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I wasn't sure what I expected when I entered the world of Jormungand - if the plot synopsis gave me any idea, it was that there would be a lot of guns. It certainly didn't let me down there. Is there more to this anime than explosions and eye candy? Mmmmmnnnoooot really.

Story: 4/10
Jormungand doesn't follow a specific plotline - it's almost as if it's a slice of life, arms dealer style. I'm not sure it really worked. I mean, sure, I really enjoyed watching it - it's fun, not something you really have to put much thought into, but that, to me, doesn't necessarily ... mean that it was successful. The fact that the style of the anime was episodic meant that there was no intense finale, which is the sort of thing one expects from this kind of series. The finale ended up being anti-climactic [i]regardless[/i] of the fact that there wasn't enough buildup.

Art: 7/10
The art and character design were fluid and not uninteresting - the weapons (which, admittedly, are practically the focus of the series) were well animated and drawn, the characters were unique enough, and the scenery was pretty standard.

Sound: 8/10
Probably the best part of Jormungand for me - the voice acting, both the English and Japanese versions, was great and portrayed the right vibe. If you're an English speaker, I recommend the dub - being able to hear the characters swear makes the whole experience a little more interesting. The soundtrack was pretty awesome as well - it definitely fitted in with the overall atmosphere of the series. The opening is probably one of my all time favorites soundwise.

Character: 4/10
There was little to no character development - any development there was felt a little forced. Some of the character interactions/relationships seemed forced as well - for example, those between Koko and Jonah, the main characters. Jonah is a deadpan child soldier who hates the fact that he works with weapons, but it's almost as if we wouldn't know this if it wasn't constantly explained to the audience by his internal dialogue. Koko is the better character in my opinionn, although she could have been better portrayed. If she is supposed to be the hardcore crazy bitch the others make her out to be, we never really see that side of her, apart from in the way she 'smiles in the face of danger'. If she is meant to be intimidating or even frightening, I'm afraid I didn't get that feeling from her at all. However, she was definitely the most fun to watch of all Jormungand's characters, closely followed by Valmet. If it weren't for the fact that the characters were so entertaining to watch, even just in battle, the score would be lower.

Enjoyment: 8/10
I prioritized this series because I enjoyed it, finishing it in 4 days, despite the copious amount of crap I still have to finish. That says something to me. I was enthusiastic to watch it.

Overall: 5/10
I rate anime highly for clearly achieving what they intend to - and I'm afraid Jormungand really didn't meet that mark. What one would expect is grit, terror, nailbiting action - but to me, it was just a bit fun. If I had gone into it with any expectations, I'm pretty sure I would have been disappointed.

This series of short films is basically the product of the darkly humorous, morbidly curious imagination that each and every one of us has. Like, what if there was an olympic sport in which people drove cars with unsecured people in the passenger seats to see who could make their passenger fly out the window screen the furthest? That's the kind of humor Shintarou Kago presents you with here. Often ridiculous and surreal, body-horrorish and silly, I found that I chuckled at almost every short (as in, short short - between 30 seconds and 2 mins with a 7 minute finale), maybe because I know ... that I, among many others, think in a similar fashion if I just let my thoughts go. Kago Shintarou Anime Sakuhin Shuu has no depth, and doesn't pretend to have any either.

The films are animated (well, the 15 of them that are animated) very crudely. Some you feel could almost have been done on MS paint. The sound track and effects were the same. However, this was not a downfall of the series for me. In fact, it's as if that was part of the point. The concepts are silly. The series as a whole doesn't take itself too seriously, or pretend at all that a lot of effort or money went into its creation.

As a whole, I found that this series was entertaining and not difficult to get through at all. I rate it 8/10 for its sheer entertainment value and how I personally feel it reflects the silly thoughts we all have but never talk about. All in all, not a bad way to spend 25 minutes of my time.

If there is one director in the anime world who never fails to surprise, refresh and delight me, it is Yuasa Masaaki. Having created popular masterpieces like Ping Pong the Animation and The Tatami Galaxy, it is clear that he does not disappoint. His works are stylistically striking and always seem to bear an overwhelmingly positive and uplifting atmosphere. Kemonozume is no exception.

