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So, a couple of days ago (maybe it was yesterday, can't remember), I decided to write a pretty mediocre review of BRS on MAL, and now I just started doing it when I'm bored and such... So I was thinking, since I usually tend to write a short review of shows here too, I might as well just write them on MAL, and copy them over here... I mean, if I wasn't so lazy, I could probably write full length-reviews here to start with, but w/e.. Also, this board supports BBCode so GG!
Elfen Lied - 5/10 “Are you enjoying this?”
A series so notorious for it’s nudity, gore and overall adult themes, loved by so many people, even called a masterpiece or “the best ever” by some... Yet when I watch this, I can’t help but feel like this is all a petty excuse for unnecessary nudity and excessive gore, paired with a pretty sub-par story.
Some people are turned away by just the first 10 minutes, which are filled with copious amounts of blood & gore, as well as fact that the killer is also fully nude, the whole time.
Some people say that it’s not really a proper start to the show, because it’s not all like this, and it’ll get much better later on, but to be honest, I think this is a pretty good preview of what you can expect;
Excessive amounts of gore, nudity & a pretty mediocre story.
Story: (6 / 10)
The story, while not all that great, isn’t really worthy of being called horrible either.
Basically, demonic girl escapes from facility and starts living with 2 cousins. She’s then hunted by the people she escaped from as they’re trying to recapture her.
That’s it. There’s nothing more to it, and yet, people think this is some kind of innovative masterpiece... To add upon this, the part of the story I described, while being the overlying plot, doesn’t really take precedence all of the time. A lot of the time, episodes may just focus on the cousins daily lives, taking care of Nyu, and flashbacks to their childhood.
Which brings us to the reason why this show is not rated nearly as low as I would’ve first thought; the flashbacks.
Here we get to learn about what Nyu’s childhood was like, being bullied and discovering her “demonic” powers. We also get to share some tragic, and happy (but mostly tragic) events of Kouta, one of the cousins, past.
(The OVA for this show, which I didn’t actually know was an OVA until afterwards, also add to Nyu’s flashbacks).
This “arc”, if you want to call it that, was one of the main reasons I could keep going with the show, and was probably the only reason I could even remotely connect with any of the characters in the show.
As for the later parts of the story, the anime actually broke off from the manga, and made its own standalone ending (because iirc, the manga wasn’t finished at the time), but if you ask me, I think waiting would’ve been a better choice...
Art: (5 / 10)
The art quality is very much just decent. It has a very “old-school feeling” artstyle, and some of the gory parts are also quite well done. However, character designs aren’t really anything special, if you ask me, which kind of brings us to another problem...
Fanservice; This show has it. A ton of it. I hear a lot of people saying things like “But dude, it’s part of the mature theme of the series”, and saying it makes more sense for it to be there, than every character always being perfectly covered up.
But really, this just seem like even more pathetic excuses for some nudity. I mean, they even have a scene where Kouta needs to change Nyu’s clothes, because for some reason, they just couldn’t have the female cousin do that...
Sound: (5 / 10)
I’d definitely say the OP, “Lilium”, is absolutely perfect for this show. It does well in setting the mood for the episodes, but this is sort of countered by the ED song, “Be Your Girl”. See, while the lyrics for this song fits the characters very well, it’s the upbeat and happy tone of the song, and the poorly timed cliffhangers that come with the song, that really ruins the feeling of the show.
Basically, you have this sort of dark and moody, almost scary OP set the mood for the episode, then you get to see all this gory, butchering and whatever dark things might take place, and then just as you’re starting to get into it, you’re interrupted in the middle of that sad or depressing scene by this super upbeat & happy song... Granted, I think it’s a fantastic song, but it very much ruined the feeling for me.
If you’re looking for a fantastic OST, however, I’d advise you to look elsewhere. Basically, this anime’s OST consists of 4 or so different versions of the OP... Sure, it may sound good, especially when you play it in different styles, but really, it gets repetitive.
As for the voice acting, Nyu is (early on) probably one of the most annoying characters I’ve ever heard, however I can’t really blame the VA for this, as it’s just how the character is designed.
Even putting that aside, I feel like a lot of the dialog was pretty stale, and the sound effects aren’t really anything to gawk at either.
Characters: (4 / 10)
Once again, I found most of the characters pretty annoying. The male cousin, Kouta, is probably the dumbest character I’ve ever seen, and during the flashbacks, he’s just totally ignorant as to what is happening around him (seriously, not even a child is this dumb).
