Category: Anime Reviews

Jujutsu Kaisen Anime Review 80/100

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Action, Jujutsu Kaisen, Reviews by Lenlo

Recently it feels like there’s a Shonen Jump series in every season. From last years Kimetsu no Yaiba and Haikyu to Dr. STONE S2 this season and even My Hero Academia S5 coming up. Everywhere you go its Jump, Jump, Jump. Sometimes a man wants a break. Oh what’s that? A new cornerstone of Weekly Shonen Jump got an anime adaptation you say? Kohei Horikoshi of My Hero Academia called it the next pillar of the magazine? And Keiichiro Watanabe is animating for it?! Well count me in! Originally created by Gege Akutami, produced by MAPPA and directed by Seong-Hu Park who also recently The God of Highschool, ladies and gentleman I present to you: *Jujutsu Kaisen, the next big thing. So without further ado, lets jump into it.
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Dr. STONE S2 Anime Review 65/100

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews, Dr.STONE, Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Reviews by Lenlo

Dr. STONE returns for a 2nd season! If you haven’t read it yet you can find my review for the first season over here. If you already have or just don’t care then welcome to Season 2, Stone Wars. Produced by TMS Entertainment and directed once more by Shinya Iino with the original story by Riichirou Inagaki and original art by Boichi. This is the premier non-battle-battle Shonen except this time with more… well, actual battling. Interested? Then lets jump right in and Warning: There will be spoilers.
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Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World 2 Anime Review – 85/100

by AidanAK47, posted in Anime Reviews, Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World, Reviews by AidanAK47

When I finished the first season of Re:Zero, I ended my review on a certain assumption that a second season was on the way. What I didn’t know was that the second season would take four years to get here but was the wait worth it? Now that the final episode has aired I would say yes and I very much look forward to a third season I pray is sooner than the second was. This was the season to change a lot of people’s minds on Re:Zero and have them thinking better of it which I of course called in the first season which people considered more polarizing. When it comes to second seasons in anime you often have cases where a second season spends too much time laying down setup for a third season which may not come to pass. Or simply running though the same beats of the first season and expecting it to have the same impact. In comparison Re:Zero season 2 doesn’t just continue the story but manages to make it’s previous season even better in retrospect as it brings new things to the table.

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Twelve Kingdoms Anime Review – 89/100 – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Reviews by Lenlo, Throwback Thursday, Twelve Kingdoms

In this day and age it is nigh-impossible to find a season of anime without an Isekai. From Konosuba and Slime Isekai to Sword Art Online and Re:Zero, they have invaded the medium. But the genre existed long before these more modern takes. .Hack//Sign did videogames almost a decade before SAO released its first light novel. Meanwhile Inuyasha did the same for fantasy worlds. Predating all of these though we have what can only be called an Epic in scale. Produced by Studio Pierrot during their golden years and directed by Tsuneo Kobayashi, I give you Twelve Kingdoms. Spanning 45 episodes, Twelve Kingdoms adapts the first 3 of 9 novels written by Fuyumi Ono. Novels which are still releasing to this day and that I would relate to Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time in scale and influence.

If that doesn’t excite you, doesn’t make you want to hear more about this incredible series, then be gone I say! But if your interest is piqued and you want to hear about this fantastical world and Nakajima Youko’s role in it? Then read on, and lets dive right into it!

(Disclaimer: I am working to make 50 the new “average”. 70 is not an average score people. 70 is above average. Carry on.) Continue reading “Twelve Kingdoms Anime Review – 89/100 – Throwback Thursday” →

DanMachi 3 Review – 88/100

by Amunchet, posted in Anime Reviews, DanMachi 3, Finished Series: Adventure/Fantasy/Science Fiction, Reviews by Amunchet

Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in the Dungeon?  You thrilled with season 1, kept the hype going with the spinoff, did okay with the movie, and derailed in season 2.  But now – the faithful have been rewarded with this phoenix of a 3rd season.  From a meme to a dream, DanMachi 3 provided a great story, surprisingly thought provoking problems, an excellent cast, and – astonishingly – above average animation.  Let’s take a look at where DanMachi scored and the few places it fell short.

A word on my grading criteria.  For me, each show has 50 points to earn and 50 points to lose. Points are earned by going above and beyond the norm – showing me something I hadn’t seen or making me feel something unexpected.  Something that makes me applaud.  Points are lost when I feel a component of the show was below average or less than acceptable in terms of animation, storyline, etc.  Something that takes away from the show as a whole.

Let’s take a look!

