Back to Yxel's Profile Yxel's Profile

This is officially the first negative review of Ouran High School Host Club on MAL... which is weird, considering how terrible a show it is.

Now before all else, let me just say that I'm a guy. That means I'm MALE, and that this show's target demographic does not include me. I am well aware of this fact, and all the more baffled because of it.

I'm going to skip over the "humor" and the characters and the plot and everything else and go straight for the one thing that made me hate this anime: Ouran is quite possibly the most sexist anime I've ever ... seen. It discriminates and bashes on women more than any other show I've ever seen, including those stupid slave/maid hentai shows.

One scene in particular illustrates this very well:
Haruhi sees some of the Host Club's clients getting bullied by a couple of men, and she stands up to the bullies. The rest of the Host Club rush to her aid, protect her, and then scold her for taking things into her own hands. If that weren't enough, the show villainizes Haruhi afterwards, making it seem as if she did something wrong. She is forced to (rather, guilt-tripped into) apologize for acting "rashly" (aka "doing something").

Why does this happen?

Oh right, because Haruhi is a woman. And women are supposed to do nothing but sit around all day at the top of castles and wait for their knights in shining armor to rescue them. Yeah.

That's the VICTORIAN AGE, people. This is the 21st century. Here, we have women screaming their lungs off about women's rights. There's women's suffrage. Women have been working their asses off for this past century to establish themselves in Americ-

OH, THAT'S RIGHT. This was made in JAPAN, the land of the Office Lady and tentacle porno, where women are treated like dirt and paid accordingly. Apparently, animation companies think they like being treated like dirt. And with the insane popularity of this series, you'd think women actually feel that way.

I can sum my Barefoot Gen experience up in one word: ANNOYING.

It was so damn annoying! I was ripping at my hair as Gen ripped at his!

So why was it so irritating?


First, Gen's voice. He has the most annoying voice I've heard in any anime to date. I don't know if people liked hearing voices like this in 1983, but from a 2010 viewpoint, I couldn't stand it. It's loud, obnoxious, and stays that way all throughout the movie.

I'm sitting here, trying desperately to see the emotional qualities of the movie, and this voice comes out of nowhere, blasting at my ... ears and detracting from what little sentimental elements there are.


Which leads into my second point. The characters are distant. This is no After Story. The characters aren't shallow, yet they seem to be hopelessly so! How is this possible?

Well, the first half hour is spent trying to connect us with the characters. But it fails. It fails horribly. Part of this is due to Gen's horrific voice, but part of this is due to the not-so-autobiographical nature of the movie - my third point.


Yes, this is based on Nakazawa's own experiences, but it is (quoth Wikipedia) "loosely based." That means it shouldn't be taken as 100% true. And thank God it's not, since there are so many stereotypes in it. The old man lets you get away with the fish? Oh goody. I could care less. The woman suddenly changes her mind?

Because it's both autobiographical and fiction, there's an incompatible mix of the horrors Nakazawa experienced and the stereotypes he didn't. Even if he did witness them, I'm sure they weren't as awkwardly presented as in the film. The old man stares Gen down for what seems like a whole hour while Gen and his brother try desperately to guilt trip him. Huh. Is that really how it goes in real life? The woman changes her mind in two frames. Woah, now that was fast. I wonder if she even had time to think!


But enough about Barefoot Gen's faults. Let's see what good things it has to offer:

1) The horrific sights and sounds of Hiroshima. I didn't find it hard to watch, but it sure is something. I especially liked the accuracy of the storytelling (dropping the bomb on the T-bridge, the rain, the water, the dead and half-dead, even the maggots). If you've never learned about WWII or the bomb, this is going to be a wake-up call. If, like me, you already know about what happened, this might not be as shocking, but it's still worthwhile to see.

2) There's nothing else.


Barefoot Gen is essentially an animated documentary of the bomb. That's all there is. If you want to see a good WWII anime, go watch Ushiro no Shoumen Daare or Grave of the Fireflies. Don't watch Barefoot Gen. If you want to see a drama, don't watch Barefoot Gen. If you want to see a story, don't watch Barefoot Gen. If you want to see an anime, don't watch Barefoot Gen.

But if you really want to watch Barefoot Gen, skip to 30:00 and leave it on for ten minutes. You'll be blown away (very mean-spirited pun unintended). Just don't watch any more, or you'll be painfully disappointed.

Asano Inio is the unsung Aesop of our time. He weaves his set of ideals and his take on life into his manga, teaching and inspiring us time and time again.

