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Archive for July 2016
Good G-d...I promised myself I wouldn't review this. I really promised myself. Heck, if I chose to break that promise, I would have saved it for Halloween. But no...not this...anything but this.
All right, looks like I don't have a choice.
Hey guys, kanna here. Can I just start by saying I am NOT looking forward to this review? I mean...we're looking at one of the anime that's worse than...I can't even say it now. No, I'll say it at the end. Alas, here we are. Anime Monday #21 -- Diabolik Lovers.
G-d, I'm glad that's over...while I go give my brain a rest, please leave your suggestions for Anime Monday #23! I have #22 already picked out (and I'm not looking forward to it), so please pick something good! I don't want to give bad review after bad review...
All right, looks like I don't have a choice.
Hey guys, kanna here. Can I just start by saying I am NOT looking forward to this review? I mean...we're looking at one of the anime that's worse than...I can't even say it now. No, I'll say it at the end. Alas, here we are. Anime Monday #21 -- Diabolik Lovers.
Now before you ask, let me answer the question that's probably on everyone's mind: why is Diabolik Lovers spelled the way it is? And the answer is...I have no idea.
Diabolik Lovers started out as a visual novel franchise by Rejet. It was first released for the PSP in October 2012. As of now, five games have been released, and the first two have been remastered for the PS Vita. Those were released as "limited V editions."
Apparently, the games were so popular that it got an anime adaptation. Two, actually: Diabolik Lovers and Diabolik Lovers, More Blood. The first series aired from September 16, 2013 to December 9, 2013, and the second series aired from September 23, 2015 to December 9, 2015. I've heard rumors about a third season, but as far as I know, nothing has been confirmed.
Now keep in mind I've only seen the first season. This anime was so...I can't even. Let's just get started.
The series revolves around a girl named Yui Komori, a nice 17-year-old girl whose father, a priest, owns his own church. Once her father travels overseas for work, she gets sent to a mansion to live with six mysterious brothers. The twist: they're all vampires.
The first episode of the anime reveals that Yui is actually adopted and she starts to investigate into her past amidst all the supernatural stuff going on and struggling to survive among six vampires who hunger for her blood.
Let's move on to characters. I'll talk briefly about Yui, and then move on to the brothers.
Yui Komori: The "heroine" of the series. Please note I'm using this term as loosely as humanly possible. I'll have a tangent on it later.
The vampire brothers all have the same father, Karlheinz, but they're from different mothers.
The oldest sons, Shu and Reiji, were born to Karlheinz's second wife, Beatrix. The triplets, Ayato, Kanato, and Laito, were born to Karlheinz's first wife, Cordelia.
The youngest son, Subaru, was from Karlheinz's third wife, Christa. Clearly, Karlheinz got around.
Even though they're all brothers, they don't really get along with each other and seem quite distant from each other. Their personalities are all basically the same...with a few tiny differences, so they're not worth their own paragraphs.
Now, rating: 1/10
Why: Dear G-d, where do I begin? Let's start with Yui. I have four words for you about her: BIGGEST MARY-SUE EVER.
Seriously, this girl is worse than BELLA SWAN, from Twilight. Heck, I think this series is actually WORSE than Twilight. And I never thought I'd say that. I honestly never thought that anyone could top Bella in Mary-Sue-ness, but congratulations, Yui, you win. She is the most helpless, whiny, annoying character I have ever seen. More than Bella. And that's saying a lot.
The animation isn't that great, each episode is only about fifteen minutes long, and they try to pack so much into each episode that it gets confusing. This series is just hard to follow, especially when the characters all have similar personalities.
The brothers are too similar to each other, with only a few teeny, tiny differentiating characteristics, but you still have difficulty trying to figure out which one is which. There's no humor, no plot twists, no...nothing.
The ONE redeeming quality about this series is the opening theme, "Mr. Sadistic Night," sung by Kosuke Toriumi (you might recognize him from his role as Cecil Aijima in UtaPri) and Hikaru Midorikawa (you might recognize him from his role as Softon in Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo). It's pretty catchy, and while the meaning of the song is kind of dark (what else would you expect from a song called "Mr. Sadistic Night"?), it's still a pretty good song. I'm actually listening to it while I write this. It's kind of a heavy rock song, but I wouldn't necessarily call it metal. I definitely recommend giving it a listen.
