- Last OnlineApr 30, 5:28 PM
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- BirthdayJul 27, 1999
- LocationMidwest US
- JoinedJul 13, 2017
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Jul 5, 2022
Does some things right. Very unique style of comedy that may not be for everyone, but I liked it enough. Interesting enough characters. Issue for me was the end. Throughout course of the manga there were hints of a much more sinister reality underneath the cheery facade. Unfortunately this whole plotline which makes up most of the final volume was rushed, underdeveloped, tonally confusing due to the lack of isolation from the comedy parts and lack of development, and thematically dry. Not a lot of good character development takes place and the ending leaves a lot of loose ends and dissatisfaction. Some people might say
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it adds to the surreal appeal but for me it just left a sour taste in my mouth. I would have enjoyed this manga much more if they made it a pure wacky slice of life comedy instead of halfassing some overarching plotline. I'll give it a seven for the good times I did have with it
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Mar 19, 2019
Revolutionary and a breath of fresh air in some aspects. So woefully incomplete and under developed in other areas. This anime is far from complete. One would need at least 60 episodes in order to fully flesh out the world and all of the characters within it while maintaining the nice pacing the series does have. This 12 episode “season” is the equivalent of combining a few monogatari arcs together to develop one characters background (as well as the world) within the frame of a larger story. The unique, revolutionary, and fully developed style is something I havn’t seen since Puella Madoka Magica. Praise
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all around but by god if they dont announce seasons 2-8 soon I will have blood. Other than the incompleteness the only other complaint I have is that there is a sort of unprecedented and obvious shift in the final fourth of the series, everything picks up from the animation to the action and the humor, it almost felt like a different show. Also the ending does not wrap it up nicely it is a cliff hanger.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Feb 16, 2019
Hmmm this was certainly an interesting watch. But the most interesting thing is actually how uninteresting it is. This movie is just a regular movie from the 80’s that happens to use animated penguins instead of actors. No penguin puns or references whatsoever, no flashy animation sequences that would be lost in live action. Don’t get me wrong it wasn’t bad it was just absolutely nothing special. The only original thing it has going for it is the novelty that it is penguins. I will go in depth in the body but my final judgement and reccomendation lies in the conclusory paragraph if you wish
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to skip.
Story: 6/10
I feel like I have seen this story at least 3 times before. It is nothing original. One could easily predict almost every single plot developement well before it happens. There are no twists, no new angles on the old clichés. Additionally since it is targeted at a slightly younger audience the violence, love, and tension are sort of dialed down and minimized, making for a rather flat roller coaster ride. This movie is just plain vanilla. This might be partially due to the movies age but then you can’t say it has aged well. Additionally, at least tome, the ending was sort of chintzy as it apppeared pretty melodramatic tho this might be due to a difference in the legal system and societal attitude towards convicts and propriety in the japanese 80’s and modern day America.
Art: 8/10
I personally don’t have much experience with art and animation criticism, and I have taken into account this movies age, so there isnt much to pan it on. It looks nice enough to even pretty good at times. I do have a few complaints tho and that is with the character design. The penguins rarely wear clothes and are for the most part drawn indistinguishably from eachother aside from a few minor details such as an accessory or slight change in head shape. This never becomes an actual issue as far as differentiating characters but the relative lack of diversity, especially among the main characters, makes it sort of boring i liked the unique design of some of the side characters and I wish there was more of that throughout. Another slight issue with the art direction is that the penguins small eyes, beaks, and plump faces did not lend themselves to being very expressive. This often left the voice acting and music to carry the emotionality of the scene once again resulting in a plain/boring product. So overall the art was good but not flawless imo. I can say that it was fun to look at the male penguins and in your head switch between a big eyed perspective and a big forehead perspective.
Sound: 9/10
The music was probably the all around best and most unique part of the show. The insert songs were spectacular. They were catchy and well suited suited to the scenes/ overall plot. The background music was fitting though not super memorable or inspiring but it blended well with the mood of the scenes. The voice acting was probably the weakest part of the sound production it was just so plain and sounded like voice acting rather than sounding like it was the penguins themselves speaking, this might just be a product of the timesbut I can’t help but feel a little disenchanted. So overall average asides from the insert song which might be the one thing that redeems this show from a sentence of deserving to fade in the sands of time.
