- WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS -
Quick message before we hop right into things! I have found myself really busy with schoolwork and extracurricular commitments, and as such the only time I have been watching anime is just before turning in for bed. Even at that, I might fall asleep before the episode ends, and I never get around to finishing it.
With that being said, this might be one of the last "full review" posts for a long time (they're half-baked since I'm writing these months after I finished them). You'll also notice that there isn't as much meat in the reviews. Anime just doesn't have a place in my life right now, and it's sad to say that, but hopefully one day there will be yet another First Impressions. Who knows? Maybe there will be one next season c:
91 Days (12)
I Rate: 7.5
One Sentence: Though unable to fully utilize its potential, 91 Days still masterfully relays the story of revenge sparking an endless chain of killing.
91 Days starts off great - you have this depressed and empty protagonist who gets tangled in an elaborate revenge and corruption plot. It's an interesting premise, and the atmospheric elements of the anime are done wonderfully. The anime does lose itself over its run, and I don't think it ever lived up to what viewers were expecting in their minds.
Our main characters are pretty interesting for the most part: Angelo is an anti-hero, but you feel sympathy and pity him for his situation, and Nero is a surprisingly grounded and morally conscious person, for his close involvement with the mafia.
The story in 91 Days is a roller coaster, and sadly not in the good way. At times the show peaks at its greatness, and delivers a profound episode, and at other times the episode is forgotten within the next hour. This detracts from the show, and in the end I would say the watch is not worth it.
Our main characters are pretty interesting for the most part: Angelo is an anti-hero, but you feel sympathy and pity him for his situation, and Nero is a surprisingly grounded and morally conscious person, for his close involvement with the mafia.
The story in 91 Days is a roller coaster, and sadly not in the good way. At times the show peaks at its greatness, and delivers a profound episode, and at other times the episode is forgotten within the next hour. This detracts from the show, and in the end I would say the watch is not worth it.
Best Girl: Fio, for making a killer onion soup
Amaama to Inazuma (4/12, dropped)
I Rate: 7.2
One Sentence: What happens when you throw a single dad, an annoying little kid, and a hungry high school student together into a cooking pot.
I don't have too much to say about this one. Really don't like Tsumugi (is that her name? I've forgotten by now). Dropped the show early on, tried to continue watching on several occasions, but this will likely end up being another Re-Kan! Then again, it's hard to be as dull and uninteresting as Re-Kan!
Best Girl: Kotori, she's pretty cool
I Rate: 7.2
One Sentence: What happens when you throw a single dad, an annoying little kid, and a hungry high school student together into a cooking pot.
I don't have too much to say about this one. Really don't like Tsumugi (is that her name? I've forgotten by now). Dropped the show early on, tried to continue watching on several occasions, but this will likely end up being another Re-Kan! Then again, it's hard to be as dull and uninteresting as Re-Kan!
Best Girl: Kotori, she's pretty cool
Orange (13)
I Rate: 7.7
One Sentence: A refreshing spin on the overdone romance/drama categories, with themes of sadness and friendship that are conveyed well.
I think Orange got a lot better as it continued with its run, and I have to say that the whole parallel universe thing is done pretty well (as long as you can stretch your imagination a little) to add to the story.
The art is somewhat hard to get accustomed to, but it's something nice to look at once you get past your initial differences with it. Something the producers did very well was making the characters feel realistic. The behaviour of the cast in Orange was reminiscent of some of my high school days (not that I'm done high school or anything) and it's easy to relate to their actions.
The story is something different from the usual - featuring some dark twists and weaving of the time travelling throughout. It starts off relatively plain, but improves. Would recommend if you're exhausted of others from the genre, but there are definitely better ones out there.
Best Girl: as one of the only level headed characters, I gotta say Takako
I Rate: 7.7
One Sentence: A refreshing spin on the overdone romance/drama categories, with themes of sadness and friendship that are conveyed well.
The art is somewhat hard to get accustomed to, but it's something nice to look at once you get past your initial differences with it. Something the producers did very well was making the characters feel realistic. The behaviour of the cast in Orange was reminiscent of some of my high school days (not that I'm done high school or anything) and it's easy to relate to their actions.
The story is something different from the usual - featuring some dark twists and weaving of the time travelling throughout. It starts off relatively plain, but improves. Would recommend if you're exhausted of others from the genre, but there are definitely better ones out there.
Best Girl: as one of the only level headed characters, I gotta say Takako
Re:Zero (25)
I Rate: 8.7
One Sentence: Arguably the greatest thing ever made since sliced Rem I mean what.
It's a shame that I'm not putting much effort into this post because Re:Zero deserves much much more than what I'm going to give it. There are countless other reviews that are undoubtedly better and actually analytical of the disgusting beauty that Re:Zero is, but here is my little take on the show.
Let's start with some of the technical things! For starters, Re:Zero looks great and there are some stunning scenes in the anime. The art is clean and crisp (how I think it should usually be), really quite conventional, but it ends up contrasting with its subjects in a sort of wonderfully ugly way - the prevalent examples being Subaru's insanity, Petelgeuese and the many raw and powerful scenes of gore. The music and sound were other remarkable aspects of Re:Zero, with some truly memorable songs (the one that struck me the most was "Stay Alive," which literally sends shivers down my spine even now).
