Anime Review: Madoka Magica (Winter 2011), Parasyte (Fall 2014), Dusk Maiden of Amnesia (Spring 2012)

Madoka

I've got to watch three horror shows in a short time. One was Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika. the second was Kiseijuu (Parasyte) and the third was Dusk Maiden of Amnesia. And all were very different.

The first really drove a punch to my stomach. It was something I was not expecting, althought I had heard before about being a bit dark. I've read a bit about the show and at the time they hide it pretty well. They say it was another moe magical girl and then at the third episode they jab a knife in your heart. At each passing episode you get more and more anxious and depressed. Please don't watch this tv show if you are feeling depressed. This will probably kill you a bit more. This show is like warhammer 40k. As I watch it I kept reminding me of it. Grimdark. No hope. It's suffice to say I really enjoy the take and it was the first I take that dealt with this magical girl turn dark. There are have been death's in Magical Girl - Sailor Moon is one. But here all the show is dark. This year Mahou Shoujo Site was really alike Madoka (but it was far less interesting - althought it was more dark).

Parasyte

Then you got Parasyte. It's horror in a sense it deals with parasytes becoming humans and killing other humans to feed. Then the show turn a bit about this and become more about psychological effect on our main character and the parasyte itself. The gore, action scenes and other stuff were pretty good and they had good animation. This show has some underlying tones about humanity ruining the planet and the parasytes role in killing humans.There are some other interesting tones about humankind, enviroment and life itself. I really enjyo the show.

The last one was Dusk Maiden of Amnesia. The show has some spooky factor but there is also romance, slice of life and ecchi scenes. It's about a ghost who is unaware that because she shuts her darkest secrets and feelings created a shadow ghost. It's about acceptance that life has his good moments and bad and someone who loves another loves not only the good but also the bad part. Most of all it's very interesting choice of characters (4) and their interactions. In the beginning they are trying to solve the mysteries in the school and the rest of the show is focus on our main ghost and character. All in all very good. 12 episodes long and you wanna watch all in one go.

Dusk Maiden of Amnesia

Three different types of horror. Undoubtly Madoka is the best (but it's art can keep people away); Parasyte is also very good show while Amnesia is more about Romance. All of them have "True" endings.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica - Winter 2011 - 12 Eps
Mal 8.44 / Shaft / Drama, Magic, Psychological, Thriller
I give 10 stars

Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu - Fall 2014 - 24 Eps
Mal 8.51 / Madhouse / Action, Sci-Fi, Horror, Psychological, Drama, Seinen
I give 8 stars

Tasogare Otome x Amnesia - Spring 2012 - 12 Eps + 1 Ova
Mal 7.93 / Silver Link / Horror, Mystery, Romance, School, Shounen, Supernatural
I give 7 stars

Anime Review: Tachibanakan Triangle, Alice or Alice, Omae wa Mada, Amai Choupatsu, Dorei-ku, Lady Spo (Spring 2018)

Last Season (Spring) was not that bad comparing with other seasons before. Some shows were pure crap but some really stand out. Well lets talk about the bad shall we?

First of all Amai Choupatsu our disguised hentai of the season. I can see that kind of prison appear. I mean, a lot of guys would go voluntarily to prison no? Crappy plot and characters. Animation? Perfect! You know what I mean... eheh
Magic Bus - Ecchi, Josei


Dorei-Ku the Animation - What a bunch of crap. So basically you've got this things you put in your mouth and if you win anything against any person (or not) having that same device you basically control them. It could have been good? Nope. Crappy.
TNK - Psychological, Drama

Omae wa Mada Gunma wo Shiranai is a anime about Gunma Perfecture. A show with 5m episode where basically you've got a stupid plot about Gunma hating foreigners (don't know if it's true or not) and then 30 seconds of really people talking about Gunma. Entertainting but pretty much a dead anime.
Asahi Production - Comedy, School

LadySpo gets the point of being the worst anime in 2018. There's a reason why the rating in Mal is 3.95. In this case I say that's too much... sports with sci-fy but boring, so pretty much boring about EVERYTHING.

Alice or Alice: Siscon Niisan to Futago no Imouto is our show about FBI coming to arrest you if you watch the complete season. Basically you've got this two child (well developed I might say) and our main protagonist who basically is being seduced by them. Oh my god...  Thank the gods I don't live in USA.
EMT² - Seinen, Slice of Life

Tachibanakan Triangle is a show about young female teens having their go in their sexuality. Every season has one Shoujo Ai and this was it. Good animation, after all ECCHI but pretty much everything else is crap.
Creators in the Park - Comedy, Shoujo Ai

Some shows I didn't see past two or three eps.

