Back to nokitron's Profile nokitron's Profile

"Why is the pineapple can there?!"

Anyway the show is good. It's definitely for you guys who like mafia stories with Japanese characterization. The art is okay at close-ups but really sucks at portraying landscapes. I dig opening song but that's just about it.

It's an anime that you'd have fun more if you follow the week's progression instead of actually binge it, but nonetheless it's still a good anime.

The storytelling can be jumbled up sometimes. Mafia movies always related to how many characters they try to introduce, but in the end, only some of them can stand out, and in this case, Avilio/Angelo and Nero are ... both in the spotlight.

Throughout the episodes you will see Angelo's attempt at revenging his family death, the Lagusas, that he knew was done by Vanneti family. The story revolves around internal conflict and mafia politics as usual, yet they all seemingly not the main point of the story.

The true point of the story relies on how Angelo acts as a character. The wounded character shows his sleek plan towards 12 episodes only to see what his revenge actually does to him at the finale. I must tell you, it's something quite shocking yet to be expected in this kind of story.

P.S.: I hate Vango for some reason, mainly because I think he doesn't deserve to be in this universe. Shows like Baccano should've done him more justice.

Mob Psycho 100 is written by the same mangaka of One Punch Man, ONE. That doesn't say much, because what matters is who adapts this story rather than knowing the original creator. Madhouse did a very awesome job at adapting One Punch Man, but I think the best possible case of adapting ONE's story has been done by anime studio Bones.

This comedy anime started as a pretty nice slice-of-life adventure of Mob and his spiritual mentor, Reigen Arataka. We see how they do their exorcism job and their daily life, all filled with misfits traits of these duo . It's cool to see something actually ... takes it pace slowly before building up until the end.

And what I mean by building up is still not something that grandeur. The show still makes fun of self even at the finale, but at the same time still weirdly conveys a good message such as lean on to your friends and how to accept reality as it is. Reigen is still so light-headed as usual and maybe one of my favorite character throughout my watching history. My only bother with the whole series is when the side-plots are concluded in such a brief manner, but still, I have soft spot for the character progressions shown in the epilogue.

Throughout the series, besides seeing Mob and Reigen being funny, we were also introduced by characters such as Ritsu, Ekubo, and Teru. They have their own episode to actually construct their characters as why and how those people were made that way. To do this in 12 episode series needs a pretty good insight about the story, in my opinion.

All and all, even when it ended conclusively, a sign of wider plot was projected at the finale episode. While OPM got their second season, I also want to believe that this underrated anime was appreciated enough to get its sophomore season.

Funny dry jokes, sensible characters, and mix of pretty creative artwork are some of the reasons of this anime's greatness, but the most importantly is how they adapt it into something that feels coherent and to make sure that most episodes do really have point instead of just fooling around with the gimmicks.

At first I expected, "Oh, all right, this will gonna be one of those Hollywood movie where the master teaches this outsider kid, huh?". I expected a fucking Karate Kid.

Than when the movie proceeded further, it changed my mind: "I guess it wouldn't be that bad. Okay, this is getting interesting. The boy suddenly has to accommodate with the beasts' lifestyle. Cool. "

The main encounter with this alien world is just like what happened in and feel like Spirited Away, but it's totally different in a way. Juutengai, what this world full of beasts is called, offers a more grounded view on society, which ... is not what we saw from Spirited Away. In Miyazaki's most acclaimed anime, the world's atmosphere was built to engage the main character's personality, when the end of the day let us see the character's progression towards maturity. Still, I expected Spirited Away.

Until that, the whole concept of master and disciple is just messed up in a good sense. The relationship between human child Ren and a Bear-Monkey(?) hybrid Kumatetsu is not something groundbreaking, at first. We have seen this kind of love/hate relationship in almost every anime whether it involves different-gender conflict or not. It's not something different, at first. The boy is determined, the beast is also determined, and the time they bond each other it is so hard to determine whether this is a movie about friendship, parenthood, or whatever. The situation is just so complex, yet so simple.

We get to see this subtle emotion feeling (Mamoru style). The emotion is not explicitly shown by dialogues, but through the sense of its intonations, the situations, and of course, the characters themselves.

Throughout the movie we get to served the different and totally unordinary view of parenthood. The second half could be jumbled up for some, but with the the ambition as good as this, I think the "mistake" could be forgiven. After all, the whole last-arc was supposed to tell another message about human, and beasts, and all issue that is still floating up so they can be wrapped up well. And oh boy, they are wrapped up very well.

At the point I finished the movie, I know that this isn't trying to emulate anything. It is just "The Beast and the Boy". Pretty underrated, has its issues, but the concept really pushes its boundaries to not to become another generic master-disciple complex we've already seen few times.

Okay, I am not gonna try to write a whole lot essay here. I just want to say my opinion about Baccano!

To say Baccano! is an anime that stands out as one of greatest plot ever is not exaggerating. The plots generally divided into three time settings, 1930, 1931, 1932. At first episodes things didn't seem to connect well. The bunch of characters were confusing me and the gang factions thingy didn't help at all. If you happen to feel the same way I did, just stay watching, because it gets better each episodes. The way they execute it is just so good. It is ... probably one of reasons why people like it. I guess Baccano! wouldn't get receptions this good if not because the great plots execution.

About the character.. Hmm, what do I say? They all are unique in some ways. We have Isaac and Miria, a cheerful ignorant duo that doesn't seem to know what's going on around them. There are some your typical joker-psychopathic guy, a coward, and whole lot more. I regret how some characters don't give good progression, for example Czeslaw Meyer, and some are out of place (Lua Klein), but never everything goes perfect.

The art is incredibly consistent. We get to see the real depictions of dawn 20th century of US and I could say Aniplex did a good job at this. And for the BGM, nothing special. Although I jam the OP every time, but besides that, I think it's okay.

To conclude all, Baccano! is a fun ride filled with convoluted plots that has its charms. It's not a perfect one, mostly because the glorification of violence yet tame story, but I can assure you it's one of the greatest anime there is.

I'll just write some of the big picture in here. "Welcome to NHK" is one of animes that didn't shine that much. Nonetheless, it gives a calm lecture about Japanese social issue.

We see hikikomori and otaku phenomena, that I suppose hasn't been acknowledged this vast in the year "NHK" was made (2006), as a medium to convey a wider message. We follow the story of Tatsuhiro Sato, a socially inept guy encountering misfortunes and soap opera-ish events that make him step out of his cozy idle life. Even though it brings topic about social phenomena of otaku so many times, "NHK" actually doesn't only try ... to tell poor life of Sato the hikikomori. Honestly, almost all of the characters have their own problem, and the conclusion is what we actually watch, not like how idly "Watamote" was trying to shove us the ideas through the misfortune jokes all the time. "NHK" is more than that. It's about life, despair, enjoyment, passion, anything, not just how to not being a otaku and such. They paint larger than the canvas they have been prepared.

As I have finished this series, nothing is pretty much concluded in "Welcome to NHK". The cycle of problem will always go on and on, but some of characters' aspect taken a small step each day, and that's part of moving on.

Despite the stiff arc transitions that makes it looks so, I don't know, soap opera-ish (sorry for the horrible diction) and wacky animation at some moments (Episode 19 is the worst production-wise), "NHK" tells a solid story that feels related to all of us. It is definitely one of the best animes to those who want a good character diversities.