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Mar 20, 2020
Darwin's Game:
I have always been a fan of Death Game Anime, as there is a certain amount of tension by the pure construction of it's premise. However, in recent years, we unfortunately got quite a few lackluster adaptations of great survival game manga, like Alice in Borderland or Magical Girl Raising Project. So when I heard Darwin's Game is getting an actual promising adaptation, I got instantly hooked. That said, Deathgame Anime will possibly always have a bad reputation with the mainstream audiences, since seeing people die for entertainment is(somewhat understandable) horrible and for many almost unwatchable. That said, Darwin's Game still is an anime
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like every other one, with it's own flaws and strength I want to get a big deeper into:
Story:6
Darwin's Plot is very straight forward and simple. Imagine writing your own story about a deathgame. You decide on the heros, the villains, the setting, the goal ... Now think about how to connect all these different dots in a straight line. That is basicly how Darwin's Game feels. There are no roads that would take longer than needed to get to the endgoal. There are certain checkpoints you want to get to, but instead of trying out something unexpected and unpredictable, it doesn't take risks and only focuses on the most basic aspects. This kind of storytelling has a huge downside, but also a huge upside I want to point out:
The big downside about this plotform is there is nothing extra. No emotional exploration, no deeper theme exploration, no world building, no ongoing and bigger situation the viewer might want to figure out themself, no mini arc or pause from the action. The main drawback is that what we see is everything that happens. Nothing feels truly surprising or out of view, as everything is connected to what is going on right now. Don't get me wrong, it's not necessarily bad, but there should be a certain amount of mystery surrounding the world to keep the viewer interested. If everything that exists is what we see in this world, then everything new will feel unfitting and out of place.
The big upside Darwin's Game has with this kind of storytelling is that the story always makes logical sense. If I think about the current situation, the most obvious road is taken and I feel like I understand what's going on. Moreover, I feel like what is going on is real, and that draws the viewer more into the world. If characters suddenly make stupid decisions, it will be nothing but unsatisfying as well as it breaks the atmosphere. The way the story is written this season, it worked out fine as a closed up story, since we follow kaname's eyes who just suddenly got into this world and doesn't understand it yet. So despite it's negatives, the story still is really well written.
Characters:5
The most important thing about almost any kind of story are the characters. If we don't care about the characters and feel nothing for them, we won't feel a thing for anything else in the anime either. And Darwin's Game features a small amount of characters with a basic amount of build-up that's needed to care about them. Similar to the way the story is written, we don't get more that what is absolutely needed for the characters to work. Which is often a problem mmost apparent featured in our protagonist.
Kaname is your typical survial main character. He starts off very afraid and weak, but quickly adapts to his surroundings and grows within it. However, he adapts too fast which it makes him feel inhuman. To be fair, Darwin's Game is not a story about how his surroundings change kaname, but how kaname changes his surroundings. It still doesn't make his personality better, but you at least may like the kind of story the show is going for. Suzuka on the other hand is your typical "queen", she's strong, skilled and independent. Unfortunately, she quickly falls in love with kaname after she was beated by him(which doesn't make sense as he was a newcomer and she was the "undefeated queen") and there isn't much to her besides that. The other main characters are more interesting and deeper. They react more human, are more often overwhelmed with situatuions and do way more relatable mistakes. And with the time comtinuing, I mostly cared about them rather than our 2 protagonists.
Animation/Soundtrack: 5 & 5
The animation and art style are really good. In many chases, it highlights the power and forces involved in the fights very well and draws you in into it's insane high-pressure athmosphere. However, outside of these scenes the animation sometimes looks cheap and lazy, and very generic and not outstanding. The music and sounds within the show itself is also good and memorable. Both of those areas are covered really well and won't keep you either mindblown nor disappointed.
Enjoyment: 7
The final aspect of this anime is the enjoyment it's constantly able to create. Maybe it's just because I'm a huge fan of a genre to begin with, but I was constantly entertained troughout it's whole run and even after this, I was looking for more. A huge reason this anime is so entertaining are the high stakes fights, which are made interesting using multiple different methods:
On the one hand, the fights have a supernatural element to them, the so called "Sigils". They are basicly special abilities given one each to every player who enters the game. They spice the fights up, making every fight different from the last while keeping other weapons like guns still in focus. That makes the fights more grounded and any enemy even with useless sigils dangerous. That said, the powersystem of the "Sigil" is not perfect in every way: Since the Sigil are randomly given to every player, some have absolutely broken abilities like looking into the future or teleportation, whereas others have almost useless abilities like realising a lie. It may be great in the hands of a talker going through peaceful talkings, but because they are given at random, it could also land in the hands of someone who doesn't think or talk too much, which makes it almost useless. To be fair, this might force the user to actually get creative with their ability, but at the same time it completely breaks the powerlevels of some characters. Another Problem is that the abilities are "just there". There is no characteristic bond between the ability and the users personality, so link or anything that makes the "Sigil" more than just a plotdevice for more entertaining fights. That's so unfortunate, as a well thought out powersysftem might lift the anime on it's shoulders all alone, something darwin's game didn't realise.
