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Mar 26, 2021
Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun is about your typical loner gamer dude who plays *not* Smash Bros at a very high level, and decides to one day meet up with the person right after him on the leaderboard, who ends up being a cute, popular girl from his class. After this meeting, this girl, Aoi, having scolded our protagonist, decides to help him out by teaching him how to become a riajuu, a “normie” you could say.
I really wish I were be here right now saying good things about this show and how I used some of the advice Aoi gave to Tomozaki myself, but alas, here I
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am, incredibly disappointed by what could have been a nice romcom with a school setting. The show presents an interesting idea, I haven’t actually seen anything like it before, but the execution of the premise set in place by the first few episodes is a complete miss.
So, what is this premise? Tomozaki goes through several lessons with Aoi, who teaches him basic social skills, manners, posture, and so on, and gives him challenges such as “talk to three different girls” or “force a smile while wearing a mask”. Tomozaki doesn’t necessarily do well at completing these challenges, but he does try his earnest to do so, more often than not with the help of Aoi. Here is my first issue with show. If the whole premise is about the evolution of a loner into a riajuu, then why does Aoi do most of the work for him? It would be way more satisfying to watch Tomozaki do these challenges on his own, failing them or not, with all the cringy situations that these challenges may bring. I fail to understand why Aoi would be so invested into a random dude she met online. She’s not in love with him, and Tomozaki’s first impression on her was awful. Is it pity? Is it self-fulfillment? Who knows, but Aoi intervening as much as she does only reinforces all of the problems this show has.
There’s an analogy Jaku-Chara brings up regarding real life and games, even though it’s slightly “cringy”. If real life is treated as a game, then the social skills and achievements can be the equivalent of the skills and achievements in a video game. Tomozaki being really good Tackfam comes with a contrast of him being really bad at real life. This brings up quite a disparity. If you’ve ever played a fighting game, you’d know how much effort it takes to be good, let alone a top level player in said game, even in a game like Smash Bros. It takes years and years of practice before you could consider yourself competent at a fighting game, practice that Tomozaki has clearly put into Tackfam out of his passion for the game. So why is it that he goes from being a complete loner to a good looking socially capable guy in the span of 4-5 episodes?! How come the show is 12 episodes long when Tomozaki achieves all but one of his goals in 5 episodes? Of course, the rest of the show feels like filler content that serves close to no purpose to the overall plotline. I will attribute this to poor pacing. I assume that the light novel goes way deeper into Tomozaki’s struggles and hardships, or at least I hope so.
You might now ask me, “why am I comparing real life scenarios to fiction?” or “Why does it matter that Tomozaki achieved his goals quickly?”. The answer to that is simple, suspension of disbelief.
I’ll let you google what suspension of disbelief means if you don’t know this term, but it’s a fancy way of referring to the reader or watcher believing and investing themselves into a given scenario. Here lies the main problem of Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun: I do not believe a single event that happens in the anime.
When you pick a school setting for your work of fiction, you can go down two paths, a realistic depiction of high school life with down to earth, believable characters (for example, Hibike! Euphonium), or an absurd depiction of high school with extraordinary events and out-of-this-earth characters (for example, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu). These paths aren’t that well defined, and most of the time you can get away with mixing absurd characters with regular high school events (for example, Chuu2Koi), which ends up being quite a nice way of showing what a character is going through, be it a completely exaggerated depiction of an emotion or an emphasis on the importance of a particular event in the character’s life. Chuu2Koi does this with chuuni magic battles, Monogatari does this with long elaborate dialogue, although Monogatari isn’t your typical high school setting show. Point is, your story and characters have to be believable or relatable. You want the reader or viewer to care for the characters you’ve written. As for Tomozaki, his only relatable point is that he’s a loner, and so are most anime watchers. Nobody will relate to being the best at a certain game, and very few will relate to being competent to a high level at a certain game, and most certainly NOBODY will relate to Tomozaki’s character progression. Without being relatable, the main character now must appeal to the audience with his actions, most of which are dictated by a third party or happenstance. He’s effectively a puppet of the other characters in the show, sometimes adding his own ad lib to the situations he finds himself in. Even after becoming a “normie” 5 episodes in, Tomozaki just comes off as bland and uninteresting. He’s nothing like OreGairu’s Hachiman who’s a way better example of a loner working on himself in order to become a better human being. This is the main problem, Jaku-Chara is too unrealistic to be a down to earth high school romcom, and too ordinary to be an absurd high school romcom. The viewer is stuck in a situation where they cannot relate to the main character while also not being able to enjoy his personality or the results of his actions. They cannot “suspend their disbelief” in order to fully invest themselves in the show.
