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May 31, 2015
Treat it as a standalone title. Tokyo Ghoul √A is a beautiful series that caters to the wrong audience. Gore is painted in quiet, atmospheric and enigmatic imagery. There is essentially no protagonist. It revels in holding back tiny details to make the viewers think. In short, Tokyo Ghoul √A is a regular tale told unconventionally. And yes, that is why everyone hates it—√A is unconventional.
Opinions on this show is very polarizing. The debate is pretty much the same as unravel vs Munou. You'll like Munou if you are into the lyrical and thematic relevance. You'll like unravel if you are into the beats and...
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yeah, beats.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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May 5, 2012
Hyouka is an excellently redefined air for anime in the detective-mystery genre. With liquid-smooth animations (especially the in-between ones), eargasmic sounds, naturally flowing conversations and strong plot, this title could easily nail a spot in the line of best detective anime.
ART
Very detailed. Even the backdrops share as much intiricacies as the characters do. You'd see sleek gradients, delicate textures and exhaustive light-shadow manipulation emanate from the background while still keeping the characters in emphasis. All in all, if I'll relate it to what I've seen before, the intricacy of background art is as great as that of Durarara! (on a side note, one of the
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characters resemble Ryuugamine Mikado).
Furthermore, the ambiance of every setting perfectly adapts to the mood of conversation. When it's gray, then it's perfectly gray. When it's "rosy" then it's very vibrant. More or less, the graphics itself do its share of the talking.
Aside from that, Hyouka is one of the very few titles that actually know how to make 3D animations blend well with the 2D ones. In fact, their co-occurrence is almost indistinguishable. Now that is really something.
SOUND
The background music is quite subtle. It's something that shouts the situation but rather gradually whisphers the developing mood of the conversation. Of course, that is just the right kind of BGM for mystery anime where music builds up synchronous with the developing plot.
On the other hand, the seiyuus are another thing to praise in terms of sounds because they deliver clear distinction of their character's voice from the multitude of cliches. This is especially harnessed by the good and smooth flowing dialogue, and distinct embodiment of the characters' persona.
CHARACTERS
What I love the most in Hyouka is that there is always something that sets every character apart from the multitude of cliches. Well, the characters' distinctive trait is not something that I could just point out in their appearance but rather, it's something more sublime. Something that's equatable to "charisma". The characters have this special charisma that makes them shine in their own way of expressing things that other anime have inevitably failed to do so.
DIALOGUE
The scriptwriter is quite a smooth talker.
Bizzare topics open up and develop in the most comprehensible and enjoyable pace. There may be some seiways but nevertheless, the conversation can put itself back on track very smoothly (and cleverly).
In addition, unlike most SHAFT anime (I'm a SHAFT fanboy so don't feel offended for the following statement), Hyouka does not spill minutes of useless chatters. Very direct to the point of story.
STORY
I'm not really a fan of the detective-mystery genre. However, Hyouka seemed to have really absorbed me into the uncharted waters of ala-private eye mysteries.
The story kicks off with a very short introduction; not much character introduction nor prologues (but it's not a problem though because you'd still be able to see them develop through their conversations). Despite that, the story manages to create a firm starting point and develop effectively. Mysteries are unveiled one by one and is given a good deal of premises that will really stimulate curiosity. Nevertheless, the best part is that all the mysteries I've seen so far are plausible (yes, plausible because some others detective anime are just far-fatched) and very thouroughly explained. That leaves every mystery completely and satisfyingly resolved.
***
Hyouka is definitely one of the highest quality productions for spring 2012. And perhaps, this might be the title that will put me back into believing in Kyoto Animation's helms after quite a boring year of hellish moe.
Hyouka nailed it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Apr 8, 2012
Gainax: they do great original series (Evangelion) but perhaps, never fantastic adaptations.
Studio Shaft and Studio White Fox both had a splendid adaptation of Nisio Isin’s (NisiOisin) Bakemonogatari and Katanagatari respectively. Due to this, I’ve set my bars high for Medaka Box which is animated by another known-to-be-good animation studio—Gainax. I have seen quite a lot of original stories from Gainax and they’re all good. But when you talk about their adaptations, well, they’re badly narrated and fares mediocre at best. Unfortunately, Medaka Box is on the same line: run-of-the-mill (see section: Dialogue).
