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Jul 25, 2013
This just me ranting off another series I watched a while ago, but yes so what, I really can't take my raging eyes off this series...
Quoting Sanzenin Nagi episode 4: "Don't lump me, sanzenin nagi, with your typical otaku. Whether it's a video game, anime or manga, I'll only rate it after I've played, watched, or read the entire thing! Even though I might initially think, 'Whoa, talk about a total letdown!' "
I can't believe it says so much about this series in just a simple dialogue. If any of you have read the manga, and especially if you watched the previous Hayate no gotoku
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season 1 and 2 (HnG), it is more than probable that you'll be thoroughly disappointed with this series (Can't take my eyes off you!).
What this series does is like adding barbeque meat and sauce to strawberry sundae. Use the good ingredients in the absolutely wrong places. That's a recipe for disaster.
Hayate no gotoku used to be quirkly, parodical spoof of spoofs with a midly serious storyline emerging and disappearing. But the new series totally forgot its essence and started taking itself too seriously from the get go. The art, the music, the plot, the characters everything became annoyingly serious and seriously annoying. I am not saying that there are no jokes, which there are plenty. But that weird, quirky plotline where you never know what might happen next and everything may just be grand parody is gone. Just look at the first episode of this series and the original one, and you will know.
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The story obviously cannot be same with the original series so it has been changed, drastically, with equally drastic consequences. Before you even know what happened in the past you take a time leap into the present. It's like showing you the last episode of code geass R2 and expecting you to weep. Seriously?!
The plotline is poorly executed with neither, the present nor the past getting enough of its share in a paltry 12 episodes. The laughs and gags are fewer than before, the characters cannot be developed, because they already have in the past (original series). The side characters are even thrown about haphazardly. It is poorly thought, stupidly executed series with no basis whatsoever except, maybe, spoiling the manga plotline a bit.
The art has been botched up in totally wrong direction. Can you expect to laugh at a seriously drawn and more realistic character? The background got a CG makeover, the characters all started looking serious, and even the tiger looks more real!!
The soundtracks are good. They are so good and serious that the series starts looking like a serious drama. Again, they are great to listen to but not suited to great comedy.
The only things i liked in this series are Hinagiku and Nagi's father. And so many clocks.
And I have still watched it. And held my head in frustration.
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Bottomline. If you are a fan of the fun in the original manga/series, better avoid this.
For hardcore fans and sarcastic comrades, oh you will love this! maybe.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jul 25, 2013
Now before beginning a few things that I need to say. I haven't watched the original 009 series which was aired before i was even born but I have watched the 2001 remake when it aired in my country. I have forgotten most of the storyline but I do remember bits and pieces and the feeling that I had when watching it. Cyborg 009 (2001) was possibly the second anime I watched and it was absolutely stunning! at that time. My review down below is taking into consideration what I felt when I first watched the series.
When I watched the movie I was initially excited
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at the way they had changed the character designs and added a touch of freshness.
For those of you who have already watched any of the previous series, NOSTALGIA IS ILL ADVISED. Yes, the characters are a bit nostalgic, yes the action is a bit nostalgic and yes, the overhaul with CG looks amazing initially BUT here are somethings you may not swallow very well. (Forgive me if they seem irate.)
One, I may not remember the 2001 series that well but I most certainly definitely absolutely remember it was lucid and simple plot that my childish brain could follow with ease. Okay, so that generation is all grown up and needs adult material, alright... BUT that does not mean you should make it into some freakin' goddamn Evangelion plot with HIS voice governing all. Yeah, yeah I know you don't give a damn about God but why use it just to give your plot some pseudo-intellectual pseudo-religious air. I mean was 009 ever this psychological?! Hell no. WTF is Freud doing in a sci-fi, battle anime which was much better without that complex mind-curdling crap.
If i want to watch psychological complexity and Freud's theories I'd much rather watch Evangelion and Ergo Proxy. They just ruined a totally fine storyline because they couldn't come with an antithesis? Man, I'm beyond words at this.
Two, the characters. Well given the short timespan, they did a fine job at introducing the characters. But they cannot be fleshed out as well as they were in the series. The sense of familiarity is reduced because the characters hardly get much time except 009 of course. The rest have to spew the stupid psychological shit in the extremely limited time they get. I'm wondering if they forgot about half of the team less than halfway through the movie. But well I liked Joe and Francoise, and their little eyecandy, so ok...
