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Archive for September 2015
Well, I've kept you waiting long enough. I am SO SORRY about that, and I feel awful about it. I really do. But, here's your review! It's a special one, because it's double digits! It's...
ATTACK ON TITAN: PART 1
ATTACK ON TITAN: PART 1
OK, for those of you who can't read Japanese, haven't seen the poster, or are just too lazy to look up translations for yourselves (any of those options are fine), I'll give you a quick walkthrough of the translation. The top part lists Hajime Isayama as the creator of the source material, Shinji Higuchi as the director, and Yusuke Watanabe as the writer (although there were technically two writers, the other being Tomohiro Machiyama. I don't know why he isn't listed on the poster).
The part in red that says この世界は、残酷か means "The world is cruel" or "The world is merciless."
Then we have the title of the film, 進撃の巨人, which literally means "advancing giants." However, because that just doesn't sound badass, they changed the translation of it to something similar enough. Something we now know and love as...Attack on Titan.
Now, I know what you're thinking. I bet it's probably something along the lines of, "Kanna, you already did a review of Attack on Titan. Why are you doing it again?" Well, because...the first part of the live action movie came out. And I was super excited for it. I mean REALLY excited. It was all I'd ever talk about with my friends, regardless of whether they watched the anime or not (needless to say, they got tired of it pretty quickly). The trailer was AMAZING. For those of you who want to see the epic-ness WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES, here you go.
Note that this is the trailer that they used for the U.S. release of the movie. I saw the other trailers for Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore, but thought this would be more appropriate since I live in the U.S.
With an AMAZING trailer, AMAZING looking special effects, and having the creator of the original source material work on the writing team, those of us who were eagerly anticipating the movie were super, seriously excited. Not to mention having an amazing cast with actors like Haruma Miura, Kiko Mizuhara, and Kanata Hongo leading the cast.
I can't wait to see how well this movie was adapted! I mean, they had HAJIME FREAKING ISAYAMA on the writing team. There's NO WAY POSSIBLE they could screw this up, right? Right? RIGHT?!
RIGHT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
RIGHT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
ONE SCREENING LATER
Good G-d...where did they go wrong? I mean...wow. Just...wow. I'm actually at a loss for words. I mean...how much could they POSSIBLY screw up before utterly DESTROYING everything that is Attack on Titan? I just...well, let's start with the first of the movie's problems. And I will TRY to keep this brief, but this movie just seemed to go on FOREVER, so I make no promises.
1. The characters
GOOD FREAKING G-D, the characters. Nothing wrong with the actors (although I could be biased saying that, because I am a fan of Haruma Miura and Kanata Hongo) or the performances they gave (okay, some of the scenes do have pretty bad acting), but...could they be anymore OUT OF CHARACTER? I get it's an adaptation and you have to make some changes, but let's go over what really makes me angry about this.
GOOD FREAKING G-D, the characters. Nothing wrong with the actors (although I could be biased saying that, because I am a fan of Haruma Miura and Kanata Hongo) or the performances they gave (okay, some of the scenes do have pretty bad acting), but...could they be anymore OUT OF CHARACTER? I get it's an adaptation and you have to make some changes, but let's go over what really makes me angry about this.
In the anime and manga, Mikasa was Eren's foster sister, and they looked out for each other. Mikasa was there for Eren when he struggled to understand the fact that he could turn into a Titan, the very thing he hated. But in the movie, Mikasa and Eren weren't brother and sister. They were boyfriend and girlfriend. Why? No reason. They just were.
Another change: Personalities. Good G-D, this was where they REALLY went wrong. Apparently, Eren's fearless attitude when standing against the Titans made him "difficult to relate to" according to Isayama. So, they threw away Eren's fearlessness and backstory of someone, who, as a BOY, killed someone to protect Mikasa. They basically turned Eren into a WIMP. A really big wimp.
2. Who's missing?
Let me show you something, and then we'll talk a little about it.
Notice someone missing? Or, someones? Say...Levi? Annie? Bertholdt? Reiner? LEVI FREAKING ACKERMAN? THE MOST POPULAR CHARACTER IN ALL OF ATTACK ON TITAN? And that's just A FEW of the missing characters!
Well, as luck would conveniently have it, they're not ACTUALLY missing (well...some of them, at any rate). Nope. Their names have been changed. I think. It's a little hard to say, as I'm not sure who was supposed to be playing the movie's version of Annie, if she was even in this movie, or if we'll even see her in Attack on Titan Part 2: End of the World. But they did leave a lot of characters out.
Notice something else? Say...how all the names aside from Eren's and Armin's are all Japanese? To be fair, Mikasa's name is Japanese already, so it's not like they could change that. But yeah. Captain Levi FREAKING Ackerman (sorry, but he's my favorite character) became Shikishima, Commander Shadis became Kubal, Hannes became Souda, and Zoë Hange became Hans.
There are a lot of movie exclusive characters, which is risky enough. There are movies that do this fairly well, like The Hobbit trilogy. But to change the names of fan favorite characters? You need to have some serious NERVE to do that and be successful. This movie FAILED.
So, why change the names of fan favorite characters like Levi (sorry...he's kinda my favorite character)? Well, there's a reason for that, and it's a pretty stupid one at that. It's because the names DIDN'T TRANSLATE.
Now, I know what you're thinking. Probably something along the lines of, "Kanna, they had to; they don't have the letter 'l' in Japanese, and the 'v' sound isn't that common..." Look, I'm totally aware of that. But when you can pronounce names like Levi FREAKING Ackerman pretty decently in the anime and have it translate well enough into the manga, there's really no excuse. Besides, Lil and Kubal have the letter 'l' in their names. How did they get a free pass? It's RIDICULOUS.
