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Oct 5, 2023
A3! is a perfectly fun anime as long as you don't take it too seriously. Does it have the best animation, or the most solid plotline? No, not by far - but if you enjoy a little tomfoolery and a whole bunch of pretty boys, I'd say go give it a watch.
Now to delve into it a bit deeper; A3!'s about a theater that's about to be demolished when director Tachibana stops it and promises the owner that she'll make the company profitable by the end of next year. And so starts a rotation where each 6 episodes 5 new guys prepare for a theater
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play and eventually perform it. Now you might say, 5 guys per 6 episodes and 2 seasons, that's... 20 guys? Isn't that a lot? Yes. Yes it's an awful lot. This also means that a lot of them miss some depth, with the exception of the main characters. Now this may objectively be a bad thing, but personally I greatly enjoyed how little these guys are expanded upon. In one of the episodes (minor spoiler ahead) we find out that one of the characters is actually being tailed by a foreign organisation. Do we ever learn more about his past or is there any follow-up on it after this information is revealed? Absolutely not. One character just really likes triangles, that's it. That's his personality. He's my favorite. Another character has lost his memory and all the others pretend this is perfectly normal and fine, and just invite him to live and act with them. Maybe it was not meant to be comedy, but it was amazingly hilarious to me. The main characters' backstories are fleshed out a little more and are pretty decent - I wouldn't call them special but they were enjoyable to watch. I also liked the personal relationships between all of the actors, a big part of the plot is based on their forming friendships.
The designs of the boys are pretty fun. Cool clothes, different (hair) colors and generally just nice characters to see. The animation isn't exactly up to 2020 standards, so if that's something that bothers you maybe stay away from this anime. I've seen worse, but it's definitely choppy compared to a lot of anime airing at that time. The voice acting is solid, which is nice since the whole series is about acting. I was honestly kind of surprised at the level of professionalism coming from what seemed like a low-budget project otherwise. Oh, and the opening is a banger.
Overall, I would recommend A3! if you're looking for something relaxing and not-too-deep to watch. It has fun characters and an enjoyable but sometimes little ridiculous plot. Plus a little bit of secondhand embarassment here and there when they're street performing. Cheers :)
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Nov 15, 2022
What in the frickety frack happened. What in the scribbledydoodyloo happened? Please, if you enjoyed season 1 of this show, stay far, far away from this monstrosity. This review will contain a few spoilers but honestly, I doubt it matters because nothing makes sense anyway.
Where to even start? Probably the art style and animation. Considering it's been nine years since The Devil Is A Part Timer's original release, me and probably many others were hyped to see an updated art style, along with smoother animations. Instead we got, well... Whatever this was? The art style looks more simple that it used to, and the character
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designs were never very detailed to begin with. It feels like I'm watching a children's show. Especially when the baby (is she a baby? or like a toddler? who knows, not me) gets introduced - I know children have a bigger head and all, but this child's head is about as big as Emi's entire upper body. I also feel like Ashiya took a big hit especially. Somehow the combination of his hair, face and posture in the new art style did him so dirty. He always just looks like a long noodle with eyes at any place except where they're supposed to be (okay, I might be exaggerating a bit there, but just believe me when I say this season is not a good look for him). Also - and we'll get to this once I start talking about the animation - clearly there was either no budget or time to do proper drawing. Why are their eyes so far apart in some frames? Why are the proportions so weird in others? Help, get me out of here.
However, if you consider the art to be bad, then the animation is very very very very very bad. I cannot tell you the amount of times I've taken a video of an animation in this series and sent it to friends just so they can laugh at me for still continuing to watch this dogpile shit of a series. Gabriel's head just completely changes size when he looks up a little?? Characters shaking is just them moving back and forth in a frame?? I'm so lost. I don't even know how to explain how bad it looks. Weird angles make the characters' faces just completely deformed and all their movements look like they've peed themselves and are trying to hide it. The fights (there are like, what, 3 in total? are painful to watch. Sometimes animations just completely get skipped; when Chiho sees something on the tv and then passes out, we don't even get to see her pass out. We literally see her react to the tv, and then we cut to her already unconsciously lying against the back of the couch in an awkward position. I just really cannot convey how bad the animation is for a 2022 anime with such a big name attached to it.
