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Oct 14, 2022
I'm gonna be clear and honest, I feel like there is a lot of F.O.M.O. and recency bias surrounding this series' primarily positive reception. I'm not exactly in the target audience, but it's how I feel. I have an aversion to modern interpretations of the cyberpunk genre, the game the anime is based on, and to Studio Trigger themselves (in my opinion one of the single most banal and overhyped studios in the industry today). Given that this show that basically doesn't have any appeal to me in the slightest at first glance, I still have to admit that Cyberpunk Edgerunners delivers beyond my expectations,
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but they were not high expectations at all.
What Cyberpunk Edgerunners exceeds in is visual flair. It has smooth animation pleasing to the eye, lots of vibrant colors, great character designs and cool motifs that all come together to make great action scenes that are delightful to watch. In my opinion this is what carries pretty much the entire show, and it's the thing I least expected to call "good" about a Trigger show, as they're known for choppy animation with no between frames and overbearingly foreshortened perspectives that seem to compensate for a lack of natural, dynamic motion.
The first and most egregious flaw I'll address is the pacing. I know "pacing bad" is more often than not a non-argument taken against things by people who don't know how to properly articulate what they don't like about something, but here it's especially, noticeably bad. I also know that this is also only a 10 episode series, but I feel like there is still a lot of fat that can be trimmed. Ergo it somehow manages to go from plot point to plot point at lightning fast speeds with little room for development, and at the same time feel conflated with unnecessary bloat. It moves by like it was made specifically for ADHD zoomers brainfried by Tik Toks and Temple Run, yet it also wastes time making weak attempts to establish generic deeper meanings, & on trying to garner sympathy for one-dimensional non characters. Pacing DOES actually improve a lot around the halfway point, but it falls apart again towards a somewhat unsatisfying conclusion.
Of the characters, very few are actually nuanced or likeable. I think the protagonist David is the best one, which is reasonable and to be expected since he's the one viewers spend the most time with. He's overall pretty balanced and his growth happens in an organic and believable manner, only his relationship with Lucy, who serves the purpose of a generic manic pixie princess love interest, kind of just happens out of nowhere because Trigger can't write a good romance to save their lives. Most of the other "good" characters are largely carried by design, influence over the story & how they carry their weight during the action segments. Then you have the ones who serve no purpose other than to die to fuel the development of other, better characters, such as David's mom, and that long-armed guy who contributed nothing other than some jokes about masturbation. The villains aren't much other than Guy who's from the game shoehorned into the last episode and Cyborg Gus Fring.
One of the worst aspects is the music. I believe the tracks are from the game and handpicked by CDPR, but I haven't actually played it and this is only what I've been told, so I could be wrong. This is mostly subjective so I won't ramble too much about it but I feel like just about all of the music is horrendous. Many moments that could've actually been really poignant and impactful are ruined by garbage music that sounds like generic teen pop.
Overall I give Cyberpunk Edgerunners a low 6/10. Don't go buying a copy of Cyberpunk 2077 and a Netflix subscription in advance, it's just a quick action romp and some eye candy.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Mar 2, 2018
Do not watch Cobra if you want a science fiction show. I'm not kidding. It should say it's sci-fi in the genres list of whatever site you're on but this is actually an extremely lucid fantasy in the guise of a high tech space journey, having the tendency to violate laws of reality in jaw-droppingly dumb ways. There is a race of people that are actually swords, sand that has the right consistency to be both walked on and swam through at the same time, pianos with the power to decode hidden messages in tattoos, a fat magician that can project himself across the cosmos
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who enslaves people with a fruit that makes them explode, and the protagonist has the ability to talk and smoke cigarettes while he's underwater. Absolutely none of this is explained. You have to enter it with the assumption that technology can do literally fucking anything in the Cobra universe. It will numb your brain if you're not ready. This is, in a sense, the best thing about the show. There were too many moments where I got confused and just awkwardly laughed it off.
