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Steins;Gate 0
Optic posted a topic in Spring 2018,
Discussion of Steins;Gate 0, sequel to the first series. An alternative timeline where Kurisu Makise is dead and Rintaro Okabe chooses to stay in the beta world line due to his previous traumatic experiences.-
- 11 replies
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Optic, -
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Tokyo Ghoul:re
Neptvne posted a topic in Anime,
Discussion for third season of Tokyo Ghoul.-
- 13 replies
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Optic, -
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Darling in the FranXX - Episode Discussion
Optic posted a topic in Fall 2017 · Winter 2018,
This is the episode discussion for Darling in the FranXX.-
- 16 replies
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Optic, -
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BEATLESS - Episode Discussion
Optic posted a topic in Fall 2017 · Winter 2018,
This is the episode discussion topic for BEATLESS.-
- 9 replies
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Optic, -
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New themes re-added and restored
Optic posted a topic in Site Updates,
The old background image themes we had prior to moving to this platform have now been re-added!- 4 replies
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Optic, -
Violet Evergarden - Episode Discussion
Optic posted a topic in Fall 2017 · Winter 2018,
This is the episode discussion topic for Violet Evergarden.
- 4 replies
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Optic, -
Darling in the FranXX - General Discussion
Optic posted a topic in Fall 2017 · Winter 2018,
The story is set in the distant future. The land is ruined, and humanity establishes the mobile fort city Plantation. Pilots produced inside Plantation live in Mistilteinn, also know as the "birdcage." Children live there knowing nothing of the outside world or the freedom of the sky. Their lives consist of battling to carry out missions. Their enemies are mysterious giant lifeforms known as Kyouryuu, and the children pilot robots called Franxx to face off against them. For the children, riding the Franxx proves their existence.
A boy named Hiro is called Code:016, and he was once known as a prodigy. However, he has fallen behind, and his existence seems unnecessary. Not piloting a Franxx is the same as ceasing to exist. One day, a mysterious girl known as "Zero Two" appears before him. Two horns grow out of her head.- 4 replies
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Optic, -
Violet Evergarden - General Discussion
Optic posted a topic in Fall 2017 · Winter 2018,
There are words Violet heard on the battlefield, which she cannot forget. These words were given to her by someone she holds dear, more than anyone else. She does not yet know their meaning.
A certain point in time, in the continent of Telesis. The great war which divided the continent into North and South has ended after four years, and the people are welcoming a new generation.
Violet Evergarden, a young girl formerly known as "the weapon," has left the battlefield to start a new life at CH Postal Service. There, she is deeply moved by the work of "Auto Memories Dolls," who carry people's thoughts and convert them into words.
Violet begins her journey as an Auto Memories Doll, and comes face to face with various people's emotions and differing shapes of love. All the while searching for the meaning of those words.- 3 replies
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Optic, -
Sora yori mo Tooi Basho - General discussion
Mars Terra posted a topic in Fall 2017 · Winter 2018,
Mari Tamaki is in her second year of high school and wants to start something. It's then that she meets Shirase, a girl with few friends who's considered weirdo by the rest of the class and nicknamed "Arctic" since it's all she ever talks about. Unlike her peers, Mari is moved by Shirase's dedication and decides that even though it's unlikely that high school girls will ever go to Antarctica, she's going to try to go with Shirase.- 0 replies
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Optic, -
Yuru Camp△ - General Discussion
Mars Terra posted a topic in Fall 2017 · Winter 2018,
Nadeshiko, a high school student who had moved from Shizuoka to Yamanashi, decides to see the famous, 1000 yen-bill-featured Mount Fuji. Even though she manages to bike all the way to Motosu, she's forced to turn back because of worsening weather. Unable to set her eyes on her goal, she faints partway to her destination. When she wakes up, it's night, in a place she's never been before, with no way of knowing how to get home. Nadeshiko is saved when she encounters Rin, a girl who is out camping by herself. This outdoorsy girls story begins with this first encounter between Nadeshiko and Rin.- 2 replies
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Optic,
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Community Reviews
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EnviousEnvy -
Attack on Titan