3. The Titans
These things were the CORE PART of the movie. Even if you HATED the characters, you probably wanted to see the movie so you could watch these giant monstrosities rip up the village the characters lived in and then eat the people living there, leaving little to no survivors.
Well...how do I put this lightly? THE CGI SUCKED. I mean, how could you SCREW UP the things in the movie that people were actually looking forward to seeing? How do you go from a Colossal Titan that looks like this
to a Colossal Titan that looks like this?
Heck, even the Titan ARMY looks ridiculous! I mean...wow, the CGI is TERRIBLE. I understand that this sort of animation takes time (and lots of it), but the people in charge of the CGI had LOADS of time. THIS IS THE BEST THEY COULD DO?
Oh, but since we're on the subject of stuff that clearly defies expectations, how about stuff that defies logic?
As I addressed in my review of the anime, Titans can't reproduce. They have no reproductive organs (which doesn't explain why the female Titans in the movie have fairly large chests, but that's beside the point).
In one scene of the movie, Eren and one of the movie-exclusive characters (I honestly don't care about her enough to remember her name) are in a destroyed house when they hear a baby crying. They wonder if the baby they hear was a survivor of the attack and go out to investigate before the crying gets louder. And louder. AND LOUDER. And when Eren and insert-movie-exclusive-character-here go to investigate, we get our first look at the baby. We see an eye. And it's a pretty big one at that.
Turns out, it's a Titan BABY.
Yeah.
Because, apparently, Titans can reproduce in this abomination of a movie's universe. This fact TOTALLY contradicts itself, as it was stated in the anime, manga, and earlier in the movie that Titans CAN'T reproduce. SO HOW DID THIS TITAN BABY COME INTO BEING? Did lightning just strike and it appeared? Was it like how the Orcs were created in Lord of the Rings? I mean...HOW THE FLYING FRICK DID THIS BABY COME INTO BEING? TITANS DO NOT HAVE REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS! THIS MAKES NO SENSE! I mean...LOOK AT THIS THING! THIS! IS! NOT! NORMAL!
 |
| OK, in all fairness, Titans aren't normal, but...since when was a Titan BABY considered normal? |
Well, that's going to haunt my nightmares. Keep in mind I'm doing this for YOU GUYS.
Meaning: I'M LOSING MY FREAKING SANITY OVER HERE! SOMEONE HELP!
Actually, you know what? Don't answer my question about when a Titan BABY was considered normal. I don't think I want to know. Let's just move on.
4. Pacing
I watch a few horror movies here and there. It's not my favorite genre (that's not to say I hate horror movies, but I don't necessarily love them, either), but M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense is one of my all time FAVORITE horror movies. However, for those of you who are more familiar with M. Night Shyamalan's more modern day works, like Signs, The Last Airbender, Devil, and After Earth (you know, the movies that no one really likes to talk about), those are the works where the acting is AWFUL and the pacing is just downright SLOW.
This movie made me feel like I was watching a Shyamalan film. And if this movie made me feel like I was watching The Sixth Sense, I wouldn't be making this complaint. The Sixth Sense was an AMAZING movie that I've seen quite a few times (might be watching it this Halloween, but that's beside the point). But this movie was just so unbelievably slow. I mean, I shouldn't end up bored out of my mind within the first TEN MINUTES of the movie. But it takes the Colossal Titan FOREVER to make its grand entrance. I felt like I was just staring at the screen for anywhere from twenty to forty-five minutes before it FINALLY showed. And who knows? Maybe it really was forty-five minutes.
Not only that, but because of the UNBELIEVABLY SLOW pacing in this movie, by the time a fight scene comes up, you're probably already about to fall asleep if you haven't already due to these unnecessary plot points that come up because of the movie-exclusive-characters, and the changes that were made to the not-movie-exclusive-characters make the movie even more slow. I mean...I think I was about to fall asleep (and probably would have) if my friends didn't tell me about the Colossal Titan's grand entrance coming up. And the points I made about pacing lead me into my next problem with the movie.
5. Writing
Before I say anything else, let me say that this wouldn't be as big of a problem for me if it wasn't for one really big reason. And I mean BIG. Why is this a BIG problem? Well...because...
THE IDIOTS WRITING THE MOVIE HAD THE CREATOR OF THE ORIGINAL SOURCE MATERIAL, HAJIME ISAYAMA, ON THEIR TEAM! HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY SCREW THIS UP?
Not only that, but Isayama apparently ASKED for some of the changes to the setting and characters to be made. WHY? WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO US? YOU TURNED EREN INTO A WIMP, DECIDED TO REPLACE LEVI FREAKING ACKERMAN WITH THIS SHIKISHIMA GUY (I really couldn't care less about Shikishima, but...Levi...), AND JUST RUINED EVERYTHING! YOU CREATED THE SOURCE MATERIAL, WORKED ON THE WRITING, FANS PAID BILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO COLLECT ALL THE VOLUMES OF THE MANGA AS WELL AS VARIOUS MERCHANDISE, AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY US?
And if you've seen the movie, you'll notice that it's not set in what looks like a post-apocalyptic Germany (note that the apocalypse has not happened and I've never been to Germany), but in Japan. Specifically, a deserted island off the coast of Nagasaki called Hashima, but it has the nickname "Gunkanjima" which literally means "Battleship Island" because the island looks like a ship in the water. As cool as that is...would it really have been that hard to film in Germany? I mean, I've never been, but I'm sure they could find SOMEWHERE in Germany to film it.
