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Apr 15, 2015
Shin Sekai Yori is a very atmospheric show, largely due to the brilliant OST that dances on in the background, alternating between calm and tempest in the most seamless fashion. I have therefore given the sound a 10, and this is well deserved.
I think the background art adds to the atmosphere as well but the character art is incredibly dull and boring. While arguably some characters end up looking decent the style itself is bland, as bland as the characters themselves, and that brings us to my main gripe with this show, the lack of interesting or inspiring characters.
What we have here is a
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strange dystopia where everyone has been brainwashed and conditioned. While this is a great plot device it also makes for a boring show with flat characters.
The plot takes time to build up and frequent time skips are used as a device to bring the plot forward and give some depth to otherwise boring characters. I cannot help but feel that this device is abused - as it is used too many times in the space of such a short series.
While the plot does raise some deep questions about humanity, the questions this show raises are largely ignored by the cast and left to the viewer to consider. The plot itself is incredibly predictable. I already knew how the show would end by the half way mark, and was able to predict the following events quite accurately if not completely so.
I'll leave it to you guys to judge for yourselves, but I for one was not impressed.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Feb 1, 2015
(Potentially Spoilerific)I began watching Akame ga kill recently, after a long hiatus from anime in general caused mostly by the trials and tribulations of adult life. My time is more precious than it's ever been and I have a limited amount of time for BS. Akame ga kill is BS. This is simply one of the worst shows I've ever seen, the only reason I stuck it out to the end was because I wanted to see how horribly bad it could get.
From the get-go, the show is confused, it doesn't know whether it's telling a serious and meaningful story or whether it's just
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making fun of itself. A number of moments in the show that are supposed to be heart-wrenching or intended to leave a lasting impression are cheapened by silly one liners, tropes, and awful humour.
The shows humour isn't even original, don't come here if you're after comedy. The same old recycled cliches are thrown at you.
Akame ga Kill isn't afraid to kill of its main characters - this is usually a good thing, but in akame ga kill it's almost a testament to how awful the show really is. The show fails to form a connection between the viewer and the characters. Summarily, they'll die and you won't care because they're such one dimensional recycled clones.
The show's "unique" blend of humour and violence is almost disturbing. As is their glorification of what are essentially terrorists. Issues like this aren't black and white though, there is rarely an "entirely evil empire" and an "entirely good group of assassins" the first few episodes really cement this paradigm as the various members of Night Raid confront one dimensional power rangers baddy X Y and Z before being given a bunch of Night Raid clones to fight against.
In terms of action, the battles are unbelievable and badly choreographed. Although the show kills its characters it does not maintain a shred of credibility when it comes to how strong people are, or how they fare against one another, it's all quite random. It's the sort of thing you'd spoon feed to a 3 year old making airplane noises and expect them to swallow.
I'm going to end this review now and throw up. I really feel like throwing up now, that's how bad this is.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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Mar 23, 2013
I recently revisited this series, it has been many years since I last saw it and so refreshing my memory of it has brought with it a number of revelations. NOTE - THIS IS A SPOILERIFIC REVIEW DO NOT PROCEED IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN BOTH SEASONS.
Okay, so what is Code Geass? Code Geass as you're all aware is a story about one man's struggle against an empire. It's also a combination of Gundam and Deathnote (unashamed melange) with elements of mindfuck Eva thrown in at the end, oh and not to forget the whole high school atmosphere that is so woefully and forcefully maintained
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throughout. So what this leaves us with is a show that wants to take the best of every genre and combine it with the typical light yagami personality (of course this is in reality the Reinhard von Lohengramm personality but most people haven't seen Logh).
For all its flaws the first season was actually very well executed in the sense that the plot progressed as it should have done and the rebellion failing at the end was hunky dory. I felt I could look beyond all of the high-school antics and silly dilly dallying which are heavily out of place in a show that wants to be taken seriously, I could ignore them because the show had spirit, you could sense Lelouch's hatred for the Empire and I found myself sympathizing with his struggle.
