Uncurrency Anime – The Idolm@ster

After days of getting my thoughts straight (and raping the replay button of the animated dances), my body is now l@dy to talk about the Idolm@ster.

If you’ve been around the anime community for a while, you would know what Idolm@ster is or rather, what it is infamous for. It spearheaded the whole otaku craze on 2D/CGI idols with the game selling like hotcakes back in 2006/2007. Basically the game has a huge fanbase. It got itself an adaptation in 2007 called XENOGLOSSIA and basically the reaction to it was it’s either bad or it’s bad. It kinda used the characters and turned them into mecha pilots. Casual viewers got bored after a while and Fans of the game were insulted in how the anime changed the characters personalities. It definitely felt like that was probably it for the Idolm@ster franchise in anime form. There was one OVA back in 2008/2009 that tried to do something with it but it pretty much failed too.

Four years later, this got announced. Idolm@ster will be turned into an anime again, this time with more respect to the game itself. They got themselves A-1 Pictures to animate with ex-GAINAX members. Safe to say, this was gonna look real pretty. The big question then was, is sticking to the game itself gonna be a good choice? The characters themselves are walking stereotypes that cater to every single otaku fetish; it felt like a huge gamble. Safe to say, at least for me, this succeeded.

The anime had a pretty slow start. The first episode was fairly unique. It introduced all 12 idols in a documentary format. Back then my impression was that it had a really unique layout but the characters really were walking stereotypes. Slowly though, episode by episode, things get developed. Each Idol has at least an episode centered around them (with the exception of the more popular ones like Miki and Chihaya and our MC Haruka). Most of the idols don’t have much development in them but with the episodes catered solely for them, somehow we do get attached to them. I guess it’s just good characterization overall.

The characters that do have a fair amount of development are Miki, Chihaya and Haruka. These three got it real good. Miki, stole the first half of Idolm@ster, no doubt about that. It’s like watching someone slowly become a star, with the way she was focused on. Haruka got the last few episodes of the series, and A-1 Pictures/ex-Gainax peeps gave her a real got drama which just oozed awesomeness in an aesthetic stanpoint and despair in an emotional standpoint. The highlight for Idolm@ster for me though is Chihaya Kisaragi’s little story. Like most people, I shed a few tears on her song Yakusoku. Somehow, drama is not what you’d expect with a series like this but they pulled it off.

Idolm@ster is a work of love. Our ex-Gainax staffer/our director is a HUGE fan of Idolm@ster and it really shows how much he loves what he’s working on with how this series played out. The animation is nothing short of phenomenal, especially when dances/concerts are concerned. EVERY MOVEMENT IS DRAWN. In case you’ve never noticed, most dances are just CGI (AKB0048/Macross F) or just full of retouches and repeats (EDs with dances on them). I swear, watch the dances. . . it’s crazy how well made all of it are. There’s also singing (hey Chihaya!) and a lot of insert songs which makes watching this a real treat.

In a sense, Idolm@ster let me accept my inner-otaku self, even for just a bit. I started loving all the characters, even though most of them never really stepped out of their stereotypes, and I started getting sucked in into its world. Anime that are works of passion and love (and not a “if we have a chance for budget cutting, DO IT) are rare to come by so I really suggest if you want to watch one that is a work of love, go watch The Idolm@ster.

Execution: 37/40 (Only a work of love can pull something like this off)

Engagement: 26/30 (Started slow, ended amazingly)

Characters: 18/20 (Great characterization, especially considering the fact that this series had 12 characters to work with //excluding the producers which are also well developed)

Production Values: 10/10 (Dances are phenomenal; lots of insert songs)

Overall: 91/100 

Hyouka (END) – 91 points

I’m a KyoAni fag so when I first heard about Hyouka, there was no doubt in mind that I would like. 22 episodes later, that fact still remained . . . and more I guess.

Hyouka is about four guys who pretend to be solving mysteries and such, but most of the time it’s just an excuse to laze around and waste time. Sounds boring? Well thinking about it now, a lot of Hyouka’s episodes are pretty damn boring when you state it. Episode 6: Chitanda gets mad; Houtarou figures out why. Episode 18: Houtarou gets a little curious; Chitanda is fascinated. Episode 19: Houtarou and Chitanda chitchat.

