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Jan 16, 2025
Appleseed is definitely a step up from most of the 80s OVA slop that's out there. Running for roughly one hour, the OVA introduces a post-World War 3 utopian world mainly populated with genetically engineered humans called 'bioroids.' This interesting setting paves the way for a lot of potential themes to be explored, and for the most part, Appleseed does. Briefly.
The antagonist of Appleseed, Calon, introduces the idea that in creating bioroids to serve humanity, humanity ended up serving them instead. He also describes the utopian world the characters inhabit as a zoo, pointing out that the civilians, being bioroids, are programmed not to rebel
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and are thus complacent. These are simple yet effective, thought-provoking ideas that the OVA presents—but unfortunately, they never go beyond being stated. The story doesn't address or challenge Calon's beliefs, and the OVA concludes with nothing in the setting fundamentally changing.
The characters in Appleseed have basic personalities and are surface-level. Aside from Calon, none of the characters have their backstory or motivations explored. This makes it difficult to care about the two main characters, Deunan and Briareos, whose lack of depth leaves them uninteresting and forgettable. They also show no development throughout the OVA. Even when faced with Calon's ideas, neither Deunan nor Briareos reevaluates his perspective or challenges their own views on the bioroids or the utopian setting.
The animation remains consistently good throughout, with detailed background art that helps bring the setting to life. The sound design is fine, serving its purpose without standing out.
Overall, Appleseed suffers from being too short. The OVA could've easily been expanded into a 12-episode anime, allowing for deeper exploration of its characters and themes. Instead, we're left with a well-animated, one-hour-long OVA that introduces an intriguing setting and interesting ideas but doesn't follow through on either.
Final Scorings:
Animation: 7/10 (Good)
Sound: 6/10 (Fine)
Story: 5/10 (Good premise)
Characters: 3/10 (Undercooked)
Value: 2/10 (Unique but irrelevant)
Enjoyment: 5/10 (Interesting premise but lacked payoff)
Overall: 4.67/10 ~ 5/10 (Average)
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jan 9, 2025
Ouritsu Uchuugun: Honneamise no Tsubasa, also known Royal Space Force, is a slow-paced slice-of-life centered around the main character, Shiro, as he trains to become the first man in space. The plot is mostly simple and straight-forward, while there are some anti-war messaging and discussions about the value of human civilization, the movie never fully explores those themes beyond the surface level. The world-building is one of the highlights of this film, which shines through in its portrayal of how different factions within the country, as well as a neighboring enemy nation, perceive the importance of the space program in vastly different ways. Small details,
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such as the people from the other country wearing different clothes and speaking another language help add to the immersive world-building.
The biggest issue with this film is the bland and forgettable cast of characters, which makes it hard to be invested in their journey. Shiro has a very dull personality and doesn't change much throughout the film. He takes a very passive position throughout most of the film with the most memorable thing he does occurring in a completely unnecessary scene where he attempts to rape his girlfriend and faces no consequences for doing so.
The best part of Royal Space Force is undoubtedly the high quality 2D animation from Gainax's early years. A lot of attention was given to making the backgrounds feel alive and integrating the high-tech machinery seamlessly into the setting, all of which greatly enhances the film's immersion. However, the film lacked a solid soundtrack, as 90% of the film features no background music.
Royal Space Force is by no means a bad movie, but it's far from a good one. A more interesting, fleshed out and well-developed cast of characters paired with a deeper exploration of the themes the film attempts to present could result in a far better film. If you're looking for some great 80s anime aesthetic backgrounds and war machinery illustrations, I would wholeheartedly recommend this. However, anyone expecting to find the same level of innovation and experimentation found in Gainax’s later works won't find it here.
Final Scorings:
Animation: 8/10 (Very good)
Sound: 6/10 (Barely noticeable OST)
Story: 5/10 (Good setting, average plot)
Characters: 4/10 (Generic, boring)
Value: 3/10 (First Gainax movie, mostly forgotten)
Enjoyment: 4/10 (Started off strong but dragged)
Overall: 5/10 (Average)
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jan 7, 2025
Victor Hyper Robot Compo CM's are two 30 second advertisements for an album called Hyper Robot Compo Creation. As the intent of a commercial is to create intrigue surrounding the product that is being advertised, I can say that it did a fine job of doing just that. The first CM displays a woman and a robot staring out to a vast golden high-tech sci-fi city, all accompanied by space opera music. Although the copy of the CM I watched was very pixelated, it was clear that a great deal of attention to detail was given to the illustrations. The second CM presents imagery of
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a man and woman in fighting gear, rotoscoped in a similar way to the Take on Me music video with a very sketchy style.