Third, the art and animation. In my view it is clearly rushed and subpar. If they think that CG can make it astounding they are so wrong. The character designs are more elaborate but not well rounded. The animation is clearly so stiff that I am thoroughly disappointed. This possibly due to overuse of CG in every aspect. Guess they didn't want much fine-tuned work on it eh? But the backgrounds and special effects are done quite well.
If you can get past all of those this movie is enjoyable enough. The action scenes are fine and the sound tracks are good. For someone like me who was a big fan of the original series, it is enjoyable even if a turnoff.
Bottomline, Rushed anime, Altered plot, Unneeded improvisation but worth a watch.
LOL I seem really sarcastic here. But believe, it is worth watching even if just for the eye candy.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jul 7, 2011
Hidan no Aria or Aria the Scarlet Ammo is hardly an anime that could be judged by its name or by the genres mentioned here. To put it straight the anime does have action and comedy and school but its hardly the main part of it, its all about girls and guns (and swords) and the cliched over-used recycled gibberish scenarios (hence the G-shock). As a matter of fact, neither girls nor guns nor both put together made the anime any good but a lot of us (including me) are sucker for these types and thus the popularity.
The plot is set in a school that
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grants special students permission to take up missions and engage in combat using arms and ammunition. So you get talented snipers, gunmen, sword masters and special ability users produced by the school. Our protagonist, Tooyama Kinji, after a sad incident has decided to quit the combat division and live a normal life when suddenly he gets involved with a killing incident, a girl falls from sky, and activates his 'Ero-super-mode/ Hysteria mode' by contact with the flat-breasted Aria to set off the new course for his life.. so you can see :
1-sudden accident
2-girl falls from sky (special girl=cloud, these days)
3-perversion=power and
4-rescue heroine :all 100% checked for predictability.
After being persistently sought after for his Hysteria mode (activated by ecchi stimulation and heightens his senses out of his urge to protect females) he decides to help Aria absolve her mother from false accusations.
The protagonist is surrounded by a flat chested tsundere, a plump yandere childhood friend and a femme fatale as a starting dose to his harem, hopefully the other female encounters will also enter into harem cruise if they dare to make a sequel. The plot throughout is quite predictable and strewn with your usual harem scenarios, depth and mystery are hardly much of a factor and most scenarios are mediocre or dumb or both. Therefore, as an intellectual facade to give a perception of depth and mystery they decided to use the offsprings of famous characters- Holmes IV, Lupin IV, Jeanne de Arc (was it 38th ?) and the Dracula himself who was generously available due to his immortality. Except that Holmes IV has more intution than deduction abilities, Lupin IV has to use others to steal, Joan of Arc 38th can use ice and of course! all of them are girls. By the way, Dracula is a 'stupid cur with black-and-white fur' (a werewolf like creature with white spots on his otherwise brown skin to mark 3 of his 4 weak spots --FYI that's so you can kill him easily). If they thought that they could create a masterpiece by stuffing something from everywhere they couldn't have been more wrong.
Seriously, the story could hardly have been good when the basis itself is flawed. I regard the story as mediocre and generously award it a 6/10.
[spoiler.. on a side note the last episode really pissed me off; Vlad, the EU no.2, great villain, is actually a dumb wolf, defeated in less than one episode. At last, at long last they f***ing ruined their own credibility.]
The animation is not so good. The character sketches are good for the most part, the coloring scheme is good. But, the animation fares poorly, for one the scenes are not so fluid, they seem cut-off sometimes and another the angles are definitely not the best they could have given. I don't think they spent much in the animation department cause although the guns and characters are well made the action scenes don't come out as great. The backgrounds aren't spectacular either.
The sound department is fairly better than the others. I don't have very sharp ears to analyze the quality of voice-acting and BGM and grade it qualitatively but I consider most of the voice acting as good and the BGM nice though not spectacular. The OP seemed good to me, the ED was good and had a great accompanying animated scene.
The character zone is also starved and plagued with stagnation and cliches . Kinji, the male lead is a retarded and weak student with a hidden potential due to which he is either coveted by or recklessly thrown in the midst of dangerous women. A masculine instinct to protect females gives him the strength to survive. The female leads include a flat-chested tsundere loli Aria with the greatest potential to sexually excite the hero, a yandere childhood friend madly in love with him and a dangerous seductress bent upon using him for her own devious schemes. The rest of the characters are also derived and hardly have a hint of originality. The development follows - the predictable route to a classic harem. Well, since Aria plays a greater in the plot, her development is comparably better.
