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Apr 17, 2024
An interesting premise, story, and good production values are utterly ruined by the worst imaginable MC in anime history, coupled with a whole cast of characters who are all insane, and not in a good way. Everyone has a clear case of writer's brain damage, making all of their actions completely and utterly incomprehensible, devoid of all logic and reason.
The show has one plot hole after another, every event is only ever a series of coincidences, never any sort of proper setup and development. Things just "happen" for the sake of creating drama out of thin air, so that the show has something to do.
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Every event also ends up resolving in the exact same way. It is impossible to cheer for anyone, because they're all stupid and unrelatable.
Visuals and Sounds: 8/10
Story: 5/10
Characters: 3/10
If you've ever wondered if it's possible to catch brain damage from watching anime, trying out this show is a good way to test the idea. I for one am pretty convinced quite a few of my brain cells committed seppuku while watching this travesty.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Apr 10, 2024
In/Spectre is a fun, contemporary paranormal mystery anime, that creates an interesting world supported by mythological fantasy themes, and modern crime scenarios. It boasts a great soundtrack, likeable characters and one of the more lovable romance undertones.
Animation / Art / General Visuals - 7/10
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The show doesn't look particularly noteworthy. The art detail is fairly basic, as are the animations. The show sticks to a largely dialogue based format, so despite the limitations in quality, it never feels problematic. The character emotions are clear enough, and actions scenes tolerable.
Sound / Music / Voice Acting - 9/10
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Despite not being a fan of the OP's or ED's, I absolutely fell in love with the music within the episodes themselves. There's a great mix of different styles, suitable for the different themes of each episode. There's synth, there's piano stuff, there's up-beat, and orchestral mixes for the victory moments. It's great.
Story - 8/10
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The world of In/Spectre is a fun one, taking contemporary Japan and bringing to life all the various mythological creatures like ghosts, spirits, demons, and other beings of lore in a less invasive way than many other such shows. In this world, the creatures of the paranormal prefer to stay by themselves and not interact with humans or cause trouble among themselves. That said, those things still occasionally happen, and to solve those problems, the various supernatural beings decided to contract a young girl to their service by making her a goddess of wisdom. Chosen to mediate problems of the supernatural through knowledge.
As luck or fate would have it, this girl also finds herself a most unusual of companions. Someone, who, like her, bridges the gap between normalcy and the supernatural. And together they decide to ensure that the world remains in balance.
In/Spectre takes a two-part approach to the way it handles the story. We get an introduction period where we get to know the main characters and the basics of the world through a simpler mystery. Followed by a longer story arc that tackles a much grander mystery while introducing a proper villain and fleshing out the characters further.
What's interesting about the story, is the way the mysteries are presented and solved. One could even say that it's a reverse mystery anime. What does that mean? Well, that's going to be for you to find out. Let's just say that it's not necessarily the truth that matters most when it comes to solving these mysteries that disrupt the balance of the supernatural world. And the mental warfare needed to deal with these cases takes on a life of its own.
The show also features a fun romance sub-plot, that is enjoyably non-standard, and sets up some nice adorable and comedic moments to mix up the scenes.
Characters - 8/10
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The show revolves around two main characters, and a strong third supporting. The cast is small, but powerful.
Iwanaga, Kotoko is a petite young woman who takes on the role of the goddess of wisdom, mediating the troubles of the supernatural world. And she's a feisty one. While small, she is incredibly confident and honestly even arrogant. Her intellect is out of this world, matched only by her persistence when it comes to doing her job, and ensuring her ongoing romance with Kurou.
Sakuragawa, Kurou is a young man who is by all accounts non-remarkable, yet has an air of the supernatural about him. This peculiarity causes him to break up with his girlfriend which leaves him in a state of uncertainty. Which is exactly when Iwanaga shows up and does her best to "woo" him. Despite failing miserably, Iwanaga is persistent, leading to Kurou accepting her presence and deciding to entertain the strange little woman through his stoic, yet occasionally caring and heroic actions.