So, if I was on a deserted island, and the only way to get off was watching all the Twilight movies or all the episodes of both seasons of Diabolik Lovers (or get eaten by flesh-eating piranhas), I'd have to say...Twilight. It's bad (understatement), but nowhere near as bad as Diabolik Lovers.
G-d, I'm glad that's over...while I go give my brain a rest, please leave your suggestions for Anime Monday #23! I have #22 already picked out (and I'm not looking forward to it), so please pick something good! I don't want to give bad review after bad review...
Hey guys, kanna here. Knowing me, you know I'm obsessed with three things: anime, Harry Potter, and, of course, all things X-Men. So, when I found out there was an X-Men anime that aired in 2011, and I had no idea it existed until now, I wanted to beat myself up for not knowing about it, before I said, "Let's give it a watch." So I did. And now, without further ado...
So...this is technically a part of an anime series known as Marvel Anime, which was a series of four anime series and two direct to video films that were produced in collaboration between Marvel Entertainment and the studio that brought us One-Punch Man, Madhouse.
Each series was twelve episodes long. They followed the stories of Iron Man, Wolverine, X-Men, and Blade, and went in that order. Each of these series is a stand-alone, meaning that you don't have to have seen the previous series in order to watch the next one. Which is great, because I couldn't find episodes of Wolverine anywhere. And believe me, I tried.
Additionally, each of the series was guided by writer Warren Ellis, who set the majority of each series in Japan. Does this make it count as anime? We shall see, my friends. We shall see.
So our story opens up where the third X-Men movie ended, with the death of Jean Grey. The writers and animators did take a few creative liberties with it, such as having Emma Frost appear behind Jean Grey, and instead of Jean Grey being controlled by Phoenix, she's controlled by a group known as the Inner Circle. So Jean Grey dies and the X-Men, which now consists of Storm, Beast, Wolverine, Cyclops, and Prof. X, all go their separate ways.
The X-Men are later reassembled by Professor X and are asked to travel to Japan following the abduction of a mutant named Hisako Ichiki. They rescue her and Emma Frost, who both join the X-Men, but are also confronted by the U-Men and members of the Inner Circle.
And...that's basically it.
So, score: um...X-Men, I hate to do this, believe me, I do, but...1/10.
Why: Well, it's relatively simple, really. This can't call itself an anime. It's a cartoon, at best. The animation isn't great, the music is meh at best, and the storyline just doesn't seem to carry itself well. I honestly don't understand how this is called an anime. Is it because it was made in Japan? I honestly have no idea.
Look, this did look promising. It was an "anime" (I'm using that term very, very loosely) that didn't have anything to adapt from, which gave the writers a lot of room for creativity. But there were too many points where you had to have read the comics in order to know who some of the characters were. The movies never referenced the Inner Circle, or Hisako Ichiki, for that matter. So unless you read the comics, you'll have no idea who those characters are going into this.
Now, that's not necessarily a bad thing, as they do explain who everyone is in the anime. But is it really fair to the viewer to have it be expected of them to have read or watched the source material first? Not really.
The characters don't really look like themselves, either. I mean, maybe I've seen the movies too many times (which is a possibility), but they really don't look like they should. For example, Beast looks like an overgrown bear, and sounds like one when he growls. It's not very...what's the word I'm looking for? Oh, threatening. Heck, they should have changed his codename to Bear in this. Because that would have made more sense than Beast in this.
There is little to no humor in this series. Which is really, really sad. I mean, it's X-Men. We have Wolverine in this, for Pete's sake. The least we could get is a classic one-liner. The writing just seems...lazy, like the voice acting. At least, that's how it seemed in the English dub. I couldn't find the original Japanese.
Heck, the only characters in this who are even remotely interesting are Hisako Ichiki and Beast. Hisako Ichiki has a unique power (she creates this armor made out of psionic energy and can manipulate it as she wants), and Beast is...well, Beast. He's probably my favorite character in all of this, and that's saying a lot.