Characters: 6/10
For most characters the most interesting thing about them is that they are penguins and this is an issue. It once again is probably due to age but most of the characters are boring to one dimensional. They were completely predictable and none were particularly compelling. The doctor was maybe the most interesting character and he had very little screen time. Another anachronism is just how weak/dependent the female characters are. I’m no feminist and I can definitely see merits in the argument but it still slightly put me off how one of the themes is that the female lead should give up her dreams to be a happy housewife instead. Especially since this theme countered the idea of the male lead making a full recovery from his PTSD and living a rich life rather than quitely pittering out. I guess these themes/character developments add a touch of realism to the story but it once again makes it sort of boring. My dinal issue/nonissue with the characters is why are they penguins. It ads nothing meaningful to the piece. In fact i think several arguments could be made that it detracts from the piece as far as relatability as well as the ability to read their emotions and emphasize. In reference to another work I recently finished, it was like a reverse oyasumi punpun. Representing the characters as penguins served to dull them and their emotional output, while punpun’s varying highly juxtaposed physical representation is one of the most lauded literary techniques in manga for how well it let you look inside punpun. So in short I don’t understand the choice of making them penguins. At the same time the fact that they are penguins and the novelty value this commands is pretty much the only reason anyone, including myself watches this movie in the first place so I guess in one way or another it was an overall good choice.
Overall
the movie wasn’t bad. Heck I won’t even forget the fact that I watched it just because the fact that its penguins. But I can’t say I particularly enjoyed it. It is pretty dull. In fact I watched it over the course of 8 or so hours because I kept on getting bored and having better things to do. I almost enjoy watching completely shitty movies because it then at least gives me the satisfaction of being disgusted at them. This movie is just plain and bland. In the end, I can only recommend you watch it for the novelty value/memes or in order to discover the insert songs. Other than that the movie is destined to fade away as the years go by or maintain its small novelty value because it simply doesn’t bring anything of substance to the table to keep it relevant. Thank you if you read this far. I also appreciate any feedback you have, whether your opinion differed on the movie or you have ideas on how I can improve my reviewal method. Thank you
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jan 13, 2019
Please read this before you attempt to watch this anime. You may take this warning with a grain of salt as I have only watched 8 episodes but after being thoroughly pertubed, I have done a lot of secondary research and this is the conclusion I have reached. This anime is not worth your time and here is why if you want an explanation/evidence.
From what I have gathered, the way this anime works is, excluding the first episode, the anime is entirely shitty filler until the final arc which I have heard people say is absolutely
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amazing and deep and others say is clichéd and easily found in other anime. Idk, I didn’t watch the end. But even the people that highly rate this anime generally agree that this anime is not enjoyable. Deep, dark, and thought provoking yes but not an enjoyable watch. Some people praise this difference in story telling and seem to be genuinely fine with the all moral no entertainment type of story. Others get off on thinking that being able to value something for reasons other than enjoyment makes them more mature than others and will dismiss all criticisms of the piece as being made by “immature simpletons” whose brains are too underdeveloped to appreciate something this deep. But me personally I watch anime for enjoyment, and while a deeper meaning to anime is a very welcome and cherished experience, I am not willing to torture or bore myself to death myself just to obtain this.
The reason I didnt watch the end is because the middle is so bad. There are various random plot elements scattered throughout the middle which means you have to sit through it to get to the end. So lets get into why the middle is bad.
There are various reviews labeled 3-4 (and even some 10s) on the MAL page that will perform a much better analysis of this shows specific shortcomings so I will simply list the basics without going into much detail or providing examples. Take them as you will but I can attest that I truly felt and recognized these issues while watching the anime and that I am not simply parroting the specific negatives others had identified while vaguely not liking the anime.
1. There are no interesting characters and there is no character developement.
2. The world and is magic system while somewhat interesting, are very shoddily built and frustratingly vague or self contradictory
3. There is no “good” comedy, action, or romance to temporarily sate you while you wait for the story to get istelf in gear at the very end
4. The 3 aforementioned factors combined lead to a very unnatural and uncomfortable watch as everything you know about good storytelling is ripped to shreds. You could pretty objectively say that the author did not write a good story. How much of this is on purpose snd how much of this is simply a lack of talent or foresight who knows and does it matter if its unenjoyable all the same.
There are definitely many more major issues I could talk about, any many more comparisons I could make to try and explain it to you, but for brevitiy’s sake just know that the middle section definitely does not feel good. And for me it feels really bad.
So these factors combined make it so you sit through the most horrible mundane shit slowly gathering the few important plot points while you wait for something to happen. Considering this anime is 24 episodes long and the reviews of the ending have ranged from amazing all the way down to meh, you really have to ask yourself if this is a gamble worth taking. I personally have made my choice and decided that it isnt worth the risk. To paraphase another reviewers words there are much better anime like Shiki and Eve no Jikan that deliver a similar and probably better highly philisophical/ thought provoking message without taking the time to drag you throught the mud and insult your intelligence first. So maybe if you have seen these other reccomendations and you have a lot of time and patience you can watch this but If not i would suggest watching them first and then still not watching this anime. Thats how much I personally disliked what I did watch.
