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Dec 6, 2014
Gather around ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to tell you a story.
Back when the first Fairy Tail series was still airing, I watched it every week. It was one of the shows I looked forward to most. It was my favorite shounen, it had good action, great arcs, fun characters, everything that I wanted in an ongoing anime. It had its flaws, yes, but it was still enjoyable to watch none the less. When I found out that the first series would be ending, I was upset. I'd have to wait a long time to watch another episode of what I thought was an awesome
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anime. Luckily, unlike some other shows, the wait took less than a year before the second series started airing, and like the true fan I was, I began watching it every week.
It's been over 6 months now, and in that time, I slowly began watching it less and less, up to the point of me writing this review where I am about 5 weeks behind. It's not because I've been busy, or I've found other anime I've wanted to watch, no. The reason behind this is because of the fact that Fairy Tail has changed for the worse.
The story is one of the few qualities that Fairy Tail (2014) has going for it. The series begins right where the first series left off: during the Grand Magic Games. It's like it never actually went on hiatus, it just picked right back up like nothing happened. It continues down it's normal Arc to Filler to Arc path, just like the first Fairy Tail series, or any other shounen anime for that matter. However, in my personal opinion, the arcs that I've watched so far weren't as entertaining as I was hoping they'd be. People say that the arc that they'll be getting into will be long and amazing, but until then, Fairy Tail series 1 still holds first place in terms of story.
Now we get into where the show took a turn. In the first series, Studio Satelight and A-1 Pictures were co-producting Fairy Tail together. The art style was smooth, detailed and had really good visuals. And then, A-1 Pictures took over. From there, the animation went from grade A to... that of a detailed flash animation. The magic I saw in the original art was gone, and was replaced with average, if not below average, animation. The characters look different, there doesn't seem to be as much movement between characters as they speak or run, it was a let down. At first I thought I wouldn't mind the change in animation, but after a while it really got to me.
The entire cast of Fairy Tail series 1 is back, meaning there aren't any characters that either hit puberty all of a sudden or got punched so hard their voice changed permanently. Tetsuya Kakihara nails his role as Natsu as he did before, along with others like Rie Kugimiya, Yuuichi Nakamura, Aya Hirano, Satomi Sato, and Sayaka Ohara. What I loved about the sounds and everything the most were the Openings and Closings. So far, I can say that I still like them. The music in all of them is catchy as hell.
The characters in the series are more or less the same. They all have the same personalities, same magic, the whole shebang. This is what I'm most glad to see stayed the same. Occasionally, in a second season/second series/new adaption/timeskip, there will be some major changes in this department. Sometimes it will be because the characters grew up, like Simon in Gurren Lagaan, but other times, the characters will have completely different views on everything around them for no reason. If Fairy Tail (2014) went down this road, I would have most likely stopped watching sooner rather than later. Thankfully this was not the case.
Do I enjoy Fairy Tail (2014)? Yes and no, but for the most part I'm leaning towards no. Do I think it's better than Fairy Tail series 1? Definitely no. Do I think that it might pick up at some point? Yes. As I said before, some upcoming arcs in Fairy Tail might help it regain what enjoyment it got from me.
My conclusion: even though Fairy Tail (2014) is upsetting due to the fact that it isn't as good as series 1, I will continue to watch it. I've loved Fairy Tail for years, and I'd feel bad dropping out after getting this far. But who knows? Maybe it'll pick back up.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Oct 19, 2014
"Everything eventually faces destruction. Everything eventually disappears."
The vampire genre has been a fairly difficult genre to perfect, and having an entire franchise of movies depicting vampires as sparkly, sexy creatures that stare at each other for the good part of half the series did not help anyone get closer to creating a good show. Now, in terms of anime, there have been a few good vampire genre series, such as the Monogatari series, Blood+, and my personal favorite, Hellsing. And now, after finally ordering the complete set on BluRay, it's time to add Shiki to the list, one of the better, and surprisingly more believable
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vampire anime out there. Well, about as believable as you can get really...
Story: 10
A secluded village in the mountains, similar to Hinamizawa in quite a few ways. Not many people live there. It's a peaceful location to live your life. However, the one thing that stands out is a giant mansion on the side of a mountain. No one has lived there for years, until the new neighbors move in. Shortly after they appear, people start dying all around the village. People think it's an epidemic after a while... but there are some people that claim to see those who have died up and walking at night.
