Back to gxyrlu's Profile gxyrlu's Profile

"afro-headed idiot" shows us the complexity surrounding a person's existence when they are surrounded by violence. Survivor's guilt, will to live, or continue fighting, the drive for companionship and inner peace, it's all in there. And no filler either, this was 5 episodes only! It was all excellent, and Samuel L Jackson is on the cast!!! Unfortunately so are many Funimation regulars, but that's fine.
The storytelling is very subtle, making use of monologues and flashbacks.
The animation is very good- action scenes feel very well choreographed and flashy as fuuuck
Sound- due to the Funimation cast, this is the weakest point of this anime. The ... soundtrack was good :) a little out of style but it's an older anime!
Characters-hmm well the characters were a little flat, but that's fine, I feel this was a more abstract anime than others, despite the blood and violence. The flat characters do not necessarily harm the story being told. This is 5 episodes, shorter than some movies!!! For those 5 episodes, the characters had good chemistry in the story.

Overall enjoyment- I'm a little squeamish but when I'm feeling it I really enjoy these types of shows. Thoughtful, funny, fucking gorgeous, and a gem of the hellhole we call anime. It's notable for continuing the long tradition of Black American/Japanese cultural exchange, and notable for being a Spike TV original!!! I mean come on, Spike TV!!!
I cried multiple times in the 4th and 5th episode, tuff softies I highly recommend this one.

Hmmm yea I'll leave a review for that--

It's a classy hentai fuckfest bastardized retelling of an ancient tale, I think that's downright romantic! Even years after reading this manga one fucking time, it still stands out in my memory.

The artwork is better than average! Of course like any fantasy work, there's a lot of creative liberties. But the shapes.. they just look so soft, it's such a pleasure to read
The characters were fun for me to read! I like this crazed dominant fem!sunwukong character especially
The plot is literally legendary, how could you avoid reading this manga??

Recommendation: it's all sex, just one big ... long sex. enjoy!!

This is one of the most realistic fictional works regarding LGBTQIA+ people i have ever experienced. It is up there with the film "Happy Together" dir. Wong Kar Wai.... Genuine emotional turmoil, quirky fun and confusing experiences that you just ignore until somebody reveals to you why it was different.... The rec house of "Anonymous" (a character) provided a comforting atmosphere for the reader to enjoy, and the characters are all lovable and sweet, I wish I was their friend too!
This manga is also BEAUTIFUL!! The sparkles and flowers and tiles, it feels very romantic, a true pleasure to read!!
My favorite part about this manga ... is how seen I feel... That will definitely impact my rating!!!

The plot is a little slow, and most tension in the manga comes from internal confusion or anxieties, rather than external conflict between individuals or groups. In my opinion, it is very worth it. The plot does have crescendos, but this is not an "exciting" manga. However! Every page is a delight or has me wondering what will be next, and when the characters do experience new things or undergo changes/reveals, it is exciting and delightful to me!!

This is the same manga-ka that brought us the quirky manga "Nabari no Ou" (later became an anime as well!)
I recommend you go try reading more of Kamatani-sensei no works as well, if you feel not quite man, not quite woman.

WHAT ABOUT THE STR8S????? well. I dont really know. I've never been straight or "normal". Maybe you guys will like this, maybe you will find it pompous and ridiculously romanticized. I don't know. I think it's a cute story of a young guy who doesn't understand shit from shat. And his feeling more confident and growing by listening to his elders stories and experiencing their lives alongside them as a friend. There are not many dark moments, which I find a little disappointing from a writer's perspective, but it is not at all bad to make joyful fiction to help comfort weary individuals. Given the sheer lack of authentic representation of queer life, I think this is a nice low(VERY low)-fantasy, a cheery manga which the queer world NEEDS. Straight people if you didn't like it, I'm very sorry, give me money and u will feel better promise :)

Reread value feels.. I dont know, a little low? I first read this manga when I was younger, a year or two after it was published in Japan. I have since bought physical copies from a local bookstore and I lend my copies to queer friends and especially those who are "still hatching". I love this manga because of what it did for me, like a positive-spirited companion, however now that I am an young adult and have had plenty of experiences in the real world, I am primarily enjoying the beautiful artwork and technical ability of the artist(s)! Please buy this manga to show publishing companies that queer authors are profitable. International money is money all the same! I am not opposed to scanlations but this mangaka is "x-gender" and ace so please support them!!!

