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Dec 22, 2023
Of all of the nearly limitless isekai out there, Shield Hero always seemed like it stood out from the rest. In hindsight, even early on it did not do all that much differently than other isekai, but it was the first time I saw the revenge subplot executed decent enough. Because the author was able to create such a gripping and interesting story in the first season, I was excited to see what they would be able to cook up in the next seasons when revenge and retribution were no longer the goals of the Shield Hero. Needless to say, the second season was awful,
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but the third season seems to have gotten at least a little bit better.
Before getting into the gripes, it’s important to give credit to Shield Hero where it is due. Compared to the lackluster animation and hilariously bad CGI of Season 2, Season 3 is a breath of fresh air animation-wise. Although definitely different compared to Season 1, the character designs are nice and the overall art style looks great. Kevin Penkin returned to compose music for this season, and although the tracks didn’t have the same effect on me as earlier ones, they were good nonetheless and enhanced the experience.
The main problem with Shield Hero now is the direction of the plot. Ever since the end of the revenge storyline, and more so after travelling to Kizuna’s world in the second season, it does not feel like the story is going anywhere. Naofumi just keeps expanding his slave harem and events in the story just happen for what feels like no reason. There is definitely a trend throughout this season of finding the other heroes and getting them to reform, and I enjoyed seeing that with Ren the Sword Hero, but none of it is going anywhere. There is just this looming threat of some sort of strong Phoenix monster that does not feel threatening at all due to the audience knowing little about it.
The new characters also do not feel important to the story and only serve to detract attention from the pre-established ones. Sadeena felt important, but only for a few episodes. Fohl and Atla seemed like major characters, but Fohl was just shafted to the side and made to be a weakling while the illness-stricken tiger loli Atla was buffed to the max and cemented as another piece of Naofumi’s harem. Oh yeah, and they’re both slaves. This author seems to be unable to introduce characters without making them Naofumi’s slaves, which continues to make the story less enjoyable. Wyndia was important for the fight against the dragon, but ultimately loses her purpose afterwards.
But it wasn’t enough for these new characters to be dull and bland: they also had to take away time from the old ones. This would be fine if the new ones were interesting and developed, but they aren’t, so that makes the lack of screen time from the older characters that much worse. Raphtalia is still here, but more one-dimensional than ever. Filo this season felt like another kid in the village more than a core part of Naofumi’s party. Melty was just… sort of there. Rishia was supposed to get some development this season, but the lack of build-up and actual change we see prior to her big moment makes this feel like it came out of nowhere. One of the only old characters that I felt actually got good development was Ren; his genuine regret at events that happened multiple seasons ago allow for his character to be transformed into a proper hero.
Overall, the third season of Shield Hero was something that exceeded my expectations, but those expectations were so low that this isn't really anything remarkable. Although not quite reaching the same heights as the first season, it was enjoyable and a good apology for the travesty that was Season 2. Hopefully the next season (if we get it) turns out better, as the arc they're set to adapt has an interesting premise.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Sep 30, 2023
It’s no news to anyone that the use of AI is increasing far more than before. Almost every company seems to be investing in AI, creating their own AI-based services, or otherwise experimenting with something in the fields of machine learning, computer intelligence, and other things. In all of this, the common people have been left mostly uniformed on how exactly everything worked, but fear of the unknown has filled the minds of many people in the wake of this AI boom. The Gene of AI came out at a perfect time to capitalize on these fears, but it does so in a way that
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genuinely gets the viewer thinking about the future in a meaningful way.
To start off, all of the audiovisual content is par for the course. None of the animation or character designs are particularly ground-breaking, but they didn’t really need to be. However, subtle changes like having different eyes for Humanoids and Humans are where this show shines. Furthermore, to match the tone of this series, the music is generally subdued and subtle, allowing the characters and events to take the forefront while also providing a mood fitting this futuristic, mysterious world.
AI no Idenshi has a looser, episodic structure, which I feel lends itself perfectly to an anime of this subject matter. It does have reoccurring main characters in the form of Dr. Hikaru Sudou and his nurse Risa Higuchi, who are pretty compelling, but this series definitely shines more in telling its individual stories. Each episode chooses to focus on a different aspect of a future where AI is even more all around us than right now, not being afraid to delve deep into more philosophical questions regarding the nature of humanity and whether an artificially-created intelligence could ever match up to the real thing.
