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Mar 29, 2024
The art is amazing but the pacing has to be the worst in any manga I’ve ever read. Plot is almost nonexistent and it is frustrating how slowly, what little of a story Gantz E has, progresses; even after waiting many months between chapters and reading them all at once like I’ve been doing. Still, it’s good for Gantz fans who are fine with little more than eye-candy. I can’t call it a serious manga but more of a treat. I wish very much that there was more characterization and I hope that it ends soon instead of lingering as a zombie manga where almost
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nothing new occurs after months.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Aug 23, 2022
I grew up with Dragon Ball and always thought a lot about the universe it takes place in and wanted to learn more. To see Saiyan society in the beginning, Frieza taking over what would be his Frieza Force, and also the introduction of the scouters was incredible. I feel there was more narrative and world-building in this one introductory segment then there has been in entire arcs of DBZ. Not that there's anything wrong with show don't tell, but it was such a refreshing change of pace to see a more plot-driven Dragon Ball. This may or may not have been taken straight from
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the Dragon Ball Minus manga, I don't know since I didn't read it, was still great to see animated; even as something as supplemental as Saiyan civilians.
Of course having seen the original Broly movie I know the kind of shoes this new iteration was going to have to fill and I can see it has done so more than adequately. It was great to see the characters of Paragus and Broly fleshed out a lot more and how it diverged from the original storyline to present, what in my opinion, is a superior version of events.
The animation has never been as fluid as it has been in this movie. Maybe some of the fight segments got a little long-winded, the first-person scene was kind of weird and overstayed its welcome a little, and the music in the dub wasn't so great but these are all really minuscule details that I feel don't detract from the experience enough to warrant any point reduction.
I thought the new characters introduced and the morals in this movie were epic. As someone who hates change, especially to my beloved franchises, they really knocked it out of the park with this movie. I'd happily recommend it to any DBZ fan, even me as someone who has felt that the Super series itself has not entirely lived up to expectations.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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May 19, 2022
Kaiji part 4 was very disappointing for me. It started out strong with Kaiji again pursuing his grudge against Teiai by setting out to beat the founder's son in a gamble. Kaiji being introduced to his grave stone by said son really cemented him as someone intimidating and to be feared throughout the arc.
Throughout the beginning we also continue to learn more about Kazuya and what makes him tick and his whole motivation to engage in his sadistic gambles.
However, the characterization comes to a stand-still when we are introduced to the actual gamble of this part. It does not even involve Kaiji but three
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people we've never seen before. We're introduced to their backstories but they all come across as real sappy and melodramatic. It was hard for me to care about the new characters.
All Kaiji does throughout this part is just provide commentary on these other people's gamble. I thought this would be a diversion until the main gamble with Kaiji and Kazuya started but it wasn't. This gamble lasts until the end of this part, where it's concluded.
The gamble with the new characters started out compelling but afterwards it really felt drawn out and many chapters felt unnecessary.
I didn't know anything about Mahjong prior to reading part 3, but seeing Kaiji's struggle against people he once cared about and overcoming the president's tricks was much more engaging for me. Part 4 was a major let-down in being worse than the previous arc about a game I don't even know how to play.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Apr 3, 2022
Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 2 is just an entirely failed show. Gone are the survival elements from previous seasons that are how everyone fell in love with this series initially. Instead, we have hamfisted political drama that is only presented with black and white morality. GENOCIDE IS BAD is literally the answer given as to why the original scouts must betray their homeland for outsiders who want to kill them, with no deeper thought on the matter presented (or even allowed!)
I knew all the creativity was zapped from this series when it became just another WW2 holocaust show after the big reveal
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of what's outside the walls. But at least the last season had compelling action still. Here the motivations are all twisted and there's nothing to enjoy.
Everything is backwards in this show, from Mikasa, Jean and Connie shooting their own compatriots to the suicidal Reiner being the one to tell Eren to give up and that he'll end his suffering for him.
Aside from the aforementioned fight with Reiner in the beginning of the series, Eren's presence is sorely lacking throughout this season. Instead replaced by the adventures of Gabi and Falco. Other characters being allowed to shine isn't a problem, but it shouldn't come at the expense of the main character. All throughout this season we're given little chance to see things from Eren's perspective, instead we're only told by others of what it is. As someone who read the manga, I know it's because they crammed that all in for the ending, but still it's poor, one-sided storytelling.
