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Reviews
Gankutsu-ô (2004)
A sloppy and childish fable of revenge.
The sell of this story is that it is one of the greatest revenge plots in the story of anime. Based on the novel of Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas. Adorned by a daring creative endeavor of animation, where weird patterns, contrasts and textures reign, showcasing something different.
That is the sell, the product meanwhile, for some reason acclaimed, is rather disappointing.
The show is hard to watch by virtue of its childish, ridiculous, over the top and obnoxious prepubescent characters and dialogue, that simply make it hard to connect to an obvious plot with tragedy overtones. You know early on what is gonna happen. Everyone is so easy to rile up, so immature and prone to the worst course of action. Everyone except for one character, conveniently. The lack of rationale and subtlety to every one of their emotions... It feels cheap, childish, in order to make some character rise while the other fall. Everything is rushed, magically falling into place, overdramatized. With theatrical type of movements that don't feel right.
It doesn't seem elaborated in spite of the diverse and complex fronts of the story, it's many characters and pathways. People that have made of themselves arriviste wonders, cunningly, vilely, suddenly, when the weight of an ominous past comes upon them, lack the character or intelligence to make a single good decision. There's no grasp or ability to adapt to the upcoming adverse conditions. Victims of a perfect plan backed by a lifetime of preparation, an indomitable desire for revenge, an irresistible charm and copious amounts of money. Women and men fawning over the Count's charm and becoming simple pawns in his chessboard. It's all so easy.
The world ain't overly interesting nor crafted, for some reason they set it in a futuristic scenario, with the society, architecture and hierarchy of the nineteenth century. It is barely presented, not well dove into and it simply doesn't merge. At times it does feel pointless beyond the fact that it allows for some ethereal scenes. There's no appeal to it and the animation ain't nothing to marvel at beyond the initial episodes. Mononoke (2007) or Sonny Boy are much greater and coherent visual spectacles. It's allure, lets call it, isn't enough to warrant this being thought of as a great show...
It even turns boring in its slow pace approach.
And we have not arrived yet at the worst part, THE MAIN CHARACTER. The show overrelies on the shoulders of two characters, and of those is Albert, who is so awful that I could dedicate myself only to find whatever ill intended adjective I can find in order to pair him with it, he's undoubtedly one the most enchanted, idiotic and irritating characters in the history of anime. Good luck in not hating him. I couldn't care less that me harboring those feelings could be attributed by some to how well he's written, when he's so one note and otherwise this show doesn't incite gasps, surprise or horror, but rather invites you to roll your eyes. The other character is Conde de Monte Cristo, who is not charming enough nor interesting enough here, in between his ambiguous dialogue, to compensate his counterpart. Their dynamic although possible, is horribly on the screen. The Count should have a much center role while Albert is tossed to the side, no show can depend on such a character.
The end is also rushed and horrible, so there's that. It isn't the conclusion to the developments, but a nonsensical, poorly written child book kind of finish. There's no trace of coherence, it's just ridiculous.
Kimetsu no Yaiba (2019)
Ufotable displaying greatness
It's not a complex, novel, unique story; nor is it worthy of being singled out as the best written thing that anime's history has given birth to. Heck, to say the least, nor are the characters themselves that big of a deal. The thing is, though, you love them. Adore them. You love them vehemently. Their sweet, hopeful and noble tone, and above all the animation managed by Ufotable, immeasurable, make this series one of the best shonen ever. You will have to watch the player many times to make sure that the chapters last 22 minutes because you will barely feel that 5 have passed, such is the enjoyment that this series provides.
Qué señora adaptación.
Ping Pong the Animation (2014)
Not a table tennis show
Don't overthink it, it's simply great. Worth to be considered a classic anime that ought to be watched.
It is one of the most virtuosic and polished exercises in creation that this visual medium that is anime has ever offered. 11 fast-paced chapters that cover so many aspects of people's lives, their dispositions, emotions and so on, that you would do yourself a disservice not to devote the little time you need to watch it.
It is so universally acclaimed for a reason.
At the character and storytelling level there are hardly any flaws, so all that remains is the animation and your degree of liking for it, I confess that I find it a draw and one of its best facets.
Afro Samurai (2007)
The Mother of all Calamities
It's an action-only anime, horrifying, because of how bad it is. The only claims they have are the first 5 minutes and that one of the characters is voiced by Samuel L. Jackson, beyond that there is nothing. The action itself is mediocre at best, where all movement happens so fast that it does not follow the outline of the drawing of the characters, is not focused, so that one can not appreciate the fights, none being memorable or coherent and being all resolved in a matter of less than 2 minutes without creating sincere tension. As far as dialogue is concerned, there is hardly any, and when there is, nothing interesting, funny or witty is uttered. Not to mention the characters. It is just that bad and if you just look at it for its content it has no salvation.
Bokura no (2007)
Drama no mecha
An anime that feels very old, where human drama comes to the forefront in sequences against the clock, forced by a spectacular circumstance.
Neither the animation nor the action have aged well, there is hardly anything exciting in them, you just want them to go by fast; but the anime, after a soporific first half, is able to touch the heartstrings and awaken honest emotions in each of the different lives it presents to us. You will not leave this series indifferent to its message and story and you will remembered it despite it's many flaws in all those categories that we all like to quote: pace (slow), music (repetitive and poor), animation (boring), writing, characters, etcetera.
