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Jun 20, 2017
I really, really love Lupin III. I'm definitely a biased reviewer, because Lupin is my favorite anime franchise out of everything I've seen, but I really can't express how much I adore it. Red jacket can really be considered the essence of the Lupin franchise, and is often the one that people think of when anyone says Lupin.
Story: 10
Personally I'm a big fan of episodic type shows, and that's definitely what Lupin is. The story isn't always captivating or original, because after 155 episodes it becomes impossible to not reuse the same gags, but I really enjoy it just because of the fun,
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casual writing and the characterization.
Art: 10
The art isn't exactly extraordinary, but it's an older anime- I love it because it lends to the feeling of the show and the franchise, and it really wouldn't be the same any other way.
Sound: 10
One of my FAVORITE parts about Lupin. The Lupin VA, especially in this series, do a fantastic job, and Yuji Ohno has been producing music for this franchise the entire time it's been airing- don't get me started on the music scores for the new Italian blue jacket series. It doesn't feel right without Ohno's gorgeous jazz composition, and they're the kind of OSTs I'd listen to in their own right, as music separate from the show.
Characters: 10
The piece de resistance of Lupin is definitely the characters. Because it's so episodic in nature, the characters are really what set the Lupin franchise apart. I can't say enough about how much I adore all the characters. They are very much stereotypes- a cocky ore-sama type thief, a Girl With Boobs, the best gunman and the best samurai, and a cop- but at the same time, they subvert their stereotypes in a way that makes them all the more engaging. Lupin treasures the loyalty of his friends more than anything, Fujiko has the brains and the brawn to seal the deal, Jigen is a secret romantic, Goemon's biggest weakness is women, and Zenigata loves Lupin to the point where he doesn't want him to die, despite and because of being his greatest rival. The uniqueness of each character in their own right is one of the biggest things that keeps me, personally, coming back.
Enjoyment & Overall: 10
I really, really love this series and this franchise. I'd say it's definitely a quality watch, and if you're interested in getting into Lupin but don't know where to start, either this or the 2015 blue jacket series (if you're hesitant about jumping straight in with pre-2000s anime) is a great place to jump off. Before you know it, you'll be like me, downloading every TV special and OST... ;)
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Sep 23, 2016
Warning: this show is fujoshi bait.
You probably could have gotten that from the summary, actually, but I'm here to say that, as someone who enjoys shipping, both gay and not, Cheer Danshi!! is just... not a good anime. It has a cool premise and a catchy ED, but that's where, for me, the enjoyment ends- Cheer!! suffers from a spectrum of other problems, varying from bad pacing to an over-inflated cast to blatant bl-lovers' fanservice.
Story: 6/10
The story isn't that bad. Cheer!! doesn't have a lot of substance, but that's not necessarily a bad thing for a light slice-of-life sports anime. The storyline is pretty basic
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sports anime- a bunch of kids join (or in this case, form) a team for X Sport, aim to win nationals/semifinals/other large X Sport event, and develop meaningful relationships.
In this respect, Cheer!! has a decent stand. Haru has an alright backstory, the issue of why an injury that would keep him from doing judo competitively ever again doesn't matter when he's being flung in the air by a tower of ten other people aside, and the only thing that sucks in the story is the pacing of the character introductions, which I'll get into in the character section.
Art: 7/10
The art is decent. Nothing that anyone would watch the show specifically for, but nothing that would really put you off, either. It feels kind of choppy or plain sometimes, but Bandai Visual isn't KyoAni.
Sound: 8/10
Voice acting and music is decent. It gets an extra point for the catchy ED.
Characters: 4/10
This, in my opinion, is the biggest issue with Cheer!!.
I can't remember any of the fucking characters.
Aside from the first few who were introduced- Kazu, Haru, Ton, Mizo, and Shou- most of the characters had absolutely no introduction whatsoever. I came back from the recap episode and- bam! timeskip. Suddenly, there were fifteen more guys with unique haircuts in the gym with no introduction. What the fuck? They proceeded to pair up into convenient shipping couples in the span of three episodes. I understand that introducing such a huge cast AND developing a plot in 12 short episodes is difficult, but really, the only way I remember any of the characters is by either their physical description or which other character they were supposed to be shipped with. And I didn't really care about any of the main characters- Haru, Kazu, Mizo, Ton, and Sho- either, despite the fact that the writers could have easily developed them deeply if they had cut one or two goddamn gay-bait scenes. (Mizo is the exception. I'm fond of him because I have a weakness for the megane trope, which is a personal preference and does not affect the fact that he was badly developed.)
Another thing that really irked me was the tone of the anime, which can be best represented by one scene I remember from about halfway through the anime. The main six or seven characters were on the roof, practicing, and nothing was going well- at some point, it devolved into them shouting about their problems, complaining about how the issues they faced were worse than anyone else's. When Haru- the main- was the only one who hadn't spoken, he opened his mouth.
At this point, you would expect a rousing speech of leadership, right? Haru is our mc, the "average joe" dragged into the world of men's cheerleading by his overly positive best friend's story about his dead parents. He should say something about how all their struggles are important, but they should always get back up. That kind of emotional validation is what I'm watching slice-of-life shows for, goddamnit. Instead, he screams and bitches about how nobody around him understands how difficult /his/ life is, and why /his/ problems are so much worse than anyone else's. I almost dropped the show at this point, honestly.
I also disliked that the only female characters were a) Haru's sister, a judo prodigy who apparently can't win a single goddamn judo match unless her brother is there to cheer, b) a "cutesy" love interest for Haru who the writers cleverly eliminate by making her turn out to be Ton's elusive gf so they can continue with their fujoshi-baiting, and c) the hardass coach stereotype. Oh, and all the other cheerleading teams, who are never mentioned or shown for more than a minute. At one point, I'm pretty sure the show almost explicitly stated that boys were naturally better than girls at sports.
Enjoyment: 4/10
I like gay shipping, but I'm not into fujoshi bait, and I didn't really care about any of the characters.
Overall: 5/10
Not a great show. Cheer!! doesn't bother to hide its fanservice, and, imo, doesn't live up to any of the hype that's been surrounding it as a "fresh, new sports anime". I finished the show out of a sense of obligation, and will probably never rewatch it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Sep 23, 2016
Honestly? I don't see why this anime is popular. (In fact, I disliked some of the elements so much that I came here to do something I said I wouldn't: become a big enough weeb to write a serious, deconstructed review for a fuckin' anime.)
I've dropped the show after 14 episodes.
(reposting bc it got accidentally deleted! glad to see a lot of other top reviews share my opinion haha)
Story: 5/10
The story's decent, at least in the beginning. Time travel, fantasy lands, slapstick humor: nothing unusual, and all elements that've proven popular in other animes, but here, it seems to be a poorly executed jumble.
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From the surface, it looks cool- a regular joe dimension-jumps and finds himself in a world where, like in a videogame, he can die to return to the last checkpoint- but any deeper probing reveals what is, in my opinion, a goddamn boring shamble. It's disorganized in places, and plain dull in parts. There are some redeeming strokes, which are nice, but not, in my opinion, enough to pull up this anime into the 'must watch' region. (I might be biased against harem animes (and this one definitely has elements of a harem anime). I think they're dumb. Sorry.)
Art: 7/10
Nice art. I liked it. Nothing particularly special, but not off-putting, with good proportions and colors, and nice landscapes and worldbuilding. Probably one of the biggest redeeming points of this anime.
Music: 7/10
Same as the art- good music choices for the themes, well-fitting. Not distracting. Definitely helped set the mood for some scenes.
Character: 2/10
This is, in my opinion, where Re:Zero starts to go down the shithole.
The characters are boring as shit. The main character makes use of some slapstick humor tropes, like being comic relief and the hero at the same time- all it makes me think is that he's stupid as hell. Additionally, he becomes bizarrely obsessed with the main heroine over a very short amount of time, and this... devotion... becomes more and more drastic over the episodes, up to the point where he's directly disobeying her express wishes to do what he thinks is best- for her. (This was the biggest reason I dropped it. I fuckin' dislike the protag.) Finally, in a holy trinity of shit, he switches character types alarmingly often, from the charmingly obtuse but cheery character to the murderously entitled one to scared-to-the-point-of-shitting-his-pants. (I felt like he was a real gary sue, as happens a lot with harem animes. Dull as shit, but all the chicks end up falling in love with him anyways.)
Whew. Got that off my chest.
The rest of the characters- honestly, none of them really stood out. There are the basic character tropes- maid twins, tsunderes, the nice guy (though i have to say, out of all of them, Reinhard was probably my favorite), lolishotas, the perfectly bland girl, the eccentric master- and I found myself wondering when this episode was going to finally be over so I could see if the next one was any less boring. (Hint: It wasn't.)
Consensus: 3/10
I don't drop a lot of animes. Even moderately boring ones. Hell, I watched all 26 episodes of Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei, and in terms of a ridiculous main character, that was even worse than this. Mostly, the thing that got me about Re:Zero was how goddamn annoying Subaru- the main- got after 5-6 episodes. Watch if you like good animation and music and interesting fight scenes, or are a fan of the trope fantasy genre, but if you're looking for genuinely dynamic, realistic character development- keep moving, nothing to see here.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jul 29, 2016
Should you watch this anime? Short answer: yes. Long answer: not if you're into mecha anime.
(Kidding.)
I really, really, really like Amaama To Inazuma. It's called 'Sweetness And Lightning' for a reason- in an industry where, even with slice-of-life, apparently it's escalate the stakes or get cancelled, this anime is refreshingly low-conflict and heartwarming. Sometimes I don't want to watch the fate of the world be decided by three gigantic robots in an hour-long mega battle to the death, or see a bunch of high-school age kids beating the (physical or mental) shit out of each other in some competition to stay in their uber-competitive school.
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(That being said, if you're looking for action, you're in the wrong place. Sorry.) Sometimes I want to watch a (cute) single dad despair over how to get his (cute) daughter to eat green peppers.
Story: 10/10
Definitely one of the elements I love most about this anime. In my opinion, it's emotionally engaging, though a little slow at times- but in my opinion, that pace adds to its charm. It's basically what it says in the description, so I won't draw it out for you- one thing I will say is that when I started watching, I was worried it was gonna turn into a teacher/student romantic relationship, but that's not the case at all. (Actually, the dad deals with the whole 'contact w a female student in his personal time outside of school' thing very appropriately.) (Conversely, if that's the kind of thing you're looking for, you're probably out of luck.)
Art: 9/10
Definitely no complaints. Art is beautiful, realistic, and fits the tone of the story- plus, all the characters are cute.
Sound: 9/10
Same as the art- fits the overall tone of the anime, well-selected.
Characters: 10/10
Probably the biggest strength of the anime, imo. The characters and their relationships and motivations are- wait for it- believable and easy to care about. I know. Crazy, huh.
Plus, there aren't too many side characters introduced- i think the cast is mostly three mains and a handful of sides, which makes it easy to follow and focuses enough on the mains to really flesh out their characters. None of that 'well, these ten are the mcs, and these thirty are the side characters, and those other twenty pop up sometimes just for fun and to confuse the shit out of you.'
Overall: 9.5-10/10
I think the only thing holding me back from giving Amaama To Inazuma a full 10/10 rating is that the pacing can be a little slow sometimes- as of now, it's been four episodes, and one of the (i assume) mcs shown in the opening hasn't been introduced yet- but I would highly recommend this anime to anyone looking for something sweet, low-conflict, and heartwarming.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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