The other characters don’t help. Aoi has no personality, she hardly even fits a trope. She’s somewhat twofaced, but not enough for her to be an appealing or interesting character. Minami isn’t a character; I refuse to acknowledge that someone wrote her as she is. She’s an amalgamation of completely different charm points and gags that the writer probably finds appealing in a waifu. She is so over-the-top energetic that it becomes hard to watch any scene that involves her. Izumi is your generic high school girl, again, without a personality. Out of the female characters, this only leaves Kikuchi, voiced by Kayano Ai, who I like a lot, and Hanabi, who’s cute and inoffensive. I could mention the male characters, but other than Nakamura, who’s sort of another rival to Tomozaki, they, yet again, serve no purpose and just act as filler content, NPCs for Tomozaki to interact with.
Speaking of Kayano Ai, her and Nobuhiko make this show bearable. The rest of the voice actors are unremarkable at best, obnoxious at worst. Hasegawa Ikumi does an awful job at Minami, but then again, Minami is an abomination of a character, so that’s most likely because of poor direction.
The opening is a cheerful song by DIALOGUE+, an unknown idol group, and sounds as generic as you’d expect it to. I thought it was ok at first, but it very quickly got obnoxious to listen to. The ending is unremarkable, as one would expect.
Finally, the art and character design are fine. They’re bland, and I absolute hate the modern character design standards when it comes to drawing eyes and faces, but that’s just me. Again, unremarkable, but at least the animation isn’t appalling.
Without a solid and interesting story, Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun fails to entice the viewer with its unremarkable characters. The viewer finds themselves watching seemingly unbelievable events unfold as the main character lackadaisically moves from happenstance to happenstance that just happen to work out in his favour. Without achievements that can be attributed to Tomozaki’s efforts, the show feels like an empty shell with no substance, an exhibition of events that collectively have no impact.
There is very little to take away from Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun, I wouldn’t recommend trying Aoi’s advice in real life, let alone watching the show. If you want a good story about a loner working on himself, watch OreGairu.
TL;DR:
Pros:
-Kayano Ai voicing a cute taciturn bookworm
-The first couple of episodes and tips
Cons:
-Unremarkable characters
-Unbelievable events
-The show fails to suspend the viewer’s disbelief
-Little to no substance – an exposition of random events
-Minami
-Awful pacing
Final Score: 2/10
Thank you Kayano Ai for saving this show from being a 1/10. God bless.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Jan 1, 2018
Think of the worst anime you've ever seen. Is it Mars of Destruction? Pupa? Maybe it's something more obscure, maybe it's some bland magic academy show, maybe it's something very popular that you just you don't like at all. Now be grateful, because if the show you just thought off isn't Fate/Apocrypha, it means that you haven't yet watched this abomination to the Fate franchise. Fate/Apocrypha is A-1's attempt at milking the cash cow that is Fate, written by the dude who wrote the script for the horrid Danganronpa 3 Mirai-hen anime cash in, and it is easily the worst anime I have ever seen.
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No, seriously, I am in no way exaggerating, out of all the awful shows I've seen, no show can even be compared to how bad Fate/Apocrypha is. I gave Fate/Apocrypha the honor of me finishing it, mainly because of how I wanted to see how bad it could possibly get. Now please, let me explain why you should stay the furthest away from Fate/Apocrypha as possible.
Now surely if you're familiar with the Fate universe, or any other Nasuverse show or Visual Novel, you know the various themes Kinoko Nasu or any other of the writers who wrote anything for Fate like to put forward. Fate/Zero focuses more on the ambitions and ideologies of the various servants summoned, while also presenting one of the best dilemmas in anime for it's ending which focuses on the idea of "justice", something that Urobutchi tends to like to base his stories on. Fate/Stay Night serves as an introduction to the Fate universe, and arguably does it even better than Fate/Zero. Unlimited Blade Works presents the idea of "Original vs Fake", and this same idea is developed a lot of more in Fate/strange Fake. Even Fate/kaleid, the fanservice-y loli show eventually puts forward exhilarating battles and does justice to the Nasuverse magic more than any other Fate show. Fate/Apocrypha on the other hand, is empty. The only thing Fate/Apocrypha tried to pull off is some half-assed "justice" conflict, which you have already seen a million times if you're somewhat into anime. And even then, this "justice" conflict is basically "All humans are evil!!!", "Nooo!!! Good humans exist too!!!". I'm not even making a strawman out of what is said in the actual show, "So, please don't say that goodness doesn't exist in this world!" is a real thing that a character in the show said, that is meant to be taken seriously. Either this is intended to be some massive joke, either this show is targeted towards 12 year old kids.
