Jeoffrey

Special 7: Special Crime Investigation Unit is sort of a weaker, more predictable, boring rip-off of anime series like Bungo Stray Dogs or more like Blood Blockade Battlefront. The narrative in this show is much more generic and simplistic, and the characters are not half as interesting as I would have liked them to have been in a mystical fantasy crime series (they lack any depth and their character could usually be described in just a few words). The atmosphere is humdrum rather than thrilling, lacking any strong or unexpected twists. The fight scenes lack dynamics and are not very impressive, and even the whole finále was incredibly lackluster and full of supposedly profound pearls of wisdom about the human condition, however, it all just went completely over my head. It was nothing offensive, however ... 4.4/10.

I have no doubt that shooting a rifle could possibly be quite a wonderful experience, however, no matter how hard the girls in this show tried, they still somehow failed to convince and reel me in. This is a show that features a hybrid of "cute girls doing cute things" with classic sports anime series. Well, in the end it actually balances those two elements so equally that neither stands out at all, and at the same time both are so tenuous and ineffective that it is quite likely that after some time I am not even going to remember this show at all. Perhaps this is a real shame because as far as cuteness is concerned, this show features the two classic formulas for characters which are my personal favorites - the private and peculiar Yukio (= enigmatic and taciturn with a certain detached aura and reserved, haughty personality), and then the awkward, slightly goofy, albeit hard-working Hikari who is not too bright (= classic cute and clumsy anime girl). I like these types of anime characters and they work well together in this show. However, despite all the training and competitions, I felt like I did not have much of an opportunity to really get to know both of these girls and enjoy the way they interacted with others that much. There are some quite charming moments, however, still not enough to maintain a pleasant mood and keep me satisfied. In all honesty, they do not manage to even pull off the sporting element of the show very well either. First of all, with everyone going on and on about how great shooting is, and perhaps every supporting character immediately having something to contribute, whether it is an internal monologue or some backstory, I felt no real obligation to get behind and be a big fan of the main four protagonists. All of them have motivation and are more or less quite physically and mentally strong, so there is really nowhere for them to go concerning character development… Secondly, the show sorely lacked some kind of rivalry between the girls, something that would create some tension - some kind of strong competitiveness between them because they all simply try to become friends, and then support and motivate each other so there’s no drama. Also, because one of them is so good at what she does, she ends up motivating others and spurring them on, so there is no real rivalry, as they are just congratulating each other instead... Thirdly, the main protagonists do not have to do anything special in order to succeed. Sure it is a typical sports anime cliché (and especially a shonen trope) that if you want to achieve something you need to train harder than all the others, however, that underdog element certainly does end up giving the audience more of a sense of gratification when they get there in the end. When you see someone working like a dog, you are more likely (logically) to wish them well, and want them to succeed. For example, there is Hikari, well she loves to shoot, however, the fact she goes shooting all the time is only implied, and not much is shown on screen, especially during regular training and so we are just supposed to believe that she is good at competitions because she gets so pumped up - really very good in fact! OK, so say I buy that, however, once again - why should I be rooting for her if it is so automatic? You can see her incredible enthusiasm, yet no one sees her "blood, sweat, and tears". Enthusiasm and talent can sometimes be enough to win, however, in reality, from the perspective of someone who has always had to work hard for most things, that is not enough in itself to admire (and cheer for) someone... Anyway, that is not the end of it! Another one of this anime series’ shortcomings is there is no really interesting information for viewers about shooting besides some basic facts and rules. I mean, I can safely say that this is not the type of sports anime that is supposed to get us excited about a particular sport by telling and showing us as much as possible so that we could know what we might need to get, how to stand properly when shooting, if there is any special way of choosing the right rifle, etc. The educational cross over here is simply negligible - superficial... If you add to that the rather mediocre animation, then it is no wonder that this anime series is way down in terms of ratings on most anime databases... Despite all that, I for one just cannot bring myself to award this show any extra low ratings. Sometimes it caused me to smile, and I cannot say that I found any of the episodes boring.  As I said before, I like some of the characters, plus the soundtrack is pretty good too. There are a boat-load of shortcomings, and this anime series fails on both of the main aspects it tries to work towards, however, it was not actually such a terrible experience for me personally... Well, I have been going on for ages, what more is there to say? For me, this is an average show. 5/10.