In this compilation of short stories, Inio tries to teach us one thing, saying it directly on the first and last pages of the second volume: "This world that we live in is gentle yet sad, fun yet sorrowful, strong yet ephemeral..." / "...but as long as you're alive, something good is bound to happen. I'm sure of it."

______

Each and every one of the stories shows struggle. They show how terrible "ordinary" ... life can be. Two friends separate because one becomes "popular." A father who is too engrossed with his job to go back for even his child's birthday. A couple with a hollow relationship.

Each and every one of the stories shows hope. Sometimes, bullies can be real people. Sometimes a person can realize their worth. Sometimes two people can make up.

Each and every one of the stories doesn't overdo the hope. The working father doesn't suddenly quit his job to spend time with his son. The hollow relationship stays at "casual talk" level. The two friends are still separated. But at least there's a glimmer of hope.

And that's what separates Inio from other mangaka. You can be as inspirational as you want, but if you don't pull through and deny your readers that ultimately "happy" ending, it's no good. "Happy" endings often ruin anime and manga for me. I don't want to see a tragedy with a deus ex machina ending (lookin' at you, After Story...). When bad things happen, they happen. There's no miracle. What a Wonderful World doesn't show a utopia because it isn't meant to - this world is wonderful because there is a glimmer of "hope", not because everybody gets to live happily ever after.

______

The main appeal of this manga is in its bittersweet story and the themes Inio has placed in it - the chronicles of the struggles, dreams, and ambitions of regular people. That said, though, the other aspects aren't lacking at all. The art is top-notch, the characters are amazingly deep, and every single panel has a purpose. Even if you aren't a fan of realistic manga, this work of art would still be appealing.

______

In the last chapter, tragedy strikes. The ultimate tragedy - something almost worse than death. But in the midst of this, Inio devotes his only two-page spread to show that there is hope. Even if life after this tragedy is like hell, one day, something good will happen.

What a wonderful world indeed.

What's amazing about the other reviews of this anime is that they all say "2 of 2 episodes seen." How my fellow reviewers managed to stay sane after watching 76 minutes of this torture, I don't know, but I feel sorry for them. Heck, I feel sorry for myself.

Apocalypse Zero is a unique show. Unlike the other shows on the Anime Wall of Shame, Apocalypse Zero's problem lies not in its story, art, sound, or characters. Sure, it has some abysmal background music, and the characters are pretty shallow, but all in all, it's a "bad" show - not an "unwatchable" ... one.

What pushes Apocalypse Zero over the edge is how god damn disgusting it is. Elfen Lied has nothing on this show. Move over, Berserk. I'd rather watch the little girl in Eiken than see a single second of Apocalypse Zero again. I don't know about the second episode, but the first episode has one monstrosity of a character - a 99% naked ugly giantess with no good aspects.

Now if this were a horror show, I could somewhat understand. But Apocalypse Zero tries to play down the disgusting sight by weaving it into the storyline, providing the audience with ample time to blow chunks and shit bricks. After a few minutes, it becomes comical. And it's just that much worse.

Here you see something straight out of Satan's worst nightmares dancing around your screen. You try to scream, but you can't say a word. Then it gets worse. Nothing can save you now. You watch in horror as this playful abomination reveals her twisted personality and all you want is to wake up. Somebody stop it. Please. You beg and plead. Wait, is this... is this what you think it is? Yes, there's no doubt. Fanservice. From this monster. I-Is that a breast she's rubbing, or is it a tumor? Oh God. Mercifully, you pass out before your eyes start to bleed. It's over.

This is worse than 2girls1cup, meatspin, or any kiddy shock site you've ever heard of. This is beyond that. This is pure torture - and that's an understatement.

When I picked TO up, its MAL rating was at 6.75 (and is probably going to get even lower). Daunted by this low score, I didn't know whether to watch it or not.

Thank God I did.


==[Pros]==

- Art/Animation. Though this show may be 100% CG, it's 100% good CG. The second episode proves that. Save the characters, everything is so beautiful. There's no glitches and mishaps you might see with hand-drawn works.

- Soundtrack. A lot of the time, the show simply pans out to let you soak in the art. And it plays some great background music at the ... same time. I usually don't take much note of a show's BGM, but TO really brought it out with minimal dialog and maximal (?) music.

- Sci-Fi. The best sci-fi (except mecha) stories make the technology seem both believable and commonplace. TO accomplishes this. It combines the new, creative ideas of light-speed traveling and planet colonization with the age-old plots of "man waits for woman" and "Romeo and Juliet." The sci-fi puts a fresh new spin on the plots, and the plots make the sci-fi believable. It's a win-win-win combination: the sci-fi is improved, the plots are un-cliched, and the viewers are guaranteed a great show.