Not only that, but the characters say lots of things that you would NEVER BE ABLE TO IMAGINE them saying in the anime or manga. Forgetting the movie-exclusive characters, Eren acts like a total wimp, Mikasa...I can't even talk about her. But the dialog is off. It's possible some things were lost in translation and didn't quite carry over well, but unlikely.
6. Music
I LOVE a good soundtrack. So, when you have awesome songs like 紅蓮の弓矢 (Crimson Bow and Arrow) and 自由の翼 (Wings of Freedom) featured in the TV anime, and more awesome songs like 紅蓮の座標 (I couldn't find a good translation; when I do, I'll edit it in) and 自由の代償 (The Price of Freedom), along with pretty awesome ending songs for the anime, you would think that the music for this movie would be FREAKING AWESOME. Especially when you consider the fact that the guys doing the music for the movie, Shiro Sagisu, got the hit Japanese group, Sekai no Owari (literally: End of the World) to perform the theme songs for the movie.
The theme songs were called "ANTI-HERO" and "SOS." You'd think with titles like that, we'd be bound to get some form of hard rock or something that SOMEWHAT resembled Linked Horizon's sound (they're the group that did the music for the anime).
And...you'd be very wrong, indeed.
First of all, listen to "ANTI-HERO" and tell me if you think for so much as a second that the song belongs in the movie.
Now, listen to "SOS" and tell me if you think that THIS belongs in the movie.
Do these songs fit? AT ALL? Even remotely? I mean...WHY THE FRICK COULDN'T THEY GET LINKED HORIZON?!
I understand that these were Sekai no Owari's first songs that were ENTIRELY in English, so my complaint has nothing to do with that. I like that they're trying and applaud the effort. However, these songs SUCK. I mean...they just don't fit at all. It's pretty bad. I'm hopeful the songs in Part 2 will be better, but on the other hand, I don't want to get my hopes up.
Good G-d I could go on and on, but I think I'll stop there.
So...what do I think of this movie?
0 OUT OF 5
First, I'm rating this out of 5 because there's a second part coming out called Attack on Titan Part 2: End of the World. When I review that one, I'll take both of the ratings and look at the two movies as one whole movie while rating it out of ten.
Why: Well...you can clearly see why this movie sucks from the reasons listed above. There's a lot wrong with it. And while the movie does advertise itself as something that those new to Attack on Titan could watch, it wouldn't leave a good impression with those who were new to it. The writing seems lazy, the CGI is crap, and the fact that they got rid of LEVI FREAKING ACKERMAN, THE MOST POPULAR CHARACTER IN ALL OF ATTACK ON TITAN, AND REPLACED HIM WITH THIS SHIKISHIMA GUY would be enough to make anyone angry.
Look, it's one thing when you have to make adaptations. I get it. Changes have to be made. But...why change the names of so many of our favorite characters? You know, like LEVI FREAKING ACKERMAN?
And before you ask, I'm not going to stop calling him LEVI FREAKING ACKERMAN. He's that badass. He deserves it. Plus, I'm really ticked at how this movie sucks.
Anyway, why change the location? Why change all these names? Why change everything we KNOW AND LOVE ABOUT THE CHARACTERS OF ATTACK ON TITAN? Why change the Titans into some of the most horrible-looking and yet somehow laughable things on the planet? These things are supposed to be SCARY! We're supposed to jump or something when they're on screen; NOT BE WOKEN UP FROM ALMOST FALLING ASLEEP!
OK...there...I'm done. And out of breath. This movie sucks. The only reason I'm planning on watching Part 2 is to see if it will be any better and if it will include my favorite arc in the entire series.
Well, now I have a headache. I'm going to find something to do so I can get rid of my headache and have some more positive thoughts in my head. I'm getting back to loving life, and so should you! See you soon with Anime Monday #11! ~k
Meaning: I'M LOSING MY FREAKING SANITY OVER HERE! SOMEONE HELP!
Actually, you know what? Don't answer my question about when a Titan BABY was considered normal. I don't think I want to know. Let's just move on.
4. Pacing
I watch a few horror movies here and there. It's not my favorite genre (that's not to say I hate horror movies, but I don't necessarily love them, either), but M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense is one of my all time FAVORITE horror movies. However, for those of you who are more familiar with M. Night Shyamalan's more modern day works, like Signs, The Last Airbender, Devil, and After Earth (you know, the movies that no one really likes to talk about), those are the works where the acting is AWFUL and the pacing is just downright SLOW.
This movie made me feel like I was watching a Shyamalan film. And if this movie made me feel like I was watching The Sixth Sense, I wouldn't be making this complaint. The Sixth Sense was an AMAZING movie that I've seen quite a few times (might be watching it this Halloween, but that's beside the point). But this movie was just so unbelievably slow. I mean, I shouldn't end up bored out of my mind within the first TEN MINUTES of the movie. But it takes the Colossal Titan FOREVER to make its grand entrance. I felt like I was just staring at the screen for anywhere from twenty to forty-five minutes before it FINALLY showed. And who knows? Maybe it really was forty-five minutes.
Not only that, but because of the UNBELIEVABLY SLOW pacing in this movie, by the time a fight scene comes up, you're probably already about to fall asleep if you haven't already due to these unnecessary plot points that come up because of the movie-exclusive-characters, and the changes that were made to the not-movie-exclusive-characters make the movie even more slow. I mean...I think I was about to fall asleep (and probably would have) if my friends didn't tell me about the Colossal Titan's grand entrance coming up. And the points I made about pacing lead me into my next problem with the movie.
5. Writing
Before I say anything else, let me say that this wouldn't be as big of a problem for me if it wasn't for one really big reason. And I mean BIG. Why is this a BIG problem? Well...because...