"Are we back in the village?" - "Well, this is Okinawa...". The long-awaited trip from a picturesque village to a possibly even more beautiful seaside resort has finally happened! This is a beautiful movie full of enchanting landscapes, typical holiday experiences (kayaking, snorkeling, excursions...), and, most importantly, incredibly cool. It completely stole and won my heart. It is so beautiful, amusing, and has a pleasant atmosphere that puts a smile on my face for almost the whole hour (my face still hurts...). If you love the original anime series, then you will be on cloud nine watching this, and the whole movie will give you that peaceful feeling and its relaxing pace will feel like one short and pleasant dream. 9.5/10.

Like the other comedy isekai Kemono Michi: Rise Up from anime season Fall 2019  "Cautious Hero: The Hero Is Overpowered but Overly Cautious" got off to a pretty decent start. It was also insane and whacked-out fun, however, fortunately, it did not quite become cringey, the jokes were hilarious, the parody of the genre was really spot on and the characters had a lot to offer. Unfortunately, however, Scalpelexis’s review is right in that after a while there comes a point where the jokes alone are not enough to carry the plot, and the narrative increasingly starts to repeat certain tropes and becomes terribly clichéd. The interesting main male protagonist, who prides himself on his caution, increasingly becomes just another super-god in disguise, despite the fact he still emphasizes the need to always be perfectly prepared, and never trust anything or anyone. Some may be put off by this, however, a surprisingly large number of RPG and MMORPG players got caught up and lost in this. These are the kind of players who run around the woods for hours, killing pigs for five exp each, and after hours and hours of grinding go to the first boss who is a level seven with a hero who is level twenty, and sixty healing potions. Are you familiar with this style of gaming? Then this anime series is for you... The whole middle part of the season is just a series of repetitive storylines about fighting the main villain's generals and the main male protagonist’s frantic preparations - in other words, it does what it says on the tin and lives up to the title of the anime series “The Hero Is Overpowered but Overly Cautious”. Sure there are some hints of the main male protagonist’s character and plot development, however, not much. Fortunately, the anime’s creators had an imaginative finále to the first part worked out, and so the main male protagonist has a "ceiling", and then there is one very good twist in the eleventh episode, which is anything but a comedy. They put their cards on the table, and the whole backstory is revealed which is like a slap in the face, with exposition about why some things are the way they are, the surprise of this episode leaves you reeling, and also shocked at how it was so well-executed. It is as if the anime’s creator woke up at the last moment, decided enough was enough, and finally really tried to get the whole narrative thing going. Better late than never… The final episode is really quite satisfying in several ways. It gives a coherent ending to this phase, it is not just a stupid clumsy happy ending, and it also opens up the way for the next season. The ending was, in my opinion, good and partly convinced me that I would rather see another season of "Cautious Hero: The Hero Is Overpowered but Overly Cautious"  than, for example, the aforementioned Kemono Michi: Rise Up. 6/10.

I thought about what I could add to q66's review, however, I could not think of anything clever (just a few silly things). In other words, just because I like new and interesting shows, and this show has a guy (a brilliantly written badass character) with a revolver for a head, I found it extremely entertaining… So why am I not awarding it a five star rating? Well, that is because it still lacks something - a more solid narrative, some proper dramatic tension, something more profound going on in the background, or even better use of its atmosphere and setting perhaps? I honestly do not know... However, what I do know is that I somehow cannot imagine such a production like this with this sort of emphasis and setting without Keanu Reeves (long live the cheesy jokes at the end). After the first half of the season, I am rating it 7.5/10 and I am not going to miss the second half.

In terms of graphics, this movie is visually stunning in places, however, I fail to see the point of that when the narrative is so weak and the characters are not at all interesting, with the exception of perhaps Ne Zha's mother. I found some of them extremely irritating, especially the fat guy flying on a pig, which caused me to have a big enough problem with this movie... Maybe this was a big hit in China, however, personally I think it is just a purely average movie... 4.5/10.

Hotaru is having fun during the four seasons, and Komari plays the most prominent role in three of the four narratives, which I thought was not such a terrible decision because I really like her too. Winter and summer were really so much fun, and spring and autumn had that lovely, likable vibe. 8.5/10.