Boy is this far from all the problems with the plot in Fate/Apocrypha. While all the other renditions of Fate all have 7 servants which are developed during the course of the show, Fate/Apocrypha has 14. 14 SERVANTS!!! This means that Fate/Apocrypha effectively has 28+ characters it has to develop in the span of 25 episodes. As you understand, this is impossible to do, so obviously most servants are left out, and a lot of masters are sidelined. ...Sidelined. The most interesting aspect of Fate is sidelined and becomes mundane. The show mainly focuses on a few select servants and masters which leaves you wondering "Why do I have to watch all these secondary characters interact? They don't matter in the long run". This thought is completely correct. Most of the characters are useless in the long run. The show would have honestly been better if the cast would be the classic 7, heck 5 servant-master combos.
Heck, the plot in Fate/Apocrypha is basically sidelined. It's all just an excuse to have poor action play out. It can be resumed to "big shiny thing, me want. Reason me want? Me don't know".
Although, the plot isn't really a strong aspect in any Fate anime (and it truly brings me pain to say this because I know that I'm wrong), what about the "strong" aspect of Fate, the characters? Well, the characters in Fate/Apocrypha are a shit show of their own.
Not a single character is interesting. Not a single character brings anything interesting to the show. Not a single character serves any other purpose than just bad fanservice. I realised this fact by episode 3, and eventually started watching this show just for Mordred. Well, to my disappointment, Mordred ended up in the exact same situation as the rest of the cast. Her backstory was rushed, which of course it would be since there's barely any time for any of the characters, and her ambition and desire to get the grail ended up being a poor excuse to fight some people.
Then there is Sieg, the walking definition of "Deus Ex Machina". Sieg is the puny homunculus you see in the beginning of the anime which *spoilers* ends up playing a major role in the show (He's literally on the cover of the show). The amount of plot armour Sieg has rivals the plot armour of Emiya Shirou. For no reason at all, every other member of the cast either has a mad crush on Sieg, either cares way too much about him. Even Jeanne D'Arc, the supposed "judge" who should remain neutral until the very end of the war develops a crush on Sieg. Why? Because it's Sieg. Without getting into spoilers (in case you want to watch this shitty show), the amount of times Sieg escaped death is insane. By "escaped death" I don't mean "came really close to dying", I mean "should have been dead".
Fate/Apocrypha also ruins some of my favourite historical figures. In Fate/strange Fake, Jack the Ripper is presented as a mysterious incorporeal Berserker, a spirit of madness, which makes a lot of sense since Jack the Ripper literally had origin stories that claimed that the man who committed the crimes was possessed by a cursed watch. In Fate/Apocrypha, Jack the Ripper is a loli in a thong with mommy problems, and no, I'm not making this up, that's literally what she is. In one of the episodes Jeanne D'Arc takes out her sword, which is supposed to be a symbolic piece of rusted metal that she used to boost her troops morale. In Fate/Apocrypha, the said sword is a suicide magic wand that casts fireballs.
As a side note, there is also a particular character which I despise that goes by the name of Astolfo. Astolfo is easily the worst thing to ever come out of Fate. Astolfo is a trap, a character type that recently became popular in anime. Astolfo, just by existing in the show, lowers the seriousness of the show by a lot, further implying that Fate/Apocrypha is just a poor fanservice show.
What about the """miscellaneous""" parts of Fate/Apocrypha? As in, the Sound and the Art? Well, they're both terrible.
Both of the openings of Fate/Apocrypha are boring and uninspired. The first opening is a terrible performance by EGOIST in which the vocalist sounds like a siren. The second opening is the most generic LiSA song ever. The endings are also boring, but hey, I wasn't expecting the endings to be remarkable.
The worst part is the sound design. On multiple occasions the loud bass used for literally every single sound hurt my ears. Bullet being shot out? Loud bass. Fire burning? Loud bass. Swords clashing? Loud bass with 2016 Berserk clanking. Oddly enough, the person responsible for the sound design, Iwanami Yoshikazu, has done a good job in his previous works. It's as if he just gave up and used the same sound for every single thing in Fate/Apocrypha. The sound design being terrible heavily ruins the immersion.
Fate/Apocrypha has one OST along with a few remixes of that OST. It's loud, it's bombastic, it's annoying, it doesn't fit, and it made me want to stop watching the episodes every time it played.
As an insult to injury, my favourite voice actor of all time, Hayami Saori, does a terrible job voicing Atalanta.
Finally, the art and animation. The art style is bland. It looks like a cheap knock off of ufotable's artstyle. But the art style isn't the worst part of the visual aspect of the show.
