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Aug 10, 2021
Shaft, need I say more? Just kidding, but not really. Shaft is a very famous studio that made some anime that became very well known, using their unique formula to create them. This formula they make sure to repeat in absolutely every anime they produce. Madoka is no exception to this pattern, an anime with all the elements present in Monogatari, some more, some less, like all the rest of the studio's works. Just as it copies what is considered right, mistakes come along: the lack of a gradual approach to any of the cast, being replaced only by cool phrases and personalities far beyond
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what one would consider "human" without prior development, mannerisms that cause the dissociation of what could be innovative and throws everything into a repetition of features, and other things.
This film by itself didn't even need to exist, that's the truth. In order not to stop profiting from a franchise, anything goes, including reviving it with an already incredibly hackneyed idea in a very artificial way, the idea being "world reconstruction". Madoka had already messed with time travel in that, shall we say, cowardly ending of the anime, so it would be a good idea to mess with it again now, right? Honestly, I don't see this as smart, nor valid, since starting the franchise over from the point where the anime left off is already pretty lame from the beginning, since we had ended everything with the supreme victory of the new entity Madoka. It's even worse if we take into account that this return is an attempt to rebuild the world, but that it brings such an idea by clinging to things that are contradictory in themselves, like Madoka not having prevented all this with her powers. It's not, I don't know, like in Haruhi no Shoushitsu, where the world is rebuilt from something new being discovered (Nagato's failure), and a solution is involuntary (Haruhi's powers), because in Madoka, the eponymous character is fully aware of her abilities. And the excuse given by the movie is that the reconstruction inside Homura was able to "make her forget she's god", very clueless, this simply ignores Madoka's omniscience, it's incredibly convenient. Not to mention, going back even further into Madoka's events (by playing Homura), the fact that she became god, by itself, doesn't make much sense anymore.
But OK, let's say that the movie's existence is, yes, more than just fanservice and cashgrab and that its existence is important for the story to be good (which is difficult with the 35-minute prologue of magical girls acting like magical girls, right KKKKK). Homura's character serves, again, as a character who suddenly takes over as the main character, I don't know what term is used for this, but that's what she is in the franchise. Homura is very cool and all, she moves her hair around a lot and says a few catchphrases, but what is she, really? A transfer student, a mahou shoujo, a renegade, the cold and calculating? Homura is always changing positions, none of them seem to be her for real, and none of them leave what I consider to be a base, already weird in itself. She is always being affected by the chaotic environment around her, and this is always reflecting in her personality, but what is her personality anyway? I don't think the franchise has ever been concerned with that. The shaft is too concerned with creating the next catchphrase with the ideal pose to think of a palpable characterization or an ideal that is not only based on idealistic and utopian love. Very weak character, she has no root that makes her a person, everything she does and doesn't do revolves around her feelings for Madoka, and when the other girls question her, it's all about her powers and the memories that only she can have. Nothing relates to a bitter past or a relevant Homura event from before. She was only born and only exists to drive the plot, there is no Homura outside of the events of Madoka Magica.
Otherwise, very good animation and soundtracks that match its moments. The rest of the cast I don't even want to mention, the girls are just puppets for not having their memories, but that they always were, and Kyuubei is the most idiotic villain that exists, it was easier to accept defeat in the anime and the movie wouldn't even exist KKKKKKK anyway, I think this movie will work very well for those who are inconsequential fans of the work, as well as the movies 4, 5, 6 and 7 will also work, but for those who are not attached to this silly cast or the dramas ignored by the time reset shameful of the anime, will notice how this story is covered with contradictions and problems more common, like a bad cast. It's commendable that it's made such a success and is even praised by a lot of opinion-forming people out there, being quite problematic. But it's not bad at all, you can delight in the above average animation.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Aug 2, 2021
Umineko no Naku koro ni - Episode 1
Right. I wasn't expecting much from the beginning. I actually had no idea what Umineko was about, but I knew it had a witch, a family, and a mansion. I went to see the anime, but it was so horrible that I preferred to erase it from my memory and start the saga adapted in manga. I will start with the elements that I thought were cool.
Basically episode 1 is a battle of the protagonist, Battler, with himself, in his quest to find the assassin inside the mansion, and, most importantly: to deny the existence of the Golden
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Witch, Beatrice. That point, specifically, is cool. Battler seems to have a future as a character.