On the other hand, the fights also feature a consistent level of strategic importance: It's never just the one with the better Sigil who wins, but the one who uses it better. Or the one who get's more creative and adapts better to his/her surroundings. Or the one who prepared better for the fight. Either way, it makes the fights more interesting and you more invested. I mean, if the character uses ways that where already hinted at to defeat their enemy, then we as a viewer might also be able to figure out the best way to survive. And if it truely is the way we expected, we feel proud of ourselfes. And if it isn't what we expected, we still don't feel cheated and want to rewatch the episode to exactly see all the hints given. After all, isn't that what truly counts? Being invested and interested in the anime.
Overall: 6
Darwin's Game is a really good anime while being anything but special. For that exact reason, anyone who thinks he/she might like it will most likely end up liking it. And the ones who think they won't like it before watching it will most likely end up that way too. So if you're interested in this, you should really give it a try.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Sep 25, 2019
I've always been a big fan of the Yugioh series. Each iteration managed to improve upon its predecessors in some way or another, while still keeping things "fresh". Yugioh 5D's pushed the envelope with its outrageous concept and it succeeded. Coupled with strong characters and a great storyline, 5D's is easily my favourite of the series. Comparing the later seasons to the earlier ones, it becomes clear that the newer yugioh anime take a similar route to a specific earlier part; especially in the tone, character designs as well as themes. Zexal has its roots in the original DM, ARC V in GX and this
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yugioh Vains in 5D's. I was taught not to judge a book by its cover, so I kept an open mind towards Vrains despite my high hopes. Whether people want to overlook it or not is up to the individual, but I believe it fails at many fundamentals for writing a good story. This review will go into details why I feel this way.
Story:
First, let's get this out of the way: Episodes 13, 21, 29, 38, 59, 83 and 103 are recaps which only retell the old story without much new stuff. At most, it has one single new scene splashed at the end to seem not completely purposeless. These points are nothing you don't pick up later and I suggest to just skip these episodes completely.
Now about the actual story: The series is based in a world of the near future where a massive Virtual Reality Network called LINK VRAINS has been established. By using LINK VRAINS, Duels unfold where Duelists change their appearance separate from their real life identities. However, in LINK VRAINS, a mysterious hacker group that hacks via Dueling has appeared: The Knights of Hanoi. Their goal is to destroy a specific Ai known as Cyberse that exists somewhere in the depths of the Network. There is one enemy who stands in their way, Playmaker. His true identity is ordinary high school student Yusaku Fujiki, who wants to find out the truth of an incident that happened in his past.
Vrains plot is easily its biggest problem. It follows a straight line and doesn't take longer ways, even if it should. We go from 1 duel to the next, not showing the impact each individual conflict and event has. Because of that, it feels rushed more often than not and doesn't leave the characters nor the viewer any time to breath. On the other hand, at some points the show feels slow and dragging. The another arc or the first half of the lost memories arc could easily be reduced to half the episodes, but includes unneccessary duels and fanservice with almost no story. And the problem about no story shows itself in almost every big arc. It usually means 10-20 episodes of only duels with pretty much nothing but duels. The entertainment goes down to zero and stays there until something plot- or character related happens, which usually takes a lot of time. That quickly becomes very boring and at some points, watching the recaps instead feels like the right way just because it doesn't consume a lot of time. Unfortunately, the anime isn't able to ever recover from this issue and you can only hope it will ever have something to show besides the duels. Sadly, you lose interest before that moment comes.
And now I got to address the ending arc of the show. Comparing different Yugioh Anime with one other is simply not fair, as it always prevents a neutral view on each individual installment; but there is a point to be made here. The 3 prior yugioh anime went from 146 – 154 episodes, which shows their similar planing and execution over all series. Yugioh Vrains drops in at only 120 episodes, already giving you an idea that something didn't go as planned. In fact, I'd consider only the first 102 episodes to be the actual plot and the last 17 episodes to be the epilogue. That could have worked on its own, if they just wanted to complete the character arcs and give an actual ending to all the main and side characters. But unfortunately, it rather tried to put in an unnessessary longer plot into these episodes too, which prevented the writers from giving each character the respect and time he/she deserves. Some characters even got worse treatment than the first two seasons gave them, which is a shame since the anime certainly had the time to give everyone a satisfying conclusion.
