Angel Beats! Review

Angel Beats!

Angel Beats!, an anime that split the anime community in half, on its release. Many refer to it as the greatest anime ever, a masterpiece even, others think it is bad and seriously overrated.

So where do I stand on this?

Well since I am reviewing it I needed to put my feeling aside and inspect this anime from a critics point of view. I spent a long time researching and rewatching it, searching fort he little flaws that were hidden beneath the surface.

So lets get this review started, shall we?

Synopsis

Otonashi awakens only to learn he is dead. A rifle-toting girl named Yuri explains that they are in the afterlife, and Otonashi realises the only thing he can remember about himself is his name. Yuri tells him that she leads the Shinda Sekai Sensen (Afterlife Battlefront) and wages war against a girl named Tenshi. Unable to believe Yuri's claims that Tenshi is evil, Otonashi attempts to speak with her, but the encounter doesn't go as he intended.
Otonashi decides to join the SSS and battle Tenshi, but he finds himself oddly drawn to her. While trying to regain his memories and understand Tenshi, he gradually unravels the mysteries of the afterlife.

Story (6/10)

The weakest thing about the anime is sadly the story, since for some unexplained reason there are only 13 episodes. The first few episodes were promising and kept on building up my expectations and that sadly was where it started to fall apart. The character developments and interactions are rushed and on some parts feel almost forced. This made me furious, in my opinion there was enough material for at least 24 episodes, if not even 2 seasons.

 Art (9/10)

There are two things that really standout in this anime one of them being the visually stunning artwork, it is beautiful and eye-catching. There were scenes where I just had to pause the video and just take it all in. The animation was clear and fluid, everything from character movement to the fight scenes was animated perfectly.

Sound (10/10)

The first thing that really sticks out is the music, the opening and ending songs are touching and memorable. Without the music I would have probably given up on the actual story and some scenes just wouldn’t have had the same effect. The song that had the most effect on me was Ichiban no Takaramono in the Yui ark.

Characters (6/10)

As I have mentioned there wasn't enough time for character development, because of the small number of episodes we couldn't see and experience the characters and see their past. Some of  the characters had a lot of potential to be good, but were simply pushed aside as if they didn't exist. Still there were some memorable characters (Kanade, Yui, Otonashi) these characters were interesting entertaining and unique. I have much more to say, but I do not wish to spoil it for you guys.

Overall (7.7/10)

Angel Beats! is despite its flaws, an overall good anime, but it is far from the best. If you ignore the flaws in the lenght of the story and just enjoy the animation and music I believe you will have a good time watching it.

Hope you liked me review, feel free to comment down below and I shall see you next time.

Sincerely Jaxd

Key Kyoto Holy Trinity

Kyoto Animation

Kyoto Animation is an animation company that is located on the south of Kyoto, in a city called Uji. It was created1981, although they were initially producers and co-staff of other anime companies. They started creating their own anime in 2003, and have been making our lives awesome ever since.

Kyoto Animation has a huge fan-base because of their high quality animation – something incredibly rare to see in anime, let alone a company. Their productions contain very little filler and are often well paced.
Some of their best works are:

– Air, 2003
– The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, 2006
– Kanon 2006, 2006
– Lucky Star, 2007
– Clannad and Clannad: After Story, 2007
– Hyouka, 2012 ( still waiting for another season)
– Chunnibyou, 2012

And many more.

Key Studios

Key is a Japanese visual novel studio which was formed in 1998 as a brand under the publisher VisualArt’s and is located in Kita, Osaka, Japan.
Key released first visual novel Kanon in June 1999.
Key’s second game Air released in September 2000 had a similar storyline to Kanon and a more thorough gameplay. Both Kanon and Air were originally produced as adult games.
Third title Clannad which was released in April 2004 was meant for all ages.

Key studios most successful visual novels:

– Clannad
– Air
– Kanon 2006
– Angel Beats

Holy Trinity

The Key Kyoto Animation Holy Trinity term applies to three Kyoto/Key best dramatic works.
Air, Kanon 2006 and Clannad.
If you are a fan of drama and romance one of these will surely sit well with you.

3. Air

Synopsis:

Yukito Kunisaki is on a journey in search of the Winged girl who was bound to the sky centuries ago, after hearing an old childhood tale from his mother. As Yukito shows his puppet show to people in an attempt to make some money, he finds himself in a small town in which he did not expect to stay very long. However, when he meets an unusual girl named Misuzu, things take a drastic turn as he is invited to stay with her.

2. Kanon 2006

Synopsis:

When he was young, Aizawa Yuuichi had often visited his cousin in the city, however, something drastic happened to keep him away for seven long years. Now, Yuuichi has returned,but his memories of those days are simply gone.

Settling into the wintry town, Yuuichi comes across several young girls, all of whom are connected to his past. As he becomes friends with them and continues to interact with them, the long forgotten memories from his childhood start returning.

