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- BirthdayJul 4, 1996
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Apr 17, 2015
I knew it wouldn't be long until my next review, as I started this halfway through Ergo Proxy, and so that's one pro/con straight off the bat - this is a bite-sized anime with only 11 episodes! Despite that, I personally think the anime didn't feel rushed and so let us segway into the full review of Higashi no Eden, or Eden of the East:
Story - If my opinion means anything, this opinion may deter you from watching this but I don't think that's fair, I think the show is still good but the story is certainly the weakest link in the show. I realize
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saying this I'm likely going to get a letter soon from a collection of you on MAL saying I should burn/rot etc, but allow me an explanation. Know what I said earlier, how I said the show doesn't feel rushed? You'd think that would mean, in my opinion, I thought everything was well explained right? Well, that's my main problem. You're still scratching your head halfway through at the characters, even some new ones getting thrown in right at the end, and they're all really well explained, and I commend that. However, the main characters motive, a certain organizations purpose and motive, the other characters linked to both the main character and said organization, VERY disjointed, there was no real cohesive storyline despite the fact these characters and the organization are essentially THE PLOT OF THE SHOW. For saying it's about missile attacks in Japan, there's no real tension either. Now, to combat this, I watched Zankyou no Terror (which I think I reviewed and highly recommend, whether I did review the show or not) before Eden of the East, and both shows have VERY similar plots, and so this may have spoiled the plot for me as I may have sub-consciously thought I was just watching the same show by a different art team, but I dunno. Either way, it's still enjoyable if not always easy to follow. 6/10.
Art - Thankfully, for the shows creators, it's fans and myself (for the hate I'm likely to get for the above), the story is certainly the only real weak link. The art is gorgeous. No Cowboy Bebop or Dragon Ball (I think everyone can appreciate hand-drawn art styles), but it's certainly a looker. It really conveys whatever it's try to depict, whether that be Saki (the girl on the cover) and her cute face, or the architecture of Tokyo, it's all very colourful and clean. 9/10.
Sound - The sound is great too. Not as good as the visuals, but still well implemented. For me not saying there's much tension, there's actually some very tense, but also action-type music, where it's needed, but then there's also calmer interludes and rifts and such as it's needed. So it's very well implemented as well as just being, or should that be sounding, good. The opening is by Oasis (yes, "Wonderwall" Oasis) and the closing theme is just as calming, by a Japanese artist. All very very nice. 7/10.
Characters - So, to quickly rattle them off (by second name for convinience):
Saki, Takizawa, Mr Outside, Kazoumi, "Sis" (don't know real name, either it's not said or my memory), Ohsugi, Kasuga, Katsuhara, Shiratori, Mononobe, Kondo and "Panties", or Itazu. I'm gonna give a quick bio of each so strap yourself in:-
Saki is in America studying in her last year of university. She's sweet, cute, kind and forms a bit of a love triangle between herself, Takizawa and Ohsugi. And she starts to fall for Takizawa, when she makes her return back to Japan after graduating. It's not shown them having a relationship, but it's certainly implied she has feelings for him. She's likeable if not a bit bland.
Takizawa is the real protagonist, being linked to the aforementioned organization, and he has a phone given to him by this organization which allows him to do whatever he wants, along as he has the funds (he has over a billion yen, so essentially for such a short run-time this means the power is limitless). Sounds interesting, but with the plot being so disjointed in my opinion, it doesn't work as well as it could have.
Mr Outside is implied to be the head of said organization, but he's not seen much, if at all, I can't exactly remember. He's only really there as a goal for Takizawa to work towards, as he repeatedly says he'd love nothing more than to punch Mr Outside in the face for setting up this game (said game being the plot, so won't be mentioned as NO SPOILERS) so take that as you will.
Kazoumi, Sis, Ohsugi, Kasuga and Katsuhara form a group that, well, I don't particularly understand there purpose. They're goal is to help the thousands of NEET's (people not in education, employment or training) that rose out of the aftermath of the missile strike (this is the only spoiler, it's in the bio, and it's needed for context), but other than that I don't see any purpose. Kazoumi is the straight-talking thinker of the group, Sis I actually thought was the mother of either Kazoumi, Kasuga or Katsuhara (as the former two look in their twenties, and Katsuhara looks between 12 and 15) but she's just another part of the group, Ohsugi is litreally just there to be jealous of Takizawa and Saki (oh, and Saki is with his group as well, again this isn't explained), Kasuga is the comic relief character and Katsuhara is the cute one, but also, how did my friend describe his sister... The typical mardy teen? Because that's how I'd likely describe Katsuhara as well. Oh, and she's a tech wizard. Basically the fan favourite because a) she's a loli and b) she's a computer geek.