Story: 8/10
The story follows a species of monsters that prey upon humans, the Shokujinki, and the organisation that is dedicated to eradicating them - the Kifuuken. The story gains direction when Toshiko, a member of the Kifuuken, and Yuka, a "Flesh Eater", fall ... in love at first sight. META_BODY's review covers the philosophical aspect of this story far better than I could, but believe me when I say that it is excellent, if obscure. It is, without a doubt, highly confusing and somewhat surreal if one stops to think about it. Nevertheless, it was very entertaining and enjoyable to watch.

Art: 10/10
I have seen numerous comments about the art of Kemonozume being its biggest flaw - that it is messy, as though it is a draft and not the final product. I couldn't disagree more. The art is what stood out to me as the most magnificent aspect of this series. The art style incorporates rotoscope and/or live action shots on occasion - these aspects are also present in Masaaki's film, Mindgame, and The Tatami Galaxy. Otherwise, the art makes use of scratchy, scribbly lines, similar to those used in Mindgame and Ping Pong, and the use of colour varies according to the tone of the scene. Sometimes, the palette is muted and unspectacular, and sometimes it is jarring and vivid. What I love about Masaaki's anime is how eccentric and different it is in comparison with other modern anime: you won't find any moeshit here. No two characters look the same. Each character has, well, [i]character[/i].

Sound: 9/10
The sound, both the OST and voice acting, were another spectacular aspect of this series. The OST was like nothing I have heard in an anime before. Somehow it was jazzy and evocative and interesting, and most importantly, it worked. The voice acting was absolutely excellent. I don't believe an English dub exists, but I'm quite certain one would never do the original justice.

Character: 8/10
Each character in Kemonozume was portrayed uniquely in every aspect - not only scriptwise, but also through the art and voice acting. Each was distinctive in their own way, and developed adequately throughout the series.

Overall: 9/10

Kemonozume undoubtedly does everything right for what it is - and it is a beautiful blend of fantastically absurd art and sound and a seemingly simple Romeo and Juliet-based story that deviates from the norm. It is refreshing and entertaining to watch, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who feels like something a bit different without having to delve into the realm of dementia. Not only is it an excellent anime it is, dare I say it, a piece of art.

Are you interested in the psychology of serial killers and perverse psychopaths? Do you like gore that will make you cringe in slight discomfort? Well then, this is probably the OVA for you, because I can't really see why it would appeal to anyone other than you and me.

This is the first anime I have seen that has delved into the psychology of what society sees as the ultimate in perversion and depravity - ie, brutal murder or torture giving the perpetrator sadistic sexual pleasure. That's essentially what happens in Ichi the Killer: Episode 0. If it had been nothing more than torture porn, ... I'd probably still have watched it all the way through, but I'd've given it a 4/10 at most. What caught my attention was essentially the parallels it draws with a great deal of serial killer cases. It vaguely covers the MC's 'descent into madness' in an artistically gritty dementia style punctuated with a jarring soundtrack that incorporates his screams. It portrays the figure of a great deal of serial killers - a pushover, a target for bullies who is manipulated and made fun of by his peers whose parents are more okay with the idea of him being a bully himself than the thought that he is the target, and who nobody could imagine would be capable of killing. The way this was delivered was pretty excellent in my books, and that's the reason why I have rated it a 7/10 - because of my interest in the topic and the fact that it didn't let me down in that respect.

What makes this 45 minute long OVA lose points for me is essentially everything other than that. Since it's something of a prologue, it basically just chronicles the leadup to the manga and thus Ichi's backstory. The plot elements external to that which are supposed to lead into the 'main plot' as it were seem totally unrealistic, almost annoyingly so.

In a nutshell, this is a jarring, psychological mess that most might find simultaneously disgusting, confusing and boring. If it sounds up your alley, give it a go - it's not like you'll be spending weeks on end watching an endless series. Why the fuck not, right?

As someone with great interest in the nature of human sexuality and connection, especially in the form of 'abnormal' or fetishistic behaviour, an anime titled "Fetish Doll" under the "dementia" category will inevitably catch my eye.

There are two ways one might approach this four minute long acid trip of an animated short - the first is that of contempt and/or indifference, the second would make you sound like the most pretentious person ever to write an anime review. Either you will raise your eyebrows at it and move on, or you will think about it for 10 minutes, nod your head and shrug in acceptance ... and/or approval and move on. It's not a short that will change your life, but it's only 4 minutes long, so how much of a waste of time can it really be?

