Not So Much Success

Anime Review: Spice and Wolf

Hello all. It’s been a while. Now that school is out and I have time for anime again, let’s get this rolling once more.

Art: The characters are drawn in fairly standard fare, but the detail in the backgrounds and foregrounds is very well done. There’s more there than most series, but not enough to draw focus to it. One other thing about the art I enjoy is how the characters don’t entirely pop-out like normal. Most series have the leads in easy to spot clothing or give more detail to them to make them stand out. In this series, the background extras aren’t cookie-cutter generic figures. You can still pull the leads out in a crowd, but it’s not because they are the only ones given any detail. It’s because you just recognize them.

Characters: I’ll be focusing on the two leads for this. There are many recurring, supporting characters, but I’ll be here a while if I focus on all of them. Kraft Lawrence is a traveling merchant. Shrewd, personable, and business-centric. He is able to build rapport with others easily, but he constantly is working the business angle in his head. Then there’s Holo. She’s the wolf-god of the harvest incarnate. She’s snarky, a little jaded, and very much an antagonist. She is shrewd, but in her own way. As Lawrence is good with reading money, Holo can read people. The way these two interact is fantastic. I’m not going to say much. You’ll just have to watch it.

Story: This is an economic thriller. Yes, I said that right. It works. Trust me. The series starts with Lawrence meeting Holo and striking a deal. She becomes something of a business partner/traveling companion in exchange for Lawrence taking her to her homeland in the north. Along the way different business ventures crop up and things get very interesting. It’s fantastic!

Overall: A really fun and intense series. It takes some thinking to process through the business dialogue, but it’s intriguing and smart.

Score: 8.5 out of 10.

Spice and Wolf Anime Review

Anime Review: Tsubasa Resivior Chronicles: Tokyo Revelations

Art: Same as Birdcage Kingdom. Higher res version of the series.

Characters: HUZZAH DEVELOPMENT! After 54 (and one extended) episodes, WE HAVE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!!! Sakura becomes more than a pretty face and finally gets crap done on her own. The bromance grows between Kurogane and Fai. Mokana still rocks out loud. Syaoron starts to become not himself. Also, more characters from other clamp series come into play, mainly X/1999.

Story: Still on a quest to get Sakura’s memories, but the more sinister antagonist starts to show his face. Syaoron changes and we finally get real plot instead of “quest grinding” plot as we learn about who Syaoron really is. They’re still feather questing, but we get more plot meat outside of that this time around. Also, *spoiler alert* Fai loses an eye and becomes a vampire. The oddness and sudden gore increase made me feel like watching X/1999 again. It was that good. Sadly, it took 55 episodes to get to this point, and I had to use a wiki to get details that are in the manga that come up in this OVA. It is not near enough to make the series entirely worth watching.

Overall: 7.5 of 10.

Tsubasa Resivior Chronicles: Princess in the Birdcage Kingdom review

Tsubasa Resivior Chronicles review

tsubasa resivior chronicles Tokyo Revelations Anime Review

Anime Review: Tsubasa Resivior Chronicles: Princess in the Birdcage Kingdom

This was basically an extended episode (by about 7 minutes). See my review of the series for further details.

Art: Same stuff, higher resolution.

Characters: Same as the series.

Story: On a journey to get one of Sakura’s feathers, they group travels to a place that’s “for the birds.” I’M SO PUNNY! Evil ruler tries to plunge the world into darkness, by using the power of Sakura’s feather and the power of a princess in this new kingdom. Same as any other episode if you distill it down.

Music: Similar to the show. Less engrish, but there was enough to be a distraction.

Overall: 5.5 out of 10

That was quick and easy.

Review of Tsubasa Resivior Chronicles

Review of Tsubasa Resivior Chronicles: Tokyo Revelations

tsubasa resivior chronicles princess in the birdcage kingdom Anime Review

Anime Review: Tsubasa Resivior Chronicles

This will be the first in a week long (hopefully) set of anime reviews.

Art: Chobits-esque. I was hoping it would be more like X/1999 in style, especially with all the fight scenes. For all the sword usage and other combat there was basically no blood. I wasn’t expecting a gorefest, but it was weird seeing all this fighting and the only visible injuries were bumps and bruises. There was one episode that was almost completely drawn in chibi. That was awesome. Seriously. Also, I’m not normally a fan of this kind of art in anime, but it worked well for this series. It’s the kind of stuff everyone and their mom draws, but its basic nature didn’t detract from anything and it made the characters the focus.