One of the best anime I have seen in a long time. It feels like more and more anime being released are beginning to center on one thing these days, comedy. I hate to say it but it definitely feels that way. When I seen AoT, it hooked me from the very first episode. It has it's slips of humor but it doesn't lose focus on its story like most seem to do. -
Beocat -
Uta no Prince Sama
This first season of Uta no Prince-sama delivers quite the cast of handsome men weaving a harmony on the screen. First off, as a Reverse Harem, Uta no Prince-sama is certainly not hurting for men, and there are some strong undercurrents of desire that pump through this series veins. The story provides a fairly good introduction to the cast. Haru is a young woman who, inspired by Hayato Ichinose, applies for the school to become a composer, even though she doesn't even know how to read sheet music. The men all have their own reasons for joining, whether it be a family obligation, the desire to reach true stardom, the desire to recreate one's self, or whatever it may be. Add to that a few professors of eccentric backgrounds and you have quite the lively show. Add to that even the rule against idol and composer students dating...you have plenty of romantic tension to boot! From a Graphics perspective, the colors are bright, even outside of performances at times. In consideration of the "idol" pursuit, the colors make sense although Haru is the kind of girl who has no pupils. At first...I thought she was blind... >_> Yes, I know that's bad, but literally everyone, girls and guys, had pupils in their eyes! Apparently, this is just the style that they chose to draw her in. In a way, those pupil-less eyes actually do help in some ways with being able to project onto her character. She has emotions and responses, but it is certainly easier to project yourself onto her in the heat of the moment. So, while the graphical style can be somewhat of a detractant at times, it also carries certain advantages as well. From a Sound perspective, this anime delivers big. The songs are J-pop boy band all the way and can be quite addictive at times. Harmonizing is played up big throughout the series (and in subsequent seasons) so you can expect to hear many songs featuring various characters. All the songs are in Japanese with English subs (I believe it is a sub only show - not altogether uncommon for a Reverse Harem actually) so if you have trouble with keeping up with a show while reading subs, you are likely going to falter in following this one. From a Plot perspective, I believe that this particular season has the best plot of the entire series. While in school, the plot is focused on Haru and the various men getting to know one another through various assignments. A choice where she is required to pick just one is even forced upon her by the end of the season. You see the men first brush her off, then become pulled back in by her sincerity and her music, even while they struggle with their own demons and insecurities. She becomes the glue that binds them in a brotherhood. Without saying anything more specific to the plot, the focus on this inner circle and their developing feelings towards Haru made this particular season my absolute favorite. If you enjoy J-pop, K-pop, or music in anime, you won't be disappointed in this Reverse Harem. As far as Reverse Harems go, I would rate this first season a 10/10 based off of character development and focus. This season alone would be a good introduction even to Reverse Harems, if you are able to look past Haru's eyes... If you haven't seen this one yet, put it on your list! -
Nono -
Ergo Proxy
Although hard to understand at times, Ergo Proxy keeps you entertained and has your attention for all 23 episodes. Overall, the show is very dark, in a literal sense, which adds to the suspense causing you to constantly feel like something is about to happen. The main plot is easy enough to follow, Re-l and Vincent are so different yet alike, they make for a great on screen duo. But there are a couple of philosophical themes explored through the series that really make the show stick with you even long after you've finished watching. Well worth the watch. -
Decimo -
Steins;Gate 0
I don't really do reviews, so bear with me since this is my first one. (I'm also intending to keep it spoiler free) As a long time fan of the original series since my freshman year of high school, I've always adored Stein;Gate. It's world building, characters, and premise captivated me right from the beginning. It would become one of my favorite series of all time and still is to this today. It would take around seven years for a sequel (mid-sequel) to air after the original show did back in 2011. Many fans, including myself, were excited to see more S;G be animated. As more S;G is never a bad thing right? Well, after completing Steins;Gate 0 I can say with confidence that isn't entirely true. S;G 0 in comparison to the original S;G is unable to reach that highs the original was capable of. It also reaches new lows for the series. One of the biggest issues S;G 0 has is it's writing and pacing. As someone who's played the Visual Novel for 0, I knew that it would be a challenge to adapt and that the writing was already sub-par in comparison to the original to begin with. These issues become clearly apparent when it changed things up from the VN