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Jul 2, 2017
I am a rabid fan of anything relating to Tsubasa Chronicle, so I naturally picked up this movie. In this review, I will treat this movie as a side story arc within the Tsubasa Chronicle franchise.
Story: 2
Whoever decided that 30 minutes was enough time for a typical Tsubasa Chronicle arc needs to be fired. You will hard pressed to find another story so rushed and choppy in anime. The scenes were extremely short, the story moved light-speed fast, and there were huge informational gaps between scenes. One particular scene transition that comes to mind is one scene involved the characters forming a plan and
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then the very next scene the environment and circumstances had changed, a decent amount of time had passed, and what happened during that time was quickly brushed over with hurried dialogue. It was like watching the preparations for a battle and then skipping over the fight scene to the outcome. A better analogue would be that this movie was originally a 3 hour feature film that was edited down to 30 minutes, so only flashing visual pictures of plot points were shown. The only reason why I gave this story even a 2 is that the concepts themselves weren't irritating or originally atrocious.
Art: 8
For a 2005 anime movie, the art is quite good. It stays true to the rest of the earlier Tsubasa Chronicle franchise.
Sound: 9
The same OST from the series is used in the movie, so it is excellent. Gorgeous could not be a better word to describe this OST. However, the 10/10 OST is compromised by ill-timing. Songs were either played during inappropriate scenes or choppily edited.
Character: 5
I tried to view the characters independently from the series. Since the characters were slaves to the rushed plot and not allowed to display their typically strong personalities and character development, they came off rather bland. The new characters especially suffered from this, but they were rather uninteresting to begin with.
Enjoyment: 3
Everything was moving so fast and with so little explanation that I found very little enjoyment in this movie. I felt like I was watching the Tsubasa Chronicle characters perform an improvised skit while casually listening to its phenomenal soundtrack.
Overall: 3
One of the worst cases of storytelling that I've ever seen. At least it was Tsubasa Chronicles so it had good art and music, but the shadow characters and atrocious storytelling made it barely watchable.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jul 2, 2017
I watched Murder Princess when I was first getting into anime. So you would think that I would been ignorant to its shortcomings and enjoyed it. Wrong. Even as a rookie anime viewer, this anime left me beyond pissed and haunted me for a good month. Why was I pissed? Short story: Murder Princess gives you false hope and then crushes it.
Story: 3
With only 6 episodes, it is a rather short story. Therefore, I can cut it a little slack. But since it is still a story, Murder Princess needed to have been a comprehensive and complete unit - much like a movie or
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a fairy tail. I'll elaborate on that later. Concept wise, there is nothing original. This is not necessarily a bad thing as long as those concepts are either dealt with differently or executed in an effective storytelling manner. What got me interested in Murder Princess to begin with was the body-switching and a royal trying to defend his/her homeland tropes. These two tropes complemented each other, especially with the contrasting personalities of the two main characters, and were the best part of the show. You wanted to see the characters overcome these obstacles. Now here lies Murder Princess's greatest sin - most of the obstacles are not resolved by the "ending." The "ending" feels more like the end of a story arc than an ending to an independent story. Sadly, even the manga ends there so this cheating the audience was intentional. Other than the gaping ending, other problems with the story include: sloppily introduced and uninteresting sci-fi elements, painfully predictable plot points, weak ideas, and plot holes.
Art: 5
It was nice enough, but average. It didn't hamper or boost the anime.
Sound: 7
The OP is excellent. The rock style, heavier guitars, and fluid rapping supporting vocals created a great effect. The ED is also pleasant. As for the OST and voice acting, neither stands out to me as excellent of bad.
Character: 6
Overall the characters are stereotypical and bland. Most of the supporting characters could have been cut from the story all together and it wouldn't have impacted the story at all. You have your evil with scant motives villain, the brainwashed sidekick, the gruff warriors, etc. I did like the relationship between the bounty hunter and princess though. Although the princess was rather plain and devoid of a strong personality, she contrasted with the bounty hunter's stronger personality to make their interactions at least interesting to watch. The bounty hunter was the best character in the story because of her stubborn, driven, and yet secretly sympathetic demeanor. Watching her have to live a princess life and then proceed to trample all over its customs was rather entertaining.
