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

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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.

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.