But, season 1 did a good job with the story, right? It was funny, had intriguing characters and a good plot, right? Season 2 is based on the same material so the story must still be good, right? Right...? Yeah no. Episode 12 is called 'The Devil and the Hero Focus on What's Happening Right Now' and I think the fact that they only start to focus on what's happening in the last episode pretty much sums this series up. Sure, there is somewhat of a plot, but it is executed so poorly that it becomes impossible to follow at some point. Who is trying to fight who? Is Olba still involved and if yes, how? What are the stones of Yesod or whatever they're called? Maybe these questions are actually easy to answer if you really tried, but at least for me this series failed to make me give a shit. Not only did I not care for the plotline, the comedy that made The Devil Is A Part Timer's first season so good has vanished. The jokes are still good in theory, but they don't land. It feels like while the first season was targeted at an audience that has some experience in part-time jobs or are at least in the age range to understand why it's funny to see the Devil work at the McDonalds, the second season was aimed at 5-year olds. The jokes were executed as if they were trying to copy the Teletubbies.
It probably doesn't help that the most important new character that gets introduced this season is a literal toddler. She is called Alus Ramus (that is her entire first name and dear god, does it get annoying at some point - imagine a supposedly epic moment where they have to yell out that whole-ass name? (Okay I've started nit-picking now but I assure you that this name is too long for its own good)). It got a chuckle out of me when she first appeared, but it didn't take long for her to become the most frustrating aspect of the series. She's never funny and I don't understand what the appeal is supposed to be. It is also impossible to tell how old/smart Alus Ramus is, because sometimes she barely knows words yet, but at other times she seems to grasp the situation perfectly and tell the gang what she thinks they should do.
The other characters luckily haven't changed too much in their essence. They are a little one-dimensional, but I can't say that's much different from season 1 and it honestly doesn't bother me incredibly. It would be nice, however, to get a little more grasp on their motivations. Is Maou trying to take over Japan? Is he trying to go back to Ente Isla and take that over? Does he just want to live a peaceful life in Japan? The question gets brought up several times, but is never properly answered for as far as I could tell.
The only redeeming quality for season 2 is really its sound. The voice-actors from season 1 reprised their roles in season 2, and thank the lord for that. They all did a great job and were the one thing that kept some emotion in the series. Though it did make the disparity between their skills and the awful animation even worse. The openings and endings were, well, decent - not much more to say about them than that.
All in all, it's sad to see a fun series like The Devil Is A Part-timer turn into this crap. Especially when fans have been waiting this long for its return. Unless you're a completionist that can't stop themselves like myself, I'd really recommend staying away from this one. Sorry to all the season 2 fans out there.
Is there a season 3 coming up? Yes. Is it likely to be better than season 2? No. Am I still gonna be watching it? Sigh. Yes.
Thank you for reading if you somehow made it to the end of this - have a good day :).
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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May 7, 2021
*Minor spoilers ahead*
If you're like me and one of the biggest reasons to watch an anime is for a good story, I can't recommend Guilty Crown. Its art and songs are amazing, but the story lacks details and exposition in general, making it hard to enjoy the narrative at all.
A few years ago I first watched Guilty Crown and was a big fan. After a rewatch I can't see what exactly I really liked about it. The main problem with this show is the poor exposition, in my opinion. In a world where a virus is on the loose, one terrorist group resists the government.
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For what purpose however isn't ever really explained. Neither is the start of this virus ever explained very well. There's a backstory on it, but at least to me it was so vague that I still don't understand why 'Lost Christmas' occurred. Throughout the series there's lots of talk about the 'Eve' and her 'king'. Yet it is never explained what exactly happens if someone is crowned king? Also, the character Inori is supposed to be some kind of vessel, but how does this work? How was she created or was she made to be a vessel? Another question is why Inori's singing voice seems to have some kind of special effect on the virus? What even is Daath? None of this ever gets explained. Because there are so many details and explanations missing in the story, it is hard to really care about any events. There are some well animated fights and even the power system is very interesting, but because it's hard (if not impossible) to understand what the stakes of a fight are, it's hard to care in the slightest.