Characters:
The characters are the strong point of the show. I'll separate the main characters and lump together the not so main characters:
Yusaku Fujiki/Playmaker: Yusaku is the Main Character of the anime and a hacker who fights against evil organizations in the Network alongside his Partner Ai. Being written in the typical "OP Badass" Archetype, he doesn't show emptions while being very powerful. This Archetype needs 2 basic things to be able to work: The Character needs negatives, in some way or another, and needs to be an actual character with personality. The first point was made fair enough, with him being social unable to speak normal to others or form real bonds. What the writers forgot though is his personality. Most of the time, he is just a puppet like figure saying the obvious things without anything resembling a human being. It is good to make a character flawed, but leaving out a personality is inexcuseable. Adding to that his lack of development makes him one of the anime's worst characters, which is a shame since protagonists should be the driving force behind the show, not a continuous brake.
Aoi Zaizen/Blue Angel: She is Yusaku's Classmate and an entertainment duelists in the VRAINS known as Blue Angel who gets caught up in the multi-sided war. Aoi is one of the anime's best characters, both in her personality and goals. In the real world, she is a quiet and shy girl with difficulties in private relationships. In the Network World however, she becomes an active, happy and free dueltainer who just does the things she wants to do. This duality is very important, as her differences between her real self and online avatar are drastic and undeniable. This makes her feel alive and relatable, as everyone on the internet nowadays has an avatar where everyone can be whoever everyone wants to be. Unfortunately, Vrains lacks this important theme for most of it's run, as every other character is the same in real life and in game. Her Goals are (without getting into too many spoilers) relatable and basic, making her again more human. They shift multiple times over the series, showing her development as a character and different views on the world around her.
Ai/Dark Ignis: Being a member of the Cyberse, his life is sought after by the Knights of Hanoi. He is your expected partner, or more pet for most of Vrains run. He is often there when action takes place, but doesn't do anything besides looking. And the consequence is, that he feels uninteresting and unneccessary. He does have some important moments, but is mostly just doing things in the shadow, if at all. As the anime continues, he gets more development, a personality other than pure comedy and becomes more realistic and mature. By the end of the series, he is one of the best characters not just in Yugioh Vrains, but in the whole Franchise. It just takes a long time to get there.
Ryoken Kogami/Revolver: He is the Leader of the Knights of Hanoi and wants to kill the Cyberse. Ryoken is the most developed character in the anime. His character is vastly different from the beginning and end of the show. Besides being gone for 10 – 20 episodes occasionally, he drives the plot forward and is the most active character. Unlike the others though, his character arc constantly develops with every duel he has, which makes him more interesting and deeper.
Takeru Homura/Soulburner: Takeru is a friend and ally of Yusaku who appears first in the second season. He is a self confined and energic teenager who is trapped in his past and wants to be able to move forward. Therefore, he contacts yusaku and follows him to eventually find a way to let his past behind. Takeru is the most relatable and realistic character in the show. We get a lot of backstory and everyday life displayed, which lacks in many other aspects of the anime. His character arc is mostly the same as yusaku's first, but far better executed. The one problem is that he feels too much like a Playmaker 2.0, which lessens our interest and investment in him and feels unoriginal. Besides that, his writing is pretty much flawless.
Villains: The Villains are the strongest points in the whole show. Especially the major antagonists of each season are relatable, well-developed and have a good motive for their action, Going deeper would be a spoiler, but they are certainly the highlight of the anime. Even though not all are great, most of them are.
Other/Minor Characters: The other characters mostly do their job. Some are better than others, but none are very outstanding. They have unique arcs and expand the world building in individual ways. Vrains isn't able to let its characters drop, which later on leads to some duelists just hanging around in the story without any influence or point to it. Instead of writing them out of the story and giving them individual endings during the story, the team made them stay in the plot far longer than needed, which keeps the focus away from our protagonists, as we first have to somehow get these characters out of the picture to let the important characters duel.
Art:
The animation really isn't that breathtaking and only works most of the time. As a long-running anime, you can clearly see how they often had to re-use old animation and backgrounds. There was also the change in directors very early in the series, where there was supposed a huge improvement; apparently, animation wasn't one of them. It works most of the time, and sometimes they show where the budget went into: These moments are usually the summoning- and attack animations during the duels. The animation and Art is good when it counts, but isn't worth pointing out otherwise.
Soundtrack:
Just like the Art, the soundtrack isn't at all breathtaking and only works most of the time. Some of the music that was used was fitting for the themes and atmosphere of the anime, but it normally just appears without any other reason than a "cool moment" or "amazing strategy" being displayed in a duel. It is often enjoyable, but nothing more than that and adds nothing to the series other than having sound at all. And having the same music play over 100+ episodes becomes boring and repetitive either way.