I was expecting so much out of this, being the big X-Men fan I am, so I felt like I was punched in the gut when I watched this show. I think any X-Men fan would feel the same way.
Despite all this, though...I really am hopeful that if they do a second season (which they probably won't) or a remake of this, it will be much better. But as of right now, those seem pretty unlikely.
Well, that's X-Men: The Animated Series. Sorry it was short, but when there isn't really much to talk about, there isn't really much to talk about.
Get ready for Anime Monday #21!
So...this is technically a part of an anime series known as Marvel Anime, which was a series of four anime series and two direct to video films that were produced in collaboration between Marvel Entertainment and the studio that brought us One-Punch Man, Madhouse.
Each series was twelve episodes long. They followed the stories of Iron Man, Wolverine, X-Men, and Blade, and went in that order. Each of these series is a stand-alone, meaning that you don't have to have seen the previous series in order to watch the next one. Which is great, because I couldn't find episodes of Wolverine anywhere. And believe me, I tried.
Additionally, each of the series was guided by writer Warren Ellis, who set the majority of each series in Japan. Does this make it count as anime? We shall see, my friends. We shall see.
So our story opens up where the third X-Men movie ended, with the death of Jean Grey. The writers and animators did take a few creative liberties with it, such as having Emma Frost appear behind Jean Grey, and instead of Jean Grey being controlled by Phoenix, she's controlled by a group known as the Inner Circle. So Jean Grey dies and the X-Men, which now consists of Storm, Beast, Wolverine, Cyclops, and Prof. X, all go their separate ways.
The X-Men are later reassembled by Professor X and are asked to travel to Japan following the abduction of a mutant named Hisako Ichiki. They rescue her and Emma Frost, who both join the X-Men, but are also confronted by the U-Men and members of the Inner Circle.
And...that's basically it.
So, score: um...X-Men, I hate to do this, believe me, I do, but...1/10.
Why: Well, it's relatively simple, really. This can't call itself an anime. It's a cartoon, at best. The animation isn't great, the music is meh at best, and the storyline just doesn't seem to carry itself well. I honestly don't understand how this is called an anime. Is it because it was made in Japan? I honestly have no idea.
Look, this did look promising. It was an "anime" (I'm using that term very, very loosely) that didn't have anything to adapt from, which gave the writers a lot of room for creativity. But there were too many points where you had to have read the comics in order to know who some of the characters were. The movies never referenced the Inner Circle, or Hisako Ichiki, for that matter. So unless you read the comics, you'll have no idea who those characters are going into this.
Now, that's not necessarily a bad thing, as they do explain who everyone is in the anime. But is it really fair to the viewer to have it be expected of them to have read or watched the source material first? Not really.
The characters don't really look like themselves, either. I mean, maybe I've seen the movies too many times (which is a possibility), but they really don't look like they should. For example, Beast looks like an overgrown bear, and sounds like one when he growls. It's not very...what's the word I'm looking for? Oh, threatening. Heck, they should have changed his codename to Bear in this. Because that would have made more sense than Beast in this.
There is little to no humor in this series. Which is really, really sad. I mean, it's X-Men. We have Wolverine in this, for Pete's sake. The least we could get is a classic one-liner. The writing just seems...lazy, like the voice acting. At least, that's how it seemed in the English dub. I couldn't find the original Japanese.
Heck, the only characters in this who are even remotely interesting are Hisako Ichiki and Beast. Hisako Ichiki has a unique power (she creates this armor made out of psionic energy and can manipulate it as she wants), and Beast is...well, Beast. He's probably my favorite character in all of this, and that's saying a lot.
I was expecting so much out of this, being the big X-Men fan I am, so I felt like I was punched in the gut when I watched this show. I think any X-Men fan would feel the same way.
Despite all this, though...I really am hopeful that if they do a second season (which they probably won't) or a remake of this, it will be much better. But as of right now, those seem pretty unlikely.
Well, that's X-Men: The Animated Series. Sorry it was short, but when there isn't really much to talk about, there isn't really much to talk about.
Get ready for Anime Monday #21!
