- Last OnlineApr 7, 3:57 PM
- JoinedJul 19, 2016
RSS Feeds
|
![]()
Sep 23, 2021
I thought to leave a review since I've seen only one so far. I have read 6 volumes so far and have mixed opinion on the manga.
Pros: shattered storyline works well - short stories entangling each other and gradually connecting to main plot which is about curse, atmosphere is dark and tense sometimes, art is done nicely.
Cons: too many short stories go like this - a character thinks something is watching him, shrugs it off and it ends with a shadow smiling, even if plot progresses the shadow moves to new place and same thing happens again; many creatures which are supposed to be
...
scary are hilarious, main plot is progressing at too slow pace that numerous short stories are ruining the enjoyment.
If you binge read/watch horror the manga is still worthy a try to see if it fits your taste or not. Even though some parts are alright, I felt most of things became too repetitive that I got bored.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
What did you think of this review?
Nice
 0
Love it
 0
Funny
 0
Confusing
 0
Well-written
 0
Creative
 0Show all
![]()
Jan 25, 2021
Blue Gender is a Sci-Fi anime about planet Earth being overran by large insects. Humans built a base in space orbit (Second Earth) and work on ways to exterminate the insects to make the planet inhabitable. The story is focused on Kaido Yuji, a guy who was diagnosed incurable illness so he decided to be put to sleep and wait for the future when the cure will be developed. He wakes up in middle of the fight between humans and insects, freaking out with sudden change and how the world turned upside-down. The humans were on a mission to save him and others who were
...
asleep, and to bring them back to Second Earth. The further events are full of encounters and dread which shake his psyche and force him to accept the reality and adapt to it.
The anime really shines in the atmosphere - varies from claustrophobia and tense to true face of cruel world with all the obstacles, feeling they are on their own and grimy theme that the world is a very dark and unfriendly place. The sound, art, character reactions blend so well sometimes to make the impact in the representation. The art and sound are very good, even mecha and fights are alright, and those are the only positive points about the show. Some moments in first episodes were so good I'd easily give them 9/10, but it's time to get on negative parts.
Even though the story is simple and alright, the way it unfolds and twists is often so absurd and makes no sense. Clear plot-holes or forced events happen that some characters lose brain for a period of time that a new subplot can start, which makes me think whether to put characters as nothing but plot gears, starting the protagonist Yuji. He is one of my biggest complaints and one of the worst and most annoying protagonists I've seen so far - he behaves like a 12 year old brat with memory of goldfish. He feels like a merely plot trigger - his idiotic actions are the cause of events which bring nothing but trouble and death to everyone around him (I wonder why wasn't he tied and put in the trunk). Completely ignoring orders, making noise, running off and lecturing others on "morals" even though they saved his life countless amount of time. Then he turns 180 degrees over night and starts preaching the philosophy he hated so much just hours and and later forgets about it. The subplot with the girl and the dog felt so forced and artificial (especially the promises and participating in such unnecessary danger) that it was unbearable to watch. I guess that creators wanted to push him through the events to make him question his beliefs and adapt to the new world he woke up in, but it was very poorly executed. All other characters are either angels or douchebags who make nothing but trouble for plot reasons. Oh, what about the romance? Most of the time it ends in either one of them being insanely dense while the other is yelling the other one's name all the time and then comes the impact which is supposed to cause emotions in the watcher but it fails miserably or makes them laugh. Also a plenty of action is terrible and serves nothing to show someone as a good/bad guy or give plot armor to someone to carry on with task - a plenty of scenes have only 2-3 people doing action while all others are mere audience, even if they are guards who are supposed to catch someone in a small room.
The show has some really great moments but sadly they are shunned by immeasurable absurdity of the plot and the characters. Things make less sense later, some things are forgotten, then the show turns into some harem/slice of life/whatever thing and I couldn't have stomached it anymore. The show can be much more enjoyable if you ignore all the nonsense but even that amount annoyed hell out of me. Sorry if this conclusion is a mess because the show doesn't deserve it, being nothing more but an artificial nonsense.
*SPOILER ALERT*
I'll give here few examples of absurdity or forced events, I didn't count much but some of them baffled me.
