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Oct 21, 2020
No clue why people think this is so depressing or that this is so special. Yes there are some dark events, such as explicit, hardcore drug abuse/use, which is very rare in manga/anime. But the main girl has no personality, just gets raped and enjoys it, and everyone who rapes her, does so in a very lazy, stereotypical hentai character way. So let me explain a long pedantic exposition about hentai and porn to illustrate my argument.
What is porn or rather, what is porn about? Porn is mainly about the sex scene, the part of engaging in the sexual acts. Okay then, therefore hentai
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is a subset of porn because it is mainly defined as porn with anime art styles, whether in manga or anime media. When one searches for porn, most porn on the internet is just the sex. Some porn videos have narratives but many do not. How about hentai? Most hentai, whether Manga or anime or game, is almost never just the sex scene by itself. It's almost always a narrative or small story accompanying it. (Of course one can just skip to the "good parts", but few full hentai medium are the sex scenes alone).
Now, in all hentai, the goal of or simply purpose of it to show a sex scene, by definition. The job of the hentai creator or artist is craft that sex scene and the story around it, or how it would logically get to that point. In general, before the author introduces anything about the setting, characters or plot, we assume people act rationally as in our world, i.e. people don't go around raping people for no reason or provocation, people don't normally enjoy rape like drinking afternoon tea. So, as the author, how does one get to the characters having sex? (and hentai are allowed a very short amount of pages, due to the nature of hentai being pornographic material for a masturbation session) Often, it requires a break from rational or organic thinking/actions. For example, in hentai plots, the guys are sexual deviants, or are faceless serial rapists. Girls are powerless and resist-less, or even enjoy rape. This type of some storytelling is used by some authors, but some would like make it feel more believable by having the plot or characters justify the sex.
An example of this would be in Oni Chichi, the dad uses some asphoradic spray or something in the first episode to get the daughter to have sex with him, as as she was clearly unwillingly to have sex with him by other means. In my opinion, if a plot point makes sense, for example reason to have sex besides just nonsensical rape, it makes the story more believable, more engaging, and therefore more arousal.
There is simply not enough time to develop characters in a meaningful way to rationally explain the motivation why the main guy chooses to rape or the girl enjoys being raped, in 20 pages or minutes of a hentai manga or anime. Explanation, background, motivation, reasoning, is very important to believing a real character in a Manga or in any story and if their actions/behaviors are deemed believable or of organic justification. This is simply not afforded to most hentai for the brevity reason stated previously.
This brings us back to Emergence, while reading this, the entire time it felt like an average, run-of-the-mill rape Manga. The main girl gets raped repeatedly by everyone, whilst enjoying it. There is no explanation, and again probably due to the shortness of being hentai, which is not surprising. There is a scene or two, where the character has a moment of genuine self-reflection and as the reader you are curious about what she thinks. However, this plot/character point doesn't hold much weight again, due to the absurdity of all the characters and plot decisions of the stereotypical lazy hentai. Therefore I cannot take anything seriously, it still feels very unrealistic overall (the art style also does not convey much somberness or serious tones, it looks mostly ahegao). At face value, this just a hentai with some edgy scenes, that certainly does not warrant any level of "depression" or deep ponderment about the characters or plot as many are suggesting. Many other none hentai shows/Manga have done more edgy, disturbing or upsetting things, elfen lied. And other manga such as kurosawa or chikan otoko truly are melodramatic and induce a wide array of sad or void pit emotions.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jul 15, 2020
This is more of some random thoughts and observations than an overview or review, some spoilers.
I just watched this night and thought it was an overall superb and endearing film. There is a lot of themes, the main ones I found where youth, nostalgia, passion, past vs. present, family/filial piety or obligation, and changes/growth in life.
You notice early how when the past is shown, the corner of the background are slightly not colored in, showing the ephemeral-ness of past memories while the present is in perfect illustration.
There were a few things I found could have been improved. The muscle facial animation or
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creases on the cheeks looked plain creepy imo, not just being realistic like Takahata was going for. The effect on me was that it make Taeko looked old, which isn't very pleasant to look at. Since that style was constantly contrasted or shown right after or before more traditional ghibli character "cute" face design, it was rather jarring. I'm sure this was one of the things Miyazaki would have objected to if he was allowed to work on the film. I'm kind of surprised this was never made into a live-action short because I think it would be perfect for it.
