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Jan 5, 2010
While Uzumaki starts off strong with its truly creepy first few chapters, it then loses everything that made those chapters great and becomes neither scary nor interesting. With the first chapters, even though the events that take place could obviously never happen, the author succeeds in making them believable. This is not the case for the majority of what follows, the plots become ridiculous to the point where the entire manga just doesn't work anymore. What is perhaps the scariest part of the manga after the first few chapters doesn't even come from the deeper, more psychological horror that is intended, but rather something that
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feels overtly done before, people who become zombies at night and feast on the blood of others. It's more complicated than that, but instead of those complications being scary, as they're supposed to, it's just the drawings at that point.
There are some stories (the manga generally works in the fashion of telling interrelated stories every chapter, with each chapter having a closure, the exception being the last set of chapters, which is the manga at its best other than the beginning due to its continuity) that are not only ludicrous and completely separated from reality (as opposed to the beginning, which succeeds in seeming as more of an extension of reality, something that could actually happen, which is the root of it's creepiness that isn't present for the rest of the manga), but aren't even remotely scary on the most basic level. Marvel as... a blinding light causes select people to walk in circles! The horror! The overall story is interesting and unique, much different from your average example of horror, as the "evildoer" is something as ambiguous as a shape. Now, if done correctly, this could make for a chilling manga that would haunt some readers' sleep for weeks. However, once again, the beginning of the manga is the only section that comes anywhere near accomplishing this. Many of the stories are barely even related to spirals (the shape in question), the "zombie" story mentioned earlier in particular, which also lessens the blow, making the stories feel much less related to each other, and the spiral as well. This takes away the feeling of the spiral taking over the town, one of the main elements of horror that's meant to be present.
The characters here have absolutely no personality. At all. The vast majority of characters are just generally kindhearted people whose dialogue is the same as everyone elses'. The only exceptions: Shuichi, who becomes a recluse early on in the story, mumbling to himself about how the spiral is taking over. No, he's not interesting (probably more interesting than any other character though). Kirie's (the main character's) little brother, whose name doesn't come to me despite having just read the last few chapters (a sign of how forgettable the characters are?). He's whiny. That's it. The final exception are the "bad people," the people who become possessed by the spiral and have a mean disposition. But nothing else. Yes, they're all cruel, but they're all the same type of cruel. There is a subsection of "bad people," however, attention cravers. And that's the only thing setting them apart. And yes, like the others, they're all the same as each other. So let's sum the characters up: We have nice people. We have mean people. We have attention craving mean people. We have Shuichi. We have Kirie's little brother. The characters are another thing that takes away from the horror of the manga; if I was at all interested in the characters, all these terrible things happening to them would have a much greater impact.
Uzumaki is a unique idea that lost all its steam early on. We can at least be glad that we got to see it live up to its potential, for a few chapters anyway.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Sep 8, 2009
Code Geass is an anime I've come to like a lot, while before watching it (and even while watching it at times) I was skeptical of it. The majority of the anime is certainly a good show, with some great episodes/moments, but not really more than a good show. However, for the last ten or so episodes, the show really shines, moving at a breakneck pace with many plot twists (some aren't all that great, but just the scale of them makes them at least a little interesting), and an increase in action.
The story is pretty interesting, outcast prince turned genius high school student acquires
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a supernatural power, completing the set of tools he needs to put his plan to take down the Britannian empire and allow his little sister to live a happier life, is opposed by childhood friend: a member of the Britannian military.
There are some less interesting parts, mostly towards the beginning of the show, focusing more on Lelouche's high school life and that of the school's student council, often dealing with romance and other more petty matters, although the main storyline usually either interrupts these scenes or has a small part in them. These scenes are pretty much required for Code Geass to progress, but that doesn't make them more appealing. It is interesting, however, to see Lelouche in this environment, where he is generally kindhearted, as opposed to his sometimes-evil, vengeful personality that he takes on as Zero.
The art is nicely detailed and colorful, the backgrounds are great, as are the Nightmares and their accompanying action scenes. However, the character design just doesn't fly with me. Even after watching 25 episodes, I still cringe on the inside whenever a character is shown from a side view. Nearly everyone is very thin, many have ridiculous hairstyles and the eyes are huge with too much detail on the iris (which is the case with most anime, but that doesn't make it any better here. Especially with the hair, some of it is plain stupid).
