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Jul 17, 2015
I went into this series with no idea of what to expect. I read the synopsis, and it sounded okay, but it does not do justice to the show at all.
I wouldn't say that Nana is shoujo. It has more sophistication and more intricate plot lines than the average shoujo. It treats the characters as people by acknowledging their feelings, their backgrounds, their motives, and that allowed for you to not only get attached to the characters, but to understand them. The characters developed a lot throughout the show, and your perception of them changed as information was revealed to you.
I would definitely
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describe the show as beautiful, but it's also a little harrowing. It made me laugh, it made me choke up and almost cry (okay maybe just "cry"), it made me throw the phone that I was watching the show on across the room, but most importantly, it made me marathon all the episodes.
The art style was kind of unique, but I grew to really like it. The animation was beautiful. The sound was great (with the exception of a song or two that didn't quite fit my tastes) and the sound played a huge part in the story. It added so much to my enjoyment to the point that I don't think you could enjoy the story as much in manga form because of it.
Really, I could go on talking about all of my favorite plot points, details, songs, characters, etc. But all you really need to know is that I have nothing but praise for this show. It's one of the best and most satisfying anime I have seen in a while, and I fully recommend it to anyone who wants to see a brilliant show about love and life.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jun 23, 2015
Before I officially start this review, it's worth the mention that I went into this anime with low expectations. It was advertised to me as blood and gore and intestines with some sort of plot that appeared every once in a while or something. While that's not completely untrue, that's not exactly what this anime is.
Story: This aspect of the anime was a lot better than I had expected. I don't want to talk too much about the details, because you're only really getting two hours of entertainment with this anime, and most of the things I can say about the story will end up
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being spoilers. Basically, a bunch of stupid kids end up going to a cursed school where there are evil spirits that try to brutally murder all of them, and they often succeed in murdering. But the story eventually develops into something more. Sure, it does some stupid and cliche things for the sake of convenience and intrigue, but aside from that, the plot seemed logical enough given the setting, and it seemed like they actually put some thought into developing the mystery and the motives of all of these evil spirits. It's not perfect, but it's good.
Art: I was expecting the art to be very good, considering I watched this anime purely for the graphic gore, but all I can say is that it did its job. I really hate that I have an opinion on animated gore, but I do, and I have to say that this isn't the best or most detailed that I've seen. It does its job, but the gore seems to rely more on shock than the actual animation. Some of the scenes didn't have fantastic animation, but they were sudden and unexpected, and that's enough to give you the impression that there is gore. They also had the typical anime blood, which means that whenever a character is stabbed, their blood will projectile all over the room and continue spewing itself like a fountain for a good ten seconds, because that's realistic. It makes for more laughable scenes than scary ones. Anyway, talking about blood is not my favorite thing to do, so I'll just say that the gore was okay.
My one complaint with this anime is the fanservice. They would show shots of the girls's underwear as they were being brutally murdered, and I found that a little . . . distasteful. I don't like fanservice in general, but I can definitely understand the appeal, so I'm not going to rant about it. But I will just say that the fanservice felt a little out of place. I don't know. I just find it a little gross that someone's face is being dragged across the floor by a demonic spirit, and at the same time, we're supposed to be enjoying some teenage girl's striped panties. I can kind of understand why they would add this in. "The anime's already f**ked up enough, so let's just throw in some panties, right?" But even still, it's a little unappealing.
I don't have much to say for the sound of this anime. It was atmospheric at some parts, the sound of people being stabbed was probably more graphic than the actual art, if that makes any sense. The voice acting was good. And the opening was okay.
THIS IS WHERE THE ANIME FAILS. The characters. I expected bad and boring characters, and that's what I got. I don't really remember their names, and I finished the anime thirty minutes ago. They were all stupid, naturally. Every horror story needs some stupid characters, because without them, nothing interesting happens. You couldn't understand the relations they had with each other, and you're just expected to understand that they've known each other for a long time and they're good friends. They were annoying, and I felt nothing when they died.