Psycho-Pass is a very good anime if you have no intention of looking for a deeper meaning. The OST could use some extra tracks, but it's very beautiful. Visually, this anime was a pleasure to watch!
But, this is a dystopian anime, no? ... No.
I kinda expect a little more depth to an anime that wants to scratch at this sore point of the human condition... "We live in a society"
The writers of this show were not shy about the "dystopia" aspect, it was very blunt. I suppose if you're a total bootlicker, they might have u fooled for a second... And the entire time ... watching the show, I felt greater and greater desire for the characters to rise above their circumstances and to find a way to a better world, together, but the finale of the show felt like an emotional disappointment. Oh well, I cannot blame the writing team for struggling to have the philosophical wherewithall of Noam friking Chomsky. They put their effort into making an exciting action show and they absolutely succeeded!

Overall recommendation: Give it a try if you enjoy action and body horror! Skip it if you hate the flamboyant tortured male genius trope!

Details... oh i am gonna rip this one a new one
Sound: 5/10
At first I loved the OST, I like egoist, and I liked the sound design too. But it just felt very.. canned.. They were running scenes like 4 minutes long looping a 1 minute guitar/violin riff.... noo no no no . it was annoying by the end.
Animation visuals: 7/10
flashy flash bang! And shiny!! Gradients and backgrounds looked great. The animation team did great with the digital animation! Unfortunately, as a product of its time, the CGI did not blend in very well when they did make use of it. Fitting for the dystopian setting, the colors were rather muted, except.. except when our female lead is off-the-clock chatting with her friends at the same cafe. Is there a writing purpose for this choice? It didn't appear so, they never took advantage of this interesting dichotomy. It feels more like we are supposed to empathize with this police supervisor. But why? I felt the animation failed to contribute to the writing in a meaningful way.
Plot/Writing: 4/10
There were some fun twists, and it was so interesting to see the world that they had built for the show... But in showing us every piece of the world, there were more and more loose ends that were left untied. The dialectic back-and-forth about philosophy all thru the show felt like fluff, never really examining what a human connection REALLY is, never really examining what our hearts or wills REALLY could be.. Instead, the characters have stoic monologues while edging themselves on a switchblade in front of a velvet-clad bookcase to the sound of Austrian viola music. IT'S ALL VERY WEIRD!!!!! For a show where the characters are obsessed with human soul, the writing is shockingly lacking soul as well.
Characters: 3/10
fucking uncreative next

This show did such a bad fucking job that I thought maybe the manga would be better. Turns out,,, NO, THEY WROTE IT THIS WAY. Psycho-Pass is an original story written specifically for this Production IG to animate. It's just a cash grab. If you tried to discern a theme or message of this show, you would either be delightfully soothed or you would be horrified by the cynicism of it all.

Overall enjoyment: 6 but I gave it a 7 anyways. fuck this show

In terms of sports anime, this is another excellent one. It's clear that this anime is a creation out of passion for art and for sport. The charts and diagrams and the dynamic poses and stunning strokes..! The rhythm of the animated ping pong matches was so lively, the ping-pong equipment talk was SO NERDY, the animating team clearly did their research!

The music is SO thematic and sets the tone excellently, there are constant pop-culture references (Akira!!! NGE!!!), and the animation ... wow... This is anime, visually, at its finest. Exaggerated motions, blurs and smears, so much use of contrast. There was a scene with ... a flashlight and the RESPECT that the animating team had for light and dark in that scene.... Perspective was just wild, no rules just guidelines, and combined with a moving "camera"....!!!!!! There was a variety of textures, the colors were interesting and moody, and the way they drew out split-second moments, it's almost undescribable.. the athletes would be running fast while the scene passes in slow motion, only anime could make that look right lol