Saredo Tsumibito wa Ryuu to Odoru
Juushinki Pandora
Cutie Honey Universe
Caligula
Shiyan Pin Jiating
Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi
Devils Line
Last Period: Owarinaki Rasen no Monogatari
Nil Admirari no Tenbin
Rokuhoudou Yotsuiro Biyori (the only one I am tempted to try again...)

Anime Review: Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko: Everything Flows (Winter 2016)

I am writing as I watch the show... first time...

Only the japanese to make a history that we see through the eyes of a neko (cat).
First of all it sounds boring but its awesome. I have a cat (and a dog) and always wondered what would they think if it was possible. I don't know. People who loves animals think their cat are special and "think" and such. I can relate to that.

Daru has a simple way of thinking (probably to make it simple for us to understand). From the start she adopts her (and she doesn't care about the cat - even trying to abandoning him) to her days of school to work searching. Throughout her teen life he was there. His "miaus", his ears always searching and such. 

It was very funny to see at times they both say the same thing. The show is so simple yet so pure...

Then he became sadder and sadder - I am sleeping more and more each day...  My body doesn't move as well as it use... Damn this is depressing as hell... I am going to cry I think. I don't want!

Damn you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am depress now...

Anime Review: Tokyo Ghoul (Summer 2014)

Summer 2014 was a good season for anime. Well lets be real - 2014 overall was quite good with 26 shows with rating above 8 while 2013 had only 17. Comparing per example with 2013 with only 17 and 2015 with 27.

Most shows that have sequels one interesting thing is that the rating usually goes UP while the total people watching goes DOWN. In case of Tokyo Ghoul it didn't happen that way. This one had a rating of 8 while the second season had a rating of 7.45. That's a big drop guys.

Lets be curious about this... In that season we've got some animes that sequels. 

Kuroshitsuji: Book of Circus (8.34) While his sequel had 8.35 and the prequel had 8.00. So it got up. Speed Dandy season 2 had a rating of 8.28 while the first season had 7.88. Hanamonogatari had a rating of 8.08 while the one coming afterward (even if it was a prequel) had a rating of 9.03.  Free!: Eternal Summer had 7.86 while the prequel had 7.59. In my opinion MAL in the ranking boards shouldn't include every single season of anime or lest the top 20 be 6 Gintama or Haikyuu!! and others.. Probably one way to do this was a average of some sorts. I don't know... 

Well lets continue to Tokyo Ghoul. There are a lot of negativity reviews but with that rating something is wrong. The anime is not the best anime of year or even season for that matter BUT it's good.

This series focus on our main character Kaneki as he transforms from a human to a half-ghoul, half-human after Kaneki was critical injured by a woman ghoul called Rize while being herself injured in the process. So he awakes to find that some Rize's organs are inside him and thus he is reborn.

As the story progress, I won't make this a lengthily but from episode 2 or 3 through 7 or 8 is about Kaneki trying to comprehend whats the meaning of being a ghoul and the last four episodes are about a group of ghouls called Aogiri storming one district of the city by night while the police (or doves as they call them) try to recover ground.

But what's a ghoul? A ghoul is basically a half vampire / half ghoul with a weapon called Kagune that leaves his back and it's unique to each one. The police also uses Kagune inside a briefcase to help battle ghouls.

Before everything, I watched the uncensored version so I didn't have the same problem as other people had. I also didn't read the manga. But I know that a lot of stuff felt rushed. That ending was so rushed that the battle between the Aogiri vs Police vs Kaneko's friends didn't even end. 

There are a lot of side characters who appear just to be kill and we are suppose to be real scared by it BUT we aren't. Kaneki which entered that world only a small time it's a pain the ass because he is gutless and always crying. So again, the last episode that transformation - while its good it felt rushed and he become nigh immortal . Here we go again with a overpowered anime MC for second season. I bet that turn people off.

This anime is worth washing for the battle scenes and lore but for PLOT and characterization I wouldn't recommend it.  A lot of blood. The last two episodes while Kaneki suffers being cut a thousand times, cutting fingers and such and breaking bones is quite displeasing. I don't know what was the purpose (probably to make us understand why he absorved the Ghoul part of him?) I don't know...