Aside from the plot, the art direction is very much lacking from the days of WIT. There is a same face problem, especially evident with the female characters. Most of which look derivative of either Gabi or Pieck. This was a problem in the manga too but WIT improved enough for that to not be as noticeable while MAPPA has since regressed. There are also times where very clunky CGI is present, such as for the titans. These scenes are often quick and disguised by action and followed up by hand-drawn close ups. Still, the subpar CGI is still there. All in all, this is a failed follow-up to the seasons that came before.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Mar 23, 2022
It's a seinen but the morality of the main character is more like a shounen protagonist. He's way too naive and goes out of his way for strangers he has no reason to help, which is frustrating to see and seems like writing to create conflict for the sake of it. But maybe the writing's not so bad since the whole premise of the show is from Kaiji co-signing on a debt to help out a friend he had no reason to trust like that. That's just the way Kaiji has always been, even aside from the games.
I got the urge to watch it now
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since a lot of Kaiji fans called Squid Game a poor imitation of Kaiji. Squid Game is a lot like Kaiji, they even both had a bridge crossing game. But Squid Game's story is way more mature and impactful. The cheesy morality in Kaiji becomes irritating after a time.
And Kaiji has a lot of lame "visual metaphors." The kind of scenes that can only happen in an anime. They're very trite, like the image of death swirling around a character on the verge of falling off a bridge. This kind of presentation of how the characters are feeling is way too in your face. I took a class on graphic novels (comic books) once and the prof mentioned how in drawn works you can do things like depict the characters a lot smaller than they usually are to show something like how insignificant they feel they are compared to someone else. I find that kind of storytelling to be way too overt though and I don't enjoy scenes like that.
The first half is much better than the second, after the bridge scene the last two games played are very boring. There's also no longer any bystander characters participating so they feel too small scale and not as imaginative.
The animation is the cheap kind of look 2000s animes had, but it's stylized with characters having really thick outlines. There's also some awful CGI but it's only used a few times I gave it a 5 since it held my interest a lot at first before I felt it became boring. But even by the end it was still able to surprise me with plot revelations that did not seem too contrived.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Mar 19, 2022
Highly recommended for anyone who has watched the original Layzner series. Unfortunately it was cancelled before it could be properly concluded but the third episode of the OVA addresses this by including a more complete ending. I believed the themes of the show resonated more strongly in the new additions the OVA included compared to the series.
While at times, the pacifism of both Eiji and his sister Julia came across as preachy and inappropriate considering the circumstances they faced, here that stance is finally justified and Julia takes on a much more active role compared to just being someone for Eiji to save throughout the
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second half of the original show.
I would rate the OVA higher but it carries many of the flaws the original series had. Most of the villains, with the exception of Gail, are very one dimensional and pure evil with no redeeming characteristics. And also, this is more of a super robot show than a real robot series one would expect considering Ryosuke Takahashi's other works. There's not much tension when all Eiji has to do is enter his V-Max mode to win.
The opening animation and song is exceptional as well as the closing song, which is used aptly to conclude the series. Aside from that though the music throughout the show is somewhat repetitive. Also, I found the lasers the mecha would shoot to be not as appealing compared to the ballistics and beam weapons from other series. The lasers were for the most part just jagged lines and there wasn't much of a sense of impact with them.
There were also confusing time skips, even before the official cancellation point that detracted from the viewing experience. For a hardcore mecha fan, I still think there is a lot that Layzner has to offer and I would recommend this to them.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Mar 18, 2022
This was a very good movie and I find that odd to say because it is Miyazaki and I'm not too fond of his work. Well for one, this movie is a lot more violent. But it's not done in a cringe way like Princess Mononoke. It's a lot more believable and seems less for dramatic effect and more out of desperate struggle.
Nausicaa even gets shot! They literally opened fire with a machine gun on her. I'm not saying the violence makes it good but it's done well.
I really like Nausicaa's design too. The animation was also top notch, both the fighting and Nausicaa herself,
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especially her hair. This is an aesthetic movie so you can break it up into a bunch of cool GIFs for avis and sigs (very few movies have this many GIF worthy scenes).