The characters aren't amazing either, which partly has to do with the poor exposition of Guilty Crown. Because many times characters' motivations are unclear, it's also hard to really understand and feel for them. Women aren't exactly represented greatly either, especially Inori. Even though Inori looks super cute, the only purpose of her character seems to be the main character's crush. From the get-go they're interested in each other, and from that point Inori is almost always silent except when she has to say something like 'I love you' or 'I won't leave you alone'. Other women have a bit more of a story and dialogue, but still most of them seem to be very dependent on and living for men. I have to say the most important male characters in turn talk about Inori a lot, but they still get to do a lot more beyond that. Male characters have a bit more depth, like main character Shu, but I can't say I ever really got attached to any of them except for Gai (whose motivations and personality got especially confusing at the end, so even that eventually faded).
That being said, it's not like Guilty Crown doesn't have any good points at all. Its art is quite gorgeous, especially the main characters are drawn very well, with shine in their hair and everything. If you watch anime purely for the art, this could still be something for you.
Next to that its sound is also good, and with sound I mostly mean Guilty Crown's songs. Inori's voice is very nice and the song she sings multiple times throughout the series is beautiful. The openings are also nice in my opinion, especially the first one.
All with all, I wouldn't recommend Guilty Crown unless you really want to watch it for the art. It could've been a very great anime if its story wasn't so poorly executed.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Nov 9, 2020
The first time I started watching Ansatsu Kyoushitsu I watched the first season and 20 episodes of the second season. Boy, did I make a mistake not watching those last five episodes. This time around I watched the entire series, and I'm glad I did.
The second season continues where the first season left off. Most of the episodes are enjoyable to watch, though there are also certainly a few episodes that contribute little to the story and could almost be considered fillers. This doesn't mean those episodes aren't enjoyable, but it does beg the question if some could be skipped. As the story gets to
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an end, the few episodes around episode nineteen felt very confusing. New information is revealed that made little sense to me and made things rather confusing, and a mission is taken on that seemed a bit far-fetched in my opinion. On the other hand, can anything really be far-fetched with a yellow octopus running around as a teacher?
The ending of the series however is amazing. It manages to give a beautiful ending to a beautiful journey. This anime does a very good job at creating amazing characters and having the viewer feel like they're going on a journey with them. All characters have their own strengths and weaknesses and throughout the story they make great steps in their development. Not only that, backstories also get explained in this season, all of which are given great attention and often explain a lot. Epic battles between both new and old characters take place. Only as I watched the last two episodes I realized how much I came to care about these characters, and that's when I realized this series was better than I had previously made it out to be. The series is not just a funny comedy about a yellow octopus, but a great story about friendships and growth with this octopus actually teaching profound life-lessons. Despite the "filler" episodes and confusing storyline around episode nineteen, I would definitely recommend Ansatsu Kyoushitsu season 2 for its amazing characters and beautiful ending.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 2, 2020
I'm a big fan of the K series. I loved the first K anime a lot and the second season I enjoyed a lot as well. Mikoto is my favorite character so I was excited to see this movie and get to know a bit more about his backstory, but unfortunately it was quite disappointing in my opinion.
Story: 3
Where K succeeded in creating an amazing story in the first anime, R:B Blaze almost didn't have a story. HOMRA has trouble with a boy Yamata. The story around this boy seems far-fetched, as if the makers had trouble coming up with a reason for Mikoto and
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Munakata to meet. It wasn't explained very well either, in my opinion.
Art: 6
The aesthetics in this movie were just as good as in the anime. Unfortunately the character art is changed. Characters don't look the same and for some reason suddenly have ridiculously big eyes. I probably would've loved the art if I hadn't seen the anime, but in comparison it's worse. The animation is still impressive, however.
Sound: 9
The soundtrack remains amazing.
Character: 8
The characters in this movie are mostly the HOMRA members, with appearances of Scepter 4. Each of the characters have interesting personalities. It did feel like some of the relationships between characters were a bit off, like between Mikoto and Munakata, but since the movie is a prequel their relationships might have changed through time.
Enjoyment: 3
I really wish I could say otherwise, but this movie bored me. The storyline is very flat. The fighting is pretty impressive, but mostly because of the animation and not because of the story. The movie does get better towards the end, but overall it's quite boring.
Overall: 5
Unfortunately this movie is not what I wished for. The storyline is flat. It is interesting to see Munakata and Mikoto meet, but I feel like the movie could've been ten minutes long instead of fifty. The art is different than in the anime. Sound and character are amazing, but it doesn't make up for the poor story and execution of story.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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