Guaporense and Zotis Review Animation

Hello !

I wanted to post here for a long time.
I don't know much about this forum, this particular thread and I can't speak English very well so I hope you'll bear with me.
I discovered this thread one year ago and reading your reviews, your point of view and learning about animation made me very interested in watching animes and animation movies.

I didn't know much about those before reading reviews on this thread. Actually, the only anime I watched back then was One Piece because it was the only anime they would show on tv (I'm french by the way).

Here is a list of what I've watched and read since I started following this thread :

"Saga of Tanya the Evil
Kino no Tabi
Pop Team Epic
Black Lagoon
Devilman Crybaby
My Hero Academia
Houseki no Kuni
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Cowboy Bebop
Samurai Champloo
Mob Psycho
Afro Samurai
Trigun
Code Geass
Made in Abyss
Baccano!
The Big O
Hellsing
Texhnolyze
Paranoia Agent
Le royaume des couleurs
Panty and Stocking
Iblard Jikan
Goku Midnight Eye
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou
Kyosogiga
Hunter X Hunter
Fang of the Sun Dougram
A.D. Police Files
Space Dandy
Otaku no Video
Fight! Iczer One
Angel Cop
Armor Hunter Mellowlink
Steins Gate
Cyber City OEDO 808
Haibane Renmei
Amon: The Apocalypse of Devilman
The Twelve Kingdoms
Puni Puni Poemi
Bubblegum Crisis
Serial Experiment Lain
Watamote
Maison Ikkoku
Yu Yu Hakusho
I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying
Lucky Star
Here Is Greenwood
Young Black Jack
Snow White with the Red Hair
Battle Angel Alita
Psychopass
Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches
Golden Boy Kintaro
Lady Oscar
Inferno Cop
The Tatami Galaxy
Kaiba
Full Metal Alchemist
The End of Neon Genesis Evangelion
Cowboy Bebop : The Movie
Afro Samurai Resurrection
Wolf Children
Perfect Blue
King of Thorn
Roujin Z
Cencoroll
Tekkonkinkreet
Tokyo Godfathers
Grave of the Fireflies
Animal Treasure Island
Porco Rosso
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt: December Sky
Colorful
Dragon's Heaven
A Wind Named Amnesia
Summer Wars
The Garden of Words
Mind Game
Black Magic M-66
Grey: Digital Target
Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise
Akira
Blood Reign: Curse of the Yoma
Legend of Crystania
Sword of the Stranger
Giovanni's Island
Venus Wars
Paprika
The Wicked City
Darkside Blues
Demon City Shinjuku
Vampire Hunter D
Angel's egg
Redline
Dead leaves
Windaria
Piano Forest
Princess Mononoke
Appleseed
Souvenirs de Marnie
Spirited Away
Castle in the Sky
Howl's moving castle
Ghost in the shell
Feeling from Mountain and Water
Ojiisan no Lamp
Cat Soup
Dareka no Manazashi
Mountain
Kakurenbo
Bavel's Book
Noiseman Sound Insect
The Demon
Atama Yama
Muramasa
A Country Doctor
Yume Nikki manga
Inuyashiki
Vinland Saga
Soul Eater
Bleach
One Piece
Dragon Ball
Gantz
The Promised Neverland
Ghost & Lady
Priest
Saikano: The Last Love Song on This Little Planet.
Monster
Life
Dragon Head
GTO
Kuro****suji
The Walking Man
I am a hero
Lady Snowblood
Ajin
Parasyte
Lone Wolf and Cub
Berserk
Death Note
Captain Harlock
Junji Ito's one shots
Kitaro's ghost tales"

I started watching animes back in October 2017. There's a lot of your recommandations I have yet to watch and I'd be very happy if you could tell me if I missed something really important. I'd also like to know if it's possible to post your personal reviews on this site, or if this thhread is an exception ? Because I'd be very interested in documenting my discoveries. I could also share some good animations with you guys, but it would be more about french and russian animations. Anyway, I just wanted to show you my appreciation for making me learn so much !

