Aion
Time-Traveller
Giant Killing struck me as boring, and somewhat odd. I just couldn't get into a Japanese take on English football. Without psychological duels like in One Outs, it seemed too... bland and straightforward to stick with, so I didn't.
/helpful comment end
Due to being inactive, I haven't posted in this thread in, like, forever. I have, however, finished a lot of anime; rating, tag-reviewing and making the odd forum post on MAL. I'm too lazy to C&P and/or type at length, but here are SOME of the titles:
Touch: 7.5/10
Close to 10/10 throughout the opening 1-27 section. The childhood love triangle allowed for most romance cliches to be avoided, and Adachi's a MASTER at creating lovable but believable 2D ladies. But, after the early tragedy, the main relationship didn't progress AT ALL throughout the remainder of the series, and there wasn't even a conclusion. I stuck with it because the start had made me LOVE Minami, and the baseball was fairly intense, but it became something of a chore, eventually... and Tatsuya made me want to punch him the longer the series went on. Seriously: what sort of teenage guy places a plot-device in a room he shares with the girl he loves to avoid sex? I'm unsure if to classify him as moronic or slightly gay; much like anal-master Fabio.
Cross Game: 7-7.5/10
Not the perfected version of Touch I had envisioned. Unlike Touch, there was no build-up to the tragedy that shaped the rest of the story, and that left it seeming like a far more empty version of Touch. And the 'romance' was executed so badly that I'm not even sure if romance should be one of CG's genre. The baseball was generally better than Touch's, the supporting characters were likable, and it looked nice... but it became just as fillerized as Touch once a clone of the deceased JUST HAPPENED to move in next door to the lead, and it even lacked a conclusion - just like ALL of Adachi's work. Only close to Touch's rating because it lasted half as long.
Kimagure Orange Road: 7.7.5/10
For a 50ish episode series, the fact that the important bits only got covered in the two movie-sequels says a lot bad about what is, ultimately, a silly romantic comedy. The love triangle was ruined by one-third being an annoying plot device from hell, too. But there was something insanely attractive about the heroine, Madoka; her truly having the "adult allure" mentioned by the spineless lead, Kyousuke, and that kept me coming back for more episodic silliness, until the end. The episodes dedicated to Kyousuke going into a trance/trying to have his way with Madoka were great - them highlighting how soon the story could have ended, had Kyousuke not been a spineless idiot, as well as making Madoka cute.
Kimagure Orange Road: Summer's Beginning - 9-9.5/10
I expected another 'Miss Lonely Yesterday' of Touch infamy. I got my all-time favourite anime movie.
Summer's Beginning differed from what came before in the sense it gave me exactly what I wanted and didn't include what irked me previously. It left me completely satisfied. No never-ending stream of rom-com silliness; no stalking plot device to stop the lovin'; no old school clumps of hair. The film was based on a light novel written by someone with actual writing talent... unlike KOR proper, and the difference between the tone of this and the older KOR entries was light and day. Sex became a casual thing and even Hikaru's character got rewritten to the point where she had believability AND likability. Even the sci-fi aspect got used to great effect, allowing Kyousuke to jump to the future and interact with an older version of himself; receiving 'virginity losing' support from his experienced self, and teased by an even more womanly Madoka. The love hotel bit at the end made me end what had been a great experience on a very happy note.
Maison Ikkoku: 8-8.5/10
Maison Ikkoku is, arguably, the best romance story in existence. I knew this already, based on my faded manga memories from yesteryear. But if I ever doubted my hazy memories then watching the anime reaffirmed my love. Somehow - and I honestly have no idea HOW I managed it - I went on TWO 30 episode marathons; even though I knew the story already. That says it all, really. I was very impressed with Kyoko's voice acting (the "I... HATE YOU!" scene was PERFECT!) and the extra emotion inserted into the drama by the emotional, shimmery eyes - episode 60 managing to actually draw a tear or two out of me. What spoiled my fun was how Kyoko lead-on Mitaka, even though she never loved him/her double standards and the anime cutting out one of the best scenes in the manga (the love hotel/erection struggle bit), as well as numerous lines of Kyoko after that that highlighted how deep her affections for Godai were. In the end, I felt forced to go lower than my manga 9/10 score, after re-reading the final three volumes of the manga after finishing.
One Outs: 8-8.5/10
Touch/Cross Game/H2/Adachi had already helped me get into animated baseball. And, after going through those titles, the prospect of baseball mixed with Death Note was too hard to resist.
From start to finish, the intensity level NEVER lowered. Whether Toua was introducing himself by out-witting characters who would later become his team-mates or managing to win against the fastest base runner in the world (lol @ the American 'Oh, ****!' guy) with average-speed fastballs, it was totally gripping. Information about Toua's character/characterization wasn't even needed - as long as the reader/viewer knew he was a genius who'd win against anyone by using his brain, nothing else was needed. Even when playing the role of player-manager for his team, as well as taking on both the opposing team AND his team's owner, no-one could stop him - a pitcher with only fastballs - because of how easily he could read and disturb the minds of others. The only reason it isn't a 9/10 is because the full, 20 volume story wasn't animated - leaving it incomplete.