Sonny Boy (2021)
Perturb your mind and delight your eyes.
Sonny Boy is unique and special. If I had to categorize it, to enable people to get an idea, I would say that it belongs to that mysterious family, not entirely understandable, of anime where one could put Serial Experiments Lain or Evangelion (or Nolan's Inception, if we were to go to the movies, for its originality, photography and bewilderment).
It is hard for me to think, after the experience, that this series can leave anyone indifferent. While it is true that in its course I did not get to understand everything, the series corroded me, disturbing my mind and body until an existentialist doubt took hold of me, an uneasiness that was progressing until it materialized in a slight pressure in the chest. There are several moments in which everything that happens disturbs your being and reason to the sound of reflections that you can hardly get rid of or respond to the moment. The merit of inducing such sensations seems to me commendable. The visual and narrative means used tell the story in such an effective and attractive way...
It is worth noting that Sonny Boy is a visual spectacle with wonderful shots worthy of competing for the award for best anime cinematography (in my opinion of all time), if there is such a category as there is in cinema.
I recommend watching it when you are ready to be solely focused on it.
Rashômon (1950)
I mean...
Speaking from ignorance, from a perspective that is unaware of the state of cinema back then, the inventiveness and originality of this film, how revolutionary it was, and whatever merit it may have for that time, none of it compensates for how unbearable and boring this movie is from a present-day point of view. It's interesting how stories and perspectives are portrayed from a single event, how the characters change, and how they all lie in an effort to become what they should have been, while from an independent observer's perspective, they all appear less skillful and more ridiculous - perhaps all except her. Regardless of this, the movie could easily do without half an hour that they could have removed, as such length is not necessary to convey the desired emotions. The acting is bizarre because even though some moments may be ultra-realistic, they always seem out of place, if not exaggerated and insufferable, something feels off.
It aged poorly and there is simply no way that this is one of the best movies to have ever been made. Could perfectly be one of the most important and trascendental for its structure and influence, but it ain't even worth a debate for the best. It has some beautifull shots though.
Kotetsujo no Kabaneri (2016)
What a train wreck of a second half
This is a show that fails to deliver upon its rampaging and promising start, with a script and dialogue not on par with the animation quality accomplished by WIT Studio. For as good as the first episodes are, the moment the main villain is presented, everything turns sour, as the universe is pretty much unknown and none of the other characters are that enchanting or great to compensate for the failure of a character called to have that much weight in the story and who takes that much away from the Kabaneri and their ominous, fear-inducing portrayal when first introduced.
He is a stereotypical bad guy, with a cheap ass back story and purpose, with no nuance nor anything particular about him. He says ambiguous things with no real purpose or profound meaning, no subtext. It's nonsensical. There are no glimpses as to what great purpose or charismatic attributes would make him and his endeavor worth following. Are his followers driven by hate towards someone? What collective sentiments has he managed to channel and use? Things simply are and are so by repeating tropes in a poorly written manner. "The weak die, and only the strong survive". Really? Is that all that there's to it? That and the overall contempt for the general non-productive panic state that this world seems to be in? He just happens to be there to move the plot, aiming it to the dirt and mining whatever effort was there to make this universe interesting.
While the other characters also fail in a second half with its fill of cheesy, poor-writing moments that offer little explanation or sense for what is happening, the villain centers responsibility as he is the mayor contributor to the downfall of the series.
Black Clover (2017)
Somewhat better than Fairy Tail
First and foremost, it's a shonen, and although it falls very short to live up to its counterpart, at least it is entertaining. The second half that is, with sporadic flashes here and there.
It has a formula, that one being the friendship, I'm not gonna ever give up shouting and supposedly underdog that always surprises and endures against strong enemies one. It has its clichés, its obvious influences, so much so that it feels generic and predictable, boring till you are deep in it.
I personally had to forced myself to watch it, pushing myself to get through a hundred episodes worth of what are poorly written characters; uninteresting, quickly appearing and dissapearing villains (with the exception of the Witch Queen), and boring, poorly paced fights that in between an stupid amount of flashback loose any grip. Barely enjoying some clashes and fights in the process.
To put it into words, much of the first hundred episodes are closer to what people have in mind Fairy Tail is that it has to any of the most well regarded shows, sharing with the fairies the tone, the happy likable dynamic among the clan and most importantly, the problem with building real tension, a honest sensation of being in a dangerous world as characters simply get through events with little consequences despite how bad they all said it all looked, over and over again. The convenient continuous power ups (although done somewhat better than in Fairy Tail with real teamwork) that come out of nowhere erode the fear that could result from the observation of honest power asymmetry, they just magically were solved with perpetual eucatastrophes occurring.
The dialogue is horrible, one note, as are many of the characters. You cannot have them repeating constantly full phrases over and over again, being that everything they say, rather than just a personal slogan of sporadic appearance in the middle of other sentences. 95% percent of Yuno's dialogue are 5 words. He is a prime example of the problem, being an awfully boring, repetitive character that lacks any real layers to his character.
Outside of the last 12 episodes and how the last part of the elves history developed and turned, unfolding the plot puzzle, finally fitting the many pieces that were a part of it, the show can be characterized at best as average. The world in itself is too simplistic, a despicably classist one.