The presentation of each story is done in an excellent manner. The introduction to the primary characters involved, exploring their circumstances, and presenting the audience with a question to think about the whole time (e.g. whether or not Humanoids with set limits can stand on an even playing field with Humans, who constantly have room for growth). Involving Sudou and Higuchi in these stories is also done in a way that doesn’t take the spotlight away from our episodic characters, but rather allows their story to develop further. Finally, we reach a few major plot points that provide some closure and end their arc, which in turn allows the audience to reach their conclusion.
One thing that I would like to point out is how AI no Idenshi is completely willing to not answer the questions it poses in a way leaning to one side or the other. Don’t get me wrong: writers using their stories to express their personal philosophies, especially relating to politics, is definitely allowed and can be compelling; we’ve seen this in even the most unlikely works like One Piece. However, allowing the audience to draw their own conclusions is something that especially works for AI-related questions. All the episodes do is showcase a likely scenario in this hypothetical future and imagine how it would play out. It does not seek to plant an opinion in the viewer’s mind and wishes instead for them to see what is happening and use that to help form their own opinions.
That being said, AI no Idenshi also does a very good job at making its primary story arc compelling, even in the face of all of these interesting self-contained stories. It executes it in such a way that makes it so that all of these stories acted as build-up to the conclusion of Sudou’s own story in the last few episodes. Even these explore the questions posed at the very beginning and provide multiple suitable answers. Unlike the episodic stories, however, we do see that our main story does have definitive answers, and that is okay. Aside from that, Risa also gets her own episodes, and these are very good as well for the reasons mentioned above.
In general, AI no Idenshi seeks to explore what it means to be human, and how that could change in an alternate world. It is definitely not a unique idea to explore, and does it do it the best or most complex or most entertaining? No. However, it doesn’t necessarily have to, because that’s not what its goal is. It wishes to pose questions and seeks answers from its audience: What does it mean to be human? Is there any difference from a Human and a Humanoid—a robot that acts identically to a human? What are “feelings”? Do robots and AI also have feelings, or are those just based on what they’ve learned and how they’re programmed? All of these and more are explored here, and it does it really well.
Especially in times like this, AI no Idenshi is a great show. You can call it topical or pandering due to its focus and nature, but I feel that this is what makes it great; it feels human (whatever that means). Of course, it can be a little quieter but more philosophical, so those looking for loud or laid-back shows should look elsewhere. For those ready to ponder reality and the future, this is for you. I highly recommend you give this a try.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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May 24, 2023
Nyanta to Pomeko is the answer to a classic trope found in many manga and anime: the misunderstanding. It could be anything from accidentally walking in on someone changing, accidentally tripping someone, accidentally falling on top of someone, etc. These incidents are then misconstrued to make the character in-question seem bad. Oftentimes, it is a gag that's played for laughs, but this manga tries to show the consequences of repeated misunderstandings that are not taken as jokes. Although the execution starts off as overly depressing and hard to read, it transforms into a wholesome story that changes its characters for the better.
The main character, Makoto
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Shinjou, seems to draw inspiration from edgy, narcissistic, cynical, society-hating loner characters like Hachiman Hikigaya. A series of misunderstandings in primary and middle school destroyed the few relationships he was able to make and caused the people around him to spread rumors that completely destroyed his reputation. He became seen as "the person who ran away from an injured girl" or "the person that pushed that girl to the ground," and so whenever people talked to him or confessed to him, it was only to trick and betray him. All of these experiences have molded him into a cynical loner who goes out of his way to not only avoid human connections but ensure that nothing he does could possibly spread false rumors or cause misunderstandings. Initially this appeared as a self-insert or a misunderstanding of how long people hold grudges, but I do acknowledge that this is a genuine way tat people think after being tricked numerous times.
For some people, it might be easy to sympathize with him. However, he is initially so overly negative and gloomy to the point where the story becomes hard to read. I understand that people can carry trauma and resentment for past experiences for a very long time, but I would think that (in the broader timespan) simple traumatic events and betrayals that happened many years in the past could be forgiven or forgotten about. It is very unrealistic for Makoto to not be willing to engage in even simple conversation with his sister or mother because they refused to believe him regarding an incident that occurred many years ago at this point. If their relationships are this dysfunctional then it is hard to believe that Makoto has not become a shut-in or a recluse already. Maybe it is just hard for me to understand considering that I have not gone through similar experiences, but this setup is very hard to believe.
