Rate the last anime you watched out of 10

Azumanga Daioh - 7.5-8/10

For me to like an anime attempt at pure comedy, the execution has to be pretty damn good. The main reason for this being my inability to laugh at what others roll around on the floor laughing at. I'll still be there; sitting upright and, instead of actually laughing, thinking, "That was amusing!" - I'm that sort of guy by nature; nothing I can do about it.

Azumanga didn't make me laugh, in truth. For one thing it's less funny than School Rumble, which I watched shortly before Azumanga, and the jokes are a lot more repetitive, lacking the variation SR had. After the surprisingly strong opening six or so episodes, where all of the key players aside from Kagura (in truth, she was just a sporty copy of Tomo, anyway) got fleshed out while the comedy rolled, the series started to wander aimlessly, repeating most of what had gone before. With all the required early character development needed for jokes about the character quirks to work, it seemed like I was watching the same events occur in slightly different ways for a lengthy period. The 'Sakakixcat' thing was repeated so much in these episodes that it stopped being funny. I even struggled to stay awake at times because of the lack of focus and repetition, constantly finding myself dozing off when lying comfortably in bed. It did get going again eventually, mixing in new stuff, but it took awhile. Another issue I had with the comedy was with some of the jokes either only being understandable for people in the know about the Japanese or the jokes simply not making sense. Honestly, what's amusing about hitting someone on the head repeatedly and saying "What the heck?" over and over?

But, for all of its flaws, including a lack of direction because of its episodic nature, school girls having big breasts to sell the series to perverts and the character development being limited, mainly showing a distinct aspect (density, hyperness, etc) and then not taking it any further, I can't deny that Azumanga was enjoyable. Seeing a story about a bunch of fun loving people with differences hanging out and having fun is hard not enjoy unless the cast aren't likeable, and if nothing else the cast do have the likability factor. My favourite character has to be Yukari; a fiery, loud-mouthed, childish...yet instantly likeable character. The unbreakable bond she shared with another, far more reserved (but still childish deep down) female teacher she'd known since grade school made for my favourite parts of the series. Their playful arguments seemed heart-felt; like those real close friends would share, and that added some much needed depth to their friendship - something lacking between the the main characters.

So, yeah, I enjoyed it a lot overall, despite my issues. When the ending came and Chiyo said, "We'll still be together forever, despite school ending." I did think to myself, "Yeah, right - like they (in their fictional universe) aren't all going to go to different colleges, make new friends, spend more time with the new friends they make because those friends are linked to their current lives more, get different jobs, get married and then not recognise each other even when walking past each other on the street, many years later. Riiiiight." To me, that kind of fake happy ever after ending is equivalent to whoever came up with it baby-talking to its viewers; afraid to be realistic to not end on downer. That's why I prefer drama that blends comedy in; like GTO and NHK.
 
Noein was easy to understand until it got technical towards the end. It hand-held as much as possible, and none of the technical jargon even mattered if you enjoyed the series for what it was - an excellent slice of life/drama mixed together with well thought out (for the most) sci-fi elements, based on the multiverse theory. How can you not like a series where different versions of the same characters interact? Character development where a character develops alongside an older, very different version of himself who experienced the same 'teenage' issues way back - top stuff.

There are multiple universes; one for every choice made. Some are near identical to your own, others are worlds of death. Some are further along the timeline, some aren't - Not hard to comprehend the basic concept, is it?

Haruka has the ability to make one universe - all illusions to others because they're equal - the reality. What she sees really happens. Her power is equivalent to that of God. It's confusing but, again, not hard to understand as long as you get the basic concept.

The only flaw of Noein is that it doesn't explain some key aspects of its story, like how Noein took over his own universe and turned everyone into sea horses, or how Karasu and co have the powers they do. That's why I rated it 9/10 instead of 10/10; because I realized it was rushed at the end. It didn't ruin the series, though, and I could ignore the 'plot holes'.

People only ever seem to rate Noein 9 or 6 because of its title. People with taste rate it - one of the best executed titles in existence - 9, where as everyone else rate it 6 or don't give it a chance. FYI, I don't listen to those people. There are series you can justify disliking and series you cannot; Noein is one you cannot. Despite the flaw that prevented me giving it top marks, it's just too good overall for anyone with respectable, objective taste to dislike it.
 
Hell Girl - 8-8.5/10

I saw that I could import the R1 box set for £20. I did so.

