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Showing posts with label anime. Show all posts
Spy X Family Review
For what it's worth, I don't usually watch anime when it's airing. I'd patiently wait until it concludes. But the fact that Spy x Family has actually surpassed many shows despite being a newcomer, and that many of my friends have actually told me to watch it, intrigued me.
On the record, shows that have something to do with spies have actually never sparked an interest in me. That's why I initially thought Spy x Family would be boring just like the others in the competition. However, after only three episodes in, I came to a realization that I was in the wrong. Spy x Family turns out to be better than what I expected, to the point where it could end up being one of my favorites.
You know a show is considered as great when you always end up wanting more every time an episode ends. This is exactly my case with Spy x Family. It's mainly due to the unique and interesting concept that the show has to offer. I've never watched anything that came close to this when it comes to the overall notion. It's in a league of its own.
Just imagine being Loid Forger, one of the infamous spies in town, who was required to be married and bear a child for the completion of an important mission. And on top of that, the child that he adopted is precious and cute as hell, and the girl that he ended up marrying is innocent and attractive. The intring things don't end there, because it turns out that the child possesses some kind of power that enables her to read people's minds. Not only that, behind the innocent of the young lady that he married, lies a shocking truth. She is actually one of the deadliest assassins in town that has been responsible for a glaring number of murder cases.
Due to how the approach of the story, Spy x Family has successfully put me into different kinds of emotions every time. There are countless times when I find it to be cute and heartwarming at the same time. It's mostly due to the interaction and relationship that the new family has. There are also some moments where Spy x Family intentionally makes us furious and left us with no choice but to wait for the next episode. I mean, come on, I just want to how the family members would react when they discover each other's real identities. It would also be interesting to see how Loid would end up in the story. Will he be able to genuinely see Anya and Yor as part of his family at the end? Or will he just stick to the initial plan and abandon the 'family' game as soon as the mission concluded?
Overall Rating 8.9/10
Bio
Genre Action, comedy, spy[1]
Manga
Written by Tatsuya Endo
Published by Shueisha
English publisher
Viz Media
Imprint Jump Comics+
Magazine Shōnen Jump+
Demographic Shōnen
Original run March 25, 2019 – present
Volumes 9 (List of volumes)
Anime television series
Directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi
Written by Kazuhiro Furuhashi
Music by
Makoto Miyazaki
Shūhei Mutsuki
Studio Wit Studio
CloverWorks
Licensed by Crunchyroll
SA/SEA
Muse Communication
Original network TXN (TV Tokyo), ux, TV Shizuoka, RCC, BS TV Tokyo
Original run April 9, 2022 – present
Episodes 12 (List of episodes)
Nanatsu no Taizai/Seven Deadly Sins Review
Seven Deadly Sins: Lion’s sin of pride, Serpent’s sin of envy, Boar’s sin of gluttony, Goat’s sin of lust, Grizzly’s sin of sloth, Fox’s sin of greed and Dragon’s sin of wrath.”
Action without reason or thought is just a testosterone-trip; complete with flashy powers and fights that drag on for way too long. So, it’s interesting to see an anime that suffers from these clichés and more – but also utilizes them to their fullest extent, giving rhyme and reason to them, and making the show a whole lot more fun and meaningful than was expected.
8/10 (0 being terrible, 10 being flawless)
Story
The core plot is simply the adventures (and misadventures) of an unlikely team as they traverse the land, looking for other members of a mysterious group known as the "Seven Deadly Sins”. While traveling, the ‘team’ comes across other past members, gets into fights with various characters, help people out, chat, joke and just generally try to have fun and do what is just while working towards completing their ultimate objective of reuniting all seven and reclaiming the land. The series has a great grasp on balancing the humor, the drama, and the action. One never seems to overpower the other.
The soul of this show though, is divided into two aspects: the fights, and the character development (which often ties into the aforementioned aspect). Most of the main characters (and many of the side characters and antagonists) get their time to shine and be developed. Character dialogue, actions and interactions, as well as fantastic back stories for many of the characters really flesh things out and add a sense of purpose and reason to the story.
Also, things don’t always end up being what they appear to be, and there are many points in the series where completely unexpected things happen that really help make the series more refreshing and less repetitive. But, some parts of the plot are a bit convoluted. Nothing that should detriment the experience, but things can sometimes seem a bit… off.
Lastly, the ending is a bit lackluster, but still thrilling to watch. And, the way it ends leaves it open to the possibility of a new season.
