Back to nasqg's Profile nasqg's Profile

Another, is an anime faithfully based on a novel written by Yukito Ayatsuji. Available in both English and Japanese, is felt more of a mystery than a horror, yet with some horror aspects, I found this anime to be the best audio-visual 'horror' experience so far in life. Why do I think so?

Animation/Sound

The animation is modern and clear, as is to be expected. It doesn't have too much of a unique look, however there are no faults with it for the most part. The sound is pretty good, the exceptional music is used to set the mood and even the calm, seemingly positive outro music ... had an eerie feel after a while. The english dub does the job well.

Story

The most important aspect of this anime is the story. It is a mystery and a very well written one at that. The progression is complete, so it doesn't require a sequel, though it could be argued that there isn't a reason not to. What I enjoyed the most about the story was that it was unpredictable and reasonably so. There is a lot of foreshadowing, which most people won't notice when they first run through. The ending makes sense as there are clues all throughout which I mostly noticed in a second watch of the series. The synopsis can be found on the main page.

Characters

Characters were done very well, which may have been due to the fact that this was a novel. The main characters are followed throughout the anime and there is reason why these characters are more significant. It seemed like a few characters were cut short and weren't shown enough, but again it is to do with the story. I found it rather funny that this anime has a beach episide, however it is still to do with story and there is no aspect of ecchi in this anime.

Conclusion

I would recommend this anime to anyone, yes, anyone. I showed it to someone who was into horrors but not into anime and they thoroughly enjoyed it. If you do watch this anime do not look it up online, as there could be spoilers, for example on the wikipedia page for the novel. I recommend against a marathon as this anime is it its best when watched over a long period of time. It is mentally engaging to think and to try and solve the mystery in your head and speculate after each episode. If anything, watch the same episode twice on your first run and see if you notice certain things.

Family-friendliness rating: 2/5 - No pervyness, but being a horror means certain things may be unsuitable for a younger audience (lower is better)

Overall rating: 8/10 (higher is better)

REVIEW AFTER HAVING WATCHED WHAT'S AIRED AS OF 12/11/2014

As I feel that everything I wrote regarding the first 19 episodes still applies even after the show has ended, I'm going to add an edited bit at the end! (For my final opinion after having watched all episodes)

So I am purposefully going against what I said in a previous review. It isn't my only review now. I've also decided right now that it's my policy not to write down a summary or overview of the story. If you're anyone too immature to acknowledge someone else's humble opinion please don't read my review. If you're looking for ... approval of anime you love don't read my reviews. If you want a pseudo-objective opinion or a different point of view on anime please carry on reading. I try to be as objective as possilbe in my reviews (all 2 of them). Also I tend to go on tangents so accept my faults.

Anyway, this anime is good, if you're not seeking a deep, meaningful, mind-blowing, world-changing show. This is a good anime for entertainment, because that's all it is unfortunately entertainment. I am not saying this show does not have serious moments, it definitely does have them, what I mean is they're not as serious as they need to be (or seem to be). Now before all the hate comments arrive, if you've got this far carry on reading please. As I said, this anime isn't deep and meaningful, although it may appear so superficially and that's why it loses points in my books. If it sold itself as pure entertainment I would've been more lenient (and not done the following analysis). However it tries to appear deep, but it only scrapes the surface. It is, however, deeper than a lot of anime out there. I say all this because as soon as it starts to explore characters' psyche or thoughtful reflections, it's abrupted by comic relief or someother device. You don't really (and please give more significance to that really) understand why a specific character thinks in a certain way, be it hero or adversary. When a character gets killed, you don't really feel anything, because nothing was created to give the death more significance. It's like a balloon popping, it may come as a shock, but there's nothing more to that, you don't really feel anything. I prefer hydrogen bombs over balloons to be honest. If you're aiming to make a show meaningful, make me feel something when a shock happens. As predictable as the shock my be, at the very least make me regret knowing what is about to happen, rather than make me feel super arrogant and be all "I knew that was going to happen". That is exactly why it loses more points, because even if the anime is original in some way with the story, it is extremely predictable, unfortunately. Something else to note: catharsis. (This is the second time I say this word in my reviews, for a word I don't believe should be used this often). By killing someone off, with whom I had some sort of connection (sentimentally/emotionally), in one episode all deaths that follow in that short episode don't have any value, because I'm somewhat still upset about the first one, or as much value as they should have. - Obviously I shouldn't have to say this, but it's an example, the idea applies to everything (death, drama, decisions etc...)- . What I mean is there needs to be build up to the death of somone who is relevent, to make the show a little more profound and mature. Deaths alone shouldn't be used as a means to make a show profound. What makes it more mature and deep is the meaning to that person's death or a certain event/situation. Make me reflect on it, I should have an initial opinion. Now that death (or event) adds to or ultimately changes my opinion. For a show to be meaningful things should have more meaning, that's pretty obvious. I don't think I questioned my own values and opinions at all during these first 17 or so episodes, maybe it's just because I'm that bigoted. Well I digressed quite a bit there. Basically, there should be a proper build up and then dramatic event, then humour to soften the blow, not a semi build up then interruption with humour or dramatic event, because everything that follows after that point has no/little effect.

