Anime Reviews

For anime reviews. I don't care too much about the structure, however getting a paragraph at least is probably going to be enough to give a reader a general idea for the series. I've got some reviews that are around 10 paragraphs, so that's an in-depth review, although it seems like many people cannot be bothered to read a couple of paragraphs for a review. I suppose those will be shortened down. Let's go with ratings of 1-5.  

• 1 - Awful - Avoid
  Avenger,
  

• 2 - Bad -Consider  avoiding
  Blade of the Immortal, Thermae Romae, Sword Art Online,
  

• 3 - Mediocre
  Kekkaishi (Dub), Simoun,  
  

• 4 - Good - Consider watching
  Detective Conan, Shion no Ou,
  

• 5 - Great - Watch
  Planetes, Trigun,
  

Blade of the Immortal - 13 Episodes (2)

Overall this is a pretty sad series. I don't mean sad emotionally, I mean it's pathetic. There isn't any real saving grace about it, it's not even an average action series because the actions scenes were pretty lame. It won't thrill you, but it won't kill you either. The story offers no real resolution, you're just cut off in the middle wondering what should have happened next. The music can be grating at times and ruin moments while you're watching, so that's a killer. The animation and art style is simply generic, it's typical of this type of series. If there were more action scenes this could have been a decent hack 'em up, but this was just an introduction to the actual story and progression of the manga. So there really isn't much to go on. I'd say skip it, go read the manga or do something else.

Detective Conan - ? Episodes (4)

Well I'm only a fraction in to the series, not even 300 episodes out of a bunch, but I'm catching the jist of the series so far. The sound is fine, the voice actors fit and the music is fantastic. The animation/art is adequate, pretty much typical of shonen series. There is an actual and serious plot at the core of the series, but it's buried under a ton of extra episodic entertainment that do not add to the plot. It's okay to watch, but if the story and progression thereof are important to you, then you can skip DC. It will take too long to get to the episodes that are crucial for plot progression. If you just want an episodic series (meaning you don't have to watch the entire series, every episode, to understand all of what happens later) that is mystery/drama entertainment with hints at comedy and romance, then give it a shot. I enjoy Detective Conan overall, even most of the episodes that do not add to the story and furthering Shinichi's quest to get his body back. It is a decent series for long term mediocre entertainment, still though, there are other series that could provide short term braingasms that are worth so much more than this.

(Dub Version) Kekkaishi - 52 Episodes (3)

I think that it would have been better to seal the series in a kekkai then metsu and tenketsu it so that people wouldn't waste their time on it. The most enjoyment I had from the series is listening to the voice actor who played Yoshimori, and that's because it was the same voice actor who played Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist. The story is bad plain and simple. The whole concept of teenage kekkaishi having to be awake day and night to go to school and protect the city was absurd. The plot of finding out and defeating the Kokuburo took a little while to get into, they waste precious episodes on dull premises, and the series ends with loose ties that do not offer any sense of fulfillment. The music is fine, on a good note was the opening music being one I enjoy listening to and bother listening to the opening song(s). The character designs were interesting to look at until everyone just started to look like a human instead of a monster. There was minor development and insight into characters, but nothing to base the series around as a selling point. Add to that the characters were pretty dull and in no way memorable. the fight scenes were decent, but all in all the series is mediocre at best. It gets three kekkais out of five.

Planetes - 26 Episodes (5)

Overall Planetes is a fantastically intriguing anime that will arouse your interest from the beginning. A beautifully animated and realistic Sci-Fi drama with strong character personalities that will grab you becoming memorable. The voice actors did a great job portraying the characters during the story and you can feel the emotion and the drama in the air. The character development is possibly the greatest aspect of this anime, it will keep you engaged watching the characters develop and how they do so. There is a duality in the anime that balances and blends themes of happiness and sadness so well together that you are not constantly overwhelmed by one. There are cynical and optimistic characters along with despairing and hope filled beliefs, revelations, or circumstances. Planetes is certainly a top anime which should be seen by any viewer that wants a story centered around character development.

Shin no Ou - 22 Episodes (4)

With a rating of 3 being average this series is in between mediocre and perfection. So it's pretty darn good to view. You should enjoy the character interactions and revelations along with the story progression of this "who done it". It's not very psychological or mentally demanding so it's an easy watch. The excessive hints were a bit much, if they had cut back on it a bit the climax would have been much more fulfilling. After it's all over and done with there's nothing to be left for interpretation it's all relatively superficial and open before you.

Simoun - 26 Episodes (3)

Personally I would say that Simoun is an okay anime. The main focus of this series is about the characters and their interactions together. To a fault at that. It takes an incredibly long time to get into, more so than my usual standards, and had I not been watching this as part of a group or been watching something to review I would have ditched it after 4-6 episodes in. The characters, while I do not like their designs, are all mostly interesting and you can easily gravitate towards or away from a couple, however you'll still be left with a few you care nothing for. I had major issues with the excessive usage of still frames that they pan over, it was wrong and ruined a lot of moments. There are a lot of parts I disagree with how the incidents should have happened in a world that would make sense. If you don't mind guys sounding like girls then the voice work and sounds are all mostly decent and enjoyable. I would say that this anime in particular didn't tickle my fancy but others seem to adore it. As always interests are subjective and my opinion states this to be "meh" due to a variety of complaints throughout this series. Even with those issues, it rates at an average-okay view.