and started creating anime-only scenes and scenarios. This causes events to not make much sense and different plot-lines to be completely disregarded later on in the show. This is also true for a few of the characters. One of the most glaring examples of this is a character named Reyes. She had a lot more involvement and importance in the VN and while this is indeed the show and not the VN, the show still displays glimpses of her plotting or preparing something of some sort. Yet, never acts upon any of it. It's jarring to show these moments, yet never explain anything about her or other events that are never discussed again. Another was when Okabe and another find this secret facility that seems to have major connections to certain characters. Yet, after that episode it is never discussed or mentioned again. One of the positive points about the show is that the character interactions are done fairly well when done right. It's nice to see Okabe and the rest of the Lab Members interacting with one another, even if the tone is much different in comparison to the original. Introducing characters like Maho and Leskinen was a treat as they brought something new to the table, even if isn't anything groundbreaking (Plus Maho is a Legal Loli, C'mon now.) Another positive is the music, I can't say it's as captivating as the original ost overall, but it get's the job done well when it needs to. However, there are a few tracks that really do stand out and make themselves known which is nice. After looking at the staff, I noticed that the directors of the original series, were not listed in the staff list for S;G 0. This was very apparent from the first couple of episodes due to the camera composition throughout the episodes. Character interactions, scenery shots, and even other scenes all seemed much more generic in comparison to the original show's camera composition. 0 had many simple back and forth shots between characters that weren't nearly as unique in comparison to S;G. I know I am comparing 0 to the original quite a bit, but it's hard to avoid such a thing when the original series set the bar so damn high. Steins;Gate 0 isn't bad by any means, but I wouldn't call it good either. Most of the episodes are just okay and episodes that actually exceeded expectations are far and few (maybe a total of 4 episodes.) If you are a big fan of the original, I recommend that you give 0 a go if you want more Steins;Gate in your life. Just keep your expectations low if possible. If you weren't a fan of the original series, there isn't anything here for you that I would call enticing. TL;DR It's okay, if you like S;G, give it a go. If you didn't, 0 is a pass. 7/10 (I'm too much of a biased fanboy to give it anything less) If this review sucked, lemme know, I'm open to criticism. -
awesomedude20 -
Glasslip
I can't even write a proper review of this the way I like to I remember so little. But my memory doesn't fail me where it counts! Do not watch this anime. It is garbage. A giant, flaming heap of pretty garbage. Its redeeming qualities? It looks gorgeous. What makes it bad though? Literally. Everything. Else. "It's an anime original, so at least it has an ending right?" NO. It doesn't even END. FOR SOME REASON! Are the characters likeable? No, my favourite character was a chicken that was there for some reason. And as far as character development goes, one of them went for a jog to deal with their emotions and they never came back, some say they're still on the run. TL;DR: Watch Nagi no Asukara instead. -
awesomedude20 -
Senki Zesshou Symphogear
Senki Zesshou Symphogear. My favourite series of all time. Out of all 330+ anime I've seen, this one comes out on top. Why oh why, does this weird little musical sent down from the heavens by Micheal Bay himself, sit at the top as my favourite anime? Well, read the thing and see why. Spoilers ahead, not that it matters though. Not exactly a plot-heavy show, you can still enjoy it even if you know everything that happens. Story: 6/10 I'll be 100% blunt here, Symphogear's story is pretty crap. It has been done to death time and time again, the MC gets powers that they don't know how to use, then they get better at it, then a big villain appears that threatens the world, and in the end, the good guys win. But the thing is... this anime isn't about the story. It's about how damn cool it can get. So don't even consider this iffy story score, because in every other regard, Symphogear is quite good. The 6/10 is because on top of it's miraculously generic story, it does do a lot of cool things with its own lore, and relates a lot of stuff to mythology quite well. Characters: 9/10 This is where the show begins to shine through. You have a main cast consisting of a variety of tropes that, aside from the main character, don't get used a whole ton. The MC is the usual genki "gotta save people, never do harm" types, but a la Symphogear, it goes nuts and has her one-punch the friendship into things. Coupled with the sheer determination she puts out when the time requires it, despite being the most generic character, she's an easy one to love. The rest of the main cast consists of the cool, silent swordswoman type, who due to her upbringing and the tragic loss of her only friend, literally