Enjoyment:
There isn't anything else to point out besides the good and bad points that were already mentioned. Vrains was often entertaining, but the huge problems just stuck out during most of it's run.
Overall:
Yugioh Vrains has a few good points, but fails at many basics in story development and character building. My recommendation: If you are already a fan of the other yugioh anime or are interested for any other reason, you might want to check it out and decide to stop or continue after 20 episodes.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jan 6, 2019
A couple of years ago, we learned about Jason Barnes, a one-armed Atlanta man who is able to play drums thanks to a robotic prosthesis developed at Georgia Tech. Essentially, the dude is a cyborg drummer.
Shinichi Izumi is the main protagonist of the Kiseijuu series. He is a high school student whose right arm was infected with a parasite he named Migi.
Combine these two things, and we get Hero, a high schooler living an ordinary life, who meets Alma, a metallic arm who now lives together with hero for every moment of his life.
Whether people want to watch it or not
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is up to the individual, but I believe it is worth at the fundamentals for this story. This review will go into details as to my opinions on why I think so:
1. Story) There isn't really more to it than already mentioned previously. Hero and Alma meet new friends as well as fiends, and he has to question if he will ever be able to live a normal life in this world he isn't sure not to be changing. The Plot in this episode is neither very good nor very bad. We have the classic Hero's journey (no joke intended) which ends with our protagonist growing and defeating the villain for a happy ending. This episode is pretty much a mario game. Our hero must save the princess by fighting the enemy. Not really much to say about it. Oh yeah deus ex machina finale here too.
2. Characters) The number of characters is very low here, so we can go threw each one individually.
Hero; "Trigger Arm Hero/ "Our "normal life" main character who wishes to be left alone, but gets dragged into the story because of our deuteragonist(just wait a moment). He is afraid of every kind of danger and wants to avoid it as much as possible. This includes letting your allies fight alone against a high number of enemies. However, he is able to take action and do the right things when it comes down to it. At that point, he puts others safety over his own. And does everything for his friends. Luckily, this doesn't change him being pretty reliable in the slightest. He regularly oversleeps and isn't interested in their history or their culture. We see ourselves in him and understand him in most scenarios, which makes him an excellent protagonist.
Alma; "Supernatural Mecha-ude"/ “Mecha-Udes" are mechanical life forms from another dimension who need our life energy. Hero, a normal middle school boy, finds a cube by chance and breaks its seal. Inside is the Mecha-Ude Alma. That's Alma's backstory, and all his actions are determined by that. He is Hero's friends who wants to fight enemies and drags him into it. He supports him when necessary, like waking him up at school or in the morning. He hides a supernatural power other Mecha-udes don't have, and he feels no need to explain any of it.
Aki; "Iron-Twin Arms Host"/ Aki is very much a textbook tsundere. She seemed to only have a harsh outgoing personality, but slowly revealed a soft and vulnerable interior over time. She also quickly goes on a violent trip, using her two mecha-udes to frighten others in order to make things easier for her. Aki has had a rough past, fighting against gangsters or terrorist-groups. Because of that, she seems rather calm, emotionless and silent. Behind this facet, she is a very kind person who risks herself or her mission in order to save her friends. Even if it is difficult for her, she apologizes if she feels the need to do so and admits her own mistakes.
Sinis,Dex; "Two-Sided Hands"/ They are the mecha-udes of Aki and act exactly that way. Acting like her slaves, they always do whatever she wants to do and her will is their destination. Not asking twice, these two attack whom she wants to be attacked instantly. They don't act or speak actively and if they do, they do it to defend Aki or act in her will.
3. Art) This is one of the strongest aspects of the series. Most is in 3D and uses a lot of CGI. The CGI however, this is where this series gets its value, the fighting scenes, the metallic arms and pretty much the whole cyborg world or whatever you wish to call it is beautifully designed and i know it takes a lot of work to do it in 3D, each mecha-ude of each human has its uniqueness and it's just amazing to see the visual aspects of each. The combining of the 2D with the 3D makes me love it because i just was thrilled with the 3D visuals even if that doesn't equal the full runtime of the episode it's pleasing to see.
4. Sound) Instead of watching the anime you should just listen to the themes. That's everything you need to do and you will understand.
5. Enjoyment) Mecha-Ude is very hard to rate. Besides it's bad sides, it is quite enjoyable. The dialog between the characters are fresh, the fight scenes are well animated and it doesn't make many mistakes. Unfortunately, it's too generic and normal to surprise you at any of it's sides and you keep wondering where this anime tries to blow you away.