Some scenes like car drive to the farm and some of farming could have be shorten or edited out. Because on the one hand, this is kind of like a kid's movie with all the 10 year old Taeko's perspective that a kid could understand and enjoy. But it is almost 2 hours, too long for a kids movie, and has a lot of scenes of adults talking about rather mundane things or philosophically that would bore a kid watching and themes that kids would simply not understand.
They really didn't add much and they were long and made feel like I wanted to see the past Taeko more, but by the end it was fine. Some story plot points needed more development, a part of me while watching the movie wished this was a tv series with many episodes so all the little story points could be fleshed out, which I guess is what a lot of good movies makes me yearn for in a story, wanting a lot more.
For example, the Abe kid story, which felt like it came out of nowhere. I get that the purpose to demonstrate that at any moment, you can recollect the past in think deeply about it. But for the viewer it felt completely random because we got no build up or context to care about it necessarily at that point.
Taeko adult's monologue makes us feel close as she is expressing her thoughts like a diary but yet at the same time, for a large portion of the movie, she still feels quite distant as a character herself because we only kind of know her 5th grade self not her as a 27 year old woman. But we learn more a little more about her later on.
Her dad was a real asshole in the film. Not once did I think he show much kindness or remorse. Certainly in those days, the father of the family was very strict, conservative, and patriarchal. The way he demands his wife for the next course meal like servant for example. But then again, it was the 1960's, less than 20 years after the devastation of World War Two which could have made him have or reinforced very stern and unsympathetic habits. Think the dad experienced Grave of the flies and this is his ptsd aftermath.
The way the film treats flashbacks can sometimes feel a little disjointed at time and is not done too uniquely as in this regard as say more modern films like Mirai no Mirai. Also the film has 1 frame random cuts insert to show what characters are talking about sometimes, I find that rather distracting.
There is one point where she is about to take the train to leave the countryside and said, I think "I wish I'd didn't bring my 5th grade self". I couldn't exactly parse that meaning or find a meaningful interpretation. It seems like from her past self, she didn't have the greatest childhood memories. She can't do math, her father didn't let her pursue her acting dream, she got bullied by school girls and made fun of by some boys. But looking over it, it seems like a normal childhood experience. So I'm not sure that she meant by she didn't want to bring her 5th grade self, maybe her naivety? But then her 5th grade self's childness gave her the courage or impulse to change her decision and go back so Idk.
I guess also the part about the period is really unique in anime and how it was handled story wise if thinks about it. Such a thing is rarely discussed in real life let alone an anime. Even I as a kid never once hear about periods in school in elementary or middle from girls so I guess such things was kept fairly secret for a reason. Which is why this movie never got a disney blu-ray release.
Even watching this now, nearly 30 years later, it doesn't feel one bit outdated. The timeless of childhood experiences and growing up will be relatable for generations to come, though again, I feel like adults watching this will gain the most for it. I think this is the type of film one views years later and you will learn sometime new you didn't get the last time you viewed it, much like I think The Wind Rises for Miyazaki, which was his passion and reflective project.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jan 25, 2017
Genshiken: A character driven story
Overview and Analysis
Spoilers in paragraph 9
Genshiken is a story that is really about its characters than anything else, among all the, otaku humor, witty references, comedic relief, or romance, the characters are the epicenters. The plot of Genshiken revolves an otaku club in college which is known in English as “The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture”. As you gleam from overly pretentious sounding English title, Genshiken has a lot to do with itself, anime, manga, video games, cosplaying, and the otaku lifestyle (Hell, it even has its own anime inside Genshiken), both good and bad. Oddly enough
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however, I never really felt a specific emphasis on otaku culture asides from the occasional references of the characters doing otaku things. Not really once did the "otaku culture" progress the plot in a meaningful way. It seems as though it was a backdrop or setting for the characters to do their thing, unlike in other mangas such as say "Bakuman", which is specifically about making manga. I will talk about why later and in short I believe because it is a character driven story, therefore it seems as though the "otaku culture" isn't used so as much as vehicle for moving the plot but rather all it's other reasons.
