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Apr 27, 2024
Gundam Seed is one of my favourite Gundam series. It was long enough to tell a lot (50 episodes per season), and was so engaging! When a movie was announced, I was hyped, especially since it was already planned back in 2006 and the main writer of this movie is the husband of the original writer, so you can be sure it's a project written with passion.
Now, was it worth it? Well.... I have pretty mixed feelings.
STORY
Starting from where Destiny Episode + stopped. Lacus is now the leader of a "Peacemaker group" called Compass. Her army comprises of Kira, Shin, Luna, Asran.... All the big
...
bosses from this universe, of course.
Despite their best intentions, they fail to create peace. Which enrages Kira. Despite what he told Durendal (that he would keep fighting again and again), he is starting to break, morally. His only pillar is Lacus.
But in the mean time, Lacus meets with the leader of Fondation, another group that also intends to create peace. That leader, called, Orphee, literally hits on Lacus, swearing to create peace for her, with her. This affects Kira deeply, who feels like he is not good enough for Lacus, and that she would dump him for Orphee.
And.... this is where things get weird. It turns out Orphee and his champions are all a new kind of Coordinators, called Accords. The accords have the ability to control Coordinators' minds. Orphee uses it to persuade Lacus to join him. Then, during a joined operation between Compass and Fondation, he orders his champions to manipulate Kira's mind to make him cross the frontier with Eurasia ; something Eurasia had strictly forbidden. During the same operation, Fondation betrays Compass, trying to kill Kira and the rest, while Orphee keeps manipulating Lacus and flees with her, back to Requiem. It turns out Requiem
And that's where the true story starts. From here on out, Kira and his buddies must prepare to attack Requiem, in order to retrieve Lacus, and defeat the Accords.
I'm saying all this because.... it's so weird I had to write it down for it to make sense.
Don't get me wrong, it's not inconsistent at all. In fact, this movie ties up very well with Seed and Destiny! It's a major plus for the movie.
But.... this plot would have worked WITHOUT the weird mind control. I swear, this shit becomes weirder and weirder as the movie goes on. At some point Asran gives an enemy an erotic thought of Cagalli willingly. During a battle...
Remove all that, and instead just write it so Kira makes the mistake of crossing the border of Eurasia WILLINGLY. And boom, there is no more weird shit in the story.
Aside from that, the movie is full on about love. I have nothing against this... when the dialogues surrounding it aren't extremely repetitive. You could make a drinking game out of this movie. Or two.
But it's not a major problem. It doesn't change the fact that the story is very well thought, albeit it's a bit superficial compared to the original series.
CHARACTERS
This movie introduces a brand new character, Agnes. And... she sucks. Like, she's REALLY lame. Agnes is madly in love with Kira. She makes a move on him, and of course, Kira turns her down. She is so sad... and therefore, she joins the opposite army. No no, really. Who cares about morality, philosophy and politics, turns out all you need to betray your army is get rejected by your crush....
The villains, all new characters too, are all tied to Durendal. So the story of the group is quite interesting. The characters themselves though.... They're quite pathetic. They're supposed to be strong, but honestly.... they get beaten the crap out of the characters using their OLD Gundams. Like, the ones from Seed. Hell, Asran uses a SGOG and can still face these clowns.
And the mother, oh my god.... All these Accords are joined with their Queen, which they often call their mother. But that woman acts like a fuckin kid. Even during the final battle (hell, ESPECIALLY during the final battle). This is a really annoying character.
You got it, the new characters are so stupid and lame. But luckily, the original cast is here... and they are AWESOME!
Kira being wounded morally was so sweet and clever. It's not enough to say "I'll keep fighting", you have to have the strength to do it!
Asran is a GIGACHAD. He barely appears at first. Then he comes in a battle and saves the day, with a freakin badass attitude. Then he hears about the enemies mind control, and he mocks it ALL THE TIME, until he has to face them.... and he kicks their asses because he had an easy counter to this superpower, lol.
Lacus was at the center of the plot, so her character was interesting. Cagalli is, sadly, on the side. But she's cool.
Shinn was awesome. He let go of his anger, and now he tries to prove his worth to Kira, but Kira doesn't let him fight alongside him, so he keeps fighting to prove himself worthy.
Overall, the way the original cast was treated made this movie enjoyable. The main villains are the huge problem of this movie.
VISUALS AND ANIMATION
The lips. There's nothing more to say. Those female lips are so weird, lol. Aside from that, the movie is beautiful and the animation is cool. I don't feel like the battles are memorable, except for the scene where METEOR is playing. But it wasn't bad visuals, it just didn't catch my attention.
MUSIC, SOUNC, VOICE ACTORS:
The OST is faithful to the original, it's pretty great. I do feel like sometimes the music doesn't fit the scene. Sometimes too heroic during a tragic scene, sometimes too happy during a sad one... But the OST itself is pretty great.
Nothing to say against the rest, it's perfect.