Right, to quickly rattle off the rest - Shiratori is also in possession of a phone that can grant her any wish, same restrictions as those placed on Takizawa apply, and is there just for conflict. It's implied she was abused in the past as her "trait" is chopping off rapists and murderers "johnnys". I'm sure all the males, and a lot of you females, know what a "johnny" is. Moving swiftly on...
Mononobe is revealed in essentially the penultimate episode, don't really see his point, he just wants Takizawa's phone so he can have more money, and therefore more power. Kondo is a detective and has exactly the same motive as Mononobe and then there's "Panties", so called because he lost his pants at school and ever since being stripped has been a shut-in since. I won't reveal his purpose as it's rather integral to the plot, but he's your typical shut-in. All in all a big cast for such a short show, and most rather likeable. 8/10.
All-in-all, should you give 3-4 hours of your life for the show? Had the show been any longer, I would've had to have a long think about it, but for such a short run-time what are you really missing by giving up 3-4 hours? And for as bland and disjointed as the plot and some characters can be, you care for these guys. There's a philosophical message Saki rattles off in epsiode 9 or 10, possibly even the final episode, and while it's the same thing you've heard countless times, (something about how Takizawa isn't evil even though he fired the missiles, this is the only other spoiler don't worry!) it actually really spoke to me about humans and their good nature, at times. So yeah, if there are other shows you think you'd enjoy much more, watch them first, but if this interests you, the characters are interesting enough and the art and sound are great and certainly good enough to fill this bite-sized show. I award a credible 7/10.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 15, 2015
I can't remember how I came about this show - possibly searching this fine site, possibly a recommendation. However, you all want to know, should I be extending this recommendation to you fine folk. Well, welcome to another review by myself, after a long hiatus (after not having access to device on which I could watch anime well), I'm back and ready to review another show, the last episode of which I finished about 5 minutes ago, at the time of writing of course. Let's cut the crap and jump straight in.
Story/Setting - To be as spolier-free as possbile, Ergo Proxy introduces us to a
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distopian world, with the only shown haven of this wasteland being the city of Romdeau. Oh, I only discovered Fallout 3 and New Vegas last year, that's likely why I picked this series up! Sorry, yes, Romdeau. Romdeau is much like your typical city you'd see today, with one key difference - the Auto-Rievs. In my eyes, essentially androids, they help the humans with their tasks, whether it be helping a doctor do research while he treats patients, or helping the police (or Citizen Intelligence Berau) fight crime, they're there to help us (again, drawing to fallout, not unlike the Mr Handy's and Procterons of that world). Of course, with this comes robot-like morals, and this is a main theme in the plot of the show. Saying that, and maybe it's because I have a short attention span and so wasn't watching as intently as the show went on, the end was crazy, and took me out of the world building they'd done thus far. I won't spoil much more and will outline the main characters later, but this is a solid story and one that reminds me of Bioshock and Fallout a lot. 7/10.
Art - The art style for the show is amazing. Unfortunately for this small time reviewer, art is subjective and therefore some of you may not like the art, or find it average, but I really love it. I think it's testament to the art time that I actually can't find the words to describe it! 9/10.
Sound - Unfortunately, unlike the art, the sound was lacking, of course in my opinion. Not a fan of the opening theme, the ending was nice and mellow however, and the music only stood out to me in-show whenever some intense drama was going on. And where a lacklustre soundtrack works in a game like Fallout to build tension, I just feel it was needed here. 6/10.
Characters - there are one-time and recurring characters in this show, some excellent, some forgettable, and it's your opinion as to whether these characters should be labelled as main, integral to the plot, or not, but I will focus only on these three: Re-I, Vincent and Pino. Re-I is who we will follow most of the plot with, all though all three of them get stuck together fairly early on so they all have around equal showtime.
