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One Punch Man 2nd Season (Anime) add (All reviews)
While I can't completely condone what I was presented with in the end, I couldn't forgive the sins that this sequel to an beloved show had committed.
As an individual who genuinely loved the 1st season of One Punch Man, I had to face the reality before me. Yes, there is no doubt that when the 2nd season was announced a while back, I knew it was never gonna live up to the hype and legacy that its predecessor left behind for it to carry on. When I finally saw the first revealed trailer, saw the quality, and realized that the studio in charge is by no other than the recently notorious J.C. Staff….and I'm by no means exaggerating….I literally got up and went around in a temper tantrum for about an hour, which included occasionally slamming my head against the wall and making angry DIO-like noises. After I calmed down, I decided to lower my previous high standards to a near minimum and accept the product presented before me. However, after everything was said and done, it was clear that this season of One Punch Man, a series adored by many, including myself, as I stated earlier….has been an equivalent to a sloppy high school project submitted at the very last second (and that's no hyperbole).
From what we know in terms of what the 1st season had given us, One Punch Man was intended to be a parody on the definition and aspect of heroes and shounen content, with a single overpowered and overly bored protagonist named Saitama, having reached a pinnacle in terms of sheer strength and power, going around and defeating villains and monsters left to right with practically little to no effort, almost always with a single punch…as opposed to all the other heroes who have to work really hard just to take down a single or handful of enemies. The role that Saitama isn't just limited to breaking "the shounen code"; his involvement also influenced the other heroes or even notable villains in one way or another, whether for better or for worse. The witty bantering and numerous gags in the series, which often involve the "lesser heroes" struggling to defeat a foe or an enemy(s) running rampant and thinking they're in control, often end up with Saitama just kinda stepping in and cleaning up the mess, and more often than not, resume to his casual merry way. The end of the first season was indicating that most of the attention would be shifting to the other characters, which CAN be a good thing depending on the scripts. Unfortunately for most of us, it wasn't the case here with this second season…but do keep in mind that I don't follow most manga and novel series for various reasons, and I'd rather not judge anime adaptations based solely from their fidelity to their respective source material.
While the 2nd season retained its usage of gags and banter, the choice of direction for the story by this point, at least from my perspective, was something of concern. The pacing of the story is noticeably much slower and often dragged out, with Saitama getting less amounts of screen time as the focal point shifts to among other characters like King, Metal Bat, Fubuki, Suiryu, and the main antagonistic figure: Garou. I honestly felt like the entirety of the story for this season should've been more focused on Garou's story and his progression and descent into becoming a "human monster". The shift from a typical monster-of-the-week format to one major villain was definitely a vast improvement…but if only that was the sole course of the plot. However, the story tossed in an arc (or rather subplot) that I really find myself having to question its overall impression and role: The Monster Raid. The whole Monster Invasion was clearly intended to create a sense of chaos and discord in an urbanized setting full of citizens clearly unable to defend against the numerous anthropomorphic bugs and beasts wreaking havoc, with heroes of various ranks called over to defend against the raids.
However, what was showcased here didn't feel that way; due to numerous jump cuts, tedious and extensive amounts of mostly unnecessary dialogue, and subpar investment in animation, there is no accentuated sense or weight of tension, emotion, and precariousness in any of the fight scenes involving the Monster Raid. Even the usual comedy that made One Punch Man amazing misses its mark far more often due to a lost sense of timing and poor visual aesthetics. There's also an ongoing martial arts tournament WHILE the whole monster invasion is going on. Yes, I get it, it's One Punch Man, it's a parody, of course they'd do something like this. However, with the aforementioned shortcomings in the animation department, the script of the whole tourney seems rather pointless and, like with the Monster Raid arc, feels like unnecessary clogging of the story. Even the focal character of that particular subplot, Suiryu, doesn't really seem to really have much of an impact as a character at all, other than just being a mediocre exemplification of a moral lesson. In all honesty, the story was better off focusing solely on Garou's story, because while it is not something extremely unique or extraordinary in terms of its composition, it's still a very strong script by itself because the man himself is literally sort of an antithesis to Saitama. In fact, most of the episodes this season that revolved around Garou were honestly the better ones (even in terms of the animation quality) in terms of this season's bar standards, especially during the final stretch. However, the damage from the poor scriptwriting and subpar visuals from the majority of this season had already been committed. Overall, the story looks more like a painful rendition and attempt at a parody shounen show, which basically ruins the whole point established by the first season.
Okay, now here's the elephant in the room. In terms of the animation quality, all of us should've know by now that there was absolutely no way that the visual orgasm of the first season will ever be replicated. All of that was due to the studio Madhouse having outsourced the majority of the team members involved in that bombastically amazing piece of artwork. It's clear that J.C. Staff, a studio that has been known for cutting corners in terms of animation budget, was dealt an extremely bad hand in an unfair way, which made me want to give them the full benefit of the doubt. Don't get me wrong…J.C. Staff has produced some really good shows in the past like Toradora, Shakugan no Shana, Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, and The Disastrous Life of Saiki Kusuo. Honestly, from what I saw here, J.C. Staff gave it their all and genuinely tried their best to make the most of their situation. Unfortunately, the studio isn't exactly a group that really specializes in action-packed animation (hence why they obviously don't handle shounen series). The animation lacks the explosiveness, finesse, and passion of the first season. Countless jump cuts and lack of siegeways made many of the action scenes, barring the ones with Garou, feel like amateurish slideshows. Another notable change for the worse is the heavily increased shading and dulling of the color palettes, giving the settings a more melancholy feel, and not in a good way; even if it was for the purpose to establish a darker tone with the whole Monster Raid and Hero Hunter arcs, it just doesn't look good. It's too drastic a change. The character designs are mediocre at best, with horrendous body proportions and design consistencies in a generous handful of screenshots (Suiryu at one point looked like that one dude from Beetlejuice). The metal textures are very questionable, as they look more smudgy instead of shiny, sometimes looking like crappy 3D. Speaking of 3D, the CGI animation with the monsters is a mixed bag for me, and honestly not the worst thing in the world; however, they often look really out of place, and don't have the same impact that well-animated 2D animation from the previous season would have.
The soundtracks and sound effects here are average to mediocre here. I honestly enjoyed listening to the opening theme of this season. I never skipped it. I liked how it tried to emulate the darker tone of this season during the verses. The ending theme is alright, too, as it maintains the consistency of what the first season had: the OP and ED themes being polar opposites in terms of tones and empathic value. However, they are notably downgrades from that of the first season. The rest of the soundtracks are just fine and nothing much to really take note of. The sound effects are a mixed bag for me. Yes, I get it, the metallic sounds in most scenes may be trying to show how fast or hard the punches and kicks are, but they honestly don't fit. Yoshikazu Iwanami, the sound director, has been known for his works in shows like Fate Zero, the JoJo series, the Kara no Kyoukai series, and Psycho Pass, where the metallic sound effects would better fit in. However, for this season of One Punch Man, it really felt out of place. Can also I mention how Genos clapping in one scene sounded more like normal handclapping with fleshy hands just felt hella weird? Like how can you mess that sh—up?! The voice acting is okay, but not as invested as with the first season, obviously.
The characters are still very likable overall despite their poor designs for this season. Saitama is just being himself as always…nothing has really changed for him though he now plays as sort of a side character for the most part. Garou, in particular, turned out to be one of my all-time favorite anime antagonists, and King turned out as one of the more entertaining characters due to the truth of his reputation. Garou, which I want to focus on in particular, is a very well written villain, in my opinion. His motives are very simple, but deep-rooted from his childhood experience and quite relatable to a certain degree. He simply wants to prove that even the villains should be allowed to shine and be victorious, hence his adamant resolve to target only heroes and defeat them. He doesn't actually kill them on purpose, though, that's the human side of him along his casual interactions and dialgoue with that one hero-fanatic kid. Honestly, if the story focused more on Garou's development and characterization, whether for better or worse, this entire season would've been way better off, even with the subpar animation. Suiryu, a character featured during the martial arts tourney subplot, was rather underwhelming; he doesn't seem to have a whole lot of significance to the majority of the show, and honestly a cast member the story could've done without.
Overall, while I'm clearly disappointed by this season, I cannot say this was one of the worst anime sequels ever, and in the end, I could not entirely hate this sequel. The weight and legacy of its predecessor was just too much to bear for J.C. Staff, and I can understand that. I still did genuinely find enjoyment value in this husk of a season, though it exclusively came from the episodes focused on Garou, as I have mentioned earlier. Sequels almost never live up to the expectations set by their predecessors, anyways, but god damn, this one could've been a WHOLE LOT better if they gave more time and effort in terms of production (it was bad enough to know that they were STILL not finished producing certain episodes while the show has already aired). Ultimately, this season simply just had far too many flaws than positive aspects. It wasn't a thunderous disappointment...it was a whimpering and wounded hound dog that barely made it back home. Hopefully if another season does come into play, it falls into better hands than suffer another J.C. Staph Infection.
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Kenja no Mago (Anime) add (All reviews)
In the words of Charles Barkley:
"THAT'S TURRIBLE."
Okay, seriously, people…why does it have to be so GOD DAMN hard to write an actual good fantasy story nowadays? Where's the sense of originality? Where's the sense of creativity? Apparently as of right now, anime is under a mini-crisis, and it involves the all-too-familiar infamous genre of "isekai". It's not the genre itself that is bad, it's just the endless supply of all these cheap knockoff shows, written and produced purely for the sake of easy cash grabs and light novel promotions. Now, in all honesty, I will not condone the lack of originality in a series as long as it can be entertaining and creative with its premises. But oh my lord, this series, Kenja No Mago (or Wise Man's Grandchild, Philosopher's Grandson, or Magi's Grandson) had absolutely NONE of the two.
To start off, I'm pretty sure we all know the drill regarding what constitutes as isekai (translated as "different world"). It's actually a subgenre of general Japanese fantasy, and it usually revolves around a main character(s), usually normal humans from Earth, being transported to, reincarnated, or trapped in a parallel universe or an entirely different world, often a fictional one with notably more supernatural or magic-based premises. As much as the isekai is often criticized as a subgenre and concept, it still welcomes a good amount of creativity as there has been a good number of unique and alternative takes on it. The problem is that the general premises of isekai are just way too easy to establish, and it's because of this that many writers will forego the chance at creativity for the sake of "quantity over quality", whether it's writing up a story with typical tropes and unengaging themes and plot elements, or just blatantly rip off a previously produced show's work and tweak it a little bit to claim it as "original work". In this sort of case, Kenja no Mago had committed both sins.
The story of Kenja No Mago is by no means anything complicated whatsoever, but I guess I can add a bit more details for "context".
An unnamed Japanese salaryman gets killed by Mr. Truck-kun and is reincarnated into a fantasy world as an orphan, while still retaining his past memories. He is raised under the name "Shin" by a renowned elder magician and quickly displays his overpowered abilities in terms of both magic and martial arts, but apparently has a lack of common sense and social skills. On his 15th birthday, Shin is enrolled into a magic academy to befriend others and hone his already busted skills, but his raw talent makes it difficult to conduct a normal lifestyle as he quickly gained local celebrity status. The story is supposed to follow Shin's high school life as he makes friends, learns about the world, and fights off evil that threatens him and the city.
Now from first glance, the story, while generic, doesn't seem like something particularly bad. It seemed like just a typical, harmless, "dumb fun" isekai fantasy. However, there is a clear lack of creativity from the get-go. Already we have an elephant in the room: the case of the overpowered main protagonist. Now overpowered main characters can still be well-written and complex as long as there's proper establishment to the overall story and character depth and development. However, Shin has nothing to really make him stand out as unique; he's your typical Gary Stu, an artificially manufactured husk of a protagonist, a physical manifestation of conveniently written plot armor and plot devices. The nature of his existence in the series means that the plot basically revolves around him and prevents any chance of innovation or development for the story and the other characters.