CONCLUSION
This is a movie to watch if you miss Gundam Seed. It's as simple as that. It's not a bad film, and not a bad story. It does have big downsides, mainly the villains and the fact that it's a 2 hour story (it pales, in comparison to the original series). But it was a pleasure to watch these characters again. I'm not sure I'd want to watch it again, I do have mixed feelings about it overall.... but if you enjoyed Gundam Seed, I can recommend it!
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Sep 20, 2023
I have had a theory for a while now: "the writing quality, in all industries, has suffered a massive drop between 2015 and 2020." Nothing shows that better than stories released during this period, because many of them start off brilliant and end up incredibly stupid. Sadly, this is true for Btooom! This is partly a rant, but rest assured, I'll make it as objective and informative as I can.
STORY
Btoooom! is yet another survival game. Except characters can only use bomb. I was skeptical, honestly. It's like making a martial arts tournament but one can only use a punch.... I mean, bomb fights are boring,
...
you can see it for yourself by playing any FPS and use only bombs. It's just not varied enough to make fights interesting!
And it shows with the very first episode of the anime (which I assume is Chapter 1 or 2 of the manga?). Sakamoto takes so long to realize that the number on the bomb is its countdown, it felt like the author was trying way too hard to make bombs look complicated, when they're not.
So I was worried... at first. But the fights actually get incredible! The players have several types of bombs, although they all start with a single type each. The powers sometimes become unrealistic, but it didn't bother me. The variety in power keeps the fights entertaining, especially since the characters play strategically (using vacuum bombs to aspire gas from a zone, pulling the enemy near a zone with a previously set trap bomb, ...).
So, there is nothing wrong with most fights. The manga is really epic, the battles are spectacular.
... So what IS wrong? Well, several things took me off the hook:
1) Oversexualizing. Now I hate to be that guy. I see nothing wrong with sexuality in a story, especially when it is targeted at adults anyway. But authors easily fall in the trap of fueling their story with their personal fetishes, and honestly, Btooom often felt like a fetish dump. Why's that?
Because rape is a prominent theme all throughout the manga… even after it stops becoming relevant to the story. Now to be honest, I actually enjoyed that part, at first. Because the characters were truly affected, traumatized. It was interesting to see Himiko suffer from her trauma and how she was learning to live with it.
But if the point was just to tell the story of a rape victim, there was really no need to have her almost raped FOUR FREAKING TIMES! And I don't count all the sexual assaults, just the ones that objectively count as rape attempts.
Himiko gets raped every 25 chapters. And she’s not the only character to be sexualized. One of the support characters later on in the manga is a porn star. And it’s not to tell an interesting story about how porn stars are psychologically affected by their industry; no no, that character is only here for sex. She “offers her services” to Oda (her words literally), she makes sex jokes in front of a kid, her flashback shows how she enjoyed the attention thanks to her job… and her very first scene is her putting her butt on that kid’s face.
Even at the very end, this needless proportion of sex is still here! In one of the final chapters, a brand new character sends a phone call. Once the panels switch to his side of the call, we realize he’s having an orgy. That was uncalled for, especially in the tense context of that chapter. Imagine you watch a character in a zombie apocalypse, and suddenly they receive a call from a clown who tells him his pizza is ready. It’s THAT kind of out-of-context level.
And even in the very last chapter, once everything is said and done, what do we end with? A full picture of a naked 8 years-old girl. Yeah, no kidding.
“Ew, but there is nothing sexual in a kid’s body!”. Yes, I agree. Explain to me why the author felt the need to have her naked. In that scene, Kaguya is being treated by doctors for a wound on her belly. You don’t NEED to remove all clothes for an operation here. So, the author did not NEED to have a kid naked in that scene. But he still felt the need to do so. Therefore, I WILL count that as a fetish, whether that’s his own or whether he fought that was his readers’.
And all of that, how do they justify it? “Men all become pigs when pushed in a corner.” For real? So, err… here’s a quick reality check: MOST TRAGIC SITUATIONS IRL DO NOT TURN INTO RAPE. In this manga, men try to rape girls AS SOON as they’re in a bad spot. If that were true in real-life, every plane crash would turn into orgy rape, and guess what? That’s not the case. But the problem isn’t about respecting real-life: my real problem with that is it truly feels like an apology of perversion.
2) The center of the plot makes no sense.
To put it simply, a bunch of rich guys work in the shadows to control the world by controlling the Internet. To be fair, I loved the idea of “whoever controls the net controls the world.” The plurality of media has always been what has prevented mass propaganda (check out the story of radio piracy for example), and the internet is the paroxysm of media plurality, so it makes sense for hidden governments to try and control that world.
The major issue is their main plan. They make their death game PUBLIC entertainment, have it diffused publicly IN LIVE, and intend to control medias and politics to make the public opinion ACCEPT THAT as a good thing.
The problem is the manga makes absolutely no effort to show HOW people could just accept that. There is a reason real-life isn’t Hunger Games: even the most corrupt politicians today wouldn’t view “massacre for entertainment” as a viable plan. Because most people would objectively be against that idea. Even those who secretly like it would still act like it was a terrible idea.