Anyway:

Animation: Crisp, detailed, stylish and colourful - just what I like to see in an anime.
Sound: Crisp, detailed, stylish and colourful (...?) the sound, music and voice acting is pretty good, the music isn't extremely memorable, although it's not bad at all. (If I remember correctly)
Story: Crisp, detailed, sty-jokes aside -It is original in some aspects, but it's not all that original and mindblowing. Good guys are bad guys and bad guys are good guys. (Say what now??!! - It's just a sort of reverse of roles, it is still interesting though)
Characters: this is where I struggle. The characters (well the select few - or chosen ones) are 2 dimensional but I appreciate the effort in trying to make them seem 3 dimensional. They're just not explored enough and seem too superficial to me. The rest of the characters are there mearly to add to number and then be taken away.
CONCLUSION SO FAR:

I enjoyed everything, yes it's not as profound and meaningful as I'd like it to be, but it's still enjoyable if you're not too focused on that. You'll definitely enjoy this if you like action, fantasy, comedy, violence and entertainment. You won't enjoy this if you ONLY LOVE super slow paced, slice of life, heavily romantic anime. If you enjoy most anime, you'll definitely enjoy this and I reccomend you give it a shot. Also I'll add that it does get better as it progresses. So that's my 2 cents.

FINAL EVALUATION:

I originally gave this a 6.5/10 rating, but I feel that the last few episodes were a pleasant surprise and thus increased the overall value of the anime. There was a little more effort in character exploration and development. The action scenes felt more engaging and thrilling and a couple of my predictions did not come true, which gracefully caught me off-guard. Additionally, I was happy to learn that there was a third opinion - a humane one - on the matter of revolution. There was a character who believed that society was corrupt too, however, they did not believe that Night Raid's ideals and execution were right: they believed in a non-violent revolution and that change comes from within. This tells me that the creators: were aware of true moral grey areas (phew, I was starting to believe that this show was contradicting itself), that they know everyone believes in their own 'right'/'just' cause and that in the end it's all a matter of subjectivity and personal experiences/beliefs. So what I gather from all this is that they did, in fact, create this show for entertainment purposes, however this does not take away from the fact that they were trying to be profound and meaningful.

I must add: the finale was just darn beautiful. Thrilling and visually pleasing. It succeeded in destroying my subjectivity on the matter and just entertained me, which is actually a good thing. However, it still did feel quite rushed and I wasn't really emotionally invested in the characters, so any deaths that occured throughout the show did not make me feel anything really.

11eyes is a fantasy action anime with minimal ecchi elements, in the usual done-to-death highschool setting. I hate ecchi, so I prepared myself with some booze expecting the worst. Despite my low expectations, this anime actually appeared to have a proper plot and a therefore reason to watch it. The start is slow and lacking but it picks up, so don't drop it early. Give this a try if you like this genre/type of story and don't mind a little ecchi. And even if you don't, then at least try the soundtrack which is the best bit. It really isn't half bad.

Animation

When I started to ... watch this anime I thought it was made within the last few years, the animation quality is actually pretty good. The style isn't too unique, but one of the characters reminded me of a character from my favourite anime of all time. Very smooth and effective ation sequences. It seems to have a bit of a magic/horror style and reminded me of Shakugan no Shana at times. That's gotta be a good thing. This anime is tagged as ecchi and I'll be honest, I barely noticed much in the first half, besides a lot of tasteless unnecessary panty shots from Yuka. I swear that girl has a rip in the back of her skirt. The anime itself doesn't seem to have much of actual ecchi theme, though there has been the cliche 'girl groping other girls,' busty nurse and misunderstandings. No token beach or hot spring scenes either. A pleasant reduction in ecchi (besides those panty shots) and that's coming from someone who despises ecchi and hates out-of-context fanservice. Do keep in mind that I wasn't paying too much attention, the first half due to my inebriation however. I might have missed something like a bath scene or some potential bullshit, but there was barely any in the second half. The blood/gore is fine too, though nothing too extreme. May be a bad thing, but it could just be the look they were going for with this anime.

Sound

Definintely the best bit of 11eyes. I usually skip the intro/outro sequences after the first time, due to time constraints. But this time I really wanted to watch them due to the awesome music. Heck I ended up getting the soundtrack for this anime. This anime also utilises background music well and has great sound design. Sometimes there were scenes with creepy music, to suit the madness and other times there was beautiful instrumental for serious scenes. If the anime was a tad different, it could have been a horror anime, I swear. So, not being reliant on one genre of music and optimising the use of soundtrack is where this anime shines and it does it better than other anime that I've enjoyed more. This anime is only available in Japanese and the voice acting isn't too bad. So subtitles are required, since I assume we don't speak Japanese.

Characters

The main character is Kakeru Satsuki, of course a high school student and a bit of a badass. Especially with his eyepatch covering his heterochromic yellow eye, he appears more of a badass than the designated badass character. When he was younger, his younger sister was killed by some sort of demon. He appears to be romantically involved with Yuka Minase, who is his childhood friend. I should mention that this anime has the trope of having no parents or relative adult characters. He has a hidden power that he has not yet awakened and he wants to train and try his best to use his power to defeat the villianous demons who threaten him and his friends. Revenge could be a hidden motive. He also seems to be a tad unaware of how clingy Yuka is. Maybe needed a bit more development to define his personality better.