The exposition of the manga brings us in the focus of a freshman college student Sasahara, who seeks friends with similar interests and so decides to join the Genshiken club. In beginning, we are introduced to several un-outstanding otaku club members, The president of the club (he's not important), Madarame, Kugayama, Tanaka, and Kousaka. What surprised me in retrospect is how at first, I didn't think any of them; they seemed boring and just a shell of nerds and otakus one would imagine in normal life, plastered into a manga. However after the long duration with all the characters, reading, watching and following them on their journey and also the subsequent addition of new club members, I find that I have come to love them all.
After their first encounter, the plot follows relatively smoothly. They do their university work, engaging in their hobbies, go on trips, most notably the biannual Comiket, and interact with each other, and often in hilarious and touching ways. I don't think Genshiken is particularly special in this regard, with the exception of the cast being college students. Being college students is slightly different from say high school students. Obviously high schoolers in anime are overly saturated. Being in college however frees up the author to do other things that one normally doesn’t see a high school based series, such as going out drinking, working on their senior thesis', working on their careers and so on. I think the fact they are in university does not make a terribly large difference in the grand scheme of things, in which I'm sure most of the plot could've existed much the same in a high school setting. Just that college in manga and anime is less common and adds a bit of variety and maturity to an already comedic and easy going series.
To segway on the maturity point, I believe the age maturity of the characters adds some nuance to the atmosphere of the series that one doesn't get to see play out often in other series that do not have their cast as young adults. Being a young college person means a lot of things, they independent, living their own lives, pursuing their own dreams, and completing each of their goals. We, as the viewer can see this play out through the series, and those who have been through it themselves could find it easily relate. We could relate by fearing about graduating and working right afterwards, we fear of the spite of social interactions between friends and or partners, we fear graduating a year late and being left behind by all your friends. All theses things from a young person's life experiences can make one very relatable to Genshiken's struggle, so that we enjoy their triumph with them and wallow with them in their despair or sadness.
Interestingly, I would say there is no main character in this series. It would seem like the characters tend to phase into and out of the protagonist spotlight. In an arc, one character may be the focus for many chapters while later they become a minor character in following chapters. If I had to guess, Sasahara would be the main character given how he was introduced, but Sasahara doesn't play much of a role in the later chapters. This is both good and bad. On the one hand since there is no main character, I feel as those it is easier to focus on all the cast rather than receiving the perspective from one character throughout the series. On the other hand, it feels as though the main character’s focus moves around too much and or that one gets stuck reading or seeing the point of view of a side character perhaps too often (I will talk about this later with Hato). For example, there is a clear shift of focus from the original cast second half of the manga, where new characters are introduced, however even so certain older characters seem to linger for much too long, hogging up the plot from the rest characters. Directionless or the collective direction of the genshiken group is vague which makes me feel like the series is going nowhere in particular, I feel that is a slightly bad thing. This detail arguably creates flaws that I see in the series.
As with my initial premise, I believe that character interaction and relation is the cornerstone of this series. It is with the characters that one gets to experience the hardships and also see the funny moments as they plays out. It is not really the plot itself that makes you interested to read or watch (come on let's be real, this is not a high quality action series or something) , but rather what these characters would do or say in a situation and the consequences of that. Because of, or rather maybe as the result, there is depth to the characters where one may or not be surprised to find them. For example, Sasahara, you get to know as a relatively nice guy and uninterestingly average, and sometimes as the lead character. But through development one can see how there is an ever so veneer of character depth and personality that lives and grows within the character. This is showcased when Sasahara decides to make a Doujin and gets into conflict with the artist, Kuguyama. He lashes out at Kuguyama, uncharacteristically up until this point. Later on Sasahara comes to the club with an untaken care of beard, and gets lectured by Kasukabe for being lazy (If I recall correctly). This is interesting because the show itself never really shows the cast doing class work and the view assumes everyone is doing well or working hard. This episode shows Sasahara's academic incompetence and anger seeping into their Doujin project. Of course by the end of their ordeal, Sasahara redeems himself, by taking responsibility, produces what he wanted to make, and makes up with everyone in the group.