Yumihara, Saki is the ex-girlfriend of Kurou and by all accounts their relationship should have been done and buried. But fate causes them to run across one another yet again, and the trio teams up to tackle the mystery. Saki is a fairly normal young woman, who ends up quite simply horrified at the existence of the supernatural, yet is also fascinated by it, and by the notion of the romance between Iwanagi and Kurou that seems to be largely based on Iwanagi demanding it to exist.
This fun romance spiced trio dynamic carries the show in a great way, rarely having a dull moment. Whether it's Iwanaga wowing us with her intellect, or making us laugh with her attempts of coaxing Kurou into sexual themes, or Kurou rebuking Iwanaga's advances, or Saki being utterly confused as to what is going on with the world and these two, there's a lot of fun to be had.
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Total - 8/10
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In/Spectre is a fun paranormal mystery that deserves to be called underrated in my opinion. It doesn't look amazing, but it has great music, fun mysteries and intelligence flexing, and lovable characters with their funny trio dynamic.
If you're a fan of other paranormal mystery anime like Ghost Stories, this is another one that might scratch a similar itch.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 10, 2024
Sunday Without God is a fantasy anime with some modern themes, that tries to tackle the concept of life and death bestowed by god in a more literal manner. It is an interesting premise, though the actual plot and character writing cannot handle the task.
Animation / Art / General Visuals - 8/10
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The show looks pretty good, with lots of beautiful scenery and solid animations. It's not a battle focused anime, so there's little in the way of flashy animations, but some of the special effects do look nice and characters emote properly.
Sound / Music / Voice Acting - 9/10
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This show has some of the most beautifully haunting OP's and ED's, as well as numerous enjoyable tracks during the show. It really fits with the theme of life and death, and what it all means.
Story - 5/10
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The premise of the story is quite interesting. God has abandoned the world because the afterlife got full. He decided to give up on the world, and now there is no more death, but also no more new life. Everyone that dies is destined to become a mindless zombie eventually. The only ones with the power to put people down for good, are Gravekeepers, mystical beings sent by god as part of his final acts.
Sounds very cool. However, the actual presentation and writing of the story is weak. The worldbuilding is confusing. We have modern cars and guns and stuff, but everyone lives like it's the medieval ages. Certain parts of the story are rushed or simply make no sense. Things we should care about barely get any focus, while things that are irrelevant are put into focus. There's an excess of plot convenience, and a lack of proper setup and explanations. It feels like a mess. It's like the author came up with a story that was well beyond their capability to actually write about.
Maybe the anime adaptation skipped half the source material, I don't know, but it's hard to enjoy this mess of a story.
Characters - 5/10
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Like the story, the characters are a mess.
Our main character is a 12 year old girl with the mental faculties and personality of a 5 year old. An unbelievably naive 5 year old who has never been told anything about anything. This creates for an extremely frustrating experience. Watching the main protagonist fumble through the world like a newborn with no common sense or knowledge, is just annoying. Perhaps the author chose to do this as a way to give the readers/viewers a relatable character through which to feed exposition about the world, but it just falls flat.
Secondary characters are hardly any better. The show starts off strong with introducing a fascinating anti-hero, but it doesn't last. Instead we get some budget back-up hero with no real personality, and a literal emotionless support character that join the MC on a journey that couldn't be more ridiculous in its premise. Creating an utterly dysfunctional combination of characters with a silly goal, who are very difficult to cheer for or care about. All that taking place in a world full of inconsistencies and weird plot conveniences.
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Total - 6/10
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Sunday Without God has good production values, but ultimately falls flat due to the rather terrible writing of its plot and characters, making the protagonist frustrating to watch, and the cast difficult to cheer for.
Still, the premise is interesting and there's some fun to be had, so fans of the fantasy genre might find it pleasing enough.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Apr 9, 2024
Subete ga F ni Naru is contemporary psychological mystery anime that invites you to think along, while never quite fully explaining itself. It touches on some rather sensitive and disturbing romance and sex themes, as well as exploring the workings of the human mind in a more philosophical sense.
Animation / Art / General Visuals - 8/10
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The setting of the show really doesn't leave much room for art or animation to shine, but for this type of show, it looks perfectly acceptable. The character designs and detail is solid, environments sufficiently detailed, and animations clear enough to get emotions across.
