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Feb 11, 2016
As I have seen that there are a lot of really bad reviews of Himouto out there, I decided to write one explaining why I thoroughly enjoyed the series - though I “only” gave it a 7.
Apart from all the nonsense and typical anime jokes there were things in the end that I convinced me this is actually a good series! Out of many reasons I liked about it I will pick out two that stuck with me. This review is also for people who already watched Himouto, but if you are unsure about whether you should watch it, I hope I can convince you
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to do so.
Have your ever read an old Shakespeare comedy? If you haven't, you should. I you have, you will know that disguising as some other person plays a major role throughout these stories. A lord's daughter dresses up as a guy, a lord dresses up as a commoner...
In Himouto we also have that element: the main character assumes different roles and acts differently in front of various people. Granted, they fail to realise who she really is. Many people may denounce this as a cheap, lazy and above all nonsensical plot device. But hey, Shakespeare got away with it over 400 years ago - the people loved it, it was great fun. So why should an anime that's primarily about providing nonsensical fun not be allowed to do it? I can admit that I really liked it and thought it was pretty cool when I noticed that Shakespeare connection - you can’t beat sounding all educated and smart :D
Secondly, the feels. No, not the ones that make you cry in romance animes if you have a weak spot for that sort of thing. More like the relationship between the characters being shown in a subtle way through small gestures. Most negative reviews go on about how Umaru is this unlikable brat who acts awful towards her brother. I would argue that her extreme spoiledness is just for the sake of comedy (who’d have thought :D). But - you will see her actual personality shining through quite a lot: she really cares about her brother! Notice how she cherishes presents he got for her or how upset she gets when something seems to be wrong with him. This is also the case for the relationships between the other characters. I'm not going to go into detail here but it’s all very well made and will leave a smile on your face while also making you really care about them and their stories.
At the end of the day it's not a perfect series but one well worth watching if you like comedy and slice of life animes.
Music:
catchy, perfect opening
boring ending
music throughout the episodes fits the story well, sometimes a little bland, some nice themes
Animation:
great & cute animation of Chibi Umaruuu~ :D
Nothing surprising, outstanding or special but still good
Story:
Nothing new or exciting but very well executed with some nice ideas
Comedy is not “rolling-on-the-floor-choking-from-laughter-level” (for that, go watch prison school) but it will constantly put a smile on your face and really make you laugh from time to time
Characters:
I like! (except for that annoying, blue-haired, noble chick)
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jun 12, 2014
As there is a lot of discussion about this issue, in my opinion Neon Genesis Evangelion deserves to be seen as one of the most important anime series. Why is that?
For me, the answer would be: the characters and the overall experience that is NGE.
In this review I will give the reasons why I really liked this series and give the reader an idea why he or she should watch it, too.
While the story seems pretty simple and cliched at first it soon gains depth and scale and you realize it's about much more than you thought. Giving away anything would really spoil the experience
...
so let me just tell you that the writing is superb and it adresses very important themes in an impressive way. You might learn a lot about yourself and your feelings by watching NGE.
The great writing helps breathing live into the characters and making them very reliable. Also, the story spends a lot of time exploring their backgrounds, experiences and feelings, thereby giving reasons for their actions. Though it might not seem like it if you watch just one episode - the characters are as far away from being a one-dimensional chliché as one can image. That's something not many animes achieve. Sometimes you'll be happy, sometimes you'll be sad but you'll always feel strongly for the characters.
Also, the story always stays exciting and surprising which of course adds to the overall enjoyment. The ending left me slightly puzzled - while I sort of understood what was going on and liked the conclusion it still felt like some important parts were left out. I expect the follow-up movie, The End of Evangelion to sort this out.
While the art is obviously from the 90s it's still so much better than a lot of what you see today. It's hard to describe but everything feels organic, the characters feel like real people and the surroundings seem to be places that could actually exist. I would even go as far as to compare it with immersion you get when you read a great novel and create the world in your head. This is even more impressing as some art is very reduced working with only the outlines or shadows and there are many still pictures. As far as I know that was due to financial reasons. I didn't mind though and it feels like some of the money they saved there went into the animation of the fights which are exciting and vibrant. The art also does a great job of picturing the inside of a characters head when their feelings are explored, you'll know what I mean when watching it.
The sound completes the work of art that NGE is. The opening is great, catchy and fits the series well. The music by Sagisu Shirou is just perfect, sporting memorable themes and raising the tension in exciting moments while also setting the right mood during quieter moments.
I hope this helps understand why I enjoyed NGE so much and I hope you'll watch it and feel the same way!
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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May 29, 2014
I don't think I would have bothered writing a review for Steins Gate if it wasn't ranked #2 on Myanimelist. Then again, I don't think I would have continued watching this anime after Episode 5 if it hadn't been ranked that high by almost everybody, including some friends.
I'll give the main reason for me not liking Steins Gate as much as everyone else right away: the first half of it bored me to hell, then it became slightly better while the last four episodes were quite watchable. Now for some more details.
