"Zettai Bouei Leviathan" Anime Review

***There is one tiny spoiler in the Story section***

Well it looks like Haiyore! Nyaruko-san W has some company for most generic anime of this season.

Story: 3/10
Zettai Bouei Leviathan is a boring anime with cute girls. So there are girls, they get together, one of them loses a staff I think..they end up going to a spa…yeah. This anime was not interesting what so ever. There was an attempt to have an overlaying plot but in reality all this anime tried to do was put out cute yuri scenes.

Animation: 6.5/10
The animation was pretty good but not amazing. The lighting was actually really well done and the character models looked pretty good. The issue though was that there was a noticeable drop in quality at some moments during the show’s airing. Some great looking scenes but a lot of average ones as well.

Sound: 5/10
Average voice acting; average soundtrack.

Characters: 4.2/10
So the characters worked ok with each other but they were far from interesting on an individual level. Bahamut is your typical rich loud girl, Jörmungandr is the tomboy, and Leviathan is the shy one. Just some basic empty shells.

Overall: 4.7/10
This show like Haiyore! Nyaruko-san W was just pure averageness. I find it almost unfathomable how shows like these make it to airing…oh yeah it’s because of the boobs.

"Namiuchigiwa no Muromi-san" Anime Review

***This is a spoiler free review***

For a short time format anime, Namiuchigiwa no Muromi-san sure packs a huge punch with it’s amazing animation and voice acting.

Story: 5.5/10
Let’s get this straight; there is no plot in this anime. While some of the episodes build on each other, most are self contained. What you get in this anime is exactly what it does well; gag skits. Literally every episode is something leading up to a gag. While most of the content in the show pertains to Japanese common knowledge, most subs will provide tooltips for the things you might not understand.

Overall the show is really funny and enjoyable; there just isn’t anything overly interesting going on.

Animation: 9.9/10
The animation is fresh, unique, and oozing with quality. Every scene looks amazing due to the lighting effects and over exaggeration animation style. The character models look great and the amount of quality in the shots remains constant if not better as the show progresses.

Sound: 8.5/10
The soundtrack was pretty interesting and diverse for an anime of this style. The opening song was some sort of weird mix of heavy and pop rock but was pretty good regardless. The voice actors did a tremendous job in this anime; each character’s personality was brought out extremely well due to some quality voiceovers.

Characters: 8.5/10
While I gave the character score a pretty good number, it’s not because the characters themselves are good (they are quite average actually); what the anime excels at is how well the interactions play off. The anime is so funny because of how the characters present themselves around others. While we do have some of the typical characters (big boob airhead, Cute airhead, ext.), Takurou and Muromi are surprisingly interesting. When put together, their performance is quite good due to the chemistry that slowly forms over time.

Overall: 8.1/10
This was a real shocker; while I normally stray away from the shorter time format anime, I am so glad I followed this one. The amazing animation style coupled with the funny characters and comedic scenes makes this anime a must watch for those looking for a quick laugh.

"Haiyore! Nyaruko-san W" Anime Review

***This is a spoiler free review***

 

Never in my life did I think that Haiyore! Nyaruko-san would get a sequel but here we are. I won't sugarcoat this; it's garbage.


Story: 3/10
Haiyore! Nyaruko-san W is by far one of the most generic shows I have in some time. Its first season was barely passable as an anime and by god this season remains the same. The story picks off directly after the first with Mahiro housing crime fighting Nyaruko, Cthuko, and Hasuta. A bunch of stuff happens where the gang has to defeat bad guys bla bla bla. While I wish I could tell you what they did this season…I cannot recollect what the hell went on. I was just so mind numbingly bored that nothing really stuck through. The whole Nyaruko crushing on Mahiro continues this season with Cthuko even edging towards “the boy” early on in certain moments. These passes towards Mahiro though are a sad excuse for character development.

Animation: 4/10
Passable for maybe a 2010 anime. Some shots look good but they are far and few between.

Sound: 4/10
The voice actors did an ok job but since they mutter the same lines over and over again it gets quite boring and annoying. “Mahiro-san! Mahiro-san! Mahiro-san! Mahiro-san!” SHUT THE F$%K UP ALREADY! Also the generic soundtrack didn’t help the show out very much.

