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Mar 16, 2025
I want to try and condense my thoughts as much as possible, because as a passionate nerd of science, there's a lot to nitpick.
I can appreciate Orb existing, and I think with the current climate, it's more relevant than ever. However, to those of us who get behind the messaging of this anime, there is nothing to be gained. I agree and enjoy what the show is trying to say a lot. I love science and the joy of collaboration through centuries, the pursuit of knowledge, and the ability to question the status quo.
Despite how much I agree with those statements, this anime
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feels like the equivalent of someone talking your ear off about something you know too much about and absolutely don't need to be told. That's my main issue with this anime; it's not entertaining. There are no characters; they are talking pieces for different philosophical ideas. The vast majority of scenes are literally just characters A and B talking and talking and talking, not in any sort of interesting way. I would have a better time reading a textbook than watching this because the textbook doesn't try to hide behind a facade of being entertaining.
To the people who are deeply impacted by this anime, who needed to hear these important perspectives spelled out to them and certainly weren't going to go out of their way to find those opinions, this is great. Anime is a far less intimidating way to teach someone about philosophical perspectives, but again, for those of us who already agreed and knew these perspectives, there is nothing to be gained.
From a cinematic perspective, there is nothing here. The animation budget is clearly very cheap as, again, characters just stand around and talk, barely moving. Yet, the show tries to give the illusion that it's keeping up with the modern anime greats in quality, and the backgrounds look great. Kensuke Ushio brings a great dark and brooding soundtrack (if not a bit repetitive), and the first episode wasted the majority of the budget. Characters are far more expressive with excessive hand gestures and secondary actions, more well-planned and interesting camera work, etc. The characters themselves look extremely boring and bland.
I'll briefly say the actual science in this anime is oddly overlooked. Much time isn't spent on really discovering how astronomy works, to look at both heliocentrism and geocentrism and how these two models were really conceived. Heliostrism didn't just appear; it took more work and collaboration than this anime offers. They treat heliocentrism like some sort of underground movement when it wasn't. Much of our modern science was heavily scrutinized, but for every doubter, there were droves of supporters who brought their own ideas to the mix. Maybe this idea could have been conveyed better if it wasn't such a well-documented scientific discovery. The anime really boils down to "what if it was like this actually," and then they do the flashy white screen eureka moment. Granted, I don't think everyone is going to find true, true scientific discovery to be as interesting, but certainly, for those of us who are deeply entrenched in science, it's a bit frustrating. Actual science is barely discussed and more time is spent with the characters "researching and writing" about what exactly? I don't know they barely talk about it. They hide the main focus of their studies from us because they're more worried about talking about philosophy than astronomy. Which is a shame since that's the whole topic the anime centers on.
The anime chose to be neither an entertaining story with philosophical influence nor a retelling of history. It's been left in this weird, boring limbo. Again, to those who aren't as involved in these sorts of circles, maybe you'll enjoy it, but it certainly wasn't for me from either a scientific or artistic/cinematic perspective.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Mar 2, 2025
It had potential...
The main thing I think ruined this anime for me was the structure and pacing. It could have been a lovely story about these three couples developing feelings and general friendships towards each other. I don't get the point of all the characters being in the film club if it's barely utilized. The three couples just stick to themselves and have minimal interactions with other characters, even though they're all in the same club. Sure, Ichikawa talks to Mao a couple of times (only when making movies and keeping relatively professional), and Rei and Jin are friends. But what matters is that
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the characters don't bounce off each other at all. It would have been the perfect opportunity to flesh out the characters more if we got to know them as club friends first before directly diving into the relationships alone.
My favorite aspect of the anime is the relationships; the first two I found really enjoyable. The third one was...a little weird. Shion is honestly just confusing. I get that it's easy to say you have wanted a boyfriend all your life, but the second you actually get one, it's a different story. But I feel like Shion being slightly nervous is just artificially made for there to be the slightest bit of tension when really the relationship has no issues. They don't get to see each other as often as they'd like, not really a big deal, kinda sucks, but I don't really care. And really, I just felt no chemistry between the two, and the sex scene felt really forced in order to just say they made the quota for each couple doing it.