Sound / Music / Voice Acting -
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9/10
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Some beautiful classical pieces and top notch voice acting make the show pleasing to the ears. It doesn't overdo with fancy music tracks of effects. Extra credit is given to the two VA's who portray a several minute long dialogue in English, despite being obvious Japanese natives. Their English is heavily accented but clear and easy to understand, and surprisingly adds another layer of complexity to the show's mystery plot.
Story - 8/10
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Subete ga F ni Naru has a peculiar story with no clear beginning nor end. The mystery the show revolves around is interesting, but it serves more of a plot device for the gathering of the main characters, and the exploration of their thoughts, feelings, and other philosophical contemplations.
The mystery itself isn't overly deep, though solving it fully as a viewer is quite difficult. Still, it's possible to figure out the gist of it well ahead of the eventual revelations.
The greater part of the story is in truth the relationships between the main characters. The main characters are extreme intellectuals who view the world very much differently from regular people, but also from each-other due to how their particular style of intellect functions. The notable age gap further complicates things, as does their attachment and interest in the mystery. There's an awkward, even sensitive or disturbing romance and sex theme, depending on how you look at it. If the topics of potential grooming and underage sex disturb you, then you might want to avoid the show as these themes have a central importance.
As a whole, the story is perfectly happy to leave us viewers in a state of contemplation as to what actually happened, who is right, and who is wrong. To some, this will be a big negative, to others, it will be an enjoyable mental exercise and a chance at some introspection.
Characters - 8/10
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Saikawa, Souhei is an extremely intelligent university professor who cannot help but to feel restrained by the world around him. Struggling to relate to most people around him, he spends his free time philosophising about various topics relating to the human mind and existence, while dreaming of meeting one of the greatest intellectual minds in the world.
Nishinosono, Moe is a young but extremely intelligent college student who is enamoured with professor Saikawa and spends much of her free time visiting him in his office, looking to grow closer to him and break through his peculiar barriers created by his unique type of intelligence.
Magata, Shiki is considered the greatest intellectual mind on the planet. Having apparently killed her parents at the age of 14, and then spent the next 15 years in an isolated island doing research, her motivations remain a mystery. Her character is hard to get a handle on, and delving somewhat deeper into her psyche through-out the show is a fun process.
There are also numerous secondary characters that help fill the screen time, but as a whole the story focuses on these three individuals and how their personalities and intellects interact.
It is fun, though at times confusing.
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Total - 8/10
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Subete ga F ni Naru is an interesting anime that doesn't really dazzle with anything up front, but does make you want to think along. The mystery is fun, but the character relations and deeper concepts of the human mind and the very human existence might be even more so.
At the same time, some of the romance and sex themes might be too much for some people to enjoy, though it does serve a purpose in the story, and further adds topics of discussion to think about.
As a whole it's a fun watch for those looking for something more cerebral than the average anime.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 8, 2024
Erased is a show with great production values and emotionally relatable themes, though it can at times move its plot along a little bit too conveniently.
Animation / Art / General Visuals - 9/10
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Erased looks great. The scenery is vibrant, the emotions of the characters on point, and the animation works well to bring it all together.
Sound / Music / Voice Acting - 9/10
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Absolutely beautiful music through-out the show with great voice acting by multiple characters. The VA's really sell the emotions of the cast which is paramount for an anime of such type. Excellent.
Story - 8/10
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Satoru, a struggling 29 year old manga artist has a weird ability that allows him to occasionally relive events and change the future. Though he usually goes back in time by no more than a few minutes.
At one of those events, he fails to notice what he is supposed to change, which leads to the death of a loved one. What follows is a trip into the past that is not a few minutes, but 18 whole years. And he must figure out what in his past he needs to change, to prevent the traumatic future from happening again.
The premise is quite interesting, as is the whole mystery our protagonist hopes to unravel.
A lot of focus is given to Satoru's 10 year old self's daily life, and how he tries to adapt to living back in his past, while trying to change the future. In many cases he discovers that his memories of the past have gotten so foggy that he can't help but to relive events in the same way. It becomes a struggle to force himself to take extreme actions to definitively save the future.