Characters: 2/10
Every character in this anime is just an empty shell of some sort of character type used in most anime. You have the shy (and over used) annoying male lead, the asserting female lead, and oh and a boy who wants Mahiro’s “D” and a girl who will swing for both teams. The characters did a piss poor job of providing any fun scenes. Literally every episode boils down to Nyaruko trying to get Mahiro to do something romantic while Cthuko and Hasuta try to cock block Nyaruko. Every episode just feels like the same events over and over and over again.

Overall: 3.3/10
The funny thing is this review is probably way too generous. The only reason I bothered finishing this season is because a friend overseas somehow likes the show and it provides funny things to rant on. I have no idea how people support this sorry excuse for an anime when all it can muster is average at best quality. The characters are annoying, the sound is average, the animation is garbage by today’s standards, and the plot is so unattractive; do yourself a favor and stay far away from this mess.

"Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru" Anime Review

***This is a spoiler free review***

With the total failure of Date a Live and utter disappointment of Suisei no Gargantia, it’s a good thing there were other decent shows. While I lost interest in Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru in the middle of its airing, the amazing cast really brought this anime home.

Story: 5/10
So while the premise of the show really interested me, most of the content was just boring in my honest opinion. The show follows Hachiman, Yukino, and later on Yui as they help fellow classmates with their problems. While the cast interactions really made this show work, I was unfortunately just bored with what was going on. Essentially Hachiman and Yukino are somewhat reserved people who kind of have to be forced into situations in order to open up at all. This provides some really interesting banter between them but I did not like how other characters in the anime looked down on them. On the socially opposite side of the high school spectrum, you had the “cool” kids headed by Hayato and Yumiko who I despised immensely.

In pertaining to the actual plot of the anime, essentially it boils down to the club Hachiman is part of taking on different tasks set forth either by fellow classmates or the club monitor Shizuka. While some interesting moments come up in the show, it was overall pretty boring and average stuff. The final episode was pretty interesting and enjoying but overall the whole show just really felt like clever conversations with blandness in between.

Animation: 7.1/10
So the animation quality was entirely dependent on which ever character was on the screen. While the animation itself was fluid and good, the quality of each character was not. Characters Yukino, Shizuka, Haruno, Saika (I don’t care if he is a trap), and some others had great character models and looked great while on screen. Hachiman and Yui though each had certain things I completely disliked and was annoyed by. Hachiman had a very fish like appearance (which was probably on purpose but I still didn’t like it) and I found that in a lot of scenes his character didn’t animate as fluid as the others. Yui while very pretty in appearance had some serious hair issues. This might be an extremely superficial gripe but there was just no detail to her hair; it just looked like a mangled knot.

Resist...you must resist!

Sound: 8/10
The voice actors deserve a 10/10 but the generic soundtrack really brought this anime down quite a bit. Starting with the bad, the soundtrack really just felt out of place and not adding what so ever to the anime. It was just uneventful and average at best. Now for the good; like for all the –monogatari series, dialogue plays a huge role in this anime. The back and forth bantering between characters was very well done and the voice actors did an excellent job. Both Hachiman and Yukino were awesome from episode 1-13.

Characters: 10/10
Hands down the best cast of this season and possibly last year as well. Both this show and Hentai Ouji to Warawanai Neko had really well knit characters that made whatever was going on extremely funny and/or interesting. In Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru the stars of the show was Hachiman and Yukino. Every single conversation that was focused on them was either funny, interesting, exciting, and/or cute. Hachiman while not a very interesting person to begin with was a pretty good male lead. He worked well with all the characters including the super cute and super trap Saika. He really made whatever situation the team was in better due to his “unique” insight. Yui (while a complete ditz) had a pretty big heart and served as a medium between the club and the “cool” kids. The club teacher Shizuka also had a huge impact on how the show turned out. Her constant meddling provided most of the situations the club got into.

The cast overall just felt so in-sync with each other. Even though some of the episodes really felt like there was no direction, the conversations between each character made it somewhat interesting.