Now the author had one good idea: to present this death game as a death penalty. The players are supposed to be scums, criminals. That’s why there is so many rapists/killers among them. So it COULD have been a very interesting way to bring up the topic of death penalty. There COULD have had dialogues where characters state that this is an efficient way to deal with crime.
But the manga DOES NOT do that. It never shows the characters ponder about death penalty, and never makes the readers think about it. And worse than that, it exclusively shows characters AGAINST that idea (outside the perpetrators of that plan). There is not a single character outside Themis who even says “maybe that’s a good idea to have criminals execute each other.”
There is no rationale behind that point, and the reason is it’s not possible to have one! No one would say it’s ok to show gory shows and rapes publicly on television. And yet, that’s the center of the plot! As a result, all of this feels meaningless.
3) The endings…
Speaking of meaningless. I have often met endings that make me feel like the entire journey wasn’t worth it. Never had I met a story with TWO endings where BOTH are simply lackluster. None of them resolve anything whatsoever, and none of the chapters bring anything meaningful to the messages the story apparently tried to tell. It’s just “we reach the end, Period.” It isn’t rushed, but it lacks anything meaningful to make it feel like the end. We don’t know how the world reacted to everything revealed publicly, we don’t know how the characters manage to survive in the shadows, we don’t know in which direction this world is going.
And, final nail in the coffin, the author ends with a note denouncing the “fanservice” side of the manga industry. Despite his manga being FILLED TO THE BRIM with fanservice!
… Wow, that’s a lot to take in. You get my point, the scenario is the major (and only?) problem with this manga. But even that isn’t a 0/10! Most characters have interesting stories… until they’re ruined in one way or another.
CHARACTERS
What have we got here? Rapists, hotties and religious people. That’s what I remember the most, and it’s not my fault so I won’t apologize.
The author decided it was a good idea to have half the main cast be rapists. Now, this is a horror story, so I didn’t have any problem with that. But… what the hell? Why is he trying so hard to have Kira and Uesugi look like good guys????? During the final arc, they are both treated like good characters, fighting for their friends and evil corporation. Even the first rapist of the story has a moment where he acts like a victim (“you’re the one that ruined my life!”, he says…). Ok, I get why the rapist would try to view HIMSELF in a good light, but why are Kira and Uesugi treated like friends???
Then, there is Oda. Ohhh, Oda… How come a character so cool get so dull and stupid? He even disappears for something like 40 chapters, right after the flashback about him. During this time, he doesn’t do anything meaningful the few times we see him, and once he comes back… suddenly, he is the final bad guy. And worse than that, what’s the reason for that? Why is he antagonizing Sakamoto this much?
Because Sakamoto was more popular than him WHEN THEY WERE IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL!!!! Yes, no joke. The reason for him being so antagonizing towards Sakamoto is a girl asked him to deliver a love letter to Sakamoto back then. How much more pitiful, pathetic and stupid can it get?
Well, we could have all the characters worship a girl that supposedly can see ghosts. And… that’s what happens!!! Then, we can have a lot of dialogues implying that spirits are real and mediums aren’t rip-offs. Then we can have that cult leader be the Deus Ex Machina in every situation. For real, the final arc is filled with situations where Kaguya somehow has the solution.
I get that Japan has a lot of religious people. But never had I seen one of their stories feel like religion propaganda. It tries too hard to make a point out of that.
Now I actually loved the Sanctuary arc. Because Kaguya’s story was interesting to follow. I was just disappointed that the existence of ghosts didn’t have a bigger impact on the whole manga, if they truly exist in that world. If ghosts have so much power, why don’t they play a bigger role against Themis? Why don’t they haunt them, their system, outside the island? That’s what I meant when I said “religion propaganda”. If the ghosts had a relevance to the plot, I wouldn’t call it that. But the fact is, Kaguya’s powers come into play just to make the characters (and the viewers) want to join Kaguya’s cult. And that’s what the characters do…
Again, it’s not a 0/10 in that department. The characters are all awesome aside from their stories. I loved Kira because he reminded me of Shouko’s little sister in Koe no Katachi, and he was actually a great villain (before he turned into a hero…). Himiko was annoying sometimes, but touching. Sakamoto was awesome, although a bit stereotypical.
ART
I’ll end on a very positive note. Btooom is a great manga, visually. I see absolutely nothing to complain about. The mangaka knows how to make epic scenes through drawings, the chara-design is clean, it’s honestly among the best mangas visually, in my opinion.
CONCLUSION
Btooom is, like its name… weird. The idea of having fights with only bombs was weird, but that bet is actually a success. The rest though… is just a shame. The author oversexualizes its story, and while it WAS serving a purpose in the beginning, it somehow became a fetish dump. The characters are all interesting at least at first, but the author decided to take more time making an apology for rape than to develop the other characters. And the ending is so lackluster than even two of them don’t fill the plot enough for it to feel worthwhile.