defines herself as nothing more than a sword, and is just as merciless and deadly. Her progression throughout the show as she gets to know Hibiki is a heartwarming one, and the way she acts is entirely believable. It was an easy trope to force, but they didn't and it wound up working wonders in creating just the right amount of drama for the show. The final character worth mentioning is the angry tsundere, but for once in the existence of all anime, it's a tsundere that has a VERY good reason to act that way. Her parents were killed and she was sold into child sex trafficking when she was young, for 6 whole years, before being rescued by the government. She later ran from them as well. Why? She doesn't trust adults anymore. Her horrific childhood entirely contributes to her lack of manners and quick temper, and overall was an excellent, though very dark, reason for her to act the way she does. Much like the sword, she too undergoes positive change after meeting the main character. Don't think the MC is some godsend though, a lot of the things she does, she doesn't do by herself, extremely suddenly. Most of the characters come to realizations by themselves, perhaps with some assistance from side characters here and there. The MC is more of the driving catalyst for the change. Overall, a 9/10 because despite being a pile of cliches, they work perfectly, and all have very specific roles to perform within the show, all of which are done very well. Always remember: Cliches are not bad, poorly used cliches are bad. Art & Animation: 7.5/10 This one is hard to accurately display with one number due to how I format these things. The art itself? It's pretty meh The animation itself? Well the action scenes are all fantastically well done, better than a lot of shows, however the non-action scenes are comically bad at times. I can honestly say that while the worst examples are REALLY bad, you can't help but just kinda laugh at them. So bad they're good, so to speak. And with the quality of the action scenes, it's rather hard to complain overall, especially considering that this is an action show. Making their action scenes look great while sacrificing random walking animation was a great move on their part, because they made the most important point of the show a serious positive. As for the art itself again though, a lot of backgrounds are actually really well done, with the exception of this one, which has shamelessly copy/pasted trees. Music & Sound: 8.5/10 As per being a music anime, it has good music. Really rather good music. In fact, they have Nana Mizuki as a leading voice actress. As well as Yuuki Aoi. And Ayahi Takagaki. (she has a degree in opera). My point is, this is a music anime filled with all-star voice actresses, two of which sing as a profession and are damn good at it, with the third being a ridiculously popular voice actress that commonly wins awards. Good music. Less rambling though, the musical aspect of Symphogear is not one that a lot of people expect off the bat of hearing that the characters sing as they fight. Many people imagine cutesy j-pop awkwardly overlaid on top of the action and they hiss and skitter away, then I have to drag them back again. BUT in reality, the music is far better than that. Not only is every song rather far from typical "pop" music, wherever you may source pop music from in the world, every single song is made specifically for the anime, with lyrics that tie into both the characters, their motivations, and events currently happening in the plot. Here's an example of a rock track, as well as it's accompanying lyrics. And that's just ONE example. Every character in the series has 2, maybe even 3 songs per season. And also just mentioning it, because people love that stuff, this is ENTIRELY the type of show to play its OP during the finale and it's the most hype thing. Really the only flaw with the music is that season 1 wasn't the greatest at putting the music into the fights. It more than did it's job, but there are examples where a character totally shouldn't be singing as well as they are. Yes, they do indeed stop characters from singing as the music continues if they get hit hard enough to knock the wind out of them for example, or if a character throws a hard punch, they'll scream the lyrics into the punch, and so on. They following seasons are much better at doing this, and it entirely becomes a non-issue. As for general sound effects, there's nothing overly fantastic, but they get the job done as well. Everything sounds as it should, all is well timed, no complaints there. Effectiveness: 9/10 Now THIS is why you watch Symphogear. No amount of simple explanations can quite get across just how great this show is at performing what it does. It's extremely aware that it's a dumb fun anime, and it's sticking with that till the bitter end. Simple story? Doesn't matter. Great characters? Only makes the hype flow better. Wonderful music and voice actors? Keep pilin' on the hype. Because Symphogear is an action show. And oh man, does it ever deliver effectively on that front. Even with a terrible budget, they realized their priorities and made the action scenes look amazing, and the amazing cast of voice actors put the passion necessary into the