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Mar 3, 2022
A key without the lock is like a chase without the hunt.
<Spoilers>
"I love who I was while chasing him."
In the end, Chiyoko never found the mysterious man but she found herself and her passion through various roles and films she became part of. Even when she left the Earth in the end, her movies eternalized her legacy as the millennium's actress.
"I love you more than I can bear, and I hate you more than I can bear." Chiyoko hated herself for chasing someone unattainable but in the process of pursuing someone, she found her passion. She found her love for acting and she loved who
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she became because of the chase.
Satoshi showed two kinds of love through Genya and Chiyoko. The IDEALIZED LOVE & TRUE LOVE. Chiyoko's affection for the mysterious man symbolized the ideal kind of love. The one that is so abstract and filled with wishful thinking. The kind of ideal love that is passionate and burning, it bleeds into her films. Genya's love for Chiyoko is unconditional. The type of love that is so real and pure, he never questioned her or forced himself to her.
Satoshi also used Chiyoko to give the audience glimpses to Japan's history tying subtle social commentary about its dark past. As well as, the evolution of films and cinema.
Once again, he used the blending of illusion and reality. In Millenium Actress, the hazy memory of Chiyoko and her idealized infatuation delivered a dramatic movie where she is the lead actress. The key in itself symbolized how Chiyoko herself directed and wrote her own story into its dramatic finale.
A key without the lock is like a chase without the hunt.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jan 3, 2022
Plot:
It is pretty convoluted and murky, to begin with, but I like how Hiro Mashima used a lot of different narrative styles and techniques in the story. The main perspective is from Lucy's eyes which is pretty rare in shounen. She tells the story of the Fairy Tail guild. I like how Natsu was never the main character and unlike Luffy and Naruto, he didn't have this one huge goal he needed to accomplish by the end of the story. He is also not used as the "chosen one" for the entire plot.
First, Fairy Tail had two main villains: Acnologia, the dragon king; and Zeref,
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the black wizard magician. Unlike with most fictional stories where there is more than one villain where they eventually teamed up to defeat the main characters, here Acnologia and Zeref are different entities that served different purposes to the entire narrative. Acnologia is the villain that affected all the main characters' lives. He also shaped the entire Fairy Tail world. But Zeref is the main villain that Natsu and the entire guild must defeat. He is part of the Fairy Tail guild history.
So, it wasn't also like One Piece or Dragon Ball where after one enemy there is a higher level of an enemy that they must defeat. They needed different strategies for each main villain.
Basically, there are two storylines. The first one they must defeat all Zeref's demons and Zeref himself. His and Mavis' story is a romantic tragedy of the Fairy Tail guild. The second storyline is about how Dragon Slayers came to be, why were they sent to the future, and why did they exist. Once, I finally understood where Mashima is going with his story and that there are only two main villains, the entire plot is starting easier to follow.
Magic System:
Next is the magic system, this one is the hardest one to understand and until now I don't get it. This is where the audience is starting to point out that here lies the lazy writing. "Power of friendship" and "plot armor". I hit up the fan Wikipedia and there is still a lot Mashima added by the end of the series. So basically there is one container of ethernano in every mage's body and a person must utilize it to use magic. Then there is the Second origin that reminds me of Awakening from One Piece where they used the dormant power. However, for some reason, Mashima added the Third Origin as a plot convenient tool during Sherria and Dimaria's fight. Mashima added a lot of stuff by the end and I can see why people went mad with how convenient everyone's fight became. There is also Lucy rewriting Natsu's demonic spell.
Overall:
However, we must note that Zeref also pointed out before the final season that magic is fueled by emotions. I don't see any plot holes but the entire story is filled with plot conveniences. I must also take note that I could see why this story gets hate among shounen lovers. Fairy Tail is filled with sappy and too cheesy scenes and lines that even a girl would cringe for. I think I skipped a lot of dragging sappy scenes and that despite that I am a romantic one myself. I don't see how would this appeal to young teenage boys. But I see why this had a solid fanbase. The entire cast had cool character designs and powers. There is a lot of characters that are likable enough to ship that is also oozing with chemistry. Despite the excessive nudity and fanservice, the girls (main characters and villains alike) are pretty diverse unlike with One Piece or useful in fights and leadership other than used as eye candy-like in Naruto.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 22, 2021
I'd been meaning to write a review of Hunter X Hunter for a long time. Since I've noticed that there are two types of reviewers for this anime: the ones who gave it a 10 and praises it endlessly and the edgy ones who gave it a 1 just because they're different. I'll try to be as objective as I can using the standards used in any form of fiction.
Story: 7
I've seen a lot of people that praises Hunter X Hunter in its subversion of tropes in completely going to different routes than what you initially expected for a supposedly typical "shounen". What I see
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here isn't subversion but Togashi having no clear goal and path for the story. He doesn't have a clear plan and just pulls out several stories along the way. A lot of writers do that but the problem arises when the narrative structure is inconsistent, several tonal shifts, and when there is lacking in climax and falling action. You might say Hunter Exam arc is the intro and Election arc is the falling action.