1. Clannad and Clannad: After Story

Synopsis:

Okuzaki Tomoya is a delinquent who finds life boring and believes he’ll never amount to anything. Along with his friend Sunohara, he skips school and plans to waste his high school days away.
One day while walking to school, Tomoya passes a young girl muttering quietly to herself, which catches his attention. He soon discovers the girl’s name is Furukawa Nagisa. Nagisa claims they are now friends, but Tomoya walks away passing the encounter off as nothing.
However, Tomoya finds he is noticing Nagisa more and more around school. Eventually he befriends her. Tomoya learns Nagisa has been held back a year due to a severe illness and that her dream is to revive the school’s drama club. Claiming he has nothing better to do, he decides to help her achieve this goal along with the help of four other girls.
As Tomoya spends more time with the girls, he learns more about them and their problems. As he attempts to help each girl overcome her obstacle, he begins to realise life isn’t as dull as he once thought.

If this post has inspired you to watch these amazing pieces of animation, please do so in the order I have provided. I hope you enjoyed this post, if you have any thoughts, ideas or questions please feel free to write them in the comment section. Thank you and Enjoy.

Disclaimer: All the pictures and videos in this post belong to their respected owners, I am not taking credit for them.

Sincerely Jaxd

Katanagatari Review

Katanagatari

Story ( 9/10)

The story of Katanagatari is straightforward yet crazy and sometimes unpredictable. The series consists of 12 episodes, each of them give you the feeling that you are watching a short movie, since  they are all over 50 minutes long. The series has a rinse and repeat cycle, in every episode they find a sword, defeat the person that possesses it and collect the sword, but it never gets boring and you actually never get the felling of how repetitive it really is. It is the same as with Cowboy Bebop ( also if you have not seen Cowboy Bebop yet, what the hell are you doing here reading this… go watch it right now).

Synopsis

Katanagatari (Tale of swords) follows the adventure of Togame, a self-claimed General Director of Military Affairs serving under the Owari Shogunate, and Yasuri Shichika, the 7th head of the Yasuri family, which follows the Kyotouryuu ( Sword less Swordsmanship) style martial art, in their quest to find and collect 12 legendary swords made by Shikizaki Kiki.

Shichika Yasuri is a 24 year old boy, who has spent more than 20 years in Exile on an isolated island with his dad and older sister. From a young age Shichika has been trained by his father  in the way of Kyotouryuu a sword less sword style. After his training was complete he slayed his father ( the reason why is not specified in the anime) and became the 7th head of the family. He spend the next year on the island improving his skills and enjoying his peaceful life, without a worry in the world. Until he gets an unexpected visit from a girl named Togame. She requests his aid in her quest. At first Shichika is not interested in her quest saying he doesn't want to leave his peaceful life and sister, but after a while he joins her as her sword, saying he has fallen in love with her. And so they leave the island as they rush to face the 12 individuals  who possess the swords.

Art ( 9/10)

The art of Katanagatari is very different from other anime, but in a good way, the artist doesn't have any boundaries when it comes to the shape of people or animals, which is not a bad thing and in my opinion it looks very cool. The fighting scenes aren't as flashy as say in Naruto or other fighting anime, instead they are drawn very creatively and elegantly. The scenery is very bright due to the use of warm colours like pink, orange… and it gives you that warm felling that makes you stop the episode just to admire the artwork. The artwork might not be for everyone but I enjoyed it a lot.

Sound ( 8/10)

There is really not much I can say about the music, the opening/closing songs fit well with the anime but are not really memorable. What I liked the most was the fight music Bahasa Palus composed by Taku Iwasaki. The original voice acting was pleasing, but could use some improvements.

Characters ( 9/10)

The best thing about this anime is the main characters Togame and Shichika and their interactions with other interesting side characters. Every character is unique in his or her own way, the hardest thing in anime is to make the characters memorable and Katanagatari does this incredibly well, since most characters only make an appearance in one episode, they are still memorable later on. One thing I really liked was seeing Shichika evolve from a not so smart, emotionless jungle boy to a cheerful prankster who just loves to tease Togame.

Enjoyment ( 10/10)

I really enjoyed watching Katanagatari for me it was an unbelievable emotional rolercoaster thanks to the character, dialogue and artwork.

I hoped you enjoyed my review, but by that time you would have already been torn to pieces.

Cheerio! Jaxd

The Start of Something Great

Greeting's everyone,

Welcome to my first official anime blog.

      I guess I should introduce myself,

My name is Jaxd, I am a passionate anime/manga enthusiast, I have created this blog in order to share my passion with the people of the interwebs. Here i wish to inspire your love for anime and share my recommendations and opinions.

Seeing how well this blog will go, I might also start a You tube channel.

Blog features:

– On this blog I will share with you my first impressions, my recommendations, my        opinions, maybe some top 10 posts and much, much more.
– I hope to upload about three times  a week, if my schedule will allow me.

If you have any suggestions on how to improve this blog, or you just want to leave your opinion or you just wanna talk,  feel free to comment.

      Hope you like it here.

      Sincerely Jaxd