characters to really hit the epic moments home. Symphogear is a show, where you know EXACTLY how it's going to end, and what's going to happen throughout the plot. They are 100% going to beat up the villain and save the day. Would this normally be a problem? Yes. But not here. You won't be saying to yourself "ah man, I know they're gonna win already, what's the point?" because you'll be asking yourself "oh man, how hard are they gonna win next time?" and it's that question that will keep you glued because it does indeed deliver appropriately, consistently. Never watch Symphogear for its story. That's a dumb idea. You wouldn't watch Nichijou for it's plot, and you wouldn't say Death Note is terrible because of it's lack of comedy. You watch Nichijou to roll around laughing because that's what it was meant to do, and you watch Death Note for a serious supernatural mystery. Much like them, you watch Symphogear to watch a peppy teenager punch things so hard they burst into flames, when they entirely have no reason to burst into flames, they only burst into flames because it looks cool. Overall: 8/10 Honestly, I covered the biggest reason in Effectiveness, but I'll recap once more. Symphogear is a fun show. Nothing more, nothing less. If you expect anything that isn't a fun, over-the-top action show, then you're watching the wrong anime. It will deliver greatness to your eyeballs in the form of giant piles of hype, so long as you're in the mindset to accept that that's what the show is like. -
Roxeg -
Kotoura-San / The troubled life of Miss Kotoura
It's one of the first anime I ever watched. It really stayed inside me for a good while after so many years. My favourite character is Manabe-kun, which is ridiculously funny in my opinion. The story is also quite touching, and even if it's supernatural, it can defnintely be worth watching to learn one or two life lessons. <br> Not only that, but I also find common traits between Haruka and myself (though which ones are a secret), with this in mind, very empathic people might very well enjoy this anime. -
awesomedude20 -
Darling in the FranXX
Darling in the FranXX. I was hype as hell for this anime, WAY before anyone else had even begun paying attention to it. And honestly, for the vast majority of the anime, I really enjoyed it. It was well written, with an interesting setting and characters, and the action was exactly up to par with Trigger quality. And then the last 5 episodes attacked. Spoilers past here, btw. Summar-Oh it's right up there, nevermind. <br> <br> Story: 6/10 <br> Initially, this anime absolutely lived up to my expectations. It had an interesting world with a diverse cast of characters, and coupled with its crazy over the top action scenes and great art design, I was quite hooked. I wanted to see what this world had to offer, and what the main characters would go through to reach whatever the end point of this anime was. Unfortunately however, for whatever sillystrange reason, the director seemed to have been hit by a bus and thrown off a cliff suddenly, because the last 5 episodes were an absolute trainwreck, so monumental that it broke almost the entire show. If we ignore these last 5 episodes, I'd give the story a solid 8, maybe 8.5! But the ending hurt the show so irreparably, I can only drop it down to a 6. In MAL lingo, this means "fine." The only reason the score isn't lower than a 6, is because I can't ignore the good stuff the show did either. The ending soured the total experience, but it does have some good moments. Episode 19 was an entirely unneeded flashback episode. The show had, up to that point, been doing great with its "show don't tell" methods, and then suddenly, BAM, flashback episode. It revealed dumb motives and reasonings for a lot of things in the show, and wasn't the least bit creative about it, not to mention forming plotholes and yadda yadda, it wasn't good. But it wasn't a dealbreaker. The dealbreaker happens when they suddenly junk the big looming bad guys and airdrop in ALIENS that want to TAKE OVER THE WORLD for REASONS! And the bad guys you've been fighting this whole time are actually HUMANS and they'll help you fight the ALIENS NOW! And then they throw out a ton of character development just to make 002 have some new conflict. "Oh no, you need to stay human, you can't be with me!" That came out of nowhere, and was just a terrible decision. The resolution of the story was more or less a big compilation of badly-done nods to famous mecha series, and overall just fell flat on its face. It referenced Gunbuster and Diebuster, Evangelion, and Gurren Lagann, maybe some others, and it did NONE of them as well as the originals did. I would also just quickly like to point out that the show made Red Strelizia a thing, and it never showed up again, nor did anyone ever talk about it again. If we had to look at just the last 5 episodes of story, I'd give it a 2/10. Characters: 6.5/10 It still went downhill with the last 5 episodes, but less-so than other chunks of this review. Initially, the characters were quite good. Some of the side characters were unfortunately left in the dust as far as development goes, but some got a TON of development. The main duo of Hiro and 002 was good up until the finale, where