The animation, IS AWFUL. I have no idea how a studio can fuck up this badly. Most of the time, nothing is shaded. There are loose keyframes every few seconds. The show abuses still frames, and on one occasion I had I to sit through a poorly drawn still frame that played for at least 10 seconds. The main purpose of this show being clearly to deliver fanservice to the fans of Fate is completely ruined by the god awful actions scenes that completely lack direction. The animators were probably told to just draw something that "looks nice".
Episode 22, the """good looking episode""" looks awful. If you believe it looks good, you are wrong. Episode 22 was mainly webgened, which would be a nice effort from A-1, if the final product looked remotely good. The problem with this episode is, yet again, lack of visual direction. Taken separately, the various clips may look good, but put together they become a mess of conflicting art styles and ideas. One second you have a well drawn still frame of a character, and on the following second you can have some "sakuga" explosion which ends up being completely out of place. The animation suffocates the viewer. There is a clear lack of visual clarity. A-1 focused on "flashy" scenes rather than well orchestrated fights. Compare Fate/Apocrypha to any other Fate show by ufotable. The difference is striking.
Obviously, I did not enjoy watching this show. It's a train wreck. A train wreck that I finished watching purely because I wanted to see how bad Fate/Apocrypha can get. There isn't a single redeeming quality in Fate/Apocrypha.
Please don't watch this show.
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TL;DR:
Pros:
-nothing
Cons:
-Complete lack of a story
-Pointless characters
-Empty of any thought provoking themes
-Uncharismatic characters
-Sieg and Deus Ex Machina
-Astolfo
-Ruined historical figures
-Bland openings and endings
-Ear-hurting sound design
-Boring art style
-Awful animation
Final score: 0/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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Dec 25, 2017
*insert original "S" joke*
Blend S is A-1's attempt at making Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu Ka?, and it's a fair attempt, that falls short because of the bland unlikable characters, unlike the characters of GochiUsa. I had high hopes for Blend S, I thought it would be the first A-1 show that I actually like, but sadly, I was wrong.
Story: 3/10
What story? Do you really think A-1 would try to compliment this show with an overarching story like the one in New Game? A story in a Slice of Life CGDCT show is something that can make said show even better, because the events happening compliment
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each other instead of being random one-shot episodes. Blend S does not have a story. It tried to, with various character introductions that come later on in the show and the last """confession""" episode, but it fails at doing so.
Basically, Blend S goes as following: Character introduction>episode dedicated to the character>random episode>character introduction>rinse repeat. This would be fine if the characters in the show were actually charismatic and fun, which they are not, something I'll address in the Character section.
The humor in Blend S relies mainly on visual gags. It's the typical humor you'd expect from a CGDCT show. It's boring, unoriginal, and didn't make me laugh a single time. Although, I wasn't really expecting high comedic value out of a show like this.
All in all, Blend S presents episodic stories that could only be interesting or fun to watch to the crowd that enjoyed Gabriel Dropout earlier this year.
Art: 7/10
For once A-1 do not have a noticeable animation drop in their show. The art style is similar to the one in Eromanga-sensei. It's simple and "gets the job done", after all, I wouldn't be expecting a memorable art style from a CGDCT A-1 show.
Sound: 5/10
The opening is catchy, especially since the "Smile, Sweet, Sister, Sadistic, Surprise" sequence made itself into a meme. What this shows suffers on is the unremarkable voice acting. Aside from Hideri who is voiced by the one and only Tokui Sora (Nico Yazawa's voice actor), who did an amazing job at her role of sounding like a girl and a boy at the same time, the rest of the cast is quite bland and doesn't really stand out.
Character: 2/10
Good thing that Kaho exists, because dear lord the rest of the cast was painful to watch. The cast would be fine if this show were a short, because the characters wouldn't get boring by episode 6, but the same cannot be said for a full 12 episode show. As you'd expect from the premise of the show, every character is reduced to 1 or 2 traits. These traits are kept as they are since episode 1, and get little to no development. If every character was introduced in episode 1, you could literally watch every episode in the order you liked. Worst part, is that one of my favourite character types, the onee-san, ended up being sidelined, and thus, being bland.
The problem here is the untapped potential of the situation the characters are being put into. Personally, watching Blend S, I expected that at some moment the theme of "faking character" was to be brought up, you know, "Forgetting their own personality because they have to fake one for the job they have to do". This theme would make for some interesting character interactions and/or development, but apparently this was too much effort for the scriptwriters.
Enjoyment: 3/10
I gradually started watching this show just for the moments with Akizuki and Kaho. Since the show is way too centered around Maika than it should be, if you do not like Maika, you won't enjoy the show.