Enjoyment: 2
Despite my fondness for the main characters and certain tropes, the clumsy and unnecessary story elements and bland supporting characters inhibited my enjoyment of Murder Princess. However, these things would have just made me rank it as average. The nail in the coffin for Murder Princess is its lazy and empty ending. I've watched 170+ anime since this one, but Murder Princess's ending is still in my top 10 worst anime endings.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jul 1, 2017
Judging by Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho's low rating and reviews, it is easy to assume that it's an irredeemable show. While it is not good, it did have a few things in it that at least made it enjoyable (bearable for others) at times to watch.
Story: 5
The sorest disappointment of this show is its story. As a huge fantasy fan, I was drawn in by the witch versus humans plot; but alas, the writers failed to pull it off. Their two biggest sins being a lack of focus and plenty of plot holes. Such as how long the war has been going
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on, the nature of witches as a species, why did the story move in that direction, minimal effort was put into world building, etc. A lot of this could be forgiven as long as it didn't inhibit how the audience felt towards the show - which it did. The story distorted which side to root for without achieving an effective grey area. It's like the writers were trying to make the story morally ambiguous at times but they did it in such a sloppy way that they just confused the audience about how they should feel. Luckily, the story didn't do anything that made me livid (such as constant misunderstandings)- mainly wasted potential due to mediocre ideas and slopping execution of good ones. However, the traveling and subdued parts of the story were enjoyable. These moments felt a lot like Spice and Wolf at times and provided the most entertainment in the show.
Art: 7
The art was pleasant enough. Nothing fantastic or distracting, but the character designs were nice to look at. Thankfully, there were no still shots. My chief complaint though would be the lack of magical action scenes. I'm fine if the anime is not meant to be a fighting anime. But when the story dictates that the characters will have to fight at times and the world has magic, then how come I can count on one hand how many fight scenes involved the protagonists using magic? A magic show without magic fight scenes is wasted potential. However, when they do have these scenes, the magic looks really nice.
Sound: 7
The OP and ED were not obnoxious and they fit the show well. The OST was not stand-alone fantastic but it served its purpose well. Other than Zero, the seiyuu were average but fit their characters. Zero's seiyuu I thought did an above average job.
Character: 6
Zero was the best character out of the cast so it was enjoyable to watch her interact with her Mercenary. Her teasing nature and noble air stood out to me. But like the other characters, the writers don't develop her much. As for the rest, they weren't terrible but not memorable characters. They had to potential to be memorable, but the writers just got lazy and didn't develop them much. I would have scored it higher if they didn't use the "introduced as a corrupt villain but is actually a good guy at heart" cliche.
Enjoyment: 8
Since I'm a Spice and Wolf fan, I enjoyed some of the banter and fantasy-feel in this show. This is chiefly because I liked Zero's character though. I was disappointed by the lack of follow through, but nothing made me hate the show. It was short and story-driven enough to avoid boredom (even though the storytelling made it hard for me to care about what was happening) so I found fulfillment in watching it.
Overall: 6
I would have given it a higher score, but the story really hurt my impression of this show (especially in the second half.) It just kinda feels average. There's nothing in this show that another anime has done better. But if you just have some time to kill or don't want to think while you watch, you might enjoy this show.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jun 16, 2017
For some reason, this anime seems to be in the midst of controversy on this site. I've come to the conclusion that this lies in false expectations. So I decided to write a review that highlights which demographic of watchers would enjoy this anime. Short story: if you enjoy psychological thrillers; complex characters; highly emotional moments, jason bourne-esque action scenes; philosophical questions regarding de-humanization, survival, freedom, redemption, and spiritual peace; and imagery, then you will enjoy Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom.
