Gatchaman Crowds - If Zooey Deschanel Had An Iron Man Suit

Speculative Review of Gatchaman Crowds

By James U.

Speculative Review at a Glance:

Rating as of Episode 5:

2 out of 5

Highest Point:

Certain stories focus on the average citizens rather than the main cast. The bystander’s point of view can get pretty immersive and enhances the believability of the setting.

Lowest Point:

A very unrelatable and uninteresting main character. She’s almost too perfect to the point that she devalues the other characters because everything she does is always right anyway, even though she acts on a whim almost all the time. Her happy-go-lucky demeanor even when things go south, while admirable and very shounen hero-like, still doesn't make her fun to watch since it seems like she’s not taking things very seriously even when people’s lives are at risk.

Recommendation:

It’s been a while since I've seen a Henshin Hero type of anime. While I’m a total sucker for such things, it’s not enough to pull me into it. There are just too many things that drag it down, plus it’s only meant to run for 12 episodes. It’s filled with bad cliches, it’s kinda bland, and the main character is insufferable. I don’t recommend it.

Overview

Gatchaman Crowds is a transformation superhero sci-fi anime set in modern-day Japan. It’s loosely based on the old 70s anime Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (It was localized as G-Force: Guardians of Space). It’s directed by Nakamura Kenji, a guy who storyboarded Karas and directed that weird economy-based combat anime C: The Money of Soul and Possibility of Control. Crowds started airing July 13, 2013 and is scheduled to have 12 episodes.

Devil Survivor 2 The Animation; If Pokemon and RahXephon Had a Demonic Baby

Devil Survivor 2 The Animation Full Review

By James U.

Review at a Glance:

Rating:

3 out of 5

Highest Point:

The monster fights are fantastic. The choreography is pretty decent, the effects are awesome, and it’s coupled with some of the best music I’ve heard since Guilty Crown.

Lowest Point:

Most of the cast is unsympathetic, with little background on them and even less character exploration. The pacing didn’t help, but certainly wasn’t the only cause since there were enough filler scenes that could’ve been used to flesh them out.

Recommendation:

Devil Survivor 2 is a decent anime adaptation. What it lacks in story-telling it makes up for fantastic fight scenes and potentially deep lore. It’s got a very tight pace which makes it easier to watch, but it also means there’s not that much time to look around. I give it a recommendation on the grounds that it’s decent overall without any deal-breaking issues.

Overview

Devil Survivor 2: The Animation is an anime adaptation of Atlus’ Shin Megami Tensei video game series of the same name. It’s directed by Kishi Seiji who also did the anime adaptation of Persona 4, another SMT game from Atlus, which was actually pretty good. It aired from April 5 to June 28, 2013 and ran for 13 episodes.

Hataraku Maou-Sama!; You Know It's Good When The Devil Is A Part-Timer

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

OreImo; A Decent Enough Anime, Completely Ruined By One Terrible Character

Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai Quickie Review

By James U.

Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai (My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute) or OreImo for short, is an anime adaptation of a Japanese slice of life light novel written by Fushimi Tsukasa. Season one aired October 3, 2012 to December 19, 2012, and directed by Kanbe Hiroyuki. Season two on the other hand, started airing April 7, 2013 and is expected to run for 13 episodes.

High School student Kousaka Kyousuke is the estranged older brother of Kousaka Kirino, a middle school track and field star / part-time model. One night he finds a copy of his sister's eroge (erotic video game), inadvertently discovering her hidden otaku side, and sparking an odd "life counseling" relationship between the two... for two entire seasons. And I hated every bit of it until I finally had enough.

That's right, I dropped this fucker like a bad habit. The truth is, there's a lot to like about this anime. The characters are likable (Kyousuke and the other side characters), the plot lines are more or less decent, and the comedy is fairly competent. There's really only one fucking thing that I hate about this anime, and that's Kirino, the younger sister. She's an absolute fucking bitch, and everybody lets her get away with everything just because they know how she really feels. "Oh, she's just like that because she can't express herself very well." Really!? Fuckin' REALLY!?

