Back to summitsama's Profile summitsama's Profile

Zom100 showcases very well what the anime industry has turned into : padding. "How do we make something out of nothing?". This show had 2 things that it wanted to do :

1. make a statement about how being a wagie in the post-industrial world is unpleasant
2. make a cool animated sequence with zombies that have finger paint all over them for some reason

Now unfortunately, this can be done in about 10 minutes, and there's 12.5 episodes to go. So what do we do? Streeeeetch. Pad. Filler. I've heard a lot of people praise the first episode but ... it too is riddled with this problem. We get it, you don't like your job. Why did we need every single detail of the company experience? If the show had an actual story to tell, this would have been covered by a few minutes montage, so we can get on to the good stuff. But no, you're gonna spend 15 whole minutes doomscrolling this guy's life, then get your surreal zombie scene (which was decent). "But we really wanted to show the contrast between the 2 situations, so we really had to hammer his depressing life home". This is bullshit and you know it, you had to make 20 minutes out of it and you used the easy way to do so.

And now we've done it, the first episode is done, the core idea is depleted. What in the world do we do from here? Grab our bag of anime tropes, mix well, close your eyes, and draw. Ah, a female character that's half-naked for no reason, that oughta get us through another episode. What do we do with her? We could make her meet our protagonist. But that'd take like 3 minutes and we have 18 to go, damn it. How about we just have characters internally monologuing for the rest of the time? Brilliant!

As you are watching this, try to imagine that none of the inner monologues were audible. You'd be baffled that you just stared at nothing for 10 minutes. And SOMEHOW, these monologues are not telling us really anything either. Do they tell us about our MC's family and friends, who he must surely be worried about? Do they tell us about his plan for survival? No, just 10 minutes of "i want a beer lol im so oblivious teehee". World and character building takes mental effort, and we're not willing to spend any. The adage "show don't tell" has been replaced with "tell as much as possible cause it doesn't require expensive animation", and episode 2 is entirely built around this mindset. Again, we try to make something out of nothing.

This is a critique of nu-anime as a whole, because all sub genres are plagued by the same shit. Predictable shounen garbage so generic it might as well be AI generated, with an "epic" 2 minute action sequence surrounded by 19 of shitty exposition. Slice of life shows that are recycling jokes from 20 fucking years ago, with fewer and fewer animated sequences, and more still shots. And "isekai" deserves no further elaboration. An absolute drought of interesting ideas or complete, well crafted stories. The last intelligent show we've had was Parasyte, a whole TEN YEARS ago. Everything since is just trying to invest the bare minimum on every front, and i'm sure, only ever getting meager returns. Artistry is dead in this industry.

A show that could have been a 7/10 if it wasn't trying so hard to be a 10.
It's got a good concept, with lots of potential for elaboration and exploration.
It starts out well, and makes you want to know how it ends. However i have to end my praise here. After the initial hook, there is a long, tedious, progression towards the payoff you're badly waiting for. There's a lot of reasons that cause the bulk of the story to not be enjoyable.

Our first hurdle is credibility. Off the bat, our characters are far too smart ... for their age. But even more importantly, they are far too mature. We're talking about kids that live the most sheltered life imaginable, that have never encountered hardship or seen the world. Despite that, it's evident that they're on equal grounds (or better) than the adults in the show. Another crucial mistake is the existence of the monsters. The kids themselves live in a world otherwise void of any magic or fantasy elements. The problem is that because the monsters exist, we are now in a fantasy setting, which means that real world rules can be broken at the whim of the author. And in this kind of story, you just know it will happen sooner or later. Imagine if instead, this was a story of evil cannibalism by powerful but regular humans? It would have been far more interesting, far more dystopian and unsettling, and required more care from the writer.

The second hurdle is simply poor writing. Characters are continuously withholding information for each other just for the sake of withholding them from you, the viewer, so that they can reveal everything in an """"epic twist"""" later on. It's hamfisted and grating. The author's trying to be death note but he does not have the aptitude for it. The show is also littered with melodrama that drags on for far too long. 10 year old children do not act like soap opera characters. The situation is dark and dire, so one could argue the drama is warranted, but i just couldn't "feel it". Because the characters are so unbelievable, i cannot feel any empathy for them. What's clear to me is that most of it is there to fill out time. Simply delaying the ending, for greater payoff? I presume? Not worth it.