8/10 (0 being terrible, 10 being flawless)
Art
Art in ‘Nanatsu no Taizai’ is of an extremely high quality. Action scenes flow well and character designs, facial expressions, backgrounds, etc. are above par. The greatest thing about it though is that the quality is maintained throughout the series.
9/10 (0 being terrible, 10 being flawless)
Sound
The music in the series is more quality over quantity. There are many pieces that are repeatedly used, but they all fit the times and scenes in which they are used and didn’t become annoying.
All four of the openings and endings are great and add to the series, rather than being something that most people would skip.
Voice acting is also of a high quality. No lines felt hammy, forced or otherwise grated on the ears.
8/10 (0 being terrible, 10 being flawless)
Character
This is where this show absolutely excels – for most of the characters. A majority of them have unique personalities. They fear things, love things and hate things. They cry, they laugh and they have morals, hopes and dreams. The series does a great job of building most of the characters up and making it feel like these are living, breathing people.
The main female character, Elizabeth, has a decent amount of development. But, regrettably, the main male character, Meliodas, does not. He really doesn’t seem to change over the series, and remains – for the most part – an enigma. There is a backstory given to him that helps shine a little light on who he was and currently is, but so many things remain unclear concerning his character that it can be hard to attach yourself to him as the show progresses.
The secondary characters though - who I won’t name or give details for, as finding out who they are and what they are like is a part of the series’ enjoyment – are the most well developed in the entire series. There’s a great possibility of you coming to love a character you previously hated or vice-versa.
8/10 (0 being terrible, 10 being flawless)
Enjoyment
There are a lot of flaws. But even with those flaws, this was still an immensely enjoyable series. It had great fights with meaning to them, great humor, great characters, and some really powerful stories. I was pleasantly surprised with the anime and don’t regret the time I spent on it.We wait for the seconds season Nanatsu no Taizai: Seisen no Shirushi/The Seven Deadly Sins: Signs of Holy War in August 2016
8/10 (0 being terrible, 10 being flawless)
Fate/Zero Review
Fate/Zero was a tough watch. Mainly because of its pacing. The story revolves around a magical contest (known as The Holy Grail War) where various powerful mage families (and a few randoms) compete against each other to win the Holy Grail. The winner gets one wish. Most of the character development in the show is good. The dub, not so much. The art style is also inconsistent. I wouldn’t recommend watching this, but if you are still on the fence about this have a look at the details bellow and decide for yourself.
Story
Fate/Zero
consists of 2 seasons, 25 episodes in total. Both seasons feel very different
from each other, the first setting up the world that the story takes place in,
and the second, getting the plot to progress. And when the story concludes,
let’s just say you might be left wanting.
It isn’t all
bad though, the strongest part of the series are the characters. Only four
characters are very clearly portrayed as good and evil. Everyone else is grey, and if you are wondering how many
characters there are let me explain, there are over 16. 14 of which are the
contestants and their summoned spirits…
“Summoned
spirits?” Again let me explain, the contestants summon the spirits of ancient
heroes from times of old to serve them in the Holy Grail War (eg. King Arthur).
Here in lies the problem with the show, all the contestants have their own
motivations and back story for wanting to win the Holy Grail War. All the
heroic spirits have distinct personalities, motivations, and back story to
become servants. So there is no way to be able to do all the characters justice
in telling their stories leading to most being well rounded, and others wasted.
6/10 (5
being mediocre, 10 being amazing)
Art Style
The art
style in the show is pretty, but inconsistent. Season 1 has a great use of
subtle lighting effects. Season 2 however is not so subtle, making all kinds of
gains with bloom and depth of field effects. The difference for myself at least was pretty jarring. I find
myself debating over which style I liked better because both are good, I just
wished they stuck to one.
6/10 (10
being breathtakingly awesome, 0 being uninspired and crappy)
Sound, Music, and Dub
The sounds
in the show are pretty standard fair, without a special attention to
environments in each scene. The musical score was also not memorable and only
really helped to enhance 2 scenes in the entire series. And the dub… not good.
The voice actors here are experienced for the most part, however they didn’t
really seem to suit the characters. It seems like one of those situations where
actors have no real context of what is actually happening and who they are
portraying. To add to that, the script was not translated very well. Once again
having such a diverse range of characters meant that only a handful would be
given attention to detail that they require.