That's a part of the issues I had with it. I get it, it's 12 episodes, they need to go at a moderate speed if they want to actually tell the full story. But they'll spend a maximum of two episodes of the characters coming to their feelings, near-instant reciprocation, and then sex. And then they move on to the next couple and completely forget about the others. Until the very end, sorta. It's just really frustrating; I don't feel anything towards these characters because instead of developing them all simultaneously, they just dump the previous characters for the next. They really do have a good progression system for it as well. Mao works with Ichikawa, therefore maybe flesh him about a bit more so when it does start to shift more towards Ichikawa, we get him on a deeper level, same with Rei. He's childhood friends with Gin, maybe have them interact a bit more to get more insight into Rei. But there's just none of that.
It's a very vapid story because the presentation completely failed the couples. Again, I like the couples. I think they're sweet, and I'm glad this story is unapologetically gay, but I just can't be invested enough to consider this a good anime when the execution falls super flat.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jan 2, 2025
** A big disclaimer about this review: I am a big fan of Osomatsu-kun ('66 and '88), and I think this review can basically be dismissed by anyone who experiences Osomatsu for the first time because my opinions are heavily biased. However, if you're like me, a kun fan looking to see if the sequel is worth it, this is for you. If you don't watch Kun first, you will likely like this series more.
"How do you adapt a Showa Era anime into the modern age?" a question the first episode asks, and it is one I was certainly curious about myself. And this
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series had a lot of promise in the first episode. The first episode was one of the only times this show got an audible laugh out of me as it parodies the many tired and pretty terrible tropes modern anime suffer from. I was excited it was self-aware enough not to fall into the tropes modern anime has laid out for it; it would continue to be its silly, whacky self. And yet, after the first episode, we get to see what the show will actually be like: this practically humorless show that has not only dived head first into modern anime comedy but also flanderizing all of its characters.
Firstly, I know it's a bit ironic to say the characters were flanderized when the boys finally have unique personalities from each other, and this is the only time I think that was the right change to make. Admittedly, the boys are indistinguishable from each other and barely play a role outside of being carbon copies of Osomatsu. But I think a lot of weird decisions were made for the guys in general. I think what really bothered me most was Jyushimatsu's characterization. Why does he act like that? The show asks this question, and I was curious about how they'd write this shift in his character. Oh wait, they don't. As the scene goes, the guys look through a photo album to see when the shift occurred, around 10th grade, "what happened in 10th grade to cause this? Oh wait, never mind, in his baby pictures, he was like this anyway" ????? What does this mean, where is the joke. It's lazy writing is what it is. The writers are too focused on doing exactly what they made fun of in the first episode and making their personalities tropes that female fans will latch onto. There is like really obvious gay-baiting in some scenes, which is probably why a weird amount of the fanbase are pro shippers, which really rubs me the wrong way that this show is leaning into that. It's uncomfortable.
All the side characters that I love more than the Matsuno brothers have been completely destroyed. In my opinion, they are purely their catchphrases. Iyami = sheeeh, Dayon = dayon, Chibita = baro, etc. They aren't characters. They're simply there to wave in the face of the viewers and say, "LOOK, LOOK, WE SAID THE THING, THE FUNNY THING THAT YOU LAUGH AT THEY SAID THE CATCHPHRASE." I am not about to lie and say that these phrases weren't used constantly throughout kun, and they are iconic. But that wasn't all these characters were. Iyami just walks around saying sheeh at everything instead of being an actual character who does anything. I was genuinely pissed when the entire joke for one gag was him reacting accordingly with his sheehs to Dayon showing him different poop sizes... Really?
Hatabou is a disappointment, I've always loved him and his cute innocence, which he basically remains the same, but now his new gimmick is that he shoves flag poles up peoples' asses for some reason. Because Hatabou always has a flag on his head, therefore we need to make that his one character trait and also make as many crude jokes about it as possible.
There are several bits in the series where the entire gag is Dayon and Dekapan saying nothing but their catchphrases, and that's the joke. LAUGH. Dekapan and Dayon used to be fun and competent characters, Dayon was often depicted as a competent business owner or CEO and although goofy was still an actual guy. Now all he does is say "dayon" and blow everyone away with his gigantic mouth. His mouth was made fun of repeatedly throughout Kun, but that was kept as one joke in a much larger episode. But if "dayon" and "haha big mouth" is your punchline, just come on... The '66 show was funny when showing Dayon because they'd overexaggerate his mouth movements so much in a show that was extremely still, so half the joke was just them putting that much effort into his goofy animations. Same with Dekpan, often shown to be a professor, even god, he was a loveable, goofy old man who usually always had his best interest for the other characters, and now he's mean and just nothing.