Overall: 3/10
Blend S should truly just be called "Bland S"
If you're part of the crowd that enjoys shows with zero character development and no plot like Gabriel Dropout, go ahead and watch Blend S, as you'd surely enjoy it.
Would I recommend Blend S?
Just go watch GochiUsa.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Sep 30, 2017
Welcome to the most overhyped show of 2017. Made in Abyss is a perfect example of an above average show that gets hyped up by every body which forces others into believing that the show is something it really isn't. I, for a change, am not blinded by "hype", and can see the flaws in Made in Abyss, which are quite numerous.
Story : 2/10
Sometimes it speeds up and gets somewhat interesting, sometimes it slows down and gets really boring. The show is basically boring up to episode 6, then somewhat interesting up to episode 9, and then a snoozefest until the end, unless you happen
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to like the characters, which I didn't. Episode 13 is dedicated to the backstory of 2 characters I honestly couldn't care less about.
The story in Made in Abyss tries to be this grand mystery with multiple intriguing plot lines, but fails at doing so. One of these seemingly important plot points only gets a half of the final episode dedicated to it, the other is a superficial motivation for the main character to go down the Abyss. So the plot ends up relying on the adventures of Riko and Reg, which I must say, are the "interesting" part of the show.
Made in Abyss builds a vast, colourful world that it ends up forgetting to explore. Something that I was wondering while watching this show is "Do other countries exist? Is there anything beyond the mountain-island on which the characters live?", a question to which I didn't get a reply. What does the show actually explore then? The Abyss? Sort of, up to a certain point at which the main characters stop at a layer which happens around episodes 8-9. Thing is, the show starts exploring the world it has built around episodes 3-4, so that's only 4-5 episodes of exploration, in an anime in which the story is held up by the adventures of the main characters. You're left with an empty shell of a promise you were given by the set-up episodes.
All in all, Mady in Abyss is a spark of originality and good ideas with nothing to back those ideas up.
Art: 8/10
Although I'm not a fan of the artstyle, which lowers my mark a tad bit, I must say that the art in Made in Abyss is great. The world is drawn beautifully and down in the Abyss we can witness variety filled scenery in the various levels of the aforementioned shaft. However, since the show stagnates at certain points, some of the this scenery gets old.
The animation isn't outstanding, but for a show made in 2017, it's surprisingly not poor outside of the BD releases. The small chibi characters are easier to animate after all.
Sound: 10/10
The OST is beautiful. The opening has some nice vocals. The ending is catchy. The voice actors all did an amazing job at their characters. This is the one point where Made in Abyss shines.
Character: 4/10
Why am I giving such a low mark to a show that heavily focuses on the relationship and adventures of 2 characters? Simple. 4/10 is for the 4 good characters of this show: Riko, Reg, Ouzen, and Nanachi. I will admit that these 4 are all quite charismatic and memorable. However, I hate kids, so I couldn't stand Riko and Reg most of the time. Ouzen, being one of the 2 characters I actually liked in Made in Abyss should have been developed more. I'd gladly watch an episode dedicated to her rather than the 13th episode which was dedicated to Nanachi and Mitty.
Enjoyment: 4/10
Made in Abyss never made it past the "it's ok" phase for me. It hang during its airtime at a 6, sometimes showing the potential of peaking at a 7, only to nose dive to a 4 with the boring last episode. It's one of the shows I'd switch on in the background while doing something else, only paying about 3/4s of my attention to the show.
Overall: 4/10
Do you like adventure anime? This show isn't for you. Do you like captivating or relatable characters? This show isn't for you. Do you like empty promises? This show might be for you. Do you like eye candy? Watch Made in Abyss, otherwise, don't.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Sep 24, 2017
Kakegurui is a show about gambling.
No. No it's not. Or at least, it doesn't focus on gambling as much as people want it to. Quite sad how most of the people who watched this show missed out on tense psychological battles and the degradation of mental states of characters during the games they played, because of focusing too much on the "quality of the games".
Story: 5/10
The plot in Kakegurui kinda takes a backseat and is only used to justify the events happening. This reveals the poor pacing of the show, since the show clearly should have been a 2 cour. We sadly do not get
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to see neither the history of the academy, nor the backstory of Yumeko or the student council.
Art: 8/10
The art stays pretty loyal to the manga. It has a mature vibe to it which fits well with the show. The "ugly/orgasmic" faces also serve as visual representation of, yet again, the character's mental state.
What lowers the mark are the CG scenes, which sucked.
Sound: 10/10
Amazing jazzy opening. Hayami Saori. Sawashiro Miyuki. Sugita Tomokazu. Need I say more?