OK, now I come to what I think wasn't cool:
- First of all, and probably best known among non-readers of Umineko, are the edgy faces. "Ah, but why are the edgy faces so bad?", someone may want to know, and I understand. Edgy things, like faces that represent insanity, anger, or hatred, are usually very exaggerated facial expressions that are there precisely to express a feeling without necessarily showing it. As if it were very difficult to create a character who can convey his feelings without reducing everything to a contorted grimace and a stick out tongue, as if this were extremely natural. And yeah, Umineko is full of scenes like this, if at any time Maria intends to change her personality, she will simply start contorting her face and laughing hysterically, because it is very difficult to create a more organic character that actually generates fear. Those expressions she makes are more comical than scary, in fact. And her mother beating her up for making those faces, with even more faces kkkk
Other example of this is Natsuhi in her clash with Eva, it literally becomes a war of who shouts the loudest, but this in itself is not a defect, who has never been in a family discussion and started shouting out of nowhere? The problem really lies in the faces and death threats, which, because they are uttered by characters we barely know, sound more like unpalatable insanity than a simple family disagreement.
- Another problematic point is how the manga doesn't know how to anticipate or prepare. Anticipation in plot twist is considered basic to believe that what was there all along, and a plot twist without anticipation simply sounds like a "the author pulled it out of his ass". And Umineko EP 1 is full of plot twists that have no basis whatsoever. An example of this is the corpse of the head of the family being found in a room, completely charred, and only at that moment is it revealed that the man had 6 toes on each foot, just because otherwise they wouldn't know how to identify the body. Couldn't it have been told before? Couldn't it be a fact somehow mentioned or just referenced? But no, it suddenly existed because the author needed it.
There is a scene that one of the characters, Eva, kind of anticipates her father's movements by putting a piece of paper between the door so that he couldn't leave his chambers without leaving a remnant. OK, this served to make Battler doubt the provenance of the case and cogitate the existence of Beatrice, but why did Eva do that? Until that moment there was no suspicion and no crime concerning that part of the mansion, so what she did sounds quite meaningless. And the episode ended and nothing was commented on, she was just super psychic anyway.
And another example of this, is when Battler returns the lucky charm to Mary. In one chapter, the climax is in Battler saying that he is without the amulet, so it was not for him that Battler was spared by Beatrice, this to try to prove to Maria that the witch does not exist. A few chapters later, however, Battler says it was a lie and that it was always with him, just to give it back to Maria and protect her from any threat. Something that could be simply grounded quickly, but isn't, creating yet another script convenience.
- And now, what disappointed me the most in this manga, the characters. I have three main points that express my displeasure with the cast:
Case 1: They conclude things on their own
Umineko's characters vary greatly from super geniuses to amoebas during the manga. One thing that is really inexplicable is how sometimes they just come to incredible conclusions out of nothing. A good example of this is Battler's stepmother, this is before any murder happens. Battler is upset about how the family is fighting and falling out, and about the letter that was left between them, apparently written by Beatrice, and Kyrie, the stepmother, suddenly comes to his side and starts overflowing with wild theories, just out of the blue. Not even Battler was talking to her, and suddenly she comes up with endless strands of thought and history. It's not such an unreal thing, she could really be a genius just hiding, but since it wasn't something anticipated, she seemed more like an NPC who needed to leave crucial information for the character.
Case 2: They change personality
This one is more recurring. The cast of Umineko doesn't seem to have any personality at all. Battler is even minimally characterized, his beef is about whether the witch exists or not, so he denies and asserts this several times, even if very conveniently. What is even more convenient, is how the rest of the cast behaves: in chapter 20 there is the murder of three people in front of a child in a locked room, there being only the 4 of them there. Since Mary is a child and they don't suspect her, Jessica, one of the young women remaining in the mansion, immediately blames Beatrice for the deed. What we think: OK, she believes Beatrice." However in chapter 21, literally a few pages later, she sees her mother with a bullet from the gun she was holding in her head, and her reaction solely and completely is to bawl at her mother's dead body, "Why a suicide?" stating this several times. Knowing that there was a certain Beatrice causing serial murders, stating this a chapter earlier, and knowing her mother, who shortly before was determined to hunt down the culprit and get revenge on him, what was the obvious and singular alternative? Since Jessica herself had already received for herself the truth that Beatrice was real? it makes no sense.