Objectively, Hyouka should be fairly boring. Well, in fairness, most premises of KyoAni shows are fairly damn standard too. The thing that Hyouka excedes on though, is its execution and the addictiveness. You CANNOT watch an episode of Hyouka without watching the one before. If you did, the episode will be fairly boring. The thing with Hyouka is, is that it slowly builds upon itself. Layer by layer, characterization by characterization, Hyouka grows on you like a mold in a bread. Houtarou slowly becomes more involved, Chitanda slowly becomes more open and involved, Satoshi slowly becomes a guy we can all probably relate it, Mayaka slowly becomes more compassionate. Character dvelopment isn’t forced; it happens naturally. Houtarou didn’t suddenly become someone who would care about whatever Chitanda did; He slowly went to that point (he hasn’t even reached it yet after 22 episodes) and it just makes it oh so real.

The thing that helped Hyouka pulled off what it did is its narrativistic/novel-like tackling of the dialogue, narration and monologues. everything is laid out, explained andthen laid out some more. At first I thought this was pretty annoying and boring (I mean did they really hae to spend a minute explaining why Houtarou conserves energy) with the way it tell more than it shows, and most shows that do this end up failing miserably since it doesn’t take into account that it has animation that can explain it (Hi Index, Accel World), but the thing with Hyouka is that it also shows. I guess it helps that a fucking awesome Animation studio is behind this (otherwise Hyouka wouldn’t work at all). Anyway kudos to Mr. FMP man for writing such a detailed script.

Another thing that Hyouka managed to do is to create the best Cultural Festival anime has ever witnessed. Better than School Rumble. Better than Haruhi. I guess it helps that they gave 6-7 episodes for it. Actually at the point of the cultural festival, I was pretty much ready to say that Hyouka is a masterpiece (just to justify how great that Cultural Festival was).

Animation = Self Explanatory. KyoAni in movie-levels except its a TV series. Overall, Hyouka ended up being one of the best series that aired in Spring and it was my favorite series throughout Summer.

Execution: 36/40 (Risky but worth it)

Engagement: 25/30 (Uses a lot of buildup and it pays off quite well)

Characters: 20/20 (KyoAni breathe life into them that no other studio, or series for that matter, can.)

Production Values: 10/10 (Almost Movie-like)

Overall: 91/100 (A-)

Uncurrency Anime – Bakuman. S2

With the manga ending a few months a go and the 3rd season starting soon, it was about time for me to get watching the second season of Bakuman. Surprisingly, I liked it much much much more than I thought I would.

Bakuman, the manga, holds a special place in my heart. Not only is it far and away my favorite manga of all time, it also gave me a lot of motivation in times that I needed it. Bakuman’s a very inspirational manga, no doubt about it, but the anime, especially the first season, never managed to carry over its charms. It over emphasizes the parts that aren’t Bakuman’s biggest assets and completely forgets the reason why the manga is amazing as it’s supposed to be. I think a big part of me not liking the anime is basically the presentation. The manga emphasizes its “shounen essence” by giving it speed lines, exaggerated poses, different angles. . . basically “The Rush” sort of feeling (kinda like what Death Note did). The anime presents it more subtly (most definitely because of budget constraints) and the manga-anime translation doesn’t go that smoothly.

Nonetheless the second season definitely improved from the first season. The anime is still basically the same besides having the execution slightly sharper so it must be the content itself. It introduces characters that I love like Hiramaru, characters that I felt strong pity for like Miura, characters that just made things more fun like Iwase and characters that get more screen time like Aoki Kou. Everything felt livelier because of this and they finally got to the point where Bakuman just rolls. Competition on rankings, what it means to be serialized, what editors feel. . . all those inside the industry sort of stuff that we never see, the second season tackles with great confidence.