That said, I’d still recommend you check it out for the fights.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Aug 29, 2023
Sakurada Reset is the very definition of a "hidden gem". Literally no one talked about it when i aired, and six years later it's still not known. And it's a shame, because it is a unique anime, in terms of ambiance. Are you sick of the over-the-top reactions and surreal battles with the world at stake? Good! Because SR has none of that. It's a very grounded story, with down-to-earth characters like we rarely see in the anime industry.
STORY
This is a world with magical powers. A girl has the ability to reset time, but she can't alter anything because she loses her memory when she
...
uses it. A boy has the ability to keep his memory no matter what, even if Time is reset. A common friend of them puts them in relation so they can work together and save people from tragedies before they even happen.
But they are all young, and they are all human. So even though they have a perfect combination that can save a lot of lives, things don't go so smoothly.
And while they live through these conflicts, they may be tangled with an even bigger one involving the Bureau, the organization that tries to manage superpowers.
Sakurada Reset could be described as a "Sherlock Holmes with magic and drama". Although there is no genius like Holmes, the anime shows several investigations surrounding characters with superpowers. The stories are clever, the way they use the powers to move the plot is brillant. This is by far the best story involving time travel I've ever seen. On par with Stein's Gate.
Another thing that is worth praises is the fact that each power has its limitations. Like Code Geass or Death Note, Sakurada Reset describes its supernatural side with rules that serve the scenario as the characters must acknowledge those limitations and work despite them. The perfect power doesn’t exist, but every power has a perfect use case!
And it’s not just the scenario and the powers that is clever. The dialogues are brilliant too! They’re very philosophical: the show aims to make you ponder. About a lot of things. It brings up a lot of typical philosophy themes, like the Swampman (similar to the Ship of Theseus), or the matter of self-preservation, or the Trolley Problem, and so on.
One problem I noticed: many things are explained much later in the series. For example, why does Time act exactly the same after a Reset? That question isn't even asked before it is answered during the second part. Or, at some point I was wondering why Kei didn't realize that someone was resetting Time even though it is said Haruki had been doing it for a while; well it turns out he did notice it, it's just never brought up until much later.
My point is you will find inconsistencies from time to time, but in fact the author did think about it, they just bring up the explanation later!
RHYTHM
Sakurada Reset moves at a very slow pace. You have been warned. Even though I loved it, I did find a few episodes boring. But it’s all worth it!
CHARACTERS
Although all characters are likeable and relatively complex, I do have one complaint here: most secondary characters are useless most of the time. I still don't understand why Michiru got so much screentime. I also wish we had seen more of Minami and Nakano.
So my only complaint with the characters is we don't see them enough! Let that sink in.
MUSIC AND SOUNDS
The OST is pure. I just can't describe it otherwise. This is one of the highest points of this show. While the composer doesn't have any special musical identity (I mean, you can recognize Kajiura or Takahashi because they have definite styles ; not this one), the music doesn't need it to be beautiful!
VISUALS
While SR is nothing ground-breaking, it also doesn't have any major flaws. It's gorgeous overall, my only minus point will be for Haruki's short hair, they look pretty bad from face, lol.
CONCLUSION
Sakurada Reset is a unique anime show, and one I much needed to see. There’s so many anime with overacting and battles, and I like that, but I need something else too, and that is what Sakurada Reset brings! Characters are civilized humans despite their superpowers and their grand goals. They solve their issues through investigation and discussion, not through punches and fire. How many anime shows do that!
Although it can feel boring at times, if you think you can handle it, I highly recommend it!
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jul 25, 2022
A major disappointment. I loved half of SAO (hated the other), but since I am a fan of Aincrad, I figured a retelling with a better rythm would work.
Well... this really doesn't work that well.
STORY
This first movie retells the first two episodes, but Asuna is the main character. Just to be clear, this is a REBOOT. It's not consistent with what they had shown in the series. For example, the relationship between Kirito and Asuna starts much sooner.
But that's not really a problem... as long as it does tell new things. Basically, the movie has 3 major events:
- the first day of Aincrad.
- the Boss
...
battle.
- Mito's leaving the forest.
While the latter is very interesting, the other two are literally what we'd already seen in the series, except they clumsily showhorn Mito into them. For example, she participates in the final stand against the Boss. But since that battle was written as the first combo between Kirito and Asuna, Mito feels utterly out of place!
So, if it only has 3 major events, what else does this movie tell? Slice. Of. Life. You see Asuna going to school and chatting with girl friends. You see her take a bath. You see her eat.
Absolutely nothing interesting in terms of plot...
So we get a Slice of Life movie, where 2 of the 3 major events are things we already know, without any relevant changes.
Now, there's still hope. After all, this is just the first movie, and it basically adapts only the first novel (which covers only 2 episodes). The next movies will have much more new content.
But this one? It's just a boring retell of a story that DID need a longer version...
And in fact, it's a bad retellinng. Many major scenes in this movie don't have the same impact they had in the series. Kayaba's chilling announcement isn't chilling anymore, the epic Boss fight isn't epic anymore...
ART
Progressive is beautiful. But no battle truly stands out. The fights are short, and the animated scenes in those fights are even shorter. Sometimes you get 10 seconds of wonderful skills, but then it's over and it's just... bland.