Another club member that receives quite a bit of character of growth treatment is Ogiue. Ogiue joined the club subsequently since she was kick out of the Manga club. She is a sensitive and unapproachable character at first and we find that her propensity to hate otakus is from her past experience of BL and how it jeopardized her high school days. Her love for drawing manga is however cultivated by the other Genshiken members as she later helps Sasahara make his Doujinshi. We see her develop out of her shell as she agree to go with the group to Comiket and work to hand out the Doujin. The consequence of her development can be see towards the beginning of Genshiken Nidaime, in which she takes presidential role of Genshiken, loses her childish contempt for other members found in the early parts, and also find the courage to accept Sasahara as a love interest. Hell, she even loses her dorky, but ever so cute, hair style she started with the second half which shows her sincerity in growth as a character by the author taking her person seriously and not just as a purely eccentric or petulant character that was crafted to hold the viewer's attention.
Clearly the most interesting character in which their depth was thoroughly portrayed is with Madarame. Early on, we get to see a flashback of Madarame in his junior high years, in which he makes a wrong call in bad mouthing on a female classmate which causes another classmate to slap him so hard that he stays still in the classroom for hours. But in all honesty, this event was a watershed moment for Madarame. Previously he acted like a jerk to other people without consideration for their feelings, and once he received punishment for his actions, it hits him and is traumatized by it. We can see this trauma, if so subtly, in the way he interacts with girls or the deliberate lack of interaction rather. In the early parts of the story, Madarame claims he doesn't want a girlfriend and explains that he prefers 2D women over 3D ones. One can see this as a witty otaku response to brush off the other member's questioning, or rather more cynically or psychoanalytically as a self-defense mechanism to protect himself by avoiding the question.
Perhaps where this attribute of Madarame's characters comes into most importance is with his unrequited love and crush with Kasukabe. His love for her develops as they sit in the club room together alone. We see how Madarame develops feelings for Kasukabe, but is unable to confront her about it until much later. Madarame and Kasukabe's interactions are important, since it is through her that he is able to break his own shell and hopefully become more than just a “loser otaku” so to speak. Madarame grows confidence by forcing himself to go out buy new clothes, even in the disinterest of his otaku hobby, wear new glasses, in order to gain the approval of Kasukabe who is more or less impressed by his new fashionable endeavor.
Feelings for Kabusake never ceased, and it showed that Madarame still enjoys her company whenever they all go out in groups or when they competed in that one specific cosplay event. It is not until way later into the series, four years in their time, as they both graduated, that they finally confronted one another. For me, this moment was the penultimate moment in the whole story, Madarame building up the courage to finally tell Kasukabe his true feelings. The whole scenario is extremely heart tugging, and once Kasukabe finally turns Madarame down, it feels like a weight has been lifted from Madarame's shoulders and ours as well. Kasukabe poignantly remarks about how they could have been together in another “world”, referencing to how a visual novel game deals with possibilities of multiple endings or routes of love interests. I find this to be funny since throughout the series, characters often break the fourth wall and announce how the world they are in is real and it's not like some manga or anime. It also shows that Kasukabe knew all along that Madarame had feelings for her, and so does the rest of the cast apparently.
The real flaw of this situation with Kasukabe and Madarame is that of Kousaka, Kasukabe's boyfriend. Madarame seems to give little judgment, if any at all, to Kousaka even if he is formally Kasukabe's boyfriend. This inconsistency describe by the story in which Kousaka announces that he does in fact want Kasukabe and Madarame happy. At first I believe this was meant by him breaking up with Kasukabe so that Madarame can hook up with her, but that was clearly not the case. It comes off feeling that Kousaka is by far the least developed character, and that his personality seems to just conforms to everyone else's will so there is little conflict or drama as possible. One can see this fact since Kousaka's inner dialogue is never revealed to the viewer unlike other characters, and that he is personality always docile and neutral, which is nothing wrong in and of itself, however he lacks the interestingness and development time other cast members get. Perhaps Kousaka was just cool with Madarame having feelings for Kasukabe and Madarame wasn’t too worried about Kousaka’s reaction? Maybe so, it is clear that common sense was relaxed for the events for Madarame's plot to proceed smoothly.
