Jeoffrey

In my opinion, movie adaptation is better suited for Violet Evergarden stories than the anime series. The fact that this adventure has an uninterrupted seamless narrative makes it much more intense. So, I found this movie quite moving in two different parts, and for a few seconds, it managed to convince me that postmen really do deliver happiness (even though you then realize that they also bring bills and subpoenas which destroy that poetic image...). Again, the animation is really beautiful, and the soundtrack too - I was completely satisfied, although it was still missing something to have me be completely enchanted, although I just cannot figure out exactly what it is... 8.4/10.

I had not reviewed this untill now, and something tells me that now is the time to fix that. Even after almost two years, I have no problem remembering the narrative of Violet Evergarden (at least the bare bones of the narrative), I remember most of the characters and my impressions of it at the time. So it makes sense that, unlike some of you, this anime series must have left a mark on me. I cannot easily forget the stunning animation and great soundtrack. As far as the emotional aspect is concerned, some of the narratives touched my heart and I was also intrigued by the show’s premise of delivering feelings in the form of letters, which in this day and age is probably rather neglected because of modern technology. However, (and, I am agreeing on this with Zíza), I also remember some of the narratives where the emotions seemed quite forced and came on too strong, and so it never really got to me and did not seem natural enough to consider giving this anime series the highest rating. I liked the main female protagonist Violet, and I liked her efforts to understand human feelings, especially the one the romantic poets thought was the most beautiful. I also liked her almost machine-like nature, which gradually became much softer. I was personally very satisfied, and it was a pleasant experience. 7.5/10. P.S. If you are a pragmatist rather than a romantic, then, of course, you are going to see some things from a completely different point of view, even though we can all at least agree that the animation is breathtaking, so if you want to see magnificent graphics/visuals…

Now that was an absolute trip! When I was reading the premise of a movie about a world where spontaneous combustion of a human occurs, I almost immediately thought, OK here comes another Fire Force. However, I was wrong, because this is Studio Trigger, and when you look at who directed it nothing much should surprise you. From the first few minutes and while watching the supercharged, dynamic, and insane fight scene I was just open-mouthed, glued to the screen, and the pace never let up. I myself am shocked that they managed to cram a decent, interesting narrative into an action-packed movie with such a limited running time, which on the one hand makes a lot of sense and on the other hand contains, as usual with this studio, a completely exaggerated, insane and sometimes unbelievable ending!  In addition, calling one of the mechas that unexpectedly shows up Deus ex Machina is a total, genius fucking stunt that had me laughing and banging my head against the wall at the same time. Sure, it is full of tropes and clichés, the characters are pretty flat and the whole thing is incredibly over-the-top at times, yet I could not care less... The animation is not done in a style that suits everyone, however, they make the fight scenes beautifully colorful, incredibly dynamic - and simply very impressive (especially the first and then the last). Then there is the soundtrack which is just great! It comes naturally to compare this anime to Gurren Lagann, even though Promare loses by at least a point in most respects, simply because GL anime devotes more time to plot and character development... Even the action scenes in Gurren Lagann are more explosive. Well never mind, I still enjoyed the hell out of this. Everything Burns... 8/10.

I do not have much to add to Filmmaniak’s review. At the beginning it was difficult for me to keep my attention, and almost the whole time I could hardly feel any significant suspense, not to mention detect any drama throughout the movie. In my opinion, the animation lacks any real charm, however, it still manages to conjure up some nice panoramas and landscapes, so it serves its purpose. It has a very simple narrative, free of anything that would keep me glued to the screen and not let go, although, at the same time it does have a point and a message. So what did I take away from this movie in the end? I got the impression that it was just average and I also felt the desire to get out of the house tomorrow and go for a walk in the forest, or at least go for a smoke on the balcony and look at the stars... the world is big and beautiful, right? 5.5/10.

Despite all the releases in the Winter 2020 anime season, I have to tell myself at least once that enough is enough! This anime series features a generic main male protagonist with a lot of cheesy catchphrases who leaves a bad taste in my mouth. If I add to that all the boredom I experienced while watching this show and multiply it by all the not-so-funny weirdness, and add to it tonight’s episode with the penguin and animal ears then I finally ran out of patience. The conclusion is simple: enough is enough! This show is not amusing, it is simply stupid. I am not a fan of the main male protagonist at all. I find his new friend who has a succubus embryo incredibly irritating for some reason too, and I am not even going to talk about the reporter... It has been a long time since the characters in an anime series absolutely passed me by like this, so uninterested and irritating… The mechanics of the gameplay did not appeal to me either and so I missed that feeling of - yeah, I would like to play this. So, before the main male protagonist can shout "Vengeance is mine!" one more time with gusto and passion, I am just going to run as far away as possible and leave only my poor impression of the first four episodes. 3,2/10.