I don’t want to be overtly negative since I really enjoyed what I watched so I’ll stop it here with a positive note (especially since all I wrote about season 1 is bitchiness) kinda like how season 2 ends with Ashirogi Muto finally reaching one of their dreams. I honestly can’t wait for season 3 since this is when Bakuman finally completes the message it wants to give not only to Shonen Jump (or Jack lol) but to every manga reader and editor out there.

Execution: 33/40 (Slightly sharper than the first season)

Engagement: 24/30 (Exciting content made up for a rather lacking presentation)

Characters: 18/20 (They got this one on the dot.)

Production Values: 6/10 (Terrible)

Overall: 81/100 (B-)

Uncurrency Anime – Lovely Complex

Before when someone mentions popular shoujo anime, Bokura Ga Ita, Fruits Basket and this come into mind. Since I finally finished Bokura Ga Ita, I thought this would be the perfect combination.

And the perfect combo it is.

LC and BgI might look the same in terms of artwork but they’re in complete opposites in terms of mood. In a sense, these two series complement each other. BgI provides the heavy drama while LC provides the light-hearted fluff. Anyway, enough BgI comparisons and let’s concentrate on LC.

Lovely Complex is a very cute series that’s always full of energy. Risa, the main character, is a tad too tall for a girl and Otani, her comedic partner, is a tad too small for a boy. The entire series revolves around their nonstop bickering relationship which almost never fails to make you smile. One unique trait of Lovely Complex is that ALL the characters speak in Kansai-ben. It’s crazy how the hell that was pulled off (apparently they hired local actors) but it really made Lovely Complex unique. Somehow, the jokes felt 10 times more fun because their accents manage to have better timing with their jokes (or maybe the fact that it’s funny and amusing at the same time) which really benefits Lovely Complex.

Of course, LC isn’t without faults. Risa eventually fell in love with Otani but her whole pursuing Otani shtick went for a tad bit too long (in the timeline of the anime, it took her more than a year before Otani said yes) and dragging. The middle parts of the series was still definitely funny but it felt slightly dragging at the same time.

The sweetest part of LC is definitely the confession. It’s like “Hey, Anime does it again!” and wins my heart after BgI managed to cut and destroy it into pieces. Of course for me, the best confession scene will always be Kimi ni Todoke’s but LC is still really sweet in its own little way.

The last few episodes were just Risa and Otani finally getting together and doing couple stuff while at the same time preparing to close off the series. It ended smoothly, making me feel like this is definitely a shoujo classic.

Overall, Lovely Complex is definitely a great anime but it does have faults here and there. I still think Bokura Ga Ita is the better anime but there’s definitely something LC had that BgI didn’t in the long run: Making me enjoy watching it.

Execution: 36/40 (Crazy how the entire cast speaks in Kansai-ben)

Engagement: 26/30 (A bit dragging at parts but it  consistently managed to make me smile)

Characters: 17/20 (A really REALLY cute couple)

Production Values: 8/10 (Really nice facial expressions by the characters)

Overall: 87/100

Uncurrency Anime – Bokura Ga Ita

Never have I watched an anime that had me as conflicted as Bokura Ga Ita. Do not be fooled by it’s rather cute, airy, fluffy shoujo feel because this series is very dramatic, frustrating, conflicting, and head wrenching especially in its second half. Relationships is never a straight path especially for High School students and Bokura Ga Ita emphasiez on those crooked parts.

The main couple, Takahashi and Yano, will almost do nothing but frustrate you in the entire run of the series. WHY CAN’T YOU JUST GET ALONG?!!?!? The series spends so much time on these two dumbnuts, making them so annoyingly realistic and flawed. Yano is an asshole and Nana has no guts. They  are not likable at all but somehow that’s what makes this series shine.

It’s crazy that I’m praising this series now, especially after getting way too frustrated at it and dropping it a few years back. If Mysterious Girlfriend X was the perfect example of an anime with a couple that does things right, Bokura Ga Ita is the perfect example of an anime with a couple that does things wrong. Takahashi and Yano lie to each other, don’t talk about their feeling to each other most of the time, and Takahashi takes it to the next level and becomes completely wishy washy. She’s spineless and weak (oh god I’m ranting) and the frustration I have with this series elevates when her internal monologues get too AAARGH WHY CAN’T YOU JUST GET ALONG?!?!?!?