A note to Steven King lovers, this series reminds me of the novel "Salem's Lot". It's similar in multiple ways. The series starts off fairly dark... somewhat depressing with all the deaths occurring... someone usually dies at least each episode. It's kind of like a death-of-the-week deal... however, about halfway through the series, it slowly starts to go from dark, to disturbing... at least by regular standards. From the very beginning, the story had me intrigued, and each episode I watched made me want to continue, no matter how late it was. The plotline was easily one of the best things about this series.
Art: 9
Shiki had a somewhat unique art style to it. Studio Daume... honestly, until I watched Shiki, I had no idea what Studio Daume had produced. Upon looking them up... I still don't recognize any anime they've produced. But I liked the artwork in this.
Each of the characters had that classic anime style haircut, meaning abnormal hair shapes or colors. As for the rest of the character designs, they were all... for lack of a better word... pleasing, to the eyes. They didn't go overboard most of the time with ridiculous body shapes and sizes, in fact, they were realistic for the most part. And for the scenery, I really enjoyed the visuals. Overall, very pleased. Only thing that I noticed, the most teeny tiny bit, was the fact that from episode 18 and on, it went overboard on the gore, and I mean it when I said overboard.
Sound: 10
This had a solid English Dub. It had many voice actors I recognized, such as Todd Habberkorn, Luci Christian, Cherami Leigh, John Burgmeier, David Wald, Jerry Jewell, and tons of others. They did very well when acting out their roles, and made the characters believable when showing emotion. As for the OST, it seemed fairly limited. I heard one of the same songs play nearly every episode. However, if it weren't for the fact that the song is gorgeous, I would have rated this section lower. And both the openings and endings were well done. I preferred the 2nd opening and ending over the first ones, but it's just my opinion.
Character: 9
There were so many characters in this... too many to count. So, I'll give you a brief description of 5 of the characters.
Natsuno Yuuki, your average 10th grade student. At first appearance, frankly, he seemed like a jerk. He was rude to one of the other characters (despite her being stalkeriffic), and he had a bad attitude, due to the fact his parents forced him to move into a boring town. After the deaths start happening, he gets paranoid and becomes concerned with the wellbeing of others, becomes more human...
Toshio Ozaki, the town doctor. Once the deaths start, he swears to figure out the cause. He gets frustrated a lot, with both people and the case, but he seems like a good guy at heart... despite his twisted intents later in the series. To me, he seems like he's kind of the anti-hero of the series.
Seishin Muroi, the town priest, and famous author. He's on the quiet side, but he's one of my favorite characters. I can't really say much about him, other then the fact that he seems to find good in people, no matter what species they are.
Sunako Kirishiki, a 13 year old vampire girl (at least when she was turned she was 13), who isn't as violent as the others. My favorite character in the entire series. Why? I can't pinpoint the exact reason, but one of the main reasons is because I feel sorry for her. She was changed unwillingly, and she isn't evil, yet people look down on her as some kind of monster.
Megumi Shimizu, wannabe superstar and stalker. She's madly in love with Natsuno, and she hates everyone in the village. That's about all I can really say. She's kiiiinnnddd of a major bitch.
Enjoyment: 10
Despite it's depressing atmosphere, this series was extremely enjoyable. The ending had something left to be desired, seeing as it ended somewhat abruptly and didn't tell us exactly what happened to everyone else, but it was definitely something I'd watch again in the near future.
The one thing I learned about the story? Not everyone can have a happy ending, no matter what species they are.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jul 22, 2014
It's been a long time since I've watched something like this... the last time I watched something this strange and, frankly, terrible was when I watched Mars of Destruction. To be honest, when I first read the plot for the series, I was intrigued... but I didn't start watching right away. But after a while, I came back to the page and was about to add it to my list, when suddenly, an army of wild 1/10 scores appears! I read them and thought... "Is this really that terrible?" Upon reading them, I decided not to get my hopes up on this anime, knowing about
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all the hate, but I was hoping it would be better than Mars of Destruction. In the end, it was, but my God, it was still bad...
The story is about a brother and sister and their lives as they try their best to live out their lives as normally as possible. However, it proves to be quite difficult when the siblings find out that the sister is a flesh craving monster, and he can regenerate his body at incredible speed. Now, have you ever heard the phrase "eaten out" before? It is usually used in a sexual way, but with Pupa, the phrase is taken literally. The brother lets his sister eat him, usually in fairly erotic ways I might add... strangest time to raise the flag pole, seeing as I was watching someone practically get murdered over and over, but hey, I have no control over it.
