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Comet Lucifer (anime review)

Posted by :Patches On : January 22, 2017
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Category: Reviews

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Title: Comet Lucifer: Complete Collection on Blu-ray

Directors: Yasuhito Kikuchi, Atsushi Nakayama

Writer: Yūichi Nomura

Studio: 8-Bit

U. S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks, Section 23

U. S. Release Date: Feb. 14th, 2017

Format: Blu-ray / 12 Episodes / 300 Minutes

Genre: Fantasy, Mecha

Age Rating: TV MA

Overall Personal Rating: B-

Synopsis:

Sogo Amagi has spent a good portion of his young life looking for rare crystals in abandoned Giftdium mines, but it’s not until he’s lost in the ruins beneath his own home town that he and his friend Kaon make the most incredible discovery of all: a giant crystal with a girl trapped inside! Things only get wilder when the girl is unexpectedly freed.

Suddenly, the mines are invaded by giant robots controlled by a secret military organization, which is in turn fought off by a mysterious being made of crystal!

That leaves Sogo, Kaon, and their friends scrambling to figure out what to do with Felia, a red-eyed girl with strange powers who doesn’t even speak their language!

They need to figure everything out quickly, because unless they can unravel Felia’s secrets and learn why the military is after her, their whole planet may be in danger of complete annihilation in COMET LUCIFER!

Special Features: Garden Indig’s Train Shorts, Music Videos, Clean Opening and Closing Animation.

Commentary:

Within a few minutes I had a wave of other anime flood my memory. Comet Lucifer is a clear derivative of several there anime and in some ways it fails to live up to the standard that has been set before it. In other ways it manages to give us a story that entertains and intrigue. I understand why Sentai didn’t spend the money to dub Comet Lucifer and also understand why it didn’t take long to go from Crunchyroll to Blu-ray.

There is plenty of decent mystery and tension in Comet Lucifer. Although the area where it falls apart for me is in the character development and attempt to provide some comic relief. I did like the way Felia attached herself to Sogo and Kaon, but also felt like there was a weak attempt to create a real family between the three. It is not until late in the series that there seems to be a sense of connection. Even with that connection there are plenty of question that are left open.

Overall Grade: B-

As much as I wanted to really like Comet Lucifer and did enjoy some aspects of the series, but all in all I bound it to be forced and overly contrived. The series doesn’t have the feel of Fractle or even the odd the special connection that is found in Last Exile.

I tend to really enjoy these fanciful stories and love the way they tend to unfold. Comet Lucifer has much of the key aspects needed to be a fine series. In the end it does some things really well, but the total development of the characters leaves some things out which ends up hurting the overall strength of the series.

If you are a fan of fantasy anime that is a hidden love story the you should like Comet Lucifer just let it flow over you and do try to make it fit the trope it comes from.

Labyrinth of Grisaia and Eden of Grisaia (anime review)

Posted by :Patches On : October 4, 2016
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labyrinth-of-grisaiareview provided by Andrew and Katie

Title: Labyrinth of Grisaia and Eden of Grisaia: Complete Collection

Director: Motoki Tanaka

Studio: 8-bit

U.S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks, Section 23

U.S. Release Date: September 27, 2016

Format and Length: Blu-ray / 10 Episodes + 1 OVA / 300 Minutes

Genre: Comedy, Romance, Fan Service, School Life

Industry Age Rating: 17 and up

Overall Personal Rating: B+

Similar Series or Titles to Check Out: Fruit of Grisaia

 

“Yuji, you are not allowed to die until you save the lives of five people.” – Asako

Synopsis:

Yuji Kazami fulfilled a promise, but that promise was made long before he reached Mihama Academy. The seeds of the future are sown as young Yuji’s family is ravaged and his psyche is shattered, only to be reshaped in the fires of violent training and war in The Labyrinth of Grisaia. However, Yuji’s saga continues as his past catches up with him, and he is defended by the most unlikely guardian angels in The Eden of Grisaia.