I contemplated with this series for a long time because I honestly thought it was doing all the wrong things thus making it a terrible series but the more I think about Bokura Ga Ita, the more I realize just how amazing it is. Humans always do the wrong things, choose the worst decisions, don’t take opportunities when it’s there and Bokura Ga Ita capitalizes on this. It’s crazy that I grew to love this series even though it got increasingly frustrating as the episodes go by.

One thing to note though, the animation of Bokura Ga Ita is terrible. Oh wait terrible’s not the right word. . . maybe non existent. Most of the time, nothing is animated at all, and this series cheats us with pan shots and one eyed cyclops. The animation is VERY lazy (they probably don’t have a lot of budget for this) to the point that the characters bangs go beneath their eyes. It’s like they just pasted the eyes! Still credit is where credit is due since there’s some strange consistency in Bokura Ga Ita’s static feel. There were never any episodes that had more animation than other episodes and in a sense, you could say it’s consistently cheap. What gives the animation life though is the OST. Damn that OST, making me feel uneasy. Bokura Ga Ita has a fuckton of EDs, insert music seguing to EDs, insert music, and heartfelt background music that can really make you cry at times. The OST is used perfectly and it sort of compensates for the animation.

If you asked me over a year ago on how I felt about Bokura Ga Ita, I’d say that I hated it. Looking back, I realized how big of a fool I was. It’s the exact fact that I hated it that made it amazing. This isn’t going into my all time favorites because I hate it and it made me even more frustrated than Kimi ni Todoke’s frustrating parts but I wholeheartedly recommend it. Just be warned: You will get frustrated.

Execution: 39/40 (Flawless in a sense)

Engagement: 24/30 (Frustration can go overboard at times; I ended up dropping it for more than a year)

Characters: 19/20 (I hated them; Flawed and frustrating but it’s the exact same reason why they’re amazing)

Production Values: 8/10 (Almost non existent animation; Amazing Soundtrack)

Overall: 90/100

Aquarion EVOL, Sankarea, Jormungand, Mouretsu Pirates, Tsuritama (END)

I’m feeling a bit lazy about this so I’m combining everything else in the past season that I haven’t reviewed yet.

Aquarion EVOL

Besides Fate/Zero, EVOL probably had the best ending out of everything that ended last season. IT also had the best last few episodes. Everything was so overblown, dramatic, yet weirdly fun at the same time. The series does not know the  word “subtlety” and each interaction from the characters are always full of emotion. This series was both sexually charged and heartfelt at the same time and I have no idea how that even worked. The middle episodes of EVOL may have been a bit dragging but I’m gonna be a bit kind since the ending was really awesome.

Execution: 33/40 (Middle episodes were kinda. . .)

Engagement: 26/30 (Ending was really fun)

Characters: 16.5/20 (Ugh @ Zessikage)

Production Values: 9.5/10 (Amazing Soundtack)

Overall: 85/100 ( B- )

Sankarea

I honestly expected this show to be terrible. It was a recipe for disaster: an short unfisnished manga, a terrible studio, a terrible premise that screamed OTAKU BAIT. Astonishingly, the first few episodes were pretty damn fine. There was actually a STORY and the characters were actually pretty engaging and leaving their supposed stereotypes. Rea in particular really had a solid character development, IMHO. Apparently, Studio DEEN decided to hire a bunch of geniuses (SHAFT worker, script writer for Baccano/Durarara, Toradora/Penguindrum Composer) for this which explains why every aspect of the series exceeded my expectations.

It’s too bad though that this series didn’t get a proper conclusion. In addition to that, the stink of the manga which was heavily covered up in the first episodes, started showing. It’s also when I realized that there’s only a few characters that I actually give a damn about. Still I was pleasantly surprised with what went on in this series so I’m gonna be positive in grading this.