While the plot had seemed interesting, in the end, it was just plain awful. Plot holes, hardly any character progression, and a filler ending to the series. It was honestly the worst thing about it.
Art and Sound were the only good things about it. Produced by Studio Deen, with main characters voiced by Nobunaga and Ibuki, these 2 subjects were the only things I didn't actually hate about the series. Sadly, it wasn't nearly enough to give me any hope that the series would get better.
Characters were just plain... strange. We got our two main protagonists, brother and sister, who have been watching over each other for years after their parents split up (terrible parents, both of them, I might add). Somehow, I feel that if the series were to continue, we might have a bit of an incestuous relationship going on, especially while watching Yume eat her brother out (literally). Then there's the unmentionable villains. I will not be mentioning them, cause frankly they shouldn't even be considered plot characters. That's it on characters. Sad, huh?
I'll admit, I finished Pupa in one go, but seeing as it's not even the length of 2 episodes of anime, it's nothing to brag about, either hardcore otaku-wise or love of the show-wise. It was just terrible.
Don't believe me? Watch it for yourself. I'm sure YouTube will have it up, seeing as it's not worth the effort to take it down.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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Jul 10, 2014
I feel obligated to write a review about this anime immediately after finishing it just moments ago so I can keep it fresh in my mind...
Le Comte de Monte-Cristo, or, as they know him in the anime, Gankutsuou. Even with it fresh in my mind, it'll be difficult to write a review about this series, for it's hard to find the right words to describe something that should belong in an art museum. Yes, this anime is truly a work of art. The Count of Monte Cristo, roughly based on the original novel written by Alexandre Dumas, which had been turned into a movie back
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in 2002, and a few years later, it has been turned into a 24 episode anime.
First of all, when I saw this while browsing My Anime List, I was instantly intrigued. Having both read the book and seen the movie, I wondered, "How could they possibly turn such a classic piece of literature into a fully animated series?". After pondering that for a while and reading the reviews from other users that were praising the series, I went online and bought the box set. Now, I will admit, it has taken me quite a long time to fully get into the series. Having spent most of my anime life watching anime such as One Piece, OreImo, The World God Only Knows, Space Dandy, etc., it was a major change to go from genres such as those to historical fiction. As of 2 days ago, I had decided to finally sit down and finish the series. It was a long ride, but don't get me wrong... what I had watched was truly beautiful.
For starters, let me just say to those expecting a perfect adaption from the novel/movie: Gankutsuou is indeed a story about revenge and betrayal, but there are many differences compared to the novel/movie and the anime. The anime takes place in the 51st century, so space travel is possible, in fact, it's used throughout the series. Enter our main protagonist, Albert de Morcerf, a noble on vacation with his best friend Franz d'Epinay, in the city Luna. As fate would have it, Albert befriends the dark and mysterious Count of Monte Cristo. From there, their lives are entangled, and thus begins a journey full of romance, revenge and betrayal. An interesting concept once the series starts progressing. About halfway through, things start getting even more in depth, and shocking discoveries are made with each episode you watch. However, despite the series progressing so well, the last episode left much unanswered, and I felt a little bit robbed of a happy ending. Yes, it's a story about revenge and betrayal, so you can't really expect one, but in the end I was lead to believe there might be a glimmer of hope to the ending I was wishing for.
I'm trying to find the right word to describe the sort of art style that Gankutsuou has shown us... a few words come to mind: radiant, gorgeous, unique, and amazing. This is bound to be the most original art style I've seen in the history of anime. There have been some good styles I've seen, such as Nagi no Asukara, Another, and Steins;Gate, but none were like this. It's as if each set of clothing, hair, and inanimate object was made with real life fabrics, and the setting was just magnificent... detailed, extraordinary, brilliant. One of the most incredible pieces of art I've seen in a long time.
I'll be honest... I really, REALLY enjoyed the English Dub for this series. Johnny Yong Bosch did an excellent job playing the role of Albert, Ezra Weisz's best acting role I've ever heard was as Franz, and I've never heard Jamieson Price's voice until this... his Count of Monte Cristo role was amazing. Perfect match. I have not yet heard the Japanese Dub for this series yet, but before I listen to it in Japanese, I'm going to be watching the FRENCH Dub for this series. I'm hoping the reason why is pretty clear to those who have watched Gankutsuou before. And then there's the soundtrack... a beautiful opening song, a... slightly different closing song (meaning it goes from peaceful and dramatic to heavy rock and roll), and an amazing OST that will leave you speechless.