And now onto the characters. Subaru is easily one of my favourite characters of all time. The amazing thing about his design are the dynamic changes he undergoes. He starts off as your standard MC-who-is-weak-but-miraculously-saves-the-day, and the viewer gains more and more respect for him as the tribulations become increasingly difficult. I can say for myself (and others will agree) that I enjoy looking for similarities between the protagonist and myself - it's natural to look at what makes a character cool and then reflect those onto yourself. Eventually you start "becoming" the character, and Re:Zero takes advantage of this to throw the viewer into a personal crisis by turning Subaru into the character that we most despise. Suddenly you're conflicted as to whether you are still "Subaru" or not, further increasing the conflict you would have experienced normally. The other main players in Re:Zero are interesting in their own rights, however nobody really experiences much growth asides from Rem. Some of the characters are used as plot devices, and I could even argue that Emilia is one large, central plot device, simply as a convenient motivation that Subaru constantly has.
There are many different phases of story in Re:Zero, and it can feel like a romcom one episode and a shounen the other. While this could have easily turned sour, I found it interesting and a refreshing start to each episode that way. The first half of the season is used to introduce and develop the characters (pretty much just Subaru) while getting the viewers acclimated to the setting. Where everything goes south and Subaru loses himself is in episode 13, which includes one of my favourite scenes of all time. After that the show feels a bit unsteady and all over the place, but soon it's established that this part of the season is the redemption of Subaru and it is pretty much an action anime by then.
I'm sure that I didn't do justice to how highly I regard Re:Zero, so I definitely urge you to try out an episode or two.
Best Girl: Kinda sucks how Emilia can come in last episode and steal it from Rem, but yeah, it's her
I Rate: 8.7
One Sentence: Arguably the greatest thing ever made since sliced Rem I mean what.
Let's start with some of the technical things! For starters, Re:Zero looks great and there are some stunning scenes in the anime. The art is clean and crisp (how I think it should usually be), really quite conventional, but it ends up contrasting with its subjects in a sort of wonderfully ugly way - the prevalent examples being Subaru's insanity, Petelgeuese and the many raw and powerful scenes of gore. The music and sound were other remarkable aspects of Re:Zero, with some truly memorable songs (the one that struck me the most was "Stay Alive," which literally sends shivers down my spine even now).
And now onto the characters. Subaru is easily one of my favourite characters of all time. The amazing thing about his design are the dynamic changes he undergoes. He starts off as your standard MC-who-is-weak-but-miraculously-saves-the-day, and the viewer gains more and more respect for him as the tribulations become increasingly difficult. I can say for myself (and others will agree) that I enjoy looking for similarities between the protagonist and myself - it's natural to look at what makes a character cool and then reflect those onto yourself. Eventually you start "becoming" the character, and Re:Zero takes advantage of this to throw the viewer into a personal crisis by turning Subaru into the character that we most despise. Suddenly you're conflicted as to whether you are still "Subaru" or not, further increasing the conflict you would have experienced normally. The other main players in Re:Zero are interesting in their own rights, however nobody really experiences much growth asides from Rem. Some of the characters are used as plot devices, and I could even argue that Emilia is one large, central plot device, simply as a convenient motivation that Subaru constantly has.
I'm sure that I didn't do justice to how highly I regard Re:Zero, so I definitely urge you to try out an episode or two.
Best Girl: Kinda sucks how Emilia can come in last episode and steal it from Rem, but yeah, it's her
ReLIFE (13)
I Rate: 8.0
One Sentence: Yet another high school romance kinda thing, except it isn't exactly high school, and there is a rather nice and heartwarming reveal at the end of it all.
ReLIFE reminds me a lot of when I started watching anime in terms of the feelings that it invoked from me and the fact that I started off with a lot of light-hearted, simple, yet wholesome series. The premise puts a creative spin on the saturated mess of SoL and executes everything to near perfection. It's limitations lie in its simplicity, however that is nothing to be ashamed of.
There are very few reasons as to why anybody would dislike the characters in ReLIFE, and I'm glad to say that I do not have any. Maybe it's because I'm a teenager myself and I can see myself in the cast, but who knows?
Art is very clean, conservative, with a slightly lower saturation of colours to produce a sort of realistic palette. Music isn't anything outstanding, but I thought the opening was great (actually, listening to it now, I find it quite catchy) and exemplifies the valuable period of our lives that we call youth.
ReLIFE plays out like a very classic high school drama, and remains consistent and strong throughout its duration. It is improved by the interesting circumstances of our main character Kaizaki
Best Girl: GOTTA GIVE IT TO AN ME BOYS
I Rate: 8.0
One Sentence: Yet another high school romance kinda thing, except it isn't exactly high school, and there is a rather nice and heartwarming reveal at the end of it all.
There are very few reasons as to why anybody would dislike the characters in ReLIFE, and I'm glad to say that I do not have any. Maybe it's because I'm a teenager myself and I can see myself in the cast, but who knows?