-Poupi

167) Re-Creators (2017)



Now this one was a highly entertaining ride. It's anime original about artistic creativity and how the people might judge you based on your work. Lots of cool fight scenes as well.

Cool. Welcome to the forum I hope you have a nice time here. In my case I am wondering where Zotis and Jal90 are.

You have watched a really impressive amount for 3 months. I guess you mistype this to mean 2016?

In my case I have been watching Japanese TV shows since 1994 and I have been reading manga since 2001.

Anyway, I think that Miyazaki's series future boy Conan would be a nice addition. As well as Ergo Proxy and specially Simoun (I think that was my favorite among the titles you have already watched). In terms of manga Tomorrow's Joe is essential.

Of course. I think you should post your anime/animation reviews in this thread.

Thank you for your reply and your recommandations !

I really meant to say 2017. I've got an insane amount of free time and there's not much I do usually besides playing videogames, listening to music and watching animes. I guess But watching animes is a really comforting activity for me. Especially when it really connects with me. I'd say the animes that connected with me the most were Cowboy Bebop, because it can be slow-moving at times, and then really fast-paced and exciting, and there's all kind of emotions and stories in it. I really like animes with an episodic format like Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, The Big O and Paranoia Agent.

I think I watched Made in Abyss, Houseki no Kuni and Devilman Crybaby before you made a review on them here, but I ended up having the same point of view. The three of them really impressed me in the way their atmosphere brutally changed in some episodes. The breaking point in Made in Abyss would be episode 10, for Houseki no Kuni it would be the episode following Antarcticite's "departure" and in Devilman Crybaby, things are slowly moving towards the apocalyptic finale.

Two scenes in Debiruman Crybaby left me in awe : the Devilman hug scene and the scenes with the uncle searching for his son and his wife. He seems to be overlooked by the community as a character, but I really connected with him for some reason, he was just a normal, kind person with faith and, until the end, he stayed true to his nature, unlike most of the humans who go ape**** after Ryo's message.

Well, I don't even know why I'm rambling about all of this in the first place, it's not very interesting. It's just that these things will stay in my memories for a long time.

And thanks for the invitation ! I think I'll soon start posting reviews on this thread then, but I don't want to be invasive. I mostly know Russian shorts because there's so much variety and beauty contained within them. Also, you might know some of these animes/mangas but I still want to recommend them to you, they're just brilliant !

To read :
- The Promised Neverland (it's not very long and it's super enthralling, here's a link if you don't mind reading it online : readms.net/r/neverland/001/3577/2)
- Gantz (Well, I'm almost a hundred percent sure you know this one. I don't like the end of it, I wish the author would have continued showing more battles against huge aliens. The Oni temple part was the best arc for me. And some of the characters, like the grandma and Suzuki or the priest and the yakuzas, makes us wonder how different social categories would react to the Gantz game and how far they could go in order to survive. I think it would be really interesting to see a Gantz series set on another continent, like Europe, although we've had a bit of that with the Italy attack).

To watch :
- Kaiba (Yuasa at his best, at least in my opinion)
- Dead Leaves (A crazy, awesome and eccentric animation movie with an incredible art style and innovative action all over the place, made me think about Redline a lot. I have seen no mention of it on here, but I might have just missed it !)

Well, that's all for me. Hope you have a great day !

-Poupi

@Poupi, I wish I had as much free time these days.

Also, I don't think you should post links of scanlation sites here (these are illegal in the US). I know the means to get manga in english or portuguese, actually right now I am learning Japanese so I am trying to force myself to only read manga in Japanese. I guess I will try to find out The Promised Neverland in Japanese then!

168) Gabriel Dropout (2017)



Now that's some real entertainment. I am becoming a connoisseur of cute girl comedy skits. Apparently, there is no way I can get bored from this type of premise as long as it features interesting twists. For example, in this case the cute girls are two angels (Gabriel and Raphiel) are two demons (Vigne and Satania), who behave as anything but angels and demons.

Awesome! I wasn't expecting us to have such an intense lurker. That's quite an impressive list to have watched in one year. Welcome to the forums.