The final hurdle lies in the presentation. Firstly, the faces of these children are so grotesque that it defies all reason. Once again i get the feeling that the creators tried to be so much better than everybody else. "All these shows have sameface characters, those plebs, we can do better!". The result is that some of the faces are so deformed that they look like aliens. One kid in particular looks like those photoshopped pictures where the face is shrunk but the head size is the same. Every time he came on screen, i was wondering if the creators were making fun of me. Next is the over-the-top Higurashi facial expressions and gesturing. It worked for higurashi because the characters were literally insane. Here they aren't, they have no business making those kind of faces. Sister Krone's antics are so goofy and ridiculous that i wonder what the fuck they were thinking. I think it's trying to be like those spooky clowns that do "funny things" but it's just creepy? Anyway, it was ridiculous. This is a show that's trying to be dark, serious, hopeless. All of these little things will prevent you from getting into that kind of mood, and it ruins everything.

The only good thing in this show is Isabella the Mama of the house. The only character with a bit of mystery and depth. The only character with uncertain motivations, or a past that you can care about. Luckily this is explored in a fairly artistic and well-executed manner near the ending of the show. Again though, it could have been more. I'm not sure if there will be more of her in future seasons; i won't be trying to find out.

Bottom line is a very mediocre show that thought it was a masterpiece. With a bit less pompousness from the authors, it could have been at least "good". The ending is solid, but in hindsight, it is not worth the time you spend rolling your eyes and being frustrated. Would not recommend.

I think my relationship with this anime is not much different from Shio's with Satou. In the sense that i was fairly happy watching it and kept coming back to it, despite having no concrete reason to do so. It seems to have the perfect combination of "good because it's bad" and "how could this possibly resolve" to keep you hooked.

It was sort of like a hentai. A trainwreck where nothing and nobody made sense, but where you don't care, cause there's gonna be a payoff and you're just waiting for it, dick in hand, tissues at the ready. ... But here there's no sex. I'm not even really sure what i was waiting for. I guess a sort of morbid curiosity was egging me on; i just had to know how deep the rabbit hole went.

Production wise it's mostly garbage. The art is boring, the animation is hilariously weak. The music is clumsy and far too obvious in its intent, like it was composed by a teenager. There's some good voice acting at least.

Since the anime is going exclusively for constant shock value, all the "characters" are largely plot devices, all mentally fucked up one way or another. They exist so that we can see some higurashi-style "creepy" huge-eyes-with-small-irises-and-husky-voice scenes as often as possible. Shio is probably the worst example. It's like the writer has never seen a child in his life; this is not how children act. Her mind is at-times too simple and at times far too profound, with no coherence at all. "Let's die together". Yeah, right, i'm sure. My only hope for the show was Satou's friend Shoko. I was hoping she would be the one normal person in the shitshow who would just realize the mess around her. But she just kinda goes with it. Wasteful

Horrible dialog and flowery scenes that don't go anywhere or reveal anything are far too long and too frequent. Since the characters are plot devices and not people, you don't care about any of their feelings. You only care what fucked up thing they're gonna do. Wannabe "deep", artsy scenes a la Ef got me laughing really hard; they had absolutely zero credibility. I found myself skipping a lot, which is fine.

The show would have been much more powerful if they cranked up the degeneracy to 11 with regards to sexuality. For being so "violent", it tiptoed around anything sex, often merely hinting at it. It needed to go really ham, like have Satou snap and rape Shio or something exteeme like that. It is remarkably tame for a show being centered entirely around shock value. Maybe the internet just broke me.

The one thing they did right is how they paced the reveals of the information. Flashbacks used pretty tastefully for once, and giving you just enough breadcrumbs so that you don't give up altogether.

Even though each of the show's elements, inspected individually, is only worth a 2/10, at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is if the anime can get you to watch it, and if you get enjoyment out of it. Hence i have to give it a honorable 5.