Totoko isn't as bad, but I'm still displeased with her. So, where did this whole fish thing come from? She spends the bulk of her screen time trying to become an idol with a fish theme. This fish thing is never something that came up on kun so it just comes off as confusing. I think she was handled the best of the supporting cast, still selfish and fame and money hunger as ever so my complaints are fewer. I just wish she could have tried a few more schemes instead of sticking to this failed idol gig for so long.
San fails to acknowledge any of the connections the characters actually share with each other. One thing I loved about Kun is despite all the characters being awful to each other, at the end of the day, they're still family and friends, but none of this is seen within the show. The 2nd to last episode was one of the few I actually enjoyed because, for the first time in the whole series, they actually cared about each other. Yes, Osomatsu is a comedy first and foremost, but that didn't stop kun from sprinkling in genuine sweet character moments. For example, san adapts a story from kun about a flower growing into a cute girl who becomes Chibita's girlfriend. This was one of my favorite episodes of kun for not only being really funny but also showing a very sweet and caring relationship between the girl and Chibita. But, in san, because of the much shorter run time for individual segments, Chibita complains about her being around for so long that by the time she leaves, he finally shows her any compassion, which feels extremely forced. So, my question is, why did you need to have Chibita have this almost tsundere-type personality for the majority of the segment? I felt zero connection between the two by the time it mattered. There's only so much you can take of awful characters doing awful things to each other without a break. And I love jerks; they're my favorite kinds of characters, but they need some form of heart to be likable.
The last thing I'll say is that comedy is just bad in general, whether you're a fan or not. But even worse, I'd say, for Kun fans since the comedy has taken a massive nosedive. I almost feel like this is the same thing that happens to kid shows that get mature reboots in the West; we're mature now, so that means we have to be as vulgar as possible. This is fine to a degree, and I can believably see the sextuplets turning into these losers, but one thing I didn't think was missing from Kun was the excessive poop and sex jokes. The gag where Jyushimatsu gets injected with something and it gives him giant balls cemented my opinion on the show right then and there. It's really immature. The guys get naked a ridiculous amount of times, and it's never funny. It's just stupid.
The show is at its best when it tries doing longer episodes. The Iyami race episode, the Rental Girlfriend one, and the 2nd to last were my favorite episodes because I think they stuck to the absurdous formula of kun instead of writing one-joke-segments that ended before they had any chance to get anything going. I love how insane the race episode was, with characters displaying their godlike powers to knock everyone out and Iyami just casually being a robot for the episode; sure, let's go with it; I'm having fun. Not to mention, the ending of that episode featuring unnecessary sakuga only adds to it. Like, do this, be insane, and don't be afraid to step outside the comfort zone of typical slice-of-life comedies. This is Osomatsu, they can fight melon aliens or be literal gods, anything is possible and I just wish that they were brave enough to take those steps consistently instead of this results we got. Lacking any real humor or substance.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Dec 2, 2024
I don't really know who this was made for. It's in this sort of weird limbo state for fans of Conan or those completely new to the series. However, this is probably my very personal opinion, I really don't like this style of comedy for Conan. You watch Conan for so long, and you get really used to the tone of the show, so this weird comedy seems very disorienting. But that's pretty much my only issue. The comedy is just okay, and it's a weird change from normal Conan. But, for a comedy anime, if the comedy falls flat, so does the entire show,
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and that's why I find this whole anime pretty mid.
There are things to enjoy and why I wish the comedy was better. I like the art style; I like to see the reimagined designs of the Conan characters, especially Conan himself. He looks more like the early seasons of Conan, which I've always preferred. I like all of them except for Ran because why is her hair spike just sticking straight out of the middle of her hair lol? I was surprised that I enjoyed Hanzawa as much as I did for literally being a featureless person, there was something charming about the way he expressed himself. Also, major points for me because I love Shouta Aoi and it was a nice surprise to hear him (missed opportunity that they didn't get him to do the OP).