Yuka Minase is Kakeru's childhood friend and is infatuated with him. She is an orphan, taken in and raised by the non-existent but mentioned Minase parents. This girl is very clingy and obsessive over Kakeru, it appears she wants his dick so damn bad. I've heard complaints about this character and I'm not sure why. Maybe it was something I wasn't paying attention to in the first half or the thing that happens at the start of episode 11? Occasionally she peeks in on him, leading to misunderstandings over certain things. She is very worried that Kakeru would leave her. This character is also almost the sole source of ecchi in this anime, it really seems as if her skirt is ripped at the back or something. She is often oblivious to dangers due to her concern with everything Kakeru. She appears to dislike Minase as she is worried that she might steal Kakeru.

Misuzu Kusakabe is a swordfighter magic-user who is the latest in the line of the Kusakabe family. She has become solitary, due to extreme dislike from the other Kusakabe's for owning all of 4 legendary swords held by the family, having defeated and killed her own father for the last one and using the forbidden magic. She admires a magic-user that left 70 years ago, who was similarly hated. Similar to Kakeru, she has a concern for to righteousness. She also holds certain feelings... watch it to find out.

At the moment, I can't be bothered to talk about the less important characters. There is the girl/witch trapped in the crystal. The slutty nurse who appears to have a relationship with a student but turns out to be the guys adopted mother.

Story

The story is very much there and is fleshed out relatively well, with twists turns and unexpected developments too. By the way, episode 11 and 12 can be considered as two different endings, otherwise the story progression is bullshit. Behind it all, it is actually a romance story, with all sorts going on. Things actually happen and the story is relatively unpredictable. It is quite unique, with the exception of one other anime which is quite similar. There is an alternate reality called the Crimson Night in the city where the main characters live. Within this realm is a girl trapped in a crystal, the black knights who demonic beings that guard her and prevent her from being freed and other monsters. To free this prisoner and to protect the real world is the goal of the protagonists. It feels a bit complex and complicated at times. Overall the story starts off a bit slow, though that could just be the booze and as good as it is, it doesn't stand out enough and it isn't absolutely amazing. The ending is debatable and kinda disregards all of the plot events in a way. There isn't much to read into, so no social commentary/subtext here.

Conclusion

So, it ain't so bad after all. If you like the whole action/demons/magic idea, especially one where the story is great and things actually happen. I was getting very bored and distracted during the first half, though that was likely due to my drinking. If you hate ecchi like me, try this out since the ecchi is both frontloaded and rather minimal, so you should be fine with the overall anime. Not bad, not bad at all. I was wrong to get drunk for this one.

Family-friendliness Rating: 4/5 The panty shots are a tad extreme and there's a bit where she's wearing only kinky lingerie (lower is better)

Overall Rating: 7/10

I tried to wait until it’s over before shitting it properly, but the damn thing didn’t let me. It kept piling up bullshit, the fantards keep excusing them with more bullshit, it got all the way to no5 on MAL and no1 on Anime-Planet, and the topics I made on Reddit and MAL about its problems were deleted immediately, so nobody can have an opinion that differs from the damn circlejerk. This piece of shit that the anime community considered better than Legend of the Galactic Heroes was plain offensive on so many levels and I am here to tell you why.

1) TIME RESETS ... MAKE NO SENSE.
Just look how there is absolutely no consistency amongst them.

First & Second resets:
- Trigger before someone nearby gets killed
- The protagonist doesn’t need to know about the eminent death for the reset to happen
- The protagonist has no control over when it happens
- The reset sends you 5 minutes into the past
- If the protagonist fails, time moves on as normal

Third reset:
- Triggers after someone nearby gets killed
- The protagonist needs to know about the death for the reset to happen
- The protagonist has no control over when it happens
- The reset sends you 20 years into the past
- If the protagonist fails, time reverts to present, and he can try again until he succeeds
- Let’s not overlook the time paradox of managing to chance the day of death but everything else remained exactly the same, something which is impossible because of the butterfly effect. Also, we are supposed to believe when he returned to the present, his old self magically forgot everything, life went back to normal and played out in exactly the same way. Bullshit. And the fan boys still don’t accept it is nonsense, they now think the protagonist could always control time travel but was too afraid to use it consciously. Excusing bullshit with more bullshit.

Fourth reset:
- Triggers when everybody is fine.
- The protagonist wills it to happen. The fan boys were defending the show before this, saying it was great how he had no control over this power, since he can’t use it to his benefit and the tension is tenfold because of it. Well, so much for that.
- The reset sends you 20 years into the past but not at the same moment as in the second reset.

Fifth reset:
The problem with this one is that it doesn’t exist. We get to a point where the protagonist is in grave danger and yet no time reset triggers. Why is that when it fits several criteria from previous cases? I mean, yeah, he says that the fourth reset would be the last, but how did he know that? Did he read the script for what happens next? If he knows he lost the power, how does he know that???

Sixth reset:
Despite the protagonist reassuring us that there will not be another reset, he contradicts himself in the last episode by willingly going back in time and warns everybody of what to do so he can expose the killer. And guess what, he was in grave danger when it happened. Why didn’t it happen in the previous life or threat situation? Because shitty writing, that’s why.

The story never explains anything regarding time travel; it just throws it out there and then expects you not to give a damn when it’s vital to the plot. The fanboys kept saying that you should disregard it entirely, which is impossible since without time travel you have no story.

2) THE PROTAGONIST HAS NO STEADY MOTIVATIONS.
They change in every episode with no rhyme or reason, something the fan boys didn’t notice because he is a bland self-insert who can be anything and anyone at any given moment. I mean did you even see how generic his face is? Take all faces A1 Pictures animated from light novels and compare them. They are the exact same one, featureless face!