Characters: This is where I get a little sad. The leads, Syaoran and Sakura, annoy the hell out of me. Syaoran is the typical white knight, and Sakura is little more than a princess to be saved. The supporting characters kick so much ass. Kurogane is a brute with a slight temper. Fai is the sage of the group. Mokona is a small, strange bunny-like creature that acts as a guide and a sort of merchant. Kurogane and Fai have the bro-mance going on, and they are hilarious together. Add Mokona’s trolling, and it makes for the one of the best groups I’ve seen in anime.

Story: The group is out to find Sakura’s memories which have scattered across several worlds in the form of feathers. It ties into the story of xxxHolic as Yuuko is the one who enables their travel and helps them along their journey…for a fee. At (nearly) each world theirs goings on in that world that the group helps sort out, they get the feather and move on. Kinda boring and repetitive, and I wanted more of Fai, Kurogane, and Mokona. Sadly I didn’t get that.

Music: I don’t normally do music as part of my reviews, but I got so annoyed with the music in this series, I had to say something. Songs were reused often, way too often. There’s also tons of bad Engrish in a lot of them. I had to mute it quite a few times to make it stop.

Overall: Meh. There should have been more Fai, Kurogane, and Mokona and less Syaoran and Sakura.

5.5 out of 10

Review of Tsubasa Resivior Chronicles: Princess in the Birdcage Kingdom

Tsubasa Resivior Chronicles Anime Review

Anime Review: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Art: A little on the cartoonish side. Other than that, it’s nothing you haven’t seen before.

Characters: This is the best part of the series. The 5 leads are freaking awesome. There’s a few that are a little irritating, but for reasons that make them enjoyable. Haruhi is kind of a bitch. Mikuru is kinda stupid and way too passive and shy. The others have their faults too. The way that they’re annoying is kinda like how movies have characters you shouldn’t like, but at the same time, they make the movie awesome. It’s kinda like that. They all have some flaws, but this series has some of the best characters I’ve seen. Just so you know: Yuki is awesome.

Story: A little hard to follow. The original airing was deliberately out of order and hard to follow, but by watching on DVD or using wikipedia as an episode guide helps for viewing in the right order. Simply put it follows a high school girl named Haruhi Suzumiya who is bored with life and wishes to come into contact with aliens, espers, and/or future men. Unbeknownst to her they exist and are close to her, but only due to her wish. The rest of the series is following the 5 as they try to keep her wishes and desires from completely changing the world. It gets kinda funny. Warning and Spoiler Alert: In season 2 they get stuck in a time loop…for 8 episodes. The same thing happens over and over again with subtle differences. My advice: have it on one half of the screen with Roller Coaster Tycoon on the other, and you’ll get through it.

Overall, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is a fun series if you can get through its jumbled and sometimes repetitive nature.

Score: 7.5 out of 10

Haruhi Suzumiya Anime Review

Anime Review: Blood+

I apologize for not blogging more often. To make up for it, here’s my review of Blood+.

Art: It’s a little basic, and leans towards the more cartoonish feel. There’s nothing wrong with it, though. It’s done well, but unfortunately it doesn’t shine like others do.

Characters: The characters are the highlight of the series. They seem fairly real in their actions and are entertaining to follow. The leads do lean on the sappy side from time to time, and that’s a bit of a turn off. Other than that, pretty awesome.

Story: It follows a girl named Saya, as she learns what she really is in her hunt to kill blood drinkers known as Chiropterans. It’s mostly predictable, yet at the same time it’s still enjoyable. There are a few plot twists that really make the series, and even with those aside, it’s not a bad watch. On the downside, *Spoiler Alert* the end is a bit of a Deus Ex Machina. A bit of a pitfall there. The story is paced very well. You get a lot of character development and dialogue and there’s just enough action to keep people engaged.

Overall: 6.5 of 10.

I wouldn’t own it, but it was worth the once through. Like I said, it wasn’t spectacular, but it was on the better side.

Blood+ Anime Review

Anime Review: House of Five Leaves

I finished this series a ways back, as well. I guess spring break is a good time to blog about anime.

Art: The art style in this series is very unique. The characters have large noses, mouths, and pupils. It’s distracting at first, but it grows on you quickly. Everything seems more painted and caligraphal compared to other series. Definitely a feast for the eyes.

Characters: Some are stereotyped, others are really intriguing. Akitsu, the cowardly samurai, follows the path we’ve seen time and time again in the Hero’s Journey. However, his journey isn’t the focus of the series. The other lead characters fit molds, as well, but like with Akitsu, they don’t fit their usual roles to a “T”.