==[Cons]==

- The design of the Bazooka in Episode One. Honestly, that looks like a giant phallic symbol. It looked wrong the moment I saw it, and I couldn't unsee it.

- CG'd characters. The animation only slips up with the characters. Though normal people fidget and move around, most anime don't show that. CG is different - if you don't make a CG character move around, it looks eerily unnatural. However, TO goes overboard, making the characters move around TOO much.

- CG in general. A lot of people claim to be hand-drawn purists, but CG is in just about every anime (except for Miyazaki works). TO just takes it to the next level. I will admit that it took a while for me to get used to the CG, but it wasn't much of a problem after ten minutes or so.

- Physics. A lot of the stuff that happens doesn't follow the laws of physics. People can't change direction in space by swimming. You can't break through a window in a space station that easily.


==[Conclusion]==

I guess a lot of people must have dismissed this show as CG crap after watching one minute of it, or brainwashed mecha fans like more action with their sci-fi, because this show is clearly underrated. I suggest you look past the CG and see the true value of TO. You'll be glad you did.

And thus ends of the best and most underrated comedies of 2009. Nyan Koi is a complete work of art.

==[Pros]==

- Humor. This comedy doesn't fail to deliver on its most important aspect. Whether it's the sudden change from Mizuno's dramatic yakuza ringtone to a completely serene scene or a shot of Junpei and the twins licking popsicles, Nyan Koi never disappoints. The humor in this show is both crude and refined, direct and indirect. Nyan Koi is funny, and isn't afraid to show it.

- Junpei. He is a great male lead - one of the greatest I've ever seen. ... At first glance, he looks average... almost... too average. But he is the ultimate in tsukkomi, a straight man rivaling Kyon of Haruhi and Shinpachi of Gintama. His well timed expressions can often make the worst humor (worst of the best, that is.) seem unbearably funny.

- Humor. Just let me say some more about this. Basically, Nyan Koi slams you with so much unexplainable and original material that you can't predict what's going to come next. Just when I thought the show couldn't get any more ridiculous, it did. And it worked. Nyan Koi is one of the few shows that can make me laugh or say "wtf?" at almost any given screenshot. There's just that much humor and randomness packed into each and every episode.

- Episodic + Continuous plot. It's always tough for an episodic series (one that has a separate story for every episode/every few episodes) to tie the entire show together. Often times, series fail and end up confusing their viewers and/or displaying a shabby overall plot. Nyan Koi is the rare show that can weave together both episodic aspects and continuous aspects into the same plot with ease. With the cat/curse objective as the episodic side and the romantic comedy as the continuous side, this show manages to present a complete picture, yet still allowing for entertaining small arcs at the same time.

- Other characters. All of the characters in this show are great. Some are shallow, some have enormous depth, but all of them make me laugh. From Kaede's almost-too-cliched airheadedness to the twins' tsundere and masochistic personalities to Junpei's gossiping mother and sister and nonexistent father, there wasn't one point in the show that I didn't like a character. Sure, Kana looked disturbing at first, but her roles as master and childhood friend gave me so many laughs that it didn't matter after a few minutes.


==[Cons]==

- Nekomimi. There are none. What the hell.

- Misleading premise. There are no catgirls.

- The ending. It was too abrupt. Though I generally don't like deus ex machina/"miraculous" endings anyway, so this might just be a result of my bias.


==[Conclusion]==
I can't say it enough - this show was fantastic. I didn't receive the stereotypical ecchi romantic comedy with catgirls that I thought I'd get, and instead stumbled upon a true diamond in the rough, a show so ridiculously funny that I was left stunned after every episode. In a year filled with so many sequels and remakes, this is one new face that truly deserves another season.

I'm not someone who can't live without shoujo. In fact, I usually hate everything of the genre with a passion. Kobato. seemed like a happy exception to the rule, but after a few episodes, it became apparent that old habits die hard for me (or rather "shoujo sucks" is still upheld).


==[Pros]==

- Visuals. Like most CLAMP works, Kobato. has great character designs and is an artistic triumph. I usually hate chibi, but the chibi here is well-placed, albeit done a bit frequently.

- Kobato. She is a great character, reminiscent of Yotsuba in her curiosity and innocence. Her easily earned smile ... and ability to talk straightforwardly are traits that give off a childlike feel and ultimately make for an intriguing main character and an equally interesting plot.

- All of the mysteries. Why exactly is Kobato here? What is she? Does she even change clothes? Great questions... if left unanswered.