The event while Dice, Yuji and Marlene were in a buggy driving through the desert, they fought a flying insect and Yuji fell out the buggy. Just after that was a scene of some nomad woman saving Yuji, even though Dice and Marlene searched the place! That subplot was pretty wacky - peaceful nomads whose female member drooled over Yuji, while Mad Max villains appeared out of nowhere to terrorize good guys, then of course Yuji showed them who's the boss in such awful action scene where everyone stood like mannequins and let him do all the work.
Episode 10-11 where guy named Han was obsessed about a sleeper and attempted to screw his whole team to go with herself alone into the space in a space shuttle, not with others too. His 180 degree turn was laughable and his excuse pathetic - where would they go if not on Second Earth? It didn't make any sense, creators just shifted the guy to become mad.
Also upon team reaching Second Earth, everyone on the space station is a douchebag and punishes others for no reason. Military heads not demanding full report from Marlene but for plot/drama sake keep yelling nonsense and punishing... I hope you get my point. It's not the issue that the anime has some plot/characters/logic issues, it has way too much of them. The only character I sorta liked was Dice, he felt out of place and managed to create some chemistry with characters, but he was ditched shortly afterwards.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
![]()
Jan 15, 2020
Whenever someone makes a thread of anime recommendations, there are always some people advocating this one. The anime has been having a very active fanbase for all these years and some fanatics claim it to be a masterpiece or the anime which "changed everything."
The anime is just mediocre. The art and sound are pretty good, combat is decent and interesting, but many parts of the story (especially the foundation of the plot) and most of character development are unbearable. I won't write spoilers, but story wasn't bad at start, it gradually turned worse when the focus was only on Shinji and regular episode was starting
...
as Shinji being depressed, some threat comes to Earth, Shinji tells himself he cannot do it but he manages to beat the enemy, returns and everything starts over again with depression. The anime is also partially experimental (for example Serial Experiments Lain) and the creators played with religious symbolism. I remember one creator saying that the symbols were used randomly or for aesthetics, it didn't really have any meaning behind and they didn't say whether it was just for entertainment or to make the watchers come to their own conclusion. Despite that, there are tons of fan theories, pseudophilosophies and all kinds of interpretations of the symbols, while it was only experiment of creators. The viewer gives the meaning to what he sees, whether he interprets it as an object or gives an essay on why that thing had vital importance.
Overall, the show is ok and most of parts are entertaining, but some aspects regarding the plot, characters and the story progress are unbearable. I understand that many fans relate to the characters in some way with depression, but giving the show too much meaning and affection can become the story of Emperor's new clothes - people glorifying it and making all the hype. There are many popular places and videos which claim various things about this anime, even that it influenced if not all the anime afterwards and many newcomers can fall for that and either accept all the claims or get very disappointed if they don't experience what was written and hyped up.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
![]()
Nov 10, 2019
Kuragehime is a journey of Kuranosuke and neets who start a clothing brand in order to earn money to buy a residence building where the neets live, otherwise they will be evicted. The manga is romcom with drama moments, the theme varies from fashion to politics or even one of the obsessions each neet possesses. The plot is generic: a group tries to save their place because the landlord wants to sell it, so they try various things and interact with other characters to be in better position and continue living in their building. There are plenty of subplots which are okay, though some feel
...
little too fast, which comes to the pacing issue. The story flows slowly most of the manga, yet at one moment it shifts to rapid mode. Usually the story gets flooded with lots of gags and slow build up of the upcoming events, in much further parts the story feels much more serious and the build up is done very quickly.
Characters are done very well, each one of them has depth, background, obsessions and things they hate. They make the atmosphere lively and there is always something going on, even it's something usual like eating potatoes, they would make it look dramatic as possible. The chemistry is done well, the author did a great job to make very complicated relations and reactions to set up events which would turn into a comedy because the characters stick to their traits or show new things they are passionate about. Even though they evolve to the end and get more known to each other, romantic element looked like it was out of place, more like it was forced. The art is nice, each character has a signature and Kuranosuke is drawn in so many outfits, he changes often and each his appearance is amazing. I must also point out that the composition is terrific most of the time, I've seen some mangas which focus on detail or text to tell a story or emotion, yet composition in this one tells everything. Few images are enough tell how someone feels, what happened, the location or good transition to the next subplot.