However, given that the runtime is only one minute long and that the project holds little relevance in today’s era, there’s no value in watching it. The visuals are cool, and the music is fine, but unless you’re trying to complete Gainax’s catalogue, there’s no real reason to watch this.
Final Scorings:
Animation: 6/10 (Cool backgrounds, rotoscoping)
Sound: 6/10 (Space opera music)
Value: 1/10 (Irrelevant)
Enjoyment: 4/10 (Cool but too short to be invested)
Overall: 4.25/10 ~ 4/10 (Bad)
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jan 7, 2025
Daicon III Opening Animation is a charming, short animated piece featuring a young girl battling various monsters, accompanied by a City Pop instrumental track. For its time, the animation quality is impressive, and at just five minutes long, it doesn't overstay its welcome. The significance behind this project becomes even greater when you learn that it was created by only 3 university students, one of whom is Hideaki Anno who would later go on to create the classic Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise.
Daicon IV Opening Animation, also a five minute short, is the more famous of the two, and for good reason—it's the better of
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the two. With a tripled animation team, the production quality increased immensely. This installment is packed with many pop-culture references with the appearances of Darth Vader from Star Wars as well as Batman and Spider-Man from their own respective comic book universes. It also introduced the iconic girl in the red bunny suit, which is often referenced in future anime works such as FLCL. Everything about Daicon IV is a significant step up from its predecessor, with the backing track "Twilight" by Electric Light Orchestra adding a psychedelic and unforgettable auditory experience.
I would recommend watching this for two main reasons. First, with a total runtime of 11 minutes, the Daicon Opening Animations are short, nice to listen to and cool to look at. The second and most significant reason, is their historical importance. Daicon III marks Hideaki Anno's first professional animation project and the 12 animators responsible for the creation of Daicon IV went on to establish Gainax, arguably the most influential anime studio of all time.
Final Scorings:
Animation: 7/10 (Very well animated for its time)
Sound: 7/10 (City Pop, Psychedelic)
Value: 10/10 (Hideaki Anno and Studio Gainax's first production)
Enjoyment: 5/10 (Pleasant, but nothing too crazy)
Overall: 7.25/10 ~ 7/10 (Good)
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jan 6, 2025
Kyoufu no Bio Ningen Saishuu Kyoushi, also known as Ultimate Teacher, begins with a premise similar to Great Teacher Onizuka: a strong male character takes on the role of a teacher at a school filled with delinquents in order to straighten the place out. However, instead of exploring the emotional and psychological struggles of high school students like in GTO, this OVA quickly derails into complete randomness. That would be fine if there was some sort of underlying sense to the chaos but there isn't.
Half of the runtime is dedicated to the teacher, Ganpachi, ridiculing the main character, Hinako for wearing bloomers—a tiresome and
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unfunny gag that drags on far too long without any payoff. The other half of the OVA is then spent fighting Ganpachi in a battle where logic is completely abandoned which made it difficult to care about the outcome because literally anything could happen.
The OVA makes little effort to develop characters in a way that encourages the audience to care about them. Ganpachi acts cartoonishly evil throughout, with no meaningful reason for why wanted to become a teacher in the first place. His backstory, while hinted at, is never fully explored to its truest potential. Similarly, Hinako's characterization is shallow, revolving entirely around her choice to wear bloomers and the reasoning behind it. Although the story gives multiple opportunities for her learn to overcome her insecurities surrounding her bloomers, it never bothers to and the concept remains nothing more than an unfunny joke that overstays its welcome.
If there's one reason to watch this anime for I would say that the art is quite good for its time. Those who enjoy the aesthetics of retro anime will enjoy the visuals here. Although there are certainly other anime out there which combine good aesthetics with an equally good story and a likeable cast of characters
Final Scorings:
Animation: 6/10 (Detailed retro aesthetic)
Sound: 5/10 (Average)
Story: 2/10 (Random school comedy)
Characters: 4/10 (Mostly one-note)
Value: 1/10 (Irrelevant)
Enjoyment: 1/10 (Very boring)
Overall: 3.16/10 ~ 3/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jan 6, 2025
Minna Agechau♡ falls under the trope of the loser male protagonist meeting a girl who changes his life—but this time, the absurdity is cranked up to the max. The OVA involves an ecchi joke or a hardcore scene, often involving weird fetishes, practically every minute. That's all there really is to the whole 45 minute experience and it gets old fast.