The sound is one of the weaker points, but still well done. The first opening theme is very catchy, however the other two are decent at best. I hardly remember anything about the music in the show, other than those high-pitched cooings over orchestral pieces, usually a mellow one at the beginning of the show or a slow but fitting one for some of the dramatic ending scenes. "High pitched cooing over orchestral pieces" may be an entirely inaccurate description, I really don't remember much about this show's music. Which I have to take as a flaw.
The characters...Well, there's a lot of them. You have the royal family, the high school students, the Britannian military force, the Black Knights, and a few more. The story is actually a little hard to follow at times due to all these characters. I'm sure there's been times where I didn't grasp the importance of a certain scene because I forgot about what was going on with a certain character, or set of characters. I also forget many of the characters' names, and a lot of the time I'm not sure who someone's talking about when they mention a name.
But focusing on quality opposed to quantity, the characters have a nice variety, and a few are especially well done. Lelouche in particular is a great character. He is well developed throughout the show, questioning his actions at times (since everyone loves to compare this to Death Note, I'll point out a difference here - I'm glad the show did this, in Death Note Light questioned his plans exactly once: when he first got them, while Code Geass puts a focus on Lelouche's morals regarding him murdering in a few episodes). Suzaku, while a good character, is not one I find especially interesting, he's rather straightforward. Oh, and I know he's in the military and all...But some of his little physical stunts are completely unbelievable. Among the others, we have some annoying ones (Nina [Oh God, Nina in particular], Mao, Lloyd [Use a different tone every once in awhile buddy], and a couple others). C.C is a very interesting character, obviously helped by our lack of knowledge about her past and her mysterious powers and such, but aside from all that she has an enjoyable personality and is fun to watch. Kallen is also a highlight, her inner strength and loyalty is always entertaining.
Oh, and on a less important note, I want to mention Diethard. He's not a bad character...But on the surface there's just tons of little bad choices made with this character. First of all, if you don't think of the word "retard" every time his name is said, I applaud you for being more mature than me. His hair wins the most ridiculous award for the show, and his very deep yet perfectly clear voice doesn't fit at all to me. Anyway...
This is a very enjoyable show, it's very action packed and filled with dramatic (sometimes overly so) moments. There are a lot of things about this show that mildly annoy me, however they are things that for the most part apply to anime in general, and since this is an anime site I doubt my sentiments are ones that many will have. Anyway, the sub-plots can be entertaining at times but don't take a backseat to the main story as much as I'd like. Overall though, it can be a little confusing at times but Code Geass is a show that's pretty much all about the enjoyment factor, and it succeeds for the most part, however it does a much better job on the last ten or so episodes than the first 15.
Overall, Code Geass is an all-around good show that doesn't really have any major flaws. Your interest in it may fluctuate a little, you'll be much more eager to watch the next episode after a Nightmare battle and a plot twist than seeing a little high school drama, but even in the less captivating episodes the show never dips below decent.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Aug 29, 2009
Death Note, as I'm sure you know by now, revolves around Light Yagami, a genius high school student, who finds a notebook titled Death Note, giving him the power to kill someone simply by writing his or her name into it. He takes it upon himself to rid the world of criminals, and hopes to become the God of the new world he creates. Upon killing many criminals, the world takes notice, giving this unknown killer the name Kira. The greatest detective in the world, L, is notified and takes up the case to find Kira and bring him to justice.
The story really is an
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interesting one, there are many extremely suspenseful moments spread throughout the anime (although most are in the first half). It starts out exceptionally well, hooking you from the first episode due to the interesting story, and instantly making you a fan in the second with the introduction of L. From there, the story goes on at a fast pace, always suspenseful and extremely entertaining. We first run into some problems when, in episode 16, Light executes a plan which we may appreciate in later episodes as genius, but for the span of seven episodes, the series' excitement lessens. This is because previously in the series, there were two different focuses: Light attempting to kill L and L attempting to find out Kira's identity. However, after episode 16, the former element is removed from the show until episode 24, when Light's plan is unveiled. But the show barely even has a chance to pick up steam again, because two episodes later, an even worse change takes place, as two new characters take up the Kira case, Near and Mello. For the remaining episodes, the only motivation for watching the series is that you feel a need to know how it ends since it was so captivating in the beginning, but almost none of the suspense remains. The series doesn't return to form until the last two episodes, when Light is directly confronted, but with one last trick up his sleeve.