Re-I, pronounced Ree-El (aha! Jokes! Metaphors! In all fairness, this is actually rather clever when it comes to the ending episodes but that's spoilers) is an Inspector for the Citizen Intelligence Berau, known from now on as the CIB (yes, yes, you changed one letter, very good) mentioned earlier. She has two missions, number one is to track down illegal immigrant Vicent Law (I never realized how much exposition was shoved in your face until now), for obvious reasons. They're fates get tied up, more litreally than you may think, as the story progresses and it's gets slightly harem, only with one guy and a cute girl (and that's not the traditional love as she looks up to Vincent more as a father) and tsundere Re-I, but you can deduce if that rating is fair and just. And, speaking of the aforementioned cutie, we have Pino, an AutoReiv. The other mission Re-I had was to find infected AutoRiev's, the infection making them malfunction and disobey orders, and having thoughts and becoming more human-like as a result. Pino shows us the life these AutoRiev's lead, and on reflection she's actually probably the most interesting out of all the characters in the show. To say more would be spoilers. 7/10.
To wrap things up and give you an answer to the question presented at the start, yeah, I'd recommend this. Certainly not the best show in existence, but if you love apocalyptic settings but want a break from the zombies that normally make up post of this genre, this is a good alternative, and if like me you're a fan of fallout, bioshock or both, I think you'll spot similarities like I did. Hope you enjoyed this review and I'll speak to you all, in form of review, next time! Overall rating - 7/10.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jan 12, 2015
I liked this show. It was a good comedy in it's own right, and had a little more serious undertone on it. This was bought together with a good setting and great characters. Let's get this review started. I should seeming as I started this like 4 months ago!
*MINOR SPOILERS*
We follow the story of a Seishuu Handa, a calligraphy artist who was forced as a kid to practice calligraphy day and night until we come to present time, where the 20-ish Handa is trying to find his own style. He presents a piece of work to a Director of an Art Group who dissaproves. Handa
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is naturally annoyed and assaults the director. He is punished by being banished to an island - an extreme version of "go to your room". Ensue the comedy. - Story, 7
Art and Sound - Again, as said in many of reviews, the art follows a very post-2000 style, clean and nice on the eyes but nothing special. What is nice is it's set on an island, presumably not far from Tokyo (where Handa grew up and where he submitted his art too the previously mentioned Art Group), in summertime, so got a very summer holidays feel to it, ironically like the island from animal crossing new leaf. On 3DS. You should play it. NOW. Only 29.99... Sorry, sound. Sound is nothing special, the music/OST anyway, BUT this is why I love anime comedy, the Japanese know how to use sound to amplify comedy. For example, Handa comes into a situation where he bolts upright because he's in a stressful situation, and as he bolts up the sound of a xylophone being like run down, can't think how to explain it, but yeah, it really makes it that more funnier. 7/7.
Character - there's a good cast number, but I'll run down the main ones. I think I've covered Handa enough, he's nothing more than your average protagonist really, an artist just trying to find himself while having to deal with the distractions of middle school teens, people living in a rural, no-electric community, and 7 year-olds. Speaking of which,
Naru Kotoishi - This little girl is supposed to be the other protagonist I guess, the one who has the most interaction with Handa. I mean, I guess she's cute (I dunno imo, she's kinda.. Woah :P ) but I just found her annoying. I guess that's true to a 7 year old who's like massively hyper but still, who I would've preffered to take Naru's place...
Hina Kubota - Naru's best friend. Now Hina is CUTE. She doesn't really perform much of a role other than just be part of the 7 year olds who are a distraction to Handa but my God, if me or my friends have kids, I pray to whatever being there is that, if the baby is a girl, she turns out like Hina, So goddamn cute.
Miwa Yamamura - One of the middles choolers, along with Tamako Arai. They're kinda like Naru, only less annoying because there, like, double her age or older. Nice little character interaction is when Handa helps them out with a calligraphy assignment, but I'll leave it to you how you judge these characters if you decide to pick this up. Personally, 8 (think the 8 is mainly for Hina haha).
So, overall, yeah, I'd say this is worth a watch, but I suppose I'd say pick up any anime comedy because there isn't really anything else that sets this apart from any other good quality comedy. I mainly picked this up because I saw this on a streaming website and my mind is instinctively drawn to anything that looks like Pokemon. One thing, and the thing I will end on, is the fact this anime, the deep thing I was talking about in the beginning, is the fact that you should draw inspiration from going out of your comfort zone (Handa is a shut-in to begin with) and this is shown through him doing a calligraphy drawing when looking up at the night sky. I liked that, drawing inspiration from being out your comfort zone and embracing our beautiful world. And with that, I leave a reccomendation of Sayonar Zetsubi Sensei (think that's right) and another reccomendation to take a walk outside now, or a visit to the subreddit earth porn. Either will do. (Show gets a good 7).