First & Second reset: He saves kids because he is altruistic
Never explained why he is, he was magically born that way.

Third reset: He wants to save his mother by manipulating the emotions of a little girl
A selfish reason, now he is magically no longer altruistic.

Fourth reset: He wants to save the little girl
He no longer cares about saving his mother, which by the way was never hard to save. He had 20 years of time to simply be around her when the fateful night arrives.

3) PLOT CONVENIENCES.
Many events happen seemingly by chance and end up affecting the plot considerably. No proper mystery or thriller should be so reliant on chance because it cheapens what it’s trying to accomplish.

Episode 1: The mother gets killed exactly when she finds out who the killer is. How nice for the killer to wait until he is revealed before deciding to walk in the house.

Episode 1: The reason the protagonist panicked so fast when he saw his dead mother, was because at that exact moment a neighbor came in and the police arrived outside. There is no way for the killer to have arranged it that way, since the neighbor was just passing by. Therefore, it was darn luck and not incrimination that made the protagonist panic, turning the whole thing into stupidity instead of an elaborate scheme.

Episode 3: The protagonist has birthday the exact same day as the girl he is trying to save. This is way too convenient and lazy writing for the sake of cheap feels. He already wants to save her; there is no reason to hammer it even further with more drama.

Episode 5: Airi appears out of nowhere and helps the protagonist when he is hunted by the police. The reason? She just believes he is not a killer. Ok…

Episode 5: Airi’s house is set on fire immediately after she finds out who the killer is. Again, the killer is waiting to be revealed before making his move.

Episode 6: The manager appears out of nowhere to help out the protagonist. The script just wanted him to be there for the sake of plot armor.

Episode 7: The protagonist is about to kill someone when a friend of his appears out of nowhere and stops him before it’s too late. The script just wanted him to be there for the sake of ruining tension.

Episode 8: The girl was hiding from her mother in the exact same bus that the person who wanted to kill her was hiding his equipment. From all the places in this universe, what are the odds of the target running to hide into the killer’s base?

Episode 11: The killer knew that the protagonist is alive but in a coma for many years, yet didn’t do anything to kill him, despite having the political power to do anything he likes. He just reappears when the protagonists wakes up, does his best to make him remember what happened, and THEN tries to kill him.

Episode 12: The killer out of nowhere is not only unable to kill the protagonist but he is also willing to save him and commit suicide if the guy he wanted to kill a few seconds ago is not alive. What the frack???

Episode 12: Airi appears out of nowhere under the bridge and is super friendly with a guy she just sees there. Dumb girl is dumb.

4) THE PROTAGONIST’S REASONING MAKES ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE.

He runs away from the police, thus incriminating himself for no reason. The fan boys excuse it as him panicking because of the murder of his mother, thus he wasn’t thinking reasonably. If that is the case, why is he STILL running away from the police after he returns to the present? He is calm now, and thinks reasonably. Hell, he spends half the episode playing with children out in the open for everybody to see, and then goes to chat in a public cafeteria full of people. Seems like he is not afraid of being seen, right? But when police officers arrive, he is running away again. What is this bullshit?

He assumes that he can save his mother by saving a little girl, the two of which have absolutely nothing to do with each other, just because he is at the time when the murders began. Well, thank goodness nothing else happened in the world that year, or he might have arbitrarily assumed he would have to do something completely different.

The fan boys excuse it as, if he stops the killer, he will save both at the same time. But how is this going to work? Just look at how no matter what he does, it will never have a positive outcome.
- He is not intimidating to keep a child killer away by spending time with the girl (in fact, this makes the killer double as motivated)
- He is not strong to beat up the killer in case he shows up
- Even if he scares the killer, this will not stop him from killing other children or his mother in the future
- Even if he saves the little girl, it will not prevent her mother from beating her all the time
- He is not trying to tell anybody about it, which over-complicated things for no reason. The fan boys tried to excuse it like nobody would believe him if he talked. Yet in later episodes pretty much EVERYBODY believes EVERYTHING he says and helps him out.
• His fellow students agree to hide the girl in a bus by simply believing his story
• They leave her there in the cold for three days, only for eventually telling his mother about it. She believes him as well, and lets her hide in their house thereafter.
• He then tells child support to come check out the mother, something nobody was doing for years. They also believe him and turns out it was easy to prove the girl’s mother was a bad parent.
• The mother’s mother is also magically thrown in the story and is the one that revels what a terrible mother her child is. All the protagonist did, was to tell her to go there when child support is talking to the mother. Something nobody thought of doing for years.
• So basically, he could have resolved the show’s entire conflict by episode 2 if he simply told everybody what is going on right away.
- He then moves to protecting other kids after the first is saved, which again makes no sense. He has no reason to assume the killer would go after the same people, in the same order, and in the same dates. He changed his actions for Pete’s sake, he could have gone after someone else with completely different methods or schedule.