The story mixes mystery with drama, psychological suspense, and children's friendship and romance themes.
While not a negative to everyone, there are some issues with Satoru's "powers" and how they are explained and the way he uses them. At times it feels like it's just too convenient of a plot device.
The mystery also suffers slightly from the limited list of suspects. Assuming the story wants you to figure out the villain, the list of potential characters who fit the bill is very short. And while there is some ambiguity, it's ultimately a little too easy to put the pieces together. Adding a few more characters to muddy the waters would have likely been beneficial.
Characters - 8/10
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The story focuses primarily on Satoru and his thoughts and feelings as he flips between the past and the present. His character grows a fair bit as he relives his past and changes the events for the better. As a whole he is awkward but decently confident and competent in what he does. He's smart enough to plan ahead, though he is also reasonably short sighted at other times.
Lots of screen time is given to his mother, who acts the part of a near perfect loving parent, and his group of friends who seem similarly ideal.
The show also includes some minor romance sub-plots, as Satoru's 10 year old self needs to grow attached to a 10 year old girl he wants to save.
If there's a complaint to be made with the characters, is that there's very little character adversity. Almost everyone gets along a little too well. It never feels like Satoru is fighting fate all by himself. He gets a lot of help, almost too easily.
Some of the child characters are also surprisingly adult like. It feels a tad too convenient for Satoru to have such an amazing group of friends to help him deal with the whole situation.
The villain of the show is somewhat interesting, though it's never quite justified how incredibly competent they are at what they do. Similarly, the things they get away with seems unrealistic. It doesn't feel right that crimes could be committed quite so easily. When the hero needs to have time travel powers to even have a shot at foiling the villain's plans, it starts getting a tad extreme and unbelievable.
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Total - 8/10
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Erased is a fun, emotional mystery story that dives deep into the theme of revisiting one's past and changing the future for the better.
It's easy to relate to the characters, hate the villain, and get caught up in the interesting plot. Though at times you might wonder if the hero and the villain aren't too much at the mercy of convenient plot devices.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 7, 2024
Zetsuen no Tempest is an ambitious Shakespearean psychological suspense drama that tackles mysteries and romance in a contemporary world with fantasy themes, and isn't even afraid to drop in whole loads of comedy for good measure. It swaps focus between its various genres and themes on the fly, but does so beautifully.
Animation / Art / General Visuals - 9/10
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The show brings top notch visuals, with beautiful scenery, and well animated action scenes and character expressions. Because the anime touches on so many different genres, and has such a high focus on psychological themes with its characters, the animation quality is needed to give those themes
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enough weight. You can really see and feel the emotions the characters go through in their struggles and joys.
Sound / Music / Voice Acting - 9/10
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Great OP's and ED's, mixed with beautiful classical music themes through-out the show, coupled with top tier voice acting for several of the main cast. There's little to nitpick.
Story - 9/10
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The story of Zetsuen no Tempest is not a simple one to condense into a review. It a Shakespearean story of a fantastical concept that threatens all existence, enveloped in a story of mystery and romance, revenge and acceptance, executed through psychological drama that keeps you guessing what happens next as you try to get a handle on the characters and their histories and deeper personal stories.
Zetsuen no Tempest contains so many different genres and themes within itself, that it might be off-putting to some people. You can go from deep psychological drama and mystery, into pure romance, into pure comedy and slice of life, into shounen-esque action on a dime.
But the way these genre and theme swaps are done, is in my opinion very impressive. It never feels out of place. When a mystery is revealed to have a romance component, it only makes sense for the romance theme to be expanded upon. When the romance theme is expanded, it's only natural for comedic moments to arise as teenagers interact with one-another in casual settings. And it's natural for all that to immediately fall back into deeper psychological themes when the story needs to progress further.
It is a beautiful mix of different genres that never over forces itself.
The mysteries keep you guessing for the entirety of the show, the romance themes evolve till the very last scenes, the psychological dives into the human mind are always in discussion. It's a great ride.
Characters - 9/10
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While the show has one character that can be consider the main protagonist, in truth there are multiple characters who share a lot of screen time and have leading roles to play in the story.
