost Song,Hollow Realization,Accel World vs SAO and Fatal Bullet,those are proof of SAO's success and popularity. If anime and light novels were THAT bad,it's would not get such a huge commercial success and popularity,fan base,merchandise and video games and i would not talk about it here. If anime series are successful and if majority loved it or liked it,then they are objectively good anime series. I hope for next season be great as this anime. Link Start!
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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