Overall) I think I have said everything about this which may be important about the anime. It isn't going to be the next Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood or My Hero Academia, however, neither will it be the next school days. A good show which doesn't have too good or too bad thing going for or against it. In my arrogant opinion, you will likely like it if you like similar mecha anime. If you don't, then don't watch it.
But as always, the best way to find it out is to go watch it yourself.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jan 2, 2019
Hello everyone, and welcome to the worst OVA of all time. And I am SERIOUS about this, ANY anime is better than this piece of shit. The only reason to watch it is because you liked the original series and wanted to see more, or you just want to torture yourself. Either way, let's see why this is so extremely bad:
Story: 2/10
In this special episode, Kakeru and the team enter a "Pink Night" instead of red. The "Black Knights" are now "Pink Ero-Rangers" and Lisolette is a bondage driver. The team's powers are also warped with an erotic twist. This episode is merely a
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parody and is in no way related to the original storyline, which is the only good thing about it. No creativity or surprises are to be expected, just a very very bad ecchi ova.
Art: 3/10
The art is just as bad as the original, I will give it that.
Sound: 1/10
No music in this OVA. Do I have to say anything else?
Characters: 1/10
None of them is any deep and even worse than the original series. You don't like them, just want them to go away.
Enjoyment: 1/10
I didn't even laugh a single time. And Especially the ending is one of the worst of all time.
Overall: 1/10
I just hope you didn't watch it yet. If you haven't, DON'T DO IT.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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Jun 24, 2018
Man-eating monsters live as human disguised in our society. Sound's familiar? With famous anime like tokyo ghoul or good anime like parasite, here we have one of the weaker genre representatives. While the anime mentioned above focus on our society, the human reaction or what makes a human itself, we're following a couple in love that doesn't know what to do in their strange situation and get in trouble with the police and a terror organisation. But let me start at the beginning:
Story 5/10
Tsukasa Taira, a college student, is rescued from an attack by a devil, one of many vampires that blend in among
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the human population. Yuuki Anzai, her savior, is a half-devil who utilizes his devil-born gifts as a member of a shadowy police task force specializing in devil-related crime in Tokyo. As Anzai continues to keep guard over Tsukasa, the two are quickly confronted with unacceptance and terroristic activities by the society.
The story is pretty weak, as it doesn't really know where to go and what to focus on. Romance? Politics? Action? Police? It seems it wants to do all these things at the same time, but isn't able to give us a good feeling about any of these points. On the other hand, the series isn't afraid to shift it's situation drastically. From a normal live to police work and later about terrorism, the series follows all these themes and situations at the same time. It has no problems actually switching it's set to a point it get's unpredictable. And it even likes to play around, both with the characters and the in world logic.
Characters: 4/10
Anzai is a 21 year old hybrid male meaning he is half devil half human. He works for the police force under F-Squad in Division 5. He struggles containing his rage and blood-lust as both cause him to transform into an uncontrollable demon.
Taira is a 22 year old female human. She studies hard in school and lives an ordinary life that was all changed one night when she falls in love with a certain police vampire.
Johannes Kleemann, he grew up at the same place as Anzai, is also a demon but he can control his wish for blood.
Besides them, most of the side characters are forgettable, unnecessary and don't improve the story in any notable way. You shouldn't expect character development or surprising choices watching anime either. The surprisingly well done main cast almost saves this part of the show.
Art/Sound/Voiceactors: 5/10
The art style in Devils Line isn’t too far out of the ordinary. Characters have soft faces and the colours mix in well with each other. The anime splits it’s time being indoors and outdoors and priority at night when outside. It’s rather dark which adds to the theme of vampires, devils, and darkness. This also allows emphasis when a brighter colour appears on screen. The biggest example of this is when we see blood. Blood is prominent throughout the series and when it is shown on screen it is usually the focal point. The choice of having dark background and bright blood throughout the show makes for great continuity.
Expressions are shown well of major characters, but a lot of the devils have the same expression or idle faces. The same toothy smile is used in just about every devil other than Anzai. One thing I was looking for that I was pleased to not see is that there is different blood patterns used in different episodes. For example, minor spoilers, when Taira gets a cut on her face halfway through the story she bleeds a certain way. When the cut is reopened and her face bleeds a different time, the blood doesn’t flow the exact same way, nor do we see a repeated shot.
The music chosen for Devils Line is very fitting and compliments the aura of the show well. The opening theme is ‘Eclipse’ by Souta Yanagawa commonly known as Shouta Aoi. The ending theme is ‘Sotto Tokete Yuku You ni’ by Mamoru Miyano, a very well known name. Both are well known for their works in the past and another job well done is presented here.