 

Follow the grisly journey as the boy is forced to become a man, and delve into the aftermath of The Fruit of Grisaia in this special complete edition that contains both parts of the untold story: Labyrinth of Grisaia and Eden of Grisaia: Complete Collection

 

Commentary:

The Labyrinth of Grisaia and Eden of Grisaia: Complete Collection is the ending to a wonderful series named The Fruit of Grisaia. You must begin with Fruit then you move onto Labyrinth of Grisaia and Eden of Grisaia: Complete Collection. The Labyrinth of Grisaia is what is on the entire first disk and is the OVA that starts this release off. We learn all about Yuji’s past, including the good, the bad, and the really ugly. The Labyrinth of Grisaia also explains why Yuji is the way he is and also tells us where he learned his skills. Everything is coming to light because of meeting up with JB and having to be debriefed. While this is going on, the Mihama Academy girls find out about Yuji’s past and want to let him know they still care about him and they all love him in their own way. Personally, I do not believe a normal human being could survive what he went through. As for The Eden of Grisaia, it picks up right where The Labyrinth of Grisaia leaves off. The girls find out that Yuji has been framed for terrorist activities and set out to save him. That is the entire plot of The Eden of Grisaia in just a few words.

 

I loved the character development that happened in both The Labyrinth of Grisaia and Eden of Grisaia: Complete Collection because it gives you more insight into the characters that we were introduced to in the first season. We finally learn all about Yuji and we also learn about his relationship with his sister. The girls also come into their own and mature throughout the series. JB is finally given some background and we learn why she does what she does. We are also introduced to Asako who took Yuji in when they saved him from his evil guardian. Asako really understood Yuji’s frame of mind when he was rescued and in the end she saved his life and gave him a reason to live.

 

The animation was beautiful and really worked for the setting of the series. The voice actors did an amazing job with their characters and you can tell they had some fun while working. The music added to the series as it was moving yet at the same time, it was just light enough to remind you that there is some comedy in the series.

 

Extras:

The Labyrinth of Grisaia and Eden of Grisaia: Complete Collection includes clean opening and closing animations and Sentai Filmworks trailers as special features. This series was released with Japanese with English subtitles as the only language option.

 

Overall Grade: B+

Labyrinth of Grisaia and Eden of Grisaia: Complete Collection is the perfect conclusion to The Fruit of Grisaia and I highly recommend it for an enjoyable watch. Be forewarned though, the age rating is there for a reason because there is a large amount of fan-service and adult language/situations in this series.

 

 

The Fruit of Grisaia: Complete First Season (anime review)

Posted by :Patches On : May 15, 2016
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Category: Reviews

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fruit-of-grisaia season 1review provided by Katie and Andrew

Title: The Fruit of Grisaia: Complete First Season

Director: Tensho

Studio: 8-Bit

Author: Hideyuki Kurata

U.S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks, Section 23

U.S. Release Date: May 10, 2016

Format and Length: Blu-ray / 13 Episodes / 325 Minutes

Genre: Comedy, Romance, School Life

Industry Age Rating: 17 and up

Overall Personal Rating: B

Similar Series or Titles to Check Out: Angel Beats! And My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU

“Being indebted to someone is nothing to be ashamed of, not repaying that debt is.” – Yuuji Kazami

Synopsis:

Yuuji Kazami is a transfer student who has just been admitted into Mihama Academy. He wants to live an ordinary high school life, but this dream of his may not come true any time soon as Mihama Academy is quite the opposite. Consisting of only the principal and five other students, all of whom are girls, Yuuji becomes acquainted with each of them, discovering more about their personalities as socialization is inevitable. Slowly, he begins to learn about the truth behind the small group of students occupying the academy—they each have their own share of traumatic experiences which are tucked away from the world.

Mihama Academy acts as a home for these girls, they are the “fruit” which fell from their trees and have begun to decay. It is up to Yuuji to become the catalyst to save them from themselves, but how can he save another when he cannot even save himself?
Commentary:

On the face of The Fruit of Grisaia, it looks to be another harem. Guy transfers into new school looking to get away from his old life and to be normal for once. Does he have a chunibyo or something? Ok… The school is huge, and only has five other students, of all ages, and they are all females…. Where is this show going? This is going to be interesting. Oh wow… first day of school and one of the girls picks his lock and does ‘inappropriate things’ in his room. Another girl attacks him with a box cutter and he stops her cold in one move… What the heck is going on? Is this a school for assassins? I am so lost right now…………..