Speaking of this show choosing to be not very dramatic, it does have it fair amount drama, gossip scattered throughout, with more towards the middle and end. This lack of 'overbearing drama' ties into what I believe as the show having a lighthearted tone. It is not very serious, unlike a similar series called "Welcome to the NHK" but it does have moments of seriousness. Another reason to why the series is lighthearted is that most of the cast are otaku, and that otaku tend to lack that vigorous personality that is required to act upon and create compelling and dramatic scenes. This is a generalized observation, but I see it rather that the interactions devolve into humor with the otaku, or rather shall I say, the socially inept characters acting as they would, rather then something event that entails drama; which is would argue that series is striving going for. The series tends to favor comedy and light-heartedness over the pure realism of how organic characters would actually play out in particular situation which is pragmatic and understandable enough. With that being said, the character interactions overall feel natural given their personality and proclivity to do certain things in a situation most of the time.
Genshiken is informally, but formally (in the anime) broken into two series, the second being called Genshiken Nidaime. This break in continuation does make a bit of sense since the change in characters and character focus is fairly significant to warrant a name change. In the second half up to now, we see most of the main cast graduated and continuing on with their own lives, having less time to come to hang out with Genshiken. The rest of the characters mostly take their leave in the story in exchange for a set of next generation of mostly female freshman members who join the club. I feel that this newly formed cast is mostly geared to female audiences, as most of the cast are female with exception of Hato who is quickly revealed as a male who crossdresses as a girl coupled with the only other forgettable concurrent male member, Kuchiki. What I find as the most noticeable change is that most of Nidame is focused on one character perspective, Hato. Which in and of itself is not a problem but that one get the perception that he sucks up too much attention, and I feel that it was out of whim to have Hato interwoven into the plot concerning the older Genshiken members.
With the addition of the new cast members, the plot is more layered since there are more possible interactions with characters that weren't there or possible before. The prime example Madarame receiving a harem, I personally wasn't really sure how to think about this. On the one hand, it is pretty funny to see a Harem with a male character, but the how it developed in accordance to Madarame person and how he is. I don't see it as all that convincing that he would get all these bitches! But I digress, it does create a problem since this plot device at least at the very moment of this review is dragged on too long in my opinion.
Which then brings us to the character of Hato. I think it is interesting that the author decided on which an edgy main character for his second half. Hato is a cross-dresser, but is not gay. He makes that clear very much through the instances in which he has a chance defend his sexual orientation when questioned. If I recall, he says "I don't like men but I like you" or something like to that regard. I don't know how true this statement is even though the statement was made by him. He clearly develops the most feelings for Madarame in story so it makes one believe he does like men, but only Madarame. I question his sexuality since it seems as though he is literally struggling with his gender. There is one point in which there is female version of him, floating around him, telling him to commit gay actions. If one looks at this in another way, this could be seen as pretty unsettling viewed as a sexual "Christian demon" apparition, hovering over him tempting him to do things he doesn't necessarily agree with. Sorry for that sinful interpretation (most of it was I'm sure purely comical intention, and not supposed to be seen as a twisted psychological insight) of Hato. He seems to at least suffer from some sort of gender identity or transgender issue that may well be address later on. My other more placid and less over-thinking theory to this ruse is that, what may the cause to Hato's instinctual tendency to crossdress emerged from his affection to Kaminaga, a high-school senpai, who he dresses in model of.
Also on a random note, Hato sort of reminded me of another manga/anime called Hourou Musuko, look it up if you're interested. It may seem like that I don't like Hato, but I do, I love me some gender bender, but I feel like it's hard to make a cross-dressing guy that likes one guy a main character without doing it with tender care like Hourou Musuko. Otherwise Hato's ordeal being in Genshiken does feel a bit unnecessarily out of place, or at least the issue was drawn out for too long.
