Thursday, August 24, 2017

[New][Ended] WELCOME TO THE BULK POST

OKAY SO. I may have...fallen behind on anime for a while. So we have here another bulk post to catch up on some things that have been and gone that I either didn't get to post at all, or forgot to make a post for.

-[April 2017]-
Natsume Yuujin-chou Six

Summary: A beautiful yet fleeting story about people and spirits. Natsume Takeshi has been able to see Yokai ever since he was young and inherited his grandmother Reiko’s Book of Friends. He spends his days with his self-proclaimed bodyguard Nyanko-sensei, and freeing the Yokai that were bound to the book. Natsume continues to find ways to protect the precious days where he tries to find which path to follow through his connections with spirits and those involved with them.

My Opinion: This is more of what we already love. Need I say more? What should one say about the sixth sequel in a series besides that? I mean, some show's shake things up, or at least try to, but this isn't really that kind of show. If nothing ever changed, (besides character growth, you can't do without character growth, and we have that here), we wouldn't really have anything to complain about. Or at least, I wouldn't be complaining. I could happily watch an episode of this show every day of every week for the rest of my life and never get tired. It's just not realistic to expect the author to be able to come up with that much original content, so we know that eventually, it must end, but for now...
Everyone, gather round, and sit down, it's time for another season of Natsume and the Book of Friends.
For this show has but one flaw:

THERE ISN'T NEARLY ENOUGH OF IT--

World End: What do you Do at the End of the World? Are you busy? Will you Save Us?

My Opinion: This gets a double big thumbs up as a
Greatshow.
With a strong Recommendation on top. All of the characters in this show end up being splendidly fleshed out, and the story is just...wonderful. I can't say much beyond that without spoiling stuff, I feel like. I wish I had gotten to write the end review back when I watched the last episode, so I could have filled it with more passion. As it is, I've just got this pleasant feeling of Euphoria from the spot in my brain it occupies. If I had to sum up this show, I would say 'Not Cheap'. Fair warning, this show doesn't get the happiest ending, but it does have a great ending.

The story has a passing level of depth to its plot, which is good because the driving force of the show is definitely its characters more than its over-arcing story. It provides some background driving force behind the scenes, and that's all it needs to do. Give this show a shot. I was a bit worried about the show to begin with because they were going for the cheap lewd jokes, but it was ultimately just me being trigger happy and easily annoyed around those elements in shows. It never becomes a problem. So, go pick this show up and give it a shot, I say it's worth your time!
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KADO: The Right Answer
My Opinion: For as high as they raised the stakes, this show ended quite well. Honestly, once you take your story to the Universal Dimensional Forces level and beyond, you're just...what are you suppose to do with that?

I feel like this show could have been god-tier quality with a longer run time and more time to do things slowly, but as it is, it's great for what it has. It's the first time I've seen characters animated in 3D-CGi that look good. Like, really good. I've never really believed that I'd see 3D-CGI be good for anything but monsters that are meant to look weird and out of place with the rest of the show. This show proudly proved me wrong, the characters look just fine, amazing in fact. The question is, does doing it this way actually save the industry money and time? I couldn't even begin to guess, let alone make a statement. Hopefully it does, and it will raise the bar of quality.

As far as story goes, it's good. Not the most amazing thing ever, but it's very pleasant and it keeps you engaged. The characters....feel strong. Looking back on it, the show really felt...rushed. At the time, nothing seemed amiss, and honestly nothing was. However, with hindsight, I feel like I can say that if they had more time to flesh the characters and story out in a more methodical manner, things could have been even better. No one can deny that the climax just sort of....explodes onto the scene. For a while there, I thought the show would devolve into a Shounen-style battle for the finale. It didn't, I'm happy to say. I guess they just wanted to show off some of their more flashy special effects in the CGI.
The show is a slow, almost intellectual affair. More something to stimulate you thinking about things than pure entertainment itself. I'm not sure how to describe it much further than that. Give it a shot, see if it's your thing. If nothing else, make sure you watch a bunch of clips of the 3D-CGI, I think it's amazing how well they did with it.
--

Okay, that will have to do for now. Blogger is whining that I'm about to go over the Label/Tags character limit, so more at a later date.

Saturday, August 12, 2017

[New][July 2017] Knight's & Magic

In Cave! With a Box of Scraps!

Last Seen: Episode 6

Summary: A genius programmer and hardcore robot fan freak is reborn into a world of knights and magic, where huge robots called Silhouette Knights are common military features. Now reborn as Ernesti Echevalier, he uses his vast knowledge of machines and programming talents to begin to make his ultimate robot. But his actions have unexpected results, and his simple dream begins to drastically change his new world.

First Impression: This is actually...not stupid. In fact, quite good. Very easy to Hype up for.

My Opinion: Pick it up, Give it a shot. It's not your standard 'here there be robots, watch them smash into each other every episode' affair. A lot of thought and detail has gone into the world as much as the big mechs. Most important of all, the characters are well made. Not necessarily deep, but no one has really come off as binary or flat. They change and adapt subtly. I'm not precisely sure why I picked this up and started watching...maybe just to flesh out the number of shows I'm watching this season. Nevertheless, I'm greatly enjoying this show, and I have been sick to death of mech-based anime since forever and a half ago.

Also, no, I have no idea why I keep seeing its name spelled " Knight's ". It's like that in multiple places.