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Apr 28, 2015
If there's one word to sum up Hellsing Ultimate, it's 'Style'. The art is gorgeous. The animation is fluid. The fight scenes are well executed with with lots of gore and body parts (as you'd hope for in an adult series about vampires), trash talk, and cool poses, and the imagery is breathtaking.
What Hellsing doesn't have is much of is everything else that makes for a good anime, beginning with a plot that starts and ends in 5 words: 'Undead Nazis bent on world domination'.
While the character designs are super intriguing and make the viewers want to learn more about them, they are wasted
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as there is literally no time devoted to exploring the backstories or motivations of interesting supporting characters such as 'Walter, the Angel of Death', 'Schrodinger' and 'Van Winkle'. This is why when there is a plot twist in the latter half of the series, the impact is lost because you don't really understand why the guy was motivated to act one way or the other.
Even the main characters aren't spared from this lack of characterisation. You never find out what happened between Alucard and the original Hellsing which lead to their contract, you never find out anything about his seal restrictions, you don't know what drives Alucard to do what he does. You don't even find out why he's such a badass vampire with a million more abilities than other vampires. He's just an enigmatic badass with no weaknesses, which makes for a boring one-dimensional character.
Our other main character, Integra, suffers the same fate. As far as I can tell, after some childhood trauma, she becomes a badass with a loud bark but not much bite to back it up and has about as much personality as the cigars she chain-smokes.
From various parts of the story, you get the sense that there is some world-building going on behind the scenes, but it is, again, never fleshed out. What are these other special powers which are not Vampire/Ghoul related? I want to know about the Werewolves. I want to know more about how the Catholic Church trains its paladins and the centuries long rivalry between Alexander Anderson and Alucard. Who was Van Winkle and her magic gun? What about that card dude? Is there some special school of magic which is separate from the Church and the Undead?
Hellsing starts off promisingly but decides to crank the meter up to 10 on badassery, cool art and visuals and forget everything else like plot and characterisation. In its defense though, its cool visuals managed to carry me, a disengaged viewer, through all 10 episodes, so there's that at least.
Overall, I would not recommend Hellsing Ultimate UNLESS you love shounen battle-type anime like Naruto or you just want something with a simple plot and nice fights to unwind.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Apr 28, 2015
Years ago, a powerful being known as the Dark Flame Master roamed the world, using his powers to spread darkness and terror wherever he went. One day he decides that he has had enough of that lifestyle and using his powers, he seals away his abilities and even his memories before vanishing into obscurity.
Picking up from there, Chuunibyo demo Koi ga Shitai tells the story of a young girl, Rikka, wielder of the Tyrant Eye, an artifact of such power that it has to be kept within a seal in case its power should rampage unchecked, as she searches for the Unseen Horizon and her
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missing father.
She is opposed by the evil Administrative Bureau, led by the enigmatic Priestess, who try to suppress the existence of magic and all things fantastic. When she learns of the legend of the Dark Flame Master, Rikka goes undercover as a high school student to try to find him and restore his memories, hoping to enlist his aid against her enemies and find her father. Along the way, she gathers to her side a group of unlikely companions such as Mori Summer, the last mage on Earth, and Dekomori Sanae, wielder of the Mjollnir Hammer.
I found this series to be funny with good action scenes and a heartwarming ending. The comedy comes mainly from the situations Rikka gets into as a powerful magic user who has to pretend to be a bumbling and inept high school girl. There is also a part where the Priestess indoctrinates children which literally had me in tears. The fight scenes are fantastically animated - as can be expected from Kyoto Animation - and reminded me of fights from the Fate series.
One gripe I had with the series was that character development for the supporting characters was somewhat lacking, but this could be due to the short length of the series. I would have liked to learn more about Mori Summer, Kumin, and Isshiki for example, as I felt that they were rather 2 dimensional characters. I hope that this will be improved on in the second season. The other thing was that the pacing of the series felt a bit... off. For example, around episode 7 the tone shifts very abruptly from light to serious, before going back to being light again.
Overall, I enjoyed this series and would recommend it to people who like high school romantic comedies or who are interested in social misanthropy.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 26, 2015
After a series of pretty depressing animes (Hoshi no Koe, Byousoku 5 Centimetres), I decided to pick up something light and fun in a school setting and thought that this series looked promising. As a guy, my only other experience with Shoujo anime has been Ouran High School Host Club (OHSHC), which was really funny and enjoyable, so I thought to give it another go.
The plot of this anime is pretty straightforward as can be seen from the synopsis. Right from the get-go we already know who the 2 main characters are and how this is going to end, so the only interesting part is
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in HOW we get there, i.e. the characters and their romantic/comedic interactions have to be tight.
The female lead, Ayuzawa Misaki, is refreshingly strong-willed, independent and decisive, totally unlike the simpering, useless female leads we get in the Shounen genre. Importantly, we see that although she has all these positive qualities, she's gotten to where she is through lots of hard work, study and training. This makes her easily likeable.
Unfortunately, this does not hold true for the male lead. Usui is (and this is what the anime tells us) the most handsome guy in school, the smartest, the best at every sport he tries his hand at (when he tries, because he doesn't actually belong in any clubs) and rich. Basically he doesn't put in any effort into anything but is still the best at everything. The character is poorly developed because there is no revelation of any flaws/weaknesses, his background, or his motivation (I still don't know why he decided to randomly chase Misaki!). He's just an enigmatic, perfect, rich kid. (I also found him to be an insufferably smug SOB who was borderline stalker-ish and overly possessive, but that might be personal bias). To me, this is unacceptable because the anime was 27 episodes long - more than sufficient to devote 1 or 2 episodes to develop him. In comparison, OHSHC with a harem of 6 guys managed to develop each one's personality, strengths and weaknesses in 26 episodes.