THE IDIOTS WRITING THE MOVIE HAD THE CREATOR OF THE ORIGINAL SOURCE MATERIAL, HAJIME ISAYAMA, ON THEIR TEAM! HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY SCREW THIS UP?
Not only that, but Isayama apparently ASKED for some of the changes to the setting and characters to be made. WHY? WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO US? YOU TURNED EREN INTO A WIMP, DECIDED TO REPLACE LEVI FREAKING ACKERMAN WITH THIS SHIKISHIMA GUY (I really couldn't care less about Shikishima, but...Levi...), AND JUST RUINED EVERYTHING! YOU CREATED THE SOURCE MATERIAL, WORKED ON THE WRITING, FANS PAID BILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO COLLECT ALL THE VOLUMES OF THE MANGA AS WELL AS VARIOUS MERCHANDISE, AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY US?
And if you've seen the movie, you'll notice that it's not set in what looks like a post-apocalyptic Germany (note that the apocalypse has not happened and I've never been to Germany), but in Japan. Specifically, a deserted island off the coast of Nagasaki called Hashima, but it has the nickname "Gunkanjima" which literally means "Battleship Island" because the island looks like a ship in the water. As cool as that is...would it really have been that hard to film in Germany? I mean, I've never been, but I'm sure they could find SOMEWHERE in Germany to film it.
Not only that, but the characters say lots of things that you would NEVER BE ABLE TO IMAGINE them saying in the anime or manga. Forgetting the movie-exclusive characters, Eren acts like a total wimp, Mikasa...I can't even talk about her. But the dialog is off. It's possible some things were lost in translation and didn't quite carry over well, but unlikely.
6. Music
I LOVE a good soundtrack. So, when you have awesome songs like 紅蓮の弓矢 (Crimson Bow and Arrow) and 自由の翼 (Wings of Freedom) featured in the TV anime, and more awesome songs like 紅蓮の座標 (I couldn't find a good translation; when I do, I'll edit it in) and 自由の代償 (The Price of Freedom), along with pretty awesome ending songs for the anime, you would think that the music for this movie would be FREAKING AWESOME. Especially when you consider the fact that the guys doing the music for the movie, Shiro Sagisu, got the hit Japanese group, Sekai no Owari (literally: End of the World) to perform the theme songs for the movie.
The theme songs were called "ANTI-HERO" and "SOS." You'd think with titles like that, we'd be bound to get some form of hard rock or something that SOMEWHAT resembled Linked Horizon's sound (they're the group that did the music for the anime).
And...you'd be very wrong, indeed.
First of all, listen to "ANTI-HERO" and tell me if you think for so much as a second that the song belongs in the movie.
Now, listen to "SOS" and tell me if you think that THIS belongs in the movie.
Do these songs fit? AT ALL? Even remotely? I mean...WHY THE FRICK COULDN'T THEY GET LINKED HORIZON?!
I understand that these were Sekai no Owari's first songs that were ENTIRELY in English, so my complaint has nothing to do with that. I like that they're trying and applaud the effort. However, these songs SUCK. I mean...they just don't fit at all. It's pretty bad. I'm hopeful the songs in Part 2 will be better, but on the other hand, I don't want to get my hopes up.
Good G-d I could go on and on, but I think I'll stop there.
So...what do I think of this movie?
0 OUT OF 5
First, I'm rating this out of 5 because there's a second part coming out called Attack on Titan Part 2: End of the World. When I review that one, I'll take both of the ratings and look at the two movies as one whole movie while rating it out of ten.
Why: Well...you can clearly see why this movie sucks from the reasons listed above. There's a lot wrong with it. And while the movie does advertise itself as something that those new to Attack on Titan could watch, it wouldn't leave a good impression with those who were new to it. The writing seems lazy, the CGI is crap, and the fact that they got rid of LEVI FREAKING ACKERMAN, THE MOST POPULAR CHARACTER IN ALL OF ATTACK ON TITAN, AND REPLACED HIM WITH THIS SHIKISHIMA GUY would be enough to make anyone angry.
Look, it's one thing when you have to make adaptations. I get it. Changes have to be made. But...why change the names of so many of our favorite characters? You know, like LEVI FREAKING ACKERMAN?
And before you ask, I'm not going to stop calling him LEVI FREAKING ACKERMAN. He's that badass. He deserves it. Plus, I'm really ticked at how this movie sucks.
Anyway, why change the location? Why change all these names? Why change everything we KNOW AND LOVE ABOUT THE CHARACTERS OF ATTACK ON TITAN? Why change the Titans into some of the most horrible-looking and yet somehow laughable things on the planet? These things are supposed to be SCARY! We're supposed to jump or something when they're on screen; NOT BE WOKEN UP FROM ALMOST FALLING ASLEEP!
OK...there...I'm done. And out of breath. This movie sucks. The only reason I'm planning on watching Part 2 is to see if it will be any better and if it will include my favorite arc in the entire series.
Well, now I have a headache. I'm going to find something to do so I can get rid of my headache and have some more positive thoughts in my head. I'm getting back to loving life, and so should you! See you soon with Anime Monday #11! ~k
Hey guys, kanna here. There are no excuses for why this is late...is what I want to say. Unfortunately, due to packing, my summer job, and a few other things, I wasn't able to write much. Also, writers block.
But, never fear! I slapped myself this morning for what an idiot I was being when I had perfect comedic gold right in front of me. It's...
UTA NO PRINCE-SAMA: MAJI LOVE REVOLUTIONS
But, never fear! I slapped myself this morning for what an idiot I was being when I had perfect comedic gold right in front of me. It's...