Yoshino and Mahiro are two teenage boys of vastly different yet similar personalities who have developed a unique friendship.
Yoshino is more laid back, allowing himself to get caught up in life, while Mahiro is head strong and energetic, looking to take on the whole world.
When the story forces both of them into action, they struggle with the emotional whiplash of losing a loved one, trying to deal with it in their own way, all the while trying to sustain their unique friendship in the process. Yoshino opts into bottling up his emotions, struggling to see any reason to take actions because the world is what it is. While Mahiro seeks revenge, refusing to accept such an irrational concept of a loved one being taken away from him without warning or explanation.
Mahiro's younger sister, and Yoshino's secret girlfriend, Aika, whose death is the catalyst for the story, is a truly unique character that adds a complex layer into the trio's relationship and the story that follows.
Hakaze, a fantastical magic priestess tasked with saving the world, makes a mutual deal with the boys to help one another. She's head strong and capable, but also a sheltered young girl who cannot help but to get swept up in the romance drama of the two boys and Aika whose existence and demise is the catalyst for it all.
Several additional characters also have prominent roles and while many of them are less explored, their personalities and actions make proper sense and are easy to get a handle on. Nobody feels out of place in the story, and everyone has their roles to play. A sign of a good cast.
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Total - 9/10
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Zetsuen no Tempest is an amazing anime that effortlessly mixes several different genres and themes into one coherent and enjoyable ride that should please fans of many preferences.
Whether you like fantasy stories, or mysteries. Psychological drama or romance. There's something for everyone.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Apr 5, 2024
Sonny Boy is a pseudo-intellectual mess that looks like it was drawn by an intern over a lunch-break. It has no music, no likeable characters - if you can even distinguish between any of them, and somehow expects anyone to care about what happens.
This show seems like one of those M. Night Shyamalan movies that seems all crazy mysterious and profound, but turns out to be as complex as some 5th grader's daydream, except less fun.
It spends so much effort on trying to be a metaphor, that it forgets to actually be fun or interesting to watch.
It's like one of those pretentious art projects
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that tries to envision some mundane everyday concept through a different medium. It's artistic wanking to the highest degree. It's exactly the kind of show that would win awards for masturbating in a spectacular fashion, but ultimately nobody actually wants to watch someone wanking it and would prefer to forget they ever saw it.
It's a show that expects its viewer to grab a class of wine and a block of cheese, wrap themselves up into a hand-crocheted blanket, and sit by the window as raindrops hit the glass, and pretend like they're going into some deep dive about the human condition and the reality of everyday life.
In reality, most people will want to blow their brains out from the sheer boredom.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Apr 5, 2024
Majo to Yajuu is a paranormal mystery series that mixes fantasy and contemporary, along with plenty of gore, but also struggles with some pacing issues and repeated tropes.
Animation / Art / General Visuals - 8/10
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The show has above average visual quality, making it quite enjoyable to watch. There are plenty of nice fight scenes, cool magic effects, and ample usage of gore as well.
Sound / Music / Voice Acting - 8/10
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Solid across the board. The opening track is especially interesting.
Story - 7/10
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Majo to Yajuu's story and world is very interesting, though it does have some issues with pacing and setup.
The story revolves around two characters. A woman who is looking to undo a curse set upon her by a witch, and a man who is helping him as part of an organization that deals with magical mysteries. Pledging to help her in exchange for her working with them.
The show's format largely follows a simple formula of setting up some magical mystery, and then solving it within a few episodes. With gradual world and character building taking place at the same time.
The issue with the story is that the mysteries aren't all that mysterious and the reasoning and actions needed to solve them essentially revolve around simple combat, making the mystery aspect feel more like you're getting cock-blocked from enjoying the showdown until the last possible moments.
Every single mystery features a very similar villain that has an utterly obnoxious "know it all" attitude and an approach that favours obvious deception. The episodes also feel drawn out at times, making it very frustrating to watch as these second rate villains move towards their obvious doom in slow motion.
The season also ends in a rather unsatisfying fashion. Having a big showdown first, then following up with a few more episodes of world and character building, only to then end on essentially a cliffhanger.