As for Nyu... Well... This is easier if you look at her as two different characters. You have Nyu, the less-intelligent, one-word cutie, who is a big contender for the most annoying character. I mean, all she does is say the same word over and over, then she’s suddenly naked and someone has to help her dress...
Then you have Lucy, the “real” version of the two, if you’d like. At first, Lucy will mostly only appear as a sort of “defense mechanism” for Nyu, like when she gets hurt or the like. Because of this, she will come out, butcher some people, then just go back to being Nyu.
I think this is too bad, as Lucy is by far the most interesting character in the series.
A lot of the side characters help portray some feelings of love, loneliness, sadness, etc. throughout the show, but there’s not really anyone I felt like I could relate to, or even cared for that much.
Enjoyment: (4 / 10)
Had the entire show been as good, and well done as the flashback episodes, then this would’ve gotten a much higher score from me. Unfortunately, this is not the case, and my opinion remain the same. Elfen Lied, to me, is still a pretty pathetic excuse for unnecessary nudity and excessive gore. The story was pretty lackluster, I didn’t really care about any characters, and the ones that were around would mostly just annoy me.
Any feelings they would have managed to build up throughout the episode would quickly vanish as soon as you heard the ED, but there were truly some depressing scenes here and there.
Yet again, these mostly appeared during the flashbacks, and one of the more well-known, is probably a certain “dog killing” scene.
All in all, a pretty mediocre show. Could’ve been done much better, and probably would’ve been if they hadn’t strayed from the manga (then again, don’t know when they started doing that, maybe it was doomed from the start).
MM! - 4/10 (DROPPED) In a lot of anime, we see lots of perverts, or weird fetishes amongst some people, and this all serves to make them who they are as a character (in most cases), but what if an anime would focus almost solely on one pervert, and his fetish, or rather his quest to get rid of his perversion?
That could be a pretty funny series (especially in the case of a masochist) if done right, but unfortunately, I don’t feel like MM! succeeded.
Story: (3 / 10)
So we have our MC, Sado Taro - masochist, who wants to get rid of this perversion of his. To do this, he seeks the help of a special club at his school, devoted to helping people with their problems. Enter Isurugi, a sadist with god-complex.
Now, how is this sadist going to help this masochist get rid of his perversion? Well, the obvious thing is to... Torture... him...
Basically, the entire series is about Sado being tortured and beaten in various ways, to cure him of his perversion, with some romantic sub-plot (at least in the first couple of episodes), and the rest of the time it’d just be about Sado’s daily life as a sadist.
Art: (7 / 10)
The animation quality and character designs are actually pretty good, to be honest. While not anything fantastic, the backgrounds make for a nice setting, and the characters are detailed enough to not make you think of them as just paint on a background.
As expected from an ecchi show, it also has quite the amount of fanservice. Ofcourse, if you like that stuff, then by all means...
Sound: (6 / 10)
2 episodes isn’t really much to judge the sound quality by, but I did actually continue to listen to the first OP & ED songs. The OP, “HELP!! -Hell Side-”, really helps set the mood for the series, in a way. The ED is also quite the cute song, and overall I don’t really think there’s any big flaws in the sound department.
Character: (5 / 10)
Personally, I found most of the characters kinda dumb, or at least the way they behave. Yes, I understand they’re all this way for the comedic purposes of the show, but still...
Basically, the cast consist of: (as far as episode 2 goes)
Sado - The masochist.
Isurugi - Sadist with god-complex.
Yuuno - The reason for Sado’s masochism, and has a fear of men.
Hayama - Sado’s best friend, and avid crossdresser.
Mostly ignoring Hayama, all character interactions are pretty much predictable, regarding the first 3 characters. A sadist and a masochist would obviously result in a “funny” scene where she beats him, he likes it, so then she beats him some more.
A man trying to interact with a girl with a fear of men would result in the girl being freaked out, probably hurting the man, and running away.
Because of some of the stupid choices some of the characters keep making, it all feels very forced and makes it hard to like, or care about certain characters.
Enjoyment: (3 / 10)
Really, I’m not the type of person to drop anime this easily, but man, I just couldn’t take it with this one. The entire time during these first two episodes (mind you, that’s almost 40 minutes), was spent repeating the same type of scene for comedic purpose, with some attempts at making a story fit in among the chaos.
To be honest, it just all felt pretty forced, and was all rather annoying.
Then again, if you find this type of stuff funny, and don’t mind repetitiveness, then boy, is this show for you!