Examples of this personality change are not lacking in Umineko. George, another young survivor, feels hatred for the mysterious killer who is taking his entire family, but when it is mentioned that Beatrice was the mistress of the head of the family, and he is trying to revive her with black magic by sacrificing her descendants, he puts himself in the killer's shoes and says he would do the same. ??????????
And another factor: they are always in sharp nuances of "Beatrice exists", "she doesn't exist!" when it suits them, the ones who run away from that the most are Natsuhi and Eva, the rest of the cast keeps contradicting themselves. There is a consensus that the murder in the locked room from the inside was Beatrice's doing, and in the next case they have already forgotten that conclusion and doubt her strongly again. It sounds very forced.
Case 3: They are dumb when it suits the author
Battler and company see the witch's ritual in chapter 3 or 4, read about the nights of the murders and Beatrice's return. But for some reason, the geniuses who solve murder cases chapters later, were too stupid at the beginning to know what it was all about, and they don't associate any of it with what happens later. Only in chapter 20, after more than half the house is dead, do they come to that conclusion, late, when it is already useless to them.
And what about the death of Kanon, the servant? In a fit of rage, he decides to go against the witch, In the most thoughtless way possible. Because of this abrupt change of personality, he is conveniently killed.
Plus Umineko's characters are too shallow, reduced to exaggerated facial expressions to show any emotion. An extremely low level manga, with a dirty build up that can't sustain anything, and a lot of things that were left totally open and will probably be covered up in the following episodes. A very bad start.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Aug 15, 2020
That's not easy to separate a portion of something that completes itself very goodly, and judge such a portion as only one thing. Especially when it comes, specifically, to a so witty film as the first one of Love Live's franchise.
Before all, I'd like to make it clear that this is my first time doing a review, so I apologize if I am not clear enough, or if in some moment I sound more like a fan (or a hater) than an imparcial spectatress.
Since the beginning the film is surprising: the photography's finesse and choices, the calm soundtrack and the conceptive equilibrium of the initial
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scene (Honoka, when she was a child, trying to jump over a puddle and failing) represent the direction's thorough job, and its cleanliness with the project.
Love Live's movie is dynamic: in only five minutes, we can all get aware about the girls' situation, that travels to United States to announce a new Love Live event. Availing of this new ambient, the script makes well used jokes in every good moment, what creates an even bigger interest for the protagonists' journey.
About the script, it's good in lots of things, at least in the initial ⅔ of the anime. It uses the pauses in the agitated soundtrack to capture surprising expression from all the characters, producing funny moments and fanservice; it has brief dialogues, full of precise informations; and it doesn't keep everything melodramatic. That's a great form to work with such a plot (taking into account that there are nine protagonists to a moderated screen's time).
The movie's rhythm is impressive: the serenity in all the presented topics, just like if anything had been previously timed , creates an incredibly natural ambiance, avoiding to be too fast in its development. During the film, everything looks like just another TV show's episode.
It doesn't disappoint in terms of photography as well; all the choices of angles and takes is simply inspiring, with really beautiful and memorable frames, since the vision of buildings until an impressive flowers field. Similar to the Disney's animated movies, Love Live: The School Idol Movie is full of musicals, all of them, incredible. There's no any presentation without a great characterization, choreography and lyrics. For being such a beauty, these musicals work as a river between the film's acts, separating the development from the conflict, and etcetera.
Bad things in the movie
The script begins to oscillate in the moment Honoka gets lost from her friends, and knows a misteryous singer. Even though it creates a little doubt about the woman's identity (and her presence shows more demonstrations of geniality from the movie's producers and directors) her presence is more like a convenience than any other thing. And, being sincere, that's a little predictable where that part of the story was going to end, since our first contact with the character.
Another problem present in the development is the rhythm loss of the final moments. In the movie's conclusion, the work stops being really dynamic, losing time in trivial things, what cracks the cadence and dynamism of the movie until that moment.
Conclusion
Even though the plot's content hasn't been very good or necessary since the beginning, the film was going in a great way, and for this reason it was very above average. Losing a little of this sagacity after the Honoka's past resolution (that thing with the puddle), the movie lost quality. However, ignoring these little imperfections, and the unnecessary fanservice in some moments, the first Love Live's movie is a really fine work, principally in technical terms. A very beautiful movie, full of memorable moments and great messages.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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