Other things that were caveats but not really such a big problems were the "fake characters" of Sue and Angela. They exist, and play a role in the story but don't seem realistic at all and serve as purely fanservice or comedic relief, especially with Sue. The author even goes out of his way to point out they weren't (at least sue) genuine characters. Besides that point, I think they are fine (I don't dislike them), they spice up the series with some comedic relief and add variety to a rather tame and ordinary story.
Touching quickly on the ending, it ends as well it could end at the point where it did. In my opinion, the plot dragged far too a duration in the wrong direction to recover any semblance of a truly satisfying end such as Madarame’s confession, which I view as the real culmination and resolution. Despite all the criticism I spoke about throughout, Genshiken is not perfect, but it is a wonderful story of characters and their experiences of young adulthood that many of us otakus can relate and find humor, love and joy in.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Nov 1, 2013
Tekkon kinkreet should be categorized as one of those "mind fuck" movies or anime because it pretty much is that to some extent. The movie heavily depends on abstractions in art and character telling; however the story itself is not as confusing as it may seem to be.
The story is simple, Black and white are orphans that live in "treasure town", a fantasy city inspired by asian architecture, which is undergoing residential and identity changes as outsiders try to morph the city into sometime it's not. The problem I have with the plot overall is that it just does not explain enough and also
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that the themes and plot line is too simplistic and dualistic.
For one, some characters seem to have special abilities/super powers and some anomalies are never explained so I felt these points could have been fleshed out more. I also feel that the story tries to maybe appeal to children, because of the portrayal of black and white, especially white, however it is too violent be shown to kids. The story appears to be "black and white", in the sense that there is only good and evil, bad and purity throughout the movie. To me, this means that there is no gradient in the themes in the majority of story which tells me that plot is just naïve and one-dimensional most of the time. The fact that the movie is centered around children is a problem because we don't see much character development between the black and white, just them being kids, throwing tantrums and being violently rebellious; not much "mature" actions happening between them.
My favorite aspect of the story though, is not about the plot about black and white or the "snake" investor guy, but instead, of the Yakuza group that gets caught along all of this mess. I feel that their characters are the most interesting are relatable and touching, unlike the black and white which I feel are just kids with weird abilities that serve no real underlying purpose. The scene with Kimura and Suzuki was by far my favorite sequence in the movie. The scene showed the nerve-wrecking emotion of being forced into betrayal and how important to cherish love is was very saddening. After this point the movie, which was just over an hour or so in, I felt that there was no other reasonable, emotional bearing to have towards any of the other characters.
The art is something that is easily noticeable as amazing at first glance. The backgrounds are chalked full of detail, varying from all kinds of art styles from normal cell, to CGI, to colored pencil; even rivaling those backgrounds to the likes of Akira in quality. However the main and gripe I have about the art is the character models. The models are the least well animated, maybe in part as an artistic style to show how the peoples of Treasure town look shallow and artificial compared to the richness of the background. But I can't help to feel that the uneven art style of the characters compared backgrounds is attributed to lazy drawing at times. This is because I see that in most anime movies, the art director, or who ever is in charge of the art, takes the time to make it so that the art of the moving characters and the background are indistinguishable, unlike in Tekkon, where at times, the characters simply look like blobs or "Flatts" from SpongeBob. Not to mention the sound in the movie is very well done, I would recommend checking out the soundtrack as it is perfectly fitting for the tone of the movie and is excellent on itself.
Tekkon is a good movie, no doubt, I liked the ongoing themes of trying not to conform to change, and preserving treasure town as it is. The aforementioned art is eye candy and breathtaking to look at every scene, particular when black is perched up on a tower looking down on "his" treasure town. However the movie does suffer from some character irrelevances and the viewer most likely neglecting to care about the story because it's too simple and childish at times. With that said, I think this movie is not for everyone, many people will probably get turned off from the sometimes just plain bad characters models and passable plot. But if you can get pass those disjunctures, I'm certain you will appreciate this visually spectacular gem of a film.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Sep 29, 2013
I'm not zombie/horror connoisseur by any means nowadays because it tends to be all the same, where there is a break out of a virus and every one fights to survival. But I Am a Hero is different. It takes a 180 approach to the zombie genre and turns in up on it's head. Not to be specific, when the outbreak begins, the reaction of from Japan is much more realistic, not your atypical Marshall law panic as seen in many movies, but a more subtle and unusual response to the sudden pandemic.