There was one thing I really didn't like about this anime. Not like it's a huge flaw or anything, but I guess the characters bored me. They would just offer their short monologues while joining their peers for a thousand-yard-stare, or be yelling about how passionate they are, or they would just. leave. just cuz fuck you i guess. It was hard for me to keep watching this one, because of the dialogue being too boring or too confusing for me to follow. There are MANY characters from different schools, and the anime often cuts very quickly. There are also frequent semi-metaphorical flashbacks and personally i found that confusing and unhelpful, but yknow, the music and animation teams carried still. It's all very anime!!!! I enjoyed it despite my confusion! Maybe if I watch a second time, I will be able to keep track of all the characters and their relationships to each other..... We'll see haha

Similar anime, cuz i love sports anime:
Hajime no Ippo- also very individualistic, sports anime about boxing, however this one builds up the interpersonal relationships and the warmth much much better, though it's a much slower paced show as a result.
Haikyuu- This one is a lot less individualistic, a lot less artistically talented, way longer, and way way cuter. That's it it's just kawaii cute haha

If your passion is closer to writing and storytelling, I think you might find this one to be a little disappointing, tho maybe it'd be a fun study! Every beautiful work has room for improvement!
All in all, Ping Pong the Animation is a GREAT anime to watch for your viewing pleasure, and for animation buffs i recommend: "Probably should watch it! Just to know how good this shit can get." This is a unique watch! Don't miss out!

Wow! The atmosphere is created with extreme technical skill and consistent enough style, merging different animation techniques in a time period when not many creative directors were combining 2D digital, super involved and detailed environment design in 3D, and 2D digital, invoking CEL style watercolors. Fun choreography and cinematic for action and chase scenes! The creative direction is very very impressive to me. This is a gorgeous film and for me, as I also dabble in storyboards or environment/asset design, this is a stylistic guilty pleasure.
Characters were very likeable or at least understandable. Even the "lukewarm" types, they still were written with conviction and ... personality. Very good characters! There were plenty of background characters who, even with one or two lines, still came in with personality. ENG dub kinda shocked me, I didn't expect to enjoy it. I don't speak Japanese but the JPN dub was good too hehe

Writing.
Oof. idk, I'm a girl so I like talking to.. be more like dialogue. The writing feels close to the dialogue of a Marvel movie. If that makes sense to you, then you'll love this! haahh... but the 'dialogue' of this film was not for me.
The plot was a little convoluted and difficult to understand but I think that was a positive element for this film. The rewatch value is very high, as I learned to distinguish henchman #2a from henchman #4b.. LOL there's just so many characters in this film! The first watch-through is the worst, in this respect! I found the plot to be super entertaining by my 3rd watch through.

Theme, Narrative, Message...
Hmmm.... well, at face-value you might call this a film about imperialism or gentrification... but I don't think it's quite that. The ending of the film ends in a sense of.. "Oh, I got mine, everything's fine," very very positive and happy ending. I was wondering recently... Did they just run out of money, like the Evangelion TV series? In my opinion, the film atmosphere deserved an ending with a tone closer to "Grave of the Fireflies", or if they were going to do "Happy ending beach scene", they add it in a context that feels respectful and honorable to the sacrifices or grave mistakes of their kin. In this film there is so much room for character growth, they wrote excellently balanced giant cast, and we the audience watch them all go through such a wild journey, I was hoping this would culminate to at least one of the characters figuring a method to this madness, ESPECIALLY because the climax of the film is so psychological. But there seemed to be no development emotionally, not nearly enough to warrant an ending theme of... "Choose Kindness :)" Just felt like the dust settled and ... well I wont spoil too much
Hallmark-level theme, I think that this aspect is what holds this film back the most. If you want the 8/10 version of this film, pretend the film is closer to like... 1:35:00, cut off the last 15 minutes lol. And then imagine that they had left an "open ended please give us a second movie" ending.

Sound--
Sound design was great! Music ... well it's good but in retrospect I find it boring! It certainly does not stand alone but it gets the job done!

Overall. GREAT film. Super fun to watch, possibly a few manly tears here and there. Great rewatch value if you turn your brain off!