Overall, I am going to watch season 2 (season 3 is coming) but I don't have much hopes...

Anime Review: Kokkoku (Winter 2018)

Well just finish Kokkoku and it's a mess.

Basically this anime it's one more anime that will be soon forgotten by everyone. To whom would you suggest? Sci-Fi fans? Action fans? Super Power fans? Horror fans? I don't know what to make of it.

The premise is quite easy to understand (I think). So basically a grandpa reveals to his family that they have a stone that could stop time (no time limit) and unfortunately you had to use it because your grandson and son had been kidnapped.  Okay I can live with this premise. You go there save your kid and grandkid and try to escape but a secret society who had been worshiping your stone (yeah..) were able to enter that time stop timeline (Stasis) as well and they want your stone. How they did it it's beyond me since it's never explain because the other stone is the only one who can do it. That one mimics it?

So as we watch the episodes unfold one after another you get to understand the world. There are beings there that prevent you from doing harm to people in stasis (Heralds). If you try to kill someone you instead will be killed. But after the introduction of this interesting world that even invites us to ask some moral questions on what would you do and what-not the plot goes around around and nothing happens.

Most of the guys who entered are either killed by the Heralds in experiments made by their psycothic master or banished by our main character Yukawa who it seems has the ability to send them back to real time. The grandpa has the ability of teleportation but only a couple of feet away. Oh and the boy (has the ability to make herald do their bidding).

But then everything crumble... Bad guys turn to good easily as peach; some bad guys Majima only wanted to find their family while Shiomi one of the top bad guys realizes their boss is crazy and changes sides. Sako a wannabe old gangster just want to get into the pants of Majima.

As Sagawa (the bad guy) just goes around trying to find out more about the stasis (sacrificing their own guys) he almost turns into a Herald then something different which we never understand what it is. Later on Yukawa almost banishes him and he is reborn as child and so she and grandpa try to raise him. She quickly banish everyone else and stay in the stasis half a year and start raising a child... in the stasis... alone because she soon banish her grandfather then some crappy deus-ex-machina thing happens and she returns... 

There are so many things wrong with anime - it's weird (and not the good kind).

1) the animation is bad to say the least. It almost reminds me of Evil or Live animation.

2) the world had so many flaws - so time stopped and only people live so how could they eat food? Breath air in the same place? Why the girl, boy and grandfather had super powers?

3) those sex jokes were awful - all comedy in this show was awful and in awkward moments.

4) the animation in the end of the anime - why the almost naked girl? What's the purpose - show skin?

5) How slow this anime is appaling. This anime could have been made in 6 with no problem.

6) Wtf was that ending? The evil-doer turn baby? The woman appearing when Yukawa is going crazy and helping her? Talk about deus-ex-machina

Poor show that have few redeeming qualities. 

3/10

Geno Studio is farily new to my knowledge. Before Kokkoku they've made Gyakusatsu Kikan which is in my to watch list and they are making Golden Kamuy which seems to be really really interesting

Anime Review: Ito Junji: Collection (Winter 2018)

What a disappointing show - it's going to be a small review. I really had high hopes from this one but they felt apart after watching a couple of episodes. Most of them are bad! But before all, bear in mind that I never read the manga so I can't judge or compare to it.

Basically this is a compilation of short stories, some of them are connected among themselves - I think they are all part from the same world.

Each story tries to dive into the aspect of mundane and facing the unknown. Unfortunately most of the stories are not that frightful but disgusting lol Sorry :D That grease story almost made me throw up because stupidly I was eating haha.

But overall I think it's better (way better) than Yami Shibai or Sekai no Yami Zukan.

I am sorry I can't say much because the problem with the show each story is over simplistic but it drag on. I think because it was made before as a manga (and from what I heard each story had only some panels) and maybe a 10/12m episode was a bit too much? Who knows... It's pretty hard to make horror anime - can't put my finger on why but there aren't that many with high scores besides Higurashi and a couple others but they are more psychological horror than anything else.... 

How btw why mixing horror with comedy beats me and a couple stories add it...

Sorry for the small bad review but unfortunally there isn't much to tell.... Watch one episode then decide if it for you. Animation is quite different, pretty much dark colours (look at the cover).

5/10

Anime Review: Memories (1995)

This is a movie produced in 1995 and it's a compilation of three stories.