5/10 (0
being terrible, 10 being flawless)
Conclusion
All in all,
as a stand-alone series, I can’t recommend this to anyone. There really are
better shows to watch. The other series that take place in the same universe as
this may build on this show and be better for it, but as someone who had no
idea about what the Fate universe was about, it has done little to peak my
interest.
5/10 (0
being utter crap, 5 being mediocre)
By Hellsknight Sujay.
Free! Review
Free! is a
show that revolves around a group of swimming obsessed teenagers who want to
try and rebuild their old swim team and rekindle the fun times they had as
kids. The animation and art style are beautiful. The characters are just okay.
The plot is alright for the most part though the show does have some pacing
issues at the start. I’d recommend this to anyone who might want to watch
something slow paced with a bit of sports.
For more
details, read bellow.
Story
Once upon
time, three teenage boys who happened to be childhood friends decided to
rebuild their swim team. What followed next were the trials and tribulations of
trying to create a swimming club in their school, such as finding new members,
organizing facilities etc.
While this
story is unoriginal, the same can be said about the characters who fall into
the usual anime tropes. You have the moody protagonist who is sometimes an idiot, the innocent one, the group leader, the uptight one, the rival, and the
wise old man. A trope that is missing is a love interest, which to be honest,
is kind of refreshing.
Instead of the plot being the main focus, you have a
very character driven story that deals with the relationships between the
tropes, both in how they overcome most of their personal issues and how they
cope with each other.
Rating 7/10 (10 = amazing, 0 = uninspired, unoriginal and boring)
Rating 7/10 (10 = amazing, 0 = uninspired, unoriginal and boring)
Art Style
Kyoto
Animation did the show, and boy is it pretty. The background scenes look
amazing and wallpaper worthy, but the biggest star with the art style is the
water. All the shots with the water look incredible both outside and in with
the use of reflections and distortions that look amazing. Even the character
designs seem linked to the water, with them moving and looking a little awkward
when in school uniforms away from the water and then looking smooth as hell in or
around the water.
Rating 10/10 (10 = beautiful, 5 = uninspired, 0 = bad)
Rating 10/10 (10 = beautiful, 5 = uninspired, 0 = bad)
Dubbed Voice, Sound, and Music
I watch a
lot of English dubs, and this for the most part has some of the same
recognizable voices. All in all, it was just ok, not great, not bad, just ok.
The sound design on the other hand is great with some underwater scenes having
that underwater distorted reverb sound effect that anyone who spends time
underwater will recognize. It’s done really well and adds a lot to the shows
atmosphere. As for the music, the opening and closing tracks were ok, but they
didn’t really stand out to me, nor were they very catchy, the same goes for the
score.
Rating 7/10 (10 = outstanding, 0 = crap)
Rating 7/10 (10 = outstanding, 0 = crap)
Final Thoughts
So this
anime gets a lot of grief for being ridiculously fan service heavy, homoerotic,
homosexual, and such. Personally I didn’t get those vibes at all. Sure there
are lots of scenes where guys take of their shirts, but seriously, why would
they swim fully clothed. Think that would be a little strange, in any case
though I can’t think of a single anime show where guys weren’t shirtless at
some point. That said, the female representation in this show is a little
lacking. It didn’t really bother me, but if you are the type to get bothered by
such things, you may not like this. The only two female characters are the swim
club manager who pervs on the boys every chance she gets and the teacher, both
of whom were really underdeveloped in the show.
Another
strange thing with the show is the severe lack of completion. There are
literally just two tournaments in the show, which makes it feel not so sporty. All
this aside though, Free is worth watching despite having a slow start.
Rating 7/10 (10 = amazing, 5 = average, 0 = avoid like the plague)
Rating 7/10 (10 = amazing, 5 = average, 0 = avoid like the plague)
By Hellsknight Sujay
Sword Art Online Eps 1-10 Review
In the near future, a computer game called Sword Art Online is released where the players control their avatars using headsets called Nerve Gear. Everyone who logs in is unable to log out; the game creator has made it such that the only two ways of leaving the game are by dying or reaching the 100th floor and beating it. Dying in the game means dying for real, and millions of players die within the first few days.
The anime
initially focuses on how different players react to their predicament, through
the eyes of the protagonist Kirito. Some embrace the world and even get
married, while others relentlessly try to beat it to go back to the real world.
Others still turn into psychopathic killers. It’s a little bit like Battle Royale in this case.
The anime’s
themes subtly shift, and by the tenth episode, it turns into a love story. This
shift means that most of the previous episodes were side stories, which might
infuriate some viewers.
