Tag Archives: anime reviews

Review: Naruto

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Naruto-Shippuden-Ninja-Storm-RevolutionIn honor of its recent final chapter we’re going to be looking at Naruto. Yes, the ninja who never shuts up and sounds like someone who smoked for a majority of their life, that’s who we’re going to be looking at today. Naruto was created by writer and artist Masashi Kishimoto, who originally made a one shot of the character, who was changed only slightly into the hyper active character we know today. It has recently finished with a total of 700 chapters and the anime is still ongoing currently with a “final” movie having just recently premiered.

Alright story for those who don’t know:

Twelve years prior to the original start of the story the village of Konoha was attacked by a nine tailed fox, who was then trapped into a new born baby by the village leader, the fourth Hokage. This child’s name was Naruto and Christ did he get the short end of the stick. Made into the town pariah he is forced to grow up not only as an orphan but also the most hated member of the town for mistakes he didn’t make. The children his age even dislike him, just based upon how their parents acted to him, and that made for a very difficult and lonely childhood. But fear not because Naruto doesn’t care, well he does, but he would never show it. He wants to be hokage and prove to the village he can be more than some hated reject. So he decides to become a ninja despite having failed as a student so many times before. Finally achieving his goal, he strives to become the strongest ninja in all of Konoha and prove to everyone that he isn’t a waste of space!

There’s a lot more that I won’t exactly bring up, just in case there are people who are interested in reading the manga or watching the show still. But basically its Naruto’s quest to acceptance and the friends he makes because of that. It’s cheesy but hey the kids love it for some reason. I know I did when I was young and watching it.

Naruto is our lead, obviously, and he is… Endearing? Really he’s a fine character with a lot of enthusiasm but there’s just a lot of energy that you have to match up with. He basically raised himself, never knew his parents, and doesn’t understand why everyone in the village hates him. Well he finds out, but even then he has a hard time understanding. He’s a bit thickheaded like that. He wants to be hokage and shouts it to the world with a, “Dattebayo!” (Believe it). We want him to succeed because he grows up so well over time that you can’t help but want him to wear the stupid hat of power, because you grew up with him.

Sasuke is the second main character I suppose in that he is sort of a driving force behind a lot of Naruto’s actions. Loved by everyone in the village Sasuke is a bit jaded on the whole people thing, often seeing them as similar because none of them try to get to know the real him. All the girls his age adore him to the point of stalking and it’s a wonder no one’s ended up with a restraining order. He and Naruto start off hating each other, seeing each other as annoying, but eventually they learn to trust each other. I don’t really care about him, he’s kind of a huge jerkwad, and that’s all he ever amounts to being.

Sakura is our leading lady and probably the character with the most growth, minus the last few chapters, but yeah. She’s hotheaded and intelligent but is scared of showing people what she’s really like out of fear of rejection. Starting off she just sort of comes off as a girl desperately in love with Sasuke and someone who has literally no motivation for anything really. That does change quite a lot that she’s strong and independent. She uses her strength and intelligence to become a strong female medical ninja who still holds onto what she loves.

There are a series of like a hundred plus other characters, which yes they are important, but that would take a whole lot of time.

The animation is… Well it’s shonen jump alright! That’s not saying Masato Kishimoto isn’t a good artist, but at times it is very wonky, but only in earlier chapters. Now for those who may not know, shonen is a ‘boy’s’ oriented genre of manga, which includes titles like Bleach or One Piece, and typically is showcased in the magazine Shonen Jump. For the most part the manga is a lot more detailed than that of the anime, merely because the animation crew likes to make everyone appear as bland as possible. Though the fight scenes are really good in both series, though once again lose a lot because of the more defined sketchy art style of Kishimoto. Now that isn’t to say that there are sometimes that I wish there had been a cleanup crew, because dear lord if I could count the number of times I’ve seen extremely sloppy execution done during the Chunin Exam arc. Ultimately though it was a very unique style that I don’t think will ever been done quite the same.