There are of course a number of inexplicable loop-holes that the show seeks to rely on, in s1 for example - how on Earth did a school-kid start commanding an army of Knightmares straight off the bat (yes he had geass but geass implies the ability to control people - not pilot knightmares and command forces on a battlefield). C.C saves his ass a number of times very conveniently.
Suzaku's role was simply to play the Athrun Zala to Lelouch's Kira Yamato, nothing like a bit of potential yaoi teenage angst to get the show moving, Suzaku's own motivations remained understandable in R1 but went completely Haywire in r2...in fact the whole show went haywire in R2.
R2 Begins with Lelouch getting his memory restored, but the whole scenario with him being watched to draw out CC was too convenient as it was used as an excuse to keep the high school drama going for almost the whole season, even if you have managed to brainwash your observation team and create a dummy any rational empire would have noticed something was up when Zer0 had returned and proven himself to be as dangerous as the last Zer0. The transition to s2 was dismal, and Suzaku had turned into a complete asshole (which is odd considering his personality in r1) - one might blame it on Euphemia's death but then wouldn't he want to live on in the same way she would have?
Nina that useless lesbian from R1 somehow gets a main role after becoming the show's albert einstein and creating a nuclear bomb, Schneizel is an idiot and could have been turned into a much better "L" like character - certainly the way he used Euphemia in R1 made me get my hopes up that he would turn into a real adversary in R2.
Charles and Marianne want to turn the world into a giant lump of frozen consciousness so there will be no more lies.....Yeah....this is where you've jumped off the deep end and started with all the ham-handed philosophy and Evanegelion imitation..actually this could count as a Haruhi imitation too, in any event it was unnecessary and uncalled for. Strange how quickly Lelouch decides to kill his mother too (considering he has acted up until now for her sake)
Lelouch killing Mariann leads me to another problem with the show which is: that people seem to have no problem backstabbing one another, I mean fine I can understand backstabbing when there's an environment conducive to it BUT Why did the black knights betray Zer0 after some bullshit from their enemy Schneizel? I mean at the most they would have demoted him as their leader but instead they sold him out.
Essentially the show relies on this abysmal allegiance switching mechanism that it throws into overdrive in r2 - so people change sides like nobody's business, this is supposed to create excitement and in a way it does but if it's not well justified it leaves you with a sense of being cheesed off.
Also the whole "Area 11 will become the Nippon Area" card was then recycled with Schneizel's "Nunally should become Queen assertion" - the enemy offers the other side a solution that they would be amenable to in order to stop the battle (another trope I found in the show).
Clearly there are some good thing's about the show
- all the women are amazingly hot, C.C's pizza-butt and Kallen's tits are yummy
- there is still the same underlying spirit that r1 had (just toned down and more heavily destroyed by bad writing)
- The ending is satisfying and provides closure.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Feb 13, 2013
I ended up marathoning Terra E in one day, and I never really intended to but it had me hook line and sinker by the end of the first few episodes. Now don't get me wrong, Terra E has definitely won a place in my heart not least because of how well it addresses social constructivism v technological determinism BUT it suffers from clichés that I can't find it within me to forgive, especially considering the show is very recent (Yes I know the manga is much older).
The show begins by introducing us to Jomi who appears to be just another whiny reluctant protagonist
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(cliche1) but in a few episodes and a lot of drama later he comes around and turns into a great character.
We're then introduced to Keith the antihero who is very well developed, to the point where one can palpably feel his internal conflicts.
The climax of the show for me was actually half way, tensions are rife, people's motives are very rational and one can empathise with almost anybody on either side of the conflict (always a sign of good writing).
The show begins to unravel by the end where things sort of derail and they don't derail for any good reason, it feels like the wonderful storytelling of the past 20 episodes is suddenly thrown away to encompass this emotionally rigged ending that I've frankly seen WAAY too many times now, it feels like unnecessary things are constantly being done simply for the sake of INCORPORATING these clichés. It's like the writers are saying "this is an anime and we're doing this because we can!"