Basically, Fetish Doll is comprised of a bunch of hand-drawn depictions of body parts (mostly ears, hands, and, well, dicks), flowers and abstract shapes interacting with and morphing into one another. In my opinion, it essentially shows sex and fetishism as a means of communication in a pretty undramatic expository fashion, and what makes me think this is the inclusion of the ear as a symbol and the way it is interacted with for lack of a better phrase. Of course, anyone who watches this film, or anything for that matter, will inevitably project their own meaning onto what is occurring based on their personal perspective, and in this case it's more evident than in most since there is no narrative or evident purpose in what you're viewing. In my personal perspective, Fetish Doll makes me think of the concept of objectification and the way in which we give meaning/sensuality to the way in which we communicate with our bodies. There really isn't much you can say about the film without talking about yourself and your own perspective, and if that was deliberate, it might actually be a little ingenious.

"What is it about fire? So calm and peaceful but… inside, all power and destruction. It’s hiding something. Just like people do. Sometimes you have to get close to find what’s inside. Sometimes you have to get burned to see the truth."

The concept of balance versus unbalance/yin and yang as an internal struggle is not a new or groundbreaking premise, but it is not necessary for an anime (or other form of entertainment media for that matter) to show you something you'd never have considered before for it to be a work of art, or even a masterpiece. Tekkon Kinkreet portrays the concept of yin ... and yang in a unique, masterfully executed way through wonderful and refreshing characters. Despite the fact that the conclusion to the story becomes predictable, this doesn't detract from the experience whatsoever in my opinion. I get the feeling that the story is not the main focus, and is instead a vessel for the characters and the experience of the viewer, and it's refreshing to watch an anime like that.

The first thing that hits you when you watch Tekkon Kinkreet is the absolutely superb art and animation. The use of colour and the attention to detail in the backgrounds took my breath away. The second thing that hit me was the flawless voice acting and equally flawless OST. Undeniably, the art and OST for TK are arguably some of the best I have encountered. Often, anime is strong in one of these suits and lacking in the other - not in this one. This double whammy makes the experience so much more immersive and evocative.

All in all, this is a remarkable, beautiful film in my opinion, and I would recommend it to anyone, even just to experience its superlative art and animation.

Oh dear. The hentai that everybody loves to hate. "A hentai for the Catholic priest who wants a fap before bedtime." Yes.

In all honesty, I think, after hearing everyone's anecdotes about how it scarred them for life, I was expecting a lot worse. I was seriously expecting to feel incredibly uncomfortable, since pedophilia is one of the few things in this world that actually gets to me. I put off watching it for quite some time because of this fact. But when my morbid curiosity finally got the best of me, it didn't make me that uncomfortable. The good thing about hentai is that ... it helps people indulge in their fetishes in a way that doesn't actually harm any real people. Like, it's guaranteed that you aren't watching somebody ACTUALLY being exploited and/or raped on camera, and although the fact that it's unclear how old Pico actually is (he could probably pass for between 10 and 14 in my opinion but who knows) did make me uncomfortable, it could have been far, far worse. For example, he could have been straight up, no grey area, against his will raped, or really, really obviously 8 years old or younger even. But he wasn't. I guess something good to say about all the fucked up hentai in this world is that at least people most people who are watching that hentai are watching hentai instead of idk decapitating people or raping children for sexual pleasure.

What made me cringe and want to cover my eyes was a) moving genitals and b) the sound effects... oh god. The SOUND EFFECTS, my friend. Horrifying. But, I seriously think that if you took the element of homosexuality out of this hentai, nobody would bat an eyelash. It'd be just another loli hentai and nobody would care.

I think part of what it is about this hentai that makes people want to gouge out their eyes is the fact that it puts them in an uncomfortable position - as someone who has no real preferences when it comes to the gender of a sexual partner, I fully see why people hate Boku no Pico so much. Don't take my word for it here, but I'd estimate that the majority of people who watch porn they know will make them cringe and/or laugh are probably straight males. So (unless you're into futanari) when you watch a hentai in which a male character could totally pass for female having yaoi sex and making feminine-sounding sexual noises you might hate yourself for getting a boner or, at the very least symptoms of arousal. That's my theory anyway.