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Akudama Drive Review – 75/100

by SuperWooper, posted in Akudama Drive, Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Action, Reviews by SuperWooper

On the surface, Akudama Drive is far from my cup of tea. It’s a spectacle-first production that operates on the fringes of sanity, working with characters so thin that their names and occupations are one and the same. There was fun to be had in its early episodes (particularly the never-ending parade of carnage that was the premiere), but its adherence to heist and escort mission templates made it feel safer than such an otherwise-daring series should have felt.

That all changed in the series’ sixth week, which doubled as one of the year’s best action showcases and a statement on the futility of violence. From that point on, the show raised the stakes with each episode, quickly fraying the fabric of its dystopian setting and treating its characters’ decisions as major milestones. Akudama Drive was headed somewhere important – a belief that was justified by a finale that managed to be both catastrophic and hopeful. There were bumps in the road along the way, and we’ll talk about those, but overall the series gets a definite recommendation from me.

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Great Pretender Anime Review – 78/100

by SuperWooper, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense, Great Pretender, Reviews by SuperWooper

From an aesthetic point of view, Great Pretender is my favorite TV anime of 2020. I’ve spoken plenty about art director Yuusuke Takeda in previous posts, but since this is the last time I’ll be writing about this show for the blog, allow me to recap: he’s one of the best and most prolific visual designers in the industry today, and Great Pretender is one of his most striking works. His brash juxtaposition of color was a great fit for such a sharp, fast-moving series – as were the angular designs of legendary character artist Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. Tasked with creating an entirely adult cast, he opted to give them prominent noses and messy hairdos, incorporating plenty of detail while still allowing the animation team room to breathe. They did their nimblest and most acrobatic work in the show’s first arc, but even as Great Pretender settled in for the long haul, it maintained a sense of liveliness sufficient to absorb you in its story.

So why the caveat that it’s my favorite only in aesthetic terms? What disqualifies it from being the runaway AOTY that I initially hoped it would be? And on the flip side, what does Great Pretender do right that most other series wouldn’t dare to attempt? Read on for one man’s thoughts on one of the year’s most original anime.

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Made in Abyss: Dawn of the Deep Soul (2020) Movie Review – 90/100

by HelghastKillzone, posted in Anime Reviews, Made in Abyss

Originally, I was intending to go to the North American premiere back in April but a certain human malware decided to crash the entire world economy and postpone showings until the fall. Now, with Sentai Filmworks following Disney Plus’s model of limited-timed streaming rentals and Blu-rays being made available, the sequel to 2017’s Made in Abyss is now widely available for viewing. For those who patiently waited for three years to see the sequel, Dawn of Deep Soul is everything that both manga and anime fans have wanted to experience.

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Fugou Keiji Anime Review – 72/100

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense, Fugou Keiji: Balance: UNLIMITED, Reviews by Lenlo

Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. There are a number of rather famous characters that fit this description, from Bruce Wayne to Tony Stark. And it was only a matter of time before anime came back with one of its own in Daisuke Kambe, of Fugou Keiji: Balance: UNLIMITED. Adapted by Studio Cloverworks from a novel series of the same name, originally written by Yasutaka Tsutsui and directed by Tomohiko Itou of Silver Spoon and ERASED fame, Fugou Keiji is a lot of things. It is both a comedy and a mystery. A tale of murder and revenge, of heroics and villainy, and perhaps most importantly: of family. And while there is no shortage of missteps along the way I can say one thing with certainty: Fugou Keiji is a fun show oozing in style and I cannot wait to talk about it with you. So lets jump right in!

(Disclaimer: I am working to make 50 the new “average”. 70 is not an average score people. 70 is above average. Carry on.) Continue reading “Fugou Keiji Anime Review – 72/100” →

Gunslinger Girl Anime Review – 57/100 – Throwback Thursday

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews, Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense, Gunslinger Girl, Reviews by Lenlo, Throwback Thursday

I really wanted to like Gunslinger Girl. Made by MADHOUSE, Directed by Morio Asaka of Chihayafuru and Card Captor Sakura: Clear Card fame, Gunslinger Girl has a simple but compelling premise: child soldiers. Little girls trained and conditioned to become assassins for the Italian government, forced to do their nations dirty work. Whether that be protection, espionage or outright murder, Gunslinger Girl takes something reprehensible and shoves it right into your face so you can’t ignore. And then it dives into how the girls themselves feel about their position, whether or not its so different from things we do right here in the real world. So with such a premise, and such a strong production team, what’s not to like? Well strap in my friend, because I have a few thousand words prepared just for you. And be warned, this review will contain minor spoilers for Gunslinger Girl.

(Disclaimer: I am working to make 50 the new “average”. 70 is not an average score people. 70 is above average. Carry on.) Continue reading “Gunslinger Girl Anime Review – 57/100 – Throwback Thursday” →