Character: 10/10
This is where Kakegurui shines. Each little gamble introduces a new character, their motivation to gamble and the extent to which they will go achieve their goal. The variety of these "reasons" is what makes the show interesting. Some characters want to be treated as human beings, thus playing to achieve a higher status, some want to experience near death situations which makes them feel alive, some want to use the academy as a stepping stone to stardom or to a prestigious position of a politician, thus gambling in favor of their success.
If the plot takes a back seat, the character interactions is what drives the show. Using the Midari arc as an example, we get to see a game between a person who gambles for fun, Yumeko, and a person who is crazy enough to gouge her own eye out just to demonstrate her willpower and who would put the lives of other people on the line just for her personal pleasure, which results in one of the best episodes in the anime, the outcome of which I won't spoil. Other than the Midari arc, the paroxysm of these interactions is shown in the Manyuda arc. With many cringing out of discomfort during the "nail biting" scene, the said scene demonstrates the determination of one of the characters to advance to their goal, discarding, or "betting away" what's personally important to them.
Enjoyment: 9/10
I started watching Kakegurui because I wanted to see people play poker in anime. In the end, I got a show that excels at being a psychological thriller. I didn't get what I expected, I got something much better.
Overall: 8/10
Rambling aside, look at how much I wrote about the various characters without focusing even a single bit on the games of Kakegurui.
Is the show about gambling? Yes it is. Is it *only* about gambling? No. Does it focus on the games used in said gambling? No.
If you're watching Kakegurui for the games, don't bother, you'll end up disappointed. However, if you want to watch "crazy people do crazy things" while risking their lives, go ahead, this show is for you.
Sadly, with the anime original ending, the conclusion to the show is a bit lackluster. Had the show been a 2 cour anime, which would fix the pacing, this would be one of my favourite shows of all time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jul 26, 2017
I went into this expecting the same quality OVA as the one from the first season. I didn't get what I expected. Here's a short review explaining why you might as well spend 20 minutes of your life on something else.
Story: 4/10
Kazuma and the crew walk into a dungeon, fight a thing, masochistic Darkness acts as a masochist, back to the guild. Same old jokes. Same old scenarios. Same old interactions. The only laugh I got out of this OVA was a bad keyframe.
Art: 3/10
It's either over animated with too much movement for simple scenes, either badly keyframed. As I said before, the animation is
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laughably bad.
Sound: 5/10
Aqua makes me want to punch her because of her annoying squealing voice. Nothing outstanding. Some sound errors here and there that most people probably didn't notice.
Character: 3/10
We were introduced to a new character, and I honestly don't know her name, so I'll call her "White Hair Spot McGee". White Hair Spot was a forced attempt at a joke, and that's pretty much it. She's also awfully designed.
Enjoyment: 2/10
I got a laugh out of a bad keyframe, and that's it.
Overall: 3/10
Don't waste your time on this.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jun 25, 2017
Nope, it isn't as bad as everybody makes it out to be. Season 2 of Chuunibyou could have actually been a 10 if the final scene wouldn't have happened the way it did.
Story : 8/10
You know what's incredibly hard to do? Combine the genres of SoL, Comedy and Romance. You might think that those 3 are basically a given for every good romance show, but that's only half right.
The thing about Chuunibyou Season 2, is that it perfectly manages to give it's moments to every genre it has. Usually, one of those genres is bound to be ignored, like having too much slice of life
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elements and then rushing dramatic parts for the romance, or having too much of those dramatic parts so the show will feel "stuck up". Chuunibyou on the other hand, brings a perfect balance of comedy, slice of life elements, and serious moments.
However, the things that lower my appreciation of the story are mainly pesky little scenes which are supposed to be serious, but instead throw in Chuuni jargon, and the final scene of the anime.
Now to address the whole "lack of romantic development" argument. No, the show doesn't lack in romantic development, on the contrary, if you believe it does, you're blind. Yuuta's speech in the final episode is a great resume of this. The ultimate doom of most couples in middle/high school is taking things too quickly, I've seem more than one example of this in real life. This is also exactly what Yuuta says. He'd rather take things slowly and surely, rather that rush and eventually, destroy his relationship.
[Spoiler] : Yes, if Rikka and Yuuta would have kissed at the end, the show would have been a solid 10.
Art : 10/10
It's KyoAni, need I say more?
Seriously though, KyoAni are the gods of portraying human emotion. The scene where Shichimiya "fights" her inner self is one of the best "breakdown" scenes I've ever seen.
Sound : 10/10
The opening is good (it's ZAQ afterall), the voice acting is on point, Juri Nagatsuma's performance was amazing.
Character : 10/10
This is where Season 2 shines. Every. Single. One. of the characters gets some development, and even the newly introduced ones end up with as much depth as the old ones. The struggles of Nibutani embracing her past self, Shichimiya fighting her love for Yuuta, the fact that Dekomori eventually becomes close to Nibutani, her somewhat of a nemesis, and the emotional struggles of Rikka make every character human. Even Kumin shows another side of herself, even while being a side character. The characters all grow and by the end of S2, are all different than from what they were in S1 or the beginning of S2.
Enjoyment : 9/10
Minor inconveniences aside, Chuunibyou S2 offers a fun story that is also very deep if analysed, and portrays human emotions unlike any other anime.
Would I recommend watching S2 or all of Chuunibyou? If you have a bit of analytical thought, then yes. If you're in it simply for the romance, then no.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 15, 2017
Deen's lazy, and they're feeding you an unpolished product, and you're accepting it as it is.
Story : 8/10
In all honesty, the first 7 episodes were just a repeat of season 1. If the show would have went on like that, I would have rated the show a 5. Good thing the "hot spring arc" came by and actually explored a new location. KonoSuba has a great setting, so the various towns/locations need to be explored more.
Art : 3/10
"BUT THE ARTSTYLE IS INTENTIONALLY BAD CAUSE IT'S FUNNY"- let me stop you right there.
Sure, the derpy art does add some comedic value, after all, Deen
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somewhat knows how to do derpy art, with Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka? being a perfect example, but that's not the problem. It's rushed. There's a limit between derpy art and bad art, and KonoSuba falls very close to the boundary between those 2. The art was screaming "WE ARE SAVING MONEY" shamelessly. This can be forgiven, since some frames actually made me chuckle, but that's not the biggest problem either.
The animation. Oh god do I cringe everytime I watch the opening, the ending with poorly drawn still images, the episodes with poor proportions on characters, unnatural not even derpy movement, nothing is shaded.. The list goes on and on. The animation in KonoSuba S2 is objectively bad. The art falls under some kind of subjectivity, but the animation is inexplicably poor and, yet again rushed. A perfect example of this would be an opening scene of episode 9, with a priest character walking towards Kazuma unshaded, poorly drawn, shifting in size, and poorly proportioned. Sadly this repeats throughout the anime. If the animation didn't make me cringe, I would have rated the anime an 8.
The worst part is that Deen knows how to animate things properly. Episode 10 had very good animation and a perfect balance between derpy and good art. But for some unknown reason, I cannot say that same for the rest of the show. Most likely money saving.
Sound : 8/10
The character voices are sometimes irritating, but most of the time the voice acting is on point. Sadly the opening song, as well as the ending song just sound like a copy of the OP/ED from season 1. This doesn't lower the mark, I'd just like to hear something more original.
Character : 10/10
This is where KonoSuba shines. The show focuses on character interaction and does so very well. I would think that season 2 would just be a repeat of the same jokes used in season 1 (which it sort of was the case), but it deviated enough from season 1 and brought more original humor and specific character traits to every character. The only bad thing I could say is that some of the characters, such as Wiz, weren't developed enough. Being my favourite, I would love to see some more backstory and jokes to Wiz, instead of only having a small part dedicated to her in episode 10. Same goes for Yunyun.
Enjoyment : 7/10
Faltered by the poor animation, I enjoyed season 2 less than season 1. If season 3 comes around, I'm hoping for the same level of quality as seen in episode 10.
Overall : 7/10
I would definitely recommend watching both of the KonoSuba seasons if you manage to not pay much attention to the art or the animation. It's a good, funny show to kill time when you're bored. It could have been better.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Feb 22, 2017
Ugh, what am I even doing. I must be insane to give such a low mark to Steins;Gate, "Steins;Gate: the holy grail of time travel anime". And no, I did understand the story. I am going to get so much hate for this, aren't I.
Story : 5/10
Now, before shitting on Steins;Gate, let me say that the plot up to episode 21 is amazing. No really, I had this anime set as 10/10 before episode 22. The story's hardly predictable, and in no way is it overdone. It takes heavy inspiration from the IRL John Titor "incident", and the time relativity theories in Steins;Gate actually make
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sense in real life.