But what noticeable instead is the lack of coherence from arc to arc.
The essential of Zoldyck family arc and Heaven's arena arc to the whole plot. But what is the plot really? It's non-existent. Hunter X Hunter is an anthology of several short stories connected together by a thin piece of thread that doesn't make sense as a whole. Did we see the chimera ants coming, back when we're watching the Hunter exam arc? Some reviewers define it subversion or plot twist, I see it as a different story not connected to the story as a whole. The same can be said to Yorknew City arc and all of the other arcs with an exception to Greed Island arc (despite the point of the entire arc is childish and dull), it bridges the story to Chimera ant arc.
There is lack in build up or foreshadowing that would make you say things completely make sense to go to that route. Like how Arlong arc builds up to Fishman Island arc and Reverie of One Piece. Or how the season 1 of Attack on Titan build up what's going to happen to Marley arc.
Togashi instead write another short story to add to his piles of short stories, that doesn't make the previous arc necessary to the next. Even Jojo with its several parts is more coherent than this. The initial goal of Gon and the whole story is supposedly to make Ging proud as a hunter but now that Ging accepted Gon, Togashi pulled out the Dark Continent arc and instead of wrapping up he stretches the story more. It reminded me of Pain arc from Naruto where Kishimoto reached the entire point of the series only to stretch it out instead. Thus, Hunter X Hunter had no clear ending 'till now because Togashi just really had no plan for the entire series.
Characters: 6
As I said there is definite lack of coherence in Hunter X Hunter, Togashi writes several short stories and pulled a rubber band to pile it up. It also resulted to characters' lack of personalities, world view, and beliefs. No one in the entire series had been flesh-out, explored, and internally challenged except for Meruem. The main characters Gon, Killua, Leorio, and Kurapika had been sidelined 85% of the story. Casual anime watchers don't know anything about them beside their basic concepts. Kurapika for example should be the center of Yorknew city arc but instead of giving him his proper screen time to understand his motivations, how huge deal being a hunter is for him, and make us emotionally invested to his character - it gave the viewers a cheap, unsatisfactory conclusion to his character.
Hisoka is another side character that I don't understand the purpose to the show, how convenient it is that he wasn't part of the whole Chimera arc. Most of the minor characters back from the Hunter exam arc to Greed Island arc are all plot devices for power scaling. So when they served their purpose as an entity for Killua and Gon to defeat, they're disposed in Chimera arc to AGAIN power scale Mereum, Netero, and the rest of remaining strong characters. They don't add any value to the story except for POWER SCALING. So instead of empathising with their deaths, the viewers are only left horrified instead of being emotionally invested.
Animation, Sound, Art: 9-9-9
The animation, sound, and art completely depicts what it's trying to aim for.
Enjoyment: 9
Despite the lack of coherence of the non-existent plot and its bland characters, each arc is still enjoyable on its own. More impactful than any current anime releases.
Overall: 8
The problems I presented can be easily brush off, and not as bad as other people make it out to be. I would not say it's overrated but I also wouldn't say it's the best anime. This is still preferable than Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 8, 2021
Story: 8
WARNING: The story is basically a battle shounen with few political arcs thrown in between sagas. Recommended to readers and fans of action genre.
The story is based on "warring states period" in China. Precise, neat, and almost historically accurate. The plot is basically about the King of Qin and his path in unifying China which is thematically connected to the protagonist's path of becoming the Greatest General of Heavens. There's not much complexity or depth in the story but expect heavy politics and war after war arcs. Side note, when I was starting the story, I thought this would be similar to Arslan Senki
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or Game of Thrones with a lot of focus in politics and few battles in between. It's actually the opposite.
Art: 10
The art is masterpiece. Character designs improved drastically especially for Xin around 200 chapters in the story.
Characters: 7
Much of the characters are not heavily explored and fleshed-out as the story is more focused in battles and tactics. BUT, all female characters are lovable and well-written. Most of the Generals have equal share of screen time and have depth within them.
ON THE OTHER HAND, Xin and King Zheng are basically your average shonen protagonists. Xin took all the bad personality traits of popular shounen protagonist (Asta's loud and annoying personality, Goku's moronic attitude, Naruto's attention-seeking trait, Luffy's over-the-top willpower, and Ichigo's edginess) and meshed it together. Worse, his overpowered strength had no explanation except his duels with his sworn brother who had also no experience in formal combat. At least with the few protagonists listed above we had three explanations of their strength: 1. Lineage/ bloodline 2. Innate power 3. Formal training/ schooling. And Xin had none of them. At the first four arcs, he kills and defeats assassins, commanders, and generals with no formal training. He's not creative with his fights, no choreography, and belittles strategies.
Enjoyment: 10
Aside from the main character and heavy battles this story is still overall enjoyable to read. You get to follow generals, politicians, and tacticians outwitting each other.
Overall: 9
I like this better than Vinland Saga. And if you enjoyed action and history, this is for you.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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