IN CASE YOU WERE SKIMMING MY REVIEW TO SEE IF I HAD ANYTHING HELPFUL TO SAY:
-The story was actually pretty good.
-The art was fine. The gore could have been better, and the panty shots were out of place and gross.
-The sound was good, most notably the screams, the sounds of stabbings, and the sound of blood gushing.
-The characters were ANNOYING.
Overall, it was pretty good. I have my complaints, but most of them can be overlooked. It's a good gory anime, and also a great one to just watch with your friends when you're bored. Especially your squeamish friends. They'll love this. Trust me.
I don't recommend that you stop everything and go watch the anime, but if you like horror anime and you get the chance, go ahead and try the first episode and see how you like it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jun 2, 2015
This is a 23 volume series that's about people playing a board game. Throughout the course of the series, they play the game, they get better at it, they play against people who are pretty good at it, then they play some more. Why would I give a series that's pretty accurately summarized by that a 9? Because it's amazing.
Really, the plot is not as boring as it sounds. The story isn't really about the game. It's not like sitting and watching a chess match. Really, the actual amount of game playing is brief, and they don't go into too much depth about it that
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a complete noob to Go wouldn't understand it. The most interesting components about the story comes from the opponents that they play against, the dramatic irony that no one else knows that Hikaru has who is pretty much the freaking God of Go on his side, and how the characters--both the protagonists and "antagonists"--are both trying to improve themselves.
The characters, in this way, are one of the greatest elements in the story. I read this quote from somewhere that the story doesn't go anywhere with just a strong protagonist. You need a strong antagonist, or rival, for there to be any enjoyment in the story. In this case, we have a super strong rival known as Akira Toya. The story isn't about some overpowered protagonists taking down everything in his way to stay overpowered. It's about him moving through these obstacles to achieve something that's greater than him.
BUT by far, the greatest part of the characters was the development. It was done so beautifully. Hikaru develops not only in his gameplay, but in his attitude. All of the characters change and aspire to something. But another part of character development that some manga and anime tend to forget is physical development. In this case, the story starts off pre-puberty, and the artist made sure to make slight changes in the character design to show their physical growth, and it was such a nice touch. The best part was, I didn't even realize it was happening when it was, so it almost gave you a connection to the characters, like how family members you haven't seen in a while will tell you that "you've grown!"
The only reason why my review is a 9 is because not all of the questions I had about the series, and not all of the concepts they brought in were directly answered or explained. There was no gigantic plot hole that destroyed the manga like some of the things I've read. In comparison, there was just a few bumps. But not all of the questions can be answered.
I think my favorite thing about this manga is that I can't quite put my finger on what I loved so much about it. I've talked to some of my friends about it, and some said that they couldn't get into it, but I think if you can, you'll end up loving it. I would completely recommend all manga lovers to read it.
READING ADVICE:
If you do decide to read it, obviously just try out the first one or two volumes before committing. Once you do, though, when you get to about volume 19, get all the ones that come after that. There's a bit of an arch that starts to form around there, and it's also towards the end of the series, and you don't want to find yourself in that position with no more books, but it's not like I'm mentioning that due to personal experience or anything.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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May 27, 2015
I love this series.
That being said, it is not a perfect series. I gave this series high ratings all around, but it's based on pure opinion.
The story is very different from pretty much everything I've watched and read. The problems most people have with the series is that the character's motives weren't clear or didn't seem natural for the story, and they might have felt it strayed too far from the original plot.
I can agree with that, but the difference is that I still enjoyed the story wherever it took me. I loved the characters and how they interacted with each other. For me,
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there was never a dull moment.
This isn't an anime that you need to turn your brain off to enjoy, like some other anime (cough cough Mirai Nikki cough cough). That being said, you do need to subdue the part of you that overanalyzes plot and characters and things like that. If you just watch the anime for what it is, a quirky story about a strange guy working at a rip-off of McDonalds, I'm sure you'll enjoy it, and I hope that you end up enjoying it as much as I did.