Characters... characters, characters, characters. Let me say, there was a fairly long amount of time where I actually liked most of the characters in the show... but then the betrayal aspect of the anime started kicking in, and there were quite a few characters that I instantly started despising up until the very end of the series, and even those I didn't hate had their low ends at some points. Albert was a good protagonist for the most part, but his flaw was that he was fairly selfish for a good portion of the series. Franz was the loyal best friend, but at times he took things too far. Any other details about characters' flaws would be giving away many spoilers to the series. But overall, for the most part, the characters were decent.
Now, the big question, did I enjoy this series? For the most part, yes. However, for most drama series, there will always be a few times in some episodes that might leave you depressed or angry. It's hard to enjoy an anime that makes you yell at a fictional character to get their act together. I have found myself guilty of doing that at least 6 or 7 times. But for the most part, Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo was indeed, as most reviewers say, a work of art. For those of you who love drama, stories based off of classic literature, and music so beautiful it will make you want to download the entire soundtrack, I recommend that you watch this series. Don't marathon it, take your time. It takes time to fully appreciate art. As for the studio that gave us Gankutsuou, I must tell you one thing... Well done.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jul 7, 2014
"There's no way to know the rules or the goal, yet there are 7 Billion players making whatever moves they want. If you loose too much or win too much, there are penalties. You can't pass your turn, and if you talk to much, you'll be ostracized. There are no parameters and no way to even know the genre. This world... is just a crappy game."
Once again, anime has made me question my existence on this earth... The more anime I've watched and loved, I have found myself asking the same question over and over again, "Why was I born into the wrong world?". I'm
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sure there have been quite a few of us that have asked the same question. For the Fairy Tail lovers, you all wish that you could be a Wizard in Fiore. For the Naruto lovers, you wish to be a Ninja and learn all kinds of Jutsu. For the Pokemon lovers, you wish to have the opportunity to catch them all, only in real life and not just in a game. My point that I'm trying to make: this world is boring.
Not only anime does this though. For years, gaming, television, and books have been building up people's expectations for what reality should be like, and when those people realize the horrible truth, we resort to watching/playing/reading more and more about the worlds we wish to live in. It's a saddening truth, but we have to live with it.
Now, I'd like to welcome you to an anime about 2 people who, like us, feel like they were born into the wrong world, and get their opportunity to escape into a world 1000x better than ours. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, my review, on No Game No Life.
Story:
Sora and Shiro are two siblings living the life of your ordinary NEET. Only, they aren't really average at all. They play games, yes, but they are literally unbeatable. No one knows anything about them and the lives they lead. The only thing everybody knows about them is that they always leave their usernames blank. Despite their skills in any game imaginable, they are bored of the world they live in. That's when they get the opportunity from a so called "God" named Tet to be reborn into a world where everything is decided by games. Follow 10 simple rules, and you can prosper. Follow these siblings as they try to reach their goal and beat the God of this new world, but it's gonna take some time, effort, and a whole lot of planning, but I'm sure they can pull it off. After all, they are Blank.
The story piqued my interest from the very beginning, and with every twist, turn, and the jaw dropping season finale, I really hope to Tet that Madhouse Studios doesn't pass up the opportunity to continue this series.
Art:
Speaking of Madhouse Studios, they've been known for some pretty big work, such as the infamous Death Note, Black Lagoon series, and Chobits. However, it's been a while since I've seen anything they've come up with that deserves a lot of hype. No Game No Life is their golden ticket. Some of the most insane yet beautiful artwork I've seen in a long time. The view of every single part of the world was amazing. It was colorful, beautiful, detailed, just brilliant. And the character designs were all good. Now, let's hear 3 cheers for the return of drawing characters with triangle mouths! \(o^o)/
Sound:
If they ever come up with an English dub for this anime (I really hope they don't personally), they better get one hell of a cast, because I'm pretty sure that all the Japanese dub actors and actresses made the characters sound as good as they possibly can. They put so much realism into their acting that it was probably one of my favorite casts up to date. And then there's the soundtrack, and holy mother of Tet was it good. The opening is probably my favorite song off of the entire anime soundtrack. I never skip it.
