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Jun 19, 2023
Vinland Saga's second season takes a notable departure from its predecessor, from being “fight after fight” to “speak after speak”, shifting from relentless battles to thought-provoking conversations. This change in pace is a refreshing reminder that a SEINEN anime can be just as COMPELLING when focused on the POWER OF WORDS rather than constant action and will emphasize that WORDS HIT HARD as one stabs a sword to another.
This anime is a complete package of what can be expected from an anime with a huge lack of action. How would a major character shift from being such a badass with his murder-killing to someone who
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can be admired and respected because of the words that come out of his mouth?
Well, it really starts with Vinland Saga's philosophy. This second season is basically where things really start in everything that this anime and its manga will take you throughout. Its story is rooted from the philosophy of exploring the consequences of violence, the pursuit of revenge, the longing for peace, and the existential questions that arise in a tumultuous world. This philosophy is the foundation of what drives Vinland Saga to be lacking in such action that it becomes a good thing, seriously. Its aversion to violence is its biggest appeal in the series.
Thorfinn, the once-feared viking warrior, finds himself in a drastically different circumstance, completely broken and unable to find a purpose in life. As he grapples with the consequences of his violent past, he undergoes a transformative experience while working as a slave on a wealthy man's farm. As he meets others like Ketil, Einar, Arnheid, Pater, Sverkel, Snake, and many more, he begins to witness the varied perspectives and lives of those around him. These encounters challenge his beliefs and reshape his understanding of the world. Through meaningful interactions and heartfelt conversations, Thorfinn gradually starts to question the futility of his past pursuits and seeks a new path towards redemption and personal growth.
Vinland Saga will be full of dialogues and quotes that offer profound insights into the human condition and challenge conventional notions. Among them is a quote, "You can start learning things one at a time. If you're empty, then you can fit anything inside you. In fact, it's better to be empty if you want to be reborn." This thought-provoking statement reflects the series' exploration of personal growth, redemption, and the transformative power of embracing change. Not much more of these quotes will I write because that would take the fun away.
To continue, we witness Thorfinn confronting the haunting manifestations of his past. In poignant and emotionally charged scenes, he is forced to face his nightmares head-on, grappling with the weight of the countless lives he has taken. The relentless barrage of the dead bodies of those he has slain serves as a grim reminder of the path of violence and vengeance he once walked. These haunting visions pierce through Thorfinn's facade, shaking him to his core and challenging his very existence. Through this intense and introspective journey, we witness Thorfinn's internal struggle as he seeks solace, redemption, and a way to reconcile with the pain and guilt that relentlessly haunt him.
By delving into the emotional bonds, shared experiences, and personal journeys of the characters, Vinland Saga's second season not only adds depth to Thorfinn's character but also highlights the interconnectedness of individuals within the narrative. Through meaningful interactions and heartfelt conversations, Thorfinn and his fellow characters navigate their own paths of growth, redemption, and self-discovery. This emphasis on relationships and human connection underscores the series' exploration of the power of interpersonal bonds and the potential for profound change. By immersing viewers in the intricate dynamics of these characters, Vinland Saga invites us to reflect on our own connections and the transformative impact they can have on our lives.
Moreover, Vinland Saga presents a captivating exploration of contrasting character paths, a juxtaposition, underscoring the series' overarching themes of personal choice, the influence of circumstances, and the pursuit of an authentic path. As Thorfinn seeks redemption, Olmar challenges traditional notions of manhood, and Canute navigates the complexities of leadership, their individual journeys serve as representations of the broader human experience, inviting viewers to reflect on the profound impact of personal choices and the transformative power of embracing one's true self. By interweaving these character arcs, Vinland Saga deepens its exploration of the human condition and engages viewers in a thought-provoking contemplation of personal growth, resilience, and the quest for meaning.
There is so much ground to cover in reviewing the story and characters of Vinland Saga’s 2nd season and I’ll leave that for you to discover.
Now aside from the story, let’s discuss the other parts that comprise this anime such as the animation and voice acting and music.
The animation is in great standards in my opinion. I’ve seen better but there is no problem with the animation level of this anime. It follows the same style as the first season. With this in mind, the action sequences present in the first season are not as evident in the second season since the season itself revolves more on the characters themselves. We will also be endowed with various panoramic and scenic views that are pretty eye-catching. The seiyuus did an excellent job in their voice acting as everyone fitted each character they portrayed. The OSTs and music for the opening and ending credits were great as well and were filled with such visually and aesthetically appealing animations to support the music.