Story/Characters - The Story itself, its basic idea is not bad. A young, self-proclaimed,
...
back-alley scientist inventing a time machine by accident and messing around with it, not thinking about the bigger consequences. As that might not enough, putting in an organisation that's after his invention is an understandable plot device. However, the execution of that premise is pretty poor.
As far as I understood the intention of the people behind this series, the first half of it tried to make the viewer develop a strong connection with the characters. That brings us right to the problems I had with them: While the main character, Hououin Kyouma (as he calls himself) is surely unique, I found him to be little more than an annoying dick. He doesn't seem to have any skills except making up wild conspiracies and weird names for his experiments as well as doing everything to alienate the people around him. More worrying for a scientist is that he also doesn't seem to have much scientific knowledge, all that work is done by other characters. So the invention of the time machine seems already pretty implausible. I also didn't fully understand why everybody seemed to put up with his character, except for his childhood friend with whom he had a long-lasting relation maybe.
All the other characters were - in my opinion - nothing more than stereotypes that added no value whatsoever. Watch the series and you'll probably understand me. The only positive thing for me was that Hououins annoying character traits mostly vanish in the second half of the series when he has to make tough decisions and playing time is over. Unfortunately the doesn't get any more interesting.
Back to the story: I felt like many ideas were thrown in, executed poorly or not at all and quickly discarded. While some might love to discuss what the genius creators were thinking when putting that in, my opinion is that in most cases they were just lazy and that there is no sense in ascribing meaning to the resulting plotholes. Then again, they at least managed to wrap up the story in a satisfactory way. Though, to reach this conclusion you'll have to put up with tons of random, unimportant dialogue and aimless conversation. I also missed the sort of "mindfuck" experience some time travel stories give you, though that may have been my fault for getting my expectations too high.
While this part of my review might seem a bit bland and I'd love to go into more detail it's hard to do that without requiring the reader to have watched the series ore spoiling the story for others who still want to watch it (though I can't really recommend to do so).
Sound - I'll keep this short and simple. Opening was fantastic though they kept it for all the 24 episodes which is unusual. As it was really good, I didn't mind. Background music was okay, I guess, I really can't remember any of it but it also seemed to fit the whole series while watching it. Voice actors? Also okay, I guess, though Hououin Kyouma really stood in a good way. Also, Mayuris "Tuturu" will really get stuck in your head for quite a while :D Look it up on youtube and you'll know what I mean.
Art - Over the whole series the art style is pretty dark and devoid of much color. It fits the sometimes dark atmosphere though the series fails to establish that atmosphere all the time. So I found myself pretty annoyed by the lack of colors at times, not really being able to tell you why. I liked that kind of art style a lot more in series like Death Note.
The reason I still give this series a 7 is that I started to enjoy it in the end, too bad it was over shortly afterwards. Thinking back about how annoying watching it for was for the most part makes a 7 seem almost too good a score. So for everyone planning to watch Steins Gate: I really can't recommend it, you'll force yourself through the first half and the payoff later isn't big enough to justify that.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 24, 2014
Damn! After watching the last two Episodes of Strike Witches 2 I really want to give it an 8 or even a 9. However, when I think back to all the Episodes before that it wouldn't represent my feelings about the whole second series.
After watching the first series, the second one started off great. I mean, the idea of the Neuroi coming back over Romagna/Venezia was pretty simple and expected but the first episodes were still a great introduction into the second series. The characters you love are back and they all get some great moments, especially Major Sakamoto, my favorite!
Nothing has really changed
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compared with the first series: the Art ist maybe a tiny bit more refined and elaborated but nothing big. Some of the major themes of the first series reappear, the new opening and ending were also good though I feel like I the first two were a little bit catchier ;)
Characters are still the same and what you loved about them in the first series is all there. You could criticise the lack of any real development but if you ask me, that's not really something to expect of this series and that's fine.
Now to the reason why my rating for enjoyment/story is at 7/6. After the strong start the series really drops into a hole of fanservice and filler episodes, only to reemerge in the end.
Pretty much all the episodes in between have something happening in and around the Strike Witches base, always with the goal of showing as many scenes with as little clothing as possible. On top of that stuff like naked breasts is censored in the second series, while there was no such thing in the first. Even though I don't care much for the ecchi parts I feel like the bright beams of light covering everything now make these scenes even cheesier! They all feel forced and badly made up, a thing I also didn't notice in the first series. The basic pattern is always the same: something unimportant/weird happening, some commotion, maybe a Neuroi appearing at some point for the sake of a quick and generic fight scene and then the resolution of everything. Nothing gained, no story development - I had to force myself to watch these episodes and even thought about quitting the series. That's not even fanservice any more, that's merely poor writing and a lack of ideas.
Anyways, as mentioned before, the series won me back in the end. It miraculously reemerged with an exciting and well written conclusion to the series. The only thing left to ask is: why weren't they able to do it like that right away? I get that there might not have been much room for new story left in the basic premise of the series, but a shorter series or even a movie right away might have been the way to go there.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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