due to many many circumstances, I just stopped giving a damn about them. The good side characters however, were much more enjoyable to watch. The entire scenario of them surviving on Earth was quite good, and how they rebuilt their lives during the last 5 episodes. That was the sole thing that kept me tied to the show at that point, excluding finishing it out of obligation because "I've seen this much, might as well." The side romance was nice to watch, and was the only thing I actually truly enjoyed watching out of the last chunk. Many side characters were left in the dust though unfortunately, some either getting one episode of development, or none at all, and some of them being forced into being important at one point or another. The development of characters overall was not a smooth ride, at all, though it wasn't rough for any particular character. They were just ALL developed at different levels and were eventually left nowhere near eachother. Art & Animation: 7/10 The art and animation overall went from very passable, to REALLY good. It's odd since it seemed like some episodes looked MUCH nicer than others did, but overall, the art was quite pleasing on the ol' eyeballs. The fight animation was top notch, well choreographed, and just generally HYPE. As expected of Studio Trigger. "But awesomedude, you're praising it an awful lot for just giving it a 7.5!" Well that's because the last 5 episodes struck a second time. They went to space. Want to know what that means? You get to use ALL of the animation shortcuts! Not to mention they even replaced all the variously coloured and unique FranXX we've gotten to know throughout the show with the generic grey and orange ones that the non-special people use, complete with all of them having the exact same lackluster boring halberd weapon. What little action they got, was extremely choppy, and even during a few moments, entirely CGI. The show had otherwise never used CGI for its mechs before, so this was rather out of place. But space action isn't complete without lasers, right! Well, all they did was shoot into the distance and have purple circles appear. That's it. It's even worse when BigStrelizia fired its horn laser and then we watch as the camera zooms WAY out and we can watch all SORTS of tiny, tiny, tiny circles appear around the laser. It does this a number of times, and it isn't even limited to the horn laser. Lots of things do it. It got INCREDIBLY lazy during the last 5 episodes, and it severely impacted what made the previous action scenes of the show so entertaining. The finale of the show was also just Gurren Lagann done really really badly, with a touch of Gunbuster. The one moment that could have, and should have looked excellent, they also threw out the window. There was ONE moment, where Strelizia burst out in a radiant golden form and it looked great and was well animated, but that lasted all of 5 seconds, before they blew up a planet and it was literally a bunch of slowly expanding .png images rotating on top of eachother. Look closely, that's all it was. Once again, the last 5 episodes chunked the total score pretty hard, if we exclude the last 5 episodes I'd put the score at a 9/10, and if we only look at the last 5 episodes, a 3/10. Music & Sound: 8/10 The musical score was very good, and had a very unique feel to it. I'd say I'd even be tempted to download it, but I probably won't just out of laziness. The music fit the scenes well, there was an appropriate track for every occasion, and overall I have no quarrels with it. All of this extends to the use of sound effects and voice acting as well. The characters were acted very well across the board, though Goro sounded rather funny in the last or second last episode, I forget which. Effectiveness: 3/10 The effectiveness section always raises some eyebrows at first, but really it just looks at whether a show did what it was trying to do well or not. And FranXX, being what it was, is a show that tried to lead up to an epic climax after slowly building up its world and characters. But gosh darn, I gotta say, it's really tough to give a good score when the culmination of an entire show's worth of effort leads to an extremely lackluster homage to mecha series that all did their various things 10x better, eventually leaving me not giving a singular crap about the two most important characters. Not to mention, the show had a bit of an identity crisis throughout. Does it want to be a pure hype action show? A character driven drama? A space opera? Who knows, it was a mixed bag, and that wasn't exactly a good thing. A lot of people called issue with the show's many blatant sexual tones, but this was, believe it or not, actually a strong point. They all tied in with the themes of the show, and some were even quite smart, like putting an X and a Y on the uniforms of the female and male students respectively. X and Y chromosomes. Get it. Google it if you don't. Overall: 6/10 I can't give FranXX a lower score, because I can't just forget that I DID really enjoy the first majority. But the ending ruined the entire show for me either way, simply leaving a bitter taste behind as I wonder how a show could possibly fall apart so quickly, and why it happened. It had great music and (mostly) great