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    Jade's Anime Review 1,2,3

    This is my review of Animes using episodes 1, 2, 3!

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Highschool DxD

Friday, January 4, 2013 9:23 PM Posted by Unknown , 0 Comments
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[ハイスクールD×D]
This is a review of an ecchi! 18+/NSFW

DxD is a light novel turned anime brought to you by studio TNK (G-On Riders, Hand Maid May). The anime ran from January to March of 2012 and had 12 episodes plus 6 OVAs. Season 2 will be out presumably in 2013.

The story revolves around the protagonist Issei Hyodo, a lecherous second-year student in Kuoh Academy. Kuoh was once a girls-only school but has since recently become Co-Ed which meant that there would be more girls as opposed to men in the school. Issei, however, is unable to find himself a girlfriend until one day a girl named Yuma from another school confessed her love to him. Quickly falling in love, the love then short lived as Yuma reveals herself at the end of their date to be a Fallen Angel seeking to kill him for being 'dangerous to her kind'. Pierced through his gut, Issei was left to die, his only regret being that he had died without having fondled beautiful breasts. Issei wakes up assuming all that had happened was a dream. No one seems to remember that Issei had a girlfriend or even the existence of Yuma. Issei soon finds out that he was resurrected as a demon and made into a servant by Rias Gremory, a girl he thought was just a beautiful woman but in reality a demon of great prowess. With Rias as his mentor and three other demons in service to Rias, the "chess pieces" seek to live on.

I'm going to have to admit that I cheated. I'm currently (as of this post) on episode 7. Initially, I disliked the anime but having watched only three, I felt I didn't have enough material to review on and thus watched more episodes. I was ready to review by episode 5 but that was when the show got interesting for me and I watched on.

One of the reasons I disliked the anime was because something about the art just felt hastily done in certain places. The characters are drawn beautifully and I especially adore the expressions the characters make with their beautiful eyes. Some scenes, however, depict them in such awkward expressions that the mood of the scene was ruined for me. It wasn't that it was the wrong expression for the scene, but rather, it just looked as though it was produced with such haste that the quality of the art crashed in certain areas. Those that watched the first season of Vampire Knight should know what I mean. I just didn't feel right in some scenes and that's the best way I can describe it.

Speaking of "didn't feel right", the background music that the show sometimes puts in just doesn't fit sometimes. The soundtrack is beautiful and I especially liked the violin/flute piece "Shinsou no Ojousama Desu". Certain scenes where this melody was placed just felt like it didn't fit. Needless to say, it irked me quite a bit though not as much as a specific character's voice.

This is an ecchi anime. I think there's a specific fetish in Japan for squirrel voiced girls. These girls are ditzy, shy, and extremely naive. They fit the clueless subservient girl role and are unnecessarily gratuitous. Think Mikuru from Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I'm not a big fan of characters like these when they talk a lot. I mean a LOT. In DxD, this girl's name is Asia Argento. If a character like Asia exists in so many different animes, though I dislike (even hate) them, I can't say too much against it other than the fact they're not my type of character.

 The characters I really got to see within three episodes were Issei, Rias, and Koneko. I actually liked Issei a lot because thanks to Rias and his new responsibilities, he ends up not being as lecherous as he was at the beginning of the anime. He's simple minded and easy to relate to which makes him a great protagonist. Rias wasn't a very fluid character and seemingly falls apart more and more as the anime goes on. I wasn't a big fan of her, though I'm sure many who are watching this for the boobs won't be affected much. Koneko has the personality of Nagato from Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, looks the part of a generic loli, and like the usual overplayed irony of a small girl, her power is that she's immensely strong. Three episodes really didn't show me much of the characters at all. After three episodes, I was still unsure of each character presented. Considering that the anime goes on for 12 episodes, you usually want to see characters set within the first three episodes and then develop within the short series they're presented in. I was disappointed in the character presentation and felt the lack of character presence was not mysterious.

 The story has its mystery and its intrigue. I was overall satisfied with the anime only because the story wasn't horrifyingly absurd and ludicrous (see Akikan!). It wasn't extremely well written and after awhile feels cliche, but the story is fluid enough to keep watching and the episodes end on a cliffhanger to make you want to watch more. Fan service was at about 50/50 so I expected a bit more story depth but especially after three episodes, it didn't meet my expectations and I wasn't fully expecting it to.

 This anime is average at best and I feel disappointed for this show being just average. It has aspects of what I love in anime such as beautiful characters mixed in innocence and sin. It has a beautiful OST. It has its dark elements and I do so love animes with a serious atmosphere. But execution of everything just lacked. The art fell apart in certain scenes, the music didn't always fit the mood, characters feel a bit underdeveloped, and the story feels cliche. I'd have to say that it's difficult to disappoint me when it comes to an anime, but this one is pretty much there. On the bright side, at least the fan service, when done, is gratuitous.