Citrus is sort of like a gore video. You know you shouldn't continue, you know it's only gonna get worse, you know you'll regret it, and yet you can't take your eyes off of it. The viewing experience turns into a sort of analysis of trying to pinpoint all the ways in which the show is terrible, and articulating them. Now that time has come to properly verbalize all these ideas for the 2-3 MAL users that will ever read these words. Shoutout to you guys, remember to upboat.

Citrus actually presents us with a pretty solid first episode. ... Sure, when you hear "all girls school" and "student council president", you should already have extremely loud alarm bells telling you to abort the mission. Despite that, it gave me a sliver of hope for what was to come. It had some funny elements, and the twist of the semi-rape by the teacher spiced things up and left me wondering if this could be some kind of dark abuse story. I could have been more wrong, but i would have had to go to great lengths, like thinking "hey communism sounds like a dank idea". Already from episode 2, the downward spiral begins, and the acceleration only comes to a stop on the final minute of the last episode, when the viewer smashes into the bottom of the barrel at breakneck speed, shattering whatever was left of his sanity.

Citrus boasts some of the worst writing I've ever seen in any television show ever, including School Days. The "characters" are just tools for the author to go through her check list of different girl-fan-service scenes. The "girl" qualifier here is important. You will get no tiddies, but you will get almost exclusively abusive semi-rape kissing scenes; because we know that's the only way females can get off (looking at you, 50 shades). Every single exchange of dialog is complete non-sense, characters routinely come and disappear without any kind of explanation. For example the teacher that was assaulting Mei in episode 1? You never hear about him again after that scene. Seriously. He presented his fan service, and having outlived his usefulness, was discarded by this dumpster tier "author" without even a mention.

This is the kind of show where conflict is ENTIRELY rooted in vapid feeling-based quarrels between the characters (see Scum's Wish, another prime example). And naturally, these trivial events are being portrayed as life-changing catastrophes, and we're supposed to buy it. Worry not, our precious characters will not be burdened by real issues such as poverty, violence, or illness. X said something that made me angry! Woe is me! It makes you wonder, is this really how women see the world? Is this the most touching source of drama they can conjure?

The bright side is that this allows you, the viewer, to play the "new character" game. The goal is simple : you have to guess when a new character will be introduced out of the blue. Citrus makes this very simple, you know that as soon the current petty feud comes to a close, the brilliant author will run out of ideas, and copy paste some bullshit new girl. I'm happy to report that i have properly predicted the apparition of almost all of the characters!

For instance near the end, this new character comes in. She becomes "shinyuu" (close friend) with heroine A within 1 day of meeting her. And, behold, she falls in love with heroine B within that same day, confesses to her, and B agrees to go out with her. They have all met in the last 24 hours. If this happened between boys and girls, it would already be completely fucking retarded, but the fact that all the interactions are homosexual drives the non-sense up to 11 and shatters any sense of reality. I'm willing to concede that of this extremely sloppy rushing may partly be due to the short anime adaptation. But there is still not even the sliver of a doubt in my mind : this author is an absolute idiot, and would get outdone by the majority of teenagers writing a short story for their 9th grade English class.

In light of all this, Citrus is a fun trainwreck. The stupidity is jaw-dropping. You won't be able to look away; you will want to know how bad it gets. And when you think you reached peak absurdity, it will get dumber. As a bonus, you have well drawn, beautiful girls to keep your eyes busy while you analyze the shitfest.

This is this decade's School Days; truly awful, but almost a must-watch for that reason.

It's refreshing to watch a show that is not "your typical anime". It has a bold concept, disregards the norms, and delivers constant action. Boasting one of the strongest first episodes of the decade, Inuyashiki launches straight into the story and makes you wonder if this will be the next Parasyte. Unfortunately, it is not, but simply by virtue of not being either moeblob trash or netoge cancer, it is worth viewing.

After the first episode, we get to witness the contrasting ways the characters deal with their new found powers. One guy turns evil and the other guy turns ... into Jesus. I found that the premise made sense; it's a different but justifiable way for the men to feel human. Fundamentally, Inuyashiki is _interesting_. Though nothing about the scenario is ground breaking, you want to know where it's going to end up. It culminates into a frankly mediocre, predictable and cheesy ending, but it didn't bother me too much. What may be a little more bothersome is the kind of boredom or disinterest of all the characters in the middle of these crazy events. Perhaps this is actually how it would be in reality; people assuming "it will never affect me personally". Still, the gravity of the events was not well highlighted by the characters and NPCs.