Prior to buying the box set, I had watched the first ten episodes; I got the first two R2 volumes for a few quid. I found the series to be very watchable simply because revenge stories are always involving and each episode provided a new story, but there wasn't enough connecting the dots for me to love it - there hadn't been any character development whatsoever for Hell Girl and her crew. The quality also went up and down a lot; as expected of an episodic title.

The first half of Hell Girl focused on black and white revenge. What made the victims vengeful was shown, the victims then went on the net and entered the name of the person they wanted to die, Hell Girl then appeared and gave the victims the tool required to cast the curse, the victims then received one last push from the person they hate required to make them want to give up their own soul for revenge and, finally, Hell Girl and her servants ended the episodes by first punishing (often unintentionally comically) and then ferrying the cursed, evil people to hell on a small boat. Very repetitive; even the same dialogue was repeated by Hell Girl when giving instructions and the like.

The second half mixed things up slightly by introducing a private detective (of sorts) called Hajime and his daughter; a daughter that shares a connection to Hell Girl that lets her see through Hell Girl's eyes from time to time - allowing her father to track down Hell Girl's 'clients' in each episode. Her father, as luck would have it, sees revenge as wrong and, at first, felt the need to try to stop Hell Girl. The new investigation angle did freshen up the stories, with them told from the viewpoint of Hajime rather than the victims - adding mystery. There were other changes, too, such as the revenge stories no longer being black and white; sometimes 'good' people got sent to hell in order to justify Hajime's anti-revenge/Hell Girl ramblings, these 'good' people not getting the cosplay punishment sequences. But the best thing about the introduction of Hajime and his daughter was the inclusion of recurring characters with actual development; not just faces with nothing below the surface. Hajime even got an episode to himself that explained his back-story and why he was so against revenge - it made me feel sorry for him.

Ignoring the reappearances of Hell Girl, her three servants and the father and daughter duo, there weren't any connected episodes in terms of story until the last three, which were all about Hell Girl's past, finally revealing a little about her to the viewers. Until that point, she'd been no more than a doll; there to punish upon request and repeat the same lines without any emotions. Seeing her tragic background and seeing her show an emotion - anger - transformed her from a blank slate and into an actual person. And, as an added bonus, her story connected Hajime and his daughter to her, making their inclusion not as random as it appeared - I thought they were no more than characters threw in to extend the story.

If not for some very poor episodes which departed from the usual formula, mixing in unnecessary extra supernatural elements - like a talking doll with control of plant monsters and Hell Boy (don't ask) - I'd have rated it higher. Those few episodes added nothing, only lowering the overall quality. There were also some standard revenge stories that weren't very good, but most of the 'normal' episodes were at least watchable, and even if they were poor there was always another, totally different story right around the corner.

One non-plot/character point that deserves to be mentioned is the music. It's unique to my ears; some kind of eerie techno/rock stuff. Whatever it's classed as, it's very good, and it made the talking sections of the episodes even more watchable.

Here are a few examples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrPIcxEnfTo (the DVD menu / punishment music)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqTVWJeixNI (less intense, relaxing music - I think of it as the contemplation theme)

Overall, providing you don't mind episodic series that aren't comedies and are forgiving enough to excuse a few drops in quality and silly punishment sequences, it's a must watch. It gets better the further you progress. It did bug me that little was revealed about Hell Girl until the end and how school girls always seemed to be playing the roles of victims (school girls sell DVDs), but I came out of the series thinking highly of it. I'll definitely be watching season two at some point.
 
Hell Boy? No, I'd better not make people groan with a Hellboy reference. ;)

I've been intrigued by Hell Girl since I saw the box art for the first UK volume, this has only made me moreso. I may have to go for it. What's the R1 boxed set itself like Aion, and did they ever finish releasing it here or was it one of those titles caught in the big Funi / Rev balls up?
 
I think only three volumes got released on our shores. I regret picking up the first two volumes for next to nothing; they have no value now.

The R1 box set is a thin-thin pack, with two thinpack cases holding two discs each inside. I think it's the same as the Gankutsuou set you didn't want to pay a lot for. But I don't care; £20 for the complete collection was too good of a deal to turn down for a series that won't ever get a full R2 release.