Wow! .... WOW !! lol
So... The characters don't really go through any kind of growth, and there's no meaningful coherent struggle that they undergo together... it's clear they each have their issues, but their paths intersect physically. The character's own dialogue acknowledges that they're lacking a connection.... and this is an interesting route to take, right? Overall I actually really enjoyed the premise of this plot.
.... Maybe it's just me and my paranoid ass, but the tone and delivery of this story reeks of Stockholm Syndrome. I can.. maybe? kinda see..? where Shinkai is coming from.. but considering that he wrote the screenplay and ... he did the boards, and he directed this film, why did it come out so... weak?
A LOT of this film is monologues. FROM BOTH SIDES of the love interest. The last monologue of the movie was the only monologue that really caught my interest, but it was at a moment of peak conflict I just .. I understand where it is coming from, but the main character just goes from 0-100, and .. and.. idk it's a little unhinged, and then they end the movie on that note. .... ?? Like what.. is.. is there more?

What does this movie have to offer? Monologues and instrumental piano and STUNNING art of shining leaves and gushing water. Yall if u like looking, LOOK. AT. THIS. MOVIE! But if you want to enjoy a plot, if you want to see any of the following: character development, meaningful relationship development or, idk, a moral lesson to not invite kids into your home, or some kind of encouragement to children who are suffering in the shadow of an alcoholic or otherwise nonpresent parent, YOU WILL NOT GET IT HERE!!!! I had a good laugh tho! (intoxication recommended)

Suggestions for Shinkai (cuz im arrogant like that)
This work was beautiful, visually, I can really see your vision for a romantic hook and draw-in, we've really captured this protagonist at his most vulnerable.... But you've ended the story at that point? How distasteful, you've left this teenage boy to die on this cross, and you want to cash in on it..
Maybe your intention wasn't the plot, that's fine too. Vibes are really in fashion! In that case, please PLEASE do not give your male lead a one sided monologue berating your female lead about how all the stress he's experiencing is her fault! Yes, she is abusing him, No that does not mean that this fight is beautiful and meaningful to their relationship.... I mean... it better not be!!! oh my gawwdd
A coming of age story can be written in so many other ways! This kid deserves a better resolution than this! Abuse is wrong! The female lead deserves a better ending too! Maybe this movie just opened too many cans ... It was only 46 minutes long after all...

02/10 "he's like a japanese quentin tarantino" - me, today

forgive me if it's rude, but this is a Japanese Hallmark movie lmfaooooo except with childhood depression.
There are many societal and internal issues at play between the characters in the film and there's just not enough oomph in the writing to focus on the relationships our protagonist could be making. The whole theme of the movie is; hang onto life, we have friendship, nice shoes and a steam bun. But, the "processing" part of this movie is done with an oddly childish authority figure... angel.....?
Why open a story touching on such deeply emotional issues? Could you have written this story differently (yes) to ... focus on *why* conservative values have eroded? (Yes) or maybe write a character who learns why his ways are wrong because he.. idk, talked to any of his friends?? (Yes they could have, but they didn't!~~)
So if you're struggling to find a way through this rat race, emotionally. You could try this movie. It is not very helpful in the long term but it's real cute, get comfortable and fix yrself a big pot of hot alcoholic drink, we're gonna get thru the night
xoxo

This is a much-needed film, it meant a lot to me, as I grew up hearing stories of WWii from my grandmother who was a child at the time. The confusion of morality and survival... I inherited it, and this film was painful to watch, but so so cathartic. Romantically sad. And from an animation standpoint, a real beautiful film. I recommend this film in combination with My Neighbor Totoro, or something else light to cheer you up afterwards lol
I think that the film could have been improved if there was a "path upwards" for the protagonists, and by extension for us the audience. ... However art is for us to process reality, and reality isn't kind to everyone. So in the end, I can definitely enjoy that this film is just here to feel the sadness, not about triumph, not about hope, not about a better tomorrow. Just focus on the tragedy, the sad things deserve your focus as well.

It's an excellent part of your balanced media diet!!!! 10/10 !