5) THE MYSTERY ASPECT OF THE SHOW IS COMPLETE GARBAGE.
- The protagonist is doing absolutely nothing to find out who is the killer. He prefers to spend his time in a cringy romance between a 10 year old girl and a 30 year old man.
- Whatever the author thinks that can count as clues, is nothing more than hints dropping on the protagonist’s head by complete chance (the bus Hinazuki is hiding just happens to be the killer’s hideout) or through someone’s convenient infodumping (the meeting with the old man, or the teacher in the car). This destroyed any sense of mystery, since the protagonist didn’t use deduction to find clues. They were thrown at him with ridiculous convenience.
- There aren’t even many possible suspects for who the killer could be. It can either be someone from the cast we see all the time, or a complete stranger which would make the revelation BS (thankfully this is not the case). Now try to count how many people look like the guy we see in the first episode (male adult with no beard). There, it can only be THAT guy. What kind of a mystery is this where you know right away who the killer is?
- 10 year-olds in the 80s are somehow masterminds. They can psycho-analyze the protagonist (Hinazuki) and deduct he is hiding something (Kenya). He on the other hand can do nothing but stare like an oaf despite living in the freaking internet era. He is so useless, even little children are better detectives than he is.
- The killer was not revealed because of a mistake he did. He exposed himself and even went as far as soliloquize his evil intentions, like a Saturday morning cartoon villain.
- A mystery story is supposed to give you answers at the end. Yet you don’t get any explanation for why the protagonist has the power to travel in time. Magic space Jesus gave it to him just because.

6) FAKE TENSION WITH CLIFFHANGERS.
Every episode ends with a cliffhanger that makes the average viewer wanting to find out what will happen next. The problem here is that what follows the cliffhangers is a dud. It is always something anti-climactic or completely stupid. The show systematically tries to undo consequences or hide its plot conveniences with cliffhangers that are too obvious to spot when you marathon the show.
- Every time something horrible happens to the protagonist (fails to save the girl or gets captured by the police), a time reset occurs in the beginning of the next episode to undo all the tension.
- When the protagonist is clueless or about to do something really stupid, another character appears out of nowhere as an ally and helps him out with not much justification.
- When the killer gets in the bus where the girl is hiding, is followed by him leaving without even trying to find her because it was conveniently his lair, and not because he knew she was there.

7) VICTIMIZING GALORE.
A one dimensional evil parent hits while laughing her own child for forced drama.
- No fan boys, saying this happens all the time in real life does not make it any less forced.
- Let’s have the girl being bullied at school as well. No reason to assume the more victimizing they throw at you, the more absurd it becomes.

8 ) PLOT INDUCED STUPIDITY.

Episode 3: Everybody is either too dumb to do anything about it, or too blind to notice the domestic violence. Because a child full of bruises, the testimony of teachers and students, as well as a mother who is constantly running away from inspection, or swings shovels at people, is clearly not evidence.

Episode 5: People lose their jobs, ruin their marriages, and leave town because of a chocolate bar. But people who beat their children every day while laughing about it are left to do as they like.

Episode 5: Only complete retards open the door to a room they know it’s on fire.

Episode 10: You see someone getting in a room but never coming out, despite you standing right outside the whole time. How stupid do you need to be to actually believe the person teleported away?

Episode 10: A little child can’t slip through a jammed seat belt, when it’s easy even for an adult to do it.

Episode 10: The protagonist yells to the killer that he knows his future, something that the killer believes. Which is bullshit because if Satoru knew it, he would know the killer would try to murder him.

Episode 11: The killer does his best to make the protagonist remember he is the killer instead of killing him right away.

Episode 12: The killer magically changes his goal from trying to murder the protagonist, to saving his life and then killing himself.

9) PEDOPHILIA, AS THE PROTAGONIST IS SEXUALLY ATTRACTED TO A LITTLE GIRL.
No fan boys, just because his body is 10 years old, does not make his brain not 30 years old. And nobody knowing he is not really a child does makes him not pedo. Pleading ignorance does not pass in court.
Oh, sorry officer, I thought I could have sex with 10 year olds because I’m a time traveler.

10) ONE DIMENSIONAL EVIL CHARACTERS.
- The manager lusts over Airi, and betrays the protagonist just so he can have her for himself. The fan boys try to excuse it like he did what he thought was right, but all we see is him being a jerk who laughs idiotically and saves Airi because he wants to impress her and get in her pants.
- Letting us know Hibazuki’s mother was mistreated by her husband does not excuse her actions. She is one dimensional because her husband was one dimensional, the end.
- The killer loves to kidnap and murder little children, just because. He is also presented as a mastermind for half the show, always magically teleporting to people that find out who he is, and managing to throw the blame for what he did to someone else. But towards the end, he turns into a laughably incompetent idiot who monologues his evil plans to the protagonist and has no alibi for what he does. He also changes his reason for killing people, from making sure nobody will find out who he is, to magic spider webs only he can see being the reason he needs to kill certain individuals. Also, he does his best to be caught by making the protagonist REMEMBER he is the killer and not killing him while he is vulnerable.

11) AWFUL TIME SKIP.
Any hints of logic the show had, are completely gone when a time skip takes place in the last episodes.
- The protagonist falls in a coma and wakes up with amnesia, two of the most bullshit tropes only lazy soap opera writers would be using. Not only that but they are also completely meaningless. They are both dealt with in the same episode they appear in.
- The only major change made during the time skip was the kids he saved getting married, and everything else remained exactly the same. Because that’s how time travel works. Why would his mother be living in a different place when she is taking care of a comatose man, or the killer having a different lifestyle when he ran away from town and didn’t kill anyone?
- Why the hell did those kids marry each other? There was no damn chemistry between them! Three quarters of the show were spent on building a relationship between the girl and the protagonist, and the result is her getting married to a minor character she didn’t care about that looks like a girl? How did that happen?
- Every fantard was yelling netorare in the episode discussions for not getting the pedophilia ship they were hoping for. In fact, the show began decreasing in average score only because it made the fandom very butthurt.
- Not only the killer did not try to kill the protagonist while he was defenseless in a coma, but also does his best to make him remember. Where did his ingenious plans to keep his crimes hidden went to?