animation, and overall passed as an action show for a while, but it tried to go too deep, and it when it left, well, go watch Made in Abyss, it's not pretty what happens when you try to get out of going too deep. Overall, I don't think I'd ever recommend this anime to anyone, there are simply better alternatives. And if they've already seen those alternatives, it'll be tough to wrench any enjoyment out of this one with the state of the ending. Its tough to turn people away though, as the first 18 episodes are genuinely pretty great, with a few iffy episodes amidst, but not a big problem. If you're a fan of romance anime, there are better romance anime. If you're a fan of action anime, this one could serve you some fun until the finale. If you're a fan of mecha anime, maybe the same reason as action, but if you've seen Gurren Lagann, don't expect this to win. -
Wedgy -
Wolf's Rain
Wolf’s Rain takes place in the dystopian future in which wolves are considered mythical creatures, long since extinct by the hands of hunters. However, the truth is, wolves are very much alive, and are able to hide in plain sight thanks to their ability to transform into humans. They are all gripped by an instinctive urge to search for a place called Paradise, a sanctuary from the end times which can only be found by wolves who follow the scent of lunar flowers. The anime follows Kiba, a lone white wolf who is drawn to Freeze City by this aroma, as well as the other wolves he meets there. The plot is fairly straightforward, and ultimately, the series seems to focus more on the world rather than being character-centric. To its credit, however, the characters are introduced via a basic archetype, and are later fleshed out as the anime moves forward. Most of the characters appearing in Wolf’s Rain are animals, but even the human characters learn to overcome their struggles. The wolves face despair, mistrust, doubt, and even wonder if finding their promised land is worth losing their identities. The humans in the story are plagued with facing reality versus accepting comforting lies, living in denial, and learning their self-worth. The anime relies on the viewer paying attention to details, as just about everything that happens narratively is explained through action and dialogue, with very minimal exposition. Personally, I find this to be a good thing when an anime doesn’t have to handhold to point out when something important happens. In fact, there is a lot more subliminal allegory going on under the surface which references not only religion, but animal symbolism and various philosophies. It’s all very subtle metaphor, however, and while the writing clearly doesn’t expect you to dive too deeply into that side of it to enjoy the story, you may find it much more profound if you recognise these themes. Wolf’s Rain has only one glaring problem, but thankfully it isn’t incredibly detrimental. There are four recap episodes in the middle of the series which feel completely useless. This perhaps can be blamed on a lapse in airtime, but it could have easily been avoided by simply re-airing the first half of the series on the network before showing the next set of episodes, if they were worried about the audience forgetting what had happened up until that point. This doesn’t take away much these days, since you’re probably either streaming it or watching it on discs, so these episodes you can simply skip over if you wanted to. Overall, Wolf’s Rain is refreshingly different, and while controversial at times, resonates a captivating emotional hold over the viewer. Everything from the gorgeous artwork and beautiful soundtrack to the powerful and dramatic ending points back to how much faith studio BONES had in this anime. It will make you cry, and I can’t guarantee you’ll like it, but it cannot be denied that Wolf’s Rain represents a very unique niche in the fantasy genre. -
Beocat -
Recovery of an MMO Junkie
As a romantic comedy, this anime delivers heavily on romantic tension and situational humor. The premesis is interesting and the characters are endearing. While the MMO is a central part of the story, it really is more of a means to an end. If you are looking for an anime that is heavily set within a video game type of setting, this wouldn't work for you. Instead, it is where all the characters meet and the real action occurs outside in the real world. The comedy thankfully doesn't solely rely on embarrassing situations between the two main protagonists. The side characters have their own nuances and personalities that play heavily into the comedy. Both main protagonists have situations that they have had to deal with and I think that most adults have gone through a period in their life where they either chose to be a NEET for a time or considered the possibility. I think that it also shows a fairly good picture of the allure that MMORPGs have from a social aspect. Unfortunately, at this point in time, the author of the source material is still in recovery from an illness and thus a continuation of the series has not been announced. Still, the series has a good start, and if the author recovers, I'm sure that the series will pick up where it left off and do well.
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