Thank you for taking your time to read this review. I very much am open to comments and critiques on my review as I am always trying to expand my critical mind, and this review was quite fundsmentally different from my other reviews. Also if you want to try and convince me that the ending message of shinsekai yori is sooo good and lifechanging that it is worth me slogging through the rest even after watching the aforementioned suggestions first.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Dec 23, 2017
I just had to write a review for Inukami!
Let me just start by saying that this is one hell of an anime any way you look at it. I'm certain my judgement of its flaws are clouded by how much fun I had wa tching it, but what can I say. It was a joyride. The whole layput of the anime is a bit weird so I will split my review into 2 halfs and judge them semiholistically rather than going over character, story, art, and all that crap.
The first bit is full of carefree standalone or 2 part episodes that really just feature the
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main 2 characters and focuses on the ecchi and comedy aspect. I remember laughing a decent amount. I myself have been super desensitized to fan service/ecchi, but there seems to be very little in this anime makes a bit of sense since its from 2006. Overall the first bit is carefree and easy to watch. You can watch it at your own pace as well.
Then we get to last 3rd/quarter which is an absolute treat. It starts ramping up a bit midway through and you sort of think that it is going to start to take itself too seriously and fall on its face, but it does the opposite. This anime will 100% make you say "gawd dayyum this shit just got real!" But the 0 to 1000 that happens is absolutely exhilerating. Every aspect of the anime amps up to the max from the story to the character developement, the animation and music, the romance, the action, and even the comedy. The final episode is really well done as well which is a rarity for me. I am so used to being dissapointed or longing for more but I think that InuKami really wrapped itself up nicely. The transition from the first half to the second was a little odd but idk it really worked for me.
Overall this anime of course had its problems and was quite a bit of a mess, however it was always incredibly enjoyable. If it was refined it would have been a classic, but I can respect the artistic chaos the producers went with as it gives it a lot of uniquness that will make it unforgettable. Absolutely loved this show.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Nov 8, 2017
THIS IS A HIDDEN GEM!!!
Also warning there is a very small spoiler that some sentences might very slightly allude to however I am certain that you have already been spoiled it and I think I might have just been slightly confused while watching it.
So my overall rating is a 9/10, this anime is absolutely fantastic and is a big fresh breath of air after I have been dredging through some less than quality productions. This is an absolute must watch if you are into the genre and I can't even begin to understand why I have seen no hype for this anime and how I
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barely managed to stumble across it. As I said it is a must watch for anyone that is into the slice of life romcom genre especially if you enjoy some light fantasy as well, ignore any cliché tropes or unoriginality that appear to be present as I assure you this anime is anything but stale.
This anime is practically everything Charlotte wishes it could have been.
Now for my one disclaimer which I pray to god doesnt ruin it for you as it was still very highly enjoyable. This whole anime is one big advertisement. This anime is a "free" sample designed to promote the suirce material which I imagine is a light novel. (which I will definitely be checking out since the sample was so good) unfortunately this means that the anime is not complete. The vast majority of plotlines and subplots that simply are not fully explored and completed because that is not the purpose of the anime. Personally this didnt take away any enjoyment from me as much as it leaves me craving more, however I will say that I recognize that being incomplete makes it a lot easier to be so good , as anime tend to make more mistakes the longer and more complex the plot and, by consequence, the resolution become. Keeping this in mind this anime is not a masterpiece from a creation standpoint and cannot be even judged alongside other great anime that I would consider 9's and 10's because it was given a signifigant handicap in not being complete (bowling handicap or advantage not a disadvantage). Anyways still watch it and then just find the source material afterwards and without further ado onto the review.
As previously mentioned I give this anime a 9/10 as it has overall very very few flaws and does a lot of things spectacularly.
Story: 10
It's hard to judge since a.) it is incomplete and b.) it is technically but not really a slice of life, however I was amazed how well the story was woven together in just 12 episodes. There are many significant connections and revelations to the main storyline that you don't see coming and are quite well crafted. Despite being only 12 episodes you get the sense of a much bigger world/central conflict that would have the potential to be a much longer anime say full metal alchemist length without getting old or worn out. (This is why I don't consider this entirely a true slice of life) overall very well done I just wish we actually got those other 52 episodes with the same quality
Art. 7
TBH the art overall was nothing special. Character designs where mostly intriguing and fresh (even the main character isnt too bland) but background and auxillary art where hardly noticable most of the time. Also i'm not necessarily the most skilled critic at this but sometimes the animation was noticibally simple with only the mouths being animated for numerous numerous scenes. However I do believe the animation and art quality did increase a bit during the many fantasy scenes. Overall you are not watching this show for the art but it doesnt hinder your experience whatsoever.