The sound is, not the best in either English or Japanese really, but if I had to choose I’d rather listen to five hundred episodes with subtitles. That isn’t me saying the dub isn’t good either, though I would never… It’s not good. Watch it in Japanese, preferably, also because they don’t butcher the opening theme like a lot of Dubbing companies did in the early 2000s. Now Viz Media did the dub, but once again, all it really did was launch Yuri Lewonthal’s career along with a few choice others who were already in the dub scene. This includes Kyle Hebert, Steve Blum, and Crispin Freeman. Also Liam O’Brian! These are the only people I think are of note, but hey, everybody likes different other voice actors. Any who, the music is also pretty good, sad flute instrumentals abound though. Because it is a longer anime it has multiple openings and endings. I would say there are a few that are really stellar, but there is a lot to go through. I personally really liked a lot of the Shippuden themes.

I have a lot of issues revolving around this show because of fans and the ultimate final few chapters of the manga. I grew up with Naruto, so I do end up having a lot of embarrassed nostalgia about it, I was as we used to call them a Narutard. I will defend that this is a good show with a lot of really good heartfelt moments, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that there is problems. Ultimately it comes down to the final arc and plot thread that just felt like it was ham-fisted into the reader’s faces. It felt almost like an insult to us as readers. I can’t be too angry though, it isn’t my work, its Kishimoto’s, but I can’t help but be a bit angry.

Still as a fan and a reader I have to thank Kishimoto for the last 15 years and congratulate him on completing Naruto. After such a long time it’s time to say goodbye even if it feels like letting go of an important friend. It’s an endearing show that if you have the time, read or watch it, it’s heartfelt where it needs to be and silly in the same way.

Narurto: 7/10

Review: DRAMAtical Murder

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dramatical_murder_3146So if there’s one thing that’s of common knowledge it’s that adaptations of video games are either fantastic or phenomenal. If you didn’t know DRAMAtical Murder, a recent 2014 summer release anime from Nitro+chiral, is on the weird middle cusp, where it can be good on some aspects while near awful on the other side. So for the low down Dmmd is an otome Japanese game, essentially a yaoi/bl dating game, for adults, which was later adapted into an all ages anime. This is one of the reasons this show doesn’t essentially work, as it struggles to make it accessible for an inclusive audience. It’s obviously for an 18 and older audience but it downplays a lot of important plot points because of that. But anyway, enough of that for now, and onto the plot.

The main character Aoba lives on an Island, Midorijima, where there is an old district and a new district, named Platinum Jail. He meets with old friends and new friends, all who have their own special issues, and then evil befalls upon them! Well not really but an evil plot of mind control is I guess? The plot was never really that good as in the game you only really play for the other characters backstories, but I suppose I have to cover it despite all of that. So… Anyway. Aoba and friends must rush to Platinum Jail and stop a dastardly plot as well as come to terms with their troubled pasts that hold them back from living full lives. There’s also this whole thing with games like Rhyme or Rib, and the war between the players. Yeah. That’s the plot.

There’s also this whole thing about robot companions, often looking like real pets, called All-Mates who are the coolest thing ever. They will search the internet for you as well as check for viruses, and much more. We see ones that are birds, rabbits, lions, snakes, and dogs. I want an all mate and so should you.

So then. Characters.

Aoba Seragaki is our main dude, a blue mullet wearing twenty-three year old, who apparently has mind powers. Yup, he can literally turn your mind into a bowl of noodles, well only if he really wanted to. He’s pretty much a big ol’ blue nerd, has a robot dog, lives with his grandmother, and works at a junk shop. Also he wears a stupid puffy jacket. He is able to pretty much date any of the following options of characters.

Kojaku is our samurai ladies’ man, who is a hairdresser when he’s not the man in charge what is basically a gang, Benishigure, but not yakuza. Really he’s just a huge nerd too, but has a tragic backstory. He’s also Aoba’s childhood friend, which if you didn’t know is always a choice in otome games, who just wants to protect said person. Kojaku is tough guy who doesn’t let harm come to civilians, especially the ladies. He’s also got a bit of temper issue when it comes to certain things, including his tattoos.

Noiz is our younger brat type, who is the head guy of a Rhyme team, Ruff Rabbit, as well as an information broke.  He’s also got a tragic backstory concerning how he was raised and how it turned him into who he is. Not very tact he literally is always pestering someone to fight him or pissing someone off because he can. He sees the world as a give and take system, everyone wants something from him, which is the only reason anyone would be kind to him. There’s something that he cannot feel that Aoba helps him understand.