Characters:
Sora VS Light Yagami. Sora VS Lelouch. Sora VS Keima Kasuragi. All of these are interesting match-ups, and the thing is, I have no idea who would win in any of those fights. The thing they all have in common? They're all geniuses. Sora is intelligent, funny, highly relateable to when it comes to women... at least in my case. He's one of my favorite MCs in all of anime. Shiro IS my favorite MC. It was a tough fight between her and Kirino... but Shiro has her beat. Same qualities as Sora, only I'm pretty sure she's less curious about boobs than Sora is. She's also on the quiet side, so that gives her a little bit more of a mystery to her personality. Then we got a bunch of other characters, such as Steph, Jibril, Izuna, etc. They all had their good traits to them. I didn't dislike any of them in particular. There were a few moments where I thought they were jerks, but it all kind of evened out in the end. Good set of characters overall...
Enjoyment:
I enjoyed NGNL. I really did. I'm upset that I have to wait for a second season that might not even come. This anime had good humor, great animations, a kickin' soundtrack, fun characters, and a plot that made you think about a whole lot. Oh, and there was the story as well.
Overall, NGNL is worth the hype it's been getting. A lot of people might not think so, but in my personal opinion, this should be a must-watch for all anime fans.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jul 1, 2014
This will be a review for both seasons 1 and 2 of Vampire Knight.
Still a better love story than Twilight... but let's face it, Vampire Knight is similar in a lot of ways, only the vampires don't sparkle, and there are no shirtless werewolves.
Vampire Knight was clichéd in a lot of ways. One girl, a bunch of sexy guys fighting to be her lover, plot twists, and corny lines... so many corny lines... what we have here is the perfect example of what love stories should not be like if you're trying to make something original and enjoyable. But don't get me wrong, I
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didn't hate the series, but I didn't love it.
The story goes like this: Yuuki Cross, a teenage girl who attends an academy whose classes are split up into 2 different sections, the Day Class (for the humans), and the Night Class (for the vampires). Being head of the disciplinary committee, it's her job to keep all the raving teenage girls from going all fangirl on all the gorgeous night class students, while holding back feelings for the leader of the night class, Kaname. By her side, her somewhat adopted brother (I guess, don't really know a better term for it...), Zero, helps her out with her job as a member of the disciplinary committee himself, although he in no way has any feelings towards vampires himself other than pure hatred. With all of these crazy things going on, it's basically a "Who will Yuki choose in the end?" deal. There are plenty of other anime with a similar plotline, although I feel like the ones without vampires would be about 10 times more interesting.
Studio Deen! The studio that brought us hit anime such as "Higurashi", "Dragon Crisis!", "Hetalia", and the well known yaoi dream boat of an anime "Junjō Romantica", and in all honesty, there were some hints in there that made me think, "Oh, of course Studio Deen would add some similar traits to Junjō Romantica in this...". The art was one of the few redeeming qualities of Vampire Knight. The characters were well designed, enough to tell them apart at least, the scenery and effects were well done, and I liked the overall mood the design of the show gave off. One of the few things I can actually say I liked.
English Dub or Japanese Dub, whichever you prefer, both were alright in my opinion. Watched season 1 in English, watched season 2 in Japanese. Honestly, both were as good as the other. I liked Vic Mignogna as Zero in the english dub, and I liked Yui Horie as Yuuki in the japanese dub. For english dub fans, you won't be disappointed, and the same goes for the japanese dub fans. It's not extraordinary work, but it's nothing terrible like some anime.
Characters are what I had the biggest problem with. Characters are where I felt like I was watching Twilight with their behavior and their personalities. I was screaming at Yuuki to just pick someone to fall for instead of both giving me impressions that she wasn't even thinking about who she was gonna choose. Zero had issues. Plain and simple. He hates vampries, but he goes to school with them. He wants to murder them all, but he guards them. He loves Yuuki, but he's kind of a jerk to her. Which is it Zero, are you gonna be a jerk, or a man with feelings? And then... there's Kaname. I wanted him to just keep away from Yuuki so badly, cause he kept causing trouble for everyone it seemed, especially Zero. Zero is one of Yuuki's best friends, don't try and keep him away from her. Don't be a douche-nozzle... Sorry about the rant, I just have problems with some of the characters, mainly the main ones. As for the minor characters, like the rest of the vampires, I had no problems. They were funny, cool, and didn't cause much trouble, unlike the main characters.
Vampire Knight had it's moments. Mainly in the beginning, it was funny, with a little bit of a darker side every once in a while. Then it became a love triangle, plot twists, betrayal, and boom. Twilight. It wasn't terrible, but I gotta be honest, the main reasons I watched this series is because the fangirls in my class wouldn't stop yelling at me to watch it... next they want me to watch Free... God help me.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jun 27, 2014
"No matter how gifted you are, you alone cannot change the world..."
