Introduction by Tireyo643
Hello and welcome to our joint review blog on anime that TobbRobb and I have watched! After getting into and watching a ridicolous amount of anime recently, we have decided to write a few short reviews every week or two weeks to share our opinions on a bunch of series and movies, both good and bad. TobbRobb will be reviewing Angel Beats and Black Lagoon, and I (Tireyo643) will be reviewing Tales from Earthsea and the Eden of the East series along with its movies The King of Eden and Paradise Lost.
Anime Reviews From User TobbRobb
Angel Beats
Angel Beats is a short one Season series with an interesting premise and a unique style.
Angel Beats tell the stories of a group of high school kids in the afterlife. Very early on it's esatblished that all the characters are, in fact, dead. The afterlife doesn't present itself as either heaven nor hell though, but instead chooses to show itself as a normal japanese school. The specific kids the show follows have noticed that following the rules of the world ends up with you disappearing into thin air. They don't take this especially well and decide to rebel against god, making damn sure that they keep their bodies and their freedom.
The story picks up with a new arrival into the afterlife who can't remember the cause of his death. Through his eyesand ears we hear the stories of all the other kids and their incredibly traumatic deaths. These are shown through flashbacks and even though they are creative and sometimes thoughtprovoking, they still feel malplaced. That is because the vast majority of the show is very lighthearted and comedic in a slapstick kind of way. Most of the dramatic tension that the shows creators obviously wanted, is almost immediately crushed by the wacky nature of everything else.
And this is where the make or break for the show comes, it goes all out for it's sillinesss and distinct sense of humour and style. It feels like a one of a kind thing, but I think it alienates a lot of people just by being the way it is. I myself found it charming it's own way and most of the characters and their silly gimmicks endearing, but seen from a critical standpoint there really isn't a lot to it. If I didn't think it seemed excessive I might even call it shallow.
Visually it looks really good, the characters animate great and it has a distinct style, which I don't think is fantastic in it's own right, but does it's trick to distinguish the show. I'm not about to start lying and call myself an expert on voice acting, especially since I watched it in Japanese, but I generally though it seemed good. There were no moments where I wished someone would shut the hell up, "which otherwise happens a lot, believe me" and I think the voice and tone generally fit the scene at hand.
Though the place I think the presentation really shines through is the music, espescially the opening. Just listen to this!
All in all, I thought the show was cute and full of personality, but from a critical standpoint it might not be that great. I won't recommend it to everyone, but I think fans of the style will find something special in here.
3 / 5
Black Lagoon
Black Lagoon is a series about a small gang of mercenaries smuggling goods by sea. It's mostly seen out of the eyes of "Rock" a Japanese salaryman who joins up with the mercs after being kidnapped by them, for whatever reason.
My connection with this series stretches back quite a bit, in the way that I've seen screenshots and short clips from it all over the internet. From that small interaction I concluded that it might be something I would enjoy, since I really liked the sharp animation and cool design. Oh, how I regret going in with high hopes, if I would have been a bit more restrained with the hype this review could have been more lenient.
Before I start really bitching and tearing the show a new one, I should note that I did not feel the need to watch more than 5 episodes before deciding it was not for me. If it gets radically better afterwards then I'm sorry. But as it stands now, I wouldn't watch more of that show unless I really had to, like at gunpoint.
To begin with I'll give props to the animators, I really like the style and flow of the characters and the action is really well made and stylish. But I just can't say that it's enough for me. Where the show succeeds in looking good, it fails in everything else. All the characters feel incredibly onedimensional, the story is inane and there are more holes in any given scenario than there is actual plot. On top of the characters being horribly uninteresting and predicatable, they literally sound bad. The voice acting is terrible, and I think that is more because of a bad script then bad actors. Though I won't rule out the possibility of it being a combination of both.
And to top it off, they couldn't even get a remotely decent opening song.
It's so obviously meant to be badass, but in my eyes it fell flat on it's face in the first two seconds. It sounds like crap and the lyrics are as nonsensical and dumb as they possibly could be.
Seriously, read these lyrics. I don't know what the fuck.
I have a big gun
I took it from my Lord
Sick with Justice
I just wanna feel you
I'm your angel
Only a ring away
You make me violate you
No matter who you are
It's all up to you
No one lives forever
Been burn in the hell
By all those pigs out there
It's always been hell
From when I was born
They make me violate them
No matter who they are
Get down on your knees
Get a good head on your shoulders
If it's for your guys
Go to the end of the earth
Do what you think
Give it with dedication
I'll put out your misery
Have no prayer
So, I keep the gun with me
For my safety
I'll do it with no sweat
They mean business
No time for sissy pig
Queen of ocean
Sing "the Volga" to you
No need to think about it
You do it or you die
Those aren't tears
Don't let it trick on you
I am hard as steel
Get out of my way
Pay back all at once
Suck away the tender part
You made a mess
For Christ sake, this rotten world
Shit out of luck
Go with my vision
Light up the fire
Right on the power
Weapon... I have it all
Get down on your knees
Get a good head on your shoulders
If it's for your guys
Go to the end of the earth
Do what you think
Give it with dedication
I'll put out your misery
You made a mess
For Christ sake, this rotten world
Shit out of luck
Go with my vision
Light up the fire
Right on the power
Weapon... I have it all
I can't even appreciate it as "so ridiculous it's funny". It's just plain dumb.
Now, I sound unneccesarily harsh throughout all of this and that was partially my point. But I don't really think it is unwatchable in any way. I'd even go so far as to say that there is a group of people for whom this is the perfect show, I'm just not part of that group. It's bad, but It's still flashy and good looking. So it might be a fun watch with friends. I wouldn't recommend it as a dumb action flick though, since there is a lot more mindnumbing exposition than combat.