With that out of the way, it's kind of hard to review. Is it good? Yeah, I guess. It's mostly quite formulaic in the one-off stories strewn across the show and you could still enjoy it if you just skipped over those episodes entirely (but don't, you have to see this in all of its mind boggling glory). The main story arcs are pretty fun, though, especially the Rugball arc, which I would say is the high point of the show.
In terms of the visuals, animation is pretty fluid for the 80s. Colors are vomited all over the place. Looks super vibrant and aesthetically pleasing (usually).
The characters are, well, they're there. There is basically no character development to speak of. They do cool stuff sometimes, but you never get to know them. There will be a random acquaintance of Cobra off in some nowhere corner of the galaxy that he'll rely on for help every few episodes, and they're just there, and they'll either disappear or die at some point. The first time you see a character just know there is a 1/10 chance that they are one of Cobra's old friends.
The music is also just kind of there. Is it bad? No. Is it good? Some of it. Mostly the opening. And speaking of the opening, it's just as lucid as the show. In most openings I find that there are symbols, foreshadowing and such all relevant to things that happen or appear in the show but Cobra's opening just mashes together a bunch of shit that doesn't make sense because it looks cool. There's bubbles that fly across the screen and if you pause on them they've got weird decrepit alien fetus things in them, there's a weird piece of grid paper that flies around, an unnecessary emphasis on a transparent copy of Cobra's left eye, and he also dodges some neon circles and triangles just before it ends. Literally none of this has any meaning.
I really don't know what else to say. My head hurts just from reminiscing. Watch Space Cobra if you want, there is nothing quite as wacky apart from maybe bootleg films. peace
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Aug 8, 2017
I'll say it right off the bat, this show totally soiled my expectations. I was certain Nadia: Secret of Blue Water would become one of my all time favorite series at an 8/10 or possibly 9/10 score until about the halfway point where the directors just threw in about ten episodes of superfluous and boring character interactions just to stall on keeping the plot going, that largely being what killed this for me along with the fact that it's chock full of blatant animation errors, among other things I'll get into. But it certainly has some very redeeming qualities.
Nadia's story is the strong point. It's
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definitely one of the best stories I've ever seen in a series, up to a point. You may or may not know already that it loosely follows the plot of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but it's mostly an original work. I personally consider it to be part of a trilogy along with Gunbuster and Evangelion because they're all very similar series, Nadia is of course the most obscure of the bunch but each of them share some of their themes and it's noticeable after seeing them all.
Everything up to them is fantastic, but the two story arcs that "killed" the show are one set on a remote island that feels kind of like some fever dream version of Gilligan's Island with three kids and a baby lion. Most of the interesting characters totally absent here and the events leading up to this are mostly ignored. The episodes are pretty confusing and shockingly dumb. This arc is immediately followed by some inexcusably messy venture into some African village that thinks a can of food is a pillar of silver gifted to them by God or something. But it gets back to kicking ass in just the final 4 or 5 episodes, thankfully.
The animation is mostly well done on its low budget but some episodes certainly suffer a lot, most of the details are typically conveyed in a very minimal fashion and whenever there is an error it's especially difficult to look at. One thing I couldn't get out of my mind even after I finished watching the show is a part where a character's entire forearm is see-through. Chilling.
There are also lots of good characters in the show. The Nautilus crew is well fleshed out and the Gratan team is probably Gainax's first major endeavor into GAR characters. The Neo-Atlantis bad guy Gargoyle is really simple in terms of motives and personality but he's still kind of cool. The eponymous Nadia and Jean (the kid that orbits her) are unfortunately not among the good characters in the show. Nadia's personality and characterization, while you eventually come to understand it, is way too erratic. Though her boyfriend isn't too bad in terms of personality, Jean's knack for inventing is kind of abused as an unrealistic deus-ex-machina that just leaves you wondering if it's really possible for a 15 year old in the year 1889 to invent so many miracle machines. He makes like 20 planes across the series and even a functioning shower on a remote island composed of scraps. Not very plausible.
The last good thing I can say about Nadia is that almost all of the soundtracks are bangers and they're very memorable, but I don't really know what else to say about that.