The main character stars, Hideo suzuki, a socially awkward and average unfulfilled mangaka
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until the outbreak. He is turned into the most powerful person in his periphery due to his possession of hunting shotgun (guns are rare in Japan) and the lack involvement of the government and the Japanese SDF. The plot mainly follows suzuki's escape into the less populated prefectures of tokyo while having people to join up on his journey. Though Suzuki is the main character, the plot later on branches out into other side characters and subplots later on.
This manga is quite the thriller. I can't stress enough how deep it delves into the sense of ambivalent paranoia that you the reader feels and the characters are subdued to. The key of survival and the interaction between survivors is a major plot driving point. Not to mention the manga is quite scary moments at times, where I was personally freaked the shit out of my seat. The psychological impact that this zombie plague has on the cast of characters is very underlying, in other words, the psychological impact deconstructs the meaning of human society as they try fight off the infected. There are a whole lot of themes in I am a Hero such as morality, fear of death, and facing reality, which leaves a lot for the reader to explore and interpret.
The art is drawn in pretty meticulous detail and at times the panels feels "episodic", only showing certain framed shots. What strikes me most about the art is it's feeling of motion, or rather lack of it. I mean this by the panels seeming to be very static, like stills of real life (This could probably be explained by how his art resembles photographs, very still snapshots but realistically captured). This boils over to how it affects action panels in the series. The action feels more like a photographer taking pictures of the scene rather a fluid continuity of motion as one may have seen in other manga's presentation of action sequences, for example shounen manga.
The affect of this becomes a contradiction to the eyes. The first contradiction being that the action appears to be lacking a sense of motion and that movement is static. One would typically expect, or subliminally expect, visual artistic cues like motion blur to guide the viewer's eyes and to indicate the direction of motion and the immensity of the associated kinetics. But functional drawing techniques such as motion blur or "speed lines" is entirely absent in the action sequences, leading to more probable confusion and ambiguity from the reader as to direction the motion, where it starts and stops, and it's rate of change. Therefore, much of action panels being played out in its own reality, which when observed, must necessarily represent great acceleration and momentum, in order to fit logically the frames of reference. A nod to this hypothesis could be if this series ever gets an animation or live action, I think it would be very interesting how it would turn out.
Though story pacing at the beginning might be not engaging, it really picks up in later volumes. I really recommend this if you like a different sort of riveting zombie horror manga.
2016 Update not really spoilerish but anyways
I bumped the score up to a 9 from an 8 which I believe to be the rating of the series from when I wrote the write and the point in the manga there. But currently, the this manga deserves a resounding 9, as it blew expectations in terms of where the plot is climaxing, unsuspecting turns, and overall newly found grandiose scope, which makes the manga go far beyond my initial impressions.
2018 Update regarding the ending, I think some people reviewing must really reflect on their interpretation of the ending with the whole manga in mind. As in my opinion, the ending, was very befitting so what series had built up and expressed thematically, to a tee.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jul 18, 2011
Bakemonogatari is one of those weird but one of a kind animes, and is one of my favorites. In simple terms, the plot boils down to 'Normal people's everyday problems, personified into animistic-like tendencies'. The first couple of episode threw me off because things happen and are not explain like the existence of vampires, demons, devils, supernatural phenomenons, and unusual powers exc. They are just there(never explained why) and the characters seem to know what they are and assume the viewer are get it. Combined with Shaft's out of this world animation style and music, made bakemonogatari incoherent, and difficult to follow.
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The anime plays out in a way where the 15 episodes is chopped up into four arcs, and in each arc a certain charatcer is focused on by the main characters. Though if you can see past the funky animation and story-telling, you will experience comical, romantic, dramatic, and psychological feats of anime that bakemonogatari has offer.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jul 5, 2011
Another incest manga? Where haven't we've seen this before? Oniichan control is as generic as they come, but is still pretty damn enjoyable.