You liked Death Note, and while the series do differ, both have realistic art, dark colours, feature people dying after their names are entered somewhere and they are both very much serious business titles. They also both have excellent music. Anyone into the idea of a gloomy real world setting mixed with a touch of supernatural goodness would more than likely enjoy it a fair bit.
 
Right. After more than a week of ferocious Slayers-marathoning:

Series':
Slayers: 7.2/10 - A good start hampered by a cliched plot. It gave me a fair few laughs but it did feel as though Slayers took the entire series to get started. Which I'll not complain about since it lead into:
Slayers Next: 8.4/10 - Much improved, a more original and slow burning plot helped along by an expanded cast of characters.
Slayers Try: 7.4/10 - Disappointing. While it was good fantasy fare it simply wasn't as funny or as engaging as Next. Filia never worked that well for me as a character, she didn't ease into the regular lineup the way Xellos and Martina did so effortlessly in the previous series.

Films:
Slayers Return - 8.2/10 - Slayers works quite well in this hour long format. I'm only sad that the movies all exclude the other main characters - Much as I love Naga they could have made some great feature length adventures with the rest of the cast. The bigger budget brings better animation and battle scenes which capture my attention. Plenty of laughs in this one too. The inclusion of Naga always seems to up the comedy value.
Slayers Great: 8.8/10 - Bloody hilarious. This is what I want from Slayers. Lina and Naga end up on different sides of a father/son feud in a golem building family. The first appearance of 'Pico Pico Lina-chan' almost made me choke on my coffee. That was an instant +1
Slayers Gorgeous: 7.3/10 - A pretty lacklustre end to the Slayers films. Naga and Lina end up on different sides of a family feud. Sound familiar... Oh yeah, it was the plot of Great as well. Except this time with dragons. It gets an extra .1 for that shot of unconscious Naga going over the waterfall.

Only the Excellent and Premium OVAs to go now...
 
Fushigi Yuugi (incl. all OVA's).
Scores: 7/7/6/6.

Fushigi was pretty good. The comedy in it was great and I found there to be just about enough. My main problem was that just about every damn episode was Miyaka (sp?) crying about something. >.> Also, I nearly ripped my own arm off with the amount of 'power of love and friendship' shiz that was spewed out over the duration. I would have much preferred it if a good portion of the romance was replaced with action/general story...ness. Best bit: Chiriko on the bus ride journey in the little bits after the credits within the first OVA series followed by Pioneer's (Geneon) message to studio pierrot, very amusing.



Those Who Hunt Elves (incl. 2)
Scores: 7/7

I can see that this series was meant to be quite funny, but personally I found it to be more of a serious-ish fantasy watch with some side amusements. As I was watching the American dub, ALOT of the dialogue appeared to have been changed to incorporate western (mainly America-based) jokes, a few of which I didnt get, one had something to do with Pottery-barn, which I have heard of... Anyways, It just wasn't as funny as I think it was meant to be, although still a good watch, but I was kinda hoping when I first read the plotline that it would be more...ummm...perverted shall we say (for amusements sake of course), unfortunately the main male protagonist is completely straight-up about the whole situation, which kinda sucks.
 
Just finished PlanetES and I must say, I loved it!

I would give it a 9/10 as it is so original. I especially like the animation its refreshing to see it drawn like this as opposed to the normal. The only problem I found with it was all the chatter, sometimes there was so much to read that I could hardly focus on the anime.

I'd certainly recommend anyone who is interested in sci-fi the pick this title up. Beez has licensed it for sale in this country, I got the first box set real cheap.
 
Durial666 said:
Just finished PlanetES and I must say, I loved it!

I would give it a 9/10 as it is so original.
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Glad you liked it.

Restrained takes on life in space are a rare thing in anime, which is probably the reason it stood out to me in the first place. Anyway, I second your recommendation of it, it's not your typical action heavy sci-fi series but it delivers some fine drama and character development in a strangely believable future setting.
 
Spice and Wolf II - 7.5/10

I just finished watching ALL of S&W, re-watching S1 using the wonderful KAA marathon option, which connects every episode and removes the opening and endings.

S2 was excellent until the end of episode three, and then the quality started jumping up and down like a rabbit on crack. The opening arc went on for too many episodes, not including Horo for 1.5-2 episodes. This wasn't great when Horo is what makes S&W work. To make matters worse, following lots of dull economics talk that - as ever - I barely followed, it ended in the most anti-climatic fashion possible; with Horo explaining how it was all one big misunderstanding. They didn't even kiss afterwards. It's a shame because it was good to see Lawrence go out of his way to try to keep Horo by his side, the intense 'will she, won't she' drama keeping me glued to the screen, sluggish pacing or not.