Magnetic Rose

The first one (and the longest) is a sci-fi space exploration story, called Magnetic Rose, and it's about a group of people who are inbound to a graveyard of spaceships to rescue someone.
As two guys go one of those spaceships they start seeing stuff that's in not there. It's very bleak experience as they traveled in the ship. It correlates with the title because that ship was made so a woman wouldn't forget about her life - but it turn to something wicked. 

Stink Bomb

The second story it's called Stink Bomb and it's a dark comedy that I cannot phantom where it connects to the "Memories".  Basically the plot is set in a scientific station where people are developing drugs - but one of those drugs unfortunally has a side effect and as guy eats one of the pills, everybody in the lab dies. He then adverts the Laboratory HQ which tells him to return those papers to him. As he travels to Tokyo, where he passes a mist appears and everyone dies. 

All SDF forces attack to no avail because it seems the mist also has some side effect that disrupt electrical stuff. It's very dark But comic at the same time.

Cannon Fodder

The third story called Cannon Fodder could connect to Memories but it's very far-fetched. Basically it's a story about a city (communist distopia feeling) where everyone works to fire cannons. From the men who handle the cannons, and the women who make shells and the children who learn their trade. It's very 1984 feeling because they are attacking some other nation that it's never seen or hinted. We only know it's a moving city. But it's a very good tale. The animation is not to everyone liking but I really enjoy it.

All three are great stories, unfortunately, I don't understand who two of them connect to the title BUT that's potatoes.

ANIME REVIEW: Evil or Live & Ousama Game (Fall 2017)

There are a lot of similarities between these two animes....

After watching the first episode - this should be my reaction! (BTW, if you are committing a suicide why cover yourself so you don't have glasses on your head?? That's a bit strange no?)

Both were a pain to watch but I stick with them no matter until the end.

First Ousama Game: The Animation - this anime is set in a world where a new student appears in a class and right afterward all the class receives an message telling them that they have to follow the rules or else they will be punished - aka death. Much of the guys and gals don't believe and a lot died in the first couple of days. Then they start believing...

All I wanted as my first kiss - her puke....

The premise was good BUT as the movie progress it starts being awful - everything the characters do is awful and I start wishing them all dead. The animation is not that good but after some 6/7 episodes it turn to shit with lip de-synchronized; things appearing or disappearing as the screen changes a bit.

Then the characters are really bad portrayed. From our main character to some generic colleagues of them. I remember writing after each episode in the TVShowTime...

People being burn for 5m and nothing whatsoever happening to them

People cutting limbs and hands and such but never fainting for blood loss AND most importantly - there are no other characters besides the students! Nada. No teacher, no parents, no medic (when they went to a hospital), no people in the streets, no cars - Nothing. It's like they live in a ghost town.

She is like a detective or something like that...

What this company (Seven) try to do was a compilation of two seasons worth of potential into one (thank the gods because I was not in the mind to watch a second season) using flashbacks. 

(NOTE - THERE IS A SECOND SEASON COMING!!! OH MY GOD!!!!!!!)

Some bad things - all female characters are sexualized (of course), every death is absurd and over the top - sometimes I laughed....; no common sense (characters have several memory loss - but only to those characters who acted psychotic 2 minutes before) and nonsensical plot please. In a way it reminded me of Another (I also watched it) but done very bad. I could never suggest this anime to anyone Unless it's a masochist. 

But it looked so good....

Evil or Live is anime that greatly interest me but the characters and animation made me cringe each time. The walking of the characters, the voice acting not matching the mouth, the action scenes were really bad where you could see frame shifts - it's like they skip pages... they made a lot of shortcuts in the animation and used a lot of backgrounds and put characters that Yami-Shibai would felt better...

The characters themselves are bland and in the end ep



isodes I think something went amiss and we don't even know why or what things unfold - and the ending? Oh my god - shitty ending. 

Overall could have been better with themes of internet addiction; corruption, abuse, drug trafficking and so on.

At least there were ... "these" do feast upon...

The plot? Well basically a boy is sent to a correction facility (aka school) for people addicted to Internet. There he must endure some acts of cruelty that some prisons do not do. The main character is not backing down and wants to expose that façade. In the way he finds his long-lost childhood crush and a boy who rules the school from the shadows. 

Crappy anime - Single post. Both get 3 points from me.

Evil or Live (What the heck is this title supposed to be?) has a rating of 5.97 in MAL and was made by  Haoliners Animation League (This company has some crappy shows and most don't achieve a grade of 7) - To Be Hero probably is the best show from them. 

