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Nov 10, 2023
After Story is a good capstone to Clannad, but isn't really 'good enough' to make the 46 episodes or so worth it in-of-itself. If you couldn't dig Clannad, I wouldn't worry about it and watch something else. If you liked Clannad, After Story will hook you well enough.
I have mixed feelings abt Clannad, but it's Key adaptation slop and by god im a slopguzzler. Works for me, might for you.
Tomoya takes a far more central stage as the main character and protagonist for much of After Story, and is certainly the most developed (and interesting) character of Clannad. The mass of side characters who made
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S1 Clannad kind of unwieldly are there, but juggled better and hardly *as* present. The latter half of the show may as well have killed 80% of them off. This is a positive change, in my eyes, and lets the story keep a tighter focus around it's best self in Tomoya and Nagisa and that kid they pop out. Maybe not so much Nagisa. She's ok. Kid's cool though.
After Story's first half is fine, more in line with S1 Clannad - though maybe improved by its tighter focus. However, the star of the show is the latter half of After Story, which, though cliched to hell and back, is good. The parental relationship aspects of Clannad have always (imo) given it's stronger interactions and I think that holds true here. The author saw a kid once flashed back to that time their dad didn't hit them and shed a tear, we can all relate.
The ending is kind of confusing both from a plot view and a 'why would you write like this' view, but it doesn't harm the overall experience. I left After Story mostly happy and with a largely complete set of emotions, so, you know what? It's aight.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Oct 28, 2023
Just a quick forewarning; Pluto is a show set in the universe of Astro Boy and it assumes a passing familiarity. You can intuit a fair few of the references the show kind of expects you to get and most of them aren't important. But, if you find yourself kinda lost, I'd suggest watching a small bit of the 80s or 2000s versions, I watched em as a kid and I like em both.
I'm not that much of an Urasawa guy, and less of an Astro Boy guy, but or because or irrelevant to those facts, I think Pluto is fairly exceptional. Yes, it is
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very ooh ahh and has some *very* well put together visuals. However, what I think comes through the most in Pluto is Urasawa. Urasawa has a kind of maturity to his writing that keeps me coming back to it like a dog to its chow; Mask-off: I think about Monster offhandedly every other week. They're not life changing works or anything, but Urasawa has a certain angle to his storytelling that is magnetic. He's interested in why people go off the beaten path, towards criminality and otherwise failing social expectations, and his inquisitive interest shows itself in his writing in a way I can't help but admire. Pluto isn't as concerned with that subject matter as Monster is, but it is still a big part of Pluto's identity - a part I love.
Pluto's main feature for a lot of it's length is the weaving of it's central mystery, a mystery that is handled well. It's not the most astounding mystery to ever exist in Anime, and there are dimensions to it that aren't explained in a super fascinating way, but if you enjoy good ol mysteries- it's not a poorly handled one.
Just to address the #haters out there, a complaint I've seen here often is that Pluto likes to organize it's stories out of building empathy for a character before stealing them away. This isn't strictly unfair, Pluto *does* do this, but I don't think it's all that special and I didn't find it distracting. Not a deflection but a disagreement! If you disagree with me- die!
The show does suffer the slight Urasawa curse where he's so good at writing everything up to an ending and not as good (though not bad) at writing the actual ending. Much like some of his prior work, the last few steps ahead of the ending are the juiciest pieces. Regardless, the show up to that point is very well done. It may not be life changing, but it should prove to be a tight and well-handled ride that, though not very deep in it's exploration of them, wields it's characters to great effect.
Anyways, have you guys heard of this little-known show called Monster?
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jul 24, 2023
Ghost Hound is very good, and is worth a watch.
When it has a good episode it has a *good* episode, the sound design, the skill with which it builds and unravels mystery, the slow but attentive pacing, it all works extremely well to have a show that, for specific points, is frankly kind of peerless. For a solid 2/3 of the show's runtime it is very very good, and that part of it is worth a watch, even if it's slow pace takes a bit of trust to get onto.
However, being a Mystery show it comes into the game with a degree of expectations other
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shows may not have- that is, to resolve most threads satisfyingly. And while it does a solid job of that at points, it does not stick the landing. The show hits an unfortunate reality where the amount of mystery it builds far out-scales the amount of time it has to resolve it, and a lot of interesting details (especially those from early into the show) ultimately go largely unanswered.
The conclusion it had really begged for an episode or two more even in the relatively inconclusive state it was, and to be frank, there's material for a dozen or more episodes left lingering around. It's a show that begged for a longer run and more time to precisely build and weave its plot, and it's a crying shame it didn't get it.
Regardless, it's a show that's worth your time. While its ending is disappointing, the studio gave it a real solid try and I ended my time with it with respect and appreciation.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jan 22, 2023
Some loser jacks off into a pond and out comes not simply a giant salmon-human hybrid, a 'Salman' some may say, but further a found family for our pathetic weirdo protagonist.
I desperately hope to see more from this Mangaka in the future. Salman is dumb, often unfunny, and deeply stupid and it is one of the most refreshing and fun things Ive read.
The art style is reminiscent of Prison School (and I imagine some other manga) and works well for Salman's whole 'vibe'. Its ugly, but in a good way. It clearly took some effort out of the mangaka and it is reliably detailed and
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well pulled off.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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