Interesting enough, for an anime that wasn’t considered ridiculously popular, Devils Line has some well known voice actors. The voice of Anzai is done by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka. Notable works he has done are ‘Sora’ from No Game No Life and ‘Kirito’ from Sword Art Online. Taira is voiced by Yui Ishikawa. Notable works she has done are ‘Mikasa Ackerman’ from Attack on Titan or ‘Violet Evergarden’ from the very popular Violet Evergarden.
Overall: 4/10
Weak plot and characters with no growth make this anime already pretty bad. It has some good points speaking for it like the music or voice actors, but finally fails at the most important parts. If you want to watch a story about monsters in human form, you should watch tokyo ghoul or parasite. For a vampire story, you should try out shiki, which is far better thought out and developed than Devils Line.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Mar 30, 2018
Quickly, think about some good horror anime! The first ones that come to your mind are probably Corpse Party, Another or Higurashi. This anime had clearly the opportunity to be on the same level as the above ones. Did Ousama Game manage to do it?
No, it definitely didn't. Was it at least a decent watch? No, not even that. But let's give it a closer look what made this anime fail so miserably.
Story: An entire high school class of 32 people receive a message on their cellphones from a person known only as the "King." The messages contain orders that the students
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must obey, or they get the punishment of death. With their lives on the line, the students soon find out that the orders are getting more and more extreme as time goes on. But one student, Nobuaki Kanazawa, is determined to put a stop to the murderous King's Game, once and for all. That's the setup for this show, but beyond that, there is almost no story, and for sure none that makes sense. Unrealistic and stupid decisions are the only thing the characters are capable of doing. Really predictable and simple, the story isn't able to surprise the viewer in any good manner.
Characters: This series has basically two important characters throughout it's run. Everybody else gets built up for 2-3 episodes and then blindly thrown away. The rest of the cast are there just for gruesome kills and a high body count. Nobuaki is the MC who can just cry and say he will change anything. Nevertheless, he is the hope of a lot of the students. Natsuko Honda is the main antagonist and pretty much the other side of Nobuaki, reflecting his hope as a symbol of despair. Those two have a common secret that is obviously the only reason exactly those two are important and to keep focus on, and no one else. We still have some (already dead) side characters that only play a role in the uninteresting mind of Nobuaki.
Animation and Sound: The animation and art was atrocious. This is the era of digital anime. Everything is created by computers nowadays. Pen and paper have been replaced with Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop and yet… they still made a show that could have passed as an extremely low budget show in the 90s. Some of the scenes were animated so poorly, you could easily harken back to the days where you could tell that a single animation cell was being dragged across the lens of a camera. Some scenes even looked like they were missing a few key frames as everything was even more jittery than normal.The sound is in no way good either, more like an action anime than horror. It felt like the studio just wanted to go with the "mainstream", which clearly was the wrong step here. At least, some of the soundtracks are by themself good enough to be entertaining.
Enjoyment: Here, I really have to give it at least some credit. Story and characters don't do it, we're rather "entertained" by this shows weaknesses. Sometimes, you even laugh about how bad the anime is, but then you realise they tried to make it good. The games are creative and entertaining too, which is at least a bit diversified. The deaths are gruesome, over the top and clearly stupid. And that's what makes you love those scenes soooo much. At one point, a guys head is exploded. At another point, a girl talks over 2 minutes calmly while being burned to death by flames. It is unrealistic, yes, but that's made clear from the very beginning. And that's again even funny. Still, bad story and even worse characters drag the enjoyment down, but sometimes being entertained by how bad this anime is is entertaining as well.
Overall: Don't watch it. That is my final statement. I could've talked a lot more about the bad things in this anime, but have said pretty much everything good. If you aren't a hardcore horror fan or just want to watch laughable stupid episodes, skip this anime. And if you want to watch a good horror anime, get the examples I mentioned at the beginning of this text.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Mar 23, 2018
Those two movie long "episodes", the anime Death Note is shown us once again. Death Note is one of the best anime series of all time, for it presents a deeply unique and compelling story rivaled by few.
Story: The story is unique. A notebook falls from the sky, and the human who writes a name in it is capable of killing the individual pictured in his mind. This presents the viewers with a highly debatable theme based on morals and justice. Yagami Light, who obtains this power to kill, utilizes it in hopes of creating a utopia in which he is god. Criminals, and only
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criminals, are to be punished in hopes of a perfect society. Is this however, right? Is it right to kill individuals who have done wrong, and will do wrong again? Can they be reformed? Death Note presents the viewers with questions such as these, questions which cannot be easily answers. This series challenges the viewers morals and for that, it deserves highly. With great and power and ambition, Yagami Light is forced to play a chair gripping game of cat and mouse with those who seek to detain him. The way L attempts to persecute Light is something I have never witnessed in an anime. The first 15 episodes will magically draw you closer and closer to the scene as suspense hangs over their individual methods for identifying the other.