What if you could? What if you were given the opportunity to change the world? How would you go about doing this? It could go either way, you could change it for the better, or for the worse. However, at first this question seems unrealistic, very few people have been able to do it. Just like the quote says, a single person cannot change the world. In most cases, this is true. You'd need the help from thousands of people in order to make something that has a lasting effect on the entire world.
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It's a good scenario to run through in your head, but that's all it's really good for, a mind game.
However, every once in a while, someone will attempt to make a change on the world. For example, Adolf Hitler was able to take control of Germany and cause one of the most devastating wars on humanity, all because he had the idea he could change the world. There are others, too. Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Alexander the Great... these people were extraordinary. Granted, Adolf Hitler didn't exactly help the world in any way, but he was given the opportunity to change the world, and he did.
This anime is the perfect example of this question I have brought up. A story about a student in Japan who has been given the opportunity to change the world, for better or for worse... I present to you, Death Note.
Enter our main protagonist/antagonist (whichever way you want to go), Light Yagami, a teenager who has realized that the world we live in is full of evil. Murder, rape, theft, any kind of crime you can think of, the world is full of it... and then one day, he finds a notebook of death, that causes the person who's name is written in it do die. Seeing his opportunity to change the world and become a God to everyone, he starts his journey to rid the world of evil, one name at a time.
The story itself is one you can't just multitask to. You need to watch and listen to it well in order to understand what's going on. It's complicated and detailed, but it makes the story that much better. Full of twists and turns, love and loss, partnerships and betrayals, Death Note has it all. A truly unique and original story, with an ending that will leave fans satisfied or upset. Either way, this is Grade A screenwriting.
Death Note was brought to us by Studio Madhouse, and let me say, this studio gives anime a realistic point of view in terms of artwork and visuals, which is a nice change from other anime with cool, yet unrealistic, art styles. The characters were designed with realism and perfection, and the scenery had a dark, yet satisfying feeling. A good break.
English Dub VS English Sub... I must say, that in terms of the English Dub, Death Note has one of the best casts you can find in America now a days. Each voice actor and actress fit their roles perfectly, giving off a feeling that they were born to play their characters. It makes me want to hear more of their voices in other anime, especially Alessandro Juliani, who voiced L. He has very few roles, but he played an excellent L. As for the subbed cast, I can honestly say I prefer the dubbed, even though both versions were quite well done.
4 characters will be talked about in this review, due to the fact that I probably wouldn't be able to talk about any more than that amount without giving too much about the series away. First off, we have Light Yagami... spoiler alert, HE'S KIRA! Light is a genius, which makes him the perfect role of the God of the "New World". He has every criminal investigator after his head, and he's been able to figure out how to stay out of their line of sight, and he is excellent at doing so. Next up is L, or Ryuzaki if reading the letter "L" is too tough on the eyes. Ryuzaki is the #1 criminal investigator in the world, being able to solve every unsolved case he's been faced with. Within a matter of episodes, he's able to pinpoint what location Kira might be hiding in with very little information. A good match against Light if I do say so myself. And then there's Ryuk, the Shinigami who dropped the Death Note that Light now possesses. He is, in my opinion, the comical relief in this dark series. His love of apples and terrifying, clown-like appearance, makes me enjoy seeing him every time he comes on the screen. Not to mention he kind of scares the crap out of me. I like that in a character. And then, there's the one character I had a problem with, Misa-Misa. A supermodel with the same power as Light who is just begging to be hit whenever she comes on screen. She was a key character in the series, and I'm okay with her role in terms of that, but frankly, she was just so... annoying. Without her, Light might have had a bit more trouble keeping out of trouble with the police, but at the same time, she causes about as much trouble as he would without her... Other than those few minor things, the list of characters in the series were all excellent.
Death Note, without a doubt, is an anime that should be watched by both anime lovers, and those who don't care for anime but enjoy a good mystery/supernatural series. A great and detailed storyline, stunning artwork, great voice acting, interesting characters, and 37 episodes of pure excitement is what makes Death Note a keeper if you ever see it for sale on Amazon. I guarantee a lot of Death Note fans will agree.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jun 18, 2014
"He's been closing and opening his left hand for a while. When that habit shows up, he usually makes simple mistakes."
