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Mar 27, 2018
I had high expectations for this anime, as I am a fan of Junji Ito's work. Perhaps I should not have, especially since I have seen the terrible movie adaptation of Uzumaki, just because it is an adaptation of Junji Ito's work, it is not necessarily good. And here is why this one fails at adapting it's source:
First of all, while it is a faithful adaptation of Junji Ito's short stories, that is simply not enough. The essence of Ito's manga is not exactly in the stories themselves, it is in the presentation. While they are good stories reminiscent of urban legends, they do not
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feel as anything more than that. Urban legends told by children at a playground. Without Ito Junji's way of telling these stories, they lose all the things that make them exceptional. This brings me to my next point: the art.
Oh the animation. It is absolutely dreadful. The lines are strange, thick, uneven and heavy; the colours are dull and utterly uninteresting; and the movement is lacking. Honestly, sometimes it looks like paper cutouts being dragged around in front of a still background. It is lazy, uninspired and ugly. The way the characters are drawn especially. While, I believe, the beauty of certain characters in Ito's manga serves an important purpose: to enhance the presentation of the horrors shown in the stories. On one hand, their beauty strengthens the contrast between the main characters and the monsters they encounter. In other cases, the beauty of an evil character can appear otherworldly and creepy. But whichever case we are talking about does not matter when it comes to this anime, as the characters just don't look all that beautiful at all. They look awkward, their faces seem off - and not in a creepy Junji Ito way -, and the lazy linework combined with dull colours does not do them any good either. Luckily, the dreadful art is the worst part of this anime, all other aspects are decent at the least. And after the worst aspect follows the best.
Here's a thing I actually loved about this show: the sound. For the most part. What got me to watch this anime aside from the fact that it is a Junji Ito adaptation was the OP. It is energetic, memorable and very cool. Though I am not sure if it is a great match for the mood of Junji Ito's manga, and definitely nothing like the actual anime. The ending surprised me by being even better. It is just the right amount of calming after an episode that was (supposed to be) stirring, while it keeps a sense of strangeness to fit the source material. It is quite a lovely song, I never actually once skipped the ED. As for the general soundtrack, it was nothing special. Just your average creepy ambient music. When there even was any music. This I honestly didn't really mind. While it could've been done a lot better in order to enhance the creepiness of the stories told, this at least was not absolutely terrible.
The voice acting, while criticized by many was quite good in my opinion. The voices were fitting to the characters (I especially enjoy the fashion model's voice), and while they did sound strange at points, mostly they seemed natural and fit the rather dull and mundane design of the show well. It's important to mention that the voice actors did not have much to work with, as there was not too much personality to most characters depicted (except for the few whose personality was an important factor). Which normally would be fine, Junji Ito is not beloved for his character development. The characters are supposed to be there to be a witness of the terrible, inexplicable happenings around them. Shells whose shoes we could place ourselves and our friends into. As I said, normally this would not be an issue in a Junji Ito story. But in the case of this adaptation the boring and lifeless characters just add to the dull and gray feeling the show emits.
Despite everything, I enjoyed this anime enough to keep watching all 12 episodes. Though I don't believe I would've kept watching if it was any longer. Perhaps I enjoyed being reminded of all the good reads I had before. Maybe the anime did a good job at enhancing the more humorous side of Junji Ito's manga that sometimes appears. I honestly can't say if I would have enjoyed this anime more or less if I hadn't read a portion of the source material. I would argue that without any pre-established connection to the stories, you'll find nothing enjoyable in this anime. On the other hand, it's faults might bother you less if you don't get your expectations high after the manga. I do not know whether you will enjoy it, but I say if it doesn't seem worth watching after two or three episodes just drop it. It is not going to increase in quality the least bit.
Overall, I gave this anime a rating of 4 (Decent). I considered giving it the 'Poor' rating, but I decided this might not be as bad. It was not laughably terrible, nor was it unwatchable. It just felt unmotivated and seemingly made on a very low budget. Therefore I came to the conclusion it was decent.