Let's talk about what's right and what's wrong. This anime series is an adaptation of the Japanese novel series written by Mado Nozaki, who, among other things, wrote the screenplay for the anime series Kado: The Right Answer, and this anime series is of the highest standard, just as interesting and full of philosophical insights. It starts off quite pleasantly and unobtrusively and then comes in the heavy atmosphere and suspense, the femme fatale who is portrayed in a way that sends chills down your spine, and the dramatic moments (in at least one scene) that almost make your blood run cold. The initial crime mystery narrative unfolds into a complex ethical and philosophical dilemma explored in-depth over two whole episodes, and it is all straightened out in a way that will leave a lot of you feeling like, what the hell did I just watch and is this really the end? In the end, I found it all makes quite a lot of sense, including the after-credits scene, which is a nice bonus, when I consider what the main male protagonist was like. I am quite surprised that maybe in my twisted brain I get why Zen did what he did, or maybe I just want it to make sense when it does not. Even so, I do still think there is some logic to it. It is hard to write about Babylon too much without any spoilers, so I am going to dispense with that and just state that I am actually quite comfortable with it that way. The moral overtones and intensity reminded me a bit of the movie Se7en, and it is definitely impossible not to mention the anime series Monster. What I did find irritating, however, was the fact that it got too philosophical towards the end and was too exhaustive and intense, so I had a bit of a problem keeping up with that stream of consciousness and all those ideas. At times there were holes in its logic and some situations were a bit exaggerated, so I did not find it very believable. Despite all that, in the end I was quite satisfied, in general, and thought it was a very well-executed drama even though I know a lot of people are not going to see it that way. 9/10.

I have to admit that when I tried to watch this anime series last year, the result was that I dropped it after about ten minutes because the feeling that struck me was the same as SonGokussj has stated - just one big NOPE. During the black-and-white intro, the sextuplets announce that they have come back to do a show for the people who practically know nothing about the original manga from the sixties, which was supposedly very popular in Japan. This was just very confusing, and when they topped it off by starting to churn out their "classic catchphrases", which I, logically, had never heard before and which, taken out of context, were completely unfunny, I just thought it was perhaps not the best way to attract new viewers. Furthermore, when even the main protagonists themselves seem to be aware of this, you wonder what you are watching. You also tend to question why the hell the anime’s producers are doing it at all, when they themselves know that this is just probably not going to work. The main reason I dropped it at the time, though, was the part that came after this injection of black-and-white ambivalence and nostalgia. Suddenly, you find yourself at a concert, and the sextuplets have a new image, a stylish and colorful look. In addition, they sing in a way that makes me feel like I am watching a concert by One Direction. Also, thanks to the subsequent part with the high school, which I found stupid and pretty off-putting, meant that Mr. Osomatsu was thrown into that imaginary trash can. A few months passed, and there was a very positive review praising it by Starletka, and I began to wonder whether I was wrong. I read the review and I was struck by the fact that it is supposedly very amusing, with a lot of references to other anime series, apparently already in the first episode. I started reminiscing, dusted myself off, and watched the first episode again. This time I was ready for what the opening had in store for me. Well, even the second time the intro was not the most pleasant ten minutes of my life, however, when I got further into it, suddenly everything started to fall apart, the sextuplets could not keep up their "new image" and the anime series took a completely different turn when within minutes the game was changing from one thing to another… and I really probably witnessed the most amount of references ever crammed into five minutes of one episode of an anime series. A positive thing I should probably mention about the show was the references to a well-known contemporary anime series, which almost every anime viewer (me included), would recognize. Apart from that, the ending was a bit awkward and a let-down, it was back to being black-and-white and was quite weird. However, when, at the end of the episode, the main protagonists apologized, and said something along the lines that hopefully it will be better from the next episode on, I was able to forgive them somewhat for their initial embarrassments... Whichever way I look at it, I do not think I have seen a more peculiar start to an anime series in a long time. Anyway, it really did get much better after the second episode, and the animation is pretty much the same quality as the original black-and-white anime series (only this time it is in color), however, it is still much better than having them be idols again (unfortunately, even this show is going to include that eventually...). Furthermore, I was very pleased that they managed to make fun of my first impressions in the second episode. At the same time, there are some really hilarious jokes from the second episode onwards, some are very cheesy, and some are very peculiar, just a real barrage of humor. The references even sometimes really took me by surprise, such as the reference to the anime Sushi Police (they refer to it in the skit as Pachinko Police), because I just did not expect the anime’s producers to throw in such obscure references to lesser-known shows. There was also a pretty hilarious skit referencing the movie Saw... I gradually managed to develop a relationship with the characters as well, and probably thought Ichimatsu and Jyushimatsu were the most enjoyable to watch, as the two most prominent opposites. So in the end I think this is a pretty good show, and at times it is a lot of fun, at other times it is really peculiar, and sometimes it is quite puerile, but why not...7.5/10.