And that mistake my friends, was the second season if IS: Infinite Stratos.
To start off, let me just say I was a fan of the first season. I understood where everyone was coming from when they were talking about the cliche harem aspects of the anime, as well as the completely dense protagonist, but I enjoyed it anyways! Why? It had good visuals, some of the characters were awesome (IE Charlotte and Laura), and the action scenes? Beautiful. I was looking forward to a season
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2, hoping for it to be as awesome as the first season, and maybe even find out if Ichika will ever be even the slightest less dense...
But sadly, my dreams were shattered...
I think the worst thing about this season was the storyline. That's the thing though, there was no storyline. There was the idea of one, but it was never carried out. Instead, what we got were a bunch of filler episodes, with a few action scenes here and there. The fillers ranged from a slutty costume contest, a reenactment of some crazy fairy tale, and trying to get a shy girl who dreams of her prince charming to become friends with an idiot who doesn't realize he has 6 other girls hanging off of him like bananas on a tree. What I was hoping to see was the idea I was previously talking about turn this ruined season into a story that might just save it. Sadly though...
One of the few things they did right were the animation and the sound. The animation was beautiful, but the only thing preventing me from giving said animation a 10/10 was the fact that they barely ever put it to good use with action scenes. Instead, they decided that it would be fun to see how graphic they can make a slutty costume competition without getting the video flagged on YouTube. And then there's the sound. I enjoyed most of the actors and actresses' roles, but the thing is, I watched the first season dubbed, mainly because I liked the cast, so it was difficult to get used to the subbed as I watched each episode the day it came out. But in the end I found the subbed version entertaining and well done.
Now, we get down to one of the biggest problems with this season... THE CHARACTERS. The thing is, I still like Charlotte and Laura, but the problem is that they are completely different from the first season... like most of the other girls as well... it seemed like the only thing I was hearing them talk about was how much they loved Ichika, and what they would do to be with him and stuff like that. There were no interesting "Oh hey, I just learned something new about them" moments or backstories, just a bunch of girls drooling over the most dense person on the planet. Luckily, there were 2 new characters we got to know... well, at least one of them were okay in my opinion. One of them turned out to be exactly the same as the rest of the girls, but at least the other one had some skepticism about it. But overall, very disappointing to see Charlotte in a sexy dog outfit... wait... I guess it wasn't THAT disappointing... but still...
Overall, IS: Infinite Stratos II was somewhat of a trainwreck... it had it's pros, although there were very few of them, but it had so many cons I really wish I could unwatch season 2 and wait until they release an actual, well done, great story, backstory included season 2. Sadly though, that won't be happening... at least not for a long time.
Story: 3
Art: 8
Sound: 8
Characters: 5
Enjoyment: 5
Final Score: 5
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jun 8, 2014
[REVIEWER'S NOTE] This is based on my opinion. While most of you probably wont give it as high of a score as I've given it, I urge you to read the entire thing before clicking the "Not Helpful" button. Who knows, I might make some good points.
Over the years, I've noticed that there have been multiple anime that get hyped over in extreme amounts, where I'll constantly be hearing stuff like "Holy crap dude, you gotta watch this" or "I started watching [insert anime here] and it's so good". Some perfect examples of this would be Sword Art Online or Attack on Titan. Granted, in
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my personal opinion, I found both of those anime exciting and enjoyable, but still, they were overhyped. It's been a looooong time since I've watched an anime that deserves the hype it gets (the last time being Clannad After Story), and now I've finally found one that I found exciting and enjoyable, while agreeing that it indeed deserves the hype it's gotten. Laties and Gentlemen, an anime that defies logic and sends you on a one way journey to crazy-in-your-face-skimpy-outfits-and-epic-fights-ville, Kill la Kill.
When I first started watching Kill la Kill, I saw no story. Yes, the idea was given to you that there might be a plotline that will eventually start up, but it started off with a kind of "boss of the month" feeling. Each episode would have the protagonist fight some of the antagonist's goons and gain new abilities along the way. After about 6 or 7 episodes of this, it started getting interesting (not that it wasn't already). The mystery behind one of the key plots in the story was solved, and the story just went on from there, leading to a bunch of action, betrayal, and "hooooolllyyy crap I didn't see that one coming" moments. Admittedly, it took me a while to fully understand what I was watching, but once you sit down to think about it, as absurd as it might sound, the story was indeed well done.