However, after a while of depressing chapters, it was refreshing to see the story focus more on developing the relationship between Makoto and Anri Shinozuka, who instantly hit it off. Although a little formulaic, I do much prefer it to the edginess of the previous chapter. However, the rather quick change made me feel as though it was a little rushed. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but there was potential for a more gradual development of the characters over the course of a longer story. This would have made more sense considering how overly depressing the setup of the story was; in reality, it might have taken a longer time for the story to progress the way it did. Furthermore, the need for a quick change rendered the subplot of his little sister and two past crushes completely irrelevant, as it is never utilized in the story. Regardless, the character development shown in the story is pretty amazing, and the main characters are practically different people compared to how they were at the beginning of the story.
Overall, Nyanta to Pomeko is a great (albeit short) story about trauma and trust, and I have gained a new appreciation for it as it ended. Even though it starts off as overbearingly edgy, it transforms into a story that makes you genuinely sympathize with the characters and want to see them overcome their obstacles. I would recommend anyone who was initially turned off by the pure depression that was this manga to give it another try now that all the chapters are out.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Mar 21, 2023
I’m so pissed off. Not just because I felt like I wasted my time with this show, but also because this had all the right ingredients to be a great experience. Mahou Shoujo Site might seem like yet another Madoka clone, but this one combines elements of shows like Mirai Nikki to try and have a more unique spin on the genre. Although it started off extremely compelling and interesting, the show eventually got boring and frustrating to watch, although the ending was not as bad as it could have been.
Not everything was bad, though, even near the end of the show. The visuals, while
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initially appearing strange and even dated, are not all that bad. The music, while unmemorable and sometimes shamelessly taking cues from Madoka Magica, also suited the scenes well. The animation was pretty good and the character designs were a little unique. The base premise of pitting magical girls against each other in a Mirai Nikki-like competition based on the rules from some mysterious website is also not the worst, and introducing ideas such as the end of the world, while unoriginal, do make the stakes higher.
What makes me angriest are the numerous places this show fucked up and lost all of the potential it had to be a great show from the first episode. One of these areas is character development, which is unfortunately very botched. Right from the first episode, we are immediately attached to the main character Aya Asagiri and want to see her at least get one over the people that are bullying her, if not just get revenge on them. However, this show manages to take a character that was initially likeable, pitiable, and (for some unfortunate people) relatable and turn her into a non-compelling dumbass who pisses you off every time she’s on screen. Why? Why does this show insist on making her an unrealistically nice dumbass rather than someone who grows with her experiences? Aya experiences hell every day, yet still has sympathy for the people that cause that hell? At least instead of killing them once she gains her powers, she should be less hesitant about defying them. But when any sort of character development—mainly regarding her strength as a magical girl and attitude—finally comes for her, it is too little too late.
Unfortunately, the “just make her a complete dumbass or way too weak” problem with this show doesn’t stop with Aya. Nearly every one of the good guys falls victim to this issue, especially during a certain scene. Even magical girls that are supposed to be more intelligent such as Tsuyuno Yatsumura, Kosame Amagai, Kiyoharu Suirenji, and others are purposely dumbed down whenever it is convenient for the story, which usually seems to be to make a villain feel more smart or threatening than they really are. Imagine one person going up against multiple, but instead of any actual fighting, the one person manages to incapacitate all of them and just have fun being an asshole until some deus ex machina saves the day. There was nothing smart about how he got the upper hand; everyone else was just unrealistically dumb. It felt like I was watching a male power fantasy. Why was all of this caused? Because Aya STILL does not want to have the people that have abused her harmed or killed even later in the series! It is frustrating for all of the wrong reasons.
Aside from characterization gripes, there are also rules of the universe that seem to be wildly inconsistent, although this is a little more of a minor gripe. Case in point, the [MINOR SPOILER START] rule that magical girls can only use their powers so much in a limited time and that in general every time they use their powers their lifespans decrease. [MINOR SPOILER END] For some reason, this rule only seems to apply for the heroes and never for the villains. Why can a villain use their ability numerous times in the span of a few seconds with virtually no consequences while Aya or Tsuyuno cough up blood or collapse after using their powers no more than ten times? It just makes it feel like the villains are not actually outplaying our heroes, but rather just cheating because of bad writing.