Execution: 36/40 (DEEN hired geniuses for this)

Engagement: 24/30 (I didn’t like it as much when the original material started stinking)

Characters: 14.5/20 (I like the main couple but I really don’t like WANKO)

Production Values: 9.5/10 (DEEN finally decided to look nice)

Overall: 84/100 (B-)

Jormungand

In preparation fro Jormungand, I watched Black Laggon and that show was just pure badassery. In the end Jormungand ended up the same albeit with a bit of nuances.

Jormungand is about KOKOLOCO and her arms dealer group doing some KOKOLOCO stuff. Each episode is exciting since all the characters keep on being badass. The story is sometimes hard to follow but the energy of the series really makes up for it. If there’s anything else to say though, I definitely prefer Black Lagoon over this a bit since Rock and Levy are just a tad bit more developed as characters than Koko an co. But still Koko is awesome so it’s not really a complaint.

I can’t seem to formulate anything to say for Jormungand. It’s definitely a series that’s so much more fun watching than writing about.

Execution: 32/40 (A bit hard to follow sometimes)

Engagement: 28/30 (Full of energy)

Characters: 16/20 (KOKOLOCO)

Production Values: 8/10 (Good enough for awesome action)

Overall: 84/100 (B-)

Mouretsu Pirates

It’s Pirates! In space! You’d expect Mouretsu Pirates to be exciting, overblown and full of blasting explosions but this series ended up being very grounded. There’s a number of people that gave up on this series because it was too slow but once it got going, it really got going.

This series doesn’t look down on your intelligence and in a way it expects you to follow the story without baby feeding you with all the information needed. I kinda like that aspect of the series. It’s not bad storytelling at all because it’s easy to follow the series if you pay attention.

The series consists of 4-5 arcs with different focuses. The arc that really made me fall in love with the series is the Gruier Serenity arc with the theme of “A princess finding her origins” kinda thing. I also loved it when Marika’s schoolmates ended up become her crew for like 1/4 of the series. It’s like We’re GAR pirates but we eat cake and shit inside. The last arc was the best though and it showed us what an action packed Mouretsu Pirates can be like.

I definitely enjoyed this series. It’s much better to watch this marathon-style because of the pacing.

Execution: 36/40 (Does not baby feed you)

Engagement: 26/30 (Really fun once you get used to the atmosphere)

Characters: 17/20 (Lots of time for development due to the slow pacing)

Production Values: 8/10 (Good enough to tell a solid story)

Overall: 87/100 (B)

Tsuritama

The other noitaminA series this year, I just have to say. . . I did not like this show. I’ve heard praises on how whimsical and relaxing Tsuritama is but I couldn’t see it. All I saw was baww forced dorama with really angsty male teenagers.

Now don’t get me wrong I don’t hate angst (I don’t hate Shinji) but with Tsuritama, I don’t even like the characters for me to sympathize with their boohoohoo problems. I honestly liked this show for the first few episodes until it started tackling its lol plot. Haru was my least favorite character of the four mains but he especially got annoying towards the end.

And oh my god that ending. It felt like the Brady Bunch with oohh the whole cast comes together and helps save Enoshima from aliens. BUT WAIT- one of them dies with some random explosion somewhere but that’s just a cliffhanger. He ends up safe anyway but whatever. Then woopdeedoo they save the world through fishing!

There’s obviously some good parts but this another Nakamura Kenji failure for me. If [C] had characters with non-existent personalities, Tsuritama had a terrible plot and overly emotional characters. I mean Tsuritama was supposed to correct [C]’s mistakes but it ends up overdoing the correcting.

Well there’s always Tapioca.

Execution: 32/30 (Nothing horribly bad except for the ending)

Engagement: 22/30 (Dwindled towards the end)

Characters: 14/20 (Angsty in a bad way)

Production Values: 9/10 (Admittedly creative)

Overall: 77/100 (C)

Saki-Achiga hen (TV END) – 82 points

Saki, instead of pushing through for the second season, decided on making some sort of spinoff side story about Nodoka’s pals in elementary, breaking their way through nationals. Let me go straight to the point: this spinoff is just nowhere near as fun as Saki was. The series isn’t done yet (3 more episodes to go) but so far all I can say is that while it’s been a really fun watch, I’d rather watch the Kiyosumi girls fight it out in the nationals. The first 6-8 episodes were all useless build-ups that go nowhere which really got frustrating.