But that's not the only problem with the story. From what I was told, the original source material of Kenja No Mago is supposed to be more along the lines of slice-of-life fantasy. However, there is no sense of that in this adaptation, and the main culprit: a bad choice of PACING. The show apparently loves to speed through the events of the story so rapidly that it's hard to really comprehend or understand what exactly is going on. What's worse is that the show tries to hide those issues by inserting some awkward attempts at lighthearted comedy, which are basically hit-or-miss at best, and can come off as nothing but hindrances to the story as well as one's enjoyment, depending on how one feels about the half-hearted "herp derp" gags. Most of these gags are, of course, revolving around Shin accidentally utilizing too much power and everyone getting shocked and sh**. Like, it's literally one of those comedy skits where they have exaggerated faces and derpy character depictions…seriously, that's not really funny at all after a while. It's even worse in the final stretch when they try to utilize comedic gags in the more serious parts of the plot. They basically go to these gags where the baddies get all cocky and then get blown the f*** back, One Punch Man style. I would've been okay with this if the show was a parody isekai, but it really isn't. The lack of innovation with the roles of the characters and the course of the story prevents that from being a possibility.
Now about the romance going on between Shin and Sicily, the main heroine (apparently) that was featured in the show. While many people may say it's nice to see a romantic relationship in a fantasy series be straightforward to where they actually kiss, I find it really hard to comprehend the authenticity of it. Shin and Sicily's relationship felt very superficial and too convenient; there is no sense of good dynamics or chemistry between the two that would make me really care about their affinity for each other. It's mostly them doing all these mushy gushy gestures and cliché romance gags as well as having the other characters tease them about their relationship. It honestly feels…fake. Soulless. There is no effort implemented to really build a lot of appropriate content and structure to justify their implications of romance. There's nothing to really make me feel like I should have any care about it as it seemed practically useless to the overall story, anyways.
When the series does reach its serious content, especially in the final episodes, it doesn't seem like anything particularly tense or unsettling. The presentation of it feels half-hearted yet forced at the same time…like all attempts at tension are painfully cringe with the forced screams of terror and the typical cockiness of the antagonists. The construction and depiction of the main villains is by no means any good. It's your typical bland "muhahaha I'm so f***ing evil I can c** on myself" sort of bad guy here. He doesn't even feel like a genuine villain, just some salty boy tacked onto the story to let our Gary Stu flex his muscles on. It's also a poor choice to have the show just really end in the most cliché and predictable way: having the MCs and co. face off against the villains in an overplayed climax (well, if you wanna call it a climax).
The animation in this show is subpar, considering that it's coming from a studio like Silver Link. It's "potato quality" at best, if that's a proper way to put it. There were so many instances of where the sequences of the frames just feel hella awkward, especially during a lot of the action scenes. The comedy scenes, whether or not it's done on purpose, had a lot of moments where the characters' expressions look heavily exaggerated or derpy, to where they can seem somewhat like stick figure drawings. The designs of the characters and the settings are all very typical and not something that can really catch someone's attention. In fact, I found out that the settings of the world look almost EXACTLY the same as in Konosuba. Even, Shin and Sicily share too many visual similarities to Kazuma and Aqua, and the former basically stole Megumin's "EXPLOSION". While it's not technically plagiarism, it's a definite case of a knockoff/rip-off. I don't even wanna talk about the ending of Episode 6….just what the actual f*** was that CGI eye-rape?? All in all, at best, the animation quality is nothing particularly notable or commendable.
The soundtracks and sound effects are nothing worth of praise, either. The OP is so cheesy-sounding while the ED feels like a silly out-of-place impression that doesn't really reflect the show at all. The voice-acting is unimpressive and at times hella annoying. I don't think the VAs were even trying to implement any sort of genuine emotion. It's more like as if they simply walked into the studio, read their lines without any notable expression, and leave on their merry way out knowing that the show is dismal but at least they can get paid just to show up. (P.S. Can I can please kill that Mary loli, please? Her voice is annoying as hell!)
The characters I can ramble about all day, but it's like beating a dead horse. Shin Walford, being the Gary Stu he is, received no sense of actual character development or maturity; he doesn't seem to have a strong opinion of his own, yet somehow has to overreact and get angry when the frigging generic-as-hell villain shows up. The whole thing regarding him "not having any social skills or common sense" and "having his past memories" have been made irrelevant. Like what was the point, anyway? You could've written him without the whole "common sense" and "past memories" shenanigans and the script for him would be almost exactly the same. His social awkwardness is an excuse, and only serves to feed the gags involving him, which would've been fine if the jokes actually hit their marks. There's no extra depth or dimensions to him…the one case where he feels bad for having killed someone doesn't have any significant sense of empathic value and is a weak attempt to get us as an audience to pity him making that choice. All the support characters get no sense of development whatsoever. The main villain wasn't very compelling, either. Considering how rushed the show was already by the time they get to him for the final episodes, dropping nearly an entire episode featuring flashbacks of his backstory was a poor choice and attempt to try to get us to think he's a competent villain we should been sympathizing with.
I would want to talk my enjoyment level more regarding this show, but I've already made it clear with the previous explanations. I tried. I really tried to enjoy this show. I tried to lower my standards and enjoy it as just one of those "fast food" isekai/fantasy seasonals. But the "fast food" delivered to me here was so stale that I can't even savor it. Not even copious amounts of sauce or condiments could save the foundations of this one. Yes, I ended up throwing up all over the floor with this one.
Kenja No Mago is an exemplification of how to NOT write a fantasy show or adaptation. It's extremely passable and forgettable due to its conglomeration of simplistic themes, regurgitated tropes, underwhelming to bad animation quality, and non-existent innovation and creativity. Whatever identity this show tried to be, it wasn't a good showcase at all worth watching. It's just another copy-pasta cashgrab show and only succeeds from a business standpoint. You're better off watching some other fantasy with actual competent writing and interesting characters. Trust me with this. You'll thank me later!
Dororo (Anime) add (All reviews)
It's one thing to have reboots, when you consider the likes of shows like Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Hunter x Hunter (2011), Hellsing Ultimate, Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, and Fruits Basket (2019). It's another thing to have adaptations like Devilman Crybaby and Parasyte The Maxim where they fundamentally reinvented the stories to better suit the modern day's audience. It's yet another thing to have remakes like Gatchaman Crowds, Casshern Sins, and Yatterman Night, where the shows compose of completely different continuities and/or stories from their original franchise. So where does that put the likes of Dororo, the 2019 TV series? In my honest opinion, it's a reinvention of the original story, meant to fix and improve certain themes or plot devices that didn't age well to hold up to the modern era's standards of appeal.
To start off, Dororo (also known as "Dororo to Hyakkimaru") is based off a very old manga series of the same name written by a legend by the name of Osamu Tezuka, who was better known as "the god / godfather of manga". The man himself was known for his innovative redefinitions of genres and was basically Japan's take on Walt Disney, which says A LOT about many of his works like Astro Boy, Black Jack, Kimba the White Lion, and Phoenix. In the 1960s, during the time in which Dororo was published, manga series featuring demons and other related supernatural entities were quite popular among the kids. That being said, the original work was a rather peculiar and awkward way to depict dark fantasy due to the premises being restricted by the need to be kid-friendly to its target audience. The 1969 animated series was not that much different in that aspect. So this 2019 remake, where the staff can rethink defective plot elements, readjust the pacing of story or character-focused arcs, and renovate the main aspects of the story that might not have stood up to the tests of time or may tarnish the core appeal and even intended messages, is something that the franchise needed dearly to appeal to even the most desensitized of viewers. Honestly, the original manga and 1969 series look like parodies to it in comparison, that's how vastly different they are.
To summarize, Dororo is a classic dark fantasy story about a lordless samurai (or ronin) named Hyakkimaru and a young tomboy, orphan thief, and titular character named Dororo. The settings take place in feudal Japan, more specifically during the Sengoku period. Hyakkimaru was born malformed, having no limbs, facial features or internal organs, due to his father sacrificing his body to forge a pact with 48 sealed demons (12 in this version) so that he may govern the land and increase its prosperity, and hence why partakes in his journey with new to defeat the ones that cursed him. In this remake, Hyakkimaru meets up with Dororo VERY early, just after killing his first demon. In either version, Dororo accompanies Hyakkimari on his travels throughout the land, where they meet numerous demons and people along the way.
Before I move on to the story, I have to be honest here: The story, as good as the core themes are, still suffers from the usual pitfalls that come with most multiple-cour series, especially two-cour shows. Now most shows that are three-cour or more usually don't suffer as much because the associated stories are usually granted enough space and time to be properly written out. Two-cour shows, on the other hand, often run into issues because the allotted number of episodes is neither big nor small enough to properly accommodate the story's content and scriptwriting, or even keep a proper pace. In cases where the shows are adaptations of ongoing source materials, they can often end awkwardly or try to set up for a possible sequel season. In this case for Dororo, while the story wasn't by no means bad, it was essentially a case of two halves.
Both halves of the story relies on an episodic structure for the majority of the time, with self-contained stories usually spanning 1-2 episodes and featuring a monster/character of the week sort of format, which is nothing unusual. All of them involve the two main characters encountering certain obstacles along the way, like fighting powerful monsters, saving people, learning about the general struggles of humanity, and addressing their own personal burdens. While the isolated stories can be hit-or-miss depending on the kind of payoff, each one does contribute to the eventual development for the two main characters, most notably Hyakkimaru. The individual sub-stories are also quite entertaining and engaging depending on the characters involved. One particular character introduced in the first half, which I'll get to later, established a very important pivotal point in terms of Hyakkimaru's construction as a character. The first half does more in terms in occasionally redirect back to the main story involving Hyakkimaru's desire to seek revenge as well as Dororo's own backstory involving her origins and experience prior to meeting the former, and it does so in a timely fashion where it doesn't try to rush or ham-fist anything important. Overall, I thought the first half of the story was more resounding in terms of showing more emotional impact and a better sense of how cruel humanity can be at their worst. I sure as hell would not want to live in that time period, whether or not I'm in danger of becoming fodder for terrifying demonic abominations.
The second half was something I was already concerned even before it started. In the first half of this second cour, the story really panders and drags out too much, and the episodic stories don't hold as much empathic value or contribution to the main story. There doesn't seem to be as much sense of development from the duo in this part, compared to the first cour. This is the part of the story where it can really feel like a labor to watch if you're not the type that can deal with drawn-out or unenthusiastic scripts. Despite all this, the story does slowly pick back up as it shifts the focus back on Hyakkimaru's struggles to maintain his humanity. While the first half focused a lot more on the gamut of human struggles and burdens, the second half shifted more of its attention to a clash between beliefs and rights: Hyakkimaru's right to have his body back, and Tahomaru and Daigo's justifications to protect the land's prosperity at all costs.
Despite the difference of overall consistency between the two halves, the entirety of the story is still a very entertaining mix between realism and classic Japanese folklore. As a dark fantasy show, Dororo is a show with various moody and dark undertones coupled with the expected carnage and gruesome content. The establishment of religious undertones (in this case, Buddhism) and deeper-rooted motives help to properly establish the reasonings of certain characters' actions, whether they're in the wrong or not, especially that of Kagemitsu Daigo, Hyakkimaru's biological father. There is an underlying sense of mystery that gives the audience something to speculate and predict how the course of the story will go, especially regarding the relationship between Dororo and Hyakkimaru, the gradual change in the latter's sense of humanity, and the recurring themes of revenge and justifications.
