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Mar 23, 2012
I dont understand how this is one of the top rated harem series out there. I'm not even going to pretend like I remember any of the names from this show, because that's how much I wanted to forget this anime. This anime centers around a guy who transfers into what was formally an all girls school with along with some others in his class. What ensues is the repetitive, redundant marching out of potential partner candidates for the main character. Well, that's pretty much what I would expect out of this genre, so no harm. However, the pacing of the story proceeds to suck
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the viewer in for a good 6 episodes thinking that the OTP (one true pair) is with a tsundere girl who initially resists the idea of having boys in her school. She eventually warms up to the idea and develops feelings for the main, only to be completely left out of the 2nd half of the script until for virtually the last episode. The proceeding next five episode focuses on a girl who has trouble dealing with her growing feelings for the boy and even goes towards great lengths to even have him notice her. In the end, the producers produce a big eff you plot twist as if to say that the first 10 episodes you just saw don't even matter. If they were serious about putting forth any sort of entertainment value into resolving the last plot twist, there weren't have been as many female characters, because given the length of the series and the number of charcters the show had, most of the characters were about as interesting as a piece of cheese. The roles that were actually focused on were written out for who knows what reason? (marketing eroge???) and the end result is that a very pissed off viewer who feels as if he's just wasted 5 hours watching this.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Mar 23, 2012
I've read alot of reviews on Guilty Crown; fluctuating from 1's to 10's and everything in between, so I thought I'd throw my two cents in. Since this anime had been announced from the skunk works of Production I.G. with an all star team of writers lifted from code geass and death note, music by supercell and character designs by Redjuice, many people were justified in holding lofty expectations for GC. To be fair, the production team addresses alot of those aforementioned areas well, with distinction towards the bgm and the character designs, both of which are top notch. However, no amount of production value
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can ever make up for a well thought out, properly written plotline, and this was one area that GC was sorely lacking in. Centering around the development of 16 year old Ouma Shu in what is a futuristic foreign occupied Japan plagued by what is known as the "apocalypse virus", Guilty Crown tries to combine too many elements of a story and mash it into a 22 episode series. For those detractors who write that Guilty Crown was a rip off of Code Geass, Evangelion in a Sunrise mecha knockoff fart production are partially right. The dynamics of having a mash of mecha melee, politically and socially charged show about a smalltime terrorist organization armed with genomic weapons is difficult to pull off without having a thread trying to tie it all together. One almost gets the feeling that Production IG was trying to hit a homerun, realized it was over its head halfway in and scaled back their effort to include everything in a 22 episode series. The result was the introduction of seemingly random storyling tangents that don't anywhere and plotholes the size of Uranus. Nothing about the origin of the terrorist group Funeral Parlor, or Daath (who was randomly introduced towards the end of cour1) was ever explained, nor the introduction and development of the genomic enhancers, known as 'void genomes' which seemingly has a tie to the apocalypse virus as the crux of the main protagnonist's powers are ever explored. All that happens is that the characters just "run with it" and the viewer is left stupefied as to what it all means while the "story" eventually jumps into another plot twist. As one can imagine, the inconsistency of the storyline and the introduction of new plot twists has an adverse effect on the development of crucial characters in the show. Ouma Shu and his leading lady counterpart, Inori Yuzuriha sleepwalk through the first half of the series in a cliche-rich niche (alliteration!) as the weak, reluctant hero, and the emotionless doll there for the sake of fanservice. Somehow the producers at IG got the memo halfway through and wrote in some character development; but given the relatively short length of the show, too many episodes were wasted on the character development stasis for there to have any sort of dramatic effect. As a result, the character transitions get lost in the shuffle of the crescendo building up to the final conflict of the series, (which really, is anyone surprised if its the exact same conflict from the first part?).
Nevertheless, with all that being said, production values are still incredibly high as well the bgm being the best I've seen for an action anime since gundam seed or macross frontier. Taken in the myopic, narrow view of a single episode, the coreography of some of the fight scenes were stunning, as well the the bgm associated with it. (albeit hilarious and confusing when considering the storyline as whole). This series is worth a once over look, though its conceptual themes and motifs probably arent anything to smile over, the sheer entertainment value might make it worthwhile for you. If there was ever a candidate series worthy of a remake overhaul, this would be it. (Do it, NoitaminA....so that I don't have to cry in disappointment everytime I listen to a guilty crown ost) Given the sheer talent and production values poured into this project, I expected alot more, but I still feel series as whole does enough to capture the attention of its viewer and shallowly provide what enough plot twists and fight scenes to let him enjoy the series.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jan 24, 2012
It took me a while to warm up to the prospect of watching a story based around a mahou shoujo theme, as it is not my usual cup of tea. However, in the case of Madoka Magica, what started out looking like a typical sugary sweet slice of life story about friends being magical girls quickly turned into a philosophical mind trip that had me too taken in to even blink.