Characters - 7/10
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The two protagonists are fairly interesting, though it's hard not to be annoyed by both of them. The female lead lacks any reason, while the male lead is incredibly condescending as he cannot stop but flex his intelligence and observational skills at every moment, even when he ends up being caught off guard half the time by things he could not predict.
It's a very dysfunctional partnership, though that dynamic has its charm.
Secondary characters are all episodic, which means they get limited screen time and it's hard to grow attached to any of them.
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Total - 7/10
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Majo to Yajuu is an interesting paranormal mystery anime, though its short run time along with some pacing issues does make it hard to truly fall in love with it.
Still, the content is fun and interesting enough for any fans of the genre.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 3, 2024
Shangri-La Frontier is a fantasy themed MMO anime which boasts impressive production values, but fails to produce any real content within its 25 episodes, where half of it feels like meaningless filler.
Animation / Art / General Visuals - 9/10
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The world of Shangri-La is beautiful, and the animation quality is very impressive. Some of the fights, especially the one against the big boss was quite possibly some of the best I've ever seen in any anime. Very cool.
Sound / Music / Voice Acting - 8/10
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High quality stuff across the board. We get high octane opening tracks, some nice music themes through-out the show, and top notch voice acting for the main characters.
Story - 5/10
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And here comes the weakest point of Shangri-La. Its story. Or lack there-of.
It's an MMO themed anime, but there are zero stakes of any sort. Our protagonist just tries out this new MMO for kicks. No special reasoning behind it. And once inside the game he has no specific goals either, other than to just mess around and see what it's about. Eventually he does pick up a goal of defeating some bosses, but at no point does it feel like he cares overly much, nor is there any kind of a timer or pressure to actually do anything.
Most of the show is about our protagonist just "fucking around and finding out" for fun. No grand storylines, nothing is ever at stake because dying in the game just gives a temporary debuff, so he can die a 100 times in a row and it does nothing. There's literally no failing at anything except when fighting some unique bosses, which only happens in a few episodes.
It's hard to put into words how boring it can be to watch a character fight enemies where nothing is on the line. Where death and failure means literally nothing.
On top of that, the video game mechanics are incredibly poorly explained, making all the various stats and skills that are being used be largely meaningless to us as viewers. Like, "oh this character got a +50 to this stat and so the fight changes now." How? There is no information given about the relative benefit of any stats or skills, or any game mechanics for that matter. It's all gibberish and adds nothing of value. For a game that's about an MMO, such an approach is very puzzling.
Despite its 25 episode run-time, half of the show feels like filler. This is the opposite of where Solo Leveling failed, where that show only had 12 episodes and felt like there wasn't enough time to flesh anything out in depth. But in Shangri-La, it feels like there are too many episodes, and nothing is being done with them.
Like, do we really need to watch the main character fight some random mobs for 2 episodes, after he already defeated one of the hardest bosses in the game just previously? It's a complete waste of time that does literally nothing to move the story forward or even bring any excitement at all. Fighting a bunch of trash mobs where you can die endlessly and just restart 100x over is not fun at all.
In addition to all this, the show also features some real life scenes, which are just very average slice of life moments that don't really add any value. Seeing the protagonist sit down with his family for 2 minutes to have dinner added nothing useful as his family members were never mentioned again and have no part in the story. Just filler.
There's also a meaningless cringe teenage romance sub-plot that also doesn't go anywhere and seems rather pointless, as the romance character barely gets any screen time. There is literally no foundation for a romance when the characters don't even interact for more than a few minutes through-out the entire show and our protagonist doesn't even know who they are, lmao.
Characters - 7/10
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There are quite a few characters in the show, though most of the focus is on the protagonist Sanraku. He's an extremely energetic teenager who gets extremely excited about beating video games through sheer skill and willpower, rather than any sort of meta gaming. He doesn't really develop as a character in any way, but he's still quite fun to watch due to the combination of extreme skill and arrogance which occasionally backfires as he runs into new and unexpected things.
Secondary characters feature a Bunny NPC who acts more of a comedic character for Sanraku to bounce off of, as well as being a source of exposition.