  • Story: 6/10
  • Animation: 5/10
  • Sound: 7/10
  • Characters: 5/10
  • Overall: 5/10

Sakuraso No Pet Na Kanojo

Tuesday, December 18, 2012 2:18 AM Posted by Unknown , 0 Comments
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Konomi Suzuki - DAYS of DASH 2012 CD Album Cover

さくら荘のペットな彼女 [lit. Pet Girl of Sakura Dormitory]

 Sakuraso is a 24 episode anime version of the Manga/Light Novel of the same name by Hajime Kamoshida. It was released in Japan on October 2012.

 Sakuraso is a dormitory for "problematic students" and our main character Sorata Kanda, a second year student, lives in this dormitory. Being a kind-hearted guy, he had no choice but to live in Sakuraso when he started fostering stray cats which were forbidden in normal dorms. He is eventually given the responsibility of taking care of Mashiro Shiina who is a genius artist that lacks common sense like dressing herself. 

Initially watching the first episode, first thing that's easy to see is just how well done the animation is.  The color schemes all work together well to allow the viewers to immerse themselves in the story that's unfolding. The characters move fluidly, the background doesn't stand out against the foreground, and the scenes transition without noticeable flaws. 
I'm not a huge fan of animes where all the characters are beautiful, but this one doesn't feel overdone. Sorata lives in a dormitory full of people that just didn't fit in. Jin Mitaka makes a note within the first three episodes about how normal people cannot understand geniuses. I'll get more into that later, but this works as an excuse as to why the characters within the dormitory are all good looking. Long story short on the animation, it makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Within scenes that are meant to make it memorable, like when Sorata meets Mashiro, the scene is warm. The way they animated the petals and the filtering of light to give warmth, it made that scene memorable. The music playing in the background to fill the lack of character speech was also well done.

The soundtrack so far (as I've only seen three episodes to review), is a bit repetitive, but serves its purpose. I personally didn't find them to be all that unique or profound so I can't say I remember how any song felt.  However, I found that the sound effects really made the anime present the atmosphere well. Take, for example, the scene where Sorata meets Mashiro, he shoves food in his mouth and the sound effect really amplifies the awkward silence between the two protagonists.

 The lack of speech in a lot of the scenes really worked as good respite from some of the characters' voices. Misaki Kamiigusa's voice actor in Japanese is Natsumi Takamori. I'm not sure if they wanted to portray Misaki as an obnoxiously loud character or if it's this particular voice actress' niche, but this alone gave me harshly mixed feelings about Misaki. Generally, I love the obnoxiously loud and cute characters... the ones that are immature and generally can't be understood. She wasn't the only character where I was a bit disappointed in voice acting. Mashiro so far only talks with no emotion and in a bit of a whisper. Think Rei Ayanami of Evangelion or Yuki Nagato of Haruhi Suzumiya franchise. 

 From what I've seen so far it's obvious that this anime will eventually show Mashiro's character develop. From what I know about characters like her, I have a feeling she will "feel" and "express" by the end of the show but will never lose that voice or the way she talks. I believe there's likely a ton of guys out there where this type of character is their favorite. It's not mine. Girl characters, I feel, shouldn't be divided into obnoxiously open, obnoxiously scared, or obnoxiously dead. Anime world, I think we should have a girl character revolution.

 The characters are all a bit cliche. In this sense, I feel like this anime resembled Angel Beats. They establish character personalities and this is the script they basically follow until a deus ex machina is introduced where these characters basically randomly adopt another personality to create a twist in plot.

 For the first three episodes, I feel the plot isn't linear but isn't sporadic either. The characters develop rather smoothly and in turn like most animes. Each episode presents a new event for the purpose of developing characters and in turn feels a bit like a slice of life anime. It's not good versus evil where evil is coming and you know what to expect each episode. It's "I want to find homes for the cats" or "I'm not doing so good in class". It's difficult to assess the plot from an anime that presents episodes this way especially from only watching three episodes, but I feel the anime within three episodes introduced the characters well, set up the upcoming plot-line well, and isn't sub-par.

 Overall, I really liked the anime. The music wasn't notable but served its purpose well. The sound effects were well done where they were put in. The art is well done and it seemed like everything flowed together nicely. Nothing stood out too much and nothing was underplayed. I really appreciated the atmosphere the scenes presented. The characters are simple in design and, though cliche, isn't badly set up. The storyline is not too random, but not too linear, and makes this an interesting anime to watch.
 
  • Story: 7/10
  • Animation 9/10
  • Sound 5/10
  • Characters 7/10
  • Overall 7/10


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