Most of the anime is made with 3d CG. It's some of the better CG i've seen so far. That weird feeling of disconnect between the 3d models and the rest of the environment isn't too strong here. The animations are also interesting and visually exciting. It must be said that the "classically animated" portions are often so bad that it's glaring.

It also had other production issues, especially with the sound production and voice acting. There is this kind of bizarre compression applied to all voice lines which causes screams and whispers to be at the exact same volume, sometimes within seconds of each other. It makes most of the speech sound bizarre and unnatural.

Anyway, all and all it's an interesting experience. Not a masterpiece by any stretch, but just because it's not drilling you with tropes, cliches, or fan service, it is worth a listen. It will refresh the jaded anime viewer.

The fact that i enjoyed this series is a testament to how modern anime has numbed all of our brains and lowered our standards to levels that we would've never thought possible. This is an ultra-safe "story" where minuscule events are blown out of proportion to make it seem like things are happening, but truly there is almost no development. Any Disney movie will achieve more in 15 minutes than this series in 3 hours. It will pretty much never surprise you. Everything just follows the path of least resistance, free of any twist or conflict, and you are left ... with a non-ending, in typical nu-anime fashion. Cause hey, maybe this show will get popular and we can milk it for another season right? Can't just end it cleanly, there is money to be made.

So why do you watch it? Because it does MMOs properly. It's the only anime that does MMOs properly. It doesn't try to follow this insane fad that these games are riveting adventures packed with action that the players are completely immersed in. No, Net-juu understands what MMOs are all about. Mundane repetitive tasks, chatrooming, pseudo-romances, outfit whoring, cash shop whales, crafting, emojis, holding on to a max level guild, etc. It brought me right back to my teenage Ragnarok Online days. The way people play the game and what it represents to them is a very loyal portrayal of how it happens in real life. The only difference is that the players are adults, who would probably not behave like flustered teens the way they do in this anime. In general, this made the viewing very comfy and nostalgic, even though i was pretty far from the edge of my seat.

The female lead sucks. She has absolutely nothing going for her, in my opinion. Unattractive with those silly white pupils, personality boring like a slab of concrete, a non-existent backstory and no explanation on how she can support herself with no income (as is usual for these unicorn-like NEET creatures they have in Nipland). The other characters are, while not original or impressive, fairly likable. Lily is very very cute with one of the sweetest voices that i hope to hear more in future animes.

Art and animation are mediocre, there is very little eye candy in here. Occasionally it succeeds at being funny and cracking a smile out of you.

All around mediocre but endurable anime, but i would only recommend it if you've spent a lot of time playing MMOs and have diverse and cherished memories of them.

Seems like Kakegurui is quite a polarizing show. For me, at a glance, it is obvious that it enters the category of "good anime". This is as opposed to the formulaic, predictable, money grabbing, low effort run of the mill shit that we've been getting the last decade. Here we have a series which has a clear aim to rise above the typical moeblob garbage, at least in terms of production quality and originality.

At the same time i can see why a lot of people wouldn't like it. The viewers who prefer to have stories more grounded in reality ... and relatable will surely not be able to enjoy the bombastic, over the top stupidity of Kakegurui. The premise is nonsense, the characters are weird and outlandish, the setting is completely out there. You have to accept that this show is a lame-azing, fun trainwreck and allow yourself to simply enjoy it. But you can't turn your brain off! After all, games and gambling are the focus of this story, so it's wasteful not to try and play along inside your mind.

So Kakegurui is ridiculous, but it's ridiculous in all the right ways. First of all, the variety of fan service is very fresh. In this case it's not crappy accidental panty shots, it's girls getting aroused from gambling or other bizarre "fetishes". No pure maidens here, just real self-aware sluts. It's very different and much more effective. You also get a lot of yuri bait out of nowhere, but the tone is depravity, no hand-holding crap, so i can dig it.