Now for my personal thoughts, this is an anime that is definitely not for kids, and I’m not saying this as a warning but as that’s the nature of this anime. This is an anime that speaks for the mature-minded as the “Power of Words” approach into creating a compelling storyline speaks for the amount of comprehension and understanding that a viewer must have to fully grasp the entertainment side of this anime. Overall, I’m pretty satisfied with how the adaptation turned out despite some changes to the sequencing of events compared to the manga all for the sake of Shuhei Yabuta-san and the whole staff’s belief of how the story can be delivered in a better way in animation terms without cutting out major parts and while fully respecting the original work.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Mar 26, 2022
If cosplay is your thing and you’re thinking of watching this, then what the hell are you waiting for?! My Dress-Up Darling is definitely an anime perfect for anyone interested in cosplay! That is…what’s going to be generally known about it but putting that aside, this anime is simply amazing for handling the ecchi genre really well by mixing it with really sweet, romantic, comedic, cute, wholesome, and life-lesson moments that ensures you of quality ecchi entertainment in the cliché Popular Girl x Unpopular Boy secret relationship type of story. Not to mention, being a cosplay anime, it’s quite educational as it teaches you how
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cosplay costumes can be made and how cosplayers use different types of make-up and techniques to look like their desired characters. This is a great anime to sit back, relax, and embrace genuine wholesome moments and character development.
Story - 8/10
Characters - 8/10
Art and Animation – 8.5/10
Sound – 8.3/10
OP Song – 7.5/10
ED Song - 8/10
Enjoyment - 10/10
Story Review:
Cosplay, Cosplay, and Cosplay is one that is very much popular within the anime and manga community yet never had an anime purely dedicated to it but here we are! My Dress-Up Darling is a cosplay anime that manages to take its ecchi content into a better level with the elements of the story being simply thought and well-made to be a high-quality anime. At first, some may find it unappealing for its fan-service being forced but that's not a good reason to drop this series as it actually gets better from there. A great ecchi anime can only be great if the ecchi content is utilized well enough to be quality rather than the typical repetitive all-out nakedness fan-service that we often get in the ecchi genre with the excuse of guilty pleasure for its acceptance and rating. This one, as I can say, is what ecchi should be in quality standards. The story having so much genuine wholesome, comedic, romantic, and cute contents to it is what elevates the ecchi in this and is also what drives the story further to being better than how it started, creating a decent character development among the main characters. The wholesomeness can be felt in every episode, and it often comes to a point that this anime strays us away into thinking that this is just purely fan-service and tells us that this is more than just ecchi.
Amidst the fan-service and heartwarming moments it gives, it contains educational content related to cosplay such as how costumes can be made, and in what ways can you really look like your desired characters with cosmetic materials and different secrets of techniques to use them, as well as what are the tools to enhance your cosplay further. The story of the anime delivers a valuable lesson to viewers about cosplay and why there are people passionate of it. It enlightens us more into knowing and comprehending the reason of interest to cosplay and why cosplaying will continiously grow as well as its effects to a person's lifestyle. For me, it's the story in this anime that would really hook you up to watching until the end and is arguably the strongest point that this anime offers.
Characters Review:
The Popular Girl x Unpopular Boy is one of today's most common type of character relationships in this time. There are many anime out there that you can name when it comes to that and so to be better than those is to separate from it and have the characters be unique in interaction.
Gojo is the typical shy and innocent type yet talented in costume-making and Marin is the perfectly ideal girl when it comes to teasing the Gojo-type ones. Together, their chemistry is superb and entertaining to watch, and they fit the story so well that it made the anime just amazing to watch. Everything that this anime gives—ecchi, wholesomeness, romance, cute moments, and more—just suits them both and you'd probably find yourself just smiling on your seat while watching. Also, Marin definitely takes home the Best Girl Award for this season and there's no debate to this (don't @ me).
Gojo and Marin are the ones that carried hard as characters in this anime, but of course we can't leave out the others like the Inui sisters and Gojo's uncle who all fit the role of supporting characters really well. I don't think that there is any character in the anime that becomes a nuisance or hindrance to the story.
Art and Animation Review:
CloverWorks did great on this. The art was really faithful to what the manga had, and the animation was superb for being of a Slice of Life one. The anime felt realistic and relaxing to watch with the quality of animation that CloverWorks delivered. Nothing much is needed else to be said honestly.