The Achiga girls are as interesting as a plastic bag and Akado is a fucking terrible coach. Still they pulled it off really well towards the end as we finally witnessed the terror that is Miyanaga Teru. I swear, everything interesting about this series is the references to the original and the best characters are the ones not in Achiga. I was nowhere even rooting for Kuro in the Teru onslaught, nor was the creators since all the spotlight went to our brave hero, Toki from Senriyama. This series would be 10 times more interesting if it was Saki-Senriyama hen with Toki as our main lead. I swear, the way she fought towards the end, even to the point where she sacrificed herself so that other players will win, is amazing. Another notable character is “Subara”, who was a sacrificial pawn to the team, who really won my heart despite losing so badly in the Teru onslaught match. Maybe because she wasn’t all whiny-whiny like Kuro was.

Achiga-hen got the wrong main characters and wrong pacing, but they did get the focus correct. Maybe Studio Gokumi knew that the Achiga girls were boring as fuck and decided to rush everything so that we’d have 5 episodes of the ”good” bits. That’s some terrible storytelling but hey at least I didn’t get a bad aftertaste towards the end. Now air those 3 episodes already and announce season fucking 2!

Execution: 29/40 (Got everything wrong when it comes to storytelling but at least we got 5 really awesome episodes towards the end because of this.)

Engagement: 29/30 (Sports anime always gets me excited and Achiga is no exception despite all its faults. The last 5 episodes were full of adrenalin rush. )

Characters: 15.5/20 (Achiga girls are boring as fuck, Akado is a terrible coach but they do have amazing side characters which were pretty much the focus towards the end.)

Production: 8.5/10 (An upgrade from the original. Studio Gokumi got a lot of experience from A-Channel I guess.)

Overall: 82/100

Sakamichi no Apollon (END) – 89 points

This was probably the most hyped up anime this season, and essentially the one that I was most looking forward to. Apollon is about high school friendship and love troubles set in the 1960s with a big healthy injection of jazz. The manga was a Shogakugan award winner (one of the most prestigious manga awards in Japan), the production studio is Tezuka Production (It’s TEZUKA, TEZUKA) with the legendary director Shinichiro Watanabe at helm. The main theme is jazz so they got themselves the most prolific anime composer of all time, Yoko Kanno. Also this aired in the noitaminA block, the block that dedicates themselves (or used to) to only airing good shit. Everything about this series sounded like a recipe for success but the big question was, “Will it deliver? “. Overhype really played in this series with people in the community proclaiming it to be “God’s gift to us” or “The savior of the noitaminA block”. Hey, when was the last time an anime was this hyped? HI THAR GUILTY CROWN. So with crazy expectations, did this series deliver?

YES. Yes it did.

One of the amazing things about this series is how well it’s executed. While it faltered a bit in the end, cramming 9 volumes into 12 episodes is no easy task. In fact, the entire last episode was Volume 9 itself. The last time an anime was able to pull off a dangerous task like this was Toradora (10LN volumes) and that had 25 episodes. It really shows how amazing the staff is for this series.

Also surprising was how well the characters were developed even with the rushed pacing. We got ourselves the OTP, Sentarou and Kaoru. Leaving all the gay undertones aside, the level of depth and detail to their friendship is really what stands out in this series more than anything else. We had love triangles and pentagons here and there but the aspect of friendship is essentially the one that was played at highest respect. This is really what sets Apollon apart from other romance anime.

You can’t talk about Apollon though with the jazz. I’ve never really seen anime be able to pull off instruments playing besides Haruhi and this is 10, no, 100 times better than that. It really feels like they’re playing. What’s disappointing though is the soundtrack itself. The soundtrack isn’t bad but it feels like Yoko Kanno just copypasta jazz classics in the soundtrack; the ones she made herself aren’t entirely memorable. Oh well, there’s always Aquarion EVOL for awesome Yoko Kanno music.