The games themselves serve as a bit of intellectual stimulation, though they are not nearly as interesting as, for example, the ones in Liar Game. The real satisfaction comes from tables turning, and the strong crushing the weak. The exaggerated emotions, the despair, the sadistic satisfaction of the winners; it's very tantalizing. Don't expect a story-writing masterpiece here, this rapidly becomes predictable. Both the game's outcomes and the method. You know how you can predict the plot twist, just because you know they HAVE to try to make everything a plot twist? Characters just being consistently too-smart? Yeah it's that kind of thing but whatever.

The main contributor to the enjoyment of this anime is the very high production value. The characters are meticulously drawn with a very high level of detail, down to individual tooth shapes, lip shapes and reflections, iris textures, etc. Their facial expressions are vivid and complex, though almost higurashi levels of exaggerated sometimes. Still, I'll take this any day over bland sameface A1 Pictures pieces of shit. There are also moments of top quality animation, such as a character's lips properly mouthing a word rather than simply opening and closing. The sound also leaves nothing to be desired, with a top tier cast of voice actors, and here also a high level of attention to detail. You even have tooth grinding sounds when people get too frustrated!

Overall, Kakegurui is a very fun, exciting piece of work which just has to be watched for what it is. Yeah, it's not Shakespeare, but that's not what i watch anime for, and if you do, you're going to be disappointed pretty often. Watch this, and then watch Liar Game.

Made in Abyss was recommended to me as follows : "don't let the art style deceive you, this a serious show". And serious it is, despite its ultra cartoonish child protagonists. Boasting, i imagine, a very high budget, the series cuts no corners and it can be felt in almost every aspect of the production, from the vivid art to the effective soundtrack, to the general directing.

I'll start with what MIA does best : world building. At times it evoked feelings of playing WoW for the first time as a teen. The environments are so well crafted that you find ... yourself immersed in this universe. Not only are they full of interesting ideas, such as trees that grow upside down, they are also rendered in breathtaking quality. The vivid colors and the level of detail are unlike anything i've seen in any other anime. But it's not like Alice in Wonderland where everything just feels silly, randomly placed. Here there's this feeling that it's all real and coherent despite how outlandish it is. This is a fundamental pillar of this anime, as it heavily relies on the viewer wanting to discover this world.

But world building goes beyond visual environments. It's also about the general rules of nature and the societies that inhabit it. There also, MIA does this effectively, with a civilization that is totally unlike ours, yet feels, in a way, realistic. The soundtrack is also used brilliantly to enhance the moods and colors of each scenes. It is much more refined than your typical OST, that's generally only tries to convey an obvious musical illustration of very basic emotions. Many more nuances here.

But Made in Abyss has some weaknesses. First of all, the characters. My beef with them is that i always feel that something is "off" about their behavior. Sort of like an android that seems human at first but is uncanny upon closer inspection. The children's motivations are not very relatable (and the cave raiders' in general). Why would any child willingly descend into hell with the assurance that they can never come back? "Meeting mum" does not even remotely sound like a good reason to me. They're also overly carefree the whole time, and never chicken out in the face of adversity like a normal person would. It's just "not right". And you have characters like Rozen who just seem to exist to be completely detestable (that voice actress should be put to death tbh). There is also this chibi artstyle which is hurting the show. You have the children going through some pretty serious hardship, and their flat undetailed faces generally fall very short of conveying any powerful emotion, though the voice actors are trying their best.

Another glaring problem is the pacing of the story. From the very beginning, i was watching this with the certitude that "at some point, shit's gonna get real". I found myself unable to really care about anything that happened until that point, like i knew it was just kind of a long intro. Sure i was somewhat enjoying the world and a little curious, but not much more. And this turning point happens... on the last episode. I feel like everything until that point was borderline unnecessary. It didn't contribute much to building up that last episode, and that is where everything truly begins. A "villain" is introduced, a greater purpose is hinted at and powerful feels are delivered to even the most stoic viewer. This should have been episode 3 or 4, but here we are.

10/10 for the final episode, 6/10 for the rest, average of 7. Simply because it is a trope-free (seriously!), interesting and well executed series, it is worth watching. But the last episode hints that it could become something much greater if they continue with more seasons.

Like many, surely, i read the description of this show and expected an awful anime series, that can only be watched to mock it afterward. While that assessment was not entirely false, i cannot deny that i got a lot of genuine enjoyment out of Busou.

