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Is Aria a good series? Probably. Does it deserve to be held up as a masterpiece? I doubt it.

Aria tends to be hyped up as *the* epitome of slice-of-life, so I expected an anime with all the strong points of the genre, including fleshed-out, relatable characters. Aria fails in that respect, and that compromises the amount of enjoyment I can derive from this series as a slice-of-life fan who has no specific interest in cute girls doing cute things.

What I object to isn't the fact that the cast is female-dominated, though more gender balance would have been nice. [The first half of Haibane Renmei, ... for instance, is an example of an anime with a mostly-female cast that rises above the "cute girls do cute things" formula, and manages to have some characters (not all, admittedly) with depth.] What I object to is the use of generic character traits and catchphrases as a substitute for actual characterisation. There's the sweet ditzy one, the feisty one, the -_- one, the sweet onee-san type... The characters are generally likeable - they're just not very interesting.

My other main issue with Aria is that it is heavy-handed and mawkish. Other iyashikei series like Natsume Yuujinchou and YKK manage to be heartwarming without being horribly unsubtle, and have variations in mood and tone as well. For most of the series, Aria's mood setting is stuck on "painfully sweet". Conflicts are always easily resolved, and the characters cheerfully spout trite platitudes for at least half of each episode. The first time we get an episode with any sense of wistfulness or melancholy is episode 11, and that's far too late in the series.

(President Aria also came across as annoying rather than cute, partly due to the irritating noises that he made.)

As for technical issues: For the most part, Aria manages to look beautiful despite having occasionally clunky animation and slightly jarring CGI. This is partly because its backgrounds are largely copies of actual Venice (only a lot less crowded with tourists, lol), but there's some great art direction as well.

The music is pleasant and well-suited to the gentle tone of the anime, but not outstanding. If you have a low tolerance for cutesy, unrealistic voice acting, this isn't the best series for you.

If you're happy watching a sweet and fluffy iyashikei series, this will suit you fine; but if you prefer something that has depth, is nuanced, and has a gently melancholic mood, you're not going to find those elements in Aria.

Vandread is a poor excuse for an anime.

I think the least an anime series should do is have some reason for existing. Vandread doesn't. It doesn't try to be an intelligent sci-fi series; it doesn't try to be a heartwarming, iyashikei slice-of-life one; it's even too weak to be considered a harem romance anime. All you get with Vandread is episode after episode of pointlessness.

(And if you're wondering, I only watched it because it was being screened at an anime society. Oh, hours of my life that I'll never get back.)

Story [2/10]
The men-are-from-Mars-women-are-from-Venus premise, while cheesy, could have gone somewhere. In theory. In practice it ... was an excuse to have a harem-style setup in space.

There are unexciting space battles which exist so viewers can giggle about the innuendo involved in combining mechs. There are episodes of ~wacky hijinks~ that just turn out tedious.

Art [6/10]
The art in Vandread, while not hideous, does suffer from character design inconsistency and an obviously low budget - in some cases it's so bad that attempts at fanservice fall pathetically flat.

The use of CGI is also jarring, but I'll be kind and chalk that up to the year of production.

Sound [6/10]
I don't remember anything about the use of sound, but since this was a series without much tension or drama, that seems fair enough. It had pretty good opening and ending songs, though. The voice-acting was serviceable, but again, this is not the type of series which requires the expression of deep emotions.

Character [3/10]
What character? I think that one of the characters (the Ayanami Rei stock type) got a character development arc, and even that was woefully predictable. The rest of the characters were basically stock types (bubbly airheaded girl, comic relief dude) without believable motivations (if any).

Enjoyment [2/10]
Tedious, mind-numbingly stupid, and not even visually engaging enough to make up for that. If you're watching this for the fanservice (and come on, why else would you waste your time on this), then maybe you'd enjoy it more.

I heard that the Vandread: The Second Stage season is much better, in that it actually has some character development and perhaps a plot. It's just a pity the first season had to exist.

Don't be fooled by the summary: The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese doesn't follow your usual coercion -> love plotline. What distinguishes this manga from many others in the genre is that it takes the usual BL tropes and adds realism. Coercion isn't romantic. Lust is lust. Straight men don't magically turn gay after one homosexual encounter. The characters in the series are flawed, complex, and very human.