However, by the ending, it felt like the writer was listening to my thoughts as my criticisms regarding how unrealistically dumbed down the characters were basically vanished into what I thought was an excellent fight sequence. The rules for how often magical girls can use their powers were still inconsistent, but this time in worked in favor of the heroes, so I guess it balances out? Not really, but whatever. At the very least the show didn’t end on a sour note.
All in all, Mahou Shoujo Site has a pretty good premise but is unfortunately weighed down by being wildly inconsistent in a lot of things and being unable to make some villains threatening without making the protagonists incompetent. Despite what may have seemed like nothing but criticism and contempt for this show, I did actually enjoy it. Even though it was incredibly edgy at the start, I actually wished that they would embrace that more. The story line was also interesting enough to keep me watching at the very least. As much as I would like to recommend this, those middle episodes destroyed my faith in this show so thoroughly that I don’t think you’d be able to come out of those without feeling immensely disappointed. You might be better off with the manga for this one.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Oct 12, 2022
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners really snuck up on me. While it looked somewhat cool at first, I initially dismissed it due to the poor quality of the game at launch (and to an extent, even now.) However, Edgerunners is an incredible anime that tells a brilliant story set in a beautiful world. The cyberpunk genre has always been interesting and this just proves it has so much potential.
The most impressive part about Edgerunners is its artstyle and animation. The art is very often beautiful with, with many unique colour choices that make characters, the environment, and other elements on screen pop. Although character designs do stray slightly
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from what is conventional in anime, that is not necessarily a bad thing as it makes Edgerunners very unique and pleasing to the eye. The animation, however, is a slightly different story, as it seems to constantly switch between pure eye-candy and lazy boring garbage. The fight scenes have so many fluid movements combined with colour choices and great camera angles that it is hard to find fault with them. However, some less action-packed scenes can be as static as having dialogue over a low-detail still image, which really stands out when the majority of Edgerunners has stunning animation.
The music and sound design are also very good. A large majority of the OST consists of licensed songs from Cyberpunk 2077 and songs specifically made for that game, such as my personal favourite "Who's Ready for Tomorrow" by Rat Boy & IBDY. I really enjoy the wide variety of songs, including ones that are in other languages like Polish and Patois. The few original tracks for the anime are also pretty great, although unfortunately not widespread on the Internet. As far as the sound design goes, many sound effects work great for the anime and help to enhance the mood that the game and the overall cyberpunk genre hopes to achieve. Gunshots in particular are my favorite.
The voice acting is also worth briefly mentioning. Keep in mind that I watched the English dub, but I would say that both languages have exceptional voice performances. However, my personal preference is for the dub, as it has accents for different ethnicities that are absent in the Japanese version. These really add to the world-building and it is a shame that they are not present in the original. Anyways, even putting aside Giancarlo Esposito, all of the voice actors give good performances that suit their characters.
The story is very appealing and relatable to an extent. David Martinez is a poorer person suffering the effects of the futuristic capitalist dystopia of Night City, much like many others, so it is very easy to sympathize with his story. Of course, any story that involves pulling exciting and flashy jobs with a gang of outlaws is also going to be great. I think it is easier to view the story of Edgerunners by comparing it to Western media, where this type of story is much more common. However, the story also has a lot to do with the characters' own personal journeys, both internally and externally; this is where I think Edgerunners shines and distinguishes itself from being a flashy action thriller with minimal substance.
All of the characters are also appealing; even if they are not fully developed, they still suit the world of Night City and piggyback off each other effortlessly. Throughout the story, we can really see internal struggle in the main characters and how the side characters glow closer to them and try to help each other out. However, as much as we know about the characters, there is just as much, if not more, that is intentionally hidden. Keeping a lot of aspects about these characters shrouded in mystery really works well for the vibe Edgerunners and moreso the game were trying to give off. Even as characters die, the anime does not want you to forget about them; and if they become less relevant, their lasting impact can still be felt.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was far from what I expected it to be given all of the terrible things I had heard about the game, honestly being one of the greatest cyberpunk/futuristic anime I have seen in a while. I highly recommend everyone to give it a try, even if you are not a fan of the cyberpunk genre.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Sep 19, 2022
Haipa Bei Peng Chu de Nuhai (A Girl Who's Afraid of Touching People) is not something I thought I would watch or have any thoughts about, but it had a pretty good effect on me. Whatever the students at the Royal College of Art were trying to do with this, I would say they made a pretty good minimalist interpretive piece of art. I'm kind of surprised this qualifies as anime and is even on this website, but whatever.