Clear is our tragic white haired anime boy, except… Well spoilers on that one, anyway… He came into the story because he heard Aoba’s voice call out to him. That’s why he’s there, for his Master’s voice. He’s happy go lucky, if not a bit dense about things.  He doesn’t show his face to people out of certain reasons and everyone seems to love him in the fandom. Unfortunately he also has a tragic backstory. All of them do.

Mink is our cinnamon flavored thug, leader of the group Scratch, and man is he controversial in the game. Quiet and reserved, he’s only really interacting with the other’s to meet his own ends. There’s a reason he’s in Midorijima, and it’s not a good one. Still he’s the one least willing to let Aoba into his life and for good reasons. Everyone either loves or hates him, and it’s ridiculous because he is fictional.

Ren is Aoba’s All-mate, but also something deeper than that, his partner. Without any spoilers I’ll let you know that Ren is there to help Aoba no matter what happens. He will fight in Rhyme if need be, which gives him an alternate mode from his dog all mate form, as a beefcake. He’s also faced with many tough choices, mostly concerning how he feels, and if he is even justified in having emotions. At the end of the day he just wants to be by Aoba’s side. He’s also got a voice deeper than an abyss.

There’s also these two guys who say they aren’t twins but they are totally twins. They’re pretty…. Pretty messed up.  But also pretty. They are yakuza trash and seem to be pretty proud of it as well as unapologetic. The role they play is actually pretty important but far better explained in the game. In the anime they’re really only there to be ambiguous.

So the animation was definitely a downgrade, but that’s a bit hard to really talk about, as the game was not actually a moving animation. But still just the art of the anime was a bit on the dull side, as well as god damn atrocious in Episode 3 where apparently the animators sent the rough draft rather than the final product. The version that aired was clunky and horrible anatomy wise. And they later re-released the episode, but only in Japan, mostly due to the uproar of poor animation. It dulled out characters and made them blockier and less them. When the game that wasn’t animated but had literal stills of scenes is better than your animation that you definitely had more money to make… Well that’s just sad. Also while I’m not complaining, all the money had to have gone to that last episode. Sweet Jesus they made the Ren beach scene beautiful, I may have cried because of it.

This series had the unfortunate problem of having to deal with a multi-ending game, where were they going to take it? Which route? Well they decided to do all five routes in one go, which wasn’t the best idea on their part. It made the story telling as clunky as the animation, because Aoba was forced to fix a friend’s situation in basically ten minutes. It resolves things in a way that isn’t believable and I had a hard time really caring about the problems these characters were faced with. Nothing was fixed that fast in the game and I just had a hard time connecting to the characters like I did in the game. I know it’s not fair to constantly be comparing, but as a source material it is important.

Now the music was all pretty much done by the Japanese band GOATBED, which actually in canon is Aoba’s favorite band, and was not my favorite part of the show. I could give or take the opening and ending, but honestly it didn’t ruin the show either. Also pretty much everyone from the game returned to their roles in the animation, minus Mink’s original voice actor, and it was nice to hear some new line and bits from them. Still there was the whole issue of things being way too fast for me and that was mostly a story telling issue.

All together it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve watched, far from it actually. While it was a bit of a let-down compared to the game, which I’ve played, and found far superior, despite its own faults. I still found it entertaining and if I were just coming into it without any prior knowledge I might have liked it even more. Still overall it wasn’t the worst possible thing. And we’re still waiting for the two OVAs to be released that may or may not be the bad endings from the game but toned down. Now let’s also remember that, if you’re going for the source material after reading this, the game is for adults and features adult themes.

Overall rating: 6.5/10

Review: Wolf’s Rain

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Wolf's_Rain_Region_2_Volume_1There is a trend I have found in the animations I watch, ranging from really happy to upsettingly tragic. Now if you don’t know Wolf’s Rain you should know that it falls on the latter. It’s one of the most upsetting things I have ever watched and continues to make me cry every time I watch it. And because of that I know it holds up very well to this day.

The storyline goes that humanity is on the edge, society barely holding on, and four wolves are looking for Paradise. Basically wolves have been considered extinct for years but in actuality it really hypothesized that they are able to shape shift and take on a human form. Or rather they are able to trick the human eye, but who knows? Anyway because of this wolves have been able to survive despite everything. But there is this compulsion on the wolves to find a place called Paradise, which many packs have died trying to find, and our four are willing to chance it all. So there’s also a flower maiden, a bad guy, and humans who are involved by mere coincidence. Also there are a lot of ideas and undertones that may be hard to catch during a first watch, like how in the show it may be possible that humans evolved from wolves rather than apes. But let’s get onto characters for now.