12) UNDEFINED FOCUS.
This show has no idea of what it’s trying to be about, leading to a complete lack of identity. This is evident in how the fanboys were gradually changing their opinion of the show, every time something was disappointing them.
- First, they said it was a time travel type of story. Something I proved it was very bad because it made no sense.
- So, they switch their opinion to, no it’s not about time travel but a mystery story about trying to uncover a killer. Something I also proved wrong, since there was absolutely no deduction made by the protagonist and the killer was obvious right away. I mean, yeah, the fanboys were still surprised with the obvious revelation because they were refusing to believe it would be so obvious. They still pretended it was amazing writing because it made it seem it was too easy to be him. This was self trolling caused by people who didn’t want to accept it was so easy after all.
- Then they say it was never a mystery but rather a thriller, where the protagonist is rushing to save kids from a killer before it’s too late. Again, I proved this was a lie since the constant time resets and the plot conveniences were destroying all sense of tension.
- Desperate to excuse it somehow, the fanboys were then saying it was a drama about people living miserable lives by being mistreated by their family or not getting what they want in life. Something I also proved it was the result of being stupid and not simply talking about it.
- Oh, and let’s not forget the usual double standards they were using all the time, saying how real the characters are, how the show makes them cry, and how amazingly interesting the mystery is. But when I proved the time resets are unexplained bullshit, they immediately say it is just a cartoon and you shouldn’t take it seriously. If that is so, why do you find them real and cry about it??? Why do you call the mystery amazing when it makes no sense???

See? They can’t even defend the show as something done right.

SO WHY THE DEVIL WAS THIS SHOW SO HYPED AND ADORED BY EVERYBODY?
Erased fails in everything besides emotional manipulation. It had a premise where a good hearted man tries to save his mother and a cute girl the viewers feel sorry for. As soon as both these issues were solved in episode 9, the interest in the show immediately evaporated and what followed was a bullshit killer revelation and a retarded time skip nobody could take seriously.

Basically, while the show was using forced drama and a sickening romance between a man and a little girl, everybody was blinded to its problems. The second those were dealt with, they instantly woke up and realized it was crap all along. The whole thing is yet another example of why crap like Sword Art Online become super hyped and loved by everybody while they air, and then are hated as soon as they are over. The anime community is a cesspool of immature people who can’t think straight and let emotions cloud their perception. And then some wonder why Donald Trump is so adored for all the ridiculous things he does. Faith in humanity, lost.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS

Ch means Charlatanry

Thus a new creation of famous authors - Jun Maeda and studio P.A. Works is in front of us. Even before relise fans were rubbing their's hands, cause it's the maestro Maeda himself - author of Angel Beats. This will necessarily be a masterpiece. That's why it is Must Watch. I pecked at the bait, though I'm not a fan of Maeda's creativity, but I thought it would be interesting to look at a good drama, cause AB left the most positive impression.

The first series left mixed feelings. On the one hand the protagonist, being a Usual Japanese Student, tries to move ... away from the canon. How, you ask? Simply - the invisible hand of the director pushes a button at the right moment and our ward begins to behave like Lelouch British, i.e. pose different faces, devilishly smiling and devilishly laughing in some cases. Though, all of this looks foolishly, but surprisingly quite interesting especially given that the hero also fully uses his power for selfish purposes.

What power, you ask? Oh, I forgot to say - a world where the action of the show will take place is not quite common. Some teenagers in the anime, who have not reached 17 years have super powers. But not simple, and with shortcomings. For example, our hero Otosaka Yuu can move in the body of every person at which he looks, but only for 5 seconds. Wherein his body will solidify in various positions.

So, he could have lived and not grieved - he entered a prestigious university, went on a date with the beauty of the school. But that was until the blonde Tomori Nao - the head of the student council of another school designed for gifted kids, have noticed him. And with the help of her assistant, a classmate Takajou Joujirou, they forced Yuu to transfer to their school. And at the same time a guy has to leave the beauty of the last school.

And why? It turns out that it was a secret haunt on teens Espers. They are caught and put under experiments by evil grown scientists. And a Nao's brother was caught and put under expirements by these guys. As a result, the guy turned into a vegetable which periodically tears the pillow. Actually, this is the essence of the first two series. Where is the catch? Sort of an intriguing outset where the characters are not so simple.

But the catch follows next. Because after the 3rd episode a completely normal everyday life flows where it seems as our team is looking for other owners of super-powers, but the story does not ABSOLUTLY move. Heroes go fishing, playing baseball - everything is just as usual.

However, a fan of Maeda's creativity might say: "you're wrong, because the author reveals his characters." Indeed, there was something like that in the same Angel Beats, but not in Charlotte. A couple of words can be said about the drama, which starts from 6 episode, to describe the heroes - such flat characters thay have.

However, it was watchable, with a disabled brain, sometimes eyes, but watchable.