Overall, if you are a fan of Gainax and Anno, or you're interested in something with a fantastic story and don't mind it having very few other merits, definitely go ahead and check it out. Otherwise maybe put it on hold or stay away from it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jul 27, 2017
After seeing both of Kouichi Ohata's infamous "cult classic" OVAs (this and MD Geist) I am convinced that they've either missed their target audience by a landslide or are just something of an acquired taste. Genocyber, much like MD Geist, is a pretty solid, up-front and down to earth OVA featuring tons of gory bits and a somewhat hamfisted story. If this, along with a plethora of body horror sounds good to you, you should have a go at Genocyber.
Genocyber's story is cut into three acts. A ridiculously powerful bio-weapon, the eponymous Genocyber, is created by a military research organization called the Kuryu group.
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The fused consciousnesses of two young girls lying within this beast are (for the most part) eager to use its devastating power to rebel against the whole world, and the world bites back. The first two acts are set in a modern-ish era and are immediately subsequent to each other, but the final act of the OVA changes the narrative to a young couple in the post apocalyptic world of AD 2400 where Genocyber has gone dormant and humanity's size is shrunken to one small corrupt city known as Ark de Grande. Some find this narrative shift and time skip to be too forced but they did not impact the enjoyment for me, even taking into consideration the somewhat boring lack of gory action in the final act. Despite this and some nasty plotholes (It's lazy on behalf of the writers, but you can easily fill in the blanks) I believe Genocyber's story is overall reasonable enough, and its ambiguous but interesting ending is worth watching all of the OVA for.
One aspect of this OVA that I appreciated was the characters. While they aren't all likeable and certainly not relatable their actions mostly make sense and/or are reasonable given their situations. I personally enjoyed Elaine's characterization - she is beastlike in personality but has the thoughts and feelings of a normal human and the events shown in the first episode of the OVA sets her goals and motives in stone quite well. You'll know what I mean when you see it.
The thing that draws most people into watching Genocyber is of course the gore. Not to sound like a serial killer, but the way it's animated is beautiful. There's tons of detail in every little giblet. You can tell that they put a lot of their animation budget into just the gore scenes alone. The designs of the characters and machines are also fantastic. And even those who hate Genocyber can't deny that the soundtrack is a banger that perfectly captures its ultraviolence.
All in all, Genocyber is a chilling experience - whether you hate it, or enjoy it like I did, it's not something you will forget anytime soon.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 23, 2017
This is pretty laughable. Gundam Twilight Axis already looked to me like it was going to be boring to begin with but, each episode being a mere 3 minutes, it fails to tell any story properly. This is based on a novel, which is supposedly short but quite detailed (at the very least in comparison). I am a firm believer in "quality over quantity", but this has neither of them as it is condensed to the point where you know almost nothing. You don't know the characters. You can barely tell what they're doing or even why they're doing it. Unless you actually read the
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novel (which defeats the purpose of making a fucking adaptation to begin with) you learn nothing about them other than what can be made from inferences. It's like the PV for this (which, by the way, was more than half the length of the episode) was just a trailer for a trailer. This is Sunrise's biggest loss in years, it's little more than a lazy mess. It's like a school assignment rushed for the last minute except it actually took them over a month to put it out.
A short show only needs a short review so I'll write no more of this. The only good thing about Twilight Axis is that you will only waste 3 minutes of your time watching each episode. Except the last one, which is longer, but still not long enough.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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May 1, 2017
Best known as Gainax's first commercial work, Wings of Honneamise is a peculiar movie that acts as something of a commentary and retelling of one of mankind's boldest undertakings - sending our own into the great void of space.
The method of storytelling is quite unique and makes you consider the perspecitve of someone living far into the past where the idea of going into space is considered unnecessary and foreign. The film has its own surreal little world set in a time that's something like the economic expansion following the WWII era. In this world the "Royal Space Force" are a group of people
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who aim to put a man among the stars. They're treated like some kind of joke, as a matter of fact even their own people are lethargic about the idea of going to space, but that's only until one of their men volunteers to do it. Shirotsugh Lhadatt's feelings towards space travel are changed when he meets a young religious woman following the death of a comrade, and she becomes the first person to express a genuine interest in his work. The bond between them sparks some kind of motivation in Shiro to take his job more seriously, and seemingly everything goes uphill from there.
