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Sep 11, 2010
When I first found this series, I was intrigued by its' name 'Agitated Screams of Maggots'. Then I was drawn to the grotesque and and cynical picture of the old man residing in the place where the title art usually was displayed. Expecting extreme mindfuck and irrevocable nightmares, I plunged myself into the gory screamofest...and emerged confused and and very VERY disturbed, If you intend to put this on your 'plan to watch' list, I strongly advise you to be fully aware that this music video (if you can call it that) has human bisection, extreme portrayals of human genitals, tons of guts and
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shit flying everywhere (literally), and is NEVER for the faint at heart. Anyways, on with the review:
Story: 5
There's not much substance to a story, since the whole thing is only 3 minutes, but Agitated Screams of Maggots does what it can and creates an extremely perturbing tale; A mother is home making dinner and takes a fish out of the freezer. While she slices it, guts come flying out and a maggot lands on her cutting board. Frightened, she cleaves the maggot half, and they morph into tiny malformed beings. Meanwhile, the daughter comes home to find these two strange creatures performing sexual intercourse, and crushes their bodies with her shoe. But the horror isn't over yet...
In my opinion, there isn't much point in a story, as the whole thing revolves around being as revolting as a music video can be. While it does present us with an interesting face-off between the creatures and the daughter, it eventually blows the whole thing out of proportion, with random spinning heads coming out of entrails, a snake-like crotch with a head and the girl transforming into some sort of demon, which makes all make the story seem spontaneous and demoralizing. I can only imagine such a strange story could be created by a crazy satanic cult specializing in strange and unusual fetishes.
Animation and Sound: 3
Though it's on MAL, the animation style looks nothing like anime whatsoever. It moreof resembles some sort of old painting, where the colours are monochromatic and grainy, and most of the pencil lines are visible. It does quite well here to portray the various parts and orifices of the human body, as well as the horrified and tormented expressions of the characters, making this one of the best parts. Unfortunately, the animation is mostly reused, with slight variation, which makes things slightly boring after awhile. I also have to say, the quality skimped a few times and some frames looked very jagged and claymation-like.
The music wasn't too great. Since it was a music video, it only had one track, and it was just a screamo song (by Dir En Gray). Though it was fitting to the genre, the lyrics to it weren't discernible at all, and I eventually turned off the volume while watching because it was just that detracting.
Characters: 4
Lets see...we have one distraught mother, an aloof daughter and crazy creatures. While the mother shows no real importance, the daughter and the creatures are actually quite interesting. The daughter, though quite wiry and short, is very unfazed by the crazy antics of the creature, who tries to coat her in crap and suffocate her. The creature itself is also quite interesting looking, as it is a nude parasitic muscular man with a strange instinct to fuck and kill. The problem I have with these characters is that they're quite one-sided, and get somewhat predictable afterwards.
Enjoyment and Overall: 3
Holy crap...this thing was more mindfuck than every episode of Elfen Lied combined. Even being somewhat open to blood and gore, Agitated Screams of Maggots pushes things to the limit of comprehension and desensitizes you. This title should be renamed Mindfuck: The Music Video. As aforementioned, it you have a weak heart, don't watch this, and if you're curious, don't consider this too much, as it wasn't anything great.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Aug 2, 2010
Unlike a few others, I just picked Black Rock Shooter on whim a few months ago and put it on my Plan to Watch list. I never saw any of the trailers or preview footage, so I had no expectations on how bad or good BRS might be, therefore zero bias. Safe to say, BRS is average at best, though it has a few merits that made it well worth the watch.
The storyline is where this OVA falls apart. Basic premises is that we have two girls (Mato and Yomi) who establish a friendship on their first day of high school. Despite being complete
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polar opposites, their bond and friendship strengthens, as they progress through the year. In a choppy transition to the second year, Yomi and Mato are now separated into different classes, and Mato has now became more acquainted with a friend named Yuu. The former best friends inevitably grow apart...
Now, one of the flaws of this OVA is how predictable it was. We could already tell the shy Yomi was the type who craved companionship, and that the active and upbeat Mato would inevitably find someone else to hang out with. Also, the OVA intermittently cuts out from the main story to focus on a dialogueless parallel universe, where alternate forms of the main characters (Black Rock Shooter and Dead Master) are pitted against each other. The problem here is that I found there was no reason to include these parts other than to a) Include some action b) lengthen the OVA or c) create a convenient plot device. The uncreative writing suffers similarly to Clannad's alternate universe device, as both would've been much better if they were more creatively resolved.
Aside from the storyline, the rest of the OVA was admittedly done quite well. The animation was up to standard and fluid, with the fight scenes quite flash and stylized. While some of the character designs were somewhat plain, Black Rock Shooter and Dead Master were very detailed and interestingly crafted, with BRS donning black bikini, cloak and knee high boots, and DM in some type of lolita type dress. To reference Clannad once again, I found the quality of the eyes in BRS to be on par with Key's crowning animation. While not drawn in the same way, BRS's eyes convey much meaning and emotion, and make us empathize every drop of anger or desperation pouring from them.
The sound was fantastic. In my opinion, the sound rating for me actually surpassed the enjoyment of this OVA. The pieces used are varying and fitting, as it ranges from classical piano for enjoyable subway rides to rock pieces for fight scenes. The voice acting was well done, with praise to Mato's seiyuu, Hanazawa Kana, who effectively depicted her as an energetic and upbeat person, who can also show genuine worries and desperation. If there were an OST release, I would buy it.