Story is bland as ever, a college student, goushi hirose who is in love with his sister, now has to live together with his imouto, noa hirose who also is in love with her brother. There's not much to look for in this manga expect for the occasional panty/breast shots, and humorous satire. Art is pretty, backgrounds are filled with detail and characters are predictable. Overall your reading oniichan control for the comedy alone, fan service is bleak, and hope we see
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an anime or ova of the manga in the future!
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jun 17, 2011
YKK is a manga that revolves around a female robot named Alpha who lives in a far-fetched, but peaceful japan. To start off, YKK was a 90s manga, so a lot of the clothes style and technology are 90s and surprisingly haven't changed much over it's 12 years run. The plot is simple, Alpha a robot who runs cafe and gets occasional customers, and seems to live life in the moment. Some people dropped YKK because they didn't find the story engaging enough or it was too boring. Personally I think that YKK is a soothing, very laid-back and has a nostalgic feel with mysterious
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undertones. I don't think the manga is necessarily boring but rather slow-paced. Each story, or chapter is very short at about 15 to 20 pages, with little to no dialogue at times, which makes reading very easy. But what really makes YKK special is a the calming art style and the dialogue feel like a mix of a novelistic and poetic words. The art is very detailed from the interior of the cafe to the waves of the sea, plus every volume has a colored chapter to read. The characters are lively and 'slice of life' like, for example, as you read you in the perspective of Alpha, she watches over Takahiro and Makki like a guardian. Through the years that YKK was serialized characters actually age, and because Alpha is a robot she doesn't age, instead she watches as Takahiro and Makki become teenagers, and adults right before her eyes. In YKK there are a lot of questions left when manga ends like why are there so few male robots, what is the purpose of robots, and how the world became peaceful (possibly post-apocalyptic) and such. Overall YKK is one of a kind, a beloved manga by many and is one of my favorites of all time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jun 12, 2011
Kaichou no Iinari has to do with sex and how in hell there is just sexy masochrist punishing men with sex and a female class prez who rapes her boyfriend. After reading a couple chapter i cannot grasp a plot because it seems to skip to different to characters having hot sex. As a hentai manga its decent, there are quite a few of fetishs in this manga like female dominance, bunny suits, oppai, incest, and lots of cumshots/cream pies to satisfed the any guy. The art in the hentai is noticable fair, all girl characters look cute and sexy with chibi like art here
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and there. The sex dwindles now to beening fucking over and over with extragrated semen sprayed all over the chick. Overall its just another hentai with kawaii teenage girl and hot censored sex, if youlike hentai this should be a read for you.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jun 12, 2011
Anohana follow the plot of the a group of teenagers that can't forget their childhood memories from long ago.
My very first impression of watching this anime is that it is very well animated compared to other animes of 2011. Anohana is the a remarkable achievement of modern day animation, the backgrounds are very colorful and detailed and every character face looks and feels real to the core. A-1 pictures did an excellent job with anohana and made it feel reminiscent of Welcome to the Space Show. It was interesting to hear the ending theme as 'Secret base' because ironically i hear the song before
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i saw the anime and thought it fit perfectly in anohana.
Though Anohana seems to do well in the art & sound category, it really lacks in originality when it comes to plot. The plot of Anohana is nothing short of new. I mean come on, a story where a couple of teenagers, that are childhood friends that did something many summers ago that they still remember and whine about it now? Come on, we seen this scenario countless times in animes like Kanon, and Elfen lied and what not. Even the part of Jintan and Menma's relationship as a human boy and girl ghost, reminded me of a manga called My lovely ghost kana, where the girl's soul is trapped on earth trying to get to heaven and instead lives in a guys house. Anohana don't surprises in the plot much, and really it emits the idea of how the story will end.
Anohana even the plot is a bit rigid in my opinion, but it doesn't hurt the show, and is still very enjoyable to watch. Anohana has traces of comedy, romance, slice of life and lots a tragedy mix in. The plot if all is almost entirely character driven, nothing special happens in the story, but as the pllot progress, you get to see the characters revealed themselves, through constant (and necessary) flashbacks, and the conflicting problems with menma's ghost. Personally i think the show has a lot of potential to be a romance genre, with jintanXanjou exc, instead anohana primary focuses is all on menma and on many occassia gets a little annoying.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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