10/10
Characters: Light and L are two of the most interesting and intellectual characters I've ever seen in an anime. Although both are geniuses, they each possesses that certain something that will make you root for one of them to win the game. Light's charismatic, yet extremely demented character gives you reason to watch his conquests and failures. L's quirky, yet highly intelligent qualities does the same for him. They are both unique and likable in their own ways. Character development sometimes lacks. Obsessed and overtaken by his dream of conquest with the Death Note, Light changes barely from the beginning of the series. This bit change can be seen in various other characters as well, although a bit more notable. Anyhow, the characters are definitely interesting.
8/10
Sound: Yet another amazing aspect of Death Note. I truly believe that if not for the soundtrack, the anime would not be where it is. All of those quick decisive moments with lives on the line are made intense, and the calm calculating ones even more. The opera, holy-like music also adds greatly to Light's character and goal of becoming God in his new world. The only flaw here resides in the second opening which at first, may seem disgusting to you. Sometimes overused, it still is on a very good level.
8/10
Art/Animation: Again, amazingly done. The dark colors suit the anime perfectly, and the scenery are all done amazingly well. Seriously, there isn't much action going on here, so there wasn't much to animate. Most of the scenes consisted of the characters talking or thinking, but the scenes there were filled with action (car chase and such) was done very well.
8/10
Overall: I was watching the series as one of the first anime, and those weeks are still great and heavy in my memories. The suspense was amazing, and it got me thinking. Anyone who finishes this anime will be forced to wonder about what they would think and do in the world. It is this talkable and complexity that makes the anime shine, in addition to its ability to carve suspense and anticipation into its viewers. I have never seen an anime as good as Death Note, and I highly recommend this anime to be watched. 9/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 14, 2018
When the casual viewer thinks of Hayao Miyazaki, they most likely go to Spirited Away, a fun adventure for the whole family. After that fiesta, one wouldn’t expect to find the violence and disgusting creatures of Princess Mononoke, which tells the story of nature’s demise under the expansion of humanity.
The story starts with Ashitaka, a young prince, as he defends his village from a corrupted boar. During the fight, the boar bites him, transferring part of the curse. Now, Ashitaka must leave the village and find a cure for the curse before it consumes him, as it did the boar. The curse also gives him
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strength – he can decapitate a man with single arrow (not how physics works, but this is minor).
On his journey, he arrives at Iron Town, a locale known for smelting the highest quality iron under the guidance of Lady Eboshi; however, to do so, they require wood and ore from the surrounding environment, which has angered the animal tribes and their gods. Amongst the wolf tribe is a young woman, San or Princess Mononoke, who captivates Ashitaka as he seeks to bring peace between animal and human and prevent the spread of corruption. Princess Mononoke is an intense world where moments of laughter are few and far between.
If it weren’t obvious already, Princess Mononoke is very much an environmental story, a usually tedious sort of story to sit through as the film tries to hammer some ‘save the Earth’ message into your brain with no understanding of reality. Princess Mononoke, however, avoids the ham-fisted approach and handles the human vs. nature conundrum with surprising depth. It shows both sides of the conflict – the need for humanity to expand, but also the effect it has on the environment when said expansion isn’t measured or thought out.
I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the lore of the world, but the characters left something to be desired. I don’t suggest any of these characters are poor in quality. Rather, they are too standard, too typical – not clichéd, just unvarying. Looking at Ashitaka, he fills the role of the young hero on a quest, yet we never get to see his inner character. He fills a role in the action, little more. The same applies to Mononoke, who despite being the title character, has little impact on the plot. She fills the role of the mysterious character on the other side and love interest – the romance is as empty as can be. I don’t know why they even needed the romance to begin with.
The most interesting character is Lady Eboshi. She is smart, a savvy businesswoman who wants to arm the village to protect it against the emperor and his samurai forces trying to subjugate the village. She makes for a great leader, prioritising her people first, but doesn’t know the consequences of her actions. Even with her, however, we don’t get those small moments that show her inner character enough.
I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the lore of the world, but the characters left something to be desired. I don’t suggest any of these characters are poor in quality. Rather, they are too standard, too typical – not clichéd, just unvarying. Looking at Ashitaka, for example, he fills the role of the young hero on a quest, yet we never get to see his inner character, his thoughts, his emotions. He fills a role in the action, little more. The same applies to Mononoke, who despite being the title character, has little impact on the plot and has less significance than some supporting characters. She fills the role of the mysterious character on the other side and love interest – the romance is as empty as can be, by the way, and never develops any chemistry between the two characters. I don’t know why they even needed the romance to begin with.