The thing that threw me off the most when watching the first episode was the animation style. It had a mixture of older animation, expression and character designs you might find in an anime such as Panty and Stocking or Chi's Sweet Home, and fanservice galore. Whle it took me a while to get used to the... unusual... art style, it grew on me eventually, and the action scenes made me absolutely fawn over it. Yes, it usually throws off most people I've shown this anime to, but it's really quite unique.
I am honestly surprised how fast America jumped on the opportunity to dub Kill la Kill. While it hasn't yet been released, we get to watch the subbed version... which was magnificent. There were quite a few voice actors I recognized. It took me at least 13 episodes and a bunch of "The Thinker" posing to figure out that it was the same voice actor who voiced Holo that voiced Ryuuko. Overall, the sub was well done, and the SFX were realistic and very high quality.
Characters. Good lord, there are some weeeeird characters in Kill la Kill, as well as some really badass ones. Almost all the characters had a well thought out backstory, as well as traits that made me like all of them... well, almost all of them. I can say that Kazuki Nakashima was indeed excellent in making protagonists, as well as antagonists. In fact, he did so well of a job that I absolutely hated the antagonists with every life fiber in my body. It might sound weird saying this, but I'm hoping that he makes the villains of his next series less hate-able. And then there's Mako...
Kill la Kill was a kick ass awesome anime. It paced itself out nicely, had excellent action, great character development, wonderful voice actors, lovable protagonists, hate-able antagonists, a decent story, and a whole lot of enjoyment. If you like any of the things I've mentioned, I urge you to give it a try.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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May 31, 2014
I'd be lying if I said that I've seen anime far more gruesome and disturbing then this. I remember playing the game on my PSP when it was released in America not too long ago. By far one of the most entertaining survival horror games I've played in some time. Then, upon browsing through anime to watch, I noticed that there had been a 4 episode adaptation called "Corpse Party: Tortured Souls". Looking back, I really wish I could tell myself what I was about to get myself into, and maybe I could have saved my eyes from bleeding, but let's face it, I probably
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would have watched it anyways.
Corpse Party: Tortured Souls starts off in an almost identical way to the game. A bunch of students and their teacher are throwing a party for a student who's transferring away, but then have the floor beneath them collapse and they fall into another dimension. They wake up in a school that was supposedly demolished years ago after a bunch of murders that occurred. As they start searching for each other, they find out that they aren't the only ones in the school. And one by one, they are each hunted down. Seeing as it's only a 4 episode series, it seemed a bit rushed. It had an interesting premise, but it ended too soon, and it started drifting away from the story in the game, as well as giving us an ending that didn't exactly satisfy me to the fullest. However, for an adaptation, it did fairly well compared to others based on games.
Oh boy, how should I say this... I think the thing that drew me to this anime the most was the artwork. Playing the game, you'll notice that there will be only a few detailed scenes, similar to a visual novel, meaning that the game didn't go overboard on the disturbing content and imagery. Now, for the anime however, they didn't hold back. In a way, the artwork reminded me of the anime "Another". It was detailed, disturbing, and somewhat bloodier than anything I've ever seen. We had eyes being stabbed, tongues being cut off, guts spilling out, the whole package. Now, some people might not be able to handle this and it might make them turn away from this anime, and I can understand why, but this was what made Corpse Party: Tortured Souls so entertaining.
Now we have the sound effects and voices. Every bone crunching, blood spurting, floor creaking, body breaking, brutal stabbing sound effect in this anime was top notch, and it had me cringing just thinking about it. As for the voice actors, I noticed a lot of people that I've seen in some of my favorite anime. They had a pretty good cast for such a short series, but it was interesting to see Tetsuya Kakihara go from badass wizard to psychotic killer.
The characters... hmm... what I can tell you right now is that they were all interesting to learn about and watch in action. One piece of advice though, just don't get too attached to them. For example [THE REST OF THIS SECTION HAS BEEN CUT OUT DUE TO SPOILERS] and then she took the scissors and [OH WAIT, THERE'S STILL MORE] and then he strapped her down to the table and [JESUS, ENOUGH MAN]. So yeah, that's why.
Corpse Party: Tortured Souls is NOT for everyone, and it is sure as hell not for my sister. She's the one who told me she watched this, and her reaction was enough to make me warn you. If you're into watching a bunch of happy-go-lucky students go crazy, this is for you. If not, steer clear. This is my warning. Now, if you'll excuse me, my friend is moving away. Tonight's her last night here, so we're throwing her a party at school.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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