Studio MAPPA has been known for their brilliant and consistent visual aesthetics in nearly all the shows they've contributed. The animation quality of the show is, for the most part, truly graceful to watch. The characters are very well designed and look more realistic and toned down than the cartoony slapstick Disney-like designs from the manga and the "original" version. The usage of notably delicate but thick linework, highly saturated color palettes, and traditional watercolor painted backgrounds make the visual aesthetics more catering to the appeal of the modern era's mainstream audience, while still being reminiscent of anime artstyle from the 1990s. As a result, the show feels very rooted in the very time period it's set up in, along with a gray dreary atmosphere to compliment the dark and somber themes of the story. There is also enough realism utilized by the animation style to make the monsters, whose designs are a creative mix between classic and modern depictions, look more corporeal and terrifying. May I also add that there's no added jarring CGI shenanigans for a change in this MAPPA production? Nothing against actual good CGI animation, but having purely 2D animation in a show like this is hella refreshing, especially in an era where resorting to 3D models has become too much of a convenience and commodity. Due to this, the overall choreography of the fight scenes are quite amazing and definitely something you just can't really sleep on.
On a side note, though, episode 15 was just a mess both in scriptwriting and animation (blame the episode director Osamu Kobayashi for that…yes, the culprit who visually butchered episode 4 of Tenga Toppa Gurren Lagann). The frames just look very offputting and inconsistent, the character designs look childish and blandly plastered as if they're mere stick figure drawings. The motives of the mini-antagonists of that self-contained story were left too unclear, and there were a number of plot holes left unaddressed and unexplained, leaving only us viewers to speculate on what exactly happened. In short, Episode 15 was a rather unfortunate and untimely blemish when the course of the story was still slipping aimlessly, though unfortunately it got back on course within the following few episodes.
While the soundtracks are not exactly grandiose in nature, they can really set the tone and atmosphere for certain scenes, especially before, during, and after fight scenes. The usage of the traditional Japanese instruments, especially the drums, really help to add tension (and hype, if you want to go there) and anticipation, and emotion to the more important and pivotal moments of the show. The first opening, Kaen, sung by the likes of Ziyoou-vachi, is absolutely amazing and brings the hype with each episode while personifying the contrasting moods of somberness and tension that are the "bread and butter" of practically any dark fantasy show. The second OP, while noticeably much weaker, also personifies contrasting tones…in this case, despair and hope. As for the two ED themes, both have very emotional and melancholy tones, though I felt that the second one nailed it better.
The voice acting is exceptionally well-executed, as the seiyuus have clearly made an effort to elicit more of an emotional impact from their respective characters. I had to really praise how well Hyakkimaru was characterized by his voice actor, who drew out the sense of solitude, revenge, and sometimes curiosity (due to the initial lack of understanding emotions, much like Violet Evergarden from namesake series) from the respective protagonist. Dororo's tomboyish voice honestly feels very realistic and relatable and accurately depicts her rather rebellious and daring nature while also bringing out her more caring adult side.
The characters in this show, while not exactly groundbreaking stuff (thankfully), are very well thought out and help to exemplify the numerous struggles, burdens, emotions, and dark sides of humanity. Dororo, the deuteragonist of the show, may come off as annoying at first in the early get-go, being rather talkative and often subjected to having to be rescued by Hyakkimaru quite a number of times; however, as the story goes along, the exposure to numerous other characters pretty much forced her to grow up real quick in order to adapt to the harsh reality of the world. Even so, she stands as the primary source of lightheartedness and comedy for the entirety of the show, and that serves as a breather before or after really tense and/or dark moments within an episode(s). Hyakkimaru, the main protagonist, was initially a character void of understanding emotions and even words, but as the series progresses, he develops human characteristics, feelings, and emotions, to the point where he has even smiled and laughed. In the second half of the show, Hyakkimaru is wavering between the mentality of human and demon, and with every body part he gains back, he drifts closer and closer to becoming a monster. This brings up huge moral questions for the final stretch: What exactly dictates a monster? Are we humans not really that much different from monsters? This is truly a topic of controversy and debate. The actions of the two main antagonists heavily influenced the course of the story, and thus they can be considered monsters from a moral standpoint. Dororo is also essentially a story of morales, showing that we don't need to be some frigging mutant, alien, or even biomechanical creation or whatever, to be considered a monster….heck those examples may not be straightforward depending on the sense of sentimentality. If we as humans behave or act immorally and closer to wild feral animals and demonic creatures, we are absolutely no better off than the very beasts themselves.
Now I want to talk about one character in particular:
Mio, a girl who shows up in episodes 5-6, is a typical kind and caring person who puts the priority to help others over herself, to the point where she undertook shady jobs to care for the orphaned children that accompanied her. Mio's interactions with Hyakkimaru actually kickstarted the latter's ability to start feeling emotions for someone, and her song was something that really resounded with him empathically. Her death, in my honest opinion, was a huge turning point for Hyakkimaru's journey and development as a character, as his witnessing of her demise drove him into an emotional and demonic rage for the very first time in the story. To me, it was truly the start of his descent into becoming a monster, as Hyakkimaru acquired a "trigger" point due to his initial inexperience with handling emotions on that level. In short, he was mentally a bomb with a short fuse, ready to explode at almost any given moment.
As for the other supporting characters, they play their roles rather perfectly. Jukai, a skilled doctor and surgeon who help saved Hyakkimaru as a baby, had a well-told backstory in terms of his past sins and his desire to help the latter as a fatherly figure. Tahomaru, Hyakkimaru's younger brother by blood, served as a secondary antagonist with a well-established sense of justice for the greater good, at whatever cost it may take. Daigo served as a primary antagonist with some tragic and sympathetic complexity, despite his cruel intentions and self-caring nature. For the most part, the characters here in this remake were given far better setups and deeper motivations than their counterparts in the original works.
In terms of enjoyment value, I honestly say that while I can be quite critical of most fantasy shows nowadays, Dororo was a nice refreshing take from all those other cheap installations (especially the isekai ones). I'll admit being quite biased for samurai-themed shows like this, having watched other similar-themed shows like Samurai Champloo and Sword of the Stranger. I really enjoyed the choreography of the fights, the chemistry of the interactions between the mischievous Dororo and the nonchalant Hyakkimaru, and the dark cruel themes that personify the kind of time period the story is set in, along with the supernatural content in the cool-looking monsters. My personal enjoyment did wane a bit during the first half of the second cour due to the aforementioned pandering of the scriptwriting at the time, but unfortunately it wasn't something long-term. I focused quite a bit on Hyakkimaru, as I particularly like shows where the main protagonist, initially empty in terms of empathy, grows and develops via interacting with numerous other characters and gaining their sense of self-awareness.
Dororo is highly recommended for those who love classic folktales and dark fantasy, and hopefully a step in the right path in terms of how anime is produced today. While it is no by means an absolute masterpiece, due to flaws in terms of some of the scriptwriting, it's a must-see experience and a revisited classic for any mainstream anime fans. It also exemplifies how an anime remake can and should be, taking everything from the outdated 1960s material and refining it to improve its core appeal. While I would advise one to bear through the pandering of the second cour's first half, I can honestly say it's worth your time. Thank you yet again, MAPPA.
Toaru Majutsu no Index III (Anime) add (All reviews)
As the curtain closed on the season of Winter 2019, the epidemic known as JC Staph Infection had claimed yet another victim from the masses of announced sequels to previously aired shows. This time, it's the adaptation of a popular Dengeki Bunko light novel series known as A Certain Magical Index (which is alternatively called Toaru Majutsu No Index). It is practically inexcusable to have people wait out just over seven years for another season, and then come out with such a disappointing product. Having watched and enjoyed the previous two seasons, I was really looking forward to an announcement for a third one. So when it finally came, I was really looking forward to how they'll handle the rest of the story, so I didn't think too much about the possibility JC Staff mishandling everything. Instead, what was supposed to bring an epic finalization to the main story was just one hell of a tumbling mess.
To Aru Majutsu No Index III's premises are practically the same as the two previous seasons, so regardless of whether or not you've read the LN source, this installment is only for those who've watched the two preceding installments and are curious to see how the continuation turned out. Watching the Railgun series is also a helpful option to familiarize yourselves with the majority of the characters.
It was after the first three episodes that the lack of craftsmanship became very obvious to me, despite me not wanting to initially admit it at the time. One of the biggest issues in the show, while common with most LN adaptations, grew prominent as one watches….PACING. Even though I don't read light novel or manga sources myself, it was made clear very early on than the show's content has been condensed and trimmed to accommodate for the listed twenty-six episodes. From what I was told, the season was trying to shove nine volumes worth of content, which contrasts the shared thirteen volumes by the previous two seasons.
Because of the forced condensation of the story, the six individual arcs within the plot, excluding the final climactic WWIII arc don't last much more than three episodes. This consequently results in the sudden introduction or reintroduction of characters, and we are expected to care about them without enough, if any, background context to them. The lack of proper introduction of the cast members can leaves viewers quite lost and confused, as they try to figure out the characters' individual motives within the story. Even worse…it can actually be hard to remember the names of the newcomers who are somehow supposed to be important to a particular arc. Because of the significant lack of character background, it's also hard to feel for them when some of them die in action.
Let's use a somewhat brief example with the Battle Royale Arc. Being the only arc to actually not feature the main protagonist Kamijou Touma, it was supposed to focus on Accelerator and reintroduce Hamazura Shiage in a major protagonist role, as well as reintroduce the group ITEM, whom we may know previously from watching the Railgun series. This was the most problematic arc for me, personally; for a segment that only lasted three episodes, it was clear that the studio probably wanted to have it over and done with quickly to set up room for the finale. Throughout the adapting of the Battle Royale, new characters and groups are just introduced from left to right without any sort of explanation of what they're here for and why, making their actions feel so forced and idiotic. Many of the fights that take place during this arc and future ones often conclude off-screen for no apparent reason.
Not to mention, there's FAR too much pointless standing around and talking during those bouts; it's as if they're not actually taking stuff in earnest or sincerity with their actions at all, considering how vaguely their intentions are portrayed. As if that's not enough, a good number of these introduced or reintroduced characters are seemingly killed off suddenly without anything building up for them, sometimes biting the dust off-screen; in fact, some of them are simply introduced and then killed within the same damn episode; as a result, we feel absolutely nothing for them. I don't see how it's any possible as a viewer get emotional over such poorly introduced cast members.
Additionally, the plot omits helpful exposition or even inner dialogue that would explain what certain characters were thinking or how some were able to perform something particularly hard to explain. All we end up getting are mostly just poorly conducted fights and pointless, bland dialogue from the characters.
The show also fails to show any of the characters' inner thoughts, which would've proven helpful in terms of giving more sense and logic to their actions. Whatever exposition that DOES come out, or what's supposed to be exposition, quite often feel like very half-hearted attempts to sound witty due to the unfortunate lack of prior context. Lastly, the constant, nauseous shifting between POVs, without the proper siegeways or breaks, just makes it even harder to follow and keep track of what's going on, especially with the kind of pacing this show has resorted to.
The only particular arc that I considered okay was the Acqua of the Back Arc. For this particular segment, despite being just three episodes as well, the story didn't really seem to omit as much important events and details as the others. Kanazaki, one of my more favorite support characters of the show, returns to take a more upfront role as a combat participant against the likes of Acqua, who himself was a particular character of interest. Nonetheless, this arc felt rather pointless for the story, or at very least, not made clear.
ART/SOUND:
The quality of the animation is notably downgraded from the previous seasons. The 2D animation and designs from this season, while not exactly awful, per say, have considerably more inconsistencies compared to the second season and the Railgun series. The movements don't feel as fluid or liberated, the characters can occasionally look "off" in terms of facial expressions and body gestures, the emotional acts feel far more overdramatic than emotionally powerful, and the special effects are just horrific. The CGI was not exactly very pleasing; while it was not anywhere near "Hand Shakers level" of awfulness, the notably increased usage of it resulted in poorly choreography of the 1-on-1 fights and the military conflict.