I can only guess that this is where the show split from the manga, or the writers decided to turn it into a cathartic clusterfuck and indeed if after writing this review I find that the manga is substantially different I will read it right away.
I'd advise ANY fan of sci-fi/space -opera to watch this show immediately, aside from the flaws I've pointed out this show was potential 10/10 material for me and I enjoyed it thoroughly, I do hope I haven't sounded overly critical but I am writing this directly after finishing the last episode and so my sentiments are as pure as possible.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Mar 1, 2012
I gave this movie a 7 very reluctantly, I mean if I judge it subjectively I'd say I enjoyed it a lot even though the premise of the story is fairly straightforward, Pilot transports Princess, both develop feelings for each other, I mean come on you knew that as soon as you read the title.
The art is nicely done, everything looks pristine especially the horizon during the scenes that are set in the air, the character designs are detailed and the environments look stellar.
The soundtrack never felt out of place, we were even given the usual "song/melody" that turns out to have some
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significance to both main characters, a bit macross-esque and incredibly cheesy, in fact this movie's plot is incredibly cheesy I mean I feel bad about marking it down because of this but this is something we've seen before.
Regardless of this I would still advise people to watch it, I mean the thing about recycled plots is they're recycled for a reason, they make us happy when executed properly, and I can't complain about the execution this time around.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Feb 14, 2012
I'll be honest with you guys, I really enjoyed the second stage, much more so than its predecessor. With only 13 eps to spare the series wastes no time, almost everything that is said or done adds to the story or develops the characters significantly, it was this that kept me glued to the screen as I watched it. The first stage was much more spaced out there was a lot more needless comic relief.
Itsuki from stage 1 annoyed me, he was brash, loud, irritating and a failure as a human being, it was frustrating that he didn't develop at all - but the during
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the second stage he begins to show signs of changing, and it isn't just Itsuki. Every single member of the cast shows signs of changing - this sort of character development was completely absent from the first stage.
Having said this the 2nd stage hasn't lost its focus at all, along with this character development we get to see lots of exciting races and they're animated even better than they were before.
I take my hat off to whoever picked the ending theme - because it suits the series so SO well.
To conclude, if you don't like cars you're probably not going to like Initial D (especially the first season), the show does have a lot more to offer though.
PS - I have always driven like a lunatic - Like Takumi I began driving Illegally at 14 and own what many would describe as a piece of shit on wheels, but to me it's my piece of shit - something I've driven for 7 years now I wouldn't give it up for anything in the world!
I like cars, but I'm against spending loads of money on them, I think what's important is that you understand how your vehicle works, that you put in the time and effort to "make it your own".
One criticism I do have - is that so far there hasn't been a single fatal injury in the series, my cousin died while street racing, the sort of happy endings that Initial D portrays don't always take place, in the real world people end up smashing through barriers and falling off mountains
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Feb 9, 2012
LOGH is simply the best anime I have seen in my life, and what saddens me most is that I will probably never see anything as good ever again. Ladies and Gentlemen this is the holy grail or war and politics, the magnum opus of space opera a masterpiece to utterly eclipse all masterpieces.
I didn't know what to think going into it but the series doesn't pull any punches and the plot kicks off straight away, and boy does it suck you in. It took me 7 days to watch 110 episodes.
The animation is dated, but then that's where it gets its charm,
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the soundtrack is serene and flows perfectly with each scene, the characters are all REAL - they have motives, personalities, ideals, dreams and fears it's difficult not to feel for them, nobody is perfect!
I suppose there is only one criticism that one can make - and it doesn't really qualify as a criticism but as a big fan of Gundam Wing and the 08th MS Team, I always longed for more focus on the individuals doing the fighting instead of simply on their commanders. This longing was satisfied later on but the individual dogfights (when they finally began) turned out to be pretty poor and could have been executed better. This I will stress is not a valid criticism as the series isn't about individuals fighting it is about fleet commanders.