I haven't watched any anime in over a month since I just got off a videogame binge and only watched a couple arthouse films so far.

1) Houseki no Kuni



This anime is the last one I watched in 2017 and it was a blast ! The blend of 2D and 3D animation is a sight to behold. It has some major strong points going for it : the characterization is top notch, every gem is likable or interesting upon its introduction, the angels and Kongo-sensei gives off a great vibe of mystery and the development of Pho is examplar. Hell, even Shiro, who is first introduced as a monkey, hinduist deity-like creature, is adorable ! I like how Kongo-sensei is obviously related to the Lunarians, but the show doesn't focus on it, it lets us comprehend the bigger picture without any hand-holding.

As far as the anime goes, the story isn't very complex but it doesn't need to be, and the manga goes far beyond that. In terms of animation, there's so many things done right that I can't even mention them all. The way the hair moves and sparkles. The glorious backgrounds. The shots during battle sequences. The characters' expressions. Everything is so detailed and gorgeous to look at that it could convince any 3D skeptic.

The tone of the series is deeply rooted within Pho's state of mind. If she's happy, then the tone will be bright and comedic. If she's melancholic, then the whole word of Houseki no Kuni will be affected by it and the tone will grow darker. Well, I hope it's not too bad for a first review, I would have said much more but I am running out of time and I have to go to uni. Thanks, Guap and Zotis, and take care !



(To watch list : Speed Grapher / Golgo 13 / Neuro: Supernatural Detective)

Overall a pretty entertaining movie with a lot of action. I liked the CGI style which reminded me of another Netflix original, Knights of Sidonia. There were some things that annoyed me so I had mixed feelings. Characters constantly being startled is a trend in anime that I really can't stand, but Blame! was just following the trend so I couldn't really hold it against it too much. There was a lot of forced drama and emotional manipulation in the music. I found myself swelling up when nothing was happening because the music was so melodramatic. Now I really want to read the manga. I only read a little of the manga so far, but it seemed to focus on Killy, where as this focused more on the other humans. I noticed how they said they didn't have the ability to replicate their technology anymore, so it was a significant loss when some kids used it and got killed because that gear was lost, but then it is never actually an issue. They always had enough gear for everyone. Things like that felt like fake tension.

I've been reading the Blame manga, up to vol 3 ch 13, and it's a bit repetative and boring. While the cyborgs and monsters look really cool they only do one of two things regardless of their abilities and weapons. They either die instantly without doing anything, or they beat up Killy a little and then die by a deus ex machina. They try to give the impression that he's exploring this vast world, but it's actually linear. There is no tension, the hero is lazy and barely has to lift a finger for things to pan out. He meets all kinds of people who seem to have a functioning life, despite the dangers, but they usually get massacred the moment Killy arrives as if he carries some curse. Every time they make it seem like a new threat, but it happens so repetatively that it ruins the immersion. The setting is really cool and inspiring, and my imagination is full of ideas, but I am finding it harder and harder to keep scrolling. It's making me tired and bored. It reminds me of Berserk with the constant gratuitous violence. Berserk gave me a headache. I liked the anime way more because it focused more on the story and character development. Blame has no story or character development, it's just a guy walking around killing everything that attacks him with only the barest explanation, and practically ignoring everyone else since they'll most likely just die anyway. I really got tired of the way the monsters constantly appear. It's like they're surprising us over and over in the exact same way. It's so tiresome. It looks like the anime took a part at the beginning with a couple of characters and expanded on it taking a lot of liberties, simplifying the enemies, and taking the scientist from later and inserting her. Imagine if in the manga Killy didn't get knocked down the pipe by enemies, but instead actually killed them or fell down a different pipe, he never would have met the scientist. Everything that happens is pure randomness. Also Killy has absurd main character status so enemies will toss him off a ledge rather than execute him when they defeate him. Or they'll have their gun pointed at his head and instead of shooting they'll stare at him like retards so an ally can kill them just in time or a distraction can let him do a reversal. I just find that Blame is not fleshed out. I think that is the main problem. They should have taken more time with each monster, cyborg, and group of people. Also, Killy does not search thoroughly. He haphazardly wanders around with the only direction being up. Why does he think up will lead him to what he's looking for? Well conveniently it seems up is the right direction, but with no real explanation. They give the impression that a human with the net gene could be anywhere... Then he could have passed it, or it could be on the other side of the world. The world is so vast it's like finding a needle in a hay stack. They say the security protocol can summon as many monsters as it needs using material from their surroundings. So these vortexes appear out of nowhere conjuring monsters sometimes stronger than others (seemingly random based on the whim of the author). There are no clear rules, and they get away after killing a few every time. Can't they summon them anywhere at any time? It seems they can only summon them when dramatic effect calls for it. They get away and then a page or two later run into more... It makes no sense, this whole manga makes so little sense it's giving me a headache. I think the author just made up everything as he went with no idea what he was doing or where he was going with it. A pretty cool concept, but horrible execution.