SAO had a wonderful animation in its first season. Ordinal Scale and War of Underworld had incredible fights too. But sadly, in this movie, the fights just aren't really worth watching.
SOUND
Great seiyuus as usual. The music is very good... but there's few new tracks. I'm a bit disappointed in Kajiura, who is my favourite composer ever.
CHARACTER
Mito is an interesting new member of the cast. She's relevant to the story, as she's a beta-tester. But her story is basically over at the end of this movie, since the distinction between beta-testers and other players is non-existent afterwards. I fear she might become irrelevant like most SAO characters...
Asuna is a bit deeper than usual. Having her as a main character is definitely cool. One thing that really annoyed me is the fact that she's shown as a gamer BEFORE getting into SAO. And the fact that she was trained by a beta-tester is a bit disturbing too.
I mean, it's not inconsistent, but Asuna felt like a noob in the series, she didn't even know how to see an ally's HP. The movie did tackle this point, but again : it was clumsy. Mito and Asuna spent 3 weeks together, and yet Mito never told Asuna how to see her HP bar??? Not possible, but the movie still treats it like that. "Look, I included that fact in the story, so it's not inconsistent, ok?"
Kirito doesn't appear much, but I enjoyed the portrayal of his social anxiety. He's clumsy, timid, not very charismatic, but it works for this character! Sadly, his interest towards the story is low, as the major plot points surrounding him are cut: we don't hear Diabel's words towards him, we don't see his first days...
He's definitely a support character instead of a MC.
ENJOYMENT
I knew what to expect, but I'm still disappointed. The point of Progressive is to fill the Aincrad arc. That's what this movie does, but I don't think filling the plot with constant slice of life was that great of an idea.
The author needed to expand on the important matters. Like the relationships between beta-testers and others. That's what it could have done with Mito, but it didn't really do it.
Even visually, this isn't extraordinary. Really, this movie doesn't fix Aincrad ; it only made it worse. Now who knows, maybe the next movies will be more interesting.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jan 17, 2022
PLAY THE GAME. Just. Play. The Game.
I say this, but this series isn't actually bad. I just don't think this should be a point of entry for anyone into the franchise of Corpse Party. In case somebody reads this and doesn't know: Corpse Party is originally a japanese horror game made in RPG Maker. It was remade several times, until recently, in the end of 2021. I played that version, it's got great visuals and sounds (the voice actors are terrific), and the story is full of twists and turns.
This OVA is a summary of the story of that game. As every short adaptation, it
...
fails because it's rushed.
STORY
The story is from 1996 (the date the original game was released). As such, it is quite cliché. Stereotyped students get thrown in another dimension, a very crude one, where they can get killed, possessed, go crazy, or simply die from human needs depending on how long they stay. They have to get out of this hell.
It's a pretty solid concept, and Corpse Party is the best version of it in my opinion : it's got so many threats, and the way to get out of there is so complex, that you really feel the same dispair as the characters.
The anime managed to stay faithful to the game. But it's a 20 hours long game and there's only four OVAs, less than 30 minutes each. You know the rest: everything is so rushed that nothing ever has a real impact on the viewer.
Another issue compared to the original game is the many branches it contained. A series obviously can't tell many alternative stories at the same time. The game has so many ends to discover, and you HAVE to discover all of them to get the full experience.
The series did try to put a lot of different routes together. And honestly, they nailed it! The routes they adapted are mixed together in a perfect way, it never feels like several stories told at the same time.
Honestly, the only issue is the rythm. If only they had made FIVE episodes! I mean, seriously, the base game has five chapters, why make only four episodes???? That just didn't make any sense, and that destroys the entire thing. The final episode, in particular, is a complete mess. I read so many comments of people who don't get what happened in that episode. That's because it goes so fast on the explanations! Nothing is clear in the end: the origin of the curse, the way to get out of it, even the fate of the surviving characters is unclear.
The only way to understand the post-credit scene is to play the game. There's just no way to get what they're saying with the OVA alone.
ART
Nothing to say against it. It's not exceptional, but it's still great and very faithful to the game. They only made two changes that I don't get : Naho's eyes and the doll.
Naho is described explicitly as having "eyes like dead fish." Yet, in the series, she has normal eyes.
As for the doll, I also don't get the change, it was pointless.
These are minor issues, of course. In fact, I wouldn't call it issues. They're just changes that don't make sense.
SOUND
Solid OST faithful to the game. Exceptional work from the seiyuus. They're the same voice actors as the game, and frankly, I'm glad they kept them, they're perfect.
CHARACTER
The characters are straight out of the 90's. But one thing, in the game, kept them interesting : their believable behaviours. The way they react to what is happening to them is totally understandable, and while they are sometimes stupid, their reasoning is always explained.
In the series, the characters all look more dull than their game counterparts. This mainly happens because they changed the way they react to the stuff. It's still a cool crew, they just felt less real to me.
ENJOYMENT
Tortured Souls is a very faithful adaption. Honestly, and I almost never say it, I can feel how passionate they were about this project. They all made their best to make it work.