Overall: 7.5/10
While boring in some parts, I have to recommend this anime to everyone looking for some laughs and enjoyment in the slice of life realm. The characters just make this show so interesting to watch and while the animation and sound isn’t overly great, they are good enough to help you enjoy what this anime has to offer.

"Suisei no Gargantia" Anime Review

***This is a somewhat spoiler free review***

Suisei no Gargantia starts out guns blazing with its interesting premise and superb animation but soon falls on its feet before it even gets to third base.

Story: 5/10
Out of all the shows this season (maybe aside from Attack on Titan which I dropped in order to follow the manga instead), Suisei no Gargantia had in my honest opinion the best start. The story starts out with Ledo heading into battle against a threat to humanity. In the aftermaths of the battle though, Ledo is transported to a strange world. Little did he know that he is where humanity started; planet Earth.

The show pulled out ahead compared to the rest with its interesting premise and beautiful animation but when the show hit its midway point, I had started to notice that my anticipation for each new episode was starting to drop. Don’t get me wrong the show overall is pretty enjoyable; it’s just for some reason the studio just decided to turn the “interesting” factor down for a lengthy couple of episodes. During this boring phase, Ledo was trying to adjust to the life style on the ship compared to what he was used to in the army/whatever. In this time though, we had a bunch of unneeded fanservice flashed into our faces and a bunch of uninteresting squabble between characters that didn’t prove to be worth a damn. The show tries to make the relationship between Amy and Ledo important to the overall flow but what really happens is we learn that Amy (and her friends) are pole dancing mailmen (err women) and that Ledo wants a private showing. The affection Amy had for Ledo just did not translate well for me as I didn’t really care what happened between them even when the show ended.

What’s worse is when the show finally starts to get back on its feet, it ends. While the final arc’s episodes were extremely interesting to watch due to the nature of the society Ledo finds himself in, the show simply rushes through it. The conflict within the new society sparks way too soon and all the character build up is wasted due to a rush to the final conflict. While the ending is very good, it feels like it could of crescendo even more.

The premise for the plot was extremely interesting and fresh but fresh can only get you so far if you have a boring second act.

Animation: 8.2/10
The animation is pretty dang good in this 2013 anime. Lighting effects, color selection, and overall animation quality (especially during the fight scenes) was done very well. Character models are another story; in most instances they look great however during some scenes proportions really get out of whack and to be honest the quality just doesn’t seem equal throughout every episode. When watching the show I could very easily point out the certain points in episodes where the quality just seems to drop off randomly.

There are however without a doubt some really beautiful scenes within this anime. In one of the earlier episodes, there is a moment when the fleet is sailing across the many light bug thingies in the ocean. The lighting effects and overall quality of the animation during this scene completely blew me away. It’s just a shame the quality drops off in later episodes.

Sound: 6.5/10
While the orchestral arrangements are very much welcome in my book, they really did not bring any punch when needed. The score (soundtrack) was very nice but I just found that it did not amplify what was being visually presented. The voice actors did a pretty good job as well but like with the score I just didn’t feel “wowed” by their performance. Not bad but not great.

Characters: 4/10
This is where the anime really fell on its face. With such an interesting premise and great sparks of animation, I was so ready to fall in love with the characters and be driven into a great story. This does not happen as each character is as deep as a glass of water. I simply did not care at all for any of the characters in this show because they just did not give me any reason to do so. Both Amy and Bellows come off as lifeless characters that just happen to throw their err features out there whenever needed. The other mailwomen are uninteresting and boring and while Pinion was at first an interesting character, he soon loses any affection after what he does to get the small fleet in danger in the later part of the show.

There just was no reason to like any character in this show. The elder doctor and Amy’s brother were nice additions but their role was so small that they could not possibly add anything to the overall spectrum of the show.

Overall: 5.9/10
This show as a whole barely passes for what I would call an “ok” anime. While it had such an amazing introduction and short but satisfying ending, it was completely destroyed by its structural pillars. Characters are the life blood for any show/movie and you cannot expect it to thrive if the viewer doesn’t give a f#$@ about who is on the screen. All I can say is if you end up liking the characters early on then stick with the show. Just understand that while there is a build up to the end, it is short lived. While this is by no means a disappointment on the scale of Sword Art Online, Suisei no Gargantia really let me down.