UTA NO PRINCE-SAMA: MAJI LOVE REVOLUTIONS
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| Note that the word "revolutions" is in katakana, the Japanese alphabet used for most English words. I'm sure that there is an actual translation, and the most unreliable translator in the world (Google translate) gave me the word 反乱 (hanran), which technically means rebellion. I guess the words rebellion and revolution are close enough, but... |
OK. Where do I begin with this? Well, in order for you to understand this review, I would suggest that you go and read my review of Uta no Prince-sama: Maji Love 1000% and 2000%. But that's a suggestion.
If you feel like being lazy (nothing wrong with that), here's a run down of the show in the form of bullet points:
So...yeah. That's basically the general gist of it. If you want info on the characters, I suggest (again) reading my UtaPri Maji Love 1000% and 2000% review. You don't have to, but at this point, I highly recommend it.
I guess I should give some visuals, given that hardly anyone can keep the names straight (myself and my friends included). So, let's get to it!
If you feel like being lazy (nothing wrong with that), here's a run down of the show in the form of bullet points:
- MAJI LOVE 1000%
- MEET COMPOSER HARUKA NANAMI
- STARISH IS FORMED; HARUKA NANAMI IS THEIR COMPOSER
- Members
- Otoya Ittoki
- Natsuki Shinomiya
- Masato Hijirikawa
- Ren Jinguji
- Tokiya Ichinose
- Syo Kurusu
- STARISH DEBUT
- note: They're called STARISH because different parts of their names make up the word. So we have Shinomiya Natsuki, Tokiya Ichinose, * instead of 'A' (stay tuned for next season), Ren Jinguji, Ittoki Otoya, Syo Kurusu, and Hijirikawa Masato
- MAJI LOVE 2000%
- QUARTET NIGHT INTRODUCED
- Members
- Reiji Kotobuki
- Ranmaru Kurosaki
- Ai Mikaze
- Camus (pronounced ka-myu)
- NEW MEMBER CECIL AIJIMA JOINS STARISH
- Becomes the 'A' in STARISH
- STARISH WINS UTAPRI AWARD AGAINST HEAVENS (another group; basically side characters)
Haruka Nanami is pretty much irrelevant, as nearly EVERYTHING in this show has to do with the guys. I mean...there's really not much to say about her. At all. It's just...the only defining characteristic she has is that she falls. A lot. Oh, and she's pretty clueless about a lot of things. Including when the guys are trying to confess their feelings to her, which happens quite a bit. She works with both Quartet Night and STARISH this season.
I guess I should give some visuals, given that hardly anyone can keep the names straight (myself and my friends included). So, let's get to it!
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| Natsuki Shinomiya |
 |
| Tokiya Ichinose |
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| Cecil Aijima |
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| Ren Jinguji |
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| Otoya Ittoki |
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| Syo Kurusu |
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| Masato Hijirikawa |
And the members of Quartet Night:
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| Reiji Kotobuki |
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| Ranmaru Kurosaki |
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| Ai Mikaze (note: surprisingly, I couldn't find pictures like the ones above for him. odd, considering his popularity.) |
.full.1498827.jpg) |
| Camus (no last name) |
OK. Now that that's settled, let's get to the plot.
To be honest, there really isn't that much of a plot this season. Hardly any new characters are introduced, but we do get some development on the members Quartet Night. Reiji and Camus are basically the only ones we don't get development on, which is a bit of a letdown. But we do get some interesting development with regards to Ai and Ranmaru.
Ai is actually...an idol robot. Yeah. Apparently, the writers thought Ai=A.I.=Artificial Intelligence.
Huh.
Then again, that's character development you wouldn't have known about unless you had played the games. The other members had their characters...more or less developed. We learned in 2000% that Ranmaru used to be a bassist in some rock band that disbanded for some reason, and Camus is the count of some foreign country called Permafrost. We got to see a little more of Ranmaru's past in this season and how he sometimes struggled keeping his rock side and idol side together. And Reiji...well...
Let's be perfectly honest; he didn't really get any development. At all. And that kinda pissed me off. Sure, in 2000%, Quartet Night was just introduced and all we basically got were just personalities. But while Ranmaru, Ai, and Camus got a lot of character development this season and a bit of last season, Reiji didn't get any.
And I know I said I wouldn't bring up the games in my reviews of adaptations of otome games (and if I didn't say that, I'm saying it now), given that the games are only released in Japan and everything is coming from research, but...THE GAMES GAVE REIJI SO MUCH MORE DEVELOPMENT!
How can I do this without spoiling anything? Okay, the long-ish short version of this is that before Quartet Night debuted, Reiji was a part of another idol group that disbanded due to the attempted suicide of one of the members who wound up in a coma (note that this is never brought up in the series. Whether it will be next season or not, I have no idea). This semi-links to Ai's story which wasn't 100% developed (I'd say somewhere between 10% and 30% developed), but you'd have to play the games in order to understand how, and given I don't want to spoil anymore, I'm just going to stop there.
Anyway, where the last seasons were more...expository, this one got right down to things. The main plot was that there was this Olympics-type event known as Super Star Sports (Triple S for short) and how the host country got to have one of its many artists sing the opening song. So President Shining decided to be a jerk and call STARISH and Quartet Night in and say that they're entering Quartet Night--NOT STARISH--into the competition to pick who sings at the Triple S. And I call this grounds for being a jerk because...well, would you call a bunch of people into a room, tell them about an amazing opportunity, and then says "It's not you"? NO!
So at first, STARISH is just nonchalant about the whole thing, until Cecil points out that this is their chance to debut worldwide and that another opportunity like this won't come again for a while, if at all. So STARISH say "REVOLUTION!" and run into Saotome's office after saying.
Saotome listens to their nearly identical arguments and asks if that's everything they have to say before he says he can't enter them. STARISH asks why and Saotome goes Super Saiyan and screams "REVOLUTION" (take three shots). Then the STARISH members (and Haruka) all say "revolution" one after the other in confusion, and this...really isn't explored in the next episode.
Huh.
Then again, that's character development you wouldn't have known about unless you had played the games. The other members had their characters...more or less developed. We learned in 2000% that Ranmaru used to be a bassist in some rock band that disbanded for some reason, and Camus is the count of some foreign country called Permafrost. We got to see a little more of Ranmaru's past in this season and how he sometimes struggled keeping his rock side and idol side together. And Reiji...well...
Let's be perfectly honest; he didn't really get any development. At all. And that kinda pissed me off. Sure, in 2000%, Quartet Night was just introduced and all we basically got were just personalities. But while Ranmaru, Ai, and Camus got a lot of character development this season and a bit of last season, Reiji didn't get any.
And I know I said I wouldn't bring up the games in my reviews of adaptations of otome games (and if I didn't say that, I'm saying it now), given that the games are only released in Japan and everything is coming from research, but...THE GAMES GAVE REIJI SO MUCH MORE DEVELOPMENT!
How can I do this without spoiling anything? Okay, the long-ish short version of this is that before Quartet Night debuted, Reiji was a part of another idol group that disbanded due to the attempted suicide of one of the members who wound up in a coma (note that this is never brought up in the series. Whether it will be next season or not, I have no idea). This semi-links to Ai's story which wasn't 100% developed (I'd say somewhere between 10% and 30% developed), but you'd have to play the games in order to understand how, and given I don't want to spoil anymore, I'm just going to stop there.
Anyway, where the last seasons were more...expository, this one got right down to things. The main plot was that there was this Olympics-type event known as Super Star Sports (Triple S for short) and how the host country got to have one of its many artists sing the opening song. So President Shining decided to be a jerk and call STARISH and Quartet Night in and say that they're entering Quartet Night--NOT STARISH--into the competition to pick who sings at the Triple S. And I call this grounds for being a jerk because...well, would you call a bunch of people into a room, tell them about an amazing opportunity, and then says "It's not you"? NO!
So at first, STARISH is just nonchalant about the whole thing, until Cecil points out that this is their chance to debut worldwide and that another opportunity like this won't come again for a while, if at all. So STARISH say "REVOLUTION!" and run into Saotome's office after saying.
Saotome listens to their nearly identical arguments and asks if that's everything they have to say before he says he can't enter them. STARISH asks why and Saotome goes Super Saiyan and screams "REVOLUTION" (take three shots). Then the STARISH members (and Haruka) all say "revolution" one after the other in confusion, and this...really isn't explored in the next episode.
So now that that's all been said and done, Shining decides to plan out...cross-units! According to the show, this basically means that members of STARISH would sing with other members that they wouldn't normally sing with.
So Otoya is paired up with Natsuki, Tokiya and Masato are paired up together, and Ren, Syo, and Cecil are all grouped together. The idea here is to give STARISH more publicity through various projects (a rock musical, a cell phone commercial, and singing at some concert), but the members want to use this as a chance to show Shining that they feel they are good enough to enter into the Triple S. So between mediocre songs by STARISH and somewhat decent songs from the members of Quartet Night, even the FREAKING MUSIC, THE THING THAT THIS SERIES IS ABOUT, can't save it.
All right, I'm not being entirely fair. The songs that the members of STARISH sing are actually decent songs. I just think they paired up the wrong people for them. Quartet Night's songs, on the other hand...I give a 50% rating. Why? Because there are four members, and only two of them got good songs that I could listen to over and over again. So let's just go through a brief review of each of the songs that WERE NOT the group songs. If the title is in ALL CAPS, the title was originally in English and not translated. If the title is Japanese, I'll put the Japanese title and the English title.
EMOTIONAL LIFE (Otoya and Natsuki): This was from the third episode of the series. Both have great voices, and the song is great. I love the violin intro before it gets into the electric guitar. It really gives it that classical music and rock music feel. However, these two SHOULD NOT have been paired up.
INNOCENT WIND (Ai Mikaze): This was from the fourth episode of the series and was the first of Quartet Night's solo songs to make its debut into anime. Ai's voice actor, Shouta Aoi, is an AMAZING singer, and I think they released Ai's song first because he's one of the most popular characters from the show. This is a REALLY addicting song and definitely suits Ai's character. And that high note at the end... -sigh- Well, you had to find the full version of the song to truly appreciate his voice. Or just listen to him sing any of his other songs, regardless of if it's from UtaPri or not.
CODE T.V.U (Ren, Syo, Cecil): This was from the fifth episode of the series and...well, as an episode for a music series about a group, it was pretty formulaic. But as for the song...it's an okay song. It's not good, it's not bad. It's just okay. Ren and Syo actually do sound pretty good together. But Cecil...I just can't. I mean, Cecil's voice actor, Kosuke Toriumi, sang the theme in Diabolik Lovers, and while his voice is naturally high-pitched and a little on the nasal side, he can go lower. Which would have sounded SO MUCH BETTER and really harmonized with Ren and Syo. All in all, good song, but Cecil should have been with someone else.
SAINTLY TERRITORY (Camus): This was from the sixth episode. And...as much as I can't stand Camus, I will admit he has a good voice. The song isn't that great in my opinion, but it does fit his character.
ONLY ONE (Ranmaru Kurosaki): This was from the seventh episode where we REALLY dove into Ranmaru's character and backstory. I'll admit, I couldn't stand him in 2000%. There was just something about him I didn't like at all. But after this episode, I started to really enjoy Ranmaru as a character and thought he was pretty awesome. The song is catchy, too, as it combines both elements of the world of a rock band and the world of an idol. The bass is ADDICTING. And Ranmaru's voice is pretty awesome. You can definitely tell that they did a good job of combining rock band music with idol music.
ORIGINAL RESONANCE (Tokiya and Masato): This was from the eighth episode, and HOLY FREAKING CRAP this song was perfect in every single way imaginable. First of all, the intro just hooks you right in. And then when they start singing, it's just ultimate perfection. This is the one pairing that I wouldn't change AT ALL. I just...this song is so amazing, I can't find the words to describe it.
NEVER... (Reiji Kotobuki): This was from the ninth episode, and what else can I say, other than IT SUCKED. I already didn't like Reiji (just too peppy for me and a little...um...I can't really find the word), and not only did the song suck, but the lead-in to the song was pretty bad, too. I mean...it fits what little we know of his character (almost nothing), but it just sounds AWFUL. Not on the level of nails on a chalkboard, but still awful.
We also get a lot of group songs. Most of which are...meh, at best. I mean, for a series that's ABOUT music, the music in this season of UtaPri is pretty lacking compared to the last two. I feel like the people who made the songs for UtaPri, Elements Garden, just decided to ride the popularity from last season and be lazy. I mean, STARISH's group song just SUCKED, whereas Quartet Night's was FREAKING AMAZING.
There was also a plot twist in the last episode of the season, but what really pissed me off about it was how they said "See you next season" at the end of the episode, before a fourth season was even announced. What can they possibly make a fourth season out of, anyway?
So, how do I rate this season? Um...well, it's too difficult for me to rate by number, so I'll just say it was...half-decent.
Why: The music isn't that great. I mean, it's hard to be proud of a series ABOUT music when you only have THREE good songs in the entire series.
The animation has slip-ups, especially during the ending credits, so the animation isn't great, either. I mean, watch these credits. REALLY watch them. Because...well...just watch.
Now TO BE FAIR, the song is actually a pretty decent song. It doesn't suck. They say "REVOLUTIONS" so many times that you could be drunk by the end of the song (and that's if you listen to the full version). But the animation is AWFUL. I mean, there are some parts where STARISH's dance movements look almost robotic; as if they're from a video game. Which, if video-game style animation was what they were going for, would be great. But it's not.
What's interesting, though, is that the song used for the opening theme of the first episode isn't sung by Tokiya's voice actor, Mamoru Miyano, the guy who sang the opening themes for the previous seasons. Nope, it's by the amazing members of Quartet Night, and it's called (and the style of the title is really weird, so I'm just going to put it in quotes) "The dice are cast." While I didn't like it at first, it started to grow on me after a couple listens. The animation isn't that great during it, and their dancing does seem pretty robotic, but then I discovered why the animation SUCKED in SO MANY SCENES. It's because the animators blew ALL THEIR MONEY on...this:
That's right. The animators blew ALL THEIR MONEY on the video for Camus's song, SAINTLY TERRITORY. While the video isn't that great (actually, that's an understatement; it's pretty bad), the animation is the best animation you're going to get throughout...basically the whole season.
STARISH and Quartet Night actually do have a song that they sing together, called GOLDEN☆STAR. And, guess what? It's not that great, either. Which is a shame, because you have some AMAZING voices singing together for the first (and quite possibly only, unless you go to the live shows or play the games) time in the anime, and it just doesn't sound that great. I'm not really sure what I was expecting, but this definitely wasn't it.
So Otoya is paired up with Natsuki, Tokiya and Masato are paired up together, and Ren, Syo, and Cecil are all grouped together. The idea here is to give STARISH more publicity through various projects (a rock musical, a cell phone commercial, and singing at some concert), but the members want to use this as a chance to show Shining that they feel they are good enough to enter into the Triple S. So between mediocre songs by STARISH and somewhat decent songs from the members of Quartet Night, even the FREAKING MUSIC, THE THING THAT THIS SERIES IS ABOUT, can't save it.
All right, I'm not being entirely fair. The songs that the members of STARISH sing are actually decent songs. I just think they paired up the wrong people for them. Quartet Night's songs, on the other hand...I give a 50% rating. Why? Because there are four members, and only two of them got good songs that I could listen to over and over again. So let's just go through a brief review of each of the songs that WERE NOT the group songs. If the title is in ALL CAPS, the title was originally in English and not translated. If the title is Japanese, I'll put the Japanese title and the English title.
EMOTIONAL LIFE (Otoya and Natsuki): This was from the third episode of the series. Both have great voices, and the song is great. I love the violin intro before it gets into the electric guitar. It really gives it that classical music and rock music feel. However, these two SHOULD NOT have been paired up.
INNOCENT WIND (Ai Mikaze): This was from the fourth episode of the series and was the first of Quartet Night's solo songs to make its debut into anime. Ai's voice actor, Shouta Aoi, is an AMAZING singer, and I think they released Ai's song first because he's one of the most popular characters from the show. This is a REALLY addicting song and definitely suits Ai's character. And that high note at the end... -sigh- Well, you had to find the full version of the song to truly appreciate his voice. Or just listen to him sing any of his other songs, regardless of if it's from UtaPri or not.
CODE T.V.U (Ren, Syo, Cecil): This was from the fifth episode of the series and...well, as an episode for a music series about a group, it was pretty formulaic. But as for the song...it's an okay song. It's not good, it's not bad. It's just okay. Ren and Syo actually do sound pretty good together. But Cecil...I just can't. I mean, Cecil's voice actor, Kosuke Toriumi, sang the theme in Diabolik Lovers, and while his voice is naturally high-pitched and a little on the nasal side, he can go lower. Which would have sounded SO MUCH BETTER and really harmonized with Ren and Syo. All in all, good song, but Cecil should have been with someone else.
SAINTLY TERRITORY (Camus): This was from the sixth episode. And...as much as I can't stand Camus, I will admit he has a good voice. The song isn't that great in my opinion, but it does fit his character.
ONLY ONE (Ranmaru Kurosaki): This was from the seventh episode where we REALLY dove into Ranmaru's character and backstory. I'll admit, I couldn't stand him in 2000%. There was just something about him I didn't like at all. But after this episode, I started to really enjoy Ranmaru as a character and thought he was pretty awesome. The song is catchy, too, as it combines both elements of the world of a rock band and the world of an idol. The bass is ADDICTING. And Ranmaru's voice is pretty awesome. You can definitely tell that they did a good job of combining rock band music with idol music.
ORIGINAL RESONANCE (Tokiya and Masato): This was from the eighth episode, and HOLY FREAKING CRAP this song was perfect in every single way imaginable. First of all, the intro just hooks you right in. And then when they start singing, it's just ultimate perfection. This is the one pairing that I wouldn't change AT ALL. I just...this song is so amazing, I can't find the words to describe it.
NEVER... (Reiji Kotobuki): This was from the ninth episode, and what else can I say, other than IT SUCKED. I already didn't like Reiji (just too peppy for me and a little...um...I can't really find the word), and not only did the song suck, but the lead-in to the song was pretty bad, too. I mean...it fits what little we know of his character (almost nothing), but it just sounds AWFUL. Not on the level of nails on a chalkboard, but still awful.
We also get a lot of group songs. Most of which are...meh, at best. I mean, for a series that's ABOUT music, the music in this season of UtaPri is pretty lacking compared to the last two. I feel like the people who made the songs for UtaPri, Elements Garden, just decided to ride the popularity from last season and be lazy. I mean, STARISH's group song just SUCKED, whereas Quartet Night's was FREAKING AMAZING.
There was also a plot twist in the last episode of the season, but what really pissed me off about it was how they said "See you next season" at the end of the episode, before a fourth season was even announced. What can they possibly make a fourth season out of, anyway?
So, how do I rate this season? Um...well, it's too difficult for me to rate by number, so I'll just say it was...half-decent.
Why: The music isn't that great. I mean, it's hard to be proud of a series ABOUT music when you only have THREE good songs in the entire series.
The animation has slip-ups, especially during the ending credits, so the animation isn't great, either. I mean, watch these credits. REALLY watch them. Because...well...just watch.
Now TO BE FAIR, the song is actually a pretty decent song. It doesn't suck. They say "REVOLUTIONS" so many times that you could be drunk by the end of the song (and that's if you listen to the full version). But the animation is AWFUL. I mean, there are some parts where STARISH's dance movements look almost robotic; as if they're from a video game. Which, if video-game style animation was what they were going for, would be great. But it's not.
What's interesting, though, is that the song used for the opening theme of the first episode isn't sung by Tokiya's voice actor, Mamoru Miyano, the guy who sang the opening themes for the previous seasons. Nope, it's by the amazing members of Quartet Night, and it's called (and the style of the title is really weird, so I'm just going to put it in quotes) "The dice are cast." While I didn't like it at first, it started to grow on me after a couple listens. The animation isn't that great during it, and their dancing does seem pretty robotic, but then I discovered why the animation SUCKED in SO MANY SCENES. It's because the animators blew ALL THEIR MONEY on...this:
That's right. The animators blew ALL THEIR MONEY on the video for Camus's song, SAINTLY TERRITORY. While the video isn't that great (actually, that's an understatement; it's pretty bad), the animation is the best animation you're going to get throughout...basically the whole season.
STARISH and Quartet Night actually do have a song that they sing together, called GOLDEN☆STAR. And, guess what? It's not that great, either. Which is a shame, because you have some AMAZING voices singing together for the first (and quite possibly only, unless you go to the live shows or play the games) time in the anime, and it just doesn't sound that great. I'm not really sure what I was expecting, but this definitely wasn't it.
Quartet Night did, however, get a group song. While it's not as good as ポワゾンKISS (Poison KISS) from 2000%, it is a pretty good song and I like it almost as much as ポワゾンKISS (Poison KISS). They start out a capella, before the music comes in, and the song just sucks you right in. I actually like this better than STARISH's group song, マジLOVEレボリュウションズ (Maji Love REVOLUTIONS).
This season may have revolved more around Quartet Night than STARISH, but I still felt as if more time and effort could have been spent on STARISH's songs, and the animation. Haruka also managed to become more annoying this season, something I honestly didn't think was possible.
I'd love to say that the music makes up for the somewhat sloppy animation, but it doesn't. When you like only three or four songs from the entire series, it's a little hard to say that the music makes up for the crappy animation. I just hope the writers and animators don't ride that popularity high for too long. It's making them lazy and making the show become more and more formulaic.
Well...that's it. In the meantime, I'm off to get ready for Anime Mondays #10. What is it? Well, I'll give you two hints:
1. "angriff auf die Titanen"
2.
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| OK, if this picture doesn't give anything away, I don't know what will. |
And that's all you're going to get from me! I'll do my best to make this one a video, but given that footage is pretty hard to find, it will either be me just talking on camera the whole time with bits of the anime edited in, or a written review. Look forward to it!
Loving life :)
~k