But then a drama began, no, a bacchanalia began. Number of pianos, disguised as "this is a twist" stupidity, idiocy began to grow exponentially. Sometimes you think that everything is so bad that it can't be worse, but no, Maeda manages to surprise and to make matters worse and more stupid.

To somehow stretch the story out of the deep hole in which it was for 5 episodes, the author introduces some syndicates, time travel, obscure characters, about which no one cares. Instead of answers to various questions arised in the course of the 5 episodes, he only responds to a few, but wherein he adds a bunch of new ones.

Do you think that someone will respond to them in the end? It's a spit from a high tower for the entire studio. And why? Because the viewer guesses everything himself, and then writes that is a masterpiece.

Also pay attention to the development of the character of the protagonist, because it simply does not exist. There is only toggle "Lelouch mod" with two states. There is only toggle "Lelouch mod" two-state "on" and "off" and the director takes his turn between these states when he pleases.

The romance also takes place in the end. Just to be there, nothing more. At the same time I would like to talk about the local humor. Hmm, humor ... So the humor consists of two things.

The first - to repeat the trick as many times as possible. Probably, so it becomes funnier according to the director. Or not? But these are the flowers in comparison to the second point...

The second - a stupid joke, which has even been repeated more than once, ATTENTION, during a serious dramatic moment. Frankly, I was specifically surprised here by Maeda. I have never ever seen such a disregard for the audience. As the analogy, let's take the same Code Geass - the last series of the last season, the viewer is close to tears (or not close), Lelouch, dying, closes his eyes and then... runs a cat wearing a helmet of Zero and everybody rushs to catch him. Can you imagine that? Here we can see a degree of interest of the author that the audience were imbued with drama.

What do we have in the end: the series with a hideous scenario, zany humor, cardboard characters and the only one disclosed more or less, phony drama because of the cardboard characters and happy ending, which crosses all the possible development of the heads of the hero on the vine. And a beautiful opening, which is the more interesting than the series. The title of "grand piano in the bushes" deservedly goes to the previous owner of the Code "yet not grand piano" Geass.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS.

Three Laws of Robotics Twilights.

Gangster thriller doesn't appear as a typical genre of Japanese animation, because it usually requires a presence of serious drama, realistic depiction, adult characters, and much more.

In this field you can emphasize shows like Gungrave, Black Lagoon, Jormungand and perhaps that's all. But if the latest was released in 2012 then two previous were released 10 years ago(plus/minus). It seemed that we can put a cross to this genre but a rather well-known studio Manglobe decided to prove the opposite, and released the anime series Gangsta in 2015 - an adaptation of the manga with the same title.

Many people waited ... for the series, because of finally grown heroes, gloomy atmosphere, serious plot and of even more that could have been red about the story on lots of forums. But the show is over and it's time to sum up whether they put up a good show, outdo the other works on this theme or at least did not strike the mud with the face? Unfortunately no. But first things first.

It starts quite well, not without disadvantages in terms of animation though. But not a big deal, can hang on, cause of unusual characters and the setting, which is not so worn out, will hang on.

And the characters are indeed unusual.

Worick - one-eyed man of about 30. At first glance, humorist, but at the right moments gets serious. Also noteworthy for the side job of a gigolo within his spare from the orders time.
Nicolas - an antipode of his partner. Basically quite gloomy personality, but sometimes he is not averse to joke. However, the main feature is that he is deaf and therefore predominantly communicates using sign language. Well, very untypical.
And Alex - a doxy that was saved by Warrick and Nicholas in the first episode.

Seemed like, author could just invent a ton of interesting situations for the characters and reveal them as was done in the same Black Lagoon. But no, apparently the author of the manga had found that boring. That's why it was necessary to include a bunch of mystics and drain off all the good things in the toilet.

Besides, the situation is similar to what was happening in Gungrave except that there was pushed a precisely gangster story line during which the viewer was attached to the heroes. That's what was the reason to look beyond all that trash. And what about Gangsta? Unfortunately no. Yes, Worick and Nicolas are interesting characters, somehow very similar to Harry and Brandon from the Grave. But Worick lacks that incredible charisma of Harry MacDowel, and silent Nicolas is a much more mysterious person than a silent Brandon, who is revealed through his thoughts.

So it turns out that when the battles with various Usual Japanese Students equiped with piercing-cutting objects, who jump on the vertical walls like superheroes and cut mafioso's packs alone, substitutes mafia's showdowns, the series can be safely sent to the scrap. Another thing that is pouring oil on flames is that the plot develops extremely slowly and informational content of series is very very small. Everything is so slow, that viewer practically falls asleep.

But that's not all. Despite its record quantity of decent work with quality graphics, Manglobe obviously decided not to strain here. And if the graphics quality of first 5 episodes is more or less acceptable, then begins a nightmare. Curved eyes, distorted faces, mouths on the side of the faces. And it would have been okay, if that was portrayed the background characters, but nevertheless. Sometimes you can guess who of the characters is in the picture only by clothing or hair. Sometimes it was just physically painful to look at the characters, how crooked they are drawn. The same Alex, for example, is drawn crooked during entire series, besides in in each frame. There is nothing special to say about the music, something was playing on the background, but somehow I do not even remember.

Total, pretty mediocre series about superheroes, which then tries to look as a serious gangster thriller with a seamy side. What for? Unclear...

6/10 - for interesting protagonists, dubber, that voiced Nicolas and screensavers, at the end of the episode, on which, apparently, the entire budget was spent.