In the end, I suppose my opinion is that Boku no Pico wasn't as bad for me as it might be for others because it didn't make me question my sexuality, and I don't actually think it's shameful to have "weird" of "perverse" desires (being turned on by lolis or Pico included) because your desires aren't something you can control, and 'morality' isn't an objective truth, just a subjective system we put in place so that most of us don't get hurt.

As for the rating, how does one even rate hentai objectively? It's fucking hentai with no plot. This is probably how I'd rate just about any hentai.

Story: 1/10. I mean if you take away the factor of Pico's age, it's your average shitty hentai plot and they tried to throw in some drama at the end that went nowhere, idiotic.
Art: 5/10. No comment I guess, the art style was fine; it was what the art was showing that hurt me inside.
Sound: 1/10. The sound effects made me want to rip out my own ear drums.
Character: 2/10. It's a hentai, they're hentai characters.
Enjoyment: 2/10. I hated it but at least I wasn't bored.
Overall: 2/10.

This review goes for both seasons of Tokyo Ghoul (so far), and despite the fact that I don't think of Tokyo Ghoul as an anime that falls on the 'good' end of the spectrum, I will still be watching the third season. Why exactly? I don't really have a good reason. In fact, I expect to be asking myself why I am watching the third season of an anime I don't care about right up until I have finished the last episode.

* Note that I haven't read the manga, and even so, this is a review about the anime as a standalone work.

[potential minor spoilers ... ahead]

The very first episode of Tokyo Ghoul requires a strenuous amount of suspension of disbelief and overlooking clumsy storytelling. The first episode of a show is supposed to pull you into its world in an immersive way that leaves you with many questions and wanting to find out more, not dump a whole load of information on you solely through forced dialogue. While explanation via dialogue is often necessary, especially in sci-fi/fantasy settings, there is a point at which "show, don't tell" really has to come into play.

Despite the over-explaining, it is still peppered with plot holes that beg for an explanation: for example, how can a knife break in half when thrust at the abdomen of a ghoul because "human weapons can't harm ghouls", yet a bunch of shit falling off the roof of a building can actually kill one while simultaneously leaving its organs unharmed enough to transplant? (sidenote: what was with the exchange between the doctors when they transplanted the ghoul's organs into Kaneki? I have never heard such unrealistic dialogue in my life). There are plenty of other scenes I could talk about that made me raise an eyebrow, but I don't want to spoil it for those that still intend to watch this show after my review.

What I will say in favor of the show, however, is that at times, the art and animation can be quite emotionally evocative - the soundtrack is also very good, and the art in general is smooth and well animated (aside from the incredibly annoying enormous black lines that appear in most versions of the show to block out the gore. God dammit. Gore is to me what fanservice is to others) but that's really the only genuine compliment I can think of for this show. Had it not been for these elements of it, I would absolutely have dropped it out of sheer boredom.

The characters are very flat and seriously lack any real substance or relatability. Especially Kaneki. Though, in comparing TG to Sword Art Online and Mars of Destruction, it is a practically masterpiece in this respect. While one could protest that the fact that Kaneki basically stops being a lil bitch because the shit is tortured out of him is 'character development', I beg to differ. A 180 degree flip in a character's personality (or whatever little personality Kaneki has) over the course of one episode does not constitute realistic or interesting character development in my opinion. Even in the case of a severely traumatic event, like, for example, the shit being tortured out of you, you don't just switch from being whiney as hell one episode prior to being totally emotionless and abandoning everyone who has ever accepted you the next. Kaneki starts off as a total crybaby, before taking on a somewhat Kirito-esque Jesus-Kun aspect to him. Although there were hints of development of his character before he totally changed, it really wasn't enough to make his shift from one personality to another believable or realistic. Of course, there's always the way he is supposedly 'torn between good and evil' etc, but I have seen that premise done a thousand times better elsewhere, and with less dimensionless characters.

As for the supporting characters, none of them seemed to show any real development at all. The only character I actually got much enjoyment out of was Juuzou, and honestly, even he was a shit character. I think I like him because I'm biased towards childlike psychotic nutcases who enjoy ripping people to shreds with scythes, no matter how shittily they're written.