Kiba is our lead, an artic wolf, who is the most driven to find Paradise, so much so that he may be hindered by it. He’s difficult and moody, but also is compelled by the idea of fate and wolves. Pride is a major downfall for him, as he was almost too prideful that he wouldn’t change his form to survive, as it was giving up his pride as a wolf.

Tsume is our hot headed wolf, a grey wolf, who could really care less about the whole idea of Paradise. Honestly he just feels saddled with the others, even though he really cares very deeply for his friends. Somehow he always found himself in a pack, filled with wolves or humans, even though he feels like he could do it all alone.

Toboe is our young naïve wolf, a red wolf, who was raised by a human woman as a pet. He is extremely naïve to the cruelty of humans and doesn’t understand why they’re being hunted as he was shown nothing but love and warmth from his ‘grandmother.’ He really relies upon Tsume, despite the other’s rude words, and wants to find Paradise.

Hige is our carefree wolf, a Mexican Wolf, who’s always been okay with living a dual life. Well that is until he meets Kiba. He is a pig and talks about food a lot, yeah, he’s that character. But there is a twist in his character that I will leave out for spoiler’s sake. There’s a lot more going on, but we don’t learn that for a while.

Cheza is the Flower Maiden, a being created via alchemy, and is basically viewed as a possible way to get into Paradise. She loves the wolves, like a lot, they’re her family, and she is pained badly when they’re hurt.

There are a whole slew of others, but really we’re focused on those main five, who we start off with and end with. But each character is unique with clean animation. Created by Keiko Nobumoto and the characters were designed by Toshihiro Kawamoto While it does have a certain age feel about it that doesn’t hurt a lot, as like Cowboy Bebop or Trigun it holds up still to this day. It’s one of few that I haven’t cringed watching, I mean there are times, but it’s isn’t like watching xxxHolic. The only complain I have is that the colors aren’t as vibrant as I wish they could be, but hey that could just be a style choice. Also sometimes the eyes look weird, but like I said style choice. Also, there are really splendid animation scenes and unfortunately it always at a death scene. I suppose if you’re going to save your animation budget you might as well save it for the scenes that will rip your viewer’s hearts apart. That’s also where the colors really stand out, with the blood against the pure white snow, and it works perfectly. A lot of it comes down to it being unique in designs that I’ve never seen put together before, an ice age-esque world where almost everything is extinct, and it shows in its style and clean lines. Even choices down to what a character is wearing, like the wolves in their human forms, fits the characters perfectly. I can’t imagine a version of Hige that doesn’t wear a baggy sweatshirt or a version of Kiba without his stupid grunge look. And like it’s unique look it’s sounds is insanely different.

Now the sound is actually strange, the opening and ending are both English, even in the original Japanese. The opening, Stray, is a rock song, and it is awesome. High paced and sort of just fits that wolf tone of the show. Gravity, the ending theme, is slower, and shows the sadder side to the show. It’s not unpleasant actually and it fits the already weird style of the show. The English cast is actually very good for its time, though I have never been a fan of a female voice actress trying to do a male character voice, and that’s just a personal thing. Though really Crispin Freeman being in the show really shows the higher quality expected. I’ve never watched the original so I have no idea how to feel about the Japanese cast, but ultimately I’m very attached to English production. Also the sounds for the wolves were perfect, from growls to bites; it’s intense to listen to. It has a crisp sound that you don’t hear often in anime, at least not anymore, and it’s so perfect. So I fall towards the preference of the dub and that’s merely because I’ve only watched that version.

The only grip I have is that there is that episode 15 through 18 are recaps of what we’ve already seen. It’s completely unnecessary and does nothing but annoy the viewer the same way Endless Eight of the Haruhi Suzumiya series did. It pointless and you can honestly just skip over those episodes.

This anime is one of my favorites and continues to wreck me every time I watch it. While it’s on the mature side, definitely for a slightly older audience, it’s unique and continues to hold up to my expectations. It’s remains to be a bit clearer whenever I sit down and watch, while still being covered in hidden messages.

Wolf’s Rain: 8.5/10