The rest of the supporting cast was well fleshed out which made them interesting characters in their own right, from the cross dressing shota to the former delinquent boss to the childhood friend. Each of them got an episode to flesh out their personalities, which again makes me wonder why Usui didn't get any such development. This could be a flaw from the source manga and may not be the fault of the anime, but is a flaw nonetheless.
In fact, from the mid-point of the series, I started dreading the moments when the main pairing would get together in a romantic sequence. I also ended up rooting for the 'love rival' who appeared towards the end of the series even though I knew it wouldn't work out. This was when I realised that the 'romance', the whole premise on which this series is founded, had fallen flat for me, mainly on the weakness of Usui's character.
Comedy wise, the tone was pretty light and pretty enjoyable throughout. I quite enjoyed Usui's teasing of Misaki and her flustered reactions. The art was also top notch, which made it that much easier to finish a series in which I was unable to make any personal investment. Although I have rated it a 6, I try and use the whole spectrum of grades, so it is still above average and watchable. Just don't have too high an expectation for a good romance, for the reasons I have stated above.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Apr 20, 2015
I first watched this movie in 2004 in university and remember being blown away by the sheer depth of emotions and feelings that this short film manages to convey in the time that the typical shounen anime may have managed to advance the plot by about 2 screams, a power-up and a fireball.
Coming back to this film over 10 years later, I was apprehensive at how my memories of the film would hold up to a rewatch by my older, cynical, 30-something self.
The art is pretty mediocre especially given the advances in animation in the past decade. The faces especially tend to be distorted and
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out of shape though some of the landscape shots were pretty breathtaking. The plot is also pretty normal and if summarised is nothing special. In the short amount of time we spend with the 2 main characters, we don't really find out much about their history or motivations driving them.
With all these flaws then, why does this film deserve a 10/10, a PERFECT score??
Makoto Shinkai (the director) somehow takes these somewhat mediocre elements, mixes them together and then turns them into an amazing film which is greater than the sum of its parts. Somehow, despite the mediocre and simple art, you really get a sense of the vast emptiness of space, and the loneliness and isolation that Mikako feels as she is separated further and further from Noboru by both distance as well as time. Somehow, despite the limited characterisation, you really come to understand how strongly they feel - their despair, their love, their hope. And to top it all off, Makoto Shinkai somehow did all this on his own using a home computer in 2002, when most people were still discovering how to use a computer to surf for porn and such.
Hoshi no Koe is a movie about feelings, and how it conveys these feelings so forcefully in 20 minutes is truly impressive.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Apr 9, 2015
Let me start by saying that I really, really enjoyed Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun. When I first heard of this anime, my reaction was 'What the heck kind of name is that?!' In case you're wondering, the name comes from Nozaki-kun, one of the main characters who is a manga artist in a monthly girl's manga magazine.
The main strength of GSNK is in its ensemble cast. Apart from the main character (Sakura), the rest of the supporting cast are VERY unique and interesting individuals that make you want to know more about them. The characters play off one another in somewhat predictable ways once you know
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them, but the execution is flawless and had me laughing out loud many times. As a series about a guy writing girls' manga, it is very good at subverting gender roles for comedic effect in a way which won't make you feel uncomfortable, while also making fun of shoujo manga tropes.
Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun (GSNK) is adapted from an ongoing series of 4-panel comics and this is obvious if you know what to watch for. If you try hard, you can kind of see where the 'skits' start and end in each episode, though they are almost seamlessly stitched together in a coherent fashion. Because of this, there is not much character progression from the start to the end of the anime, though this may also be because it is only a 12 episode series which features a strong ensemble cast. By the time all the characters had been introduced and I felt comfortable with them, it was already episode 7 or 8, which only left a few episodes till the wrap up. The ending was extremely unsatisfying for me as there were just so many open threads which were left open. It almost feels like they were expecting more seasons, but unfortunately no news has been heard on that front to date :( (as of April 2015)
To conclude, I would like say that in order to fully enjoy this anime, you should have at least a passing familiarity with shoujo manga, or at least non-shounen battle-type manga (I read Ouran Highschool Host Club before watching this, and I believe this helped me appreciate the themes and subject matter a lot more).
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 5, 2015
The story is exactly as you'd expect from the synopsis - light-hearted episodic fare (each girl he has to conquer takes 1-2 episodes) with comedic elements.
With only 12 episodes and having to devote time to building up the personality of the targeted girl up so the audience cares about them, there is very little time for development of the main characters (Keima and Elsie). Character development does not go beyond the minimum required to set up the story as it is a short series, but it is sufficient. (I have since watched season 2 and there is significantly more development of the main characters
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there).
What I enjoyed the most was Kami nomi's commentary and insights into the Dating Simulation genre (which are also applicable to anime). As a prodigy at dating sims, the main character periodically explains the characteristics of the various girl archetypes found in these games, what you need to do to win them, as well as the structure of how dating sims function. The girls he has to save usually fall into the typical stereotypes (sporty-type, princess-type, tsundere, etc) with a twist, so that Keima has to use his knowledge of dating sims, but adapt it to fit into the real world.
I also liked how the director changes the pace of different episodes, based on the type of girl being chased: for example, when the target is a bookish-type, the episode is more slow paced with a lot of inner monologue.
Overall, I think a passing familiarity with harems and Japanese games is needed to appreciate this anime fully. I would not recommend it to someone who has just started watching anime or is unfamiliar with Japanese games as many of the sight gags and plays on tropes would just go over their heads and all you would be left with is a semi-interesting story of a gaming genius using his video game knowledge in the real world.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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