Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet Review

iblessall 2 Comments

I promise I won’t be posting OPs every time I do a review, but Gargantia‘s does such a good job of sonically explaining the whole show in the first 20 seconds of the song that I just had to post it. The song sounds just like the setting looks, and unity of that sort is always impressive.

So, a quick plot summary: A space soldier named Ledo and his incredibly advanced robot suit/companion Chamber get knocked out of the galactic battle for the survival of humanity and wind up on Earth. However, this isn’t the Earth you know. There’s no land left. The entire planet is one huge ocean, with the remnants of the previous civilization resting at the bottom of it. The current inhabitants live on fleets of interlocking ships, where they grow their food, work and live their surprisingly beautiful lives. This isn’t your typical post-apocalyptic world; but a world whose people found a way to survive and now live pretty awesome lives. And when you see how beautiful the land…erm, ocean…they inhabit is, you’ll understand why.

Continue reading →

The Devil is a Part-Timer! Review (Part 2)

iblessall Leave a comment

Welcome to the second part of this review of The Devil is a Part-Timer! By way of thanks, here’s yet another beauty of a facial expression, courtesy of the Devil’s most trusted general. (Yes, these really happen during the show.)

ashiya gasp

Today, I want to continue to highlight the best characteristics of the show, and hopefully make a case as to why you should consider watching it. In the first part, I touched on the show’s clever use of situational humor and its use of the odd premise to take an outsider’s look at human life as we live it today. In this half of the review, I want to look at more closely at show elements that contribute to its charm and overall enjoyableness.

Continue reading →

The Devil is Part-Timer! Review (Part 1)

iblessall Leave a comment

If you skipped the video because you weren’t sure what it was, correct your mistake now. It is the opening credit sequence (OP) of the show I want to gush about today: The Devil is a Part-Timer!, and I love the opening song, particularly the very beginning.

Unnecessary ending punctuation in the title aside (and let’s be honest, with addition of this gem of a show, series punctuated with exclamation marks are doing pretty good with me so far), The Devil is a Part-Timer! (or Hataraku Maō-sama!) has a lot of good things going for it, primarily a charming character that is both unexpected and delightful. And by character, I don’t mean a character in the show, I mean the overall nature of the show is to be relatable, immersive, and disarmingly funny. I struggled for a bit, trying to think up something to which I could compare it, but it really is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. It would be a scandal for the show not to continue into a second season, but that’s news for another day.

Continue reading →

What Anime Should I Watch? Anime Rankings by an Anime Newcomer

iblessall 2 Comments

Updated rankings can be found here: https://reallifeanime.wordpress.com/ongoing-anime-rankings/

What anime should I watch next? This is a difficult question for anyone who has just finished an anime they really enjoyed, or for anyone who wants to try out anime for the first time. There are many anime reviews drifting around online, but it can be tough to wade through all of them. To help answer this question, I have created a list of anime, ranking them into three tiers. Consider them a list of anime recommendations, if you wish. I plan to eventually elaborate on my rankings, but for now, I hope that my qualifications and rankings will help you cut through the many anime reviews online and address the question: what anime should I watch?

Tier I Qualifications: Great characters, top-notch storytelling, compelling character relations, a potent human element and transcending themes. angel-beatsAll of these are uplifting in nature, at least by the end of the story. Furthermore, they all possess the ability to create an emotional reaction in the viewer, while simultaneously providing room for deep though. In short, they are anime that I would recommend to anyone solely on their virtues, although some I might give caution about for certain elements (such as blood, sexuality, etc.). Among the top 4 in the tier, I have no set ranking; they are essentially interchangeable depending on my mood at the time. The fifth is solidly set as the fifth-place show on the list.

TIER I

T1: Angel Beats! (2010)

T1: Sword Art Online (2012)

T1: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (2009-2010)

T1: Blast of Tempest (2012-2013)

2: A Certain Scientific Railgun (2009-ongoing)

Continue reading →

Attack on Titan Review: Episodes 1-6

iblessall 1 Comment

If Sword Art Online was the hyped anime of 2012, it seems like Attack on Titan has taken that position for 2013. I’m frankly not even sure how I heard about this show, or how I knew that it had been hyped, which perhaps just goes to show how loud the attention it was getting truly was. I generally consider myself out of the loop as far as anime news goes (most news, really), but somehow I heard that it was really, really good. Of course, upon hearing about the show and mysteriously absorbing a large amount of positive impressions, hipster me dug his stubborn heels in and protested, more or less, that “the majority of people are idiots, and so their opinions on things like this are probably wrong or misguided,” and so I just ignored the hype and continued to trawl through the depths of Hulu looking for something above average to watch.

Fortunately, I have seem to have learned somewhat from hipster me’s rather abysmal judgment history (Sword Art Online, Fairy Tail, How I Met Your Mother) and decided two nights ago to watch the first episode of Attack on Titan.

Attack on Titan

Continue reading →

Cowboy Bebop: First Impressions

iblessall 1 Comment

A repost from another blog:

“Tonight, I decided to watch Cowboy Bebop, because it is almost universally acclaimed as the best anime ever made. What follows are my thoughts as I watch.

XXX

  • I really like the color symmetry between rose turning red and the blood in the flashbacks.
  • Opening credits: Music was not what I was expecting.
  • Beginning: this reminds me a lot of Firefly, even though I only watched a few episodes of Joss Wheldon’s beloved show.
  • Trying very hard not to be distracted by the animation quality. After watching stuff like SAO  and Attack on Titan, your expectations of the animation level really change.
  • The stereotypical bartender…and someone said Baka! Uh oh, people with guns going after a pregnant lady. Oh, noes! Not the kitty!
  • Hm, not really sure what this “red-eye” stuff is.
  • Man, the conglomeration of different things is just blowing my mind right now. An Indian shaman, someone named Asimov, eye drop that help you kill people, spaceships, bounties…oh, yeah, I bet the withdrawal from those eye-drops is killer. And the lady speaks Spanish…
  • I think he just stole the eye drops while being choked. Champion work, dude.
  • Trying to remember what these funky guitar riffs in between scenes remind me of. FLCL, maybe?
  • Haha the surprised face cutscenes. Oh, she doesn’t have a  baby…just dangerous stuff. Which could be babies, I guess.
  • Whoa…it’s all fun and games until you give up on life. What an ending. Maybe too unannounced and random-seeming for me.
  • FLOATING CIGARETTES!

And, that’s a wrap.

Basically, I can’t tell if this show is a delicately nuanced masterpiece, or if it is just masquerading as being deep. If it was only intended as character introduction for the main character, I’m not much of a fan of the way they did it. Tough to say really anything after one episode, but I wouldn’t say I was hooked the way I was after the first episode of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood or Angel Beats!