==[Cons]==

- The mysteries look like they're going to be solved. Ioryogi meets figures from his past and Kobato is mentioned more than once in his speech. I don't want the show to focus on the mysteries surrounding Kobato. All I want to see is an innocent girl interacting with the world around her. Is that too much to ask?

- Non-episodic nature. The early episodes are slice-of-life and run smoothly, but when Kobato gets hired, the show gets bogged down. Add to this an overall story, and the original slice-of-life qualities that I found impressive in Kobato. have all but vanished.

- Focus becomes Kobato's airhead qualities instead of her innocence and naivety. I want to see the world through Kobato's eyes. I don't want to see Kobato's eyes flat on the floor.

- Ioryogi is (as of ep. 6) in the show for comic relief and as a gateway into Kobato's background. Both of these purposes aren't exactly beneficial: fire breathing and sudden outbursts become old by episode two and learning Kobato's background answers questions that don't need to be answered.

- Fujimoto sucks. I hate him. Nothing about his character is even remotely appealing.


==[Conclusion]==
Great start for a shoujo, but ends up shifting direction from an interesting story about an innocent girl to a boring story about a bumbling fool and her mascot's uninteresting past.

I'm a huge fan of slice-of-life comedies, but that doesn't mean I like every single one out there. K-ON! was overdone and downright stupid. Some would say the same for GA, but I beg to differ.


==[Pros]==

- Jokes are original because the material they cover is not standard fare. This isn't Lucky Star. This isn't Azumanga Daioh (though both of those series are great stuff). The normal SOL comedy uses stereotyped characters and running gags to stir up laughs. Osaka was funny because she was the constant village idiot. Panty-flashing-girl and dog-with-stick-in-butt from Zetsubou Sensei are funny because they ... pop up repeatedly. But does GA rely solely on this? Nope. The Geijutsuka Art Design Class lives up to its name - it makes jokes grounded not only in the usual school life situations (school festivals, etc.), but also in art. "How is that remotely possible...?!" you might ask. But it is, and it works.

- The humor is consistent. There are no dips in the humor throughout the entire series. Even though this may sound like a quality that every comedy has to have, that's often not the case. Kannagi turns to drama, Gintama becomes hardcore action at times, and Full Metal Panic hops between action, romance, and comedy. It's easy to appreciate an anime with more than one aspect, but it's damn hard to keep an anime in a single genre. When you watch Gintama, you don't know whether you'll get an action-packed episode or a comedic one. When you watch GA, you know that you'll get a light-hearted comedy, and that you won't be disappointed with what you see.

- Sounds, visuals, other stuff like that. It sounds good and looks good.


==[Cons]==

- The "cute" art style. Personally, I found this appealing (it really works with the the humor that's put forth), but some people really hate this style. But then again, people who hate this kind of art probably wouldn't like SOL comedies in general.

- Predictability of characters' actions. A slice-of-life comedy requires somewhat formulaic characters for its humor to work, and GA is no exception. The characters stay pretty much the same throughout the entire series (honestly, would you expect a high school student to undergo incredible changes in a month?), and this leads to somewhat predictable situations. But as I said above, this is something that anti-SOL comedy viewers would pick at no matter what.


==[Conclusion]==
Suffers from usual problems that slice-of-life comedies face, yet breaks the mold with its art-based humor. Consistency in humor and good visuals and sounds add to my score of 9/10.

I had heard of a legendary manga called Fairy Tail, and when an anime version of it was announced, I was really happy. I wanted to watch a mainstream shounen (as in.. Bleach, Naruto, One Piece) from the very beginning, since those three aforementioned series have way too many episode for me to catch up on, anyway.

I was sorely disappointed.


==[Pros]==

- Great idea. The setting is very imaginative... but that's to be expected when you're dealing with a series like this.

- Music. The ED is very catchy, and the OP isn't bad.
...

==[Cons]==

- Characters. They are static. Very static. To the point where I wouldn't be surprised if they could make an appearance in Zetsubou Sensei's class of stereotyped characters. Gray is just "rival of main character with running gag." That's all we know about him after five episodes.

- The pacing. Introductory episodes are usually used to flesh out characters. The four introductory episodes here are totally pointless. The characters are just the same people we see in episode one. I found myself asking "why?" to every episode. There's no reason why these episodes should even exist.

- The animation. Look at the ground beneath Natsu's feet in the opening sequence. Bad art and animation is sprinkled everywhere.


==[Conclusion]==
Good concept, but the static characters, mediocre animation, and nearly episodic way to storytelling make for a slow (five epiosdes) and useless introduction that makes me not want to watch any more.