The art is great, it has a darker feel to it, which suits the tone of the anime. During some of the more crazy name-writing scenes the limits of the artists are really pushed as there is a sudden explosion of pen flying across paper with sparks seemingly erupting from the Death Note, and the criminals subsequently collapsing. The art also receives a needed improvement during the most important scenes, where the background detail is significantly amplified. Aside from these improvements, the art still remains fantastic throughout, the characters look great and the backgrounds are nicely detailed.
The voice acting (I've only seen the dub) is similarly great, especially in L's case. The music is a strong point, the first opening and closing themes are great, as is the rest of the music for L's arc. There are many memorable songs, from simple but catchy guitar riffs to haunting piano compositions to full-blown neo-classical orchestras, complete with opera-esque vocals (to accompany those crazy name-writing scenes mentioned earlier, along with a couple other moments of major suspense). Like all (well, most) things in Death Note, the music gets weaker after L's arc, but there are still a couple great songs introduced in the second half.
The character selection shows a nice variety, and nearly all of them have a purpose in the show. Light is a very interesting character, yet as the protagonist (if you can call him that) he lacks qualities you can relate to. Obviously there are people who agree with the major ideal of Kira, the ideal being that murdering people who do nothing but bad for the world is morally right, however you can not relate to Light from the very beginning of the show, best shown by his immediate desire to become God of his new world upon discovering the Death Note. No matter your ideals, I highly doubt your major concern, if given the power to kill, would be becoming a God. Sure, everyone wants power, but Light's just a little...crazy. And his craziness increases throughout the show, gradually increasing as Light gains less and less regard for other people until his insanity peaks with the last episode. L is a very interesting character, a lonely genius who enjoys eating sweets, sits (and holds objects) oddly. He doesn't really develop from there, he's always the same old detective with questionable tactics, but the character's always fun to watch. The small police team working with L has a nice little variety of personalities and moral positions. Misa is annoying, as she's supposed to be, so I'm not really sure if that's a positive for the show, for being able to make a character who you wish Light would just kill off, or a negative, for being, you know, annoying. Ryuk, the Shinigami who follows Light for a section of the show, is very entertaining. He's the one who causes the story to unravel, dropping the Death Note from the Shinigami realm just because he was bored. He brings some humor to a show that is devoid of it otherwise (other than Matsuda's obsession with Misa and L making the rare quip, which is always hilarious to me because up until he says it, you'd never imagine his character would make a "Light" pun, among other things), with his love of apples and the withdrawal symptoms he gets when doesn't have access to any, always laughing at the misfortune of Light in his raspy voice. Rem, another Shinigami, serves her purpose as a small obstacle to Light but doesn't add any extra enjoyment in doing so. Near is really a flat-out bad character. Although he serves as an "L 2" of sorts, just because he takes up the Kira investigation doesn't mean he has to act just like L with minor differences.
Formula for 1N (one Near)
L - love of sweets + love of toys - black hair + white hair - both legs up when sitting + one leg up when sitting + always sitting - all enjoyment while watching - respect* = N
*L gains your respect (or he would if you had respect for anime characters) by showing his genius throughout the show while Near just comes to the right conclusion immediately. L is guilty of this as well at times, but not to the same extent that Near is.
Mello is pretty generic, he's pretty much just your average bad guy. But smarter. And with chocolate.
So, does Death Note deserve a 10? Well, not really. All the flaws should take a huge chunk of enjoyment away, and they do, especially the entirety of the last half of the show (and that sounds like a damn huge flaw, an entire HALF of the show!?), but there's just no other rating I can give it. I flat out loved this show, and while in my mind it seems that I'm overrating it, it seems that it has a similar effect on others, as generally everyone recognizes the second half of the show as weak, yet the average rating is still 8.89. So while there are apparent flaws all over the show, all the positives outweigh the negatives to such an extent that the show receives a perfect score from me.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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