The art and animation is spectacular. For those who know them well, studio Gainax's animators had a thing for working quite effectively even when they were on a budget in their early years (e.g. the Daicon opening animations). Their skill shines mostly for the first time here - beautiful carefully crafted backgrounds along with fluid and detailed motions and an expressive art style make this one of the most visually appealing films around.
The soundtrack is its biggest flaw. Some may like it and some may not, but it's jarringly louder than the rest of the film and it's almost reminiscent of banging on trash cans at times, and that killed some of the enjoyment for me since a soundtrack is such an important part of a film, especially one full of excited emotions like Honneamise.
I can't say I liked any of the characters in particular, but they're good. Just about every role carries a sense of some importance that contributes to the integrity of the whole thing.
Overall, Wings of Honneamise is a spectacular, enchanting watch and you won't regret taking two hours of your time to see it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 5, 2017
What we get out of The Shining Heresy is disappointing compared to the show it branches from, Armored Trooper VOTOMS. Despite being full of missed opportunities to expand on the story of VOTOMS and the previous OVAs based on the series, watching this one still has its own merits.
The story is the biggest and probably only major weak point in The Shining Heresy as a whole. Shining Heresy's writers had to fish for a new conflict to make the next entry in VOTOMS ripe for watching and ultimately decided to turn the Space Church into a major factor, something that was pretty much only
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mentioned in the original show. After a number of asspulls with Chirico and his immortality it was decided that he was a freak of nature and was deemed untouchable, and a Nextant (which is basically a human AT and the successor to the PS program, I have to admit it's actually a really badass concept) named Teitania is sent to either convert Chirico to their religion or exterminate him. The reason for this despite marking him as untouchable either wasn't there at all or it just slipped past me and I really don't want to go back just to find out.
A big part of the original VOTOMS story was Chirico's struggle to be with Fyana, who he fell in love with.. After seeing the two finally get together following being hunted down by entire armies, then subsequently watching The Shining Heresy you'll feel pretty duped because Teitania ends up replacing Fyana as Chirico's love interest only after they try to kill each other a few times or something. I don't mind good endings or sad endings but when one is already established and then soiled by another story it only comes off as frustrating to me.
In just 5 episodes there is enough to keep you entertained and maintain a continuous interest in watching however. Seeing the evolution of VOTOMS from the 1980s to the 1990s standard is really fulfilling in its own right and through time it still stays true to what made the original series so good, with its gritty combat and emulation of real war's expendable nature. Along with that it still has its jazzy soundtrack that works so well with the series and a new opening that I must admit I like better than Honoo no Sadame after hearing it so much.
If you're a fan and you want something that looks and sounds good, even if it doesn't really FEEL good, The Shining Heresy will satisfy you. If you're not interested after seeing this review take my advice, and let the story end where the show ends.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Feb 26, 2017
Do you want an absolutely batshit crazy and over the top anime? Then this is just what you're looking for. M.D. Geist is widely regarded as a poor production from an objective standpoint, which is true, but it's somewhat understandable due to its status as an experimental work and beyond that there's no doubt about it, it's one of the most solid and right down to earth OVAs I've seen from a time period where animated works were simply a lot more golden, it shines and it doesn't try to be anything that it isn't. It's just fun and gory mindless action, with some absolutely
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spectacular design work to boot. It does what it aims to do really well and it really doesn't need great characters or story to make it as enjoyable as it already is, at all. It's the spitting image of any dumb testosteroney 80's action film, which I see nothing wrong with. Whether you'll feel the same or not after watching, it's just under 50 minutes, so I would say checking M.D. Geist out when you've got a moment is not a waste of your time at all. I could go on, but there's not much else that needs to be said.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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