This would be an instant classic for me if it wasn’t for those last episodes. You can have so much legendary staff on your hands and you can shell out all the money you want, but time constraints will always be there. Curse you noitaminA for giving Apollon only 12 episodes (while Guilty Crown got 20+). This is like my gist with Anohana before, except worse. Apollon is amazing but it could have pulled off a much more amazing if it was given like 3-5 more episodes.

Negativity aside, Sakamichi Apollon is a very refined anime that’s absolutely amazingly executed. It tackles friendship in a level I rarely see in anime. It also has awesome drum solos. Yeah that’s enough to call Apollon an awesome anime.

Execution: 36/40 (Damn fine amazing considering time restraints and all)

Engagement: 26/30 (It’s so fast-paced yet I still managed to get attached on what was happening, especially on the first half of the series.)

Characters: 18/20 (Amazing cast. Sentarou and Kaoru are really the OTP)

Production: 9/10 (Amazing drum solos and all that jazzzzzzz)

Overall: 89/100

Fate/Zero (END) – 92 points

Fate/Zero has been the biggest and most popular show that has graced us this season and last fall. And with good reason too, since this was ufotable’s comeback to the TV screen after the success of Kara no Kyoukai in the movies. Everything was laid out to us: Amazing execution, Movie-like animation, and a point that the Fate franchise can actually be adapted decently (though Fate/Zero is a Light Novel and doesn’t have 30+ hours of game time). In all honesty, I just wanted to watch this to see Saber in a much, MUCH more justified form.

The question with all the hype of this series is definitely this: Did it deliver? Yes. YES IT DID WITH FLYING COLORS. Fate/Zero gave us a much darker tale than Fate/Stay Night with amazing character analysis, kudos to the writer Gen Urobuchi. It tackles different philosophies like what does it really mean to be a hero or how does someone actually rule. It gave us different opinions and ideologies while never actually adhering or favoring one or the other.

I think the turning point of this series was definitely the meeting of kings, halfway through Fate/Zero. I have to admit, even my concept of a what a ruler is was shaken because of Rider’s speech to Saber. I’ve always thought of a king as someone who serves but Rider showed us a different opinion on what a king is and made all of those who watched this, be convinced. Saber then was portrayed in a completely different light afterwards. From someone that has the skies shining on her armor, she became someone to be pitied. It became pure despair to her even up until the end where she herself accepted that she was wrong. I love how one of the last shots of her in the last episode was her standing in a pile of bodies, in the land that she could not save.

My favorite Servent-Master in this series is undoubtedly Rider and Waver. Many times in this series, I just wished that these two were the main characters and for a very good reason. These two were the light and hope in the dark atmosphere of this anime. Rider and Waver showed a contrast in the Servant-Master relationship and how it doesn’t have to be one controlling the other. Both showed respect to each other and treated each other as friends. I particularly liked how Rider’s ending, though very sad and depressing, was very honourable and true to what these two embodied in the series.

Kiritsugu is also another character I liked. His ideologies are twisted and we all knew that he was gonna break down his facade towards the end because of how human he is despite being so cold in the entirety of this series. He was someone who tried to be a hero but failed drastically even towards the end, with how the grail ended up killing a whole lot of people.

If I had a complaint in this series, it would be the lack of a catharsis. I guess in however awesome Fate/Zero is, it’s still a prequel to Fate/Stay Night. If you take the series as its own, characters like Saber never really got the proper end that she deserved. She’s still foolish on how hopeful she still is on having the grail while never really realizing while Kiritsugu ended up ordering her to destroy it. But of course all the loose ends of this series are answered in Fate/Stay Night but the thing is, I hated Fate/Stay Night and I will definitely never watch that crap again. Fate/Zero is amazing but it could have been much much more if it wasn’t a prequel (not that I’m hoping that they ended it differently).

This will definitely end as one of my favorites this year but to what extent, I still don’t know. For now this is how I’ll rate this series:

Execution: 37/40 (Damn fine amazing storytelling; almost in the sense as how Madoka did it.)