If you've seen Tenjou Tenge, this is basically a soft parody of that. It's unclear to me whether that is its intention, or if they were actually trying to be cool. But i suppose intent is irrelevant, and i will only consider the things i felt while watching. Structurally, the show alternates between two ... modes, the serious battles and the tropy, goofy slice of life. In that sense it is reminiscent of Full Metal Panic, though the "serious" is much less serious. During the fights you'll have freeze-frames with "epic" calligraphic move names being printed on the screen. It's impossible to take seriously, and the silliness of some of these brought on many a laughter. The SOL elements are usually cliche after cliche, but every now and then they'll drop a genuine-hilarity-bomb on you, so you have to stay on your toes.

But what really makes this show enjoyable is the protagonist. For once we are not forced to witness "pure" maidens all mysteriously falling for the most boring hetare piece of shit. No, here, you get to self-insert as the alpha who literally beats the girls into submission, while not really giving a fuck. I find it a very satisfying way to bring the "dere" out of these heroines. I can also just imagine some fat feminist dyke watching this and getting upset over how problematic it is, and it only makes my metaphorical patriarchal boner harder. The girls themselves are usually pretty lovable, though not very original. One of them is a bear, by the way, and yes, the bear gets lewd.

In a way, i would have loved to see a 25 episode series out of this, so i can enjoy more of these characters, and so the plot could evolve beyond "conquer each girl one by one and tack on some faux-drama for the finale". Alas, the rational in me can see that there is nothing there. The "backstories" are stupid as hell, the context doesn't exist, there is no adult character, no reason for anything to happen. It's just an empty shell of a show designed to deliver some quick and effective entertainment; it does not have the depth or coolness of Tenjou Tenge. Knowing that, the creators should have gone ham with the parody elements (and fan service!) and thrown away the serious entirely, but it is what it is.

Overall, a harmless, entertaining anime with good visuals and comedic elements. Recommended viewing for all misogynists.

Much like the creatures depicted within its story, Titan is a strange beast. Apparently, Japan decided to double their national debt to finance this series; you can guess from watching the opening sequence alone. I'm not saying that it's wrong to eliminate your senior citizen's pensions to finance an anime, but i can't understand why you'd waste the money on this material and not something better.

Cause don't be fooled, Titan isn't some masterpiece of storywriting. This can often be well hidden under the massive production, but the mediocrity is there. As an experiment, try this: watch Titan, and skip ... all the action scenes. You'll realize three things :

1. You're bored out of your mind
2. You don't know what the hell is going on
3. You still watched 90% of the show in spite of skipping those scenes

Indeed, in between the action scenes, you will be treated to a huge cast of unmemorable characters sitting around talking, for the most part. And you will have no clue what they're talking about. This is because Titan tries its hardest to be as "mysterious" as possible. As a result, characters are tip-toeing around story elements constantly while they are conversing to avoid revealing anything. It's alarming to realize nothing concrete ever gets said. These conversations are a pure waste of time: they are not entertaining, they don't reveal anything, they don't clear anything up, and they sure as hell don't feel natural. Look, I can understand that after using half of the 2018 Olympics budget on the action scenes, that there is no money left for the rest of the show (or for the ladies' javelin competition). But that's not an excuse; just make a 2 hour movie and don't feed me all this obvious filler. Titan ends up being a very frustrating watch most of the time (stop with the damn flashbacks, please god). And after all these hinted-at plot points, you can just feel like it isn't really going anywhere, or that it'll take 20 years to get there.

Fortunately, it doesn't matter that much that most of the show is filler. The action scenes are usually such concentrated awesome, that the show delivers, over the course of its duration, more entertainment than a great number of animes. The animation is unparalleled, the soundtrack is powerful and high-energy, and the characters are intense and emotional. Sometimes i found myself cheering like a kid over a few great moments. It really shows what you can achieve if you aren't afraid of selling half of your country's gold reserves to do it.

Titan's a show that you can't NOT watch. One because the animation is just that good, and two because tens of thousands of people have had their welfare cut off to produce this anime. Don't let their sacrifice be in vain. Just don't expect a masterpiece. 10 for the action, 4 for the rest, so 7 on average.