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Mar 15, 2017
Konosuba Season 2 is good. Very good. For sure I enjoyed it from the beginning to the end. But reading the novel made me realize the problem I had with both, this and the previous season, and hadn't noticed until now.
Konosuba tries a lot making you laught. It really tries very hard to be funny. And it delivers, heck, it was a long time since I laughted out loud watching anime. The problem is that it tries so hard that only makes the more serious, quasi-epic-ish moments feel slighly awkward, someway out of place. I find the anime funnier, but overall I think the novel
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is better just because of this. After this little apart, which I will recall at the end of the review, let's go with the review.
First thing I want to say is, KONOSUBA ANIMATION IS NOT BAD (I never thought I would ever defend Deen's animation, jeez...). For sure the style changed to one more carefree than before (I think quite obviously for extoling its comical side), but that has more to do with what I said at the beginning of the review than with it being poorly animated. They put work on lots of the scenes, but that doesn't matter when you can't take a photogram out of context and start a rant on the internet, right? Even though, the CGI they used is quite improvable.
Now let's talk about one of my biggest complains with this series, the characters. (calm down, it is the biggest to me but nothing to make a fuss about). They are very enjoyable, yes, but they can be summed up in one phrase, two at most. Anyway, I never thought developing complex characters was the focus of the show, so nothing really important. In contrast, the chemistry between the characters was better than ever, developing even more their weird relation of "we can't live either with or without the others". Also I loved how the characters started taking advantage the little strengths they have despite all the flaws they carry and how other characters had their moment to shine.
About the music, it was pretty solid. Can't remember any specific song but the opening and the ending (they are amazing BTW), but I can say the anime sounded pretty good in general.
Voice acting was amazing. Specially Kazuma and Aqua.
Now, to conclude, I would like to make a final thought and a recommendation. Yes, this season is miles away from being the perfect adaptation, but it is definitely worth watching. It is very, VERY enterteining, and I'm sure it will make you smile at least once.
On a side note, the possibility of Konosuba not getting a 3rd season is there, so if you enjoyed both seasons, consider reading the original novels. As I said at the beginning, I consider them better that the anime. If you don't believe me, you can just try them and figure it out on your own :D
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 3, 2016
Expelled From Paradise is known for being the first serious attemp of a (almost) full CGI anime movie. And even if it could be far better, it delivers.
Let's start talking about the story. Do you know about that times when you made a very good job on school or at work, but your teacher/boss tells you that what you did it is not enough? That it needs further development? That explains perfectly, IMO what happens with the story of this anime. It has lot of wonderful themes, like its peculiar approach to "what makes us human?", but when it has to develop the interesting idea
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it setted, the movie skips to another theme and let that unfinished. For example, near to the end of the film, some people who were sended by DEVA die, and I started to question myself, can that be considered murder if killing them now supposedly doesn't means their absolute death? Then with the female protagonist not being able to send back information to DEVA, If someone died phisically while being recorded on DEVA and couldn't sent the information back, this means that the one who died was a completely different person and you are just taking his memories? Are humans just the memories they had? Before even reflexing a little of what happened and exploring only a little of this, they just continue with the action. Besides even if it has interesting themes and ideas, the story itself, what happens, feels sometimes a little bit simplistic in excess, like an excuse for all the action scenes.
Now after bashing it a little, I will go with the good points of the story. First of all, the dialogues are very well written, they feel pretty natural. The world-building is also very good. Besides, the characters are likeable and tell part of the story with their acts, thing I like a lot.
Now, the animation, maybe the most controversial and dividing point when analyzing this show. Why? Because it is CGI. And everyone hates CGI, right? Let me tell you that if CGI is the future, when the time for the disappearence of 2D animation comes, if everything looks as good as Expelled From Paradise, I can survive. Japan is known for almost everything around the world except for having a good CG animation quality when talking about anime. And this movie was a great step forward to change that. It is true that the movement of the people often seems weird, and the faces, and the hair... Well, people in general seems weird done, but except that, it is a delight for the eyes (if you are used to CG, of course). The art direction was also awesome, I specially remember one image of the sky in the night, where among the stars, the spacial station can be seen. My only complain (I really don't know where to put this, here or in story, tho) would be some scenic decisions, like that scene where a shot is repeted 3 times for "more dramatism". Just... no, thanks.
About the sound... It depends. The music used is decent and it is decently employed.Nothing out of this world, but also nothing to complain about. The SFX the same, they are better than the music, but still pretty normal. But then we reach the voice acting, and things change. I'm not exagerating when saying that I consider Angela Balzac the best work made by Rie Kugimiya. Shinichiro Miki (Kaiki or Assassin voice) did also a awesome job as Ringo. Furthermore, EONIAN, the ending theme... This show is worth watching even for only hearing this.
And finally the entertainment. Is it heavy to watch? Hell, no. It has tons of well made action scenes, some fanservice, funny moments... It has a good pace, maybe a little bit faster than it should, and it entertains from the very beggining to the end.