The most interesting character is Lady Eboshi. She is smart, a savvy businesswoman who wants to arm the village to protect it against the emperor and his samurai forces trying to subjugate the village. She makes for a great leader, prioritising her people first, but doesn’t know the consequences of her actions. Even with her, however, we don’t get those small moments that show her inner character enough.
Look to the animals, now there we have characters that are more interesting (the animals can talk). Nature’s decline has led to animosity between the tribes, each living in fear and lashing out at the others. The blind boar god was fascinating. He has this moment of terror that I found captivating, showing us his character in a single scene and the madness this war has brought.
Princess Mononoke was a good film on the macro level. The grand conflict, the world’s lore, the beasts, the different human factions, the idea, all great. Down at the micro level, I found little there. The characters fill roles in the narrative; if the narrative didn’t exist, I don’t feel as though these characters would have much to do, for we never learn of whom they are inside.
Overall: A great fantasy adventure, easy to recommend. Despite the colourful aesthetic, remember that Princess Mononoke may frighten children with its imagery and violence.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Mar 13, 2018
"Attack on titan was THE hit, so let's do another one of that kind" was probably what the creators of this anime thought. It's an original series by the same producers as attack on titan and seraph of the end. Similar characters, setting and storyline make it almost the same in 12 episodes and shorter arcs. But looking deeper into Koutetsujou no Kabaneri itself and all it's details, we get a show that does a pretty good job at what it is supposed to do.
The zombie-like monsters called kabane rule the world in a post apocalyptic world. The hometown of our main character gets attacked
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and he flees with some other former inhabitants on a giant, iron train. With new developed superpowers and a newly developed weapon, he now tries to fight back against the monsters who took everything from him, even his humanity.
Or to say it in short: "AoT in a zombie world on a train".
Story: 4/10
Animation and Sound fit the tone and atmosphere of the show very well and keep your interest and attention in every scene it shines. Sometimes over the top, it is one of the best things about this anime.
Art & Sound: 8/10
At first the characters in the anime were very well developed and each of them were given equal amount of time to show their own stands in this anime. And after a certain episodes all the characters and their timing were scattered around giving more importance to the surrounding. Pretty basic and nothing new, you still can't hate them and they are often solid.
Charcters: 6/10
Despite the initial expectations on Koutetsujou no Kabaneri and all of the comparisons between this show and Attack on Titan, we think this show proved to be quite decent. Maybe the storyline could have been better, but there is little more we could ask from its characters.
Overall: 7/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Mar 11, 2018
Is there even a way to get a good story together with only 10 episodes? You can argue about it, but the best way to find it out is to actually watch 10 episodes. After I have finished some of those anime completely, I can definitely tell: Yes! It is possible. However, it needs to be very well written and the producer has to know exactly how quick your story has to evolve. Did Mondaiji manage this? No - it didn't. But that doesn't mean it wasn't enjoyable. Here's a better explanation:
The anime is about three kids with special abilities transported to another world where
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the inhabitants participate in various Gift Games. These are games in which you and your opponent wager something; with rules and a referee. The kids soon agree to join a small community to up against the more powerful one because, after all, they are bored kids.
The story itself seems pretty basic and go on very quickly. Sometimes you wish it is a bit slower, but what do you expect in 10 episodes. It is explained in different flats and that's what gives it the depth it needs. Still, it's nothing new or special.
Story: 5/10
The three main characters all have a pretty unique look that nicely matches their personalities. They are the typical main characters, cool and selfish but always positive and never afraid. The other characters in Little Garden are really diverse and their outfits have a wide range as well. The imagination just runs wild when it comes to the characters. From elves to fairies and demons, there is no shortage of interesting or creative characters in the anime.
Characters: 7/10
The Art and Sound really fit the anime almost perfectly. You really feel how much effort was put into it. The art is beautiful and the music really lines up everything else in the anime. Sometimes overused, this is the best part of the anime.
Art and Sound: 9/10
The straight story and no new elements are a big hinder to the enjoyment. The rest was pretty good, but couldn't let the big minus just vanish. It had great moments for sure, but those were still too "normal" and weren't included too often.
Enjoyment: 4/10
Overall: Mondaiji is one of the anime people with low expectations or freshman will love. But giving it a closer look shows some weaknesses. Compared to the great characters and Animation, it gives a fine introduction into the genre itself.
Overall: 5/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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