The problem is this CAN'T work. You can't take a 20 hours long game and make it into four episodes of 30 minutes. Five episodes could have worked better, although it would still be far from enough for the amount of story the game has. I mean, most secondary characters were cut and most stories aren't shown, As a result, this OVA series is very far from the game it adapts.
It's still a solid anime horror series. Just... PLAY THE GAME BEFORE. You can always watch that as a bonus.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 20, 2021
I watched the Ajin anime when it aired, and I loved it despite the weird graphics. It was a great concept, with a very nice execution. Its characters were awesome, and I was looking forward to reading the manga once it would be finished.
Sadly, it didn't live up to my expectations...
STORY
Ajins are immortal beings. They revive as soon as they die. Of course, such a phenomenon would be the target of governments around the world. They capture known Ajins, and experiment on them.
One day, Kei gets run over by a truck. But he doesn't die. Everyone now knows he's an Ajin. He has to run
...
away to keep his freedom. He'll be quickly contacted by Sato, another Japanese Ajin who plans to make drastic changes in the History of Ajins.
This is all great. This manga is packed with a lot of story revolving Ajins, while displaying great action scenes. The way it uses the Ajin power was brillant.
It has a nice balance between plot and action... up until the second half of the manga.
Basically, Sato's plan consists of three waves of terrorism. While the first two waves are intelligent and well balanced, the third one lasts too long and is way too straightforward. There isn't any twist, there isn't any plot-evolving event. That final battle is just a bunch of fights and explosions. It's spectacular... but way too long. And the plot suffers from that.
It doesn't help that everything is thrown out. The final confrontation consists of a single stare on a bridge... People leave the story at random times (through death or not), and all those endings feel like they were thrown just because the author got sick of writing it.
I just don't feel like this ending was really conclusive. The entire manga is great, but only feels like a beginning rushed into an ending because the author got bored of what he wrote. Frankly, I prefer the end of the anime.
ART
I really like the drawings. It's rare that action scenes work in a manga, but in this one, it works brillantly.
CHARACTER
This is the strong point of Ajin. Kei's morality is genius: as a rational person, he keeps pretending he doesn't care about anyone, but he actually does. That results in conflicts between his dialogues and his true thoughts. This was brillantly used, and a perfect example on how to play with a character's morality.
Sato, of course, is the best character in this story. He's charismatic, he's intelligent, he's badass, he's insane, and he has a nice story. The way he views the real world as a videogame was brillant: for an Ajin, who revives after he dies, real life really is just game.
The two mains are awesome, but the support cast is great too!
I love Kai, he's the best of best friends. It's a shame his role never get really big... I also loved Kei's family. They're not very important to the plot, but their few scenes are interesting.
Tosaki and his assistant were a nice combination. Somehow I feel like their complicity was better in the anime.
And of course, there's Tanaka. That one is awesome too! In my opinion, he carries this series on his shoulders for a while. His inner conflict was a nice story to follow, and his relationship with other characters were interesting.
ENJOYMENT
The final arc utterly ruins this manga imo. But Ajin is still a very interesting story! I recommend watching the anime, you won't be left on an unsatisfying note. If you really want more after that, then you carn read it, there's a few interesting cut content.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Apr 19, 2021
The Prisma Illya series is the biggest mistake in the Fate franchise. It's insulting, it's boring, it utterly destroys Illya's character (and, in fact, most characters it presents).
That said, this movie, which serves as a prequel to the series, is different in every way.
Before I go into the review, I'll answer to the question "should I watch it?".
You DO NOT NEED to watch the Prisma Illya series to understand that movie. I've only watched a couple of episodes and a few scenes, and I still managed to understand everything. It's not a very complicated movie, and it stands strong on its own.
You DO NEED to
...
know the Fate universe. At least watch one series of Fate/Stay Night and Fate/Zero. You only need to understand the basics of this world to get this movie.
Now, back to the review.
STORY
This movie is written as a possible FOURTH ROUTE to Fate/Stay Night. Ironically, this is the best anime adaptation of Fate/Stay Night despite it not being named that way officially.
Following his wish to save the world, Emiya Kiritsugu looks for a Child of God with his new son, Shiro. They find a town being destroyed for an unknown reason. After the disaster, they find a surviving girl, Miyu. She is the Child of God. She is supposed to have the ability to grant someone's wish.
Basically, Miyu is another type of Holy Grail. Kiritsugu dies without being able to use her ability. Shiro grows up, and Miyu gets abducted by another family, who wants to use her wish granting ability too.
Shiro, who grew to love Miyu as a big brother, trains hard to get strong enough to rescue her. He plays in the 5th Holy Grail, where the winner is able to use Miyu to grant their wish.
This is honestly the best Fate/Stay Night plot in my opinion. Shirô and Miyu's relationship is beautiful, and it's a perfect mix of light and dark. It's gruesome, but it's still wholesome.
It was a great watch, honestly. That said, this movie clearly leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Don't worry though, they don't need an answer to appreciate this movie. But it's definitely enough to make you curious about the series...