Ok, let me back up for a bit. See, the thing about Kirino is that she's incredibly bitchy towards everyone, even to those who share her secret otaku passion. She's always on a high horse, acting as if she's better than everybody else; she's cranky all the time even when people treat her nicely, going so far as to step on the respect she has been given; heck, she's not even trying to be nice when she needs something from other people. It's unrealistic how her attitude doesn't drive everyone away (yes, it's THAT bad). The fact that everyone, especially her cool older brother, tries to please her ensures that this character stays as still and stagnant as the diseased water in my garage. Kirino is the one thing wrong about this anime, and while her friends weren't driven away by her asshattery, I (and hopefully the audience) sure as hell couldn't stomach her any longer. I endured one season of this anime because she wasn't so bad; only to see her be twice as terrible in the second season. Hell, I even endured the incestuous undertones since everything that WASN'T related to her was fun to watch.

In the end, there is no emotional payoff for this. Kirino rarely, if ever, gets her comeuppance and even when she does, it’s often subdued and unsatisfying. She's an asshole, and a bully who pushes everybody around, but doesn't get any form of punishment for it. I can only hope she gets bitch-slapped by a sledgehammer later in the series, but that's not enough of an incentive for me to stick around.

I didn't think it was possible for just ONE character to ruin an entire series for me until now. Seriously, if you’re struggling to find some sort of satisfaction from this anime, then stop wasting your time and drop this title now. You'll thank me later.

Kakumeiki Valvrave; There's Something Off About This Sunrise-Produced Mecha

Kakumeiki Valvrave Quickie Review

By James U.

Kakumeiki Valvrave (Valvrave the Liberator) is a new sci-fi mecha anime produced by Sunrise (of Gundam fame) and directed by Matsuo Kou (Rozen Maiden, Red Garden, and Storyboard for Gundam 00). It started airing April 12, 2013 and is expected to have 12 episodes.

High school students Tokishima Haruto and his classmates were having a normal high school day until the militaristic country of Dorisa attacked their space colony; a collection of city spheres in owned by JIOR, a neutral country in the middle of a space war between Dorsia and ARUS. In the midst of the chaos, Haruto falls into the cockpit of JIOR’s experimental Gunda-- I mean superweapon and proceeds to cut through those invading fools.

If that bit of premise sounds familiar to you, it’s because it practically copies almost every other Gundam premise in the genre. Case in point: the original Mobile Suit Gundam, Gundam SEED, Gundam AGE, and probably a lot more mecha titles that escapes me at the moment. While it’s pretty cliche, it does have some fantastic animation, and a likable cast (more or less). As fun as Valvrave is, there’s just something about it that puts me off that I can’t quite put my finger on. Expect a Speculative Review after the fifth episode or so.

Photokano; Fun At Cetain Points, But Ultimately Boring

Photokano Quickie Review

By James U.

Photokano is an anime adaptation of a visual novel published by Kadokawa Games, and started airing April 5, 2013. It’s a slice of life/harem/ecchi title with photography as one of the main themes.

Maeda Kazuya is a friendly high school student who is given a camera from his dad. He takes it up as a hobby and encounters several girls who become his friends that would sometimes model for him. It’s as slice of life as slice of life can be, with the exception of being constantly bombarded by hot women. While it does have its fun points, I ultimately had to drop it because it was utterly boring. I’m not planning on making a speculative review since I didn’t make it past the third episode.

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo Review

By James U.

Review at a Glance:

Rating:

5 out of 5

A well-written, and well-executed story with unexpected twists not native to the genre.

Highest Point:

All the major characters are deep and memorable; each of them bearing a particular weight that haunts them throughout the series. The characters deal with them as a normal person their age would (with acceptable exaggerations) and their growth is apparent without breaking character.

Lowest Point:

Some forced fanservice at the beginning of the anime give off the impression that it’s a run-of-the-mill ecchi title. It fades away quickly enough after the 4th or 5th episode, though it pops up every now and then.

Recommendation:

This anime has excellent writing and top-notch storytelling, the comedy is great, the drama is even better, and the voice acting is superb. I’ve got way too many good things to say about this title that it’s hard for me to make a sex joke. So yeah, I totally recommend watching it.