Despite some flaws, this is a very good manga. It starts with lots of excitement and jokes, the quality lasts very long, even though it switches to drama much later, it's still enjoyable. I'm not sure to give it 7 or 8, the first half surely deserves 9, but later it becomes more about drama and romance, which felt out of place and some scenes looked like the characters wouldn't do that. That's the only somewhat major issue, everything else would be nitpicking. Even though I'm not a fan of romcom, I enjoyed it a lot and I'm sure the manga provides enjoyment for any reader with open mind, so it's definitely worth to give a try.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
![]()
Oct 7, 2019
Moyashimon is a story about agricultural university in Tokyo and its students. The story starts with Tadayasu Sawaki, freshman who has just enrolled and has gift to see the microbes. The story develops around him and a lab of professor Itsuki, where other students gather and do experiments. 159 chapters cover just one year, which is very eventful and full of various situations. Basically, it shows daily life of students and their struggles, with high note on comedy. The author manages to keep the manga very interesting all the chapters long, though some of them don't keep high standards, but are still decent, which is
...
a big plus. The story is special because it blends slice-of-life comedy with biology/chemistry lectures on various topics such as fermentation, all sorts of alcoholic drinks (also their history, preparation), bacteria etc. While having fun with characters getting into awkward situations, you can also learn lots of interesting facts.
Even though some of the most noticeable traits of main characters can look generic like Aoi's desire to get drunk all the time or Tadayasu's passiveness to let others to drag him around, the characters develop with time and chemistry works very well. They get into misunderstandings, fights, feuds, but they learn more about each other and change their behaviour. Good thing is that even though Tadayasu was presented as the protagonist with great ability, it doesn't give him much advantage at all (it doesn't affect the plot much as well) and the focus wasn't on him large part of the time, so all other characters got their time to shine and a chance that we get to known them better. Characters have an extreme trait (ability to see the microbes, greediness, being a clean-freak, being a drunk) and they are often put into unpleasant situation because they make a reaction which causes others to react as well and situation gets more complicated and silly, or each one of them is trying to take advantage of others and it gets interesting when they become rivals, but that doesn't get overused because the author was creative with jokes and they feel new and refreshing.
The manga really stands out from others with such approach to blend the story and lectures, supported by very good characters and various situations which refer to certain chemical processes or bacteria. It deserves praise and high place.
In the end, I would like to refer to Kei Yuuki that newcomers don't get misinformed from some websites, so here will be minor spoilers. I've seen at some places that certain people push Kei Yuuki as "trans" and refer to him as a "she". Kei is Tadayasu's childhood friend and even though they have very close relations, anything alluring to love was used as a gag which led to a comedy of situation (Kei would do X thing, Tadayasu would be shocked, third person would be shocked as well and get wrong impression, Tadayasu would feel embarrassed and make the situation worse by trying to explain what actually happened). Everyone has a characteristic trait, just like Aoi adores alcohol, Kaoru uses every chance to use the situation to make profit or Haruka always wearing leather, Kei is crossdressing and cares about his childhood friend. The author plays with the bound between Kei and Tadayasu, but romantic outcome never happens, because that's the joke. Sawaki even told him in chapter 155 that they will always be inseparable friends, not alluring to anything more or less. Nevertheless, Kei has always identified as male and all the character details in margins state that he's a guy - "he's without a doubt a man among men", "I think all of you are aware of this, but he's a guy. Just in case.", "Even if he wears gothic lolita fashion, he identifies as a man. He's the best fried of Sawaki, the main character." If that's not enough, chapter 118 and 133-134 cover that subject well. I wrote this because I dislike seeing Kei's image tainted with misinformation to satisfy someone's fetish.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
Aug 31, 2019
Shonan is overally an okay manga, it's not bad but it's not great either. While it has some great gags and outcome of some situations, a dozen number of situations and villains were poorly made and executed too fast that it seemed like a mix of One Punch Man and Dr. Phil - Onizuka beats some people and screams what their flaws are.