You can see how much of a hypocrite I am since, despite all the scorn and cynicism, I still gave the enjoyment a 7/10. That's because, even though it's full of shortcomings, I still like the anime because of its comedy-harem nature (not that i watch every harem but I do watch a lot of them).
As an overall opinion, if you're into it because of mystery or action or something new, I suggest you drop it and watch better ones. On the other hand, die hard fans of harem are always welcome.. come friends, no matter what happens if it has an H its a Must-Have, if its a Harem its a Must WatcH.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jul 7, 2011
Before I begin my review I must give you some of my viewpoints about the anime.. One, do NOT form your impression of this anime on only the first 2-3 episodes or on someone's view who has only watched 2-3 episodes; Two, after you begin watching the anime try to remember exactly, if you can, the names and faces of characters in the first 2 episodes cause it will get complicated later on; Three, do not get confused by the random events as many of them don't have too much of a deep significance. Four, and this may seem weird initially but I strongly suggest
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that you watch the anime till the end. It has a nice innovative approach towards developing a romance-ecchi-harem(?) scenario.
It's winter in the big city of Yanagihara, and young people will meet and fall in love. Takashi is a boy who plans to escape to another world, but is held back by thoughts of his younger sister Kobato and girlfriend Asuka. Shusuke is a poor part-timer who has to work with student-author Hiyoko in spite of their initial dislike for each other. The antisocial Hayato makes his living as a handyman until he is visited by a girl name Naru. These young men begin to develop a sort of relationship with those girls even though, apparently, they can't become too serious and involved because their time is limited... Also, they have a mysterious link among themselves.
The narration is random and weird, at least that's how it seems in the beginning. DJ condor narrates the tales as if they were being captured on camera of some reality show, they change channels to go to a different scene. There is random fan-service in the beginning and in between scenes and the plot does have a somewhat haphazard flow and confusing sequence of events.. So, for the first two episodes though you get something out of the individual events you'll hardly be able to link them to grasp the general flow or the bigger picture of events. But slowly as the plot progresses you will get accustomed to the weird narration style and grasp more of the theme.. the central theme is brilliant, its not something unbelievable but it is definitely creative and has been dealt with with unparalleled dexterity to maintain the mystery and slow plot exposition.
There's good use of satire and comedy (Gretacalibur, weird statements, stupid assertions and whatever goes.. xD), particularly watch ep7. The plot uses multiple elements of slice of life, fantasy, romance, ecchi, urban culture, comedy -- the fusion of genres is nice to watch and also aids in developing a sense of ambiguity and mysterious atmosphere that is essential to the plot. This means that while for most part you'll see romantic encounters, daily life events, ecchi scenes and some classic romance-ecchi-comedy events you'll also get to see urban gangs and culture, fantasy battles, mysterious people and the like. What it gives you is a 'metaphorical' (or illusionary) sense of multiple worlds existing in the same city connected by unexpected means. This is important to the essence of the plot because it depicts what separates and connects the male protagonists.
Though many may ridicule or dislike the narration style I think it adds a nice taste to the story, it is queer like sweet-and-spicy but its worth a taste. Plus if the story had been left as is, it would have become too plain or too formula-based to be anything special. I like the experimenting they did even if the results aren't spectacular. The plot in its core has a psychological basis. A theme that takes the developing romance an almost converts it into harem. But even though it basically hinges on a psychological concept its not something gore or deranged, its something simpler with interesting (if not stunning) consequences. The ending is good but it mellows the entire prospect on which the story was built and it'll also give to you all the answers you desire in three letters ???.
[!!SPOILER!!
What happens to a boy faced with great shock and guilt in childhood? Remorseful, but he cannot abandon his only sister.. takes refuge in an unending dark abyss so he doesn't face others, invents an altruistic personality to look after her sister.. and when even that fails? invent others to reside in the 'cockpit'? It is also impressive that one of the 'invented' personalities has his own delusions! a delusion within a delusion?!! MPD?ISH?]
Though not apparent, the story stunningly depicts how a child's experiences, surroundings and events around him come together to define his psychology; to create a dark refuge, a world of fantasy, ideals of peace and upholders of justice. This is one of the features which impressed me a lot.. how everything relating to the other world formed as a product of a child's mentality from something simple as his video games and his church visits.