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jan 6, 2015
This movie... I dunno, maybe I hyped it up for myself too much being a massive lover of the culture of the Jaypuns, but this movie to me was not the outstanding movie I thought it would be. Don't take this the wrong way, this movie is good, but that's it... It's good. Not shit, not bad, not amazing nor outstanding, just good. Let's see why - I'm Waldy565, I'm back after a LONG hiatus, and let's jam.
The story revolves around a girl called Hotaru, and when she's playing around in the forest (at this point she's around 6 years old) she bumps into, quite
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litreally, a masked forest spirit called Gin. Catch is, he can't come into contact with humans, or he dissapears. I won't spoil why, but does make an interesting plot point. We watch Hotaru grow up via timeskips, and it's your typical romance story. I'll talk more about this later on, but that's the point I was talking about earlier - TYPICAL love story, GOOD movie. Nothing outstanding. 7
The art and sound are very simple and minimilastic. By simple, in terms of the art, I mean like any anime post-2006/7, that kinda style. Sound consists of violin/piano interludes... Not traditional Japanese instruments (tiako drum, shinkansen, that kinda stuff) like I expected, but definetley not bad. 7
Characters - Despite not being outstanding, these characters are certainly not unlikeable or unrelatable. Few "aww" points - Gin realizes he's going to like Hotaru when she grows up, so he says I love you in Hotaru's 6 year old "phase", and she says it back, but it has that innocent "she doesn't know what she's saying because she's a kid" quality to it. Cute.
They go to a festival at one point, and as I said, Gin can't touch humans, that includes Hotaru. So instead of holding hands, they tie a kinda cloth/sash thing to their wrists. N'aww.
Lastly, Gin takes off his mask at one point near the end so he can put on Hotaru and kiss the mask, obviously because he can't kiss her. Again, real cute. They're both really nice but that's like their only personality. Again, this doesn't mean they're bad - they aren't one-dimensional or boring, but there are definetley more developed and loveable characters.
Enjoyment/Overall - All in all, Hotarubi no Mori e is a good movie, and one thing is it's not the usual hour and a half run time, only 45 mins, 40 if you don't watch end credits - that's essentially just 2 anime episodes. However, given the option of something similar, such as Pom Poko, with it's japanese cultural links and focus on characters, and this, I would take the alternative, for example I would take Pom Poko over this. But as I've said, if this seems interesting to you don't let this conclusion deter you, it IS a good show, just, in my opinion, an average good as oppose to an outstanding good.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Oct 22, 2014
Setting.
When you open up, start up, whatever Mushishi, that's the first thing that will be apparent - the main 'characters' and art complement each other perfectly to tie together a beautiful world not too far removed from our own. "Characters?" (I like to think) I hear you cry? But there's only the one white-haired dude? Well, there is him, Ginko as he's known, but each episode (and this series is episodic, taking on a 'monster-of-the-week' style format) introduces a new 'Mushi', a kind of bacteria-like organism that, as stated in the bio, have no other purpose than to just 'be', 'live'.
What I liked,
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and what did strike me straight away is, even if the mushi were in the form of something terrible such as a disease, they're not 'evil'. The team did not 'cop out' so to speak, I mean these mushi just exist to live, they don't know what they're doing is destroying someone's life. And sometimes, they're just harmless lights, other times, they're a goddamn beautiful rainbow!
I'm sorry I keep gushing about it, but the art and world-building/setting is the highlight and selling point, in my opinion of course. For example, Ginko, in his travels (there's a reason he wanders which I won't spoil, is nothing of massive concern though), wanders to a fishing village. Of course there's fisherman and a story contained in just this episode, but to me, the misty water, the weather-beaten shacks, the overcast sky with rain just waiting to pour - it's all very atmospheric and when Ginko travels to villages that have forests (my second favourite natural place IRL, only second to the ocean), and just the sunlight hardly filtering in through the canopy, secret little pools with catfish (which is a reference to japanese mythology, thank you Mr. Gaijin Goomba), well, it's an experience, almost as good as going to a hidden forest in untouched countryside out there, in the real world.