The premise of the story centers around Madoka, a very kind, (too much for her own good) girl who encounters a magical furry creature Kyubei, who can grant wishes to girls in exchange for
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their service in defeating witches. So, typical good versus ultimate baddie? Wrong. The writers of Madoka-Magica display a great aptitude in being able to lull you into a false sense of story regarding the direction with excellent voice acting and impeccable timing and pacing of the story before turning what was once a light hearted story into an emotional rollercoaster.
The artwork and the music in this story were masterfully utilized in pushing the story along. Color and music effects gave subtle hints to the viewer in nudging along the direction the story was moving towards and coincided well with tone of the scenes. The backgrounds of the scenes were especially striking in unique art styles in almost abstract, random way. The character designs were flawed, but consistent, (I didnt particularly like the squarish faces all the characters had). Between the incredible background artwork effects and the acoustic setting, it was often easy to piece together the story even without the help of subs. I often would rewind and pause during many scenes because they foreshadow a lot of things with their striking background visuals loaded with detail.
However, the story was what unequivocally won this anime over for me. Taking into account the larger questions SHAFT was willing to indulge, such as utilitarianism and universal thermodynamics. Being that I watched Steins; Gate prior to this, I must say that this anime reeks of a lot of similar themes (I know that madoka came out first). Most studios would require at least a full 24 episodes in order to setup and flesh out such meaningful and deep issues, especially when you start with a premise as ridiculous this. With that being said, SHAFT executed the pacing of the overall storyline MASTERFULLY. Not one second or scene was wasted towards anything other than the progression of the overall storyline. What's even more impressive is that everything the writers tried to sell in terms of character actions and development felt believable and fully explored.
Probably the one qualm I have about this anime, however, is the resolution, or lack thereof. Trust when I say this, I probably read through all of the comments on the last episode after I watched the ending and the main reason for this was mainly to the WTF? factor. I had no idea what had just happened; the clear absurdity and the convenience of the last wish of Madoka clashed with every theme the writing staff had efforted towards in the previous 11 episodes. It was almost too clean, and illogical considering the consequences of the events leading up the finale. However, I can't exactly fault the studio writing staff for writing such an ending ( the one I probably had planned was probably too polarizing). That in itself, was the only thing that prevented me, a shonen lover, from giving this a Masterpiece 10 rating and watching it again, knowing how dissatisfied I was with the ending. Despite that issue, this anime still gets a healthy 9 from me and probably takes 2nd behind steins ; gate for 2011. I havent watched penguindrum or usagi drop. (i think I would be too confused in the former and too shaken up from the tearing up in the latter.)
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jan 16, 2012
The writers or the directors of Boku wa tomodachi ga Sukunai don't even try to hide the fact that a good of the appeal of this anime is attributed to its fanservice. Whatever you want, you got: big boobs? check. tsundere? check. hentai/ecchi? check. lolicon? check. moe/incest? check. The funny thing is, despite all of its shallowness and cliche situations, I found most of the series to be extremely entertaining due to the group dynamic all of the characters share. The premise of the story lies mostly in the vein of a pack of lost sheep who are all deficient in friendships with varying extenuating
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circumstances. What often loses me in these harem/group fanservice animes is that there never really any attempt at characterization or depth in the roles. What sets Boku wa tomodachi apart is the development of characters (at least for me) through comedic moments and the linking of the main character Kodaka's past with the current situation he is in. While on the whole, the ending tailed off into a somewhat ambiguous and vague finale, the journey of the story and the promise for future development left me satisfied in that I didn't waste 6 hours of my life investing in this anime.
Story: 7
This story is based off the light novel version pretty faithfully, and like I've already said, the events of the episodes have a direction in fulfilling the main role's (Kodaka) character development. I may be a bit biased since I've read and knows what happens in the light novel, but the anime is a pretty faithful interpretation. In between the filler episodes, the story is quite predictable and cliche, the memory of kodaka's past childhood friend and current situation is linked up, albeit rushed, left me with a satisfied sense of unity in the plot. The vague, off the mark conclusion, however, left me with the sense that the studio is peddling to customers for a profit before they churn out a second season, or just bad writing.
Art: 8
Art took some getting used to for me. It's not what I would call "pretty", but at least stayed consistent throughout the series. As you move on in the anime, the episodes get more vivid and crisp in color.
Sound: 7
Nothing memorable. I always skipped the OP and the ED, it wasn't really my cup of tea. Throughout the series, nothing really left an impression on me, but nothing felt out of place.
Character: 8
I really took to a lot of the characters in this series. Each character has their quirk or quality that makes them distinctive, but relatable, to a degree. While a lot of the characters introduced seem to have ancillary roles, they all contribute to the group dynamic that makes it oh-so-cute and enjoyable.
Enjoyment: 9
Here's where I probably took the most subjective POV on. Despite the fact, that the story seems unresolved and the characters seem terribly cliche, I thoroughly enjoyed the hi jinx and the comedic play that they have off each other and the promise that each burdgeoning storyline held for future character development. With the ending that fell a bit flat, I wasn't expecting a huge revelation of any kind, but I wasn't disappointed in the way they handled it by resolving all of the questions.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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