Art is very clean, conservative, with a slightly lower saturation of colours to produce a sort of realistic palette. Music isn't anything outstanding, but I thought the opening was great (actually, listening to it now, I find it quite catchy) and exemplifies the valuable period of our lives that we call youth.
ReLIFE plays out like a very classic high school drama, and remains consistent and strong throughout its duration. It is improved by the interesting circumstances of our main character Kaizaki
Best Girl: GOTTA GIVE IT TO AN ME BOYS
Rewrite (13)
I Rate: 7.5
One Sentence: At first a pain to get through, and then turns into what feels like a rushed mess, but actually ends with an intriguing message.
So when I actually started this post the second season wasn't confirmed, though it was very blatantly hinted at. Some time between the end of Rewrite and now, the second season was announced! Something to keep in mind as I briefly run over exactly what happened.
Rewrite stays very faithful to its visual novel source for the first half of the season before it starts to develop its own independent plot line. We see a lot of events from the common route (naturally some stuff has to be skipped to compress everything into 13 episodes) but the anime ends off with an original ending. The gang of Kotarou and his harem stumble across the rainbow river and then all of them start disappearing from his life. Suddenly the city is being run over by giant monsters and literally everybody dies.
It's a shocking ending, something that I definitely did not expect to see (maybe because I didn't get far enough in the VN), but the blow is softened by an epilogue, where Kagari (the key to everything) is seen tracing a line on some sort of TRON-esque board, where there are a bunch of lines and connections and stuff. The line (symbolizing the world that was just shown in the anime) leads her finger to a dead end, and you can infer that Kagari will "jump" to another world, where her friends survive and everything is swell. It was a pretty good ending in my books, able to keep the entire value of the ending for this season while also having the opportunity to explore a different path. I'll be looking forward to how the second season turns out.
Best Girl: This rendition of Kagari is pretty cool, though I only finished the Kotori and Chihaya routes, so wouldn't know if she's like that or not in the visual novel
I Rate: 7.5
One Sentence: At first a pain to get through, and then turns into what feels like a rushed mess, but actually ends with an intriguing message.
So when I actually started this post the second season wasn't confirmed, though it was very blatantly hinted at. Some time between the end of Rewrite and now, the second season was announced! Something to keep in mind as I briefly run over exactly what happened.
It's a shocking ending, something that I definitely did not expect to see (maybe because I didn't get far enough in the VN), but the blow is softened by an epilogue, where Kagari (the key to everything) is seen tracing a line on some sort of TRON-esque board, where there are a bunch of lines and connections and stuff. The line (symbolizing the world that was just shown in the anime) leads her finger to a dead end, and you can infer that Kagari will "jump" to another world, where her friends survive and everything is swell. It was a pretty good ending in my books, able to keep the entire value of the ending for this season while also having the opportunity to explore a different path. I'll be looking forward to how the second season turns out.
Best Girl: This rendition of Kagari is pretty cool, though I only finished the Kotori and Chihaya routes, so wouldn't know if she's like that or not in the visual novel
Shokugeki no Souma: Ni no Sara (13)
I Rate: 8.3
One Sentence: Continues right with the Autumn Elections and starts the Stagiaire arc off, same good ol' Shokugeki no Souma.
We're introduced to a few new characters and we learn some more about some overlooked old characters, but for the most part it feels the same: quirky characters who each have a strong trait that make the person. A few of the Polar Star residents were deprived of their screen time to make this happen, but it prevents any chance of the show becoming stale.
Music is hypey and gets you in the mood for some finger-licking goodness, and without the superb animation the memorable scenes of Shokugeki no Souma wouldn't be memorable at all.
This season of Shokugeki no Souma feels a lot like the previous, and it may be, but that is far from a bad thing. Much like its predecessor, Shokugeki no Souma: Ni no Sara is a delightful and engaging show that draws in its audience with the absurd yet amazing world of food that it presents. The season ends with Souma losing in a three-way tie in the finals (this is earlier on), but displays some of Souma's immense growth and later adventures (the Stagiaire arc, but nothing past that).
Best Girl: NONE OTHER THAN THE MIST EMPRESS HERSELF, HINAAAAAAKOOO
I Rate: 8.3
One Sentence: Continues right with the Autumn Elections and starts the Stagiaire arc off, same good ol' Shokugeki no Souma.
Music is hypey and gets you in the mood for some finger-licking goodness, and without the superb animation the memorable scenes of Shokugeki no Souma wouldn't be memorable at all.
This season of Shokugeki no Souma feels a lot like the previous, and it may be, but that is far from a bad thing. Much like its predecessor, Shokugeki no Souma: Ni no Sara is a delightful and engaging show that draws in its audience with the absurd yet amazing world of food that it presents. The season ends with Souma losing in a three-way tie in the finals (this is earlier on), but displays some of Souma's immense growth and later adventures (the Stagiaire arc, but nothing past that).
Best Girl: NONE OTHER THAN THE MIST EMPRESS HERSELF, HINAAAAAAKOOO