Overview

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo (The Pet Girl of Sakurasou) is a romantic comedy/drama/slice of life anime in a high school setting. It’s a 24-episode anime adaptation of a light novel of the same name, originally penned by Kamoshida Hajime, which aired from October 9, 2012 to March 26, 2013. The anime is directed by Ishizuka Atsuko, who doesn’t have much under her belt, though she directed most of the episodes of Supernatural’s anime adaptation.

Code:Breaker Review

By James U.

Review at a Glance:

Rating:

3 out of 5

Highest Point:

The main antagonist Hitomi is probably one of the few reasons to really watch this show.

Lowest Point:

Too many characters, too little time. Most of them are shallow, with very little reason to be attached to them.

Recommendation:

Code:Breaker has a lot of potential, but falls flat due to it being incomplete. It sets up an interesting world and fills it with entertaining characters, but ends up feeling bland and unrefined. For all its faults it’s still worth watching, but don’t expect too much.

Overview

Code:Breaker is an anime adaptation (What isn’t these days?) of an ongoing action-oriented manga written by  Kimijyo Akimine (of Samurai Deeper Kyo fame). The anime started airing October 12, 2013 and is directed by Irie Yasuhiro, whose directorial history includes the very brilliant Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo Quickie Review

By James U.

High school students and a bunch of pussies. What's not to like?

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo (The Pet Girl of Sakurasou) is a romantic comedy / slice of life anime adaptation of a manga written by Kamoshida Hajime. This is perhaps one of the best anime of its genre that I’ve seen, and it’s been freakin’ ages since I’ve seen a good one. I’ll be sure to write a full review once it finishes.

UPDATE: Here's the link to the full review.

Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru (OreShura) Speculative Review

By James U.

Speculative Review at a Glance:

Rating as of Episode 5: 
2 out of 5
Multi-dimensional characters in a terrible story.

Highest Point:
Masuzu is one of the more interesting characters I’ve encountered in recent anime. She’s got a lot of complexities about her that make most of her actions difficult to predict and her motivations hard to read.

Lowest Point:

An important plot point felt completely out of place. What’s worse is that it keeps getting referenced and exploited, but is so poorly executed that it comes off as unnecessary (and worse, unfunny). The anime could still theoretically survive if the details of that plot point had been changed completely.

Recommendation:

OreShura has some interesting characters and ideas set up from the beginning, but ultimately fails in execution. If you’re willing to put up with that for the sake of watching the characters grow, then go ahead. Otherwise, steer clear from this terrible title.

Overview

Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru (My Girlfriend and Childhood Friend Fight Too Much) is an anime adaptation of a romantic comedy/harem light novel series written by Yuji Yuji (I’m not kidding, that’s the dude’s name). It began airing January 6, 2013. The anime is directed by Kamei Kanta who’s involved in titles like Blood+, Ergo Proxy, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, among others. I seriously don’t know what he’s doing here. Granted, this is his third time as a director; his first being Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike (2009) followed by Usagi Drop (2011). So yeah, what the hell is he doing here? The anime is also called OreShura for short.

Sword Art Online Review

By Alex M.

Review at a Glance:

Rating: 3 out of 5

An interesting premise in a not-oft used setting which is somewhat ruined by a mediocre cast and plot.

Highest point: The implications are astounding. What if MMO’s were for realz? Barring a massive sociological experiment, Sword Art Online might yet be our closest guess.

Lowest point: Spot-the-hentai subplots. Many of the subplots and minor character archetypes appear to have been ripped directly from animated erotica (especially in the second season), ruining the gravity SAO appears to be going for.

Recommendation: SAO is intriguing but ultimately insubstantial. It starts strong but ends poorly, watch the first season and skip the second.

Overview

Sword Art Online (ソードアート・オンライン) is an Action Science-Fantasy anime produced by A-1 Pictures Inc. under the direction of Tomohiko Ito, of Seikimatsu okaruto gakuin (Occult Academy). It began airing in July of 2012 and is based off of an incredibly popular series of light novels of the same name. Sword Art Online was the top selling light novel series in Japan for 2012 and was authored by Kawahara Reki, the man behind the Dengeki Novel Prize-winning: Accel World.