Even though I did not give it a 10/10, I would like to make it clear that Eureka 7 is my favorite anime series. Check it out if you haven't already :)
After spending more than a year on this website without a profile picture, I just got annoyed by the bland stand-in and uploaded one. It's one of the characters from Puparia, and short anime film on YouTube. I look nothing like that irl I just thought the image was pretty.
Growing up I occasionally watched anime here and there, such as Yu-Gi-Oh and DBZ, but was never really into it. Much later in college I saw a little bit of One Piece, Naruto (and Elfen Lied of all things), but it still wasn't my thing. Even later on during the pandemic I was introduced to Avatar: The Last Airbender by a family friend, and while I didn't like it at first, I eventually realized what an amazing medium anime can function as in storytelling, and ever since then its been the main form of media I have been using.
I'll be the first to admit that my ratings don't make much sense, for example I enjoyed, or appreciated Your Lie in April slightly more than Anohana, but I ended up giving Anohana a slightly better score because I felt it was done better, but conversely, I gave Wolf Children a lower score than several shows and films which weren't nearly as well done, just when I watched Wolf Children I surprisingly did not feel much. Overall, I just generally go with my gut feeling, which isn't objective or subjective, just instinct.
I'm biased towards shows and films that deal with different cultures and traditions, that have Romantic elements but that is not the main plot, and good character development. I've got a huge soft sport for sentimental anime, and I am also highly biased towards retro and the historical genres. I am also a complete pushover for good animation and nice ops and eps, I've probably been overly generous in a few ratings in that regard.
I tend to have a broad view of what is defined as Anime, and I probably would consider shows like the aforementioned Avatar, Legend of Korra, RWBY, Trese, Arcane, to be Anime is some capacity.
My interpretation of the rating system:
While it should be axiomatic, everyone's take on the rating system and what for example a 7 signifies is slightly different. I think the way I rate is pretty typical of other users on this site, but just for clarity my interpretation is as follows:
10 = "Masterpiece" the type of anime that keep you up at night, the ones as soon as you finish you want to watch again. Infinitely re-watchable, every time you see it you see something new. Something you'd recommend to everybody.
9 = "Great" have one or two little issues that keep it from being a ten, but aside from that are just as good, and are also easy to re-watch and universally recommendable
8 = "Very Good" have some problems that are noticeable, but their quality is still very evident and are still an enjoyable watch. If I re-watch I might skip a scene here and there but would still widely recommend.
7 = "Good" there are some prominent issues here, but the anime is still enjoyable and the good parts still outweigh the bad. Would recommend in most instances, but would only re-watch if it were with someone else.
6 = "Fine" these are often anime I feel conflicted about, there is some aspect(s) of the show that is well done, be it animation, music, story, but there are also several prominent problems weighing it down. I would be cautious, but not opposed, in recommending these, and would be open to a re-watch to re-evaluate my thoughts but only after a substantial period of time.
5 = "Average" not necessarily terrible, but something that did not make any impact on me. The bad was negated by the good in equal measure. Anime that didn't try enough or tried too much and ended being all over the place. Probably would not re-watch and would only recommend in really special or specific circumstances.
4 = "Bad" there is definitely some good quality here, and in the hands of a better director or studio this could be a good anime, but is weighed down by its negative qualities, whatever they may be. While sub-standard, there were some moments of enjoyment, even if it might be ironic enjoyment. While I would generally not re-watch or recommend these, but I can understand why some people might like this.
3 = "Very Bad" there are some good qualities here, and it might have had potential at some point, but it's buried deep under mounds of garbage. Not re-watchable, recommendable, not even ironically enjoyable. Unlike a four, I honestly can't understand why anyone in their right mind may enjoy this.
2 = "Horrible" bottom-of-the-barrel, terrible, anime. Might have started off as a good idea or concept, but it's now long gone.