Sounds Review:
The voice acting is great. Every seiyuu fitted every character they were assigned to and managed to reflect their personality really well. The voices were natural to hear and as a result, the characters were outstanding and entertaining to listen to.
My Thoughts:
I wuv this anime and manga a lot! I wuv it! I wuv it! I'm currently reading the manga and the adaptation has been accurate like maybe 9/10? Nah I shouldn't put a scale to that and just enjoythe great anime adaptation to it. I just want to share that I'm currently collecting its physical manga (english translated) and it's quite hard to get a copy of it from where I live. I hope for a season 2 of this and I believe it's deserving of it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 19, 2021
Vivy’s Fluorite Eyes Song is a GREAT original anime. From CHARACTERS to STORY to BEAUTIFUL MUSIC to ANIMATION, each of those made the delivery of this anime GREAT. Vivy’s Fluorite Eyes Song is an anime that uses the A.I. vs Humanity trope but manages to reinvigorate it further. How so? It’s not one-sided wherein A.I. are bad and humans are not and vice versa, but rather it takes an independent stance between the two sides. On the side, it uses the topic of music as an identity tool on how A.I. can closely resent humans. This anime involves twists that makes the story thrilling, along
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with amazing animation that makes it beautiful to watch and makes the action-packed scenes really detailed, and with futuristic sounds and music that makes such scenarios emotional and awesome. To sum it up, Vivy’s Fluorite Eyes Song is a greatly made original anime that would have everything you want if you’re looking for an action-packed, thrilling, and unique A.I. vs Humanity anime.
Story – 8.7/10
Characters – 8.3/10
Art and Animation – 9/10
Sound – 10/10
OP Song (Sing My Pleasure) – 10/10
ED Song – 7.8/10
Enjoyment – 10/10
Story Review:
Often in any entertainment that uses an A.I vs. Humanity trope, things become one-sided where this side is good, and the other is bad, which has become quite an overused type of story. What makes Vivy’s Fluorite Eyes Song unique and different to other A.I. vs Humanity stuff is that it’s not one-sided, and it’s often on an independent stance or to put it simply, neutral between A.I. vs Humanity.
It uses time travel as the starting point of the story, aiming to rewrite 100 years of history, dubbed ‘The Singularity Project’, in order to end the conflict between A.I. and Humans in an action-packed and thrilling way. It tackles every incident in history that contributed to the conflict between A.I. and Humans, aiming to alter what happens for the good of all, but discovers that it’s not what it is and creates a twist that will leave you thrilled, surprised, and hooked up to its story. It’s direct to the point or to its objective, hence it’s not a story that is fully fleshed out. You can say that it’s lacking because it doesn’t fully explore all the time of 100 years, but it’s able to make up for it by going in-depth to each important incident, therefore managing to compress 100 years into 13 episodes which is quite impressive honestly.
The story also tries to incorporate the topic of how A.I. can closely resent humans and takes a unique approach it. This focus within the story is aimed on the character development of Vivy throughout. The anime tries to validate how artificial intelligence and humans are similar by using music. In this case, music is used as an identity tool and not just an add-on that makes the anime really deliver. We don’t often get to see how artificial intelligence and humans can be so similar apart from rationality and logical reasoning which is why this anime takes a unique approach to this topic. This incorporation to the story contributed to making Vivy more interesting and adds quite a thrill and twist on how Vivy and Matsumoto play out in their objective.
There’s really not much drawback or downside to this anime as I see. I think it would only come down to whether you’re into this kind of anime or not.
Characters Review:
Vivy is an A.I. built to just sing for everyone, aiming to make them happy with her voice. On the other hand, Matsumoto is an advanced A.I. that came from the future that you can say is quite overpowered against all artificial intelligence in the past. To create a good character development to an artificial intelligence character would require one to be really close to resenting humans and the writers of the story nailed it. Vivy, despite being an A.I., manages to think like a human apart from acting like one. Most artificial intelligence just base everything by calculations, just like Matsumoto in the early episodes, but Vivy manages to think, and act based on calculations, empathy, sympathy, emotions, and such of how humans do, and Matsumoto also takes that route in later stages.
At first, Matsumoto can be irritating (not for me) because of how he just base everything on calculations and is just direct, not giving much empathy and human thought to such situations. Throughout, he just becomes Vivy’s partner for The Singularity Project and passively learns from Vivy, therefore also resenting a human. Although, he remains to still think directly.