Engagement: 27/30 (While the first few episodes were very slow and wavered my patience, this ended up as one of the series I looked forward to each week and that 3 month hiatus almost killed me)

Characters: 18/20 (Very rich and diverse cast of adults with so much different philosophies, beliefs and ideologies. I definitely preferred some over others but that’s because those character’s way of thinking hitted my way of thinking. This is how Fate/Zero  works. Also Rider is awesome.

Production: 10/10 (Movie-like quality.)

Overall: 92/100 (One of 2012’s best anime)

Uncurrency Anime – Monster, Moyashimon, Inu X Boku SS

Stupid internet connection made my 9GB Fate/Zero BD edition download for days. . .

Monster

I’m speechless to how good this was. Monster is an anime adaptation based on the manga by the germanophile Naoki Urusawa. Generally all of Urusawa’s works are held in high regard, but it seems that Monster is her best work so I handily downloaded all 74 episodes and see how awesome it actually is.

The murder mystery starts when Dr. Tenma revives a 10 year old patient named Johan. That was a terrible idea because it came to bite him a few years later when he is accused of a series of murder events. Tenma becomes a runaway, exploring Germany and finding Johan to kill him.

Monster is Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood set in Germany. The awesome part of Monster is that different plot points are set and culminated to create grand plots (I really loved the whole Vampire Millionaire arc) and different characters Tenma met would eventually meet each other and make other plot points. It’s like there’s a plot here, then there’s another plot in which you don’t know what the relevance is and then it builds up and you go “OH SHIT THAT’S FUCKING AWESOME”.

The best character is the show is undeniably Johan. Like how the story suggests it, you have no fucking idea what he’s thinking. One moment he kills middle-aged couples then the next moment he’s this tinker bell everyone is mesmerized with. Kinda like Edward Cullen except its fake. There was even a part where he became a TRAP.

Actually Tenma might just be the Traveler on Revenge (or Johan or Nina).

Monster continues the streak of awesome Uncurrency Anime titles.

Execution: 39/40

Engagement: 29/30

Characters: 18/20

Production Values: 8/10

Overall: 94/100

Moyashimon

Oh my god those Microbes are fucking cute!

Moyashimon is about a guy named Tadayasu who enters Farming College to learn more about these cute microbes he always sees. It must feel weird being friends with him, because he randomly talks in the air, going “OH MY GOD YOU’RE SO DISGUSTING” and gives you that “ugh stop being so stupid/gross/echii” anime expression just because there’s dangerous kawaii bacteria in your room that you can’t even see.

Moyashimon is educational . . . though you can’t use this in school. When your teacher asks you “Hey what bacteria is this and what does it do”, then you go draw a blob with two small eyes and a smile and you say “he does kawaii stuff”, your teacher might fucking slap you!

There are good characters in these series and there are heavily bland ones (that blondie who I don’t know what the hell is her use in the plot) but really, the main attraction is the cute bacteria. And it’s funny at times. Plus it’s a college animu, so we have to like it!

No really, Moyashimon is good. Cute, funny, entertaining . . . you can’t go wrong with this one.

Execution: 36/40

Engagement: 26/30

Characters: 17/20

Production Values: 8/10

Overall: 87/100

Inu X Boku SS

It started off rather terribly. One dimensional characters, grand setting only to never be used, plot with no focus (or rather don’t know what to focus with) and awkward dual service . . . The dual service stayed but it did improved quite a bit towards its run.

Ririchiyo’s insecurities started off as an awkward cop out of what a tsundere is but once the series really started tackling that part of herself, Ririchiyo became a bit more of an actual character. I’d say the same thing to the butler, though that’s mostly because of that one episode towards the end which was really good.

In the end I really just misinterpreted its premise. It never really planned to use its grand horror setting, it just wanted to focus on a select few characters and develop them bit by bit. The plot became internal conflicts which is a good thing. The last few episodes were amazing in retrospect to the entire series.

I got a good vibe walking off this series even with the major problem it has so I’m prepared to give it quite a good score.

Execution: 34/40

Engagement: 26/30

Characters: 17/20

Production Values: 8/10

Overall:  85/100