Don't watch this.
2 / 5
Anime Reviews From User Tireyo643
Tales from Earthsea
I’m a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings, but I’m not a fan of Harry Potter like I mentioned several times before. When I saw this anime on Netflix I decided that I should watch it, because it reminded me of The Lord of the Rings. Above all, it was absolutely no Lord of the Rings.
I liked the atmosphere (art style) of the movie, but there was nothing really engrossing about the story. Maybe this medieval and stuff isn’t totally for me. WHAT AM I SAYING? This movie is just a bad seed. Anyways, the movie is about a deteriorating kingdom with people who are not acting like normal civilians. The people of the kingdom start to see dragons, and they believe that dragons aren’t really meant to be seen. One dragon ends up killing another dragon, so a wizard named Sparrowhawk sets out to see what is causing the conflict. Along the way, he comes across and befriends a boy named Arren or Aaron (I don’t know how to spell his name). The boy has a run-in with a girl named Teru. Even though boys and girls relationship had a rough start, they end up becoming friends. Everything else is for you all to watch, if you can hold an interest. Sure this all sounds interesting at first, but everything just turned out real dull and flat when I watched this movie.
There was one point where I went to the bathroom and had no desire to pause the movie, because most of this movie was just boring. The PG-13 rating is probably the most awkward thing about this movie, as I haven’t really seen any content that is PG-13! The action is so minor and uninteresting, it’s pathetic. This movie focuses more on story than action, so be prepared for some downtime. Also, the ending was pretty stupid. There isn’t really much more to say about this anime, because I didn’t really like it.
Out of all the characters, Sparrowhawk was the most annoying character, as he had terrible voice acting; he actually reminded me of Ben Stein with his long drone of a tone. For sure, Sparrowhawk is not as cool as Gandalf, and NEVER WILL BE! The characters monologues and lines can get VERY ANNOYING VERY QUICK. It’s like you could almost predict what the characters were going to say next, though you really can’t. I hate that feeling of predictableness in words when I watch a movie.
Summary in a nutshell: Tales from Earthsea is an anime that is just too boring and way too droned, though it has a good art style. If you watch and enjoy this movie, you are truly bored… and I feel sorry for you! This review was so hard to write, but at least my point is across that I do not recommend this anime… unless you like this sort of dull medieval stuff. Tales from Earthsea was not an anime for me.
2 / 5
Eden of the East, The King of Eden, and Paradise Lost
I liked this series and its movies very much. Although there wasn't a lot of violence in this anime, as there was more mystery than action, it was very much entertaining and attention grabbing. This series was about a young man who lost his memory, Takizawa, and he ends up naked in front of the White House with just a phone and a gun in his hands, and he comes to figure out that he is filthy rich as well later on. He meets and befriends a Japanese girl that he met in front of the White House, which was a rather strange encounter worth watching. Throughout the series the young man tries to figure out what exactly he is supposed to do, and to see if he is the terrorist behind the Careless Sunday attacks. In the process, he meets people who are just like him in playing a dangerous game to save Japan, and there are a total of twelve people selected; Takizawa does not meet all twelve selecao. If anyone loses the game, Mr. Outside will supposedly kill the losers. The people playing along with Takizawa haven’t really had a good glimpse or idea of who Mr. Outside is, except one. Takizawa ends up erasing his memories again, but that will be way later on in the series, and you’ll be able to witness what happens next in the movies.
There were quite a few perverted moments in this anime, and mostly they were incredibly pointless and did absolutely nothing to improve the story. I did not really want to see any asses… though everyone has one. It’s crazy and a bit strange that there was one female that showed her ass out of the entire series, which is something that I don’t get as everything else was just Japanese men. The good thing though is that you will not see any penises in this anime, as the frontal parts are censored. I was quite restless when I watched the episode where the Johnny Hunter cuts off men’s penises with a cigar cutter just for her satisfaction! The Johnny Hunter part of the series probably is the only good and not pointless perverted moment in the series, as it was actually more humorous and yet unsettling than anything. Also, the Johnny hunter likes showing her ass, so it’ll give you all a break from the men, LOL. There isn't really any content that I would consider mature in this anime, as I think that everything is just PG-13. Blood is blood, asses are asses, and who doesn't curse anymore? So, it's all something that we haven't already seen before.
Getting past the perverted and pointless moments in this anime, I think that it had a good and interesting enough story even though it was very unclear at times. The introduction and ending credits were really great, and even though I do not understand Japanese, I liked the music that went with it! Take a look at the intro and the ending credits to this show! The ending credits is very creative.
My big reoccurring interest in this anime can be described by the amount of curiosity on what would happen next. Anything that can make me curious is a good sign, so keep that in mind. The environments in Eden of the East are very realistic and visually appealing, and the voice acting was pretty good (I like to watch English-dubbed stuff, because it's in my language and no reading is involved). The two movies that came after the series did a good job summing everything up, though at times it again was not clear on explaining what was exactly going on.
So all in all, this was a very good and enjoyable series and the two movies were also good! You could almost say that this anime is a guilty pleasure of mine! Although, there were unclear moments in the story, this series is sure to grab your attention if you like this kind of crazy dysfunctional stuff and if you don't mind a little bullshit. This anime is not for everyone; however, it was an anime for me! It’s on Netflix streaming, so do check it out!
4 / 5
Closing Comments
Thank you for reading our reviews, and we look forward to seeing you all in a week or two when we review even more anime shows or movies just for you!
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