That being said, as this is only four minutes long, there isn't much to talk about. The art style is understandably simplistic and vague, leaving some things
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up to the viewer's imagination but can also clearly tell the story that the creators wanted to tell. Color choice seems to be everything here, and contrasting colors have a great effect on the tone and mood the animation wants to covey. The sounds are also half of the experience here, even more than other pieces of media given the simplistic art style that some viewers might have trouble understanding. They do corresponding to whatever is being shown on screen, though, so there is not much room for interpretation left there.
It is hard to understand the story, and this is probably intentional. From what I got, this is supposed to be some sort of representation of depression and suicidal tendencies such as self-harm and self-loathing. However, the few times that words appear on the screen make everything even more confusing. I am sure that there are numerous hidden messages and meanings in this short animation, but most of them must have flown over my head, which the creators must have accounted for.
Overall, while this isn't going to be sticking with you for years, I would say that you should definitely watch this if you're bored and have five minutes to spare. The director, Liang-Hsin Huang, appears to have made multiple similar works, all of which are pretty interesting as well.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jun 1, 2022
(very minor spoilers)
Just Because! is one of those anime that you think is going to leave you sad or thinking about life. But unfortunately, it falls short of that by a small margin. It has all of the ingredients for a perfect drama but fails to deliver in a lot of aspects. However, for what it's worth, the show was fairly interesting in some parts and the characters were somewhat compelling.
To get some of the less important complaints and compliments out of the way, I thought the artstyle looked pretty good. All of the characters were as distinct as their personalities and the scenery looked
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all right too. One minor nitpick is Eita's face; there's just something about the nose or the general structure that looks different from all of the other characters and makes him stand out like a sore thumb. I couldn't help but notice it all the time during the show, but it was not that big of a deal. The music, although forgettable, did the job well. Overall, the audiovisuals of the anime were not terrible.
The story is where I am a little conflicted. The main character, Eita Izumi, transfers to his old school during the final semester of his senior year and tries to reconnect with his old friends. They build new connections and romances throughout these final months while also planning for college or whatever they want to do after graduation. It is a pretty good premise for a romance, and there is plenty of drama between the characters.
However, for as much drama and complicated emotions there are between the characters, none of them are very compelling. Eita Izumi is so boring and monotone to the point of having basically no redeeming qualities other than being nice, Hazuki Morikawa is just too dumb and boring to like, and Mio Natsume does not gather the courage to act on her feelings for a very long time. However, at the very least, some of the bad qualities of each character are called out by others and lead to drama. But I quickly found myself getting attached to the only two characters who speak louder than 4 decibels: Haruto Souma and Ena Komiya.
In my opinion, there aren't enough scenes of the friend group doing things together and developing more feelings between the crushes. More of these would have transformed otherwise boring characters into ones that you want to root for, but unfortunately, lacking these leaves some characters uninteresting and generic. It also would have been nice for the final conflict to not have been resolved so easily.
Just Because was an enjoyable show where romance conflicts with accepting that you might never see the people around you again after graduating, but it fell short in creating engaging characters and more interesting plotlines. Most of my issues would have been resolved had there been more character development, but the show can still be a good watch if you can ignore those faults.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Sep 30, 2021
Higurashi Sotsu. Where do I even start with this one? There is just so much that is done wrong that I can’t explain well at all, so I’ll just give up and try to keep my criticisms relatively short. Basically, Sotsu is supposed to serve as the answer arcs to Higurashi Gou, bundling the two of them as some sort of “new” Higurashi series. If you haven’t watched the Higurashi series, don’t worry, because you’ll be just as confused watching Sotsu as people who are caught up with the series.
Firstly, I gotta say that I’m not a huge fan of the updated visuals in both
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Gou and Sotsu. The original, while somewhat imperfect and dated now, was a lot more gritty and fitting for something in the horror genre. Meanwhile, we have bright colours that radiate from the screen and make you feel like you’re watching some magical girl show. I also can’t say that much of the music was memorable to me in Sotsu, if there was any. Either it was reused tracks, which I don’t mind, or some atmospheric track that was turned way the fuck down. Other than those minor gripes, I’d say that the overall atmosphere created by Sotsu was not that bad.