And also hope they make a second season.
Please.
Like seriously.
That was not a freaking ending.
I'll even just settle for an OVA.
Anything.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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May 27, 2015
Well.
This is the first time I've ever given something a perfect ten. Even Death Note, which I hold to be my favorite anime ever doesn't get a perfect ten.
I can explain this.
It took everything I loved about The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and tripled it.
The story was mindblowing. Everything came together beautiful and made the original anime, which already made enough sense to me, make even more sense. It added another layer, and was focused around one of the coolest concepts in the series: time travel and what the supernatural powers like those of Haruhi and Nagato could really do.
Speaking of Nagato, she was one
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of my favorite characters in the original series, and she got even more screen time and dialogue than ever. She got a personality, a new layer--Nagato's character developed in the time that it takes Apple to come out with a new version of the iPhone. It was that fast, but it was better than the new version of the iPhone, because she actually improved in a noticeable way, instead of her screen just becoming slightly larger and having the invaluable ability to bend when you don't want it to.
Woah. That metaphor fell apart. Basically, what I'm trying to say is, Nagato was awesome in this movie.
My only complaint is that this movie made endless eight worth watching. Or at least worth seeing most of.
Overall, I loved this movie so much. It was so great that I was able to stay awake into the early hours of the morning watching it without the help of coffee or anything. It was so enthralling and entertaining that there was no need for me.
10/10. Must watch. Now.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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May 27, 2015
I could write a ten page review about this series, but I won't. Here are just a few things to note:
-This manga is about manga.
-It's by the creators of Death Note.
-It is WORDY. This is great if you want to prove to your friends or family that manga can have the same merits and require the same brainpower as an actual book, but not good if you are like me and you want to finish your manga as quickly as possible.
-There are lots of characters in this series. This is good, and it provides a lot of material for fanfiction writers and shippers, but
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there is a side-effect. There are whole chapters where all of the characters are just reacting to the same information, but in different scenes. This will make more sense once you hit around volume 16. That's when it becomes as noticeable and annoying as a zit that won't go away. In fact, once you get to that point, you could probably just read a few pages per chapter and perfectly understand the story. Or you could briefly scan the page to get the general idea.
-They bring in a lot of characters to serve as "obstacles" for the protagonists and then throw them away once they're no longer of use.
-The art is nice. It's kind of comical at times, too.
-I really am not enjoying this series.
-I recommend this series entirely.
I say that because it has helped me better understand all anime and manga and has given me a different viewpoint and has helped me to understand the stories from a more critical perspective. I think that's invaluable, which is why I think all manga and anime fans should at least read a few volumes.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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May 27, 2015
This is one of the first manga series I've read. I think I went from Fullmetal Alchemist to this, which was more than a slight change of pace.
This is a really cute manga about a bunch of really cute characters who go on cute adventures. Why? I don't really remember. I'm not sure if that was ever really established. I think they gave a reason for all of the characters coming together, but the reason that satisfies me more is BECAUSE THE PLOT MUST GO ON!
As for that plot, it's not a story where every event builds onto the next. It's more of a collection
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of stories, where the only thing that is constant in each story is the characters involved. The characters do develop throughout the series, and we get to know them all pretty well by the end.
The one thing that stood out to me the most in this series was the art and the character design. It was freaking glorious. It fit the tone of the series perfectly, and also made the story more interesting. Really, if the art wasn't as good, I probably would have dropped the series halfway through.
One thing to note about the manga is that it's not very wordy at all. I was able to complete a volume within the span of twenty minutes at one point. There are plenty of pages that either have very few words, exclusively sound effects, or exclusively art. So if you are interested in the series and are going to check it out, get as many of the volumes as possible. The series isn't that long, and it definitely won't last long if you are able to read at a normal speed.
I do highly recommend this series for people who are interested in manga, people who want an easy read, or kids who want to read manga.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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