In the first half of this season, this show is mostly about the music and almost nothing else. There are no subplots, no complex relationships to deal with, no romantic storylines, and when there are, they are only very peripheral. However, in the second half of the season, it is as if the anime’s producers suddenly decided that it was time for a change, so they managed to shove a love triangle (or rather a love rectangle) into the narrative. They also put a ton of emotional, romantic, and other kinds of scenes into just a few episodes. This seemed to take the show’s attention away from the music for a while. While this change was quite unexpected, I personally found it made the show feel more human because as a musical philistine I am just not going to get too worked up over a narrative around what it is like to be in a band. Unfortunately, some of the storylines had a rather unsatisfactory outcome, and in the episodes after, the focus returned to music (and nothing but music) again, so there was just a flicker of emotion, like a summer breeze in the leaves and then it disappeared again... The animation is really nice, however, that is unsurprising really, since the Kyoto animation studio is behind it, and the show’s soundtrack is also pretty good, although I would have expected this aspect to have been a little better in case of a musical anime. Despite that, it is quite interesting to see how the band gradually improves over time. The finále is quite satisfying and on the whole the impression I got was pretty good. However, if I compare it to Nodame Cantabile, which I think is the perfect music anime series, Sound! Euphonium basically could not get near my imaginary "musical anime throne". So I think it is an inferior four stars, even though I would recommend it to aficionados of both music and musical anime. 7/10.

I feel thoroughly ambivalent after finishing this movie, which is an adaptation of a RPG game supposedly quite well-known in Japan. On the one hand, I feel like I watched a decent fantasy movie that had quite a bit of potential, and some interesting ideas going on. On the other hand, I feel like I watched something that at times was badly flawed, over-the-top, and quite stupid… At first, I found it quite interesting, since the idea of interconnected worlds and how they all work together definitely caught my attention. However, they then started throwing various surprising twists and turns at me, and I was just watching everything rolling my eyes and feeling slightly irritated at how poorly they managed to execute some of the scenes, which just did not make much sense. I could not understand any of the main protagonist’s behavior at one point and I thought that the way they find out where the main villain was hiding and discover who he actually was, was a completely stupid idea. In fact, I was really not impressed or pleased at all with the big reveal in the finále and the way they presented the situation between the two protagonists seemed questionable. There were actually many moments when I raised my eyebrows as they were just not believable, however, it is impossible to go into them without spoilers. What was missing? I think that perhaps it was lacking a longer and more elaborate exposition, and maybe they could have cut down on trying to shock as much as possible with the unexpected revelations, or just thinking everything through much better and then showing it on screen. As it was, even though it was interesting, it was too bizarre and failed... I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate. 4.5/10.

When I remember how spectacular the entire third season of the anime series was, I am actually shocked that it was not the end of the whole Haikyuu!! saga, just the end of one part regarding qualifiers for the national tournament... So, in my opinion, probably the best sports anime (of all time) is back and shows the results of the next part of the (Tokyo) qualifiers. Thanks to the fact that we are now quite familiar with the Nekoma High team from the original anime series, I did not find it as uninteresting as I expected. However, I am disappointed that I did not see some new powerful opponent to play against Karasuno, because the way they built up the atmosphere around the Shiratorizawa Academy in previous seasons of the anime series was awesome. Anyway, I also enjoyed this two-part OVA - it was really intense and emotionally charged, and even though I was not such a big fan of Nekoma High half as much as I was a fan of Karasuno, and I was not as glued to the screen eager to know how it was going to turn out, it was still a very good and definitely above average show. 7/10, and now onto the regular fourth season of the Haikyuu!! anime series.