Trigun - 26 Episodes (5)

Trigun is a wonderful series that I feel anyone who likes action/comedy/drama should give a chance. The characters are simply wonderful, and the main cast's personalities contradict each other, leading to some interesting and dramatic situations. Personally I think that the American voice actor scored an iconic role playing Vash. The music is great, even standing alone it is worth listening to, along with the series it's perfect. The story is interesting, having a goofy peace loving 'monster' fight to keep his morals and his life during conflicts was supremely entertaining to watch. it doesn't overwhelm the viewer with too much comedy or too much heavy drama all at once, it is well paced and will tug at your heart strings before shooting your mind like a sharpshooter.

UPDATE ON OPINIONS ABOUT REVIEWS

I'm okay with shorter reviews if they actually tell me something about the series. It is true you can get that done in 2-4 sentences per section. A concise analysis.

I am rethinking my own style after remembering what my teacher had taught me years ago, which was to read a page and sum it up in 1 sentence that tied everything together that NEEDED to be said. More information isn't necessarily better.

Similarly that's how the Cornell Method for note taking apparently goes, where less is more. Condensing all necessary information into a few key words for you to recall. However that would be going too far in this sense because it isn't just a set of notes, but a review. So instead of a couple words, just a couple sentences are fine.

So long as what is being said is a critical analysis of the content while remaining concise in length it would satisfy me. Short, sweet (or) bitter, to the point and no filler.

There were a couple of reviews that seemed like the story part was just copy/pasted off of the preview/summary. I've seen other people trying to pass off preview summaries as reviews and I don't get it. Usually they are extremely vague so it may peak your interest to see what it is about, but that's what a preview is supposed to do. A review should be a reflection an describe "why" not just "what".
how & why = review
what = preview

Thermae Romae - 6 episodes (2)

Story: Thermae Romae follows the Ancient Roman bathhouse architect Lucious as he traverses between his world and modern day Japan (whom he thinks are flat-faced slaves). Throughout the episodes Lucious will encounter an issue, then take a bath thinking of ways he can overcome it, and while doing so he will slip under the water to be transported to Japan. There he will learn of whatever means or tactics he needs to resolve the issue raised, and return to his world with random souvenirs in tow. You will get little facts here and there about Ancient Rome, but those minor historical points aren't impressive or necessarily memorable. The bath culture itself is an interesting topic to focus on, and the great curiosity with which Lucious expresses while in modern Japan is amusing, but it isn't enticing. It is tagged as a comedy, but I found little humor in this series at all, so I wouldn't suggest it to anyone who is interested in having a 'good laugh'.

Animation: The art style takes time to warm up to, if you can warm up to it at all. It looks terribly, terribly animated until you realize that this style fits with the manga's style well enough. But in this case then, you'd be better off reading the manga instead. Due to the art style, there are very little facial or body animations, which makes watching the episodes a trial of patience. Really the only time the characters are truly showing expressions is when the cultures collide and one experiences the other in some way. Whether that be by Lucious being weird in Japan or him bringing aspects of their culture back to Rome. The settings and backgrounds don't breathe life into this adaptation. The scene transitions sometimes feature weird point of view panning where the buildings move oddly, making the whole visual even more unappealing.

Sound: I enjoyed the background music for the most part and found the classical music rather fitting. However, out of personal opinion I felt that Vivaldi's Four Seasons was disappointing to hear, not because it wasn't fitting or is bad, but because that music is everywhere. Some of the background music is just too overplayed. The inner monologue of Lucious and dialogues with others were fair, nothing to really complain about. Due to the art style it was up to the voice actors to mainly express emotions, which they did a nice job of. But really, there wasn't much to express here anyways.

Characters: The character designs were nothing special, typical and expected of the cultures of the time. However there were a few out of place characters, designed and drawn differently than the rest of the cast, and that difference made them entirely unattractive to view. It did not last long enough, or at least did not have the content required for me to make a connection and gravitate to any character, which I disliked, if I watch something I want to have a vested interest in what is unfolding before my eyes.

Overall: Overall I would say that if you're truly interested in seeing the bathing culture of ancient Rome and modern Japan then go ahead and give this a try, or at least look towards the manga instead. The anime itself doesn't last long, you'll get about an hour out of it with the six 9-13 minutes episodes. The story unfolds in an entirely predictable manner, only adding in new things to learn, but the process remains the same every time. The art style and lack of animations will turn off most viewers, particularly if they are only interested in bishonens or otherwise high resolution animated characters.

Sword Art Online (2)

SAO follows a Gary Stu in his quest to live and wake up from a virtual game world he and many others were imprisoned in. One that if you die in the game you die in real life, which is the only reason why there is any drama or conflict. The action sequences between players and bosses are the only decent thing about the show, which flow nicely and have nice visual effects. No single character is compelling or interesting, or in any way memorable, especially not Gary who has an inordinate amount of love interests for being one of the most bland characters in the series. Only half of the show is acceptable to waste time watching; the SAO part while the Fairyland part is just one long nauseating time sink. I have forgotten every character's name, this series is completely forgettable and not worth viewing. I'm sure since I don't presently care about the voice acting, that it was likely acceptable enough.

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