Both are really good characters and they fit the action and thriller genre. They don’t cause any downsides in that aspect, and they contributed so much to reinvigorating the trope the anime used. You would just be thrilled on how they play out in altering the incidents, how they deal with problems, how they make decisions, and how they fight (as it’s an action-packed anime).
The rest of the characters also fitted the anime. They make the story very interesting and contribute a lot to how thrilling the twists were, and how they make scenarios become awesome and emotional to watch.
Art and Animation Review:
Wit Studio is back again with such beautiful and really detailed animation. The art was very beautiful to see. The character designs were great as they were futuristic and detailed. Some were kept simple, but they were still great to look at. The animation is amazing. Wit Studio definitely made it action-packed and thrilling to watch. The fight scenes were awesome, and it would definitely keep you hooked up. The effort of animation poured out into this original anime should be recognized and applauded by everyone. Well done Wit Studio!
Sounds Review:
This has to be the best part of the anime. Everything in this department was surreal in making the anime great. From futuristic sounds that are so good and realistic to hear, to sound effects of fight scenes that made it really action-packed, to music that is such a banger and eargasm to hear, and to amazing seiyuus that made the characters really sound amazing that would keep you hooked up to them, the amount effort in sounds contributed so much in making Vivy’s Fluorite Eyes Song really deliver as an action, sci-fi, music, and thriller anime.
My Thoughts:
I really didn’t expect Vivy’s Fluorite Eyes Song to be this great. This anime took a unique approach into its theme and concept. I wouldn’t say that this would be an underrated anime, but rather an under watched one. I think this anime is in the conversation of which original anime is the best ever made. In my opinion, this anime is a solid 9/10 or somewhere between 8.5 ~ 9/10. Would I recommend this anime to anyone? YES! Especially if they’re into action and thriller ones. I hope for more original anime in the future to deliver just like how Vivy’s Fluorite Eyes Song did.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 31, 2021
Redo of Healer is in the case of being very good in its own way, and very bad in it's own way as well. It's an anime that is highly unappealing for its highly taboo and explicit content which goes to show that it's very bad, but it really fulfills its concept of: "I have to do bad things in order to get rid of everything that is bad in this world." Despite being unappealing for its content, it's one of those anime that has a very dark story that is progressive from start to finish which goes to show that it's also very good
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and that it achieves its identity as a dark anime from an objective standpoint.
Note: I am in NO WAY going to be defending Redo of Healer because of how it is, BUT I will try to be anthropological and fair in reviewing this anime.
Story: 7.5/10 (Constructive/Objective Standpoint), 3/10 (Based on Appeal)
Characters: 5.5/10
Art & Animation: 7.5/10
Sound: 6.5/10
OP Song: 6.5/10
ED Song: 7.5/10
Enjoyment: 3/10 ==> 5/10 ==> 7/10
Story Review:
In this paragraph, it will just be about why and how Redo of Healer's story is highly unappealing. Revenge is not really a bad thing to do, it's something you have to think about thoroughly. Redo of Healer's plot is revenge, and the story is about revenge in an extreme manner all for a good intention and purpose of fixing the world. It has a concept of "I have do to very bad things in order to get rid of what's bad in this world" and it's not bad but that kind of concept really just got overshadowed because of the content of the anime. The issue behind the story were the very sexual and very taboo desires and doings of all the characters in either the form revenge or self-satisfactory and that the anime was not categorized as "Hentai." Throughout the story, we get to see so much explicit content all to just fulfill the concept and give more emphasis to its story. It uses extreme suffering, taboo doings, and horrid experiences as plot devices for its story, and these would be what contributes to its content being a highly unappealing one. These include torture, killing, rape, lies, deceit, and anything that would count as suffering and taboo, and these tools were used to give more detail into its story and supports the plot even more. It is understandable that this is wrong especially with rape as it should not be used in mainstream entertainment because it goes against morality and ethics. To simply say, what makes the story bad is that it went over the line or too much when it comes to delivering explicit content, and it got controversial because it was on mainstream platforms.