Anyway if this hasn't convinced you to watch it, I'm not sure what will. Please excuse me while I go and watch all the Movies and prequels!
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Nov 3, 2011
The second part of Macross Frontier's theatrical version. What can I say? If you've seen the series and the first movie you know what to expect.
a) The best animation ever seen (the first movie blew me away so did this one)
b) Cheesy songs that you may end up listening to as a guilty pleasure, you wouldn't be caught dead listening to them in front of your friends
c) A crazy story about how music can suddenly save the world and make wars come to an end
d) some sort of stupid Love Triangle
I mean the thing with Macross is you can't judge it in comparison to
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other shows nor can you judge it with a regular mindset. If you're the type of person who has willingly chosen to watch Macross then you know by now that - c) and d) are very likely to be present, perhaps you even enjoy dismally bad stories and love polygons perhaps you dream of one day singing to make the galaxy a better place, or maybe you're just an obsessed fanboy/girl. To you all of these things shouldn't matter
Strangely enough the love triangle here is finally resolved! Yes RESOLVED - after the series' rather indecisive ending - which was left like that so as not to piss off half of their fanbase. Now that the frontier chapter is over though and cinema tickets have been purchased nobody cares about the disenfranchised lot who are probably now embarking on a host of collective suicide gatherings and poster bonfires.
Was it better than the first movie? No use comparing them they're probably better watched in sequence
If Nuclear reactors ran on cheese then this movie would be Fukushima - non-irradiated people like myself can actually sit through it if we take the time to remember that a) and b) are worth watching - so much so that c) and d) can be overlooked.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jun 30, 2011
8.5/10
I love this show, it's a real show stopper from start to finish, The art is nice and laid back which helps add to the atmosphere of the city our characters live in (although it isn't as polished as Hanasaku Iroha's). The super peace busters are a gang of children who have lost one of their members (Menma) to an accident that took place when they were still young, Now the 5 remaining members who have all but forgotten about the "super peace busters" are drawn together by the memory of this girl.
Jinta the main character is able to see Menma's ghost, she tells
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him she won't disappear unless her wish is granted, ultimately Menma's wish brings the other living members of the peace busters back together, back to the way they were before Menma left them.
On the flip-side the show could be accused of being melodramatic, and the love polygons that exist within the peace busters could be called contrived, there were moments when I began to feel this way but the vast majority of the time I was too caught up in the teary eyed bliss of it all.
Conclusion
This is one of those rare shows that only comes along once in a while - and it's only 11 eps long - so get out deyaaa and watch dat shit.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 20, 2011
As I fall more and more in love with the UC universe, 0083 sits well with the whole timeline - it serves as a real link between 0079 and Zeta and tells its own story at the same time. It does however fall short of perfection for one very silly reason.
The 8th MS team is the best UC OVA in my opinion but 0083 had a real chance of sitting on that throne if only the director hadn't switched half way through, the second half of the show (as enjoyable as it is) is told clumsily, the plot twists come across weakly and you can't
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help but feel something integral is missing from the show. The first half episodes 1-7 are perfect and deserve a 10 rating on their own.
The Characters are all fairly typical but they work well together, gato the nightmare of solomon especially, who I find to be cooler than char (just my own opinion). Nina and Ensign Uragi have a bumpy romance. As far as development goes Uragi is the only one who really changes but then in a 13 ep series its difficult to focus on developing the whole cast.
The story is well told until episode 7 and afterwards bad directing aside the plot is multilayered, I won't say anything else because I don't want to spoil anything for anybody. I would reccomend this to any fan of UC gundam, not as an introductory series though.
I love the art, we all know modern mecha can't compare to the classics, the handdrawn backgrounds bring the whole show to life. I want to give this show a 9 but for reasons I've already stated its getting an 8 =[.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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