ART
This is where this movie lacks a lot. There's a lot of battles, but none of them are truly great. They're good, but not phenomenal...
But aside from the battles, the rest is beautiful. Some characters have a weird face though (Kirei, what have they done to you...?). It's mostly wonderful though!
SOUND
The version of Emiya available in this movie is great. Maybe my favourite ever aside from Kawai Kenji version.
The rest of the OST isn't very memorable though.
As for the seiyuus, the characters have their original voices, so if you loved Kiritsugu in Fate/Zero and want to hear a bit more, you'll enjoy this movie.
CHARACTER
This is the BEST SHIRO EVER. I don't think this is debatable, lol. He's got a great progression, he's badass, he's likeable, and his relationships with the other characters are nice.
Miyu is a lovable girl too. The fact that she was locked from the rest of the world was a bit weird in my opinion, but it didn't stop her character from having a bit of development too.
And of course, there's Kiritsugu. In all his glory! Great as usual, its character is faithful to his original version.
OVERALL
This isn't the greatest movie of all time. It is a bit slow, it is a bit lackluster (in terms of animation and sound). But it is a great story, it fits the Fate universe quite well... and more importantly, IT IS NOT LIKE THE PRISMA ILLYA SERIES!
Forget the dumb magical girl theme, forget the lolis kissing each other, forget the destruction of this world's characters. There's none of this shit in this movie.
I highly recommend if you like Fate, even if you hate the Prisma Illya series.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Mar 24, 2021
Most rom-coms follow the same trend: it starts hilarious and fun, then it gets serious and cringe. It feels like rom-com authors don't assume the comedy side of things, and only use it as a bait to tell an uninspired, boring story that was told billions of times before their own version appears.
Sadly, this description fits Love is War.
STORY
This is a mind game between a boy and a girl living a love story. At least... in the beginning.
The mind game side of the story is given up after 100 chapters, and the manga becomes the usual, boring love story like there are thousands of others.
The
...
author is clearly less and less inspired, as the characters' stories take retarded routes (a nonsensical family clan wars ; a love triangle with no consequential development ; plot twists that cancels previous plot twists ; mafiosi being defeated by teenagers).
In the end it's just a rom-com : it started with a brillant concept, but quickly gave up on it and became the usual uninspired boring love story.
ART
The manga is beautiful, nothing to complain here.
CHARACTER
The characters have nice personalities, too bad they often become transparent. Poor Chika never lives any interesting story except when she must teach Shirogane. The only chapters revolving around her are boring, repetitive fillers about ramen.
The other main characters have deeper stories, but when the chapter isn't about them, they often completely disappear.
It's too bad, because the main characters are awesome. I love Miko, she's like Azusa from K-On as she's the 5th and new member of the main characters club. I loved the dynamic of the group after she joined. But like all the other characters, she's just transparent when it's not a chapter about her.
ENJOYMENT
Love is War had an incredible potential, and it shows in the first 100 chapters. Those are brillant and hilarious.
But the next 100 chapters become boring. It tries to be way too serious, and when it tries to be funny, it's just uninspired, repetitive gags.
I only recommend reading up until chapter 130. It's not all bad after that, but it's definitely subpar compared to the first part of this manga. What a horrible waste...
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Mar 12, 2021
Love is War was trending when season 1 was released. I watched it, enjoyed it a lot, but wasn't completely hooked either. But I recently watched season 2, and this time, they got me, lol.
STORY
Shirogane and Kaguya are in love with each other, they know it, but each want the other to confess first. Their story is a true mind game, where each try to corner the other in a situation where they have to confess. But of course, things don't go as planned.
This concept is exceptional, for real! This is literally Death Note, but in a love story instead of a psychological thriller. And
...
although it's not as brillant as Death Note, Love is War is very clever in its own way!
The plans, the quid pro quos, the hazardous events, the regularly broken 4th wall, this show is very well written!
Sometimes, the story tries to be more serious. I honestly think they should stop that. While the stories are interesting, they fall flat because of the way they are written. For example, Ishigami's backstory is super interesting, but it is literally spoiled as soon as it is beginning. We know from the very beginning we don't know the truth, because the show literally says it. They should have kept it a secret, everything would have been more powerful.
Another example is the end of the first year. This is the end of the Counsil, their group will fall apart, it's sad... except you know they'll get back together because that happens in episode 3 out of 12. You just know it's not the end. This chapter should have been the end of a season.
But of course, in a rom-com, what matters is the comedy and the romance.
I'm not the biggest fan of the main couple. They are cute and hilarious, but their story is weak. Story is what ties people together, and honestly, I don't feel like their story is all that powerful. They're in love "just because".
Honestly, I think Fujiwara did much more than Kaguya for Shirogane. She dedicated herself to training him, several times, without asking anything in compensation. Kaguya doesn't do much for Shirogane, and when she does, she hides it, so he can't possibly know.
The comedy, on the other hand, is the best! This show is hilarious, especially season 2.
ART
I wasn't a big fan of season 1, except for Fujiwara's sexy Detective Dance, lol. But season 2 is wonderful, especially Shirogane's dance xD!