Kaiji: 8.5-9/10
Another psychological thriller and another example of Madhouse's excellence. My new #9 anime.
Kaiji differs from its psychological thriller brethren for one very simple, easy to understand reason: its titular lead isn't a perfect genius. In fact, he's a good-for-nothing bum who slashes wheels in his spare time. But all that changes when he gets tricked into going on what he thinks is a 'ship of hope' for those in debt. In reality, it's a ship for the scum of society to gamble against each other; the losers getting sold into slavery and losing it all. From this point onwards, Kaiji has to evolve as a person or die as he quickly learns about the true nature of friendship through betrayal after betrayal. The three games - two of which being no more than simple card games - provided thrill after thrill because of how superbly fear and the human mind were examined; the conversations being amazingly intense as the players tore into each other verbally. Much like with One Outs before it, all that let Kaiji down was its story ending incomplete; requiring a sequel.
School Days: 7.5/10
I've long grown tired of seeing a dumbfcuk, averagely average lead form a harem - multiple girls throwing themselves at the dumbfcuk - and *SOMEHOW* the lead managing to save himself for the one he loves. And my tiredness is linked into why School Days is so great: because, if there is such a thing, it's the most realistic harem title ever created.
It starts out cutely enough; the typical dumbfcuk lead, Makoto, finding himself in a love-love relationship with a big-breasted girl he lusted after, via some help from a girl he'd just got to know. But once good ol' Makoto realized the big-breasted chick wasn't going to put-out with ease, he forgot about her/stopped caring - going back on his 'love' confession - and happily played 'hide the sausage' repeatedly with the girl who hooked him up with the big-breasted chick; her being an easy lay. After this point, the series is all about the psychological breakdown of the big-breasted chick as she's bullied, isolated, called a liar and other nice things happen to her, while Makoto somehow manages to screw every chick at his school... eventually blaming one for ruining his life after his seed managed to hit the target.
...I can't say any more for spoiler reasons, but Makoto's actions up until the final episode and what happened in the final episode left me feeling very satisfied, and made the suffering all worth it. Screwed up, yeah, but he had it coming from the moment he complained about being tired of the big-breasted chick after she wouldn't let him into her panties straight away.
/helpful comment end
Due to being inactive, I haven't posted in this thread in, like, forever. I have, however, finished a lot of anime; rating, tag-reviewing and making the odd forum post on MAL. I'm too lazy to C&P and/or type at length, but here are SOME of the titles:
Touch: 7.5/10
Close to 10/10 throughout the opening 1-27 section. The childhood love triangle allowed for most romance cliches to be avoided, and Adachi's a MASTER at creating lovable but believable 2D ladies. But, after the early tragedy, the main relationship didn't progress AT ALL throughout the remainder of the series, and there wasn't even a conclusion. I stuck with it because the start had made me LOVE Minami, and the baseball was fairly intense, but it became something of a chore, eventually... and Tatsuya made me want to punch him the longer the series went on. Seriously: what sort of teenage guy places a plot-device in a room he shares with the girl he loves to avoid sex? I'm unsure if to classify him as moronic or slightly gay; much like anal-master Fabio.
Cross Game: 7-7.5/10
Not the perfected version of Touch I had envisioned. Unlike Touch, there was no build-up to the tragedy that shaped the rest of the story, and that left it seeming like a far more empty version of Touch. And the 'romance' was executed so badly that I'm not even sure if romance should be one of CG's genre. The baseball was generally better than Touch's, the supporting characters were likable, and it looked nice... but it became just as fillerized as Touch once a clone of the deceased JUST HAPPENED to move in next door to the lead, and it even lacked a conclusion - just like ALL of Adachi's work. Only close to Touch's rating because it lasted half as long.
Kimagure Orange Road: 7.7.5/10
For a 50ish episode series, the fact that the important bits only got covered in the two movie-sequels says a lot bad about what is, ultimately, a silly romantic comedy. The love triangle was ruined by one-third being an annoying plot device from hell, too. But there was something insanely attractive about the heroine, Madoka; her truly having the "adult allure" mentioned by the spineless lead, Kyousuke, and that kept me coming back for more episodic silliness, until the end. The episodes dedicated to Kyousuke going into a trance/trying to have his way with Madoka were great - them highlighting how soon the story could have ended, had Kyousuke not been a spineless idiot, as well as making Madoka cute.
Kimagure Orange Road: Summer's Beginning - 9-9.5/10
I expected another 'Miss Lonely Yesterday' of Touch infamy. I got my all-time favourite anime movie.