The characters were pretty good. The development and depth of Mato and Yumi's friendship was somewhat jagged and rushed, as they already grow apart before the halfway point of the OVA. The characters themselves were pretty self explanatory, with Mato being the upbeat one and Yomi being the shy and seclusive one. Though alternate universe characters mostly never spoke, its clear Black Rock Shooter is nobly trying to mend a broken friendship with a stubborn Dead Master.
Overall, the OVA was quite enjoyable. I had my qualms with the pacing and predictability, though the rest of the things brought it up. After finishing, I felt that is was worth the time to watch, though the developers could've done so much more. Adapt this into a 12 episode series? It's possible. All I can say is, you have to watch BRS for yourself if you want to judge it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jul 21, 2010
*Minor Spoilers*
It's hard to live up to people's expectation, everyone knows that. Even harder though, is living in the shadow of an older sibling or relative who has outshone you in nearly every aspect of life. And eventually, the feeling of knowing that your efforts are just a worthless endeavor in comparison gives birth to lack of self confidence and rebellion. Dear Green tells a story like this, where Aoi, a 3rd year high school student tries to live with the burden of a perfect older sibling.
Story: 8
The basic premises is that Aoi is a rebellious delinquent, who doesn't take her future seriously,thanks to being
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forever overshadowed by her sister. However, thanks to a chance encounter with a famous youth photographer, there might be hope for Aoi yet.
When I read the synopsis, I could already see that this is going on the usual path of an insecure girl who is coaxed from a very understanding guy to grow stronger and break out of her shell of insecurity. Wonder if my prediction was right? Read this then :D
When I actually finished it, I found that the characters matured quite a bit (especially Aoi). For being only 54 pages long, the plot was quite well paced, as Aoi only rebuilt herself bit by bit, making the manga seem emotionally longer. Unfortunately, I also felt that the bit of romance between Aoi and Yohsuke was a bit too sudden. Even so, I felt like the story was done quite well, and enforced the age old adage "If you can't change someone else, change yourself"
Art: 8
It was quite average Manhwa style, though I still love how everything is drawn quite fluidly. Sakura Aymuu's drawing style makes the characters seem alive, with their facial expression squeezing every bit of emotion you could absorb from them in a nice sympathetic puddle.
Characters: 9
Even though there isn't an abundance, Dear Green has a varied pool of them. For the main characters, we have Aoi, your typical delinquent, who softens up gradually, and Yohsuke, the avoider of fame who is unshakably happy. The interactions between the two really bring out the true character in either (eg. Aoi's passion for the flute. The minor character interactions also helped, as it reflected how Aoi's life has been so disappointing with all the criticisms she faces.
Overall: 8
What can I say.....I'm a sucker for these stories. Considering I can relate very easily with the main character is one of the bonus's of this gem, and along with the true emotional bond as well. Dear Green is overall I quite decent story, with an overall length of about 50 or so pages, should give you a short, but sweet read.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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May 1, 2010
Ah, first review, here we come! (There might be a few spoilers)
Kaiba is not your typical anime. From the unorthodox way of animation, to the strange, confusing (but brilliant) storyline, it breaks the mold for anime you'd probably typically watch. There are virtually no characters that fall into the groups of typical anime stereotypes (yandere, tsundere) and the anime introduces interesting sci-fi concepts that we probably could never imagine ourselves, which brings out the amazing originality of this piece of art (I mean anime).
Kaiba's basic storyline starts off in a world where memories can be manipulated and swapped and bodies can be interchangeable, meaning you
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can freely delete bad memories and replace them with good ones, and implant them into another body. We find the main protagonist (Kaiba) inside a crumbling white room, with no memory of who he is or why he is there. Before he can ask any of these questions, he finds himself being chased by what seemed to be an over sized hairdryer. After narrowly escaping it, he embarks on the journey to regain his memories, traveling from many planets and meeting many people along the way.
Story: 10
The story was brilliantly laid out. From the beginning to the end, it Kaiba kept me hooked to my computer screen. The paciing was to the point of near perfection, letting us sympathize with Kaiba, while letting us view and immerse ourselves in his futuristic world. Bits of the plot are leaked out slowly, making you wonder what is happening and why, driving you to finish the series. Eventually though, all these pieces of the plot you'll find can interconnect, and the true brilliance of
the story is revealed.
Art: 9
It's like something out of a Salvador Dalli painting. The background environment is amazing and complex, with very interesting depictions of strange animals and fiery suns. Nearly everything is coloured for its situation, with poor places painted very dully and plain, whereas aquatic theme parks are bright with many hues of blue and yellow. The characters design, though different from what I'd regularly see out of an anime, was still pleasing to the eye, as the characters seemed to be drawn more circularly.
Sound: 9
The OP and ED were very memorable (if not engrishy). Most of the background music enhanced the environment, and basically emulated the senses. Overall, the sound was very well done.
Characters: 10
This is probably the best part of this anime. All the characters have diverse personalities and goals, which gives each of them a strong sense of individuality.
Sometimes, you'll have some misconceptions of some characters, take Popo. You first find him aiding Kaiba to the spaceship, giving him the sense that he is an ally. Then we find he is a member of the Issoudan, a group to kill the king of memories (really Kaiba, but Warp occupies the throne). Here we find he has traits of an arrogant and bloodthirsty antagonist, with no mercy to Kaiba/Warp or anyone who betrays the Issoudan. We only find in the latter episodes his real intention in to find a body for the memories of his mother, giving him sympathy and reasoning for his actions., putting him back in to his neutral stance, and renewing some sympathy for him.
Overall, it was an awesome ride. and I recommend you watch it. Now.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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