The characters start out being unlikeable and stupid and end being unlikeable and stupid. No development, no fleshing out, they're just there to make the ecchi scenes happen and nothing more. The jokes fail to land, relying heavily on shock value from the weird
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fetishes to elicit a reaction rather than crafting funny and endearing characters who find themselves in silly ecchi situations.
There are a few well-painted retro-style backgrounds and some well-directed aesthetic scenes, but those elements alone aren't worth watching for. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, even within the ecchi comedy genre, there's far better available.
Final Scorings:
Animation: 5/10 (Simplified retro aesthetic)
Sound: 5/10 (Average)
Story: 1/10 (Ecchi comedy)
Characters: 2/10 (Over the top caricatures)
Value: 3/10 (First J.C Staff OVA)
Enjoyment: 2/10 (Over the top but lacking substance)
Overall: 3/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jan 6, 2025
It's very clear that Yami no Purple Eye is a low-budget advertisement for the manga. The majority of the first half of the music video can be summed up as a manga panel slideshow with some special effects. The second half, however, features a slight increase in animation which brings some cool scenes with that classic retro anime aesthetic. These visuals are accompanied with some relaxing 80s Japanese music.
Despite these elements, I believe the project ultimately fails to achieve its goal, which appears to be promoting the manga. The music video is too much of an out of context manga panel slideshow and not enough
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of a cool retro animation showcase which makes most of the experience boring and the manga that is being advertised to appear uninteresting. Additionally, the length of the music video is much longer than it should need to be, a shorter 3-4 minute video cutting all the stills would have been far more effective.
Unless you are already a fan of the manga or are curious about J.C. Staff's early works, there isn’t much reason to watch this. The music is by no means terrible, but there is plenty better within the same genre. There are also other anime projects that deliver the classic 80s anime aesthetic visuals with more animation and less still frames.
Final Scorings:
Animation: 2/10 (Mostly still manga panels)
Sound: 6/10 (Fine music but nothing amazing)
Value: 3/10 (First J.C Staff project)
Enjoyment: 2/10 (Very boring)
Overall: 3.25/10 ~ 3/10 (Very Bad)
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jul 20, 2024
The isekai genre is easily the most overdone genre in anime. Ever since the success of Sword Art Online in the early 2010s, isekai has continued to grow in popularity, with more and more series being churned out each season. As of 2024, the average viewer's sentiment regarding isekai is that its become synonymous with the phrase "quantity over quality." This brings us to one of the recent additions to the genre's catalogue, Suicide Squad Isekai. Is it more of the same junk food we've grown to expect, or is it a hidden gem which takes on the genre in a more creative and unique
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way? Unfortunately, the answer is the former. Suicide Squad Isekai doesn’t do much with the isekai concept, nor does it do much with the concept of the Suicide Squad.
The fantasy world that the main characters are transported into is nothing more than the same generic setup we've seen many times before: there's a kingdom, there's a war and the main characters are expected to be the trump card in winning the conflict. However, the world-building never goes beyond the surface level, and it's clear that the show itself has no desire to explore things in depth. It uses the isekai genre merely as a backdrop rather than as an integral part of the story. The characters themselves even make meta jokes about common isekai clichés and plot conveniences, but these jokes fall flat because the show doesn't attempt to parody or satirize the clichés; instead, it merely underscores how basic and cliched its own narrative is. The story's only redeeming aspect so far is the pacing, which moves fast enough within each episode to prevent the show from becoming too boring.
The main cast do attempt to add some life into an otherwise plain and generic isekai, with Harley Quinn's chaotic charisma doing most of the heavy lifting. However, the majority of the other characters fall into basic one-dimensional character archetypes. The worst example of this is Peacemaker who comes across as dull as a plank of wood whenever he's on screen. So far, there is little to no attempt at exploring characters beyond their surface-level personalities which is reminiscent of certain anime video game adaptations where the characters exist primarily to maintain the status quo and to serve as little more than promotional tools for a brand. There is definitely so much more that can be done with the concept of the Suicide Squad as there are countless comics out there to draw inspiration from, however it seems like the show is unfortunately not willing to explore the characters beyond their wikipedia page descriptions.