Story: 9
If you are expecting a Godfather anime with bits of comedy, you shouldn't watch this anime. This is a very dark anime that refuses
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to glorify the lifestyle of the mafia. The focus of Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom strongly lies in the thoughts and struggles of the two main characters. The mafia world in which they live in is explored to an extent, but not enough to distract from the focus of the show. Personally, I found this plot to be one of the most exciting thrillers I've ever seen. Between the dramatic action scenes, the grim and emotional dialogue, the constant uncertainty of the characters' fate, the dark atmosphere, and the suspenseful plot twists, this was an easy watch-in-one sitting anime. But if you are not invested into the main characters and understand their thought processes, the story will not leave the impact that it was intended to make. In regards to the "plot-hole" that some point out later in the show, I have to say that I could not find a legitimate one when I rewatched it. There are a handful moments that call for the "suspense of disbelief," but they are very minor, rare, and only distract from the story if you are looking to nit-pick. There is some debate over the last minute of the show (which is not in the visual novel,) but it does not greatly effect the quality of the anime.
Art: 9
The animation studio obviously had a good budget for this anime, because the animation is excellent. Nothing unusual or as detailed as ufotable, but the animation served the anime well. The action scenes are the best non-superpower combat scenes I have seen in anime. The martial arts or knife combat are especially fluid. The assassination missions are also thrilling to watch. I particularly liked the use of imagery: glazed over eyes, strategic shadowing, puppet-like movements, and the masks.
Sound: 8
The sound effects are the some of the best I've heard in anime. The guns all make different sounds depending on the model, the direction they are firing, and the way they are being used. The knives had the a distinctive sound that differs from generic "sword clashing" in a lot of anime. But the thing that stood out the most to me was the sound effects for movement. The pacing of the footsteps and with swishing of cloth during action scenes really added to the intensity. As far as voice actors, both the sub and dub overall do a good job. Personally, I prefer the dub (which is rare for me) because American accents make sense in a story set in LA. Voice acting was key to understanding the story, because of the subtleties of the characters. Music wise, the opening and ending by Kokia are gorgeous and appropriately set the mood for the show. The second opening, however, feels out of place. The soundtrack was quite good: a mix between Jason Bourne and Carmina Burana in style. The male choir chanting over a thrilling chase sequence really added to the atmosphere. The haunting and prayer-like pieces associated with painful and emotional moments were especially well done. My only gripe is that there is one piece that feels uncomfortably out of place in comparison to the rest of the soundtrack, but that's just me being nit-picky.
Character: 10
Now here is the focus and best part of Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom. I do not give out 10s easily, but the constant amount of deep emotion these characters made me feel gave me plenty of reason to give out a 10. After watching all of the mental, emotional, and physical pain they went through, you can't help but shed tears and pray that they achieve their goals. I can't say too much without writing a spoiler, so I will keep this section vaguer. You get to see what taking a normal person, removing his humanity, training him into an obedient assassin, and how he deals with the internal consequences from these things. Ein is a reserved character that gradually develops throughout the series. Zwei's interactions with Ein are particularly touching, but their are other character interactions that leave an impact. I will warn you that you have to have a decent amount of natural empathy to understand these characters though. Phantom excels at achieving intense emotion through dramatic storytelling, complex characters, and subtleties (imagery, voice acting, etc.) In fact, I was amazed at how much the characters could drastically affect my emotions. But if you do not enjoy thinking while you watch, this is not the anime for you.
Enjoyment: 10
This is an emotional roller-coaster that I've rewatched several times. The depth of the characters, the thrilling plot, the epic action scenes, emotional dialogue, and the complex concepts have made this a personal favorite of mine. It was emotionally painful for me to watch at several points, but these parts were so well done that I enjoy it all the more.
Overall: 10
I believe this is one of the finest psychological thrillers ever made. For what the creators were trying to do, I believe they achieved their goal marvelously.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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