Personally though, I wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole...
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - 2/10 “Don't forget. Believe in yourself. Not in the you who believes in me. Not the me who believes in you. Believe in the you who believes in yourself.”
There’s always going to be that one (or handful of) anime that everybody just seem to worship, and that all your friends tell you that you NEED to watch, because it’s going to blow your mind.
And it does blow... but not really in the way you'd expect...
For me, that anime is TTGL. The way this was described to me by a couple of friends made it sound like the best thing ever; it had mecha, great humor, awesome story & action, beautiful women and everything else you could ever wish for in a series. But in the end, I still can’t see what’s so good about this show, or why people idolize it.
Story: (3 / 10)
The story, is pretty dull, to be honest. It’s nothing you haven’t seen before, nor is it innovative in any respect. A couple of friends find a giant robot and go on to defeat the evil leader. Sure, there are some twists here and there to keep you going “wat”, but in the end it’s your standard “hero single-handedly defeats the enemy against all odds”.
But then, halfway through, when you think “Oh, this is it, it’s finally over” they pull a time-skip out of nowhere, and you now have a somewhat different story... To be honest, I thought the second part was slightly better (atleast in terms of story), since it’s more about the intrigue and drama between characters, and the political games and whatnot, as opposed to the over-the-top battles against evil.
That is, until the end, where they pull some more twists out of their sleeves, and yet again you’re left saying “wat”.
Art: (7 / 10)
Admittedly, even if I didn’t really like the rest of the series, I can’t say that it was ugly. In fact, the art was probably the best part of it, for me. Most scenes are pretty good quality, with smooth animations, and well detailed characters. However, there are some scenes that change the artstyle into something more... hard to describe... It makes it look a bit more “gritty”, so to speak, though yet again, I wouldn’t call it ugly.
Sound: (5 / 10)
As I’ve said before, I’m not one to usually take note of background music, and the few times it was prominent enough I was probably too baffled or annoyed to actually care enough.
As for the voice actor’s, I personally watched the dub for this show (so this factors into the score a bit), and it was one of the most annoying experiences I’ve ever had.
I just can’t stand Simon’s voice, and his constant shouting “Bro, bro, bro, bro, bro!”. I can’t really remember any other VA that really stood out either, but I would highly recommend anyone who wants to watch this to do so with subs.
Character: (4 / 10)
The characters were pretty mediocre, in my opinion. I didn’t feel like there was much character development at all (looking at you here, Simon), nor did I ever really care for any character all that much. To be honest, I found most of the characters either stupid or just simply annoying, and since this (atleast the latter) didn’t really change as the show went on, it really ruined the show (further) for me.
Enjoyment: (2 / 10)
This show is a constant mess of over-the-top action scenes, manly screams, fanservice, and bad comedy. Evidently, a lot of people are going to find this show absolutely amazing and hilarious, but in my case.. well, I guess I just couldn’t handle all the epicness.
Still, if you like all of this stuff, or enjoyed any previous similar works by Gainax (FLCL) you’ll most likely love this as well, but if you’re looking for something atleast a bit serious, then this is not for you... at all.
Black Rock Shooter (TV) - 8/10 Story: (7 / 10)
I hear a lot of people saying the story in BRS is pretty average, and to be honest, I can’t really argue. In reality, all it’s about is the problems that exist in the friendship between a couple of school girls. The “otherworld” parts, while cool, do not really enhance the story in any way, and in the end, it’s still about a couple of girls and their friendship.
However, having said that, I don’t actually think the story is bad. In fact, I found the development of their emotional problems to be quite interesting, and the (few) “plot twists” kept things interesting throughout the series.
Some other people I know who watched this felt it was all very confusing, because not much is explained until rather late in the show. While this is true, I find that the somewhat fast pacing of the story will keep you thinking about other stuff, until you can finally get your answers.
Art: (9 / 10)
I think the art in BRS is absolutely gorgeous! In fact, this is probably one of the better looking shows I’ve seen. The character designs are great, and the overall art, especially the “otherworld” parts are visually stunning.
The action scenes all have very fluent animations, and the aesthetics help set the mood, somewhat. In addition, something I noticed on my second time through, was the attention to detail in the background, in some scenes.
Sound: (8 / 10)
First of, let’s talk about the music. Now, I’m not one to usually notice background music, unless it’s very prominent, and thus, I’ll mostly comment on the opening & ending songs here.