Now to summarize my points: My biggest issue was with the lazy animation, awkward artwork and dreadful colour design. Otherwise I found the show painfully average and uninteresting, not in any way reaching the greatness of the source material. The OP and ED are definitely worth listening to though, as they are great songs, completely unfitting to a dull anime such as this one. I am not saying you should avoid this anime at all costs, but if you feel like dropping it after a few episodes, do so, there is nothing worth staying for.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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May 21, 2017
I don't think I have cried so much watching an anime in a very very long time. The story was beautiful, and especially in the beginning it all felt so realistic. The art was amazing as well (which is not a surprise, I expected no less from KyoAni), though the CG objects in certain scenes bothered me a bit. But it was actually well-done CG, so it wasn't that bad.
The soundtrack was amazing, making the scenes even stronger. The voice actors did very well too, I especially admire Hayami Saori, Shouko's voice. It must have been something new and possibly difficult to talk the way
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a deaf girl would.
I found the characters rather interesting, but sometimes the movie felt a tad bit lacking in that area. By that I mean, it started talking abut the personalities and problems of characters other than the two leads, but then somehow seemed to forget those threads, or cut them short. I personally would've loved to hear more about Kawai, Shimada and Sahara.
But, all in all, I have to say, this movie had a great effect on me. I recommend this movie to many people. Those, who like moving stories; those who are facing problems in their life; those who enjoy beautiful animation; those who like a story mainly revolving around the characters; and everyone else who has the time to watch this outstanding work of art.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Feb 26, 2016
Before watching Kill la Kill, I believed it's sole purpose was fanservice, and nothing more. Well, recently my brother managed to convince me to give it a chance, and it was most definitely worth it. This anime was a pleasant surprise, and I must recommend it to everyone.
Story:
The story, no matter how I look at it, is far from being good. It was not very original, since the plot elements can be found in almost all action anime. From the school setting, through the main character's goal being vengeance to the plot twists I am not going to reveal in this review (some of which
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are pretty predictable, by the way). The theme of the story was a rather unique idea, but that is all there is to it. But then what is so great about this anime? Everything else, of course!
Art:
The art (and the character designs) was the reason I actually decided to watch it. The style is unique to this anime, one of the most recognizable I've ever seen. The colours are well coordinated and proportions are used masterfully to express. I know this latter is not anything new, and can be seen as an artistic tool in many other anime, but it is rarely used this boldly. It gives the scenes a special kind of dynamic energy. The art is very flexible, it puts artistic freedom before being reasonable, which fits the tone of the series perfectly. Interesting textures were used well too, Ragyo's rainbow hair and the texture of the uniforms are two good examples. All of these together make an outstanding and memorable art style.
Sound:
I am not much of an expert when it comes to voice acting, but even I can tell, that the acting was on point and powerful throughout the show. The voices were perfect for the characters and the voice actors/actresses did a great job conveying emotions!
But what I loved most about the sound, was definitely the music. Outstanding, beautiful, imposing, amazing: these are some words to describe the soundtrack. Blumenkranz -Ragyo's theme- is a fine example. The vocals hold extreme power and the tone itself screams Ragyo Kiryuin. And here is the perfect opportunity for me to talk about another strong point of the Kill la Kill soundtrack: some of the songs have lyrics! This isn't something new, but it's most definitely a brave move, adding lyrics to a scene in a story can easily backfire. In this anime, it did not. Even though lyrics repeatedly appeared in important themes again and again, it did not break the flow. It did the opposite, added so much more to the impact of each scene.
I should also mention that the first opening was a thousand levels of awesome, and the ending theme was just as great, if not even better. The second OP and ED were good as well, but in my opinion they didn't even scratch the bottom the first pair.
In short, the show has an amazing soundtrack, appropriate for an amazing anime.
Characters:
I really wanted to give a 10 for the characters as well, since they all are extremely lovable and many shades of cool, but I can't deny the fact that they were indeed all built on common tropes. Aikurou is the weird adult, Satsuki is the strong and seemingly unmovable ruler, Ryuuko is the cool, tomboyish rebel, Nonon is the powerful, confident and slightly annoying little girl, Inumuta is the typical hacker genius and Nui is the creepy cutie. Still, they way these tropes were used was great! Their little quirks and great motives gave them their very own character, their interactions made them lovable. The most original character was probably Mako. While she seems to be the kinda dumb, silly and oblivious best-friend character, she definitely is full of surprises. Actually, her whole family is. The main purpose of the Mankanshoku household may have been comic relief, but the anime definitely wouldn't have been the same without them. Even though they are so over-exaggerated and crazy, they somehow manage to be relatable and believable.
The character designs were also great, especially Ryuuko's (and Senketsu's, at that). No wonder the show got awards for it multiple times. In my opinion, there were some desings that were kinda off, Aikurou's hair was pretty annoying to me, for example, but overall, they were great. My favourites were Ryuuko's (and Senketsu's), Satsuki's, Nonon's, Nui's and one of Mako's outfits' (you will probably know which one, but I can't really ell you without spoiling anything). I must mention Ragyo's splendid rainbow hair again too: another brave and successful move. Conclusion: Kill la Kill has a colourful cast that is interesting and fun to watch, and most of them manage to look awesome in every second of the show.
I never ever expected that I would enjoy an action anime this much, for the genre often leaves me bored and I end up dropping the entire show soon. But Kill la Kill was different. The tension was kept high in each episode, the story moved forward in quite a dynamic pace and even full-episode fights were exciting. It's been a long time since I've finished watching an anime longer than 13 episodes, and even a longer time since I've completed watching an anime this quick. It was attention gripping, exciting, fun, interesting and full of twist and turns that make one's jaw drop (or not). While some parts of the show are not very original, the way it is presented is definitely one of a kind! Also, it did have quite a lot of unique parts, otherwise it would not have been such a crazy and exciting anime.
Overall, this show is a masterpiece most definitely recommended to everyone, even if you are not a fan of the genre. The show is bold, powerful, dynamic and the very definition of cool.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jul 27, 2015
I actually started watching this anime hoping for an awesome horror show. Well, I was greatly disappointed. It can hardly be called horror, and it's pretty far from awesome.
Story [3/10]
The basic story, while kind of cliche, seemed interesting enough. Well, now that I finished watching the show, I can tell it was far from interesting. First of all, the whole story was pointless. The roots of the main problem could have been eliminated long before the story would even start. But I am not going to start explaining that, it would be a spoiler. Another problem was the plot twists. It did have some of
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those, but they were all extremely predictable. It was obvious who the real bad guy is, and even the dumbest person could have guessed who the Girl with the scythe really was. There were many potentially good branches to the main story, but none of them had enough time to develop in the 11 episodes (I don't count the 12th that's just sort of a parody episode) the show had.
Art [7/10]
The art was actually pretty nice. I really liked the eyes, and the animation looked pretty smooth. It was nothing special or outstanding but definitely was pretty. The biggest problem was probably not that big, but it's my greatest pet peeve in anime: the CGI. Oh that was horrible, and was used way to often. Some of the character designs were really good, for example, I loved Isuzu's design. She looks cute, but kind of different without having to wear over the top weird clothing or hairstyles. And the clothing of the Girl with the scythe was awesome too, very detailed and pretty. But there were characters with really boring designs, like Mana's and Kaname's.
Sound [8/10]
The music was the best thing about this anime. The OP theme was beautiful compared to most anime OPs, but I think Kajiura has composed far better pieces that this one. Te OST itself was amazing, I really like most of the tracks. They were always fitting for the scenes, and the soundtrack is something I'll listen to many times in the future. Simply amazing. The voice acting was average, more on the lower side though. Almost all characters had moments when their voice actors just didn't do something right. And the main character's voice was horribly annoying.
Character [3/10]
The only character fairly interesting was Isuzu, the main heroine. The rest were one-dimensional and painfully cliche. There were even some completely pointless characters. For example, I couldn't find any role to Mana, other than the wheelchair girl you should pity. And the annoying little sister, I guess, but even for a supporting character, she had a ridiculously small effect on the story. The characters are definitely another low point of the show.
Enjoyment [1/10]
The main reason anime is created is to entertain. That is what this show fails the hardest at. The parts that were meant to be funny couldn't even make me smile, even though I tend to laugh at the slightest silliness. The action parts weren't exciting at all, the dialogues and monologues were all flat, boring and unrealistic. And the mystery... well, the questions were easy to answer, there was nothing unexpected in the whole show. About the horror part, there was one single scene that could be considered horror. Seriously, labeling this show horror was kind of stupid. I hoped I could at least recommend this to people who are looking for showers of blood and spilling of guts, or at least a fairly creepy atmosphere, but nope, nothing like that in the show either. So why did I watch it? At first I thought "Maybe they fail at funny parts, but this is horror, right? The dark part could be good!" When it reached the dark part, I hoped for an amazing plot twist. But that didn't come either. So I just ended up watching it till the end becasue I only write reviews of anime I have completed, and I really wanted to share my opinion on this.
Overall, everything about this anime was beyond horrible, except for Isuzu's loveable character, the amazing music and the decent art.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Sep 6, 2014
I watched this movie, because I heard it followed the original story much more than the Disney version. Which is true. Most of the time. But I don't remember anything about an evil cat in the original one. I didn't quite get that part. The story was not bad, but I did not like this strange cat part of it...
The art was okay, Normal for the time when the anime was made, I guess, but I definitely did not like it. I think Marina's sisters looked evil, and the grandmother looked extremely stupid. I am not too much into old anime art style, and this
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did not rise up higher then anything else, not to mention those weird effects...
I would have given the sound a score of one, if not for the fact that I did not hear the original Japanese version, and for the music that I did find kind of fitting sometimes. And which was actually quite pretty. If you ever watch this movie, do NOT watch it in English. Even if you usually do, please find a subbed version for this instead. I may have enjoyed this movie a lot more if the dub was not so horribly bad. It was annoying, emotionless, or wrong emotions were used, and many very very strange sounds left Marina's mouth. And I found it annoying that we could hear her thoughts. Her voicelessness would have been much more real, and would have seemed much more sad if she would truly have been voiceless, even towards the viewer. The other thing wrong with the sound was the music. The music was both good and bad. While it was pretty, and great for some scenes, such as in the last one, in other scenes, it was not fitting at all, and decreased the enjoyment a lot.
The characters were okay, nothing special about them. While I would hate poor marina in real life for her extremely kind and innocent nature, and would find her boring, in this specific anime, her personality was of great importance. So here it is not only acceptable, it's kinda good. All the others were forgettable to me, nothing unique in their personalities. The one who could stand out a little maybe, was the dolphin. He was pretty much a typical cute little sidekick, not a special one. He was cute and everything, but very boring too.
I did definitely not enjoy this anime. But I did not put 1 as a score for enjoyment, because I did enjoy most parts of the final scene.
All in all, this was an okay anime. NOT better than the Disney version. While some aspects of it were better, some were a lot worse. I don't really recommend this anime to you (especially not in English), unless you are okay with mediocre characters, unfitting music and old-anime art.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Oct 6, 2013
Well, in short, This wasn't what I expected.
The thing I am most disappointed with, is the story. I really loved the whole Higurashi series, and I was very happy, when I heard that Higurashi didn't end yet, and there will be a new OVA soon. I looked forward to watching it. But now, after I finished it, the movie seems to be a trailer for something bigger. It just simply seemed short. I couldn't find the curve of the story. There was no beginning. It jumped right into the middle of the story. There was no problem to develop, because it jumped right into a
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problem that had already developed. And there was no conclusion. No happy ending, no bad ending. There was nothing in the whole movie.
About the art, it was like the rest of the series' : great. Well I have to say one very important thing: there is no lazy 3D animation in it. And that is very important. That describes how high quality it is.
I don't really have anything to say about the sound. Maybe that the OST is pretty good, and sometimes the girls' voices can be annoying, but that is how it is usually in the anime these days.
There were no new characters in the series, or no important new characters. There were the parents of Keiichi, Rena, Satoko, Irie, Rika, Keiichi, Mion and Mion's grandma. Some of my favorite characters were left out of the OVA. For example, I really missed Takano Mio. She was my very favorite in the series. And I also missed Shion, and her bodyguard. Some of the main characters' personalities were screwed up. For example, Irie acted so strange... In a way he would never act.
I definitely did not enjoy this OVA. I was waiting for a good story the whole time. And the fighting scenes were disappointing too. Not even close to the level of the rest of the series.
All in all, do not hope for some good Higurashi quality OVA when you are watching this.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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