A few times you have heard me say things like “they rushed the story” or “it needed more episodes” or even, “They skipped something.” In this one, they rushed the story, skipped a whole lot, and needed more episodes… A lot more episodes. As I watched, and scratched my head, trying to figure out how we got from A to B in the story line, it occurred to me that we actually went from A to L skipping many letters in the middle. Unfortunately, that left me wondering what was going on quite a bit. One thing the story lacked was any real background on the characters. You would get tidbits here and there, and only when absolutely needed to feed the relevance of the story, but hardly enough to really understand what, why, and even the how sometimes. The who part was left in the wind, and honestly, I’m still sorting that one out. Even in all its confusion and incoherency, I still found myself watching intently, wanting to know what was going on, and to learn all the details. Even when skipping half the alphabet, the story was very intriguing, and it did not have a hard time keeping my interest, even if I was not really sure what was happening, my interest in knowing more very much intensified. In the end, I figured out that it followed an arc for each girl, some lasting an episode or two, to one lasting as many as four. In the end I very much felt that there were a lot of details in the original story that got cut, either because of time, budget, or administrative limitations. This one had the potential to be a masterpiece. Even now, I am highly anticipating the sequel, which they so blatantly set up at the end of the last episode.

Extras:

The Fruit of Grisaia: Complete First Season includes clean opening and closing animations and Sentai Filmworks trailers as special features. This series was released with Japanese with English subtitles as the only language option.

Overall Grade: B

Just as an FYI, animal lovers may have some issues watching the ending of episode two. It almost put me off the entire series but I am glad that I gave it a second chance.

Tokyo Ravens season one part 1 (anime review)

Posted by :Patches On : March 21, 2015
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Tokyo RavensTitle: Tokyo Ravens season one part 1

Director: Takaomi Kansaki

Creator:  Kohei Azano (Light Novel)

Anime Writer: Hideyuki Kurata

Studio: 8-Bit

U. S. Distributor: Funimation Entertainment

U. S. Release Date: April 7th, 2015

Format: DVD / Blu-ray / 12 Episodes / 300 minutes

Genre: Supernatural, Action, Adventure, Romance, Harem

Age Rating: TV 14

Personal Rating: B

Synopsis:

Harutora may seem like an ordinary guy, but he’s actually a descendent of an ancient and powerful clan of onmyouji. Born without the family talent for magic, he’d always believed he was destined for a normal, boring existence. All that changed the day Natsume, a beautiful face from Harutora’s past, barged back into his life and forever altered the course of his future. When her sudden arrival leads to a violent and tragic encounter with a magical prodigy, Harutora agrees to fulfill a childhood vow by accompanying Natsume to the clandestine Onmyo Academy. Together, along with their incredible onmyouji classmates, they’ll attempt to survive life at a school where not even magic can get you out of your homework.

Commentary: 

Tokyo Ravens is being marketed as one of this years best kept secrets, but I wouldn’t go that far. Much of the series reminds me of other mainstream series that give us the struggling hero who wants nothing more to do than hang out. I see him as a Neet who is has a destiny. The real question is what his he really. I have a feeling that there is a big twist about him and a tiger as the series unfolds. I found Tokyo Ravens season 1 part 1 to be rather pedestrian in the overall feel and development of the story. It reminds me of the let down that Guilty Crow ended up being. I just hope that part two takes us to another level. The basics are there for something good and maybe svn great. I would like to see most of the comic relief to be set aside and let the real drama unfold.

The attention to the comedy was too prevalent and it gets in the way of the story that needs to be told. I can’t say that I like the introduction of Kon. Sure she is cute and silly, but the character is not much help and in face she gets in the way of the deeper story development. There are 2 extras where she explains some of the basics about the world of Tokyo Ravens and even though her voice and mannerisms are a tad silly the information is worth while.

Overall Grade: B

Tokyo Ravens is a standard shonen with a harem feel that plots the hapless hero who doesn’t seem to understand anything as potentially the key to it all. I do like the plot and where the story is headed, I am just worried that the silliness that overwhelmed the first 12 episodes will continue. I would have like to see a more dramatic slant to the series. What happened to the days where action series carried a serious dramatic flair like Darker Than Black or Black Lagoon. I’m not asking for over the top violence just a more serious approach to the characters and overall story.

I was not completely disappointed by Tokyo Ravens. There is plenty to enjoy. The animation and production is great and some of the english voice acting is really superb. I thought that several of the characters were given a depth and feel that makes them easy to support and connect with. There is also are clear development of a twist on the way. I just hope we get to see it.

If you liked Guilty Crown, C (Control) or even Unbreakable Machine Doll then you will enjoy Tokyo Ravens. I am looking forward to part 2 and really hope that it takes the series in a more dramatic direction.