To wrap this, the intro song ia fantastic, one of those songs you wish you could play on guitar (I'm trying!), the ending is also brilliant, and there's some action-y type music in the episodes which complement the scenes they're in. I haven't touched on character because talking about the mushi would spoil the episodes, and Ginko's character and goals are pretty much explained in the bio. But yes, a wonderful series that really shines in it's world and the atmosphere the world creates. A beautiful masterpiece. Easy 10.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Oct 15, 2014
Hello again guys for another review. The first thing that is unique about this, and why many will probably pick up this otherwise generic looking slice-of-life is that it's from the person that bought us Serial Experiments Lain. Yeah, this is NOTHING LIKE Serial Experiment at all. But it has a very unique charm, enough to give it an 8. And with the scoring out in the open for people just scanning to see, let's get to the meet of the review.
OK, I'm not great with names, so I'm just gonna be describing characters - set in a rural town in present time (though the
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rural setting certainly gives it a 60s/70s/80s syle), the main female is a poor cram student who earns just enough by working for the local bathhouse (where she also resides) to put a roof over her head and travel to Tokyo to study. However, she lives with an unusual roomate... An alien. Known as an under-seven, who are the scum of the alien hierarchy (more on this in a min), she just sponges off the female lead for food and shelter, and is definitely more trouble than she's worth.
While I will talk about the characters soon, Nea (god knows why she's only the one I know the name of.... Suppose it's cuz the shows named after her) is SO annoying. I was constantly turning down the volume because of her whiny voice complaining she was hungry all the time, and the moments she's quite are some of the best moments of the show.
Which leads to my next and last major complaint - the alien sub-plot. Firstly, humans and aliens are just OK with another. Just "hey, there's a person with an antenna on their head, oh you're an alien, sure, you don't have lazers or anything"... Like, what? Also, and this just a sliiiiight complaint - THIS SUBPLOT DID NOT NEED TO EXIST! Seriously, there was no point - all it added was Nea, two men who had no lines, and old man who had no lines, an indian man (who, admittedly, was hilarious) and a chinese women who was a rival to Nea but just as annoying. I seriously could have enjoyed the show just as much, if not more (well, providing the indian dude was still in), without the alien subplot. OK, onto the massive draw of the show:-
CHARM. BUCKETS AND BUCKETS OF CHARM. The lead female is a really genuine character just trying to earn an education, the engineer who fixes up the bath-house and female leads roof (because Nea, the idiot, smashed it with a UFO she made cuz, aliens) is just a really nice guy, there's an old woman who's your stereotypical wise woman who, in a brilliant twist, thrashes everyone when the owner of the bath-house holds a retro videogame tournament, and the owner herself is a genuine, hardworking, independent woman. The only other three characters of mention is the chef of a little shop who lead female also works for, again just genuine nice guy, his daughter who's mature for her age, in a good way, and again, the indian. He's brilliant. If you do nothing else, search up this guy, sure there's gotta be clips on youtube, he's hilarious.
Sound and animation were nothing special, animation was very similar to that of Serial Experiments, if you liked that style you won't mind this, I wasn't a massive fan, and there's hardly any music to talk of, and the opening and ending are also nothing worth mentioning.
So this is really just a charming country-style SoL that I found so enjoyable just.... I really think it was just the charm. The setting, the lead females quest to scratch up enough money each month, the citizens of this rural town... I don't know, I just love it. Certainly deserving of a 9, but Nea and aliens ruins it enough to peg it down to 8. Definitely a recommended show for those who don't need mind-screws or massive battles or an epic tale, just those looking for some relatable characters and a good setting.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Oct 10, 2014
I kept putting off Bacanno because the art really shouted out to me and, as vain a conclusion as this is, I thought the art was an insight into how good the show was going to be, and therefore put it off for when I was having a bad day and just wanted a really good show to pick me up. Ufortunately Bacanno doesn't reach that excellence for me, but it certainly isn't a bad show.
OK, starters, 1930s America. As with my Gosick review, I find it intriguing when anime teams pick pre-war 20thC as a setting for their shows as, for me, it's quite
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a boring period and, if you're not a fan of war history, the 20thC probably won't interest you until the 1970s, but I digress. It's just an intriguing setting and does have all the staples of the era:- Brooklyn gangsters, shoot-outs, drive-by's, backstabbing, blackmail etc etc. What makes it more interesting, and what gives it it's supernatural tag, is about 3 episodes in, people who are presumed dead start coming back to life... They are immortal. At the end of the show, however, it overstays its welcome as, and I'm not exaggerating here, almost all the characters are immortal, and if not immortal they will only die by old age. Yeah, becomes stale.