All right, now for the story. Continuing off from the very straight-forward explanation given to us at the end of Higurashi Gou, we are shown the arcs of Gou in a different light this time. Apparently, they’re supposed to be from Satoko’s POV now in order to really hammer into our heads that she can loop now and she did all of the bad things in Gou. What can I say about the answer arcs other than…they exist? Seriously, nothing about these arcs “answer” anything because Gou didn’t leave anything ambiguous. There was nothing to answer because we already knew that Satoko was a time-looper. She did it; end of story. To summarise it cleanly: If you’ve watched Higurashi Gou, you’ve watched the first 12 or so episodes of Sotsu. I wish that was an exaggeration.
It doesn’t get much better outside of the entire season’s worth of recaps. The creators realised midway that they can’t just make an entire season that’s just the previous season condensed and that they actually have to add the bare minimum that qualifies as substance to the show. Thus, attempts at a resolution are made with conflicts between Rika and Satoko as well as Eua and Hanyuu. However, some of this resolution feels so out of place that I think that this show’s tags need to be redefined. Both of their motives during the conflict are also really dumb and eventually boil down into a resolution that seems to be trying to escaping from looking at those motives. Although the season started very much not ambiguous, by the end I was left utterly disappointed by the sheer amount of questions that either remained unanswered or were shoe-horned in the end along with such a dumb resolution.
The characters could also use some work. Nothing about any of the normal Higurashi cast except Rika and Satoko are compelling in this season. They’re really just pawns for the two of them to play around with. Shion, for one, is basically nowhere to be found in this entire season. Satoshi as a character as well as his overall significance is just gone as well. As mentioned before, a good portion of Sotsu is just recaps of the previous season, so it is hardly surprising that not many characters are very compelling or interesting.
Although I really wanted to see more Higurashi content following the original series and Gou, I could have done without Sotsu. The lack of new content, good motives for the characters, ambiguity, and the sheer stupidity make this quite an unpleasant experience to watch. If you really want a resolution to Gou, I’d place my bets on that manga series coming out that’s making different “answer arcs.” The bottom line is, whether you’re a huge fan or could not care less about Higurashi, you had best not waste your time on Sotsu.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Sep 6, 2021
Your Lie In April has been lauded around the anime community as being really sad and guaranteed to make you cry. Was it sad? Yeah. Did it make me cry? No, but that’s because I’m a monster. Either way, it tells a really good story that’s sure to be enjoyed by all.
To start with, I want to touch on some stand-out aspects. The character designs and visual style of the show are great, but the effort put into the animation is next-level. Being someone who played the violin for a quite a while and continues to have a light interest in classical and orchestral music,
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seeing that virtually every note played by Kousei and Kaori were in the exact placements that they were supposed to be in was incredible. I don’t think I’ve ever been this impressed by the effort put into an anime’s animation in the very first episode since something like Vivy. I really cannot overstate how time-consuming this must have been, but I want the creators to know that it is deeply appreciated by people such as myself.
The music itself is, as you’d expect from a music anime, pretty good. The original tracks, although great in their own right, quickly get overshadowed by the brilliant selection of classical piano and violin tracks chosen to be played by Kousei, Kaori, Takeshi, Emi, and everyone else. If there’s one gripe I have to make, it’s that their selection was rather limited in terms of composers, as they mention Chopin so much throughout the show that it starts to get annoying. Nevertheless, it always feels like each piece belongs and sound natural. I found myself appreciating the original tracks especially in this regard.
Your Lie In April has a lot to do with music, which instantly got it points from me. Maybe I’m just living under a rock, but I haven’t seen too many anime that deal with music, not to mention classical music. Anyways, it’s about a guy named Kousei Arima that used to be a piano progidy, being called the “Human Metronome” by a lot of his peers. After the passing of his mother, however, he could no longer play the way he could and decided to quit piano for two years. He meets a violinist named Kaori Miyazono who motivates him to get back into music as her accompanist. The base plot sets up something that becomes a really great romance plot with plenty of drama and conflicts along the way. There’s also plenty of light-hearted moments to enjoy, which is welcome from me.
The characters were also all right, albeit somewhat strange in terms of their development. The most obvious character with plenty of development was Kousei, going from the human metronome to the wackiest pianist on Earth. I do not like, however, the treatment of a certain character that was largely absent throughout the show’s most important moments and largely served as merely a motivator for other characters. Other than that, it always feels like each character has a clearly-defined purpose and propels the story forward in some way. I can’t say the same for some characters like Watari, who were just kinda there.