The soundtracks are actually very nice and at least try to fit with the tense or lighthearted mood, depending on the current point of the story. Maon Kurosaki, whom also did the two ending themes for the second season previously, sings the two opening themes for this one. Both songs are j-pop rock soundtracks, with "Gravitation" setting a moderate tempo to fit the inner urban activity and stuff going on behind the scenes, while "Roar" is more complementary to represent the frantic tension of international war and all-out conflict. The sound effects this season just don't have the same kind of natural feel; for example, while I understand changing the noise of Touma's Imagine Breaker was to make it sound more ominous and mysterious, due to the ambiguous and undisclosed nature of his power, it can feel quite out of place amidst the heavy conflict of him fighting it out with his adversaries. The previous sound, felt more fitting as it gives the clear indication of something being cancelled out and/or broken through, which is exactly the effect of Touma's power. The voice acting was fine, in all honesty, but the vagueness of the story and plot can have you wondering why, for example, two high-leveled espers in Accelerator and Kakine are just excessively screaming for no particularly good reason or explanation; as a result, it just feels like overcooked displays of emotion. At least the show sort of lets us know when to cover our poor eardrums when a characters wails with absurdity.
There's not much else I can really say about the new supporting characters, as I've mentioned the major issue with them in the previous section of this review. The more prominent recognizable main and support cast from the previous seasons are, in all honesty, unchanged for the most part.
Touma is still the usual "act first, talk later" selfless character we should all remember, regardless of whether we hate him or not. With the exception of the Battle Royale Arc, Touma has always taken at least a major role in all the arcs he's involved in, especially the final arc, the WWIII Arc, where he fought the superiority complex jackass known as Fiamma, who was trying to accomplish the typical, regurgitated objective of world domination.
Index, as always, with the exception of the final arc, always took to the benches on the sideline and doesn't really have a very major role. While I can understand her origins and her case of amnesia, I've never really liked Index as a character due to her rather annoying personality. Despite her high intelligence, she is overly naïve and easily irritated, which often leads to the gag where she bites poor Touma on the head, often for no good justifications. She does have a good side to her, though, as she is shown to kind, nice, and polite with other people. Despite the bright side of her, her role as the primary heroine just never felt right, as she barely get involved personally barring when she's taken hostage. In the final arc of this season, she is only relevant as a puppet of destruction until she was eventually freed. Her mostly backseat role, despite being the main heroine, felt like a hindrance as she almost always ends up in the damsel-in-distress situation when she does get involved, and Touma is usually the one that has always had to be her savior.
Misaka Mikoto, another favorite character of mine and one that I personally felt that should've taken both roles as main heroine in both Index and Railgun (but is unfortunately a support cast member in the former), doesn't show up as much as she used to in the previous seasons, though she does appear as a minor participant in the WWIII Arc to try to help her love interest in Touma. Her character from the previous installments is mostly unchanged for the most part. The majority of times Misaka is seen is almost always involving Touma, whether it's the usual lighthearted gag of her getting flustered and/or angry due to her feelings for him, or it's on a serious note where Misaka is trying to tell Touma to not push himself, with the latter saying otherwise. In the end, Touma and Misaka's relationship stayed pretty much the same, so Misaka's overall relevance to the season was not exactly as full-fledged as it could've been.
A particular support character I do want to focus on is Hamazura Shiage. Previously an antagonist in the Skill-Out Arc in the previous season, he is involved as one of the "good guys", especially during the dreadfully adapted Battle Royale Arc. Because of the shift to him playing as a protagonist, character development for Shiage was absolutely necessary to give more meaning to his actions. However, to the aforementioned issues with the said arc, Shiage's imagery in the adaptation seemed more like an idiot shifting between wishy-washiness and recklessness. He is neither as idealistic and compassionate as Touma, nor as bloodlusted and insane as Accelerator; in this way, he can be considered as a medium between the two. He has an obvious inferiority complex due to being branded as a powerless individual and not having esper skills himself, hence his previous involvement in the Skill-Out Arc. While he does get notable character development within this part of the series, it just seems so rushed and without enough context behind it to be considered properly managed. The show basically displayed his change as if it was propelled solely via the virtue of his growing feelings with a barely memorable support character (at least in the Index story), Takitsubo Rikou….and I'm not sure if that's how a well-written character is supposed to experience progression.
All the other returning support cast members barely get much highlights unless they're heavily involved within a particular arc. While the previous seasons, due to their better sense of pacing, gave them more reason to pay attention to and be attached to them, this sequel didn't really do them much justice. They're just there cause the story sorta "obligated" them to be present. Itsuwa, one of those particular support characters, started out her reintroduction with developing her feelings for Touma, and while she's considerably much nicer to the latter and arguably a better female partner for him, she never truly got much shine outside the Constantine and Acqua Arcs.
On one "dual-colored" note, while Accelerator himself was a rather enjoyable character due to his nature and did get a significantly more prominent spotlight and better characterization during this season, his role is still mostly overshadowed by the chaos of the events going on around him.
In short, overall, a bunch of wasted products in the character department.
ENJOYMENT:
I'll be quick to the point. I started out really enjoying it for the first few episodes. The first episode really had me optimistic, especially with one of my favorite gags where Misaka gets upset at Touma, fires her electrical powers, and Touma blocks it with his Imagine Breaker. It was always SO nice to see the two's interactions and dynamics, as they were more common and meaningful in the previous seasons. Unfortunately, we don't get much of that all with the third season. Sure, Itsuwa played as a nice substitute, and the return Kanazaki's tsundere behavior due to her OWN feelings for Touma (from way back in season 1) was something to give credit to in terms of enjoyment value, especially for me, personally…but in the end, those were still simply flauntings of rather unnecessary fanservice made just for the fanboys.
As for the serious parts of the story itself, it was an absolute pain to watch. I've mentioned those issues already; rushed events, poorly animated fights, jarring CGI, characters being introduced left to right that it's hard to catch up to or consider them as something important. It's a mess that I tried my best to stick with and be optimistic about. However, with the handling of the British Royal Family Arc, where the main purpose of the segment and Touma's intended involvement was severely downplayed, it became so clear that the show is literally going nowhere in the right direction. It was literally like watching your birthday or homecoming party getting crashed by a bunch of drunk idiots. Considering that J.C. Staff was also handling the third season of Date A Live at the time, and how horribly it turned out, it became all the more obvious that, regardless of what financial reasons or justifications, the studio just tainted its own brand by not being able to hire a proper team of staff members during the production of this show. I'm honestly disheartened because in the past, J.C. Staff produced plenty of other good shows in addition to the previous two seasons of Index as well as the two Railgun seasons. While I can't say it was like a hated chore, it still felt laborious to watch.
Considering how we waited for years for the third season, and to receive a spoiled meal like this, Toaru Majutsu no Index III is the one of the more disappointing sequels in the recent years of anime. This season clearly needed more than just 26 episodes, and in the end, it was simply a rushed school project like Date A Live III and both TG:Re seasons were. To be honest, I wished this season was given more time to work with so that events, characters, and themes are played out and executed a lot more properly than what was showcased here. At this point, I'm highly considered to hit the light novel books for the first time and start from the very beginning, provided I find time for that.
Unfortunately, for this season, it was simply something unable to follow up on the series' previous accomplishments. I now pray to God, Christ, Arceus, whomever is up there….that the new Accelerator anime and s3 of Railgun don't fall victim to the dreaded plague of JC Staph Infection as well.
Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen (Anime) add (All reviews)
Overall 10
Character 10
Enjoyment 10
I've seen plenty of romantic comedy anime series that draw interest with their own sort of game, but never before have I seen such a series like this one strut their stuff and dance it out like this one.
Adapted from a seinen manga series published by Viz Media and Shueisha, produced by A-1 Pictures, and directed by Mamoru Hatakeyama (the very same person who contributed to the likes of SHAFT shows like Madoka Magica and Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko), "Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War" is a rom-com show that seems to be aimed more for mature viewers due to its rather unique and twisted take on the generic tropes of most other shows in the same genre. Having heard good stuff about the manga source, but still being initially apprehensive due to my past experience with most rom-com shows, I headed into the show with midline expectations. What was bestowed before me was something so amazing that even what will be stated in this review probably won't do enough justice to describe its value and complexity.
Taking place in a typical-looking school setting of Shuchi'in Academy, Kaguya-Sama uses a semi-episodic format where each episode consists at least three segments, focusing on the two primary characters, Kaguya Shinomiya and Miyuki Shirogane, as well as the three other recurring support cast members with whom they're heavily associated with. In almost every segment, Kaguya and Miyuki wind up in an epic battle of mind games and psychological warfare with the primary goal of trying to get the other side to confess their feelings. Instead of the usual tropes with most rom-coms where neither party takes the initiative due to both believing they'll be rejected, Kaguya and Miyuki both refuse to make a move due to both being heavily convinced that the other DOES have romantic feelings and is on the verge of surrender or admittal of those feelings. This is because both sides believe that the concept of love is a sign of mental weakness and that a confession is equivalent to throwing aside their pride and making them essentially the losers. The ensuing mind games result in hilarious, bombastic, and overly dramatic moments of internal and interpersonal dialogue. From a personal standpoint, Kaguya and Miyuki's clash of wits doesn't just seem like a battlefield to me, but something along the lines of a crazy dance-off or truth-or-dare game, similar to what I've seen between the likes of Light Yagami and L in the immensely popular horror/psycho show known as Death Note.
In many of those ridiculous bouts, Chika Fujiwara often steps in to interfere as a third-party member and basically break up the amusing tension between the two main characters, thus helping the show's direction not become painfully predictable. The two other notable support characters, Yu Ishigami and Ai Hayasaka, also function as additional gears to the machine that drives and expands upon Kaguya and Miyuki's relationship as well as displaying their own unique individual perks that can occasionally draw more interest to them than the two primary protagonists. The three supporting characters not only add more composition to the story, but they also keep the regular doses of comedy from being boring or redundant. The narrator occasionally chimes in to explain the situations at hand and/or who won or lost the bout to add a tad bit of that cinnamon to finish off each segment.
As funny as this show can be, beneath all the buffoonery are the heartfelt stories and backgrounds of young adults growing up and trying to address and move past their own individual difficulties (especially that of Kaguya). We should also be reminded that despite all the comedic gags, there is, without question, notable progress is steadily made between Kaguya and Miyuki in terms of their undisclosed feelings for each other, regardless of whether or not they ever confess to one another.
ANIMATION/SOUND:
I don't always feel easy with A-1 Pictures, but their work here is absolutely amazing. Not only is the overly stylish SHAFT-like quality something for the eyes to behold and never lose sight of, it genuinely feels like scenes that have been literally ripped straight out from the manga source and bestowed with life and color. The usage of ever-changing camera angles actually helps to add to the "comedic tension" of each segment. The over-the-top exaggerations of facial expressions and the alternating of colors, tones, and highlights are set to complement the sense of tension or relief with each progressing scene. There is little or no issues with animated movement; in fact, it's quite fluid and aesthetically pleasing for the most part.
And oh yeah, about that ED theme featuring Chika's dance moves…apparently one of the team members of the group that animated that particular segment is originally from Kyoto Animation, a studio known for its transcendent animation quality and character designs. No wonder why the entire dance routine invested more budget than the entirety of ToAru Index III and Date A Live III combined (and that's still an understatement, in all honesty).
The soundtracks are amazing and fit the contrasting moods of each scene, from the brief laid-back moments to the frantic scenes of the mind games. The opening theme is really catchy and represents the funky and energetic side of the story, while the ending theme gives more of a slightly somber but hopeful side, and it actually reflects the sad backstory and internal mindset of Kaguya, in particular. The voice acting is beyond amazing. It adds more emotion and life to the scenes and the characters as it synergizes with the complementary choices of animation. I'm pretty sure the seiyuus here had WAY too much fun with their scripts here, especially the guy who voices Yuu Ishigami, in particular.
For this particular review, I'll keep the rundown of the recurring characters short but sweet, because all five of them are of equal importance, in my opinion, even though I'm aware that the story is still centered on two of them.
Kaguya Shinomiya is a multi-talented individual born to a wealthy family and literally has everything in terms of money and luxury. She is one that rationally and meticulously carries out her plans with that wealth and influence to outrageous lengths during her mental bouts with Miyuki. However, the flip side of her presents an extremely somber and tragic individual, bound and sheltered by the chains of family obligations. Because of this background, she is not adept with common knowledge like health education and internet usage. While she may be cold and snarky, she genuinely longs for true kindness, which propels her obsession to get Miyuki to confess.