I'll leave the pros to the end, so let me get this out the way - as with my most recent review, Serial Experiments Lain, the characters are a mixed bag, but unlike Serial Experiments Lain, it leans towards the bad side. The characters to me, apart from their being far too many for me to recount, is that thery're all cookie-cutter characters - the main people of the gangs act and sound so similar to the run-of-the-mill gangster, you have your shinji-esque character, your tsundere character... You name it, they're there. Except Isaac, Miriam and the psychotic dude the name of which escapes me.
The psychotic dude is just an ultimate bad-ass and dick, it's cliché, but you do love to hate him. His only love and want in life is to cool and, with one dodgy child-killing scene aside (not too bad however as said child is infected with this immortal blood thing), he's a joy to watch. If you like volience. I'm not a massive fan, but it's enjoyable in just how much he enjoys killing. It's an experience.
Isaac and Miriam are the comedy-relief characters, which is why they stand out because this does come off as a serious show. They are marketed as the protagonists, but the storyline splits into three for me, so they are only protagonists of their storyline. But yeah, they're enjoyable for the obvious reason - Isaac in particular for myself did a great job of making me smirk and laugh, and while Miriam didn't do as well (ESPECIALLY when she was a GODDAMN PARROT OF EVERYTHING ISAAC SAID!) she was certainly not bad.
OK, the massive pros - the art is absoluteley stunning, no more need be said other than just look it at. And the music, as with the era, is all jazz. And as a massive jazz fan (along with dance/trance and heavy metal/screamo) the music makes orgasm quite a lot, especially dat opening. Aaahhhh. It's great.
All in all it's not a bad show but it's certainly not worth priority on anyones list, and by that I mean if you have other shows you want to watch, you'll probably enjoy yourself more watching those than watching this and thinking you could be watching whatever else is on your list. However, if you're doing any work or even writing a review, sticking on the OST would not be a bad thing at all. Overall, Bacanno gets a fair 7/10.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Sep 28, 2014
I was trying to think how to start this review, I'll quote from the series (wish I could think up iconic quotes) - "What never happened, never exisisted"
Well, where the hell to start? The title? Serial EXPERIMENT Lain. In a way, that one word encompasses the whole series. It's certainly an experiment in how far the human psyche can be pushed. OK, God this is hard to review. Without trying to spoil to much, an event happens that encourages a schoolgirl, Lain, to experiment, dammit, explore the Wired (essentially the internetz, with less memes, flamewars and cat videos) , as she (unlike todays youth, both
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male and female) is not very technologically sound. By doing this, she discovers she is in fact part of the Wired, and that's the only slight spoiler I'll give but it's at this point, about half way in, where the mind-f*ckery starts.
First off, this may just be me, but I feel it wasn't very well explained how Lain was part of the Wired. It just kind of happens, there's a "real" Lain, and a "Wired" Lain. But both Lains can and can't contact each other, yet "Wired" Lain can assume control over people, making them go crazy and commit suicide without ever taking their eyes off of the device their using to access the Wired (just come to me, they're called Navi's... Hey, lis... NO. YOU STOP THERE.) There's a lot that viewers will probably have to rewatch to properly understand, I suppose it doesn't help (please still rate this review!) that I switch off at certain points when I get confused with any form of entertainment, book, board game, video game, anime etc...
And yet, as I've said, the ending of the show, which for a show with such confusion does quite well in tieing the knot, so to speak, sums up that little quote I added - "What never happened, never existed". That's pretty much my thoughts on story and character without spoilers, and of course there are more characters, and two or three really do interact with Lain, but the series has a massive focus on the girl herself and, as said, just pushing the human psyche (so I guess the viewer too? Yay, audience participation!)
The art for me is a bit of a miss. OK, I suppose it complements the themes and the overall just atmosphere of the anime but I still find it sub-par. And what first struck me with the art, and one of the first reasons I wasn't a fan, was Lain's eyes... *shudder*
The sound is good, for being minimalistic. I don't know if sound is just an issue with me and anime, or whether there really is just not that much of a soundtrack in shows. I suppose it would make sense because you need to hear the actors and actresses, but still... Didn't like the opening, not my kind of style, but there was wierd, trippy, schizo-like music whenever trippy sht was happening, but also upbeat, guitar and drums music could play. Most of the time it was just background noise, such as the hum of a server or something electronic, which added to the eerie atmosphere.
