Change Your Image
kurtwi
Reviews
Ryû to sobakasu no hime (2021)
Love the creators, but sadly this was a disappointment
I rarely take the time to write reviews, so it has to be either very good or very bad.
I have loved most of what these guys have done in the past. Summer Wars is one of my favorite movies of all time, even though it gets mixed reviews. So I was hoping for another hit, especially considering the ratings...!
Visually? Wow.
Plot? Characters? Disaster. I would rather have watched this movie on silent.
A lot of the cute anime moments unique to this studio--that I have liked before--just made me cringe. Their unique tricks and trends fell hollow. Almost as if they assumed we watched all of their movies back to back, and would feel the impact of the cuteness or shyness without any emotion behind it.
The "death in the family" trope was done amazingly well in Summer Wars. The character was established, and their death was plot relevant and impactful. Here, it felt forced. Just to give the character an emotional background.
Spoilers:
And then, the huge narrative gap between her getting on U and becoming a singer. The HUGER narrative gap between her becoming a singer and her becoming famous with the help of her super genius tech friend who doubles as the comedic relief. I had to pause and rewind to make sure I didn't miss anything somehow, or to make sure my streaming service didn't glitch.
And why in that high tech environment can a character run around doing as they please? Just put a digital wall between him and the singer's stage! He isn't a hacker. In Summer Wars, the AI hacked the code with the help of the global math/dev community, which is how he broke the rules, plus it's an AI. But here we have a random kid doing what he wants, and the only defense are these incredibly hard to watch digital superheroes, and the punishment is simply exposing who he is...?
To be honest, I stopped watching halfway. Maybe some of these questions are answered in the second half, but I can't even finish this. I REALLY wanted to like it. Couldn't wait to watch it. And I think it could have worked, if done slightly differently. But to me, this was a huge failure, especially considering the massive wins that came before.
Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san (2018)
Amazing, deserves much better than the 7 it got
Who even knows why this show is rated in the 7s?? What???
It's insanely cute and funny. So funny and sweet and wholesome. I would dare to say that among slice of life's and romance shows, this is one of a kind. You won't experience anything else like it. It's not a show you can just watch in the background. You'll be glued to the screen.
It is somewhat short and simple, as people have said, but for what it was, it's definitely a 10. It may not be your favorite or your top 10, but you will be so happy you watched it. So good that I had to write a review about it.
I've seen all of the best animes and a large handful of romance/comedies. Trust me, this one stands out. Don't worry about the rating. Please do yourself this favor. I'm honestly the most picky watcher. This is a must-see. Period.
Three Identical Strangers (2018)
A five minute story stretched into a movie
If this was an article or short video, it could have been interesting. It could have been condensed into a three sentence interesting tidbit. Interesting, yes, but only as a bite-sized chunk.
This film uses a very typical, cheap storytelling structure. First of all, they completely over-act and over exaggerate the interest and suspense. "You would not BELIEVE what happened next!"
And then, after building up seeming coincidences, they reveal that, whoops!, they weren't coincidences after all. Which means that it wasn't interesting to begin with. But you've forgotten that because now we've moved onto the reveal.
At the end, I had predicted everything in the first ten minutes and had to cringe through the rest of the drama and exaggeration (I was forced to watch it).
Kôdo Giasu: Hangyaku no Rurûshu (2006)
Do. Not. Listen. To. The. Haters.
Why does FMA have 9.1 and Code Geass have 8.7? Is such a mediocre anime that much better? Or is CG getting a lot of unnecessary 1's in an attempt to "balance out" the hype?
Code Geass is 11/10 must watch, no question. Episode by episode, it is a tiny bit weaker than Death Note as far as the written plot structure and characters.
But as far as high concept, explosive climaxes, and unbelievable imagination? The CG alternate universe is wonderfully constructed and the story is INSANE. Does the writer lean on a few cliches here and there? Sure. But he's working with fresh, almost immaculate material. And what show doesn't have any?
And why are people complaining about a few boobies? Most, if not all, anime, has fan service. Just a bunch of haters.
Kimetsu no Yaiba (2019)
Great Aesthetics, Poor Writing
I would rate it a 7, but it has such an undeservedly high rating that I felt the need to balance it out a little.
Now it does have great animation and music, so you may enjoy it for that alone.
But even for a shounen made for young, new anime watchers, it isn't great. The writing is all over the place, and nothing really makes much sense. There was some potential here, but it was thrown away pretty quickly. No story, the combat system is non existent, and the characters are the same as always. Not BAD, just not at all interesting.
First of all, they can't decide whether to make regular humans "realistic" or "super". On one hand, they are supposed to be "weak mortals" that can't keep up with demon strength. On the other hand, the main character and his weakened sister defeat a feasting, full grown demon, and he later cuts through a boulder. So ok. Let's leave that for now.
So the demons multiply by getting their blood on a human. But they need to eat humans, so there shouldn't ever be any "human" left when they're done. Because they also get stronger the more they eat. And it was explained that they have tremendous metabolisms, but the demon sister has gone a long time without eating anything. She should be dead.
And of course anime always abuses the sense of smell, but he can smell traps as they appear, and can even smell OPENINGS in a persons guard? He can sense when a person is open, and knows when to strike based on scent? That makes no sense no matter how you look at it. That alone is enough for me to stop watching this.
Bottom line, I've seen a lot of anime. And I'm always fair when evaluating new shows made for young watchers, but this is a bad representation of anime. Not terrible, but certainly should not be rated 8 or above.