If you’re a musician, a fan of romance, or both, you’ll definitely like Your Lie In April. I found it to be a thrilling ride of emotions throughout the whole thing that I could not get tired of. I will say that the show certainly got much better by the end than where it started and that there are some slight pacing issues that caused this, but I would nevertheless encourage you to give this a try. It might not be as god-tier as the community makes it out to be, but it’s still a great story.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Aug 8, 2021
[MINOR SPOILERS if you care; also covering bits of Hope Arc]
Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak High School – Future Arc is an anime meant to serve as the conclusion to the Hope’s Peak series of Danganronpa games, which excludes Danganronpa V3. It is set years after the first game, possibly directly after the second game and somewhat after Ultra Despair Girls. The Future Arc, however, was one that I found to be ultimately unnecessary to the plot yet enjoyable nonetheless.
Before I make the same complaints about the story that everyone else has already made, I’d like to appreciate some of the aspects I
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liked. The music was a master class, particularly the OP and ED. All tracks fit their situations well and carried over the vibes that were present in previous Danganronpa games. I also really like the art-style and animation of the show. Albeit slightly unconventional and differing to a great extent from the games, it is still very nice to look at. The character designs are, as expected of Danganronpa, all very distinct to the point where it is very easy to distinguish each character’s personality simply by looking at an image of them.
Shifting to more of a nitpick, the voice acting in the English dub was rather disorienting. None of the voice actors from the games reprise their roles in this anime save for Makoto, meaning that Kyoko, Hina, Byakuya, Yasuhiro, Monokuma, Toko, and Komaru’s voices will all take a while getting used to if you played the games in dub. Monokuma’s voice is probably the most unbearable out of all of them (it’s upupu not nyeh nyeh nyeh are you fucking papyrus). From what I have heard, this is not the case in the Japanese version, where all of the original voice actors reprise their roles in the anime. However, many of the voice actors for anime-only characters fit their respective characters rather well and do not sound out of place.
Now the story is rather interesting. It starts with a connection to Danganronpa 2, in which it was mentioned that Makoto Naegi committed an act of treason to the Future Foundation, which he and the other survivors of the killing game joined after escaping. He is brought in for trial along with a few of his friends from the first killing game to a meeting of members of the foundation. However, another killing game begins there; slightly different from the others. Although I am not entirely opposed to this approach, the entire story seems rather unnecessary. I understand that many loose ends were left by Danganronpa 2 and Ultra Despair Girls and so some sort of conclusion was needed by the fans, but I just can’t help saying, “What’s the point of all this?” while watching. This feeling was only intensified by the end of the series, as certain important events (such as deaths) were just dismissed with “lmaoooo jk they’re gud bro.” It makes this entire thing practically meaningless. However, I still enjoyed it as it made a great effort to conclude Danganronpa and there were many really well-done scenes.
I also didn’t find a lot of the characters very good. Some obvious exceptions are Makoto, Kyoko, Kazuo Tengen, Kyosuke Munakata, Juzo Sakakura, and a couple others, but for the most part, many characters were either unnecessary or completely nonsensical. They were only there for the ride. Their motivations seem to come out of nowhere—if you’re just watching the Future Arc and not simultaneously watching the Despair Arc in what is a really unorthodox watch order—and the actions they take are so ridiculously far from the best thing they could have done that it’s infuriating. For instance, everything about Ruruka, Izayoi, and Kimura was dumb. Petty grudges drove them to do stupid things. Meanwhile, you have characters such as Makoto and Munakata with actual character development as a result of the events that occur that doesn’t completely destroy what they stand for. I found the [SPOILERS BEGIN] scene with Makoto and the brainwashing TV really good. It shows that he still carries survivor’s guilt from the previous killing game and is a nice addition to him. [SPOILERS END]
Danganronpa 3 – Future Arc did not start off terrible, yet by the end, I was left with a feeling that what I had just watched was meaningless. I was not entirely opposed to the concept, however. In fact, I rather enjoyed Future Arc as a conclusion to the Hope’s Peak series of Danganronpa stories. It had plently of action and drama to keep me entertained throughout, which was enough to distract me from the somewhat disappointing plot. If you liked the previous games, I highly recommend watching this and Despair Arc.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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