Sound: 8
The sound was slightly above average maybe even an 8.5 The opening and ending where not somethign absolutely amazing that I never skipped but they were still well above average for me and I enjoyable listened to them while watching the well made opening and ending sequences quite a few times. The ambient/standard background music is entirely forgettable however towards the end during a few important emotional scenes they have a rework of the opening theme that does well. However the most impressive aspect of the sound category was the voice acting. No character had an annoying voice to me not even the "loli" and there are some hauntingly amazing scenes where the voice actresses/actors really outdid themselves and really made the scene as memorable as it is(those who have seen it already will know which scene in particular I am talking about).
Character: 8
This could maybe be and 8.5 as well. The character category has some mixed reviews. I really only have issues with one character that i will adress in a bit. First off one thing that both amazed and dissapointed me was how they used most every character, in fact there were only really two people that can actually be considered characters with names rather than extras that dont see extensive or significant use in the story(sorta). On the flip side they seemed to stuggle to use a lot of these characters at the same time with some characters being heavily focused on only to be completely forgotten moments later or vice versa, and some characters completely failing to interact with eachother other. However I imagine that a lot of this stems from the 12 episode deadline and incomplete nature of the anime. Another thing I would like to adress with characters is tropes. This anime does in fact apply a lot of standard anime character tropes, however most of the characters manage to use this only to a comedic end and grow beyond the archetype not letting it define them. But this is where my single biggest issue with the anime came in. The tsundere doesn't really grow beyond the tsundere trope. It doesn't necessarily ruin her as a character or negatively affect the show as people including me have been shown to still like tsunderes despite there being so many of them, ut it just seems to take away some originality. Actually really the only way the tsundere is developed is as a double tsundere afraid of her true feelings towrds the male lead as well as her feelings about her hobby. Other than what I mentioned characters were all above average.
Genre related themes: 9
Being a romcom light fantasy/slice of life the main focuses are of course romance comedy and light fantasy/ slice of life.
The romance is quite above average and it is not your typical harem anime. People actually get hurtand there are real strains on chara ters relatiosnhips, the girls actually make a legitimate attempt to express their feelings to the lead character, and he in return is not completely oblivious to their or his own feelings. Unfortunatly seeing as the show is unfinished there was never a true romantic conclusion but hey that means whatever ship you choose wont be completely sunk until you get to the light novel.
The comedy gets progressively better as you go along and get more in touch with the characters. It varies a bit in style and while it isnt revolutionary and I never had a seen where I was dying laughing it gave me quite a few chuckles and I always had a smile on my face during the lighter scenes. It balances out serious with humorous very well most everywhere (although actually for me one of the scenes that I for some reason personally found to be one of if not the funniest scene was smack dab in the middle of one of the most serious scenes.) Additionally the anime is frequently very self aware to the viewers comedic delight.
Finally one last bit of confused praise that I have for this anime is how it balances out being both a slice of life and fantasy anime at the same time. The anime starts out as and is still at its core a slice of life anime, however while they are never technically the main main focus of any given episode the fantasy aspect permeate the anime, creating as previously mentioned a deeper world/central comflict, giving insight of what to expect in the completed light novel. I will say that I do believe that the slice of life was mainly a tool used in this "promotional anime" to allow the viewer to quickly become enraptured by the characters and I suspect that the source material is slightly more fantasy focused, however I have never read any light novel let alone this one so I couldnt tell you.
So yes overall very good anime 9/10 because of what it does well and my overall enjoyment despite some minor flaws.I highly recommend that you watch especially if you are a fan of the genre.
*******here is the slight spoiler********
So idk if this really counts as a spoiler since the information is in the description and is technically revealed episode 1, but the superpowers in this show are real within the anime (so long as the very end is oh yeah every single one of these hundreds of people all mass hallicinated the exact same thing. This wasn't entirely clear at first and considering the chuunibyou theme it was honestly sorta hard to tell and I wasn't entirely sure until we meet Reatier or whatever her name was in the sub. Overall I do think however that this uncertainty was sorta nice and the final confirmation that it was real felt pretty good.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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