This anime is a prime example of how the sheer nonsense can be a worthwhile product. But all that the author did was just bringing all that nonsense (which the anime is overflowed with) to the absurd, at the same time making sure that main lines of the plot remained within borders of adequacy. The intensity of the absurd and the atmosphere of this anime is not for everybody. This absurd comedy will unlikely be popular among a wide audience. But, I think that the older audience can appreciate all power of this work.

In fact, Prison School tells about ordinary things in a ... modern anime: friendship, partnership and of course romance. But the main thing lurks in the absurdity of the anime. Exactly all this nonsense vividly satirizes the anime industry flooded with boobs shaking. This epic absurd paced like a roller on all Ecchi at once, and not only Ecchi. Sports and Slice Of Life were also affected. Only that legendary armwrestling battle between the guys and Meiko costs much (not to mention more). Moreover, the banter of the anime went through contradictions of Japanese society in matters of sex. After all, the fact that protagonists were declared criminals and jailed for peeping is not inherently absurd for Japan.

No, I'm not going to cry about the genius and the blame of the season. I personally had a lack of lots of things. Had a lack of fun, surprisingly. Had a lack of funny jokes. It was fun but there was a lack of precisely funny jokes. Not enough lasting action, because the overall pace of the narrative is not so high. Anyway the thing stays worthwile with the unpredictable and (unexpectedly) not squeezed final.

In conclusion, if you do not usually turn away from the genre "comedy of the absurd", than you probably should watch Prison School.

There is clearly something wrong with this world. And with the level of aggression directed at "Zankyou no Terror". Too many students, too much drama, too stupid Japanese military, too sad music, too little raccoons, too many Japanese, too ... Too, too, too. And that's just the tip of the iceberg of the impressions that this anime made to viewers.

Protagonists of "Terror in Resonance" dream about a reorganization of society (and about revenge at the same time). Of course, their age confuses many. "Haw! The main characters are students - again! But this is not serious and destroys the whole atmosphere" Indeed, no one ... of the creators of the anime made the protagonists of serious works (involving similar subjects), persons of school age. Perhaps Holden Caulfield was 30 years, Insarov was about 45, Mizoguchi was over 60 years, Ippolit from "The Idiot" was 76 years old, no less. From that point of view, Byron's heroes do not even deserve attention: all entirely centenarians. It's really usual in the culture to made young people revolutionaries and radicals. Cause youth (all those silly writers, philosophers says so) is a time when you care, you believe that the world can be changed, that people can be exposed to wake up from sleep of inhabitants. In life, in fact it is like all are born with indifference to ninety elders. Everybody peacefully pass their time of adolescence and youth and agree with all rules and regulations adopted in society. By the way, the students are not quite simple. Just wait for 9 series and learn everything firsthand.

What is this anime about? About the revenge, about the reluctance of accepting the fact that society is mired in its hypocrisy, admitting unethical behavior of scientists, experiments on human beings, the creation of nuclear weapons... Certainly, to put it mildly, terrorism is a drastic measure. But that is exactly the power of the Japanese - ability to affect the delicate topics that must be vitally discussed by the society. There was a radical young people, ready to make tons of Molotov cocktails and blow up a building for their ideas and ideals at all times. Society is sitting on a powder keg filled with contradictions and apathy, which it had created with it's own hands. Apathy, which is nothing else than the terror. And there always was, is and will be the one who lights the wick and observes with interest how "rider" would cope with it: whether he would be waiting for his fate with a panic in the eyes, or would he quietly step aside or still would put out the fire? But this is the echo caused by the aforementioned terror. Nine and Twelve - observers. They mockingly dissect Japanese society to see it's reaction, to stir this quiet hornet's nest, being stung by it's not yet fully awakened inhabitants. Living in the world shaded with wisdom, doing nothing - that's the main "crime" for them.

And the fact that this topic is raised, says, that the Japanese just hadn't forgot either Aum Shinrikyo or "Freedom Club", neither Breivik. Do not know what to blame more: the system of education or nurture (or all together), but once again I am struck by the tendency of the viewer to perceive everything literally. If the documental film devoted to apartheid in South Africa or to radical Islamism exists and thus there is no open condemnation of these phenomena, therefore, its creator encourages both. Long live the socialist realism division only on black and white, with avoidance of difficult ethical questions! Meanwhile, the world is living under other laws: the more you keep silence and try to ignore the realities and problems, the more unpleasant consequences you will gain. Such as Aum Shinrikyo and murder of young people on Utøya. Therefore «Zankyou no Terror» is a peaceful dialogue and not a call to action. And if anyone sees an appeal in this, it is a reason to visit a doctor.

In addition to the highly ambiguous plot, the anime endowed with beautiful soundtracks whereby the story synergizes with the atmosphere. They are not distracting and blend with the video quite harmoniously, which also should be commended. What's that, but the graphics will withstand any criticism. Everything is incredibly stylish and sophisticated. Everything with aesthetics is in order in "Terror", for sure.

Who should watch "Zankyou no Terror"? First of all, those who are not afraid of ambiguity. You will have something to think about and what to see in this anime. Fans of aesthetics should pay their attention to this series too.
Who better pass? Those who do not like unnecessary beating around the bush. The story is not too dynamic, and there is quite a strong bias towards psychology. Also, it is better not to waste your time on it for those who do not like school and drama: there are a good many.