In this paragraph, I'll be reviewing the story as objective as I could. Revenge, again, is not really a bad thing to do, it's something you have to think about thoroughly. This anime has the one of the best dark stories I have ever watched so far. From an unbiased perspective, the story includes a lot of what you would want from a dark story. The anime tries to find the balance in delivering the story of revenge by trying to equalize "everything that was done to Keyaru" to "everything that Keyaru will do." Given of what Keyaru has been through (it was more than hell), I'd say he has earned the right to give back all the suffering of what was done to him. The most cliche scenarios of revenge stories is pretty much direct murder, but in Redo of Healer's case, it doesn't take the cliche route and instead, would go for a route about extreme suffering that would be too much to handle for viewers who have never watched anything extreme. I'm can handle watching that kind of content. The plot devices used, as I observed, were extreme sufferings, highly taboo doings, and horrid experiences, and what impressed me is how these plot devices actually progressed the story despite being unappealing. It does so by using these plot devices to drive the story forward by giving more emphasis and detail to the progress of Keyaru's revenge, desires, and ideals which helped support the plot even more.
Apart from all that, the story tends to be rushed. It narrows down to revenge specifically, to what Keyaru will just do. Although we get to see flashbacks just to give more background to the characters and spice up the story further, we don't get to see everything behind of what Keyaru does in greater detail, but just a part of it. Think of it as when someone shows you a recipe of a dish, but never told you the steps in doing so and you can kind of guess how you can make the dish. Pretty much, the delivery of the story was just direct and it's not bad at all if that's how it is going to be, since the anime manages to have a progressive story. The biggest downside of the story would have to be the inconsistent timing and excessive use of explicit content. It's like there would be a sex scene that brings a substance to the story, and then there will be another sex scene that really has no substance or participation to the story at all and you can just say that it was unnecessary and had no value even if it was a character's desire. The unnecessary explicit content might just be for fanservice I think which is often the case for most hentai anime out there even though Redo of Healer was not classified as hentai.
Characters Review:
Keyaru basically takes the spotlight out of all the characters. Everything of this series has revolved around him. Keyaru is one of those characters that really fulfilled the objective of doing everything that is bad just to get rid of what is bad in this world. He is very smart in what he does as he already has a lot of experience in dealing with life in the anime. He is the main reason why the anime has such a good dark story and also the reason why the anime is highly unappealing and controversial. He is also the downside of the anime as he is a character that likes to create explicit scenes for unnecessary reasons. We also have Freia, Setsuna, Kureha, and Eve who are just basically Keyaru's tools and had a mere substance and participation to the story. There was really not much character build-up to these girls which makes them kind of bland. Despite that, they are still useful characters that contribute to the progression of the story. Keyaru's enemies actually had more substance throughout as the relationship of Keyaru and his enemies gave life to the story.
Art and Animation Review:
The character designs were good-looking and impressive for an anime that lacked greater detail in art. Despite lacking greater detail, it was still pretty good as it's just clean and simple. The animation too was pretty good. The fight scenes though lacked a little bit more in detail and delivery, but it was still pretty good. The only improvement that TNK must do is to add more detail in everything and make the fight scenes flashier, immersive, and appealing.
Sounds Review:
The voice acting was kind of good. The seiyuus weren't that bad, but I wish they would be more emotional and less stiff with the characters they're voicing. There is still room for improvement within the voice acting. Other than that, the voice acting was reflective on the characters' personality and it suited them really well. It just needs more exaggeration and I hope the seiyuus find a really good form in the voice acting of the characters.
My Thoughts:
The nature of judging anime that contains a dark story is that it will come to controversial situation and will be bombarded with low ratings. In my opinion, just because it's controversial, it doesn't mean that it's already a "bad anime" to begin with, it could mean that it doesn't appeal to you. There is a difference between what is bad and what is unappealing.
What I would like to say in this review is that I talked about it in two standpoints. An objective standpoint and the standpoint of appeal. Each standpoint has its own reasons, and it opposes each other. I try to mix in both standpoints but just couldn't do so. I figure if taboo and explicit content is on the same level of acceptance as lies, deceit, torture, death, and killings in the aspect of mainstream entertainment, I'd be able to mix both standpoints in (I'm not saying it should be accepted). There are people who would enjoy these types of stories and there are people who wouldn't.
I personally think these kinds of entertainment shouldn't be normalized. If this was kept hidden underground, I wouldn't mind of its existence. Would I watch more of Redo of Healer? If the story is still progressive, I would. Would I want a season 2? I don't mind if it gets a 2nd season. Would I recommend this to others? No and I highly discourage to recommend this directly to people.... unless it's for the memes and lols.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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