I saw it dubbed. The dub was very good. It sounded like they had all theater people voice the roles. They even had Patrick Stewart (I recognized his voice halfway through the film). The main actress gives a realistic performance, she doesn't sound forced at all or like she's playing a part. I like that kind of style more, I find most anime actresses overact.
Unlike most Miyazaki movies this isn't about a little girl. Nausicaa is at least a teen but could be early 20s or even much older considering how she just interacts with a bunch of elderly people and little kids. And that leads into one of the only flaws of the film. There's way, way too many old guys that all seem the same (it's kind of gives an almost Snow White and the 7 Dwarves impression with all these guys). And they take up too much screen time. The movie would be perfect if they could trim a lot of that out and focus more on Nausicaa.
The music was good and so was the story but it's the beautiful animation and character design that I liked the most. Btw there is literally an evangelion in this movie (robot with a flesh skin and then melts into a skeleton just like a dead evangelion); this sequence was also directed by Anno himself.
It's my new favorite Miyazaki film. It had a strong beginning and a really good end but the middle was kind of boring. My old favorite Kiki's I felt started a lot better than it ended but this movie has a strong beginning and ending. It was cool to see Nausicaa load and shoot a gun in the opening scene. It really sets the tone for the rest of the film that this is going to be hardcore.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Mar 18, 2022
Mellowlink is worth watching for VOTOMS fans but kind of childish for the most part. How episodic and formulaic it was killed all tension since everything would always be neatly resolved by the episode's conclusion. And it had too many lame gimmicks the creators must've thought 12 year olds would find badass like how Mellow would smear his face with blood right before killing someone and find some way to leave behind a pair of his comrades' dogtags also before each kill.
The ending though was really good and had a mature twist I wasn't expecting at all. And the animation really stepped up for the
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final episode.
The original was much better but for a hardcore fan this isn't bad. The music was also terrible; I never want to watch this again just so I can avoid hearing that lame cowboy whistle.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Mar 18, 2022
Imo it wasn't that good. I know it came before but Alita is just a robot Sailor Saturn. I also didn't like the romance in this show since Hugo's a criminal but that doesn't seem to bother Gally at all. That makes me think she's a bitch. I don't have any sympathy for her. Hugo also seemed like a dick when he kissed Gally and said they're partners in crime now. Imo it's really tone deaf since he's a guy who rips peoples spines out to sell.
And I was really disappointed with the world. I thought it would be darker and more sci-fi but the
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world of BAA is more like Samurai Jack. It's very cartoony and the robot stuff is just a mish-mash.
I thought I'd read the manga but I doubt it. It's not my kind of story. I prefer a more serious one. Was interesting to see though how this inspired Texhnolyze with the privileged city above the dark one made of junk.
If Hugo was the OVA original character I probably would've read the manga but since Chiren was, who I thought was actually decent/compelling, there's no way I'd like the manga if the author can come up with a guy like Hugo. I'm surprised this is seinen. It's probably just another one of those shounen with x-rated violence and gore kind of seinen, like Tokyo Ghoul. I hate that type.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Mar 17, 2022
SOME SPOILERS AHEAD!
This is an anime I've been wanting to see for a while. It's considered one of the most dramatic works ever produced in anime (and definitely in Gundam as a series). It's also considered to be one of the best 80s anime. This one I was able to get through in one sitting. And for the first few episodes I was surprised how quick they ended (that's how absorbed I was).
It's not as dramatic as it's made out to be but it's pretty interesting. The animation is very fluid and beautiful (sometimes it's kind of undetailed though). Usually I don't really notice good
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animation. If something's consistently good, then it doesn't really stick out. The fluid mecha movement I did strongly notice though.
The story is this goofy soldier meets this boy who sees him as a role model for being a mobile suit pilot. He uses the boy to get intel for his infiltration mission with his squad. By the end, he has to fight to the death to save the space colony they live on.
He pilots a zaku 2 (one of my favorite mecha designs). The zaku is an awesome design and I always thought the gundams were really lame and boring with how overpowered they are. So seeing the mc of this anime fight a gundam with a junked up salvaged zaku was really entertaining. My heart was racing the whole time.
I've known about Gundam 0080 for awhile and have been wanting to see it. In fact I tried to before but dropped since the kid annoyed me in the beginning but I gave it another chance and it was worth it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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