The anime’s
art is breathtaking. From spectacular sunsets to dark dungeons, the art and
color are nearly unmatched. Sword Art
Online is one of the most beautiful anime to come out this year.
The first
ten episodes are a mixed bag. They don’t all follow the primary plot, and some
are boring while others are captivating. However, wondering when the players
will beat the game—if ever—is what sucks you in. It’s not the best anime in
recent times, but Sword Art Online is
still worth a watch.
Rating 7/10
Another Review
Another Review
The creators of Blood-C give us another chance to look at the horrible
Horror of people dying gruesomely. Another with the most stupid title any sane
person can come up with shows how important the atmosphere in a plot is. When I
think about this series I don’t remember any characters, the story or the fact
that Ali Project delivered performance #1034 of the same frigging song and
called it new, no, what I will think of the creepy soundtrack played in the
background of people doing normal stuff.
 |
| This will be used to do some Damage |
This series is about the constant danger that anyone in this class could
die in any minute. And the solution to this “phenomena” is also a nice
development following that notion and raising the bar for the finale. But what
this means is that this series should tell you that the characters are always
in danger. To that effect some person decided to let the soundtrack tell us
exactly that – all the time. I know that people can die eating peanut-butter in
the kitchen but that’s not really a setup for a gruesome death, isn’t it?
That’s a comedy! That’s what it is! Danger unseen and seen has to be present as
part of the scene and not as a contradiction to the general impression of it.
If I see a peaceful scene and the BGM signals suspense then that’s just silly.
Although I have to admit that at least this time I cared about some of the
characters compared to Blood-C. What Another is really good at is showing the
characters under pressure. The drastic influence of constant danger can be felt
when confronted with the class’ behavior, especially in the beginning when
there’s the contrast between the main-character’s ignorance (following the
new-comer-stereotype) and the big unknown that is the mystery at that point.
Misaki is also a very interesting character whose soulless character actually
has some surprising depth considering how usually it’s just a forced “Look how
weird I am!”-characterization is. Her actions seem rather mysterious at first
which is one of the issues I will talk about later but her character is consistent
throughout the story so that makes her mysterious appearance actually
interesting instead of generic. And in contrast to the ever-present haunting
soundtrack her actions are a far better demonstration of the weirdness of the
place. The classmates are okay in their presentation as side-characters but
never get any chance to become particular deep like the story did with Misaki.
Rather the story wants to concentrate on Misaki’s character which is a strange
choice for a mystery-driven plot like this one.
Now the main-character is the worst character of the bunch but not really
characterization-wise. He’s not obnoxious or anything. My problem with him is
connected to the pacing of the story. His actions have a rather plot-convenient
feeling to it. It’s a mystery-driven story so you’d expect someone to play
Sherlock and solve the mystery, right? Naturally there’s the main-chara
investigating with support from other characters and there are some antagonists
trying to stop him. It’s the usual picture of a force trying to overcome some
form of resistance so that the truth can be revealed. I already said that the
atmosphere of the series fails at portraying the danger or rather it’s
overdoing the whole thing so that it becomes stupid. So one is sitting there and
the series tries to force its horror-notions on you. Even the last idiot will
realize something’s not right and something has to be done against it. But the
main-character…? He doesn’t do much. Like a snail he slowly crawls towards the
point where he starts asking the hard questions. And all the way towards that
point I had already asked the hard questions a hundred times and wondered how
long the main-characters would stay dumb. Like that the series has a rather
slow pacing that in a rather unconvincing way stretches the story until the
point when it meant business.
And therefore the second half of the series is far better than the first
half. The developments and the revelations about the central mystery of the
series are really worth sitting through this stupid first half. The characters
aren’t very endearing so it might be difficult to relate to the plot in some
ways but the strangeness and absurdity of the plot is more than enough to make
it entertaining, I think. It also comes together very nicely in the end (the
stupidity of the slow pacing excluded) which is the kind of reward you like to
see in a mystery-series.
 |
| This Dolls Get To you |
Another is a solid mystery-series with strong (or obnoxious, one might say)
horror-overtones. As solid as the overall impression is it’s rather unlikely
that the characters will leave any impression at all. With a good
thought-through mystery at its core, though, this flaw doesn’t really matter.
The flaw that really matters in the end is the atrocious pacing which turns the
first half into a dull “Let’s wait and see”-scenario which keeps
plot-development forcefully to a minimum. But everyone who loves a good
mystery-series should suffer through that because the ending is good enough to
make this a worthwhile series despite its flaws.