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Oct 19, 2019
I'd rate it slightly higher IF it weren't for the terrible filler progression in the latter half, coupled with the same old cliche recurring in the uninteresting parts.
Some characters just vanish out of their "story quota". It really feels like the supporting cast barely does anything impactful, unlike the first season, which had decent character variety and personality expression until the ending episodes.
Overall it's more touching than the first season, but not refined enough to be enjoyable on the average. If you can bear to go through the boring stuff, though, and if you like the theme, I think it's worth the watch.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Sep 30, 2019
!! Has spoilers
Unsatisfying cons
- Some annoying characters who love to scream for whatever reason
- Expanding on the previous point, their demeanour is unpleasant for the amount of screen time devoted to their fuckery, and it reflects on the enjoyment in a bad way
- Many interesting characters lack depth in favour of the "sibling bond" narrative (which I feel like it could be toned down a notch, at least in the anime version)
I also wish the demons' past didn't only appear as death flashbacks to justify their misgivings as humans, but had more significance to it. The watcher is not given reason give a shit or
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find those flashbacks interesting at all, but regardless they are still a recurring theme throughout the series.
Aside from very remarkable points, Kimetsu no Yaiba gorgeous to watch and engaging to follow. As I always say, any deviation from the usual shonen MC immature crybaby is welcome; Tanjiro's level-headedness and sensibility truly makes you want to root for his success as a hard-worker.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Sep 30, 2019
[HAS SPOILERS]
The ending felt low-cooked - maybe not by itself, but mostly because the Reuental arc, which effectively amounted to nothing other than a justification of hastening of hands and depleting of resources, took so many episodes of what could have been an emotional/dramatic crescendo before the war.
Another event which ended up being interpreted as nothing other than a "means" for an end was Rubinky's tumor - how had he not accounted for his terminal state between his ambitious plans for before? Dominic's character and own ambitions vanished away like she had just been following history on a whim, although her inner personality did not
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have a chance to speak during the entire series to justify that kind of posture.
The initial arcs felt more emotionally impactful in a good way, as it progressively swinged Reinhard's mood and lead to explosive moments; in the latest ones, though, Reinhard's genius in battle suddenly diminished and he took more of a spectator role, although no change in his character justifies such shift.
Annerose's presence in the series couldn't simply fade away just because she chose to exempt herself from Reinhard. Why didn't the authors choose to explore her inner resolution leading up to that fact, and after the fact?
My final impression is that the later arcs did not have much psychological or emotional depth in order to justify the "reset" of the great personalities which lead the universe throughout the series. We didn't even follow Hilda's side of the story while her newly-found love withered away, neither get a peek at Reinhard's newly-wed life, nor any of the relevant juice... We had to settle for those micro-interactions of our great characters with a weak outlook into the future. I do not think it gives this great series enough justice.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jul 25, 2019
Despite the obvious flaws of having a generic, weak, uninspiring plot and being filled with fan-service-y scenes... Not to mention it has harem...
Despite all of that, I thought the characters in Asterisk are pretty cool. They have thoughtful discussions and face their problems in a reasonable manner, unlike most other shounen anime where people collide and scream at each other for no apparent reason. The MC also isn't annoying and emotionally naive like, again, most other shounen anime's MCs. Those traits for me are a big plus.
Even if the story itself isn't interesting, I think you could give it a shot if you're prone to
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liking those alternate, cyber-ish world-settings (e.g. if you somewhat liked Mahouka).
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jul 14, 2019
[ CONTAINS SPOILERS ]
I thought I would really like this title, if only because, despite the cliché shounen recipe, I felt really engaged with what was going on in the daily lives of the main cast. Despite everything coming together as expected, their strong personalities clashing, their struggles and buttheading, all felt really cool to tag along with. This is what really shines in the series: not a complicated plot with interesting twists, but the relationship they develop throughout the beatings and conflicts, as friends.
I do not think you'll feel like you've wasted your time after or while reading this. There's most definitely enough to
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have a good time here, following how your characters grow and how they cope with dangerous situations to become stronger. I did not notice much "sudden power-ups" throughout it either; that is also to imply, the road to become the strongest disciple, albeit being a repetitive task by nature, still feels engaging to read for every character involved.
Kenichi definitely is very fun. However, the series degenerates heavily past the later points, where all this "building up" we've been accompanying is supposed to be the force to unravel the conflicting feelings between the Light/Dark side and... Well, it absolutely isn't. Not even close.
Like I said, the whole setting blatantly cliché. This is OK up to some degree because you're watching those teenagers grow to become their own role model through martial arts, which feels like will inevitably culminate into a big clash with the mafia at the end... And so it is. However, for how long this series was run and how well the whole journey was played, I was led to expect way more than what it came to be.