The art is great. There is a prevalent of CG, nice sketches with well-defined proportions ( bishoujo, some pronounced curves but most within acceptable range) , good backgrounds and sharp graphics with good sense of color. The coloring scheme is mostly bright but it sways to some darkened, shaded or dim-lighted scenes for instance during urban gang-wars, graffiti scenes etc. Fan-service scenes abound, they're random but not absurd, and use of yellow caution tapes gives a distinctive feel. Fighting scenes aren't serious but more humorous in depiction. The animation is fluid and smooth. The soundtracks are good enough though nothing special. The OP 'Spread Wings' is great and EDs are fine.
The characters have been fleshed out well. Author has a strong understanding of the personalities he wants to depict and good insight.The male protagonists can swap personalities in the same body. The way male leads are introduced and developed each of them retains their individuality and defines his own behavior distinctly, despite being exchanged one after another. It is great (and also humorous). Their roles, their emotions and purpose is well defined, Takashi is a simple-shy-altruistic character, the usual hero kind but bound by some of his own troubles which he doesn't reveal. His coupling with the class beauty Asuka is so.. cliched. Hayato's cool delinquent appearance, arrogant attitude is not something new but his coupling with Naru sure is, its weird to go searching for a stupid bicycle witha girl every night. Chitose Shuusuke is the most lively male protagonist, he's the unpopular guy who gets involved with the weird Tamaizumi while lurking after many other girls. His actions, thoughts and developments seemed the most interesting. The random situations when he swaps personalities, his stupid conversations but skilled criticism and sudden outburst set him as among the best developed characters. The main attraction about the male protagonists is not about their characters but more abut how they exchange personalities and the situations they are in.
In contrast the female cast scores mainly due to characterization. Leave Asuka out of this, because apart from the scene where she beats the shit out of the protagonist there isn't much interesting. Naru's seemingly air-headed but actually a little weird and assertive (a personal opinion), she's lively and well portrayed. Tamaizumi, shines brighter in my opinion, a tsundere but sometimes dangerous and sometimes perverted; she has a fresh touch to herself. The minor cast may not have much development but a lot of them are very well-depicted and used.
For her anastrophe, also Alice I like.
The anime provides sort of a roller-coaster ride: you get interested, confused, frustrated and finally hooked. I think it is fairly enjoyable and has some queer taste. I liked it more when I watched it a second time, cause many events were clearer.
The initial impression may be fuzzy and queer but the final impression is great. The story is able to fulfill its purpose clearly in 12 episodes and hardly leaves many plot holes. Some events may be difficult to comprehend but the plot improves with each episode and has a good re-watch value (which is surprisingly due some of the confusion it creates). Definitely recommended for Romance-ecchi-harem fans, among the best and the innovative ones in the genre.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jun 19, 2011
Before I begin: You have to be at least acquainted with the FMP series and its basic background if you want to appreciate this series.(Oops! I already began)
Sousuke,a military nut who has spent almost all his life upto now surrounded by terrorists and war has to guard Chidori, normal Japanese girl and act within the 'common' common sense. Yeah, so how hilarious can it turn out to be.. not much? Wrong! Trust me, you'll hardly get a greater dose of humor elsewhere.
This story just goes on to incredulously display how dangerous and dumb and droll it can be to have a man whose mind is
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a 'combat-oriented manual' live a normal high-school life. The abundance of humor utilizing normal, usual situations and satire directed at inane military attitude coupled with the absence of sexual innuendos and ecchi references makes this anime a really rare one (Though you will find censored 'terminologies' in an episode. And I don't loath ecchi humor btw). In my opinion, although a side-story, this anime is undoubtedly excellent and displays the ingenious talent of the team to create fresh humor from simple, sometimes inconspicuous, situations and some truly insane ones. And if you liked FMP, you'll more than like this.