The characters just aren't believable or realistic. They are too black or white - even Kaneki, who is meant to play the part of grey, is too one-dimensional. The problem is that the plot doesn't leave any room for ambiguity to keep the viewer guessing, to get the viewer caught up in the turmoil of the characters. My general rule of thumb is that if you can easily summarize a character in one sentence (or god forbid, one word - eg. tsundere), the writer is probably doing something wrong.

As for the course of the plot... As far as I'm concerned, I'm not actually sure I could see that it had much direction. If you want to see the same basic concept TG follows applied in a more realistic way, I'd recommend Parasyte: The Maxim. I get the feeling that Tokyo Ghoul was trying to be somewhere between slice of life ghoul style and a dramatic thriller, and I didn't feel like it quite worked. There wasn't enough back story to most of the other ghouls in the cafe to make it possible to really keep track of what the hell was going on, especially towards the end of season 2.

I suppose, what I have to say about Tokyo Ghoul is that it tried. I mean, it managed to hold my attention, and it wasn't completely unwatchably idiotic and putrid. It was a good time killer at least, and a small part of me vaguely looks forward to seeing the third season.

Two words to describe Akuma no Riddle - "wasted potential".

Picture this:

Azuma Tokaku has spent her whole life dedicated to becoming a highly trained assassin due to the expectations of her family, enduring trauma through the loss of loved ones whose deaths she blames herself for, and finds herself lacking any sense of purpose or anything or anyone to live for. As part of her training, she is sent to an all-girls boarding school, where she and 12 other female assassins are told that they must figure out which of them is their target, and the first to eliminate the target will be granted opportunities ... beyond their wildest dreams. Azuma finds herself falling in love with her room mate, Ichise Haru, who she believes to be the target. The assassins face inner turmoil as they try to figure out who it is they have to kill, facing crises of morality, wondering what the purpose and value of their lives really is and what it really means to take someone else's life. Azuma grapples with her indifference towards both winning and dying, but slowly finds purpose in protecting Ichise. At the end, all is revealed - the catch is, nobody is a target. In fact, the last assassin to survive will be the winner. In the very end, when only Ichise and Azuma are left, they are forced to realize why they had to endure the trauma of the last few months, decide what to do from then on, whether they can defy the powers that be and rebuild their lives after the considerable trauma they faced during their time at the academy.

That is a tale of what might have been. Of course, this is not an original plotline. It has been done before. Yet rewatching the same recycled messages about what it means to be alive and what it means to love would still have been preferable to watching what actually occurred in Akuma no Riddle.

Story: 2/10 | Characters: 1/10

In a nutshell, this is what happens: generic emotionless character meets generic cinnamon roll character and tries to protect her from generic violent characters that, although of varying backgrounds using different methods, are all pretty much the same. Apparently, if they eliminate the target, they will get whatever they wish for, which is why they're eager to get her blood on their hands. From the very beginning, everyone knows who the target is (and yes, she's a target, not an assassin, who has supposedly been victimized her whole life). Emotionless character supposedly starts to develop feelings for cinnamon roll character based on how different cinnamon roll character is from her, but this is never really portrayed in a realistic, believable, or even upfront way. We don't even really know why, but emotionless character vows to protect cinnamon roll character at all costs. One could argue that it's because emotionless character needs motivation to keep living/something to love etc., or that it was because of the plot twist, and these things might have worked had emotionless character's backstory actually been shown in more detail and a way that was at all realistic, and/or if the plot twist had made any fucking sense. In fact, the most believable reason for why Azuma protects Haru is probably that she had nothing better to do because she didn't care about either winning or losing. Emotionless character defends cinnamon roll from all the violent characters. We don't learn anything new from any of the characters apart from what their backstories are when they're chucked at us all in one go - nothing deeper. At the very end, it's discovered that (hold your breath) this game wasn't a test for the assassins, but a test for the cinnamon roll, who apparently has a power passed down through all the women in her clan that she didn't even know about - the power to subconsciously manipulate others into protecting her - to see if she could survive living amongst 12 assassins by subconsciously manipulating one to protect her. ...what. It's like the story tried to be original but ended up just being fucking stupid.