For the remainder of the series, it really was hit and miss. Where as Lawrence's chats with Mark in the first story made me a care about more than just the relationship between Lawrence and Horo, there was nothing else in the second half the series besides the flirty barmaid that made me care. Nothing. I only had a vague idea what was going on towards the end, with the sudden fur rebellion and all, and I don't give a ****. All that kept me watching was the occasional witty conversations of the main two.

This brings me to my main issue: it seemed like Lawrence and Horo started going around in one big circle after the first half. They playfully argued, Horo put Lawrence in his place, there was some sexual tension in the air... and nothing ever happened. They clearly both wanted to do it, yet - to extend the story - nothing beyond playful dog 'n cat antics occurred. And, even though they did *FINALLY* kiss at the very end, it was badly drawn/animated; Horo not even appearing interested. So much blushing and fannying around for that pathetic kiss? Please.

...Despite all of the above, I don't hate it. I never cared much about the background story and supporting cast in S1, and that didn't stop me giving it 8/10. And there was more than enough LawrencexHoro in S2 to please me, including the best relationship drama to date. But watching S2 made me think of S&W as a story slowly becoming highly repetitive and, for the first time, I thought of the story as poorly written (I'm referring to the ingenious 'sell Horo' plan). I was rather excited about watching S2 - ending up watching it as soon as it finished airing - but I can't see me caring a great deal when S3 gets released.

I can't bring myself to give it a 7/10 on MAL, instead opting for 8/10 (though it's inferior to S1 - damn the lack of 0.5 ratings!), for one reason: Horo. Like Spike made people add +1-2 points to their Cowboy Bebop ratings, she makes me add points to my S&W ratings. I mean, I only watch S&W because of her and her surprisingly deep/amusing conversations with Lawrence... I can't think of anything else I've ever watched just for a single character. There's something about her combination of cuteness and intellect that makes me, and many others, love the S&W. As flawed as S2 is, Horo manages to save it from ever being truly bad.

/falls to sleep
 
Wildcard said:
Durial666 said:
Just finished PlanetES and I must say, I loved it!

I would give it a 9/10 as it is so original.
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Glad you liked it.

Restrained takes on life in space are a rare thing in anime, which is probably the reason it stood out to me in the first place. Anyway, I second your recommendation of it, it's not your typical action heavy sci-fi series but it delivers some fine drama and character development in a strangely believable future setting.
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I found it to be a believable future setting as well. :)
 
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 - 8/10

Finished it just now. I think it would've been better as a two hour film. Four hours was a little too long for a simple and, ending aside, no twist title. Most of the episodes were very good, but a lot were also needless, such as the episode involving an old man keeping on going despite his grandchildren dying and the 'robot otaku' episode. Without the filler(ish) material and the if earthquake scenes had had a movie budget, I feel it would've been far more dramatic and moving.

The Sixth Sense ending took away from the realism, going against the purpose of the series, but it also saved the series from being totally straight-forward. Apart from end twist, there wasn't anything else, and it would've been boring - as well as being a little unrealistic - if it had included a happy ever after ending. I was expecting/hoping the twist would involve Mirai and Yuuki's parents dying and the pair going to live with Mari, but it wasn't to be.

Eight is in the title and, fittingly enough, I think it's worthy of an 8/10 score. Although it was annoying as hell hearing "Yuuki!" ten times per episode, Mirai and Mari were both very likeable, very real characters. Mirai developed excellently from a normal, unfriendly girl into a girl who understood the value of her family when she faced the risk of death for the first time. I'll pick the series up on DVD at some point.

One last thing: I LOVED Mirai's 'I don't care... but I really do.' eyes - when she half closed them. It looked cute!
 
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Aion, do you always post spoilers on purpose? Do you do it to be like "Oh hey guys, just watched this series, gonna spoil it now to be a c***. lol." Honestly, your reviews aren't bad, but you know people actually may WANT to watch the series spoiler free without knowing X character has died or they haven't retuned their TV yet. Just a thought of consideration, you know?
 