STORY (2/5):
The story follows a problem-of-the-day format and I don’t think this would change
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in the latter episodes. I would have been better if Gainax would incorporate some original ideas into their adaptation to spice up the dull format of the story. If not, they may also follow the Monogatari series’ three-to-four episode arc format so they will have room to build up the tension. But judging from the first episode—and much to my dismay—I think they will stick to the dull problem-of-the-day format.
CHARACTERS (3/5):
Characters are so-so. The main character is a tsundere, her leading man is a delinquent and the girl-in-blue is a hyperactive moe. I have seen these personalities in other series already. Gainax should add some unique and striking personas to set Medaka Box apart from the multitude of rip-offs and wanna-be’s.
On the contrary, voice acting was good but not great. They can express the characters’ emotions reasonably but they still have a lot to go to actually leave a lasting impression—maybe in the next episodes they will do so.
On a side note, I am VERY DISPLEASED with this: why does Medaka very much resemble Senjougahara Hitagi that even their hair color is the same?
SOUND (2/5):
Classical music is good but not when it is out of place. A triumphant music to complement a casual conversation? Seriously. Why? All I could say is that the background music is usually unfit for the scenario it complements.
ART (3/5):
I see some imitation of SHAFT and Silver Link elements in their art.
Immediately in the first five seconds of the first episode, you’d see checkered accent in the clock tower. That is an art style made famous by Silver Link’s Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu series. Gainax could imitate it but to some extent they fail and just proves that imitators cannot simply beat the creator of the original idea.
Likewise, SHAFT references are present in many scenes. You’d see how at times, characters are separated by two contrasting colors of the area they stand in—light and shadow for example. But, well, again, they can’t draw the contrast harmoniously—a feat that only the originator of the idea SHAFT can do.
On a brighter side, they have a fluid smooth animation which is commendable. But that is all, nothing more.
DIALOGUE (1/5):
Truncating conversations in a NisiOisin novel is like cutting the lifeline of the series itself. So why Gainax? Why did you truncate the conversations? It is the most essential element of the novel, and without it, the foundation of the whole story topples down.
I am severly displeased to how short their conversations are. They’re like throwing one-liner quotes at a time—and this is definitely not how it should be.
***
Gainax might not really be the suitable studio to animate Medaka Box. Isin’s novels always require this “bizarre air” in the adaptation to make the series shine. Gainax was too straight-forward and their style just contradict Isin’s.
Eccentric anime studios like SHAFT, White Fox or Silver Link are better suited to man the helm of Medaka Box.
For now, Medaka Box still reeks of bad animation. But I'm still giving it a "5" to give it a chance to, perhaps, prove itself.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Feb 8, 2012
Black★Rock Shooter is, more or less, an inevitable failure to imitate the dark theme of Mahou Shoujo Madoka x Magica.
Starting off, the first time I saw the trailer of the OVA in Youtube, I was amazed. I really want to watch it. But in the end, after about five months of waiting, I was so disappointed with the OVA. It tried to deliver the story in a very tight yet complex plot--but it failed. Their attempt brought so much plot holes.
Now, there's a new one for the television. I thought it was a hope to revive the title's failure in the OVA but no, it
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just failed again. They're still trying to execute the same complex plot that rendered the story incapable of standing by itself. The script does not help either. The characters throw one-liner quotes that don't really help develop the story. The choice of words do not imply what is happening--or perhaps, it's the bad transition between the scenes that made it happen.
The characters all had this cliche personality (i.e. a klutz, an emo, a super-energetic, etc). Unfortunately, they could not create enough distinction between each character.
The sound gets crappy at times. They don't escalate the emotion of the characters. It almost feel like it's off-beat for the mood. Most of the times, overly dramatic melodies are played over a very trivial scene--and it just don't work. Seriously.
On a brighter note, the animation was really good--perhaps, comparable to the of Sunrise's fluid-like animation. But that is all it has to offer. Nothing more.
***
Summing up, it's a two thumbs up for Ordet's animation and a two thumbs down for the bad direction and cliche script.
* I haven't proofread my review yet so sorry if there are any grammatical errors. I'll do it as soon as I finished watching the second episode.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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