(Admittedly, Imagase is a bit of a weak point - I couldn't warm to him at all, even though he does rise above the usual stalker character archetype. A bit.)

From the synopsis alone, The Cornered Mouse Dreams of ... Cheese seems like your standard cliche-ridden BL manga, with a flimsy plot that is little more than an excuse for getting the two leads into bed together. Yet this manga rises above its would-be typical premise to provide a mature, unflinching look at a far-from-perfect relationship.

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Story [7/10]
There isn't much plot to this series, but that's probably because the manga isn't about plot, as such. Its focus is on people, and emotions, and how relationships can be difficult and destructive.

Art [8/10]
The art is serviceable, if not amazing - the mangaka does display a sensitive use of space and visual pacing, though, which more than makes up for that.

Character [9/10]
See above. The manga makes no excuses for its characters, and doesn't try to idealise their actions. There are some weak points - not all of Kyouichi's reactions are convincing - but there's a good deal of realism and character development, a far cry from much of BL.

Enjoyment [7/10]
It's hard to really 'enjoy' this series, because of how emotionally brutal it can be. While none of the characters is really "bad", they certainly have their bad aspects, and watching their stories unfold is somehow more painful precisely because of how imperfect and human they are. If you like drama and angst, you'll probably enjoy this more than I did. Perhaps 'enjoyment' is the wrong dimension on which to assess this series: if one assessed it for emotional impact, it would certainly score high.

Here's the central problem with Clannad: it wants to tug your heartstrings, so it doesn't think about anything else. Unfortunately for this show, this means that it ends up being utterly contrived, unrealistic, and outright stupid.

This show expects us to believe that teenage girls act like five-year-olds. It expects us to care about these infantile, one-dimensional characters. It expects us to have genuine emotional reactions to the 'blossoming relationships' between our bland protagonist and these excuses for characters.

Is this too harsh? Let's look at the individual components that MAL expects us to rate anime by.

STORY: To be fair, the anime didn't have much to work ... with, given that it was based on the original VN plot. Still, the outlandish (one word: Fuuko) and emotionally manipulative plot elements (most of the backstories that were explored) weakened what might otherwise have been a sweet, unpretentious slice-of-life drama/romance.

I mean: a story about a girl who is shy and has trouble making friends? Yeah, cool, you can watch Kimi no Todoke or something. A story about a girl with Mysterious Anime Disease who has the intellectual capacity of a child? Sorry, it's not working for me. [4/10]

ART: High budget, great production values and art direction. Squishy moe character designs may not be everyone's cup of tea (Sanae looks barely older than Nagisa), but again, that comes with the territory. If anything, this aspect of Clannad makes me despair, because I can think of a lot of better anime series that deserve to have this sort of budget. [8/10]

SOUND: Evocative without being overdramatic, for the most part. Unfortunately, all the female characters sound like babies. [6/10]

CHARACTER: This is probably the greatest problem I have with Clannad, and again, it's thanks to the source material. Few of the characters get much development. All of them (the female ones, anyway) exhibit some degree of fanboy-pandering. Kyou's tsundere-ness, Fuuko's quirkiness, Nagisa's unending sweetness, etc. - not to mention the fact that Fuuko, Kotomi and Nagisa, at least, sound at least half their age. Their childish and insecure natures (especially early in the series) make for unrealistic characters - and therefore compromise this show's unrelenting attempts at making us care about them.

It's also hard to understand Tomoya's motivations at the start of the series, i.e. why he even bothered with/cared about Nagisa et al. We get no insight into his motivations at all. Why would a so-called delinquent suddenly take up this project of helping a random girl he's never met before? Why does he find her interesting? What is the point? [3/10]

ENJOYMENT: Obviously higher if you're a moe fan, but those who derive little enjoyment from watching cute girls doing cute things might find this series rather trying.

Those who watch anime with their brain switched on will find this series trying.

Those who think that female characters should actually resemble, you know, real people... yeah, don't watch this show, it'll make you rage. [5/10]

If Clannad weren't so obviously manipulative, it might be a better series. Which is not to say that the series is obviously cynical - on the contrary, I think it exhibits a genuine warmth that lesser harem-type series lack. Yet the series ultimately feels contrived and heavy-handed, and its unrealistic characters undermine its would-be heart-warming nature.