169) Squid Girl (2010)



Squid girl is a great comedy show. It's from Tetsomu Mizushima who directed Girls und Panzers and Shirobako, two modern classics. Although in this case he had a smaller budget to work with and the quality of the art and animation shows. Still it was a very effective slice of life comedy.

Interestingly how the art-style of the main character evolved over time from the original manga:

I have been enjoying this quite a lot despite the occassional cringy dialogue, melodrama, and stupidity of the characters. It is very unique in that it focuses more on weakness and growth. Even the weakest goblins give the characters a really hard time showing the world to be a truly dangerous place. And it is quite good at invoking emotion. I like how the characters argue and have personality quirks. I'm thankful that there isn't too much fanservice. I'm only six episodes in, but I'm hooked.

I suppose on thing about Grimgar that I find weird is how at the start they arrive with no memory and in modern clothes. But they never try to figure out where they came from or get back. They just accept and embrace their situation.

2) My Hero Academia



Another great anime I started watching in January 2018. This one left me with mixed feelings during the first few episodes, because it started out as the typical shounen, but it got way more interesting after that. The action was exciting, the narrative structure enthralling and the characters interesting but the beginning really lacked in something in my opinion. But by the end of season 1, I was totally into it. I think the first half of season 1 felt weak to me because we weren't informed on the bigger picture : who the villains are, what they are capable of, what the heroes are willing to achieve, all of that. The focus was put solely on Midoriya, All Might and Bakugo, which is not a bad way to start things, as it grounds us in the reality of this universe before telling us more. In fact, it might be a very clever introduction, as we will likely look back to it in the future and see just how much we and Midoriya learned about this world of heroes. The USJ Arc was exactly what I needed to fully get into My Hero Academia. Then season 2 did even better and really hooked me with the competition and new, darker villains such as Stain the Hero Killer.

I'd say My Hero Academia is an anime that will brightly shine on the long run, it needs a lot more episodes to fully develop its plot, its universe and its characters. I see a lot of potential in it. The tense confrontation between Midoriya and Shigaraki at the end of season 2 hinted at greater and darker themes for the story, and the League of Villains will surely be the main source of opposition for the next seasons. Some villains were introduced that I know are already active in the manga, but I have yet to see them in action in the anime.



Despite the great animation, the entertaining plot and the addictive soundtrack, there's still something that's ruining my enjoyment of the show. I don't think they're making too good of a job at managing the huge pool of characters in the anime. Some of the students that are in the same damn classroom as Midoriya didn't even get a line until the end of season 1, and some of them only got a few scenes for themselves during the entire duration of the show so far ! Midoriya, Bakugo, All Might, Tenya, Todoroki and Uraraka get all the spotlight.