The opening song, “Black Rock Shooter”, written by Supercell’s Ryo, and performed by vocaloid Hatsune Miku, was a great choice, in my opinion. In addition to being a good song, it was the original song that Ryo wrote after being inspired by the original artwork of BRS. Being one of the things that help spawn this wonderful franchise, it only makes sense for it to be used in the anime.
As for the ending song, I also find it very fitting, as well as being a good song. The song, “Bokura no Ashiato”, is also written by Ryo, and is performed by Supercell’s Koeda. To be honest, I just adore Koeda, and can’t possibly dislike anything she sings, but this has also grown to be one of my all time favorite songs. The lyrics and overall mood of the song also fits pretty well with the series itself.
The sound also receives bonus points, since it features one of my favorite VA’s, Hanazawa Kana. I feel like she fits the role of Mato very well, and while the other VA’s aren’t anything fantastic, they all did a good job in adding to their characters.
Character: (7 / 10)
Putting character designs (art-wise) aside, I think the characters in BRS are quite... interesting.
I feel like the characters are pretty relatable (even if some character’s actions seem rather stupid), and a character like Kagari really helps to balance out the cuteness of Mato & Friends.
Other than that, I also think they did a great job with Kagari, because to this day she remains one of the most disturbed little girls I’ve ever seen in an anime...
As for the “otherworld” characters, there isn’t really any dialog or anything to go by, but somehow I still get this feeling of they all being very awesome and in some way “well developed” characters.
Enjoyment: (9 / 10)
I can certainly see why many people may not like this, but personally, I enjoyed this show a lot. I found the mix of “cute girls do things” (at first, at least), and awesome fighting scenes to be very good, and even if the story isn’t anything amazing, it still managed to keep me interested.
I’m a bit disappointed that it’s so short, though (only 8 episodes), as I feel it could have been longer.
FLCL - 4/10 “Nothing amazing happens here. Everything is ordinary.”
Do you enjoy watching a show which won’t give you a headache from overthinking everything every new scene? Do you find the drama and well-written dialog between characters to be one of the high points in a series? Maybe you just like to sit back and watch a beautiful piece of art in the evening...
Then, boy, is this show not for you!
Having been called an artistic masterpiece by some, and a total mess of bullshit by others, there’s no doubt that FLCL is probably as far from the above statements that you can get.
With it’s very fast-paced nature, the symbolisms and the general confusing feeling of the show, this is not something you would watch for fun...
Story: (5 / 10)
At a first look you’d probably, like many other, say the story is pretty much non-existent, and that the entire series is made up by random scenes put together, trying to merge way too many genres or styles. And while this may be true, there’s also no doubt that there is a deeper meaning behind everything that happens, and that it’s all sort of a metaphor for something more complex.
However, this is not going to be what your common viewer is probably sitting and thinking about while watching the show (even less so seeing how fast-paced it all is). The way it was explained to me was that it’s all pretty much a story about maturing, and a young boy's journey into adulthood. And yes, if you really take the time to analyze every aspect of each scene, then you could probably reach this conclusion rather easily, but seriously, people don’t do this...
This is why I could technically rate the show very high in the story section, looking at it from an analytic, or “art-perspective”, but I’m not... I’m rating it lower, because when something makes you think this much about what it’s all really about, while giving you barely any hints along the way at all, it doesn’t deserve a higher score, in my opinion.
Art: (7 / 10)
The general art quality, the animations, and the mix of different art styles is actually very good, to be honest. It all serves to make it feel like this is really supposed to be some kind of artwork, and in some scenes it all helps to portray the confusing and weird things that are taking place.
Sound: (7 / 10)
Both the voice acting, and music is also pretty good. While I personally don’t find the opening or ending songs very appealing, they all fit very well with the overall feel and theme of the show. This fact also applies to the background music, which also goes very well with all the weird stuff going on.
Characters: (5 / 10)
Most characters actually seem to be designed, yet again, around this concept of it all being a work of art. There really isn’t a lot of development at all (then again, it’s only 6 episodes), a lot of things the characters do is very stupid, and weird, and there really isn’t anything that makes you relate to, or feel for a character. It’s all just way too weird...
Enjoyment: (4 / 10)
When I see somebody mention FLCL, I don’t start thinking about “that one show about maturing, and it’s deep symbolism”. I think about that one weird show that just left me saying “wat”, over and over; Because to me, that’s all it is. It’s not a piece of art, it’s not a story about maturing, it’s a complete trainwreck of weird scenes put together, to appeal to a very specific type of audience.
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