It feels like some elements, like the Ukita love triangle, were put there just for the sake of having an extra flavor (not good flavor, mind you) added to the story. There were all sorts of annoying moments to get through, between the same old love quarrels repeating over and over, to the dragged-out fights with the same feel to it as any other. At some point those fights meant nothing more as "something I need to get through to reach the end". It also felt like the toll of facing death and coping with losses eventually became nothing more than a justification for "how far I need to go to protect everything", with no psychological or emotional moment to accompany it.
That stretched out to the point were, at the final showdown, when the Yomi Martial Arts Alliance was swayed to the "righteous" side (if only to justify turning over the tide), I didn't even bat an eye. I was already wasted and disappointed with how blandly everything was being dragged on up to that point, so I felt more and more anxious to rush to the finish and be done with it.
Right off the gate, there's also this strong motivation behind how Kenichi wants to grow as a man and develop his feelings for Miu. This has some excitement development towards the middle, where they finally get to know each other more, but DO NOT GET YOUR HOPES UP. This whole notion gets more and more lost as time goes on, and in it's place we get filler fights between random characters and side-stories which won't amount to anything.
Miu's clan conflicts are simply a disturb in place to add more content to the chapters; her parent, which is supposed to be this confusing "shadowed" character, doesn't get proper time to have his side explained; her mother turns out to be some sort of clan heir who dies and her tragedy is more important than she is. Miu herself is written out to be very confused and insecure of what to make out of her life and family; however, in the end, her character does not represent all this turmoil and the strong resolve she had been building up along her friends.
The ending was most definitely weak, perhaps the weakest I've ever seen. I don't know if the author intended to try to please everyone or what, but it felt so damn fake and artificial, I don't even want to remember it.
Do I ever want to read Kenichi again? With how tightly the story is tied to the fights, and how bland all the fighting becomes, to go through all that again to have an ending with missing gaps and underdeveloped moments... I don't think so; but the fun parts were really fun, so maybe? I really liked the Ryouzanpaku's sensei and a fair share of happy moments while reading. Despite the shortcomings, I was left lingering with a good feeling towards the happy moments I had.
Here are some miscellaneous opinions I had while reading it
- Ma Renka felt like an annoying pushover character which merely existed for the purpose of having a love competition
- It is implied that Shigure also likes Kenichi somewhat, but it is never touched upon
- Miu's past revelations didn't feel emotional at all, it should have been cooked more
- The ending was filled with pages and pages of a battle which didn't amount to anything and had no convictions behind it
- Only Shigure and Ma Kensei were fun towards the end, all the rest felt lacking in meaningful contribution to the reading
And lastly, but not least
- Siegfried is best girl
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jul 14, 2019
[ NO SPOILERS, BUT SOME REFERENCES HIDDEN ON THE BOTTOM ]
When you start reading this manga, you'll probably think "Wow, this universe is awesome! There's so much to explore in this world setting! And at this pace, how come the story ends so quickly?".
That I've asked myself many times while reading this, while constantly wondering about the chapter count. I was trying hard not to be dissuaded by my intuition and enjoy the story in spite of what I was worried about, because the art is fantastic and the premise seems interesting.
Here's something: there's not emotional development or insight into the personality of the characters.
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It seems like their persona is simply made out to be to represent some conviction or be some sort of vague representation of their power.
You'll bump into a lot of scenes from cool moments in fights and dangerous situations they will eventually face, but there's not much behind it. You'll occasionally see two characters made to get along with each other and maybe develop some mutual feelings, but it won't be consumed.
When a character dies, there's nothing left of him remaining in the story, like [spoiler reference 1].
There's not enough background or to justify why a character behaves the way it does.
There are some characters who just exist for the sake of being a power piece somewhere along the line and then vanish into nothing, like the [spoiler reference 2]. Flusterings and feelings that may appear will seem to be simply for the sake of flavor and fan-service, not because it actually means anything.
I've struggled to finish this series, not because the story kept getting duller (it already is pretty dull), but because the characters felt so bothersomely shallow. I thought about dropping Area D many times because I felt no reason to continue reading other than to know how the characters would end up being. As expected, the ending is premature. THERE ARE A LOT OF THINGS LEFT UNANSWERED OR UNDERDEVELOPED.
I'll try to save you of your possible worries and anxiousness: if you're an emotional person, don't pick up this title. You'll find really hard to become attached to what's going on because there's not enough juice, not in the story, not in the interactions with the word, and especially not in the characters.
If you just want to see some powers flying around in a different world setting, then go for it. As I mentioned, the art is really cool.
*SPOILER REFERENCES*
[1] - Tatara or Owl Eyes
[2] - Sol/Luna sisters
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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