House M.D. said it perfectly, "everybody lies!", and I would add that everybody is cheating, pretending, and only pursuing their own selfish interests, which may or may not change according to outside influences, however, they are only pretending that it has changed. Nothing is as it seems, no one is as we think, however, everything always have a reason... Do you think I am paranoid? This anime series made me paranoid! This is not a classic romantic comedy, however, it is rather a parody that subtly plays around with all sorts of rom-com clichés, and takes an objective look at the issues concerning the worst type of protagonist in rom-coms, and inconspicuously opens them up (like the whole idea of the character Hose being “perfect”, who is at the same time absolutely “run-of-the-mill”) and downplays and variously arbitrarily distorts all sorts of typical romantic storylines. So therefore it rather surprisingly succeeds to the point that some are going to get lost in working out the deep, interesting, psychological, and social implications hidden in all the deceit, dishonesty, lies, and pretense, as well as in all the silliness and childishness the harem genre offers up. Is the main male protagonist a villain pretending to be a good guy, or a good guy pretending to be a villain? Are all those silly, childish girls really that naive, or do they actually really know exactly what they want and are going about it in an inconspicuous manner? Is our own happiness more important than the happiness of others, or can the happiness of the one we love also bring us happiness, even if that person has to be with someone else? There are so many intriguing questions and a few satisfying answers, all subtly wrapped up in an insane spoof full of hilarious and silly scenes, excellent scenes plus mostly surprising and insane twists. The concept behind the show is good, the ideas are excellent, although the execution is often too loose and crazy, i.e. it did not leave any lasting impression on me, which is a shame, because the ideas are quite good, they just were not executed in a way that fully resonated with me. Plus, if the bench is the first thing you think of regarding this whole anime series, instead of all the deep plots and supposedly complicated characters, then there is probably something a little bit wrong, don't you think? 6.3/10 (although I am going to watch the next season)...

There is no point pretending there is anything original about a project aimed at presenting, diverse range of animated short movies grouped together by a common theme they happen to share. Similar projects are already happening across Asia and Europe. However the giant Netflix is involved in this now, and so there is a certain abundance (whether to be taken as "really well financed" or perhaps "so many different ideas") of stuff that I have rarely seen in similar projects. Moreover, this is probably the first time that I am happy to have the opportunity to rate individual episodes (which I usually don't do) here on FilmBooster, because each movie is original and unique in its own way. Although they all fit into an overall pattern with a common theme, each time they manage to retain a completely different style to each other. There is a wide palette and so there is something for everyone according to individual taste and style. I think people are going to find one or more quite impressive, and I also bet that more than a few of you are going to find at least three shorts that you absolutely love. However, there are also other shorts that are going to catch your attention, at least some of them are going to be entertaining, in other words, perhaps each of these short movies (in my case, probably all except for two of them) has some kind of point, are based on a good idea, or at least has a charming visual aspect that you are not going to mind watching again. Some of them are going to make you wonder what is going to happen next, and make you think about what a follow-up might look like, as a feature-length two-hour movie. At other times you are just going to sit there and wonder about what the movie actually reminds you of… In other words, I highly doubt that you are going to find this project boring, and that is why it definitely deserves an above average rating from me (despite the fact that using conventional arithmetics, the average of the ratings of the individual episodes do not add up) + recognition that this is worthwhile and confirmation that I am going to be up for the second season.

I took this show at a leisurely pace of one or two episodes a week, and I slowly walked through the Japanese countryside again... This dosage is really ideal, and many times this anime series lifted my spirits, and other times it helped me to relax and be able to sleep after a hard day. Qualitatively, it is exactly the same as the first season, except at the beginning it feels like Renge is stealing most of the scenes for herself, which of course, given the fact that I adore this little girl, was no problem at all. Once again the best episode is the one that spends most of its time focusing on the relationship between little Renge and Kaede (who runs the Candy Store) and again shows this young woman at her most beautiful and in a very attractive light… Gradually, however, everything becomes more balanced, other characters get their own screen time, and the whole show is just very charming, pleasant, incredibly peaceful, adorable, and entertaining. 9.5/10.