Sanraku also has a couple of friends from other MMO's that show up and help create a party, but their presence is fairly limited to a small portion of the season. Still, both characters are fun and interesting and hopefully they make a return in the future.
There's also a romance sub-plot character. A teenage girl who is part of Sanraku's highschool class. However, Sanraku is effectively not aware of them, nor does he care about the girl in any way. This leads to a very one sided, and utterly meaningless romance attempt that doesn't really go anywhere.
There are some additional backstory characters introduced, but the story doesn't really give them any real depth.
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Total - 7/10
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Shangri-La is a very impressive looking and sounding Fantasy MMO anime, but its weak story and setup that makes half of its episodes feel like meaningless filler, does drag the whole experience down.
When it's good, it's REALLY GOOD. Some of the fight oriented episodes are mindblowingly fun to watch. However one just can't help but to get bored in a lot of episodes because literally nothing of worthwhile is happening.
A worthwhile watch to fans of the genre, but I do hope Season 2 tightens up the storytelling and progression.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 1, 2024
Solo Leveling is a contemporary fantasy battle shounen that boasts impressive production values, that are unfortunately dragged down by its unimpressive story and occasionally straight up terrible writing and characters.
Animation / Art / General Visuals - 9/10
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Top tier visual quality across the board, with some of the best combat animations you're likely to ever see. The action in some episodes is straight up breathtaking and makes you feel like you're right there in the moment. Great stuff.
Sound / Music / Voice Acting - 8/10
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While the voice acting is solid, and the music extremely good, the usage of some of that music is questionable. For example there was one scene that played some of the loudest most melancholy emotional music I've ever head, while the scene itself was so basic and irrelevant that it felt completely out of place and dragged the whole episode down.
Production values can be a disadvantage if the content simply can't keep up.
Story - 7/10
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The story isn't anything overly noteworthy. A sort of reverse isekai where fantasy magic invades the world, turning regular humans into super powered hunters who must fight back against magical dungeons that threaten to flood the world with powerful monsters.
Our protagonist starts weak but is granted an unexpected source of power which will lead him towards dealing with this phenomenon and the world that has tried to adapt to it.
The story suffers from both unnatural exposition, and lack of proper world building. No doubt a downside of the limited 12 episode run time. This does a great disservice to the anime which likely has a more interesting world in its source material.
The story as a whole also doesn't really go much anywhere. We simply follow our hero as he gets stronger for a personal reason. But there's no grander storyline to really give the show more substance. It throws out bits and pieces of things, but nothing really falls into place quite yet. 12 episodes really feels too little.
Characters - 6/10
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The characters suck. I'll just put it simply. They all lack any real depth or personality, barely any backstories are explored, the writing mediocre at best, terrible at worst.
Jinwoo our protagonist is a loser of a man whose only saving grace is his willpower and relative courage to risk his life on a daily basis to provide support for his comatose mother and school student sister. He is of low confidence, low competence, and average intelligence at best, and makes some of the most bizarre non-rational decisions you're likely to see in any anime. His ability to weigh risks and rewards, and utilize his time properly is completely out of whack.
As for secondary characters... there really aren't any worth mentioning. There's a sister whose only purpose is to nag at him, as sisters do. There's a potential love interest who adventured with Jinwoo for a while, but who is so skiddish she just gives up after one traumatic experience and disappears.
There are a bunch of corporate types who deal with the background stuff of managing the dungeons and whatnot, but it's all just superficial nonsense that is in no way interesting.
And there are some S-rank hunters, the strongest special humans in the world. Despite being introduced to some of them, none of them actually do anything in the anime and thus may as well not have been introduced at all.
The characterization is flat out weak. Likely suffering from the same issue as the story - lack of time to do anything meaningful in just 12 episodes.
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Total - 8/10
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Solo leveling is a contemporary fantasy shounen that is held up primarily by its impressive production values, but struggles to actually stand out with its base content. Whether that's a fault of the source material, or weak adaptation due to the short 12 episode run time, it does scream of unrealized potential.
Still a must watch for any fans of the genre, but one can only hope future seasons take their time and flesh out the story and characters properly.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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