Describing the ending as a "The Sixth Sense ending" is hardly a major spoiler. I was intentionally vague. It isn't as if the two are similar overall. I even put my thoughts about what I would've liked to happen in tags to not rule out any possibilities. Anyone who hasn't seen the series wouldn't know the ending by reading my post alone. In short, you're being a crybaby, looking for a fight on purpose.

And you aren't someone who should talk about being considerate, acting the way you do with no regard for others. You only think about yourself and care about yourself. With you it's a case of the pot calling the kettle black.
 
Welcome to the NHK- 9/10 - no series got to me as this one did. a few of the situations Satou and Yamazaki find themselves into, are actually very similar to my life.

Before anyone says, not the porn or the loli bits in it ;)

Watching the first half of it was actually difficult for me, as things happening IRL actually reflected on my mood and made me feel very depressed. After the inital shock, the ride was immensely pleasant.
 
Aion said:
Describing the ending as a "The Sixth Sense ending" is hardly a major spoiler. I was intentionally vague. It isn't as if the two are similar overall. I even put my thoughts about what I would've liked to happen in tags to not rule out any possibilities. Anyone who hasn't seen the series wouldn't know the ending by reading my post alone. In short, you're being a crybaby, looking for a fight on purpose.
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Anyone with half a brain would have figured it out, considering they've seen the movie. I was actually speaking to someone last night about it and said it's obvious a major character died. As for the "picking fights" thing, sure I may have done it a few times, but you've actually done things like this quite a bit. I'm not going to lie, I post spoilers myself at times but I honestly don't expect people to read my posts, where as with yourself you expect people to read your gloriously crafted reviews full of effort.


Aion said:
You only think about yourself and care about yourself.
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Name someone who doesn't think this way.

Oh also, I got a warning for my post above, which will probably make you happy to hear, but I've been dodging warnings for quite some time for a strange reason.
 
Brave Story - 7/10

Got this the other day, and have now watched it twice.

In many ways, it takes from the same book as spirited away - not that it is copying spirited away mind you. It is an 'Another world' fantasy story, the type which goes right back to Alice in wonderland in form, if not further. The Animation is not bad, not Ghibli quality, but good enough certainly. It is quite stark in a few of its themes, surprisingly for a PG several incidents get through which surprised me, but those were only alluded to, not seen as such.

The story is not bad, it is a little rushed, 112 minutes is a tad too short (but not like Origin overly short by any means) but it doesn't end up losing its plot, though an extra 15 minutes would have helped. The plot itself is rather clever, but not quite as developed as I would have liked. Several characters never really get the attention they deserve. Yet despite these failings, it is a pretty solid watch for me. It isn't anything groundbreaking, even if anything is these days, but it is a good watch, and nothing which makes me turn away. Overall, they did a pretty good job on this one.
 
Considering the twist in The Sixth Sense is that the main character was already dead to begin with, I don't see why anyone would assume what you suggested at the end because of my post.

The Sixth Sense has one of the biggest twists in a movie. Mentioning it just means Tokyo Mag has a surprising ending. You bringing the mention into focus is what's making people think otherwise, if anyone does. (I'm doubting the existence of this person you keep chatting to about me with and never naming. You should write for The Sun.)

I do sometimes talk too much about the plot when 'reviewing', but Kashimashi is the only 'review' I've gone too far with, and I put a spoiler warning in front of the text. When spoilers are in my posts, the posts are usually more forum posts than reviews. In the case of Bradherley's Coach, it was hard not to go into detail considering the plot repeats itself and it's short, and the review was well received on MAL. Only you ever complained about it.
 
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Wolf's Rain 9/10
It's been a while but I finally got round to watching this series. Well, firstly, this anime gets bonus points for the simple fact that involves Wolves, which is an animal that I love. So we were pretty much onto a winner from that start. The thing that struck me about this series or a thought that came into my head (as a lover of the game) was 'Damn, this is what a Final Fantasy anime series should have been like'. To me, this series really had that FF feel about it...the long journey, the adventures on the way, the drama, etc. It's a fairly simple, straight forward story but done very well. On a negative, I guess you could say there were some draggy episodes and the 4 recap episodes were a little pointless but the last 5/6 episodes really made up for it because the build-up to & the ending itself were as epic as an anime series is gonna get. I've gotta say, I've seen a hell of a lot of anime series now but none were as emotionally draining as this one. I cried, I laughed & I cried a little more. I'm probably a little late on this series & most have probably already seen it but to any new anime fan, I'd definately recommend this as 'one to watch'.
 
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