As for the "riddle" element of this story... I still have no idea what relevance the "riddles" even had to the story. Honestly, you could have taken the guy who texted the riddles to Azuma (I can't even remember what relevance he had to the plot, apart from being a part of the organization that sent Azuma to this school, which is a red flag considering he is made out to be important to the story - yet I still have no idea why) out of the picture completely and it wouldn't have made any difference at all. The only reason I can think of for why his idiotic "riddles" play a part is to make it seem as if there is profundity to the story, which there isn't, and the riddles never made me believe for a second that there was.

The fact that all the assassins knew who their target was from the start instantly took away so much potential for coming to understand and get attached to all the characters. If they had had to figure it out on their own, we could have seen a realistic exposition of the characters' identities in real time. It would really have made so much difference to the quality of the plot and the depth of the characters. That way, the characters could have been much more subtle and believable, and their motivations for killing Ichise/staying in the game wouldn't have had to be so ridiculous. Clearly thinking of a unique reason for each of the assassins to kill Ichise was pretty difficult, because the assassins' motives were all much too out there to believable in the short period of time we're given to actually find out what they are. Had they just been better developed characters, the writers wouldn't have had to put such incredible and obvious effort into forcing the methods of the assassins to be so unique and fantastical.

From the very beginning, it is very clear what every character is. They have all the depth of cardboard cutouts. Each and every one of them is exactly what they appear to be. I think I stuck through every episode of this incredibly disappointing anime hoping against hope that I would be able to see some dimension appear in the characters, but to no avail. Everyone was exactly what they seemed. Any mediocre attempts at making them appear, for a split second, to have any depth at all were a mirage.

If this anime had focused on the experience of the collective rather than on one character per episode, it would have been a thousand times better. Every time someone new tries to kill Haru (before Azuma saves her ofc) it's like a stranger has come onto the screen to give you a speech about their past disappointments before attempting to end Ichise. I cannot even describe how idiotic and simplistic the supporting characters were. As for the protagonists, they were equally idiotic and simplistic. Azuma is basically a kuudere and nothing more. Ichise is an almost unrealistically optimistic cinnamon roll who could get her arms and legs cut off with a rusty spoon and still be smiling through the tears. Their relationship goes nowhere. That's all there really is to say about them.

Art/Sound:

No comment. It was fine. Nothing striking or spectacular in a good or bad way. Nothing you haven't seen or heard before.

Enjoyment/Overall: 3/10

I'll admit that I watched this entire series in less than a day, but that was mostly because I felt like the episodes added nothing to the development of the story and I was looking for a good place to stop from which I could pick it up again with interest. That point never came. I can see why it would appeal to some people - not everyone wants to be able to analyse the story or characters for their 'deeper meanings' and that's okay - but even so, I couldn't even enjoy Akuma no Riddle much in that way. It also seemed to me like the writers were trying to give the characters and story depth but it just didn't happen. Akuma no Riddle wasn't horrifically unwatchable. It was just not enjoyable.

I am baffled at the fact that I, the anti-sportsperson, the epitome of sloth, someone that has always prided themselves on their ultimate rejection of and indifference towards sport in general, have given the most perfect score I have ever given to any anime to a sports anime, let alone a sports anime about... Ping Pong? I have tried to talk myself out of it to fulfill this tiresome element of my personality to no avail. I cannot find fault with Ping Pong the Animation. I am not exaggerating. I am not being sarcastic. I am genuinely taken aback.

Ping Pong the Animation features some of ... the most dynamic characters I have ever seen in an anime, a unique art style that, betraying my expectations, was fluid, evocative and flawless, a soundtrack that created an atmosphere that made my chest swell. It followed a realistic, fulfilling and totally satisfying course. There was not a single point in watching this anime at which I felt bored or disinterested in what was going on. I would never have expected that I could watch two characters play sport with such attentiveness.

I feel like this anime is on another level. The other series I have rated 10/10, I had words for what they made me feel and how they affected me. Somehow, the right words elude me here. I am so impressed.

To someone who doesn't play sport and therefor cannot relate this show as literally to myself as someone who does play sport might, I still found that Ping Pong contained messages about life, passion and loneliness that apply to us all. The characters each express the different ways in which people find purpose and meaning in their lives and validate their identities, yet without the characters being forced, abstract and/or tropes. They are so human it's almost tangible.

Trying to describe what this series evokes in me is useless. All I can say is that it is joyful, deeply beautiful and profound.