Story: The story is pretty short. It mainly follows Akitsu, a samurai who has a very passive personality, and his time in the group “The Five Leaves”. The Five Leaves is a small criminal group who focuses on kidnapping. They perform a few jobs as Akitsu tries to learn about the group’s mysterious leader Yaichi and the other members of the group. It’s kinda drawn out, but at the same time, it’s only 12 episodes.

Overall: 7 of 10.

House of Five Leaves is eye-candy, and the characters and story are enjoyable, but nothing really spectacular.

House of Five Leaves Anime Review

Anime Review: Black Butler 1 & 2

I finished the Black Butlers a few weeks ago, and I’m just getting around to posting about it. Here we go.

Art: It’s kinda Clamp-esque. There’s lots of angles, even in the characters, but they don’t look uber-thin like Clamp’s “X”. The places and colors seem bright 90% of the time, which is odd considering how dark the stories can be. It’s not a bad odd, though.

Characters: The characters are distinct and memorable, especially Grell. He’s freaking hilarious. There’s interesting contrast between Ciel and Alois in season 2, which adds to the story. The butlers are total bad-asses. I better stop before I go on a huge tangent. There’s a fair number of recurring characters, but they aren’t hard to keep track of and they are awesome in their own ways.

Story: A little odd, but it is anime. Ciel Phantomhive is the Queen of England’s “guard dog” with a demon for a butler. They spend most of season one solving paranormal mysteries in England while adding a bit of Ciel’s backstory along the way. Season 2 is a battle of wits between Ciel and Alois Trancy who also has a demon butler. The story is pretty different from the first, but still worth watching. It’s not as serious as it sounds, though. There’s a ton of sarcasm and funny situations too.

Overall Score: 8 out of 10.

It was a fun series, definitely worth the watch.

Black Butler Anime Review

Anime Review: Monster

My sister and I just finished watching the thriller/suspense anime “Monster,” and there’s some things I want to say about it.

Art: The art style is almost… generic. It’s well done, but at the same time it’s very plain. Sometimes facial expressions were odd and kinda distracting, but other than that, no complaints. Not much more to say about it.

Characters: Most of the characters were engaging. Some I really hated and didn’t want to see at all *cough* Eva *cough* , but it was hard to imagine the story without them. As annoying as they were, they fit pretty well. There were a lot of characters to keep track of. My sister and I kept asking each other, “Who’s that? Do we know that guy?” That added to the overall confusion of “Monster.”

Story: This was very long and drawn out. It was like watching Lost, but with a bigger cliffhanger at the end of each episode, and even less was explained. It became irritating and it came to the point where we could only watch it in 4 episode bursts because we couldn’t handle it much more, and yet we had to stick it out to the end. The story itself is about a “monster” in the form of a serial killer and trying to stop him and uncover his origins. The monster weaves an intricate web linking those out to stop him and the pawns he uses in his scheme. At the end of the series, not enough is explained and it was a big letdown after painfully sitting through 74 slow episodes.

Overall, “Monster” wasn’t bad, but definitely watch it at your own risk.

Score: 5 out of 10

Monster Anime Review

Anime review: Gurren Lagenn

I have just recently finished Gurren Lagenn, and I have to say it was pretty freaking amazing. I had heard about this from my buddy Derek and looked into it with a meh sort of feeling. My mind has been f-ing blown.

Art:
The series uses rougher lines than most and give it a sort of sketchbook feel. It may not be unique, but it’s the first anime I’ve seen like this. Gurren Lagenn also uses a ton of bright, vibrant colors, and if one as colorblind as me can notice this it’s pretty staggering.

Characters:
The bulk of the recurring characters are psychotic in the most epic way. Over the top monologues and strange reasoning make the characters memorable and hilarious to watch. They also have the ability to evoke some strong emotional responses… OK, I cried a few times, I admit it.

Story:
This is where it gets shaky. The story is simple enough, but you get the same situations over and over with constant escalation. It can get a bit tiring, but the focus is more on the characters than the journey; making it enjoyable regardless.

Overall, Gurren Lagenn is one of the better anime series I’ve seen.

Score:
:) of 10

Gurren Lagenn Anime Review

Posts tagged "Anime Review"

I have just recently finished Gurren Lagenn, and I have to say it was pretty freaking amazing. I had heard about this from my buddy Derek and looked into it with a meh sort of feeling. My mind has been f-ing blown.