Ousama Game The Animation has a rating of 5.14 in MAL and was made by Seven best know from some Hentai or Ecchi anime (With nudity) - this one had none  but some girls had some pretty big breasts... anatomically back breaking (Sorry for the pun)

Anime Review: Danganronpa (Summer 2013 & Summer 2016)

Well to me it makes perfect sense to review these series as one since they are realistically a series with 3 seasons.

1. Danganronpa: The Animation (Summer 2013) - 13 Eps
2. Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Despair Arc (Summer 2016) 11 Eps
3. Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Future Arc (Summer 2016) 12 Eps
4. Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School -Hope Arc (Fall 2016) 1 Eps

Chronological are:

1. Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Despair Arc (Summer 2016) 11 Eps
2. Danganronpa: The Animation (Summer 2013) - 13 Eps
3. Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Future Arc (Summer 2016) 12 Eps
4. Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School -Hope Arc (Fall 2016) 1 Eps

Every Single one of the characters

Just to begin; this is based on a videogame which I did not play, and I pretty much get the picture. But there are a few things to know before starting watching this. ; The first Danganronpa is self contain. The second (Despair) can be seen without knowing nothing since it's set BEFORE the the first Danganronpa. The third (Future) can also be seen independently but to my opinion makes no sense if you do not seen the first Danganronpa. And the last one (Hope) if you didn't watch the previous also makes no sense since it's right after Future. In my opinion it should be the 13 Episode of the Future Arc.

So what it's this all about... It's quite strange to talk about this anime. Basically the first one is set on a tower where several contestants, 15 to be precise, are set completed isolated a
nd must find who the killer his amidst them. PLEASE DO NOT WATCH DESPAIR ARC BEFORE THIS ONE EVEN IF IT IS SET BEFORE. Basically you will not enjoy since you will know from the start who the bad guy/gal is all along. Basically the contest works this way, you must find who the killer his. If you cannot find who the killer is the killer is released and everybody else dies. As I said, each  person is unique and have some special abilities. We follow Makoto Naegi an average student  who is very lucky. 

From this moment on, there will be some spoilers.

After the dead of most of the classmates they finally discover who the killer is and 6 of them escape, including Kirigiri (Super High School Level Detective); Aoi Asahina (Super High School Level Swimmer); Byakuya  (  Super High School Level Heir);  Touko Fukawa (Super High School-Level Literary Girl & Super High School-Level Murderer) &Yasuhiro Hagakure (Super High School Level Fortune Teller)

We later understand that the one behind if all was another contestant  called Junko Enoshima ( Super High School Level Fashion Girl (Gyaru) / Super High School Level Analyst)

The second anime Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Despair Arc is set before the events of the first Dananronpa and deals with the Junko and how everything came to be. They talk about some uber-despair event and we later understand what was it. This series are highly depressing because it's full of despair and we some characters falling into despair. 

Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Future Arc it's set 3 years AFTER the first danganronpa and deals with the survivors of the first game and the Future Organization trying to rid the world out of Despair. It's very alike the first one since its also a game. This one is a bit different. Basically each one has some bracelet with a hidden rule and if they cross that rule they will die. They must find out who the killer is.

We have as main characters some of our survivors from the first Dangaronpa and the second one.

It's highly interesting and we follow Kirigiri with a group of survivors and Naegi with other group of adventurers.  It's interesting because we have several guys who are trying to erradicate Despair but each it's own way. After all, how can we control despair. Is not despair and other negative emotions also needed? After all aren't we humans made of good and bad emotions?

The last story HOPE ARC is set right after Future. In my opinion it should not be a new arc since it's the culmination of the FUTURE.

How to watch this you ask?

Danganronpa  (all eps)

Then either watch one episode of each or watch everything from Despair and then Future.

Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Despair Arc 

Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Future Arc 

In the end watch

Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School -Hope Arc

Advisable?

Yes and No. Unless you are prepared to watch all of the series, then don't watch. The animation is cool, there is no red blood but pink blood. If you don't like action and killing and such then don't watch it. Everyone dies in a horrible way... eheh

And I don't get it despair. Junko says that she wants everyone to fall to despair but she enjoys it. She almost is happy with it. How can you be happy with your own despair? It's quite hard to get it... But it's a nice series nevertheless. What I am trying to say is that it's kind of hard to understand everything...