It's a pity, because every time one of the other characters get some screentime, they're shown to be very likable or interesting. Although they made efforts to give everyone a fair amount of screentime during the tournament and even introduce students from other classrooms, I still think it's not enough. The guy who talks to insects (I can't even remember his name, wut) only gets a good scene during the Final Exams Arc, when he's up against Present Mic. That might be a tad late. But the characterization is on point, and that's something that makes up for the unbalanced screentime for the main cast. I grew to love Tenya, Midoriya, Todoroki and Uraraka because they progress in a swift way, they're smart and they wisen up during their adventures. I also like All Might because he's a goofy bloke. But I can't stand Bakugo. He's the typical hotheaded guy with no redeeming quality who gets praised by others anyway, because he is so determined and strong willed and all that. Uh. Dude straight up abused Midoriya during every scene they shared, broke almost all rules of the school, can't answer a question without screaming like a maniac and constantly behaves like he's going to murder everyone in his way, yet his classmates and his teachers still interact with him like he's a sane person. He's not. I don't mind when his over the top anger is used for comedic effect, I just wish he'd grow as a character and learn a thing or two next season, instead of staying put on that basis of "gotta be better than Midoriya and everyone else, because you know, I've got a god complex and all".

I'm now watching Little Witch Academia, and I'm enjoying it greatly, so I'll probably make a review of it next week ! See you !

170) Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress (2016)



Now this was an stupid show. I mean, stupid in the sense that the secondary characters all behaved like complete idiots while the main characters were the only ones that behaved like minimally rational beings (for instance, in the complete irrational panics that occurred when "Kabane suspicion" arose).

Despite that issue the show was great entertainment, as long as I accepted the stupid behavior as part of the premise. The quality of the art and animation is perhaps unequaled for animation produced for television, at least among all animation I know. Truly stunning action scenes.

171) No Game no Life Zero (2017)



Now that's was a great piece of entertainment. It was powerful, dramatic and well executed. Substantially superior to the already great TV show. I liked it's extremely "otakuish" style as well.

172) Slow Start (2018)



So cute! This is 2018's cutest piece of animation so far. The quality of the art and animation is also higher than most cute girl shows and it reminds me of K-On!, in this case as well the character's emotions are often expressed using the character's body language and hand gestures. I think they used something that I heard being called "vector computer animation" to make the motions of the characters more fluid as well.

Another element that makes this an exceptional show of the cute girls doing cute things genre is that the characters are deeper and more three dimensional. They still behave in a very unrealistic cutesy manner but they have underneath the raw cuteness more complex personalities. While other shows of the genre are often just "cute porn" this is "cute porn" plus a drama about a teenager suffering from social anxiety.

173) Hakumei and Mikochi (2018)



A delightful slice of life that is very peaceful and relaxing. Kinda like a animated Ozu but in a very colorful fantasy setting. Although it had some issues: essentially, it's very slow paced, especially for animation, so I was surprised by it and being used to much more fast paced stuff I found it a bit too slow. Yet, it's a very unique slice of life, with cute characters but without any "cutesy" immature behavior.

174) A Place Further than the Universe (2018)



One of the best shows to come out of 2018 so far. Very powerful emotional roller coaster ride. Like other shows of the type it features cute high school girls as the protagonists although the target audience are adult males. In this case they are a group of girls who join together to travel to Antarctica in an expedition as guests. Clearly an example of a masculine interest (traveling to antartica is among the most manly things a person can do).

Although I didn't like the art style. It's very simple and so I didn't care for it very much (not as bad as the super minimalistic style in American animation though). But overall it's very impressive effort and shows how good original animation generally is compared to adaptations.

175) Violet Evergarden (2018)



The year of 2018 is shaping up to be a great year for animation. Like 2017, this year I have been watching a lot of animation since I am learning Japanese and animation is a good tool to use so I guess since I am watching more I am developing a better impression of more recent titles relative to older ones, or is it now truly the golden age of anime? Well, it's true that since 2015 or so the Japanese animation industry has been growing at record rates driven mainly by the growing demand in China plus the more effective utilization by the industry of legal streaming.

Perhaps the most impressive title of 2018 so far is Violet Evergarden. Features truly astounding visuals, perhaps the best ever for television animation up to 2018 and a plot that contains heart wrenching drama. A serious show in every way, it's jokes are few and it's appeal is mainly about a young women learning to understand human emotions since she was raised in an environment without any emotional contact.