1 = "Appalling" dig beyond the barrel, past the mantel, and then to the centre of the earth where this stuff should be incinerated. Nothing here is remotely redeemable, not the art, not the story, not the characters, not even the concept. Terrible in every conceivable way.
- = "No Score" there is some art/anime, usually the avant-garde and postmodern kind, that I just can't understand or make sense of. A comedy is judged by how well it's a comedy, a romance by how romantic it is. For these works, I have no idea what it is or suppose to be, so it would be unfair and dishonest to give it any ranking.
I almost forgot about my original comment but what I do mean is that from an anime-only perspective, the movie will probably be enjoyable for the majority of the people watching it but from an adaptation standpoint, well you already know.
Yeah, that looks very Shinkai! Definitely adding it, thanks! Added "Proof of Us" as well. The stack has 3 Loundraw works now. He's definitely heavily inspired by Shinkai.
Saw your review on Heaven Official's Blessing and I just want to let you know in case you aren't aware. There aren't any romance in the anime because China censors LGBTQ stuff, so portrayals of gay relationships in media aren't allowed. As you already know, the anime (donghua) is based on a novel series, and that novel is a BL novel. That's okay in novel form, but when they want to put it on the big screen, they have to remove all gay romance from the original story for the donghua to be allowed to release to the public. That's why those "glances" are the most they can do to hint at their mutual interest and/or developing relationship.
We've all had different experiences and backgrounds, so of course we analyze series differently and come away with different opinions sometimes. It's always fun though to learn what other people thought of a given series and why they think the way they do. BTW, I had a make a couple edits to my old His and Her review. Firstly, it was a rumor for many years that the mangaka hated the anime adaptation so much that she personally yelled at Gainax and was instrumental in getting S2 pulled, but the truth is actually more complicated. An interview with Anno that came out in the last couple years really shed light on a lot of the crap and financial mismanagement that went on within Gainax. Secondly, it's not the first shoujo anime to feature sex and air on Japanese television. Rose of Versailles did it first and is technically a shoujo, even though if it were published today, it would probably be in a Josei magazine.
Thanks for the friend request! I'm always happy when people either get a few laughs out of my reviews or find them helpful. I like to try cover a lot of obscure series that don't have tons of reviews already.
of course, thank you for sending one! it's been a while since i've checked my notifications so i'm sorry for being late. and thank you for the compliment, if it wasn't obvious, my favorite anime is eureka seven as well :)
glad to see you're interested in older anime. Have you seen my video on early anime? This was one of my favorites from it, 15 mins and animated by the guy who trained the co-founders of Studio Ghibli https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOVmubHEz5I
Hey man, you're welcome. It's been a long time since I saw the movie, but it does stick with you. Happy to hear people still come across something so obscure.
No joke- straight after I finished it, I started watching Little Witch Academia (more my type of anime tbh) and there was an Evangelion reference in like episode 3. Couldn't believe it. lol
I appreciate the friendly comment. Thought this would be someone wanting me dead lol. Yeah, I feel like budget constraints may have led to the team choosing less important things over the more important development of the world and lore. From the way it's praised you'd think it was the greatest anime ever made. When the expectation is that high, everything falls short sadly. Glad you like it though. On re-watching some clips and stuff for my review I saw it in a bit of a more positive light- there's definitely some good there. I, for one, get a really kind of haunting feeling from the series overall. Just something about a show that can be a funny high school comedy with a cartoon penguin also being a pretty visceral journey into grief and depression on a literally cosmic scale is a mix that doesn't sit right in my mind. Dunno if that's a good or a bad thing lol.
It's a lesser-loved Yoshiyuki Tomino original, especially compared to some of his older Gundam projects. It's certainly not as bashed as his latest series, but it has twice as fewer favourites. I'd say check out Gundam first, to get acquainted with Tomino's strange style.
No, that's Cynthia Lane from Overman King Gainer in my pfp. Both were designed by Yoshida, and Cynthia herself is somewhat of a proto-Anemone, so she's often confused for her.
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