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Jun 24, 2015
Where to even start! Welcome to Uchouten Kazoku, set in Kyoto where humans, tank and teenage coexist in a weirdly wonderful dance of living. This show is all about living, living in the here and now and enjoying all of life's wonderful little moments. This is a show about family, adopted or biological, and how family should be cherished and understood, and how brothers should never drift away.
Man, this is a show. Let's start with the art, shall we? Kyoto lives and breathes in Uchouten Kazoku, with every background watercolored and alive and telling us a little more about the world the show has unceremoniously
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dumped us into. The show rarely tells you anything outright, but everything is revealed like the unfolding of a flower in the little moments of character and sometimes even setting.
Uchouten Kazoku is about the Shimogamo family, specifically the third son, Yasaburou, but it is also about the people they've taken into their family, and the people who are family but rarely accepted as close to them in anything more than blood. It is also about the legacy of the father, Soichiro, whose death has left a hole in this family, which is slowly drifting apart. Uchouten Kazoku meanders quietly through the twisting paths of their lives, leaving them in a better place than before, but not perfect, because people never are. There are no neatly tied ends or full explanations in this show, but that is because there are none of those things in real life. A fantasy world this may be, but we are grounded in the reality that while life may not be perfect, it can certainly be wonderful, and it is definitely interesting, as Yasaburou would say.
I'm sorry to admit that I never pay much attention to sound in a show, but there are some almost perfect moments of music that matches so well with the scenes. Honestly, I could go on and on about the direction in Uchouten Kazoku. I could go on and on about everything in Uchouten Kazoku.
This show is what slice of life should be, in my mind. The narrative is full of nuance and implications and twists and turns taking you by the hand and leading you through the maze that is Yasaburou's life, or at least a little snippet of it. Be prepared to be amazed.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jun 18, 2015
Yoru no Yatterman starts out full of promise. The premise is interesting, the execution spot-on, some themes and ideas are tossed around. . .
Then the halfway point happens and it's all downhill from there. We fall into some Saturday-morning-cartoon tropes, cut some corners, repeat some frames in the finale obviously enough to make one cringe, and all in all the show ends up being a bit of a letdown, really. Too many dumb jokes in quick succession, and it's all the more disappointing because the first half was so great. Even the ending seems to be an afterthought and felt to me like something of
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an easy way out after everything the show had talked about up to that point.
If I was rating the first half of Yatterman, I'd give it an 8. But I'm rating the whole thing, and the whole thing disappoints. There are some good points in the second half, but they're meshed with some really tired and cliche points. During some of the last episodes I felt like I was watching two shows at once.
So where am I going with this? Yeah, watch it if you want, I guess. The first half is pretty great. Just warning you the rest is something of a let-down.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jun 17, 2015
I overlooked Yuuki Yuuna, henceforth referred to as Yuyuyu for the sake of typing speed, while it was airing. That's a standard cutesy looking show, I thought as I clicked past in favour of something with more substance. All magical girls and fluff with no real meaning. Not what I'm looking for in a show.
I'm glad I came back to it. And now, a warning. To those of you looking for cute girls doing cute things with magic, turn away now. Close this tab, this window, and continue living your normal life as if you had never seen these words I am currently typing.
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ABORT. ABANDON SHIP. THIS IS NOT FOR YOUNG CHILDREN OR THE FAINT OF HEART. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE PUNCHED REPEATEDLY IN THE PLACE WHERE YOU FEEL PAIN BECAUSE OTHER PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING, LEAVE NOW. LEAVE WHILE YOU STILL CAN.
You're still there? Okay.
So on the level of the technical things, the art is very nice, use of thematic motifs throughout, some really nice watercolours; sound is unobtrusive (in other words, I didn't pay attention to it).
Narrative. The thing I do pay attention to.
On a character level, everyone is very fleshed out, there is depth beyond the surface-level trope personalities applied to each girl. You learn more about them as the series progresses, as you would expect to.
The pacing is very purposeful, I thought. The slow episodes, the fast paced fights, the gripping-tightly-to-the-edge-of-your-chair-moments, they all felt like pieces of a larger and well-thought out puzzle that made use of your expectations and played with them in ways you might not expect. The narrative is not your standard Saturday-morning-shoujo fare. "That throw-away line halfway through that ended up having a deeper meaning at the end? I meant to do that," it says with a wink as it walks away into the sunset with a confident swagger in its step.
The thematic material explored isn't something I've seen before, either. I was pleasantly surprised at the direction it decided to take.
To make a long story short, I really enjoyed Yuyuyu. It is a show about heroes, yes, but also what happens to those heroes when the fighting is over. It is quite the show, Yuyuyu. Not the show I was expecting, but better because of it. If you enjoyed Madoka, you will enjoy this. I suppose that is as good a recommendation as any. You will enjoy the time you spend in this little world, at this short fragment of time, with these small people. It will be time well spent.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jun 7, 2015
Well, this was one roller coaster of a show I watched in one day.
I guess I should start by saying Gatchaman Crowds is definitely not a superhero show. It spends about one episode toying with the idea before discarding it and moving on.
Crowds does this a lot. This show is extremely dense, theme and idea-wise. Be prepared to examine internet anonymity, collective thinking, society, human values, and more other things I could possibly explain in a short review. This show is insanely good at juggling all these ideas, too. They never let a ball drop right up to the very end.
Which brings me to
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my main reasons for loving this show. This show isn't so much about a good versus evil plot than it is a platform for playing with these ideas and the ideals the show presents to us. The protagonist and antagonist are vessels for these ideas, but I don't mind so much. There is some great characterization and an interesting storyline, though. It's just that the show wants you to take away some serious food for thought as well as enjoyment.
Not to mention the art is great, and some of the soundtrack nuances are just genius. Crowds is just a well-crafted show.
To summarize, if you like philosophizing, this is a great show. If you don't, you might want to look for something else.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Mar 29, 2015
The first two episodes of Rolling Girls are an explosion of light and colour, leaving the viewer wondering what sort of show this wacky, crazy and interesting thing is going to be.
The answer is: not a whole lot.
Rolling Girls never lives up to that original promise. The story decides to focus on entirely different characters than the premier, introduced in about the third episode. It jumps from city to city, introducing characters but never spending enough time with them for the viewer to actually care about them. The Rolling Girls themselves, Nozomi, Yukina, Ai and Chiaya spend most of their time failing to achieve,
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well, anything.
Now to explain the art rating. Man, this show is pretty, and the duel animation is a thing of beauty. Every background is a watercolour-style painting that gives the show an interesting atmosphere.
Unfortunately the rest of the show is something of a letdown. The writing basically backs itself into a corner, and the show goes out with a lot less of the energy it came in with. The end of the story leaves you going-or at least, it left me going-"Wait, what?" The show had some okay arcs, but on the whole it was something of a flop.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jan 14, 2015
At first glance, Kyousogiga looks like a version of Alice and Wonderland or Alice Through the Looking Glass, but it abandons that premise fairly early on. The part of the show that stood out for me was the characters. Kyousogiga is the story of an unusual family and the bonds that tie them together, hold them up and sometimes pull them down. The main focus is on young Koto and Myoue, both of whom are characters with a lot of depth. The secondary characters are also very well thought out and do a lot to create the show's world.
Which brings me to setting. Looking Glass
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City is a fantastical version of Kyoto. The art is as whimsical as the rest of the show, with white outlines and cut out, checkered background characters. The atmosphere is very well done and whole.
All in all, this series was a crazy ride, and I was never really sure where we were going next. But I enjoyed the ride. Koto is a fantastic character to go on an adventure with, and I really felt like I was whisked away into another world. My only complaint is that the ending plot twist you never saw coming was a little too-out of the blue, I guess. But since this series isn't trying make perfect sense, it doesn't bother me that much.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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