Summer's Beginning differed from what came before in the sense it gave me exactly what I wanted and didn't include what irked me previously. It left me completely satisfied. No never-ending stream of rom-com silliness; no stalking plot device to stop the lovin'; no old school clumps of hair. The film was based on a light novel written by someone with actual writing talent... unlike KOR proper, and the difference between the tone of this and the older KOR entries was light and day. Sex became a casual thing and even Hikaru's character got rewritten to the point where she had believability AND likability. Even the sci-fi aspect got used to great effect, allowing Kyousuke to jump to the future and interact with an older version of himself; receiving 'virginity losing' support from his experienced self, and teased by an even more womanly Madoka. The love hotel bit at the end made me end what had been a great experience on a very happy note.
Maison Ikkoku: 8-8.5/10
Maison Ikkoku is, arguably, the best romance story in existence. I knew this already, based on my faded manga memories from yesteryear. But if I ever doubted my hazy memories then watching the anime reaffirmed my love. Somehow - and I honestly have no idea HOW I managed it - I went on TWO 30 episode marathons; even though I knew the story already. That says it all, really. I was very impressed with Kyoko's voice acting (the "I... HATE YOU!" scene was PERFECT!) and the extra emotion inserted into the drama by the emotional, shimmery eyes - episode 60 managing to actually draw a tear or two out of me. What spoiled my fun was how Kyoko lead-on Mitaka, even though she never loved him/her double standards and the anime cutting out one of the best scenes in the manga (the love hotel/erection struggle bit), as well as numerous lines of Kyoko after that that highlighted how deep her affections for Godai were. In the end, I felt forced to go lower than my manga 9/10 score, after re-reading the final three volumes of the manga after finishing.
One Outs: 8-8.5/10
Touch/Cross Game/H2/Adachi had already helped me get into animated baseball. And, after going through those titles, the prospect of baseball mixed with Death Note was too hard to resist.
From start to finish, the intensity level NEVER lowered. Whether Toua was introducing himself by out-witting characters who would later become his team-mates or managing to win against the fastest base runner in the world (lol @ the American 'Oh, ****!' guy) with average-speed fastballs, it was totally gripping. Information about Toua's character/characterization wasn't even needed - as long as the reader/viewer knew he was a genius who'd win against anyone by using his brain, nothing else was needed. Even when playing the role of player-manager for his team, as well as taking on both the opposing team AND his team's owner, no-one could stop him - a pitcher with only fastballs - because of how easily he could read and disturb the minds of others. The only reason it isn't a 9/10 is because the full, 20 volume story wasn't animated - leaving it incomplete.
Kaiji: 8.5-9/10
Another psychological thriller and another example of Madhouse's excellence. My new #9 anime.
Kaiji differs from its psychological thriller brethren for one very simple, easy to understand reason: its titular lead isn't a perfect genius. In fact, he's a good-for-nothing bum who slashes wheels in his spare time. But all that changes when he gets tricked into going on what he thinks is a 'ship of hope' for those in debt. In reality, it's a ship for the scum of society to gamble against each other; the losers getting sold into slavery and losing it all. From this point onwards, Kaiji has to evolve as a person or die as he quickly learns about the true nature of friendship through betrayal after betrayal. The three games - two of which being no more than simple card games - provided thrill after thrill because of how superbly fear and the human mind were examined; the conversations being amazingly intense as the players tore into each other verbally. Much like with One Outs before it, all that let Kaiji down was its story ending incomplete; requiring a sequel.
School Days: 7.5/10
I've long grown tired of seeing a dumbfcuk, averagely average lead form a harem - multiple girls throwing themselves at the dumbfcuk - and *SOMEHOW* the lead managing to save himself for the one he loves. And my tiredness is linked into why School Days is so great: because, if there is such a thing, it's the most realistic harem title ever created.
It starts out cutely enough; the typical dumbfcuk lead, Makoto, finding himself in a love-love relationship with a big-breasted girl he lusted after, via some help from a girl he'd just got to know. But once good ol' Makoto realized the big-breasted chick wasn't going to put-out with ease, he forgot about her/stopped caring - going back on his 'love' confession - and happily played 'hide the sausage' repeatedly with the girl who hooked him up with the big-breasted chick; her being an easy lay. After this point, the series is all about the psychological breakdown of the big-breasted chick as she's bullied, isolated, called a liar and other nice things happen to her, while Makoto somehow manages to screw every chick at his school... eventually blaming one for ruining his life after his seed managed to hit the target.
...I can't say any more for spoiler reasons, but Makoto's actions up until the final episode and what happened in the final episode left me feeling very satisfied, and made the suffering all worth it. Screwed up, yeah, but he had it coming from the moment he complained about being tired of the big-breasted chick after she wouldn't let him into her panties straight away.