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.

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.

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.