Most of the plot basically moves around the school life of Chidori and Sousuke and their friends. The episodes are independent events (some episodes have two independent stories) so there's hardly any link or depth throughout the series. But each of the individual events has been skilfully crafted from the aspect of location, situation, dialogue and timing. Love-letters, confessions, dates, school lunch, beach holidays, Rugby death-matches and bacteriological weapons - the diversity of situations it utilizes is really good and the impact it creates is even better
[!!Spoiler: Who the hell would fire a real gun at a shooting arcade, Just how much dumb do you have to be that you really 'capture' the girls and train players like recruits, How dangerous can a deranged caretaker become and Question: How do you split watermelons?.. with a shotgun of course!.... XD -- just imagine the impact]. So irrespective of overall plot development or depth or whatever it scores for being witty and clever and hilarious and I'll give the story a 9/10. (btw I do not think that a central developing storyline is essential to a great comedy, not anymore :D)
The art and graphics of Fumoffu are quite similar to the FMP series, the exception being that there are no mechas or intricate artillery displays (but guns and bombs are used a lot)-- the characters are well designed and proportioned similarly, the coloring scheme is also similar but some different areas are explored by introducing new locations (school clubs, playground, cafeteria, hospitals, recreation parks, hot springs etc.) and characters. The motion is fluid and some of the scenes like that of Sousuke escaping the patrol car on bicycle, battling the butler and the battle at hot springs are stunningly well depicted.
The music choice in Fumoffu is.. good, I think. The OP "Sore ga Ai Deshou' is beautiful(I so love it) but doesn't seem quite apt due to a serious sort of theme, the ED is fine. The BGM frequently has some serious or throbbing tones which are meant more as a mockery than otherwise and the romantic tunes are also great but those actually meant as comedic are not spectacular. So to say other than the soundtracks that explicitly convey laughs the choice is better than standard, thus even though the BGM is great its not very appropriate. The synchronization and timing are good.
Fumoffu fully exploits the well-developed character base of FMP while also introducing its own cast. The characters of Sousuke, Chidori and Tessa are extebsively used but hardly developed and maintain a status-quo ( They're not inanimate but they are static). But the Student council president, school staff and students (Ono-D, Tsubaki etc.) along with others like Yakuzas, Police lady and most notably Bonta-kun are nicely introduced and characterized. Bonta-kun is one of the most hilarious and enticing characters of the series and you'll see why if you watch. I love the series so I'll give a slightly biased 8/10 to the characters.
This is one of the most enjoyable comedy series I've ever watched- it doesn't resort to stale or recycled humor or cheap tricks or gap-filling fan-service and not even ecchi humor and still manages to provide a great entertaining experience. The events are brief and hardly any time is wasted on developing a central storyline or theme, the conversations are concise and comprehensible, the sense of satire is modest and a quite a few scenes are like - OMG! OMG! and you clench your stomach twisting with laughter..
What this means is that you get a show with nearly 100% comedy since almost every bit of time is utilized in doing so. A value for your time and laughter for your heart.. You've gotta see this one.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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May 19, 2011
I never thought that a single 27 min episode would be good enough for a movie.. stunningly enough Tailenders broke the record in this case, utilizing a meager half an hour this movie gave me an unexpectedly good and entertaining experience.
The story is set in future when mankind plants Terraformers on planets in an attempt to colonize them. By going haywire Terraformers produce disastrous consequences of tectonic shifts, environmental changes and 'stampede'.The protagonist, having an engine as his heart, must now participate in a precarious race with the Terraformer as the final destination risking his life to achieve what the Loser King couldn't 100
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years ago.
A rapid plot development and simple sci-fi imagination about racing form the core of the movie. The plot is fast-paced but not rushed and doesn't seem to have missing/skipped parts, I'm saying that most people can easily comprehend the plot and all its sci-fi inventions and appreciate it. Though its mainly focused on racing other aspects are also glimpsed at nicely. The fiction introduced is nothing extraordinary but original enough. However sometimes too many elements are introduced all at once in a not so impressive manner, the racing course also didn't impress me much.
I hope you notice the use of contradictions.. 'Loser King' as a hero and 'Tailenders' as great racers.. its amusing
The art and animation are good if not great. The art and graphics have been done really well with minimal use of CG. The action scenes are somewhat lacking in both depiction and direction, what is expected is sometimes skipped and the focus, angles and timing do not come out so well in some racing scenes. The rest of the animation is much better and impressive.
Sound.. what to say , your usual noise of engines revving up, tires screeching and the like, nothing more, nothing less..
I'd rather not comment on characters cause 27 minutes is hardly time enough to define and develop a character. If I had to say, I suppose the main cast are introduced pretty well even though they don't have an air of originality to them.
All in all I think it has a decent plot which is skilfully executed with nice animation, for a time pass its really good. The sci-fi touch given is also nice and improves the potential, if developed further it can turn out to be really good.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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