There were a few things I liked about the comedy. Conan is a bit of a ridiculous series, yet it requires you to suspend disbelief. So when this show makes fun of Conan, it can be fun and refreshing to see the show become more self-aware.
Anyway, I wouldn't say it was worth it, but then again, there are only 12 episodes, 10 minutes each. If you're a Conan fan, that's the equivalent of 2 seconds in comparison to everything else, so this means nothing to you, you might as well check it out. But if you've been debating about watching it or not, nah it's not really worth it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Nov 16, 2024
Maybe expecting this to be anything even similar to Nichijou was a big mistake, but I had hoped this anime would be something similar to it. Still, I think there's a lot of appeal in just reliving the high school days and the unique experiences it allowed us to have with friends. And I got none of that with this anime. For a final comparison to Nichijou, despite it being insanely more whacky and outlandish, I found it way more relatable than this anime.
Daily Life of High School Boys is really frustrating because it continues to be on the cusp of something fun and
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relatable. But my hopes really started to die away by the first episode. I thought it was charming that the characters would just decide to randomly pretend they were in an RPG regardless of how dumb they looked, and I think that's an important quality to highlight. High school can often be a time when we try to hide and abandon our true selves and/or our favorite hobbies for fear that it may make us look dumb to our peers. So, a true friendship where they can just do what they want is great. One thing I liked about this anime was the real sense of friendship. At first, I thought the student council might in some way be the antagonists or bullies to our trio, but they're not. They make jabs at each other, but at the end of the day, they're friends, and it's very refreshing.
But here in lies the problem. As nice as it is to be reminded we can have fun regardless of how we're judged, they do it near constantly. They really can seem like elementary school kids at times. And shouldn't have taken up the bulk of the scenarios. Unless this is just what theater kids do to kill time? I remember playing RPGs with my friends over, and we'd make up our own silly voices for the characters as we played and had a lot of fun in that, so there's definitely something nostalgic it could have tapped into, but it missed its mark.
Now for the comedy itself. I probably exhaled air about 5 times during the whole run of this series. There are some "cute" jokes in this that I found mildly amusing, and that's about it. Episode 1 was probably the funniest, mainly because you don't know yet that the series will never try to stray from the very simple jokes. And that's just it; the show is safe and doesn't really try to make a lot of unique jokes. And unfortunately, when they do make a good joke, it's oftentimes that they just drag it out too long, and it loses any punch it had. I enjoyed the joke about the characters slipping into puddles, but after the 2nd or 3rd time, you know what to expect; there's no subversion anymore. Repeating the joke does not make it funnier. Then a lot of the time I can barely even identify the joke. I understand the show can be very lowkey, but it's to the point where I can't even figure out where I'm supposed to laugh. There were a lot of times a scene would end, and all I was left to think was, "ok..." and it gets hard to watch that over and over again.
Characters: I'm gonna say it straight off the bat: I really do not like the way basically any of the female characters are written. Yassan is fun, and Ringo is cute and probably the best-written of them, but that's about it. I get it. It's an anime about high school boys, but I get weird objectification vibe from them. I hated the skit where the entire point was just to look up Ringo's skirt, and that's the entire joke. I don't care if they feel ashamed afterward; that's something you don't do. The other girls are just really annoying. They all attack the boys for literally no reason. The scene where they try to shave Motoharu's beard is so weird? Like this literal toddler-type behavior, it's so weird. I'm not asking for these girls to act like your typical dere girls because I'd probably hate them even more, but it's just weird how randomly hostile and loud literally all of them are. There were some real missed opportunities. I liked that at the start, Motoharu seemed to have a great relationship with his sister, which was a bit healthier than most siblings, but then she also turned out to be crazy. It would have been a nice example to show that it's cool to have a great friendship with your sister. Something, again, can easily be made fun of in high school. Anyway, the post-credit funky high school girls... They're super obnoxious, and they don't end up tying into anything by the end, purely pointless. All they do is try to make themselves more appealing to boys, which, again, goes back to that weird objectification. It's taken to the 11th degree, so sure, it's still comedy, but it's just awkward. Plus, they make the same K-on movie joke twice, which is wild to see them just casually not address.
The guys aren't much better, they're all so bland and they all blend into each other. I thought the main trio was gonna be fun to bounce off each other at first, but then they barely showed up together for the entire series, and I think that led to a lot of the show suffering because I think a decent dynamic could have been built off of them. It was annoying going into a lot of the different skits because you first had to try and figure out how the characters would react to each other. A lot of comedy revolves around you knowing the characters and their personalities; personalities bounce off each other, and that's what makes for some fun dynamics. So when you don't know what boy A thinks of boy B then you just sit there and watch the joke blandly play out.
Lastly, art and music. The art is really bland. Some of the characters look cute, but most of them are average. Some of them look really ugly, some unintentional. I think it was more of a time crunch thing vs anything else, but still, there are a lot of not great shots in this. Because of this blandness, it makes it even harder to determine who's who unless they have some obvious distinguishing factor. Why do the student council boys look so similar to the main trio? There's no point. The girls aren't good either, a lot of them have very similar hair styles so a lot of the time, the characters had to directly say who they were before I understood anything. Also really hated how basically all the girls didn't have eyes. Except for Ringo and Yassan. Just why? It got pretty distracting and only made telling them apart harder. And for the music, it was pretty annoying. So much of it was repeated throughout the series, and it gets grating, especially the skit transition music. A lot of the music I wouldn't mind I think it sounds fine, and I actually like the heavy use of electric guitar, but there's not enough variety. The OP and ED are fiiiine. The ED has a weird charm to it for me, but I know that's just my incredibly weird tastes in music saying that, and to the average person would probably find it rather eargrating.
Anyway, this anime is crazy mid, don't watch it. It's just a waste of time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Oct 23, 2024
As popular as Osomatsu-san is, it's really disappointing how under-looked Osomatsu-kun is. I genuinely love this show so much. Episodic comedies aren't for everyone, but for anyone who does, this is the perfect show. I love that the setup for an episode can literally be anything where characters are all in different positions in every episode. It leads to infinite possibilities and a bunch of fun scenarios that a more grounded show could never get away with. It's really impressive to me that there is a large cast of characters that all manage to fit into each episode without being forced or underutilized. Few shows
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can really make me cackle, but this show does it for me, I love goofy faces and slapstick. The art style is also really silly, and I love that they never hold back.
All the characters are awful personality-wise; they're all mean and selfish, BUT I love that about them. I'm happy the show isn't afraid to just have a bunch of losers beating each other up. (I mean, except for Hatabou, he is a god amongst man and I will always cherish his pure heart). But because of their characters, when they do show heart and have a real sincere moment, you feel it even more. When the love for characters is tested or in dire situations, these characters do care for each other. It's great to me that a series full of comedy can handle the genuine moments so well.
Admittedly, there are definitely some mid episodes, but all the ones that handle the character relationships are written so well I'd swear they spend more time on those because they always give me the feels.
But that's where my 9 comes in instead of a 10/10. Inevitably, a series that runs for 86 episodes is going to have some stinkers. I can't really think of any episode I outwardly hated, but there are just some where you can tell they were really reaching for a story that almost veers in "lol random" territory. Sometimes, they don't really have a direction, and it's just a series of random jokes.
That, and just Totoko as a character. I think Totoko herself is really funny, but I hate her constant weird sexualization. None of the characters' ages are given, and they constantly change for plot convenience, but there are definitely times when older characters are attracted to her and also do quite a few panty shots. It also just feels weird that they age her up at all, and the second she's considered an adult, they take full advantage to sexualize her. It's a shame, outside of some mid comedy at times, this is my main big hold-up. And I wish they weren't so unrelenting about this. I'd really like to enjoy Totoko more if they just decided to do anything else with her.
Anyway with that little bit out of the way, I still think this show deserves the watch, it's unique, it's fun, and has some of the funniest characters ever!
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Sep 19, 2024
I held on until the very end in the hopes that this manga would improve, but now that it's over, it's trash.
The manga tries to delve into the psychological aspect a lot but severely fails at that. I don't feel attached to Gift at all as a protagonist because his logic is so ungrounded from reality that you cannot relate to him. The common argument is that he is suffering from some kind of mental disorder or trauma, which there are signs of, but it's never explicitly shown or even implied that this is the case. Gift is extremely reactionary, and where you can easily
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draw parallels to neurodivergent people, it's really ridiculous in these scenarios. Gift has trauma, yes, because of his parent's divorce, which is not revealed until the last few chapters of the manga. And divorce does not lead to murder, speaking from someone who's parents divorced, we're not wired like that.
I feel like if Gift is supposed to be a neurodivergent character, he does more to stigmatize us than anything else. As I said, his train of thought is so irrational that it's awful to sit through while everyone can see how the situations can easily be de-escalated. I am neurodivergent, too, nowhere near as severe as Gift if he has it, but I can certainly understand being trapped in your thoughts and definitely going about situations unconventionally; however, I was constantly rolling my eyes at how mellow dramatic the plot and characters were.
Gift is not the only problem either, literally all the other characters don't run on any sort of realistic logic. Kadomi is relatively similar to Gift in the way she goes about things. Blackmailing him for stealing paints, and for what? As a kid, her friends stole a sticker that was important to her. How is she drawing these connections? To build up these grudges to the point that you're just bullying people in fairly unrelated cases is ridiculous logic. Again, Kadomi certainly is not mentally well either, and that's why she goes to extremes. But I think that's my main criticism of the characters. Authors usually do a better job of at least cluing the audience in on the characters' mental state fairly soon, at least soon enough for the rest of the plot to make sense and let it stew. However, we don't properly delve into the character's inner workings till they're about to die... Great, cool, thanks.
The stakes especially never seem as high as we're meant to take them because after it's revealed that Gift stole the paints, we never see Taima or Kokomi again. The fact that neither of them was friends with Gift anymore is what drove him to suicide, and yet they don't leave much of an impression on us. Taima slapping Gift for stealing his paints and Kokomi breaking up with Gift, saying that she lost all her trust in him, seems hyperbolic. Reading the comments of every chapter, everyone, including myself, thought that if Gift could simply admit that he had stolen the paints, none of this would have happened. Or better yet, waited till Taima got back from the bathroom and simply asked, "Hey, I ran out of red. Can I borrow some of yours?" But we don't get that. Instead, you're left feeling confused about why they act so drastically. Even if I found out that one of my friends stole something from me, I'd be more confused and ask questions than anything else. Taima did see Gift in high regard, but I think unless you're literally dealing with worshipping levels, no one is reacting like this, at least that quickly. And maybe Tamia DID see Gift in that way, too bad we only got to spend one chapter in Taima's mind for it to never be explored again and quickly forgotten by most readers.
I could go on, but I won't; this manga is just awful. It may be short, but it is just not worth it. It's a shame that some of the panels could look interesting with a mix of art mediums, but that was about the only positive I can give it...
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jun 24, 2024
Now and Then, Here and There is a hidden gem, I believe. The story has a strong sense of flow throughout the entire thing, and for just 13 episodes, they pack a lot in each one while still not feeling rushed. There are plenty of quiet moments which I see as very important moments for character building. The anime will constantly bombard you with a lot of heavy topics, but I believe they're handled well; we can see how traumatizing it is for the characters going through what they do. The villain, King Hamdo, is genuinely evil, and while some anime might brush over or
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even see what he does as a quirk, this story treats him like the worthless piece of dirt that he is, which is extremely refreshing. The story is straightforward in that way: good side vs bad. Hamdo is not a sympathetic villain, and sometimes, that's all a story needs.
The series has minor psychological elements, such as the many lies and deceptions characters are constantly faced with. This makes for a fascinating conflict that allows the audience to latch onto the characters quickly.
I do think the story could have benefitted from some more episodes. It easily could have been expanded. While I say they accomplished a lot in 13 episodes, I think for me to turn my 9 into a 10, more characters could have been explored. I think, especially for characters like Abelia or Sara, it's clear they have a lot of mental baggage. I won't spoil anything, but I think that just getting to flesh them out a bit more would be great. And also to give Shu a bit more character development. I do enjoy a peppy protagonist, but I can't say he really grew as a person from the whole experience. From the first scene of the show, Shu is shown to only brute force things; I'd assume he'd learn a bit more strategy and that going in head first may result in costly effects. However, that doesn't really change. It seems like a wasted opportunity for a perfectly set-up point of growth.