Miyuki Shirogane is an underprivileged but diligent young man who had to claw and scratch his way to the top of the student council via hard work and determination. He constantly works to assume as a perfect image and role model, to the point where it often became detrimental to his health. Miyuki is not one to easily go for luxury and expensive gifts, due to his poor background, and values money a lot more than most people. Whenever he's involved with Kaguya, her reputation often intimidates him to the point of insecurity, causing him to overthink even in just minor situations. On the flip side, Miyuki is a genuinely kind and virtuous individual who cares more about the well-bring of others over his own objectives. This side of him can very well be the salvation that Kaguya needs one day, considering what was mentioned about the dark side of her own background.
Chika Fujiwara is essentially the closest we get to having the straight man in this show. The way she conducts herself has essentially made her a popular meme. She is a lively eccentric individual whom almost always has a smile on her face and looks to have fun with her fellow council members. Her actions consists of either coming up with odd activities and ideas to being the unpredictable wrench thrown in the machine that drives Kaguya and Miyuki's battles. She does the latter NOT because she is clueless, but more so because she doesn't see the point of the squabbles in the first place. Chika is also very devious and underhanded when she tries cheating in many of the games that she comes up with, though she is exposed practically every time. Due to her childish antics and carefree nature, Chika's role, as mentioned much earlier, serves to give more composition to the two main characters' relationship as well as the settings around them.
Yu Ishigami is a prime example of an extreme introverted individual. Due to an inferiority complex, he often has a pessimistic and depressing view on life, and will often go on the most epic of rants about stuff like youth, "normies", and breast sizes. Ishigami is a character I really enjoyed due to his snarky and sarcastic remarks, which can often land him in trouble with either Kaguya or Chika (or both). Despite this part of him forged by his unfortunate past experiences, he is genuinely a nice guy willing to help others just like Miyuki, even if it is detrimental to his own pride and dignity.
Ai Hayasaka is Kaguya's personal valet and close friend, employed to the latter's family. She can adopt multiple personalities to cater to each different situation she's in, though her true one is not that much different from that of Kaguya. She is very loyal and caring for Kaguya, to the point where she will readily oppose the orders of the Shinomiya household. That one particular scene where Ai mumbled "drop dead, a**hole" toward Kaguya's unloving father was a huge sign of that fierce loyalty.
Needless to say, I wholeheartedly enjoyed the show. There was never one episode that bored me in particular, as the show's comedy pretty much evolves on the fly. It was hard for me to really point out any major issues or pet peeves I could've had with most rom-coms nowadays. Nearly all types of emotions were elicited for me, from the sheer joy of laughter, to the frustration of missed opportunities, to the feelings of depression given by a certain character's backstory (in case, Kaguya's). While the pseudo-episodic nature can have me rushing to prepare myself for the siegeway to the next segment and the stare-downs during the bouts may feel like there could've more to them, they weren't too much of something to call flaws for me, and in the end, I left the show with a huge feeling of satisifaction.
Kaguya-Sama may not necessarily be a masterpiece in most people's eyes, due to the its rather unique nature and segmented, semi-chronological format and crazy over-the-top visual presentations. However, if you like comedy in general or want a new twist to the potential of what rom-coms can achieve, then this show is more likely for you. Even if you're the casual viewer, this show is one that you should at least give a shot with, as this is easily among the best things that anime nowadays has to offer.
Date A Live III (Anime) add (All reviews)
I've never seen a sequel to a popular series so butchered since Michael Bay's stand-alone film Transformers: Age of Extinction in 2014.
This review is coming from someone who actually enjoyed the Date A Live series quite a bit, especially the "semi-canon" film back in 2015. So when I first heard about the series getting a third season, I was quite elated, to say the least. However, not too long after, I received the unsettling news of the original studio that handled the previous two seasons and the OVAs, Production IMS, undergoing bankruptcy and shutting down permanently, and thus the project was handed off to JC Staff. At the time, the studio wasn't exactly a hot topic of controversy or debate, so I didn't think too much of it. Unfortunately, the issues befalling the studio have started to become more apparent in the season of Fall 2018, especially during the production of the third season of Toaru Majutsu No Index. Needless to say, regardless of whatever the financial and business reasons and so-called justifications as to why the studio is currently conducting itself as of recently, it is not a good enough excuse to brush off what has obviously has become a contagious disease known as "JC Staph Infection".
(May or may not have some spoilers*)
By now, anyone who watched or plans to watch this show should already know the common drill with how the story goes. A seemingly ordinary young man, Shido Itsuka, encounters and befriends beings called "Spirits", and in order to stop them from wrecking havoc on Tenguu City, his home, he must make them fall in love with him and then seal their powers with a kiss. In the process, those Spirits become his best friends and allies and also part of the self-inserted harem.
The premises of the show are quite generic but not necessarily bad at all, especially with how the previous seasons depicted certain scenes and moments as fleeting moments of emotion and beauty. However, this was absolutely not the case here with Season 3. While I try to handle animation quality and story quality separately, this is one of those cases where both seem linked to each other in a bad way. So when the animation quality dropped, so did the course and depiction of the storyline.
The immediate problem I already have is how certain scenes shift so suddenly and without a proper sort of siegeway between them. Because of the entire lack of buildup between events and arcs, the scenes that are supposed to be the important chunks of the story…..just feel abstract and soulless. There is no sense of anything emotionally invested at all, not even with the most important arc of the season, the Tobiichi Origami arc. While I can't really apply problems in terms of something like world-building, there are obvious plot holes and unwarranted plot devices throughout the story. While such occurrences are not exactly rare with most anime adaptations, Date A Live's case during this particular season grew far too problematic.
For one particular example, during the Origami Arc, Shido, having travelled back to the past to try to undo the changing of history, seemingly dies in the act of protecting a younger Origami; however, the very next scene shows him alive and well in a brand new timeline. Regardless of whether the source material contained an answer or not, there seemed to be no clear-cut explanation as to why a brand new timeline was made, much less as to how Shido isn't dead or even erased from existence due to the possible time paradox. Additionally, the rest of the Spirits somehow regain their memories from the old timeline without much consequence. The fact that the arc relied on an often mishandled plot element known as time travel can stir up unwarranted plot devices like that. Even then, if the production crew implemented genuine emotional investment into many of the events, instead of just forcing it down our throats, such "deux ex machina" foolery would be honestly easier to overlook in at least at face value.
Oh boy, one of my favorite parts of the review, breaking down the focused characters.'
Since this is a sequel, I don't think I really need to talk too much about the cast that took to the sidelines for this season. The main focus here are the two characters with the two primary arcs: Natsumi and Origami.
Natsumi, in my honest opinion, is a very unlikeable character, even when she "turned a new leaf" due to Shido's action. She is extremely childish, and is extremely self-loathing of her original petite form. She perceives everything in a negative light, including herself. Unwilling to accept this feeling of worthlessness, she took on a more physically mature-looking form to perceive herself as the perfect image of what she wanted to be. However, she is really just wanting attention, praising, acknowledgment, and recognition. The problem is that the show fails to depict her in a way where we can have at least some sort of sympathy of her, but instead, due to aforementioned plot holes, she comes off as more of a bipolar, bratty, complaining, and nosy child that only wants to cause trouble for everyone else just because she doesn't feel confident about the image of her true self. If someone I become associated with does something along the lines of what Natsumi did during her arc, I would kick him or her out of the house almost instantaneously. Even after she was sealed by Shido, her mischievous, annoying personality is still there…just not as willing to cause unneeded trouble now, because she simply became a bench player from then on for the next arcs like all the other characters.
Origami is a primary character from way back in season 1 that I was able to put up with for the most part, up until her segment came up here this season. What I regret now is not immediately realizing that Origami had not gotten over her desire for revenge against the Spirits, even though she has allied with them on a number of occasions. Instead, she started having a growing, self-conceited desire to obtain more power, which caused her to join the villainous group of DEM and later on obtain a Sephira Crystal to become a Spirit herself. Her reasonings for her questionable acts are more immature and unwarranted than Shinji Ikari's reasonings to not "get in the f***ing robot". It became all too laughable when she finally realized that she became the very monster that she had always hated since the day she swore revenge for her parents in the old timeline. Her feelings of insecurity finally reaches a breaking point when she herself became the killer of her own parents in yet another (you guessed it) "well-played" case of time paradox. She then just literally loses all her emotions and became very much mentally dead as an Inverted Spirit. By now, all of us should realize that all of these foolery caused by her during her arc would be completely prevented if her deep-rooted naivety, glossed over by her serious looking expressions, didn't cause to her to turn to the frigging DEM, of all groups. If she opened up her eyes more and tried to look at the bright side of things or even try to think about forgiveness seriously for once, regardless of what happened back then (which is now irrelevant due to the now changed timeline), she would've obtained something that would qualify as ACTUAL character development. Everything about her just felt absolutely wasted in her segment, in my personal opinion. I feel like if she did need to become a Spirit, such an event should've been set up with a totally different situation.
As for the other characters, I already stated before: they're just mostly benchwarmers, saved for Kurumi. She actually contributed to the Origami Arc….by starting the whole time travel thing. Ugh, great. Well, at least she was sort of a saving grace in terms of enjoyment value if you're a Kurumi fan.
From the very get-go, even with re-release of the first episode, the animation was immediately something I find hard to bear on a psychological level. In contrast to what the previous installment of the series had, the characters just feel very "off". What I received was just a discombobulation of still frames and cheaply drawn movements that made the characters look like they're from some goofy low-budget parody show. This bombardment of slideshows consequently downplayed numerous important scenes, including the fights, and it almost hindered the ability to drive home any sort of emotional investment for even the casual viewer. It's almost as bad as the crapfest from the second season of TG:Re. I don't think I really need to revisit the situation regarding JC Staff, as like I stated earlier, there's no good enough excuse to show us such a poorly made high school project.
As for the soundtracks, they're not exactly bad, but pretty meh compared to the previous seasons. While it was nice to hear some of the old soundtracks, it wasn't really enough to make us ignore how awkward the majority of the scenes are visually displayed. The voice acting here is pretty mediocre; it really feels like the seiyuus are just rushing their lines as the show zips through different scenes without much of a proper transition between them. I can only fathom how depressed they are as they realize how poor the show's quality became while they read off from the scripts.
Needless to say, watching the show felt like a chore, which made me really depressed as this was part of a series that I really enjoyed, even though it's not a particular personal favorite. I did not want to drop this show because my mindset as a completionist kept giving me this false hope that the show will turn around. However, a part of me is resigned to the virtue I follow: "for every good or great show, try to watch at least a bad one to balance out your experience." So I stuck with it until the end, but boy it was a pain train to behold. While I did get some sort of kick out of scenes like Natsumi trying to seduce Shido or Kurumi making her reappearance, I don't get much else outside of the heavy shelling of my PC from the agonizing display of still frames and laughable overplayed voice acting.
Date A Live III was a tragic case of a sequel being handled by the wrong people, though it definitely isn't the only one for sure. If you didn't really enjoy the previous seasons for some reason, I'll highly advise you to avoid this trash at all costs. If you're like me and actually did enjoy the previous installments, though, prepare yourself for lots of cringe and agony as you watch a near perfect example of how to NOT handle a sequel season. Or you can just nope out and completely avoid the torture chamber that I went through.
Needless to say, this atrocity will inevitably reflect badly on JC Staff, and while I'd hope they'll learn from their mistakes eventually, it'll be quite a long while until the day we stop shaking our heads in disappointment when we hear the news "JC Staff will take over for production of this show/season".
Yakusoku no Neverland (Anime) add (All reviews)
The idea of setting up dark-themed shows and disguising them with initially tame and peaceful atmospheres is not exactly that rare nowadays, based on what I've watched from my own experience. Such examples include the likes of Madoka Magica, Shinsekai Yori, Gakkougurashi (School-Live!), and Made in Abyss. With these sort of shows, the infrastructure is relatively the same: a group of young individuals living within some sort of enclosed serene-looking setting shut off from the rest of the outside world, and eventually realizing some shocking, twisted truth about some sort of conflict or hidden secret.
In the season of Winter 2019, This "subcategory" attained a new member with the introduction of this series known as Yakusoku No Neverland (known in English as "The Promised Neverland"). The show is based off a manga series that has been serialized by Weekly Shonen Jump since August 2016. I first heard about the manga a few months prior the announcement and airing of the adaptation, and people have been raving about the story's content and progression. As someone who is more anime-only than an avid manga/LN reader, I dove into this show with no intention of trying to play the exasperated and pointless game of comparing and contrasting the adaptation and source material, much less use that as a primary means to judge and rate anime, as I've always considered adaptations as their own forms of artwork.
(May have some major spoilers)
Set in a somewhat near future in the year 2045, the story of Yakusoku No Neverland takes place, or rather starts off, in an isolated establishment surrounded by a forest and a wall with a single gated entrance. The establishment is called the Grace Field House, and functions as an orphanage housing several children living together and looked after by a "Mama". The children are required to take tests daily, but are otherwise allowed to live freely as long as they do not stray too far from the residence, which is apparently an obligatory rule obviously made and asking to be broken at some point (cause it's anime and fiction, and big revelations need to happen). While the kids are all seemingly living the perfect life, there is a catch; every few months or so, one of them is chosen and sent away to be adopted into a new family…or so the kids were made to believe. In truth, as the main cast would later find out, they are being raised like livestock for food for a mysterious race of intelligent beings simply referred to as "Demons".
From the initial scenes of the first episode, I noticed immediately how unsettling the premises were: all the children were wearing the same colored uniforms and have a numbered code etched onto their necks, which felt like an alternative to simply stamping a brand logo on products. This initial impression briefly reminded me of the introductory establishing of the world of Darling in the FranXX, Owari no Seraph, and Danganronpa, though of course the following shows have very obvious differences from this show.
For the majority of its duration, the show really maintains an uneasy atmosphere for the viewers, as it tends to drift back and forth…from the relatively peaceful and lighthearted scenes of the kids engaging in numerous everyday life activities…to the extremely distressing and shocking scenes of our main characters coming upon a major revelation…to the intriguing and expository parts featuring the kids discussing and trying to carry out their next plans to get the hell outta this "fake paradise". Considering how these kids are being raised, they're a lot smarter and more athletic than the average kid of their age, so at least for the main cast, they're a lot better prepared for the situations they run into, This really contrasts the typical "gore fodder" cast I've seen way too much of in most horror anime nowadays, as well as the usually airheaded and naïve cast in most shounen shows.
Something I really commend the show on is that it actually uses the element of shock value properly, though likely to the dismay of viewers who may dislike cliffhangers. Each and every episode likes end on a suspenser, a thriller, a nail-biting scene, usually centered around a shocking revelation or plot twist. These sort of cliffhangers are further supplemented by the extremities of the characters' facial expressions. In this way, each episode intend to keep the audience wanting more and looking forward to the next one the following week, something reminiscent of the presentations I've seen from the anime Monster. At the same time, it doesn't try to overdo the shock value, which would've included showing excessive edgy amounts of gore and/or "overcooked" scenes of PTSD or trauma. The show's ability to show restrain on the usual abused tropes of the horror genre, while consistently manufacturing enough of the dark-themed content to keep viewers interested instead of offput, is what I honestly an epitome of what horror anime should be.
That being said, the story has its drawbacks. Even if you don't look at this show's source material, it is still clear up that a lot of necessary details and explanations are omitted or glossed over. For example, the backstories of the characters, especially that of Isabella and Sister Krone, in particular, don't seem to have been provided with enough details to fully explain their present-day actions. As a result, one may not be pleased by the portrayal and feel that the intentions of the characters in question are too hollow. Additionally, some of the transitions between certain scenes feel out of place, even if it's part of the aforementioned intention of swinging back and forth between peacefulness and edginess. This likely meant that the show's production crew cut some details out in order to conform to the TV airing schedule with normal half-hour length episodes. In fairness, though, most single-cour anime series are inevitably going to be missing copious amounts of details and/or content.
While I'm not exactly the biggest fan of A1 Pictures and their subsidiary group CloverWorks, their quality of animation is actually quite consistent. In this show, CloverWorks created something that is not too far from something that can be objectively called a masterpiece in terms of visual artwork. The 2D animation is the type that likes to really shine when it comes to giving emphasis to the facial expressions of the human characters as well as giving a surreal, lively portrayal of the nonhuman characters, aka the "Demons". It's that type of animation where ignoring its sense of style should be considered a sin. It's that type that just really pulls you in and keeps you engaged just for all the visuals, even if the story and characters somehow fall flat.
The show's other strong suit in the animation department is its tendency to play around with shifting camera angles and perspectives. This gives the audience the strong sense from being drawn into the world and being there with the characters, as well as an accentuated uneasy feeling of being jump-scared as the camera shifts and pans around slowly through the rooms and hallways of the house.
The character designs is something I do not find a problem with. The really childish looking characteristics of the cast are similar to that of Made In Abyss, and in both shows, I really think these features are meant to be presented as part of the contrast between the lightheartedness and the twisted truths of their respective worlds. Granted, the designs may not be well received by anyone who dislikes the childish, cartoon-esque portrayals, where they'd prefer more realistic or mature-looking presentations. It's a 50/50 here when it comes to what the overall audience would want in this department.
There is one thing I did wish the show did better in terms of animation. In some of the scenes, I thought the visuals were a bit too bright to where they downplayed the otherwise eerie and/or somber atmosphere. However, I would give it the benefit of the doubt because it is the accepted norms of how the current era of animation is right now.
There's not much I can really say about the soundtracks overall; they're just THAT good. While kinda underutilized, the OST is one of the better anime soundtracks I've heard in recent years. Many of these tracks really drive home the drama and emotional value in many of the scenes. The opening theme of the show is by UVERworld, a Japanese rock band. The electro rock song consists of a very hip hop-like feel with lots of acoustic guitar work and drums, occasionally accompanied by the jazzy audio of the saxophone. The tone and lyrics of the song express a sense of continuing to fight on and never give up chasing the desire for freedom, which fittingly reflected the goals of our main cast of kids.
On the surface, the characters may seem too typical and/or generic for a shounen cast, but of course, there's the ubquitious old saying: "Don't judge a book by its cover." In my honest opinion, none of these characters, even including the recurring support cast, are something you'd consider bland and one-dimensional. Let's focus on the primary three main characters:
Emma is initially portrayed as an overly optimistic and lively young tomboy, always showing unbounded love and care for all the other children, and taking on the task of being the elder sister figure to the much younger members. She is also very athletic and extroverted, though not as smart as her closest friends. However, she also had a very contrasting side of her…the kind of persona whose selfishness is put at such extremes that it can sometimes be a bit frightening or frustrating, depending on who you are as an audience member.
Norman, in contrast to Emma, is considered the most intelligent child of the Grace Field House residence. While he is also optimistic, he is also very calm, polite, and friendly; due to him being born with a weak physique, he was the least athletic in the orphanage, though he can still his own in terms of physical abilities to a certain degree. In my eyes, he and Emma are practically two sides of the same coin for good reason. As being one of the smartest people in the story, Norman takes the role as the extremely analytical, rational, and strategic character, and is often at the center when it comes to coming up with plans to find out a truth or a way to escape. Norman also has a contrasting side to him, though; he is often prone to being indifferent or uninterested with certain situations; for example, when the option to attempt to kill Isabella or Krone came up, he saw absolutely no problem with it. From what I can perceive, Norman is the kind of guy that is willing to bank on anything, even giving up his own safety and/or life, in order to ensure his friends' safety.
Ray is kinda a personal favorite of mine. He is very cunning, sharp-witted, and manipulative (even going so far as to use even his own close friends to orchestrate his plans). Being the aloof lone wolf of the group, Ray is often detached socially from the other kids. However, he is shown to be able to interact well with the other kids and genuinely cares for their well-being. He is also often prone to losing his temper or patience, and can be easily shocked when he sees people act out of character, usually in the form of recklessness. This side of Ray is a typical character flaw that actually doesn't present too much of a problem here, since I think lacking that characteristic would've had people complaining about him being a Gary Sue-like character. From what we can see in terms of the personality of these three, as well as the engaging dynamics between them, it breaks through the mold of the typical shounen friendship, even if it's not something groundbreaking.
As for the rest of the cast, they were each given a certain role in order to progress and give more characterization and structure. None of these characters felt wasted by any means, though they're understandably still quite lacking in terms of needed background and characterization.
As someone who has seen the good and the bad in terms of both horror and shounen anime series, I honestly really enjoyed the show. I really enjoyed having to really open up my eyes and ears with each scene, as most of the scenes demand the activation of all your brain cells (unless of course you already read the manga, ffs). I'm not really someone that buys so easily into shock value, as I've seen too many cases of it overused or underwhelming. Here, the near-perfect balance of shock value and world-building felt like a refreshing palate, as the show gets me more engaged and interested in the characters and enlightening me with the "high IQ plays" from the main cast (mostly from Norman, ofc), while still keeping me on my toes with each and every ridiculously entertaining cliffhanger after cliffhanger at the end of an episode.
While I do think Yakusoku no Neverland is a bit overrated and gassed up…as an anime in general, it is definitely, in my eyes, a must-watch for those who adore well-made horror fantasy shows. I would highly recommend it to even the casual viewers as long as they can catch their breath at the end of each episode. One huge warning, though: PLEASE don't let the overly devoid manga readers harass you with statements like "oh the manga portrayed it better", "oh, the adaptation messed up on this particular detail/scene", etc. I advise you to just watch it with the mindset of treating it like its own work of art, and trust me, you WILL NOT regret that decision.
P.S. Apparently this season looks to have had the purpose of being the setup from the sequel, which just got announced on the very day this season 1 ended. Hopefully what was showcased here turns out to be the perfect appetizer for the main course.
Manaria Friends (Anime) add (All reviews)
Call it yuri bait, call it boring, call it whatever the hell you like. There's only so much that shows of half-length episodes can bring to the table each week.
While the low rating is quite understandable considering the context, Manaria Friends (also named Rage of Bahamut: Manaria Friends) is apparently a spinoff of shorts whose settings are based off of, if not in the same universe as, the Shingeki no Bahamut franchise that is produced and supervised by Cygames. It is by no means connected to the canon story of the aforementioned parent series, and its focus is mainly on two female leads, one of which (yea, I know) has a physical attractiveness so intense that it made her a "lewdable" meme.
Manaria Friends takes place within the aforementioned fantasy universe of Shingeki no Bahamut in an apparently renowned magic school known as Mysteria Academy. In this distinguished academic institution, enrolled members are taught all sorts of stuff regarding magic and the world revolving around it, regardless of their race or faction. Due to this lack of racial discrimination, the story quickly establishes that there's no visibly ongoing conflict, at least within the academy, and is meant to bring a considerably more "laid-back" atmosphere, compared to the more action and conflict orientated main story of Shingeki no Bahamut.. The attention is given to our two main heroines of the show: Grea, a Dragonborn, and Anne, a princess and prodigy sorcerer who also attends Mysteria Academy.
The typical generic settings of a fantasy world are apparent, but the show doesn't stray to either direction of right and wrong in that aspect, as it makes itself clear from the onset that it's not conducting an overly elaborate matrix of world-building with tons of exposition. Because of this, it is clear that the prenotion of a deep story by the viewers would be quite disrespectful to the services of the series. The bread and butter of the show's premises is to mainly focus on the two's relationships and the dynamics of their social interactions with each other, which also includes showcasing particular activities or events that take place within the academy. Honestly, due to the half-life duration of each episode, the missing elements of plot development are not necessarily needed. It is almost completely slice-of-life (which amazes me as to why there's no tag for it on MAL), and the show's display of the ambient serenity should already be giving viewers the preconception of what to expect. The evolving display of Grea and Anne's growing bonds and friendship, surpassing the constraints of racial differences, is meant to bring a calming sense of peace and beauty to the audience as they watch these shorts. There ARE a few instances of comedy, but not so much as to disrupt the nature of the story.
One more thing to note; there is almost no instance of action-based scenes…save for episode 5, which I had mixed thoughts about. In that particular episode, monsters appear out of nowhere and lay siege to the academy, to the point where the inhabitants were close to their wits' end and it was practically near a life-or-death situation. While it might be a purposely implemented change of pace, it can be perceived as a rather unnecessary derailment from the entire purpose of the series, even if it's just for one episode. However, I'll give it the benefit of the doubt: that particular episode likely attempted to depict the constant reminder that the academy IS within a fantasy universe, where immediate danger can still be just around the corner.
ART and SOUND:
The animation is actually very nice and consistent, even though it's not nearly as flashy as something from Kyoto Animation or Ufotable. The sceneries, in particular, was given gracious amounts of fine detail and texture. Considering the nature of the story and that each episode is half-length, an adequate amount of quality was honestly needed, anyways. The overall bright colors and tones are meant to complement the ambience of peace and everyday life. The character designs are well-made, and the movements, while not entirely flawless, lack any signs of clunkiness or jarring CGI (thank god). The OST, while not entirely memorable, is calm and relaxing, obviously meant to complement the nature and visual art of the show.
Since most of the attention is on Grea and Anne's "unintentional flirting", the character department does kinda suffer overall. The other characters, looking at it from face value, are just…there. However, it doesn't mean they're entirely useless. The worst case scenario would be showing Grea and Anne ALL ALONE in the god damn academy being left to their own advices (and God knows how much "viewers'-discretion-advised" content we would've beheld, though not like some of us yuri fans would complain…lul). The supporting cast are there to add the necessary details to the settings, like the sense of ongoing activities and other social interactions. They also function as third party devices to give more composition to our two heroines' ongoing relationship. Needless to say, while the support cast could've been established much better, they're not exactly useless at all.
So here's the brief summaries on our two lead girls:
Grea is a Dragonborn, and essentially a demi-human. As her attractiveness and adorable personality can be pleasing to watch, she is a character I've often found concern for from time to time; at the very least, she was a particular point of interest for me for the majority of the show. While there's obviously no sense of racial discrimination in the show, her shy nature often prevents her having proper conversations with most people, which even included her "bestie", and she has some underlying feeling of anxiety. That also makes her a rather interesting character, when everything is said and done, because it makes me wonder if she had gone through some sort of traumatic experience in her past, possibly related to racial discrimination or even worse. I wouldn't be surprised if there existed any sources regarding her backstory, which we honestly never got, though that was to be expected from the start.
Anne is apparently of royalty and is a talented sorcerer attending the Mysteria Academy. Despite her usual carefree, optimistic nature, and her mostly-one-sided flirting with Grea, she is also someone I invested a bit of curiosity in. At times, it felt like she was trying to avoid facing the reality of carrying out family royalty obligations, and the academy probably functioned as a getaway for her for obvious reasons.
The notion I had of Grea and Anne sharing similar underlying facets of concern and insecurity probably had me slightly more attached to them than what was needed, but in the end, it was a nice thing to have. Perhaps I may be too analytic in this regard, but with this notion in mind, I thought this gave more context and meaning to the two's bonds and made it all the more enjoyable to watch the chemistry between them.
To me, enjoyment value is midline, because the show, as aforementioned, is meant to be a series of slice-of-life shorts, functioning as a nice "timekiller". The yuri vibes were really nice and not something excessively shoved in the face, so I have no objections for people going on about the shipping, though I sometimes worry about the memes getting outta hand. For me, it's a nice thing to follow up on after watching a very serious and conflict-heavy episode from some other anime show or film.
Manaria Friends is not something I can easily recommend because of the overly serene nature that contrasts that of the main story of the franchise. As stated before, it is meant to be a nice timekiller, a different take to relieve one from the stress of what they were watching beforehand. Whether or not such a show with a singular selected purpose is right for you is ultimately your own decision. It'll be unethical to expect something extravagantly deep and serious from a show like this. So go ahead, make your choice. If you're there for the memes, that's fine, too.
Egao no Daika (Anime) add (All reviews)
I do not understand why such wasteful shows like this one are made or even allowed to exist.
After what I've seen here, I think I've just about had it with these so-called "seasonal fillers". This show just really gets me perplexed on so many levels that it's not even funny. From what I've been told, this show, Egao No Daika (The Price of Smiles), was actually produced to commemorate the 55th anniversary of its producer Tatsunoko Productions, the very same studio that actually contributed to the likes of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Ping Pong The Animation, and the OG Macross series. However, this production, meant as a tribute to the long-running studio, wasn't a very happy anniversary, to say the least. It just seemed like the show just failed on the most basic levels.
So what's the story? Egao no Daika introduces us to an interplanetary (or interstellar) setting, focusing on the perspectives of the two main heroines: a princess named Yuuki Soleil, and a soldier named Stella Shining, both born and living on two distant planets that are apparently at war with each other. The kind of progression that this story takes is like constantly shooting yourself in the ACL with every step forward you take, and from the recoil, you take several steps backward and fall on your ass. There doesn't seem to be any sense of direction; the show tries to implements all these concepts of war, politics, and mechas to make itself look professional, but its depiction of those themes and/or concepts are amateur level at best, if not idiotic.
In this "war", the two sides are just constantly clashing for practically no good reason, and at no point during the entirety of the show was there any engaging exposition or exploration as to why they're butting heads in the first place. This show literally runs on the "at least 1 death per episode" strategy and our main girls' exaggerated reactions of shock and/or horror to these imageries of the atrocities of war, which really gets painfully exasperated and repetitive with each progressing episode. This was obviously meant to be used as shock value as an excuse and as compensation for the abysmal structuring of the plot and setting of this series. What's funny is that while this IS a show about war, there barely any imagery of actual war to be seen…just pre-battle skirmishes here and there that somehow result in some "boohoo oh so tragic" death(s). The actual big battles we only know of via character dialogue, so we're basically fast-forwarded to the events AFTER they've already took place. It honestly felt like being cheated out of a multi-million dollar lottery where you've spend almost a fortune on just the ticket itself beforehand.
The constant shifting between the two sides' perspectives honestly isn't that awful. The problem is that there is really no reason to try to sympathize for either group. By default, we should've been siding with Yuuki's side, the Empire, but the extremely abysmal portrayal of the characters really denies that option. Many of their actions are just selfish, and they show absolutely no regret or disdain for what they've done. Why in the name of God should I even give a sliver of sympathy to such foolery? If this show wanted us to care for these guys, there should've been deep exposition and exploration as to why this war even started in the first place, as stated earlier.
I really have to place the blame on the facts that the show dared to place the "cute girl fanservice" on the forefront for everyone to see. I personally don't have a problem with female leads, but I've found a recurring problem with this, and I have sort of a theory regarding this. Apparently when the Japanese anime industry produces shows with female protagonists as the main lead, they seem to bank on the hopes that the imagery of feminine main characters as the main attraction in the show for the viewers will divert their collective attention away from potentially mediocre to bad storytelling, characterization, and showcasing of important themes and concepts. This is NOT how you're supposed to write a damn story, much less produce a TV show! That being said, there ARE many actual good shows with female leads, so at least the trick isn't a complete scam.
I'll be honest here. I actually didn't think the animation was that bad. Well, at the very least, I didn't think the 2D animation was that bad. I've seen far worse examples. The 2D is just kinda mediocre, and if this wasn't trying to be some military space mecha chimera of a show, the designs of the characters and the background settings I would've been perfectly fine with. It's not like I was expecting some Shaft, KyoAni, or Madhouse levels of awesomeness, anyway.
As for the CG graphics, it felt like one of those mecha games you play on Xbox or Playstation, but on a very amateur level. The movements are clearly jarring and awkward, so much so to the point where the show often tries to "jump-cutting" through them to try to lessen the focused attention on the poorly framed images….only to just make the displaying of the fights even worse. This level of atrocity in the 3D here are only surpassed by the likes of Berserk, Alice to Zouroku, and the extremely infamous hellspawn known as Hand Shakers.
Okay. The opening theme, I get it. It's very beautiful. I actually REALLY like, if not LOVE, this opening theme. In fact, for me, it's something where I'd sit back and listen to it on loop for at least 10-20 minutes. "Egao no Kanata" seems to be somewhat of a duet with lots of violin and piano music, with some drums-and-cymbals action; it's filled with a lot of bittersweet emotion, where the lyrics seem to cry out or lament the pain of war and the difficulty of trying to physically display happiness (in short….smile), while still giving a sense of hope and wishes to balance out the negative emotions. This would perfectly fit the title of the show and the opening visuals in which the theme is played. An extremely lonely bright spot in a literal dumpster fire of a show.
The rest of the soundtracks are not really that memorable, in all honesty. The ending theme "Kono Sekai ni Hanataba wo" is simply underwhelming compared to the OP. The voice acting is quite mediocre as well, and I really blame the terribly produced scripts for that. The performance of the VAs is kinda bipolar in nature, from practically emotionless dry dialogue to overcooked overly dramatic screaming and shouting. At least the show let me know when I have to cover my delicate ears when the latter happens.
Oh boy, the characters. This show's selection of characters was as if someone skipped a bunch of steps in a chocolate chip cookie recipe, which included the blasphemy of not even adding chocolate chips! For the most part, they are literally cookie-cut, copy-pasta, one-dimensional husks, especially the recurring support characters. Now they did have the potential to be likeable enough to not be viewed in that way, but due to the way the story is portrayed and how the character dynamics are, or how there's an evident lack of that, it is practically impossible to even like or relate to them. At the very least, the support characters were allowed to have their backstories told to give some sort of structure, but ultimately, that was a desperate attempt to make us to suddenly sympathize for them when they're mostly just fodder for those "1 death per episode" shock value shenanigans. I sure ain't one that easily buys into shock value, to say the least.
For example, Joshua Ingram, a member from the Empire and the Princess's male bestie, seems like a very promising character because of his very optimistic personality. Two episodes in, he's killed off and the Princess literally becomes Shinji Ikari (or maybe Tatsuhiro Satou?) for a moment with her overplayed reaction to his "livestreamed" death…..like seriously, crack staff? Really? I'll digress…
Now for the two female leads:
The Princess, Yuuki Soleil, is very incompetent, hesitant, and unlikable as a main character. She is directly responsible for her country's setbacks, which offsets her competent subordinates' efforts to do things right and to win the war. She can talk the talk, but can't walk the walk, and practically spends most of the time crying or trying to comfort the family of someone who recently died due to her absolute uselessness. In all fairness, she should never in charge in the first place, and I don't really know why she was just dropped into this central role in the first place. It's as if the show wants to utilize the reactions of a character like her to elicit some sort of emotional response from the viewers whenever someone dies. Instead, her reactions just come off as quite obnoxious and revolting. While she is not completely dumb, as she does tactical abilities, she simply just can't do the appropriate actions to execute whatever plans she suggests. She also backs off too easily when the people tell her that her ideas are too risky or unrealistic. The way she's somehow allowed to conduct herself and keep her position really amazes me in a bad way; in all honesty, she should be relieved of her role, but alas that never happens, and it just makes her side look like a bunch of idiots as well. The only thing that bails her out in the end is some unwarranted "deus ex" plot device to ultimately end the war in the most underwhelming of ways possible.
Stella Shining is an interesting but ultimately wasted potential of a character. Apparently, she seems to try to smile whenever possible, due to the rather rough background she is given. However, her superficial smiles hide an unstable side of her, because while smiles are supposed to portray the feelings of optimism, her smiles have an ominous feel to them, which is pretty much linked to the fact that she is willing to kill even children if it's deemed necessary. I wanted to feel sympathy for Stella, cause I do view her as someone "broken" and having lost something dear to her, like with the case of the titular character in Violet Evergarden, but as the story progressed, she doesn't to really get any sort of notable character development until the very end. So I'm basically forced to view her as a pseudo-Mary Sue for the majority of the show, and hence the damage was already done, if it wasn't already by that bratty Princess. And oh yeah, she can apparently do the overdramatic reactions to someone's death as well, apparently….smh.
The one thing I did hope for when I was watching this show, based on what I saw from the visuals, was for Yuuki and Stella to have a chance encounter and foster a "prince-and-pauper"-like relationship, where they would often meet in secret, have fun playing, and talk about each other's side of their stories; this would've really helped with their character dynamics as well as their maturation as human beings. From these developments, they would've been able to move their people and find a realistic way to end the war, with properly driven emotions. Alas, it was never the case, as they only meet face-to-face in the final episode, and suddenly become good friends after the "war" ends. Tis quite a shame….
Watching this show was just frustrating and felt very much like a chore, for the most part. Believe me…I wanted to like this show….I really did. But due to the constant problems already mentioned above, I came to gradually scorn the show, and by all means, I could've easily dropped it if it wasn't for my completionist mindset. On the bright side, I could never bring myself to skip the opening theme, as it is quite the catchy anime opening tune that I'd love to make an AMV with in some time from now.
Egao no Daika was simply a poorly made batch of cookies that could've used a two-cour format if the producers were actually serious about making an actual good show. Considering it IS a tribute to the 55th anniversary to Tatsunoko Productions, I don't see any reason why they should not at least put actual effort into making this show actually good, actually something that can attract the masses and not be just another useless "seasonal filler". Unfortunately, mistakes were made, big ones at that, resulting in a crapfest that's mediocre at most.
If you want something of similar premises, you're better off watching Aldnoah Zero or the elitist favorite Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu (Legend of the Galactic Heroes). While I'm not exactly a fan of those two shows I mentioned, they display similar premises and war themes, but in a far, far better way, and have more competent cast of characters; Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu, in particular, shines in its ability to have adequate exposition and exploration into the politics and the war strategies. Go and try out those two, don't bother with this apeshit soap opera right here.
Tokyo Ghoul:re 2nd Season (Anime) add (All reviews)
"If Tokyo Ghoul is fast food then Parasyte is fine dining."
-ZephSilver, MAL "Hall of Famer", June 2015
Brilliant quote. Now, here's my not-so-professional version of that famous statement:
"If Parasyte is a Kobe Beef Steak dinner, then Tokyo Ghoul is a previously frozen, pre-prepared Salisbury Steak meal….with preservatives to last through seasons."
Alright, that's out of the way. Let's start with the prelude.
From even the very first season, I was never really a big fan of the Tokyo Ghoul series in its entirety, and I'm REALLY tired of people telling me that I should be reading the manga version of the story. Regardless of whether or not I read light novel or manga versions of certain anime, it should not have that big or significant an impact on my impressions, feelings, experience, and/or analysis/critiquing of the anime adaptations themselves, because I honestly feel that the adaptations are their own things…their own piece of work or art (or at least attempts to be so, half-hearted or not). How I feel about a certain adaptation's loyalty or faithfulness to its source should not be something prioritized when making a serious judgment on it. This is personally how I feel regarding LN/manga adaptations, being an individual who prefers to be an anime-only fan and viewer, and I would only check out some of the source material for purely out of my own separate curiosity.
(This review will mainly encompass TG:Re 2nd Season, but it will also involve aspects from the previous RE season as well as the first two TG seasons. Because of this, the grade given by this review may not necessarily be the same as the one I gave for this season in particular.)
For starters, like with the first two seasons, Tokyo Ghoul:Re tried to document a compelling psycho/horror story about a young man named Kaneki who treads between living as a human and living as a Ghoul, and the conflict surrounding him and the companions he made.
Let's backtrack a little bit here: the TG story itself starts off fairly decent, where it portrays the livelihood and strife of Ghouls in human society. Due to their carnivorous nature, being only able to sustain off the very species they most physically resemble, Ghouls are often the targets of countless acts of discrimination, which include, but not are limited to, law enforcement, public fear, and general hostility. Ghouls are still very much like human in terms of emotion, sociality, and just about everywhere else, except biologically; because of this, living peaceful lives is something they value (at least what the show tried to portray in the first season). This kind of setup was what Tokyo Ghoul tried to utilize to distinct itself or put itself a cut or level above the usual urban horror or semi-vampire stories out there.
While the initial setup and ideas were very good on paper, the overall execution of the show was an underwhelming mess. For my perspective at least, the entire show just seemed like a redundant showcasing of material that would belong more to shounen (or shounen-esque) shows; basically, Tokyo Ghoul is practically a shounen series disguised as a beautiful-looking, one-of-a-kind psycho/horror story. The entire Tokyo Ghoul anime series also suffered from a considerable lack of exposition and details, so it fails hard in trying to make the show's plot/narrative easier to understand. Another issue the Tokyo Ghoul anime has is its complete, utter lack of a sense of proper pacing. The pacing of the entire story, for the most part, only moves at one speed: FAST. Fast and Furious.
For the TG:Re series by itself, the story is extremely incongruent with the story from the first two seasons, resulting in a complete lack of cohesiveness and siegeway. I'll explain why.
From what we should know from the first two seasons, Tokyo Ghoul mixed its levels of extreme violence with fleeting moments of beauty and/or emotion to demonstrate that the Ghouls are genuinely striving for normalcy amidst the atmosphere of brutality, and the struggles they go through in their attempts to achieve that ideal peaceful livelihood. The taste of coffee and the tranquility of a coffeehouse, due to Ghouls being able to at least enjoy coffee like humans do, are the sole two things that Ghouls and humans can share peacefully, so the usage of the coffeehouse in the first and second seasons as a base for the Ghouls to set up a peaceful coexistence makes so much damn sense.
With the two RE seasons, most of that pretty much went out the window. Tokyo Ghoul:Re basically betrays almost everything positive that the two "OG" seasons tried to use, abandoning the storytelling elements altogether. Tokyo Ghoul:Re, as a story, doesn't seem to really know what it's doing or where it's going, as it bounces between several different points of ongoing conflict as well as foregoing any necessary content that would act as important transitions or siegeways. Thus it does not seem to let us as viewers try to understand or comprehend just exactly what the heck is going on. The way it goes about trying to introduce new characters and plot points makes me feel like (or realize) that the TG:RE story in particular is just….without a soul. There are no moments where the story tries to make contrasts between brutality and beauty. Nearly all the characters on either side of the conflict no longer seem to fight for something important and precious that they've lost…they seem to fight for the sake of triumphing and looking supposedly like the good guys. I'm gonna be real here….there is no absolutely no sense of good guys or bad guys, and not in a good way. The whole chaotic jumping from battle to battle to battle…prevent us from having emotional impressions for the characters' reasons to keep fighting and struggling. Additionally, practically all the main characters, who were the focal point in the first two seasons, are pretty much all sidelined, and barely make much of a difference in TG:RE's story progression. Because this also defeats the narrative and thematic parts of what Tokyo Ghoul's original concept had, it has to get me and others wondering: "What was the point of all that effort in storytelling in the first season? Was that just all for naught?" Instead, we get a whole amount of just over-edgy tones, cliché lines, useless plot points, forced drama, etc…..literally everything that ROTS under the sun.
ART: 2/10; SOUND: 5/10
Contrasting to the first two seasons, Tokyo Ghoul:RE's animation quality has considerably dropped, especially during this second season. In terms of animation quality, the majority of this season felt more like a slideshow, which resulted in messy, tensionless action and cringeworthy half-hearted attempts to bring emotion. Not much else to say here…it's just plain awful.
As for the soundtracks, I'll just go ahead and say this as probably part of the minority. I don't really like the Tokyo Ghoul soundtracks on a personal level, but I'll at least say it's still really nice, and does make an attempt to fit the theme of the show itself; additionally, it at least keeps the Tokyo Ghoul fans interested. As for the voice acting, though, there's no sense of genuine emotion, and feels forced now, compared to the first two seasons; it's as if the voice actors themselves were starting to give up on the whole season themselves.
CHARACTERS: 1/10
I'm not gonna be someone to excessively chew out Kaneki as a character, aka TG's version of Shinji Ikari…I'll let someone else do that. Besides, that by itself is not necessary anymore…why? Because it's literally EVERYONE at fault. The reason for this is because the utilization, characterization, and development of the entire cast is virtually non-existent. The show basically introduced a bunch of new characters so suddenly and expected us to care about them right then and there, while ignoring all the characters from the previous two seasons that we actually do care about, as well as deconstructing them to certain degrees to further render them irrelevant to the plot. Because of the story's "Fast and Furious" pacing and drastic change of themes from the first two seasons, there is no real sense of progression in any of the characters, not a single one. All we really can see in the character department are just mindless husks specifically programmed to emulate fake emotion, resulting in obnoxious, overly dramatic lines that make us cringe more than feel for them. It is also because of this that we tend to easily forget who's who, even if it's the main characters…apparently the show neglected to properly address the cast's collectively similar-looking hair colors and hairstyles.
This could've been a 0/10, in all honesty. From the first two seasons, I actually did enjoy seeing the fleeting moments of emotion and beauty, because like I mentioned earlier, they symbolized the Ghouls' struggles to live normal, peaceful lives. Even though I still though the first season was still barely sub-par, those were good moments that I can appreciate.
Tokyo Ghoul:Re, however, throws the good stuff ALL away. Throughout both RE seasons, the show became one of those kinds where it felt like a chore to watch, just for the sake of seeing how this messy conundrum of a show that tried to take itself seriously would end. The attempts at dramatic lines and edgy violence during the fights are just laughable.
You know what's even worse? The story was so discombobulated that Fumination, in order to address the amount of confusion from the viewers, started a weekly live stream of the series where they explain everything leading up to the TG:Re story and what's happening in each episode. THAT'S NOT A GOOD SIGN AT ALL.
So here's the real reason why it's 1/10 instead of 0/10: TG:Re Season 2 Episode 7, (or TG:RE Episode 19). Yes, the infamous sex scene. The sequence leading up to that point was especially quite hilarious, I'll admit, and the comedic gag in the "aftermath" of the intercourse was pretty amusing, too. Sadly, though, the sex scene by itself was screwed by the aforementioned bad quality of just showcasing slideshows. If the production crew had any sort of common sense by that point, then they should've just at least put actual quality in that scene and make the show a hentai for at least 10 minutes…is that too hard to ask? If the show is already so bad overall, they should at least give us a fleeting moment where we can say "totally effing worth it".
Tokyo Ghoul:Re's lack of effective storytelling, overall character development, nonsensical rapid pacing, and degrading animation quality is of diabolical proportions. As an entire story and series, Tokyo Ghoul is probably one of the most overrated series I've ever watched in my life, making the likes of Sword Art Online seem all too innocent and actually justified, and that says quite a lot. This second season of TG:Re by itself is one of those shows where I can actually say is "objectively bad" due to the lack of execution, direction, quality consistency, and overall character management. A better alternative to Tokyo Ghoul has already been mentioned at the start of this review: Parasyte The Maxim. That show has far better storytelling and characterization of the cast, as well as better handling of the themes, metaphors, and moral messages.
However, if you're one of those Tokyo Ghoul fanatics who want to watch the show for the sake of quenching your own Ghoul-like hunger, go right on ahead. I'm not stopping you. It's your choice to make, not mine. As for the general anime fan, I'd suggest watching just the first two seasons of Tokyo Ghoul, and then just stop and avoid the TG:RE mess entirely, cause it's really not worth seeing the story deconstructing itself and the theme it wanted to show from the start.
Or better yet….just read the manga and save your life.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl