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REVIEW: Concrete Revolutio


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v1cious



Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 6201
Location: Houston, TX
PostPosted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 7:35 am Reply with quote
I suspect some people will think you oversold this show, but I agree with every word of this review.
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Carlooo



Joined: 10 Apr 2008
Posts: 58
PostPosted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 7:52 am Reply with quote
Yeah, I think this review oversells the series a bit. It is really interesting, but I find reflecting on its themes is actually more fun than actually watching the series itself. Where Nick says the series is rich and busy, I would say it has too many ideas forcibly stuffed into its 13 episodes.

Still, I'm glad I watched Concrete Revolutio. It is by far the most interesting story about superheroes I have ever seen. It actually has themes outside of good vs. evil!
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Dop.L



Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Posts: 713
Location: London
PostPosted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 8:10 am Reply with quote
It's a great show that rewards the attention you pay to it, and the best thing is there's another season to come!
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Engineering Nerd



Joined: 24 Apr 2008
Posts: 898
Location: Southern California
PostPosted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 8:29 am Reply with quote
To be frank, as much as I loving the first season ( the historic references are the real highlights), I am REALLY worrying about the second season.

I mean, having more writers joining the scripting team is great, not to mention the new blood are the likes of Gen Urobuchi; but having too many writers in the same room, even they have to follow the same series composition, isn't necessarily a good thing, it really depends on the cooperation for the sake of coherence.

Not to mention the director has a history of creating over-ambitious shows that ultimately backfired; and for now Concrete was already jam packed with numerous themes and ideas, for better or worse.

Hopefully it will turn well
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Carlooo



Joined: 10 Apr 2008
Posts: 58
PostPosted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 9:21 am Reply with quote
Engineering Nerd wrote:
To be frank, as much as I loving the first season ( the historic references are the real highlights), I am REALLY worrying about the second season.

I mean, having more writers joining the scripting team is great, not to mention the new blood are the likes of Gen Urobuchi; but having too many writers in the same room, even they have to follow the same series composition, isn't necessarily a good thing, it really depends on the cooperation for the sake of coherence.

Not to mention the director has a history of creating over-ambitious shows that ultimately backfired; and for now Concrete was already jam packed with numerous themes and ideas, for better or worse.

Hopefully it will turn well


Huh, this is new information to me. Something new to think about when watching the second season!

Whether it will turn out good or not, one thing is certain: it won't be dull!
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Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
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Location: Iscandar
PostPosted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 11:30 am Reply with quote
I have not watched Concrete Revolutio, but I have heard bad and good things about it. I wonder if this would be like with Gatchaman Crowds for me, where I heard great things about it but find it disappointing when I watch it.
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 12:18 pm Reply with quote
angelmcazares wrote:
I have not watched Concrete Revolutio, but I have heard bad and good things about it. I wonder if this would be like with Gatchaman Crowds for me, where I heard great things about it but find it disappointing when I watch it.


Like the review said, the overarching plot is what's interesting and judging it on an individual episode does not do the shows any favor. So it'll depend on how much you can tolerate individually weak storyline/episode.

I watched maybe half of it and I didn't walk away in disgust but just in general boredom. It's very obvious that they first though of what they wanted to talk about and then made the episode to tell there message. It results in weird pacing and character arc.
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DrunkAyanami
Get off my lawn



Joined: 27 Feb 2015
Posts: 88
Location: The great state of Vermont
PostPosted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 3:04 pm Reply with quote
angelmcazares wrote:
I have not watched Concrete Revolutio, but I have heard bad and good things about it. I wonder if this would be like with Gatchaman Crowds for me, where I heard great things about it but find it disappointing when I watch it.


That depends largely on what you didn't like about Gatchaman Crowds. Both Crowds and Concrete Revolutio are unabashed "message" anime. The drawback of making a work like this is that often time the characters suffer for it. They become mouthpieces for various opposing worldviews, rather than actual 3-dimensional characters that you can empathize with. I would argue that Crowds and Concrete Revolutio both have this problem. Although ConRev at least has Kikko, who is a bit more relatable as an audience stand-in than Hajime was in Crowds.

If it's the message itself from Crowds that you didn't like, then it's safe to say that Concrete Revolutio seems to have a more cynical (or at least less black-and-white) worldview. (Unless you count Crowds Insight. Which is like the opposite viewpoint of Crowds and way more cynical. But it's still a very different theme than Concrete Revolutio.)

If you do give it a shot, please try going by the 3 episode rule. Episode 1 was a bit all over the place and difficult to follow. It was non-linear storytelling done kinda wrong, and it seemed to put a lot of people off (if you want examples of how to do it correctly, I would point to premieres like Baccano! and Blood Blockade Battlefront). Episodes 2 and 3 set a better tone for how the rest of the series goes.
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phia_one



Joined: 15 Jan 2012
Posts: 1657
Location: Pennsylvania
PostPosted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 4:20 pm Reply with quote
I was hooked on this show by the end of the first episode. The way the story jumps around didn't bother me and I thought it was easy to follow. The different moral view points are what make the show most interesting for me and the question of "What is justice?".
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relyat08



Joined: 20 Mar 2013
Posts: 4125
Location: Northern Virginia
PostPosted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 5:00 pm Reply with quote
This show was ridiculous in the absolute best way. The animation was a little lacking at times, but the aesthetic was gorgeous, in my opinion. I've always been more of a "message anime" kind of guy, so this really hit the spot. It's a shame that so many people dropped it so hard. Not a single one of my friends made it past episode 3.. Crying or Very sad


I'm also a little worried about the second season given how much creative talent is behind it. It just strikes me as a disaster waiting to happen. The last time I remember getting excited for a Urobuchi collaboration with other notable writers, we got Chaos Dragon. At least with this one, the notable names are actually doing the scripting and directing, so there's a little hope left.
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Nom De Plume De Fanboy
Subscriber
Exempt from Grammar Rules


Joined: 14 Jan 2011
Posts: 611
Location: inland US west, pretty rural
PostPosted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 9:58 pm Reply with quote
relyat08 wrote:
This show was ridiculous in the absolute best way.


Glad you said that; I was struggling to find a way to describe it, and that fits it very well. Whatever else, I'm glad to see an anime company try something different. Sadly, the plot got to be too much for me past the half way mark and I just quit trying to follow it, and stayed around for the ride. Some memorable characters, some interesting scenes, but it doesn't tie together well enough. I'm glad I watched it all, but I can't see myself buying it.
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Hellsoldier



Joined: 21 Jun 2013
Posts: 753
Location: Porto,Portugal,Europe,Earth,Sol
PostPosted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 11:20 pm Reply with quote
I am seriously hopeful that ConRevo makes it to Nick's top Anime list by the end of this year.

Assuming the quality is preserved- I really hope.
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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 5307
PostPosted: Thu Jan 14, 2016 6:09 am Reply with quote
For me this was the best show of 2015, I just hope it stays good, with more writers it may get derailed.
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RocketOtter



Joined: 09 Nov 2015
Posts: 34
PostPosted: Thu Jan 14, 2016 7:06 pm Reply with quote
Ironically enough though I believe that during Nick's weekly reviews on his blog he dropped ConRevo when it was airing. And then it turