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May 11, 2021
A cast full of lovable, relatable characters?
An over-the-top storyline that doesn't pretend to be a serious drama?
Questions that are actually answered? Wait, is this really the same writer as Monster? Sure, the twists and turns and general flow feel the same, but my God, he actually did it right this time.
Instead of a boring, pretentious slog with no point you have a grand adventure spanning decades.
Instead of the villain being a young sociopath with inexplicable resources and power, it's a pervasive cult that steadily grows in power throughout the series.
Instead of the main character being some kind of masturbatory Japanese power fantasy,
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he's just a total bro who wants to rock out.
Not every element of it is perfect. Naoki Urasawa is almost definitely an improv writer, he just riffs as he goes along with no ending planned. He's insanely good at that, but the cracks show. Most relevant mysteries are sufficiently wrapped up, but sometimes in a lazy way. The major series-wide mystery that is ultimately resolved in the sequel series, 21st Century Boys, is most definitely not perfect, but infinitely more satisfying than Monster's ending.
And the subject matter simply lends itself to Urasawa's jazzy improv writing a lot better than Monster's. Tenma is confined dramatically after the opening events of Monster and his journey is not as open-ended as Kenji's. Johan is a laughably unrealistic character with completely unexplained power and wealth. Contrasting that, 20th Century Boys goes through a lot of flashbacks and different time periods with an almost ensemble cast, allowing for that jazzy improv writing to lead the series in whatever direction Urasawa felt that week. Friend, the cult leader and central antagonist, is a much more believable villain than Johan simply due to the fact that his identity is completely hidden, meaning he could be any person or number of persons.
20th Century Boys also benefits from a persistent story that continually builds on itself. While Monster had an underlying mystery that was solved with little hints here and there, it was a mostly episodic series with Tenma wandering Europe helping everybody in his path. 20th Century Boys acts more like a typical serial with major arcs.
There are also some simply insane, incredible, unforgettable moments in this series, none of which I can even mention without spoiling them. I'm very happy I read this series before Monster as I likely never would've touched it otherwise. Where Monster disrespects you by building up to its conclusion and then completely doing a 180, 20th Century Boys has various moments that require great audience trust and Urasawa does not disappoint. That's as far as I can go without getting into spoilers.
I didn't intend for this to become a compare/contrast review, but I guess I just hate Monster so much and love 20th Century Boys so much that I couldn't help but think about it constantly.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Mar 8, 2021
At the time of this review I'm not certain I will finish this series/season (for brevity I'll refer to it as Slime), but I feel compelled to write my thoughts.
Slime starts off strong but fizzles out within about 10 episodes, after which it quickly introduces the things that make isekai such a boring, self-indulgent "genre". Rimuru, an ex-salaryman isekai'd into a generic fantasy video game world, becomes a little ball of slime that can absorb and take on the characteristics of anything he consumes. By the end of the first episode he has consumed a god-like dragon and is already essentially unkillable. His ability to
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consume things becomes an afterthought and the story focuses on how Rimuru can ethically and responsibly create a monster utopia in this fantasy land.
Slime gives it all away up front and you're left wondering what the point is. Rimuru assembles a crew of extremely powerful allies as well as the beginnings of his obligatory harem, which starts with some generic sexy goblin ladies, followed by a sassy secretary with massive boobs, and of course the demon loli.
To some extent I resent Slime for waiting so long to reveal itself as just another trashy isekai - Overlord showed me that in the very first episode. However, the first few episodes of this anime are exceptionally fun, and I'd even recommend watching all the way through the first arc with the orcs, which I believe ends somewhere around episode 12-14.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jan 18, 2020
Monster - the Midwit Masterpiece
There are few mangas/animes that I regret reading/watching, but Monster is definitely one of them. It is an absolute bore with zero payoff, an incredibly unsatisfying ending that renders a majority of the plot meaningless, as well as unrealistic and uninteresting characters.
Ultimately it boils down to a mostly episodic series where the main character Tenma roams around Europe helping everyone in his path. There are a lot of sappy exchanges, but I really couldn't find myself caring about any of these random people. The evil characters are over-the-top and sinister, something I noticed right away, and that never stops. Since the
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show tries to portray itself as a serious drama this is a major problem.
All the while the author scatters little overarching plot hints to keep you hooked and excited to learn more. By the end most of these things are left unexplained or in some cases contradicted. As I said earlier, it is incredibly unsatisfying.
I really feel that this series is a street cred series, one you say you enjoyed to show your good taste. But it ultimately fails to do what manga or anime should do, and that's entertain. It's a bore, a slog with no payoff.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Apr 19, 2019
Goblin Slayer is a refined piece of fantasy anime, making use of an unabashedly generic fantasy world to tell an ultra-focused and entertaining story about killing goblins.
The series is memed out as being a gore-filled rape fest, but rape isn't so much an on-screen occurrence as it is an ever-present threat. When you see your favorite Elf character being pinned down by goblins there's an added layer of fear because you know the goblins don't just want to murder her.
One interesting part about Goblin Slayer is that there is almost "anti-world building" in the sense that the viewer is assumed to automatically understand most of
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the fundamental aspects of the world. There's a kingdom with knights and wizards, but there's also the threat of demons and all of the monsters that serve them. Adventurers go to a guild in town and take quests to slay monsters. The viewer knows everything there is to know about this world immediately. The characters don't even have names, they are referred to by their titles or classes.
The show is a bit smarter than it lets on but nothing brilliant. There are some interesting themes. I specifically enjoyed the "Wanderer" speech Goblin Slayer makes, comparing himself to a high tier goblin who has suffered, but survived and learned from his adversity. We see this theme pop up in the finale when the Priestess resists the begging of the Goblin Lord.
The real enjoyment of the show comes not from an imaginative or unique setting, but from the titular Goblin Slayer doing what he does best, slaying goblins. He is grouped up with a generic but lovable band of adventurers and sent off on quests to achieve that end. Everything is paced near-perfectly to make this show incredibly binge-friendly. The animation is slick, the gory fight scenes are a beauty to watch (especially because of how easy it is to hate these little green fucks), the music is fitting. It all works together in an amazing way.
Goblin Slayer does what anime should do - it entertains. Don't expect anything life changing, but do expect an extremely enjoyable ride.
8/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 17, 2019
I've never watched a magical girls show and have no interest in them, so I don't necessarily understand the context of this series (apparently it's to magical girls as NGE is to mecha). However, I can definitely say it is worth a watch.
The animation is smooth but more importantly supremely stylish. They make use of various incompatible art styles to represent the unsettling hallucinations brought about by the main antagonists, and it's done very well.
I'm sure in most magical girls shows, the MC gets her powers immediately, likely in the first episode. It has to hook viewers, obviously. Madoka keeps dropping the hook down in
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front of the viewer's faces and then pulling it away at the last moment in unexpected ways. In some sense, you never actually get that cathartic moment where Madoka gains her magical girl powers and slays the bad guy. That moment is instead replaced by something unexpected but similarly spectacular.
I don't think these characters translate to a non-shoujo audience. These girls aren't terribly complex, but they are unbearably saccharine. Not quite to an annoying extent because of the subject matter of the show, but it's definitely a weaker part of the series. Even the edgy girl Kyouko ends up being a teddy bear within an episode or two of her introduction.
The big twist comes in the last quarter of the show and it totally sabotages the story's momentum. The ultimate message is one of nihilism and hopelessness, and this message goes unchallenged by any of the remaining characters. The main antagonist's speech to Madoka, saying that their behavior toward humans is the same as humans toward cattle felt preachy and 8th-grade-deep, which I would expect from the same writer of Psycho-Pass.
Fortunately, after the momentum screeches to a halt and we're given a convoluted mess of exposition for a few episodes, we are rewarded with an amazing and unexpected finale.
An interesting and unique show with excellent production values, hindered by weak writing and boring characters. Will undoubtedly influence future anime, so again I would say this one is worth a watch.
7/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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