As a final conclussion, give this show a try. It is not the best show ever made, but it may you change your opinion on CGI animation. I think it is worthy.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Mar 25, 2016
Well, first of all this is not exactly a review. Here you are not going to find the good of the bad points of the show. Now I'll try to explain why I don't like this show and the trend it represent.
The point is: Has this show something in its story that wasn't in previous animes? The answer is no. Almost everything you are going to see here was copied from another anime, manga or novel. It haves a similar plot to Shirobako, but poorly written;the main character is indistinguishable of over a myriad of other generic MC; the side characters are also copies or
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mixures of other popular characters, you have from Yukino going by Rias Gremory mixed with a fujoshi and finishing with a member of the FFF inquisition; the dialogues about visual novels or anime-related terms are a shame, You get the idea?
And the worst about this is that this one is not the only one. Lot of anime season by season do the same. Writters are becoming lazy and I don't like it. No one should like it.
I'm not saying this is the worst anime of the season, I managed to finish it, and watching it is not a pain, but I had to say something against this trend of treating us, the consumers, as idiots who can't remember that everything he is seeing in their show is not of their own.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Feb 24, 2016
well, I have to confess that Non Non Biyori surprised me in a good way. I found it far more enterteining and enjoyable that I originally thought. I was expecting a relaxing slice of life anime in which nothing happens and I get... well I get exactly that, but I found myself smiling from the beggining to the end.
After this short introduction, let's start this review.
I will begin talking about the thing that in my opinion is the strongest point of the series: the characters.
All the show follows the "less is more" premise, and this also includes the cast of characters. It has 4
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main characters: Komari, the oldest of the group, who is complexed about her height; Natsumi, her younger and air-headed sister; Renge, the youngest of the group and by far the most interesting and Hotaru, a girl who came from Tokyo who knows almost nothing about living on the countryside.
With this simple and short cast of characters The story is developed. Now I want to talk about Renge, AKA Ren-chon, who is, in my opinion, the best character of the anime and one of the best child character I have ever seen.
Renge is fantastic. Maybe this is because I grew up in a similar place, but I can see me with 6 years old reflected on almost all Renge's actions. I'm not talking about her personality, I never was that... unique, I'm talking about her way of perceiving the world, her way of reacting against situations and how she can found the funny side of everything. She is like my past self and also as the children who grew up with me. I think that all of us had more things in common when we were younger than now, and this is also the reason why I think Renge is awesome. She made me think about this, and made me think about the beauty of being a child only with walking over a ramp only because she wanted to jump to the ground when she was going home after the school.
I have also to mention the side characters, being the most remarkable ones Renge's older and middle sisters, Komari and Natsumi older sister and the owner of the sweets shop. The show has also few side characters, but they are enough lovable for not missing more of them.
The story is almost episodic. the different chapters tell us the different stories the girls live on the first year Hotaru lives on the village. Is true that the chapters have a progression, but in most of the cases you could swap the order of the chapters and nothing would happen.
Is true that the show could be labeled as a comedy, but I think the show aims more to generate a relaxing mood an puting a smile on your face rather than make you laugh.
The show sound pretty good. The sountrack is gentle and discrete, but it sounds great and its main theme probably stay on your head for a while. The voice acting is fantastic, being my favourite ones Renge's, hotaru's and nii-chan's ones (sorry, I had to do the joke :3).
I know this should not be present on a review, but I have to make an special mention to the ending.
Finally, its visuals. The animation is nothing remarkable, but I think in this type of show expending more money or time on a better animation wouldn't make any difference on the final result so it's fine.
However the art is very nice, and the characters are very well drawn (the mouths suffer the typical bad positioning when the characters are seen from the profile, tho).
I would like to end this review with a recomendation. If you are going to watch Non Non Biyori, take your time to do it. Watch a chapter before going sleep or after taking a bath. you only have to relax and enjoy.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jan 23, 2016
Kotonoha no niwa was great, but after watching it, I can only thing Makoto Shinkai didn't create his best work yet. I like how he improved after Byousoku 5 centimeter, but I also think he can do it better.
First of all: The art is amazing. If you stop playing the film, every single photogram could be a perfect wallpaper. When the film makes a close-up sometimes is dificult if it´s a real video or animation. I have never seen puddles so beatifully drawn. The character designs are okay but I often don't distinguish very well if they are suposed to be on 2D or If
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the have some relief. The backgrounds are also amazing and the responsible of the photography direction did a great job.
The animation is pretty good, the movements feel very natural, but this story has no needs of good animation and don't have scenes for demonstrate what they can do so... It's fine.
The sound is fantastic. The rain sounds very good and the voice acting is very good. Kana Hanazawa did a great job. The music is also fantastic, specially the song they use in the ending.
The story is not bad at all, in fact I found it beautiful, but it's nothing new. However, this is compensated in my opinion with a great writing and direction. I feel what I was suposed to , and that is fantastic.
The characters are enjoyable, specially the girl, but in 45 minutes you can't revolutionate anime in this area. They feel like humans and not like robots and this is all. They aren't nothing more than the means over the story is developed.
Finally I think this was a good experience. It was very enjoyable and the end was fantastic. I recommend it for all the people who enjoy anime movies.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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