Overall, yeah, not a bad series. But just prepare your brain to be punished pretty hard. If I were to sum the series up in a word, this kind of a cop-out but... WIERD. IT'S SO WIERD MAN.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Sep 20, 2014
I'm not rating this anime because I'm not doing a usual 'full' review, I've dropped the show and I just wanted to get a few thoughts out
I picked up this show because ages ago I wanted some zombie shows, found Ga Rai Zero as a supernatural show, and a couple of weeks ago wanted more supernatural shows. Now, admittedly, this show has supernatural elements (about episode 4) and it is labelled as a psychological thriller. But that's the point I don't like. I want to warn people now, if you want to go in to this show spoiler-free, STOP READING NOW.
It uses PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress
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Disorder, for people who don't know) as it's psychological hook. And that's the point. Even shows like Paprika and Paranoia Agent use other 'supernatural' elements other than elements of mental illnesses while Ghost Hound tries to spook or at least make the viewer uncomfortable by showing dreams that are similar to visions or dreams of PTSD sufferers. I'm sorry but if I wanted to know about PTSD, I'd ask my friend who went through a tough point in her life, or I'd research it, I WOULDN'T watch a show. I'm making it sound like more of a big deal than it is, but it's just jarring expecting a thriller from supernatural elements yet the main hook is a real mental illness that many can imagine and that's probably the problem. Supernatural thrillers, um, thrill because they seem unimaginable. PTSD IS imaginable.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Sep 6, 2014
In my anime, as my games, story/setting/gameplay/one intriguing premise or idea can save the characters, and vice versa. And this is where Log Horizon is muddy for me. Let's start with the positives, setting and art.
Recently, likely with the advent and popularity of SAO, many MMO-based anime have been released. Log Horizons interpretation, as many gamers will likely sympathyize with, is BRILLIANT. Stats, mmo-style interfaces, classes, items - you take one 5 minute battle out of this show and all the basics of an MMO are there. One part I quite like (minor spoliers!) is when the show makes one character cook as oppose to
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just 'magic up' food, and funnily enough it makes the food tastes 10x better (END OF SPOILERS)
So, story, brilliant. Art, standard modern anime fare but still lovely eye-candy. Both a great 8.
Now, sound and character. First, easy one, sound - uuhh, meh. The opening I think is really awesome, the ending isn't bad, and everything else is really meh and REPEATED THROUGHOUT THE SHOW. This can be an OK thing, good thing (a la Angel Beats), but with it being so meh in this show, bar one 'drama incoming' piano interlude I quite liked, it's rather grating.
And here comes the difficult part... The show has quite the cast for a non-shounen show, so I'll outline the mains:
Shinroe, the main protagonist and strategist of 'Log Horizon' (the casts guild). He's cool-headed and I liked him to start, but he became bland as the show went on, in my opinion.
Akatsuki is a 17 y.o. (I'm 80% sure) ninja. Any more needs to be said? I love her... Oh, and she's a love interest for Shinroe. 'Cause.
Nyanta is a cat-swordsman. Again, I'd say need anymore be said but to avoid beating a dead horse... He's like suppose to be this bad-ass, 'I can diffuse a situation with my mouth or sword' character but comes off a bit of a Shinroe clone.
Naotsugi makes up the original fighting trio of Shinroe and Akatsuki, (before Shinroe got involved in politics and Akatsuki stalked him as self proclaimed 'servant' *cough stalker cough* because Shinroe said something about needing her at one point) and is Shinroe's IRL good friend. He's the comedy relief character, obsessed with panties meathead but he's brave and I really like him as well!
Minori I think was supposed to be the most interesting, being introduced halfway in and wanting to learn from 'Master Shinroe' but, yet again, becomes another clone AND another love interest! Saying that, because of the love triangle that is ever so omnipresent in every anime, episode 22 I think pokes fun at that concept which made me laugh a lot, despite having nothing to do with an MMO about it.
Other than those above there's a princess, a main baddy as well as your general MMO-fare enemies (which is introduced episode 24 of 25! They were optomistic for a S2, which is out so...) and a cast of supporting characters that usually have a link with Shiroe, Naotsugi or Minori.
So, after that essay, do I recommend this? Eehh hard to say. If you like SAO, and I mean REALLY enjoyed it, you're likely to enjoy this, as it's a lot of the same to be fair. If you enjoyed but got bored of SAO, or outright hate SAO, then probably give this a miss and, from what my friends keep banging on I need to watch, give Summer Wars a go. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next show!
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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