SOUND
The OST is excellent. Even TOO good, lol. Sometimes, it just feels like it belongs to another show, as if it doesn't fit the rom-com. But it's still great.
But the most brillant part of sounds is the seiyuus. Most seiyuus are exceptional, but the ones in this series just make a terrific job even higher than the high standard of the industry. Fujiwara's seiyuu specifically is exceptional, even more so when you know her job on Summer Pockets.
CHATACTER
All the MCs are terrific!
Kaguya is madly in love but manages to keep a cold behaviour... until she doesn't, lol. The moments when she cracks down are excellent!
Shirogane is hilarious, I laugh just because of his snake stare! He's also pretty cool with other people.
Fujiwara is clearly the best of them all. Her unpredictibility makes her hilarious everytime!
But Ishigami is my favourite. He's a cliché otaku, but a damn good one, he's just awesome! I was glad we saw a lot of him in season 2.
Then there's the new Counsil member, Miko. She's literally Azusa from K-On: the new, very strict club member, who realizes the club is absolutely not serious at all... and
who turns out to be just as mental as this club. It's a complete rip-off of Azusa, but honestly, I'm all for it! Miko is awesome, funny, and I sure as hell want to see more of her!
ENJOYMENT
I mentionned K-On, I think this show is my favourite comedy anime series. But Love is War has the potential to surpass it! I just hope it will keep focused on comedy and not try to be too serious.
But for now, I highly recommend Love is War if you're looking for a funny anime!
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jan 26, 2021
School Days is one of the weirdest shows ever. It's hated all over the internet, and I think it deserves it... but is also interesting, in a weird way.
STORY
Makoto is in love with Kotonoha. He's also horny as f*ck, and hits on multiple girls without the slightest remorse.
The third main character, Sekai, falls in love with Makoto.
The entire story revolves around this love triangle combined with a harem (every girl wants to have sex with Makoto).
This is it, basically. It's ALL about sex. The girls want to f*ck Makoto. Makoto wants to f*ck the girls. Makoto's friends also want to f*ck girls. Caught in the
...
middle of this messed up situation, the main characters will suffer more and more as the story goes on.
Let's be honest, School Days did nothing wrong in terms of story. The point is to show how messed up a harem would be in real life.
Sure, there are some people who wouldn't mind this situation. But most of us, while enjoying it for some time, would end up miserable, or even batshit crazy.
And the series shows it perfectly.
The ambiance is tense, and it gets darker and darker as the consequences of the harem start to show. Kotonoha realizes she's being cheated on. Some other girls fall in love with Makoto. Some people get caught on camera while having sex and are being humiliated for it. It's ALL about showing how bad a harem situation can get.
But even though it conveys its message brillantly... this show is just not really interesting. They're all just horny teens with nothing going for them. It's basically a Slice of Life, but not fun or compelling.
On the contrary, it's all about disturbing the viewer, and it works... but ultimately, it was just not satisying.
ART
School Days is... not very beautiful, but not that ugly. It's average. It does the job.
One thing I found weird is the lack of ecchi. The show is ALL about sex... and there's barely and sexual stuff in it. I feel scammed, lol.
Seriously, for ONCE, ecchi would be justified by the story... and they didn't use it.
SOUND
The OST is pretty good, honestly. The music fits the ambiance, and the songs are nice.
I really didn't like the voice actors for the main characters though.
CHARACTER
This is the central point... but also the biggest weakness of the show. The characters are not interesting, and their relationships are unjustified. As a result, everything feels pretty weak.
Harem is infamous because it almost always feels unearned by the characters. The MC is popular for no reason, the girls agree with the situation for no reason. It's exactly what happens in School Days: I know a guy CAN be very popular, but THIS MC? No can do, sir.
Makoto is the biggest son of a bitch EVER. He has absolutely NO remorse or after-thought for doing whatever he does. He just enjoys girls as if they were his property, going deep into sexual harrassment sometimes. That said, the character gets a bit interesting by the end, when he starts suffering from the consequences of his behaviour. He does realize he was wrong.
Sadly, his "redemption" is really not well done. It's too sudden, not strong enough, and although he does try to sort out his life and get better, the series doesn't give him the chance to show it. It would have been interesting to have a redemption arc.
The two main girls, just like Makoto, are pretty dull. Not interesting, and their love for Makoto is unbelievable. BUT they're the ones who suffer the most from all of it, and THAT was interesting to follow, because in the end, I truly felt bad for them.
For the rest, characters are just "sexual plot devices": they get horny when the story needs them to be, and that's it.
ENJOYMENT
School Days is a brillant success in what it tried to do. The point is to disturb the viewer to make them realize a harem IRL would be bad. The message comes across. It's just... really not that interesting for a message (because most people know that already), and in the end, the series is disturbing but not satisfying. Maybe you COULD get that moment when you think "FINALLY, HE GETS WHAT HE DESERVES!".
But personally, I didn't. It was just a miserable experience.
It's still interesting to watch, because there's very few interesting psychological thrillers in the anime industry.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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