Other than that, it's hard for me to complain. The animation is really nice. The character designs are really simple allowing for some pretty impressive sakuga moments, the music is loud and impressive, and the backgrounds are all works of art. If you're looking for a quick trip into a drama, action, and psychologically driven story, you can't go wrong with this.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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May 7, 2024
A disappointing and utter waste of time.
I intentionally went into the movie completely blind and only assumed I'd be in for a light-hearted and fun ride, and that's not what I got. The movie presents itself as if it were just one of those universally enjoyed movies, but the plot falls flat. I think the animation and music are great and very beautiful, but that's where my positives end.
I think Aoyama is a really bad main character, not just as a character but as our lead. His being a super genius takes away the child-like wonder I think this movie tried to convey.
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There are very small moments where his theories are silly kid thoughts, but those are far and few in between. He lacks an actual personality outside of being smart, too. He never works off any of the other characters who, while they aren't anything special themselves, are leagues more interesting than him by comparison. And one of the only running gags is that he ogles the woman's boobs in almost every scene they're together... That's supposed to be funny?
The plot is so convoluted and strange. I feel like the writers just took ideas and jammed them together and didn't bother to sort those ideas out concisely; they just left it as a mess. Things are never explained. Why could the lady make penguins? This pseudo-ocean's energy? Okay, but what even is that ocean? That's simply the name the kids call it. Is she an alien? Plenty of ideas are thrown out there, but nothing is stated. I feel like a part of that ambiguity is supposed to be a theme of the movie: to stay curious and have that childlike wonder. Well, I might be more inclined to have my own theories if you actually gave me stuff to work with. They just present information in a very confusing way and expect you to follow along whether it makes any sense or not.
I don't usually watch any anime for the sake of cute animals or any moe really. That wasn't why I wanted to watch this movie, but they really aren't important to the plot of a movie called Penguin Highway. Yes, they spur the characters into action, and they help the characters get out of a few situations, but for most of the movie, they just kind of exist. You'd think that they'd be more relevant or have some deeper meaning, but no. I think this was easily just a ploy to get people to enjoy the movie more. Let's shove cute animals and the hints of a deeper plot and hope everyone just believes it actually was that. There's just nothing here.
I came into this movie knowing nothing, and I left knowing nothing.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Apr 1, 2024
This movie feels like the anime equivalent of the Final Fantasy VII remake.
While the movie looks extremely visually impressive, it's all style without substance or lack of style in this case. In every single case, without exception, I prefer stylized designs over hyperrealistic ones. Leiji Matsumoto's designs and characters have an extremely distinctive, instantly recognizable look, but they've been robbed of those stand-out qualities to just look realistic.
While I find the CGI to look impressive, the characters' movements seem really weird. They are clearly mo-capped, which isn't bad by itself, but they have this weird, flowy quality that almost makes it hard to
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watch them. The hair physics engine they use is clearly too sensitive, so even when they stand still and talk, their hair is influenced by that. It's a minor gripe but one I continually noticed throughout the movie.
I was not too fond of how the characters were treated. While I did enjoy Kei being of more use than in the original series, she is a lot harder now and not as soft, which made her really charming in the original. Outside of her and Harlock, the characters have no distinctive personalities. Miime and Yattaran are only recognizable in design and don't resemble much of their original selves outside of that. Yattaran was also a goofy character who made model ships. He meant business when it came out, but he isn't his own character here.
I also did not like Yama. He was more of the main character than Harlock and quite dull. He's at war with his brother throughout the movie, and Harlock just pitches in to help out. Yama has no real personality, and I wasn't invested in his story. I hate how the Harlock characters became so sidelined because of him; it was a major disappointment.
Lastly, the movie simply didn't have that Harlock and Matsumoto charm. While Harlock was mainly a drama-oriented series, there were lighter moments where the crew just had fun and felt like a family. That is stripped away here. While I understand that this is a movie, so that can't pad up that limited time with those moments if Yama's scenes were cut, you easily could flesh out Harlock's crew. I'm disappointed only Harlock, his bird, Kei, Yattaran, and Miime were brought back; his entire crew had a lot of charm, like the doctor, engineer, cook, and even Mayu. Tochiro is barely mentioned and serves a very small purpose.
So, it's not a good movie on its own, and it's not a good movie for Harlock fans. Do not watch. It's technically impressive, so if you want to just look at some shots and be inspired, that's about the only positives you can glean from this.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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