Now here is where it goes all wrong. Up to episode 21 the plot flawlessly chains itself into a conclusion, and said conclusion, is one of the worst endings to such an amazing set-up I've ever seen. This ending tries so hard to be special, that it just ends up being predictable, forced, unnecessary and bland. From episode 1, I could predict that episode 24 would turn out the way it did. It is really hard to explain this more since that would mean spoiling the ending. So here's a full explanation, with spoilers, for those who want to know :
S;G Up to episode 22 is untangling the mess that fucking around with time caused. It sends a strong message regarding the whole time travel thing. Okabe loses a dear friend because of his selfish desires to change the world with time travel. Episode 13 proves that point with Mayuri's inevitable death, which fills Okabe with despair. The whole show, up to episode 22, after that is trying to fix this mess, trying to prevent this looming death. Every D-mail he has to undo is a choice, for example Feyris has to chose between her own desires of saving her father, or a whole city's life style. The Kiryuu Moeka arc was excellent as well. All this tension builds up to episode 20, in which Okabe, somewhat hope filled realises that he's going to need to make a choice, Mayuri or Kurisu. At this point, the show is actually brilliant. The ending should have focused on this choice. The ending should have been picking between self ignorance and the greater good, just like in Fate/Zero (the life of Kiritsugu's Family, or everybody else). The philosophical solution to this would be absolutely making a single choice, just like in classical ancient greek drama, which the show sticks very closely to. The time represents a divine entity, Okabe the fool that messed with said entity, and Mayuri the punishment that this divine entity bring upon Okabe for doing said things.
Now here's my complaint. Instead of that, instead of leaving things at episode 22 with the solution to the Cornelian dilemma Okabe had to face, Suzu comes out of nowhere, not even after a chain of events, just in the beginning of the episode, and says "we can still save Kurisu". Okabe actually starts with "No, I've made a choice, it's impossible", which was good, but then *deus ex machina* you can trick the world into thinking Kurisu dies when she doesn't. That means that Okabe is basically the deciding catalyst in what the world does. So it goes from being unable to escape certain death, the inability to do anything, to "I can fix everything because I can". That is my big problem. That is the deus ex machina that bothers me. And the way he accomplishes that is also poorly executed. As well as character dialogue past episode 21. Episode 18 had amazing voice acting, that Kiryuu Moeka theme is breath taking, but episode 23 just feels dull and sloppy.
Art : 8/10
Animation was a bit sloppy at times, but that's pretty much it. The art style is very nice.
Sound : 10/10
I need to give credit where credit is due. The voice actors are AMAZING in Steins;Gate. The legendary Kana Hanazawa voices Mayuri, which is a perfect choice of seiyuu. Other great performances were by Gotou Saori who voiced Kiryuu Moeka, especially in episode 18-19. Nothing negative to remark here.
The opening is also very catchy, I haven't skipped it a single time.
Character : 7/10
The characters are great. Every character has a distinct role, and fits that role well. My only problem is Mayuri, who was a bit rushed, and didn't serve a big purpose other than the whole episode 13 to 22 part.
Problem is, I went from liking the characters, to hating them in 2 episodes. Episode 23 feels as if the dialogue was written by a totally different person than the previous 22 episodes, same for the character lines. Again, hard to explain without spoiling.
Enjoyment : 5/10
The curse of the last 2-4 episodes. It's hard to hit a good landing story wise, I acknowledge that, but this feels as if a different author wrote the last 2 episodes. Sadly this is why I don't like Steins;Gate.
Overall : 5/10
Would I recommend the show? Of course I would. This 5/10 is only my opinion, I think that any other person who would watch the show would love it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Feb 1, 2017
I'll start by saying that this is one of the best movies I've ever watched. Not just anime movies, but movies in general. This 2 hour 40 minute Hollywood length movie can rivalize with the giant that is Ghibli, or even Hollywood itself
Story : 10/10
There isn't an easy way to describe the story without massive spoilers. It's simple, but yet complicated. The story isn't one of those massively entangled ones, with multiple interpretations of the ending. Any confusion left is cleared up within the last 10 minutes of the movie. It's consistently good, lands it's ending perfectly, and doesn't have anything extra that is unneeded.
Art
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: 10/10
It's 2010 KyoAni, do I need to say more?
One of the best parts of the art and the animation is how KyoAni captured human emotions. Kyon felt like a real actor, so did the other characters. The breakout of emotions from Nagato was also perfectly executed. The "camerawork" is great, the choice of scenes is great, there aren't any negative remarks I can make.
Sound : 10/10
Ambient noise, BGM, Voice Acting, opening, ending song, all are just perfect. There's isn't a single remark I can make here.
Character : 10/10
Yet again, this is heavily connected to the story. You would think that characters that have been developed during 2 seasons of the anime couldn't possibly be developed any more, which turns out to be false. You get to see the hidden side of every character : the despair filled dilemma inside of Kyon, as mentioned before, the hidden feelings from Nagato, more from future Mikuru.
Enjoyment : 10/10
This movie easily redeemed Endless 8, and it is a perfect ending to the Haruhi series. As I said, this is one of the best movies I've ever watched.
Overall : 10/10
Would definitely recommend watching the entire series just to watch this movie.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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