The show maintains high production values, as expected from Wit Studio. However, there are occasional noticeable drops in art quality during certain parts of some episodes, despite the overall good art and animation quality. The show's soundtrack is well-made and fits the genre and tone of the anime well.
Overall, Suicide Squad Isekai offers nothing new to the isekai genre, relying heavily on typical genre conventions and clichés that may not appeal to those who have grown tired of them. The standouts of the show so far include the good production values, vibrant character designs and Harley Quinn's chaotic charisma, powered by her amazing voice actor. However, the anime struggles to deliver a unique narrative and doesn't bother to expand on characters beyond their surface level personalities.
Current Scorings:
Animation: 7/10
Sound: 8/10
Story: 2/10
Character: 4/10
Value: 1/10
Enjoyment: 4/10
Overall: 4.4/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Apr 18, 2024
Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf is a remake of a 2008 adaptation of the same title. However, this is my first experience viewing any sort of Spice and Wolf media, so this review will be based solely on the first three episodes and won't be influenced by any knowledge of future events in the storyline.
The premise of Spice and Wolf is quite simple. Much like Frieren, which aired last season, it focuses on slow, tensionless adventures as the main characters travel from place to place. Given the protagonist's role as a merchant, a significant portion of each episode delves into explaining various
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economic concepts. This might not appeal to viewers who aren't interested in learning topics such as the reason behind why the amount of silver in a coin changes and how to tell if a coin has a higher or lower purity. Problems arise with the execution of the exposition as there is a lack of visual storytelling used. The economics are explained in the form of a straight back and forth between the main two characters which is a visually uninteresting way to present the topic.
Character development is still in its early stages, but there are subtle hints dropped regarding character backstories which are likely to get fleshed out later on. Both of the main characters have likeable personalities and have an entertaining character dynamic which is the standout aspect thus far.
Animation production has been slightly above average, with character designs having a shiny modern yet simplistic appeal. The character animations are basic but serviceable for the type of scenes that are being displayed, though nothing visually groundbreaking has been showcased yet. The soundtrack so far excels in capturing the essence of the medieval European-esque setting.
Overall, Spice and Wolf is a visually average anime with a good soundtrack. Its unique economic premise and enjoyable character dynamics are strengths, though it leans too heavily on dialogue to explain its economic aspects rather than presenting them visually.
Current Scoring: (Subject to change)
Animation: 6/10 (Average)
Sound: 7/10 (Good soundtrack)
Story: 4/10 (Slow paced, not yet fully developed)
Characters: 6/10 (Basic but charismatic and entertaining)
Value : 7/10 (Remake of a classic with a unique premise)
Enjoyment: 6/10 (Entertaining character dynamics)
Overall: 6/10 (Fine)
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jan 25, 2024
Sengoku Youko is a good fantasy action anime which didn't gather much attention this season due to its lack of a sizable manga fanbase to generate hype. Given that this anime feels like a shounen from the early 2000s, many viewers more used to the action-packed gory violence of recent shounen (CSM, JJK) didn't bother giving Sengoku Youko a chance, which is a shame since this anime has the best character writing out of all anime airing this season.
The main cast comprises of a group of outcasts with tragic backstories and motivations the audience can understand. These characters work well together, connecting through their individual
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traumas. However, each character also possesses a unique personality and distinct goals, setting them apart from one another. There is alot of room for development and character growth as the characters have their own personal weaknesses which makes following their journey compelling. While the character writing isn't unconventional by any means, it still stands out, especially considering that many recent anime productions lack the fundamentals of a strong cast.
The story on the other hand, while not achieving any remarkable heights yet, benefits from an intriguing premise and the distinctive setting of feudal Japan, where humans and monsters coexist. Sengoku Youko uses this setting to explore the power struggles of individuals marginalized by society—an overarching theme reflected in the characters' backstories. However, one minor concern I have with the story so far is that the pacing seems a bit too fast, not allowing many important moments enough time to breathe.
Despite that, Sengoku Youko is the best anime of this season. It immediately spends the first 3 episodes fleshing out the characters by giving them tragic backstories, personal weaknesses, distinct goals and personality traits. These elements not only set the characters apart from each other but also contribute to an engaging group dynamic.
Current Scorings:
Animation: 7/10 (Good)
Sound: 6/10 (Nice music)
Story: 5/10 (Typical Old-school Shounen)
Characters: 7/10 (Well-built)
Value: 1/10 (No impact, unheard of by most)
Enjoyment: 7/10 (Fun)
Overall: 5.5/10 (Fine)
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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