The manga is trying to carry the original GTO formula (bad guys want to do bad stuff to good people, Onizuka deals with them in a silly way and teaches them what they did was wrong), but the further it goes, the more
...
it gets flat and watered down which greatly reduces enjoyment that sometimes we just see "haha we are naughty kids, adults are bad, so we do whatever we want." Also, the atmosphere feels much heavier, even for a care center and the problematic children.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
![]()
Jan 26, 2019
This is a short and silly comedy which revolves around BL/Yaoi theme. It lasts 36 minutes (3 mins per episode), so a plot and character development aren't expected. Despite being short, the show has somewhat diverse characters - protagonist who secretly read BL, protagonist's friend who dislikes BL, a popular guy who crossdresses, guys who adore the popular guy and do chores for him, a BL author, and a fujoshi. The jokes are based on hiding that characters like BL or they relate everything they see as BL, which is mostly silly and can make you laugh if you are familiar with the theme (more
...
if you are into BL). I guess the joke is about the original meaning of the word which describes fans of such themes - "rotten", the characters know their interest is found disgusting by many and some jokes are situations where public notices someone being into BL.
If you dislike BL/Yaoi theme, better skip this show if you don't want to be bored. The show is short silly fun which should be taken lightheartedly. I give this show 7.5 our of 10.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
![]()
Oct 28, 2018
What is the path of gaining popularity in matter of no time? By doing something extreme, of course. Goblin Slayer nailed with the first episode by exceeding in unnecessary amount of violence and gore, which disgusted some people not because tons of gore is a nasty thing, but because many parts had terrible action (usually two characters are fighting while others are waiting for their turn, or someone goes banzai and dies in an instant), awfully made protagonist and antagonists.
The story is cliche as it can be, generic fantasy world with names like kingdom of elves, they didn't even bother naming kingdoms (not mentioning nonexistent
...
names of the characters), already seen and used races like dwarves, humans, elves, argonians... umm I mean lizards, etc. Races want to survive and of course evil creatures such as goblins and demons want to ruin everything, so they fight. There is adventurer's guild with a plenty of quests which offer rewards, though it looks like typical high school show - boasting jocks, an elite group which despises others, which wasn't necessary at all...
The characters don't have names. We know someone's race and age, bit of protagonist's past, and that's mostly it. The conversations are usually dull, it's either talk about how bad goblins are, pathetic bantering between the elf and the dwarf, or when the protagonist replies with one or two words to everything. The other problem with characters is such awful design (especially the voice) of goblins, not just that they look like someone with no imagination created them, they don't leave any impression of posing a threat with their pathetic figure and voice. Swiper from Dora the Explorer looks scarier than the goblins. Also, the logic about protagonist and his armour is ridiculous, but I guess he needs to look like a tough guy who doesn't talk much to leave cool impression. Never taking his armour off, even helmet, while helmets were worn only during the battle or duty as a guard, eating (not even removing his visor) and sleeping in armour and helmet looks more silly than cool and tough.
With all these flaws, it's not a terrible show. The first episode was a teaser that the show will be dark and full of gore and other nasty things, but it hasn't shown any more depth than that. Characters with no names, kingdoms with no names, even the dark theme started fading away with the annoying elf and the atmosphere is changing. Dark theme is getting thinner and the show is shifting into a forgettable seasonal anime with some adventure time and action, nothing more.
I guess there will be some demon master who summons evil creatures to take over the world and eliminate all the races or turn them into slaves, the protagonist will probably have another scroll to use as a trump card and poof, the end.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
![]()
Oct 3, 2018
Based on the reviews, you will either love or hate this show. I already gave a couple of chances with the show, but I failed to like any single detail about it. If I could describe this show, it would be like this: a knight plans a great adventure, yet he moves around insignificant villages to bully peasants with very slow pace. Peasants from other villages don't care about his power, so few of them gather and attack him no matter that he's got thick armor and a powerful sword. He beats them and other peasants. That's what Overlord is about, if you like an
...
overpowered protagonist who flexes to everyone around after a long drama, you may like this show.
So, the story is poor as usual. It's so prolonged that it's painful to watch, a simple event lasts episodes, full of insignificant events, characters and other stuff. The same formula from previous seasons, lots of long moments where everyone adores Ainz, the moments where something happens and Ainz goes there, long drama starts, new characters are introduced, a drama before action, Ainz snaps his finger and enemies are dead, the end. It's also little odd that Ainz spent time on adventures to spread his name and power, yet some kingdom hasn't heard of him and, of course, played ignorant role - "hey, let's destroy this nobody!", like every other enemy of Ainz in previous seasons. Also... All the events are done to show his power, no matter that they are recycled over and over, ignoring the logic and some characters lose their brain for a while to do something stupid which would just keep the image of Ainz being the most powerful being in the world.
After giving rights on One Punch Man to focus on Overlord, I was stunned that Madhouse came up with this, a studio which has made some great shows and movies. The art is mediocre at its best, but CGI is horrendous. The sound is so-so, nothing special.
Characters are flat like in previous seasons. The continuous problem with the show is that way too many characters are introduced, only simple premises are shown (whether they do stuff for money, fame or duty) and they don't last long at all, after some generic chit-chat they enter combat and die. The harem continues to adore Ainz all the time and make pathetic threats to humans who are trying to fight Ainz. Ainz doesn't seem much like a generic harem wimpy protagonist, but that's mostly because the focus is more on things outside Nazarick. We don't learn anything new about Ainz and the harem, all the new characters are on the spot and get thrown away after they made their purpose to make Ainz look powerful.
Enjoyment? The show could have been fit in one episode. It's way too long, the conversations are dull and boring, the "action" is done in an instant. I don't even know what this show is supposed to be - a shounen, a harem, a comedy, a dark themed show, a fantasy world, a drama? The harem characters are shows as cute and innocent at one moment, the next moment they are horny and want to please Ainz, later they try to look scary and threaten some people. You cannot mix so many things without a bad outcome, I don't know whether LN is like that, even if it is, anime creators should have picked two themes, for example dark fantasy, that could work. Not so many elements to make everything last long and pathetic attempts of comedy or dark moments which confused me that I wondered what was I watching.
If you want to watch or read something with fantasy theme, check out Warhammer, LOTR or Dungeons and Dragons, unless you want a pathetic story about an overpowered protagonist who beats nobodies to prove himself that he's the most powerful being in the world.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
![]()
Sep 30, 2018
Franken Fran is a well made paranormal dark sitcom. The manga is about a schoolgirl Fran, who has stitches on her body and resembles to Frankenstein monster, a human being brought to life by a crazy scientist. Fran was also created by a scientist and she spends most of the time operating and researching in his lab. She needs funds to keep the lab working, so she helps various people to make changes on their body for a price. That is basic start of a chapter - someone offers her money to make change on their body, she experiments and the outcome isn't as expected.
...
Sitcoms have overall problem of having no main plot, they rely on numerous stories which make characters react. This manga doesn't have feeling of progress, it shows only the situations Fran deals with, but it's only a minor negative point. Most of the stories are creative, quirky and well made, dark humor is very well placed. Some stories have more paranormal approach and more pages are spent on (pseudo)scientific approach to explain some things, but even those parts are decent at worst. Many stories are simple, but they are effective and don't contain anything unnecessary. I would say Sentinel parts are one of the most enjoyable,
Art is very good, anatomy parts and gore are very detailed.
Characters are mostly fixed and have a couple of traits. They react according to their traits and we learn patterns of protagonists, but new characters always bring quirkiness and unexpected situations. Fran is more developed character, she genuinely cares about nice people and has weakness to people with love problems, she also behaves according to her morals - helping nice people while punishing the ones she finds bad. Even though other characters from the lab appear through most of the manga, they rarely get the spotlight, such as Okita, Veronica and Adorea.
The manga is very entertaining and contains a lot of material to crack you up. The stories are well written, characters put in awkward situations, comedy on spot. Even though the character development and main plot are lacking, it's not a drawback. I see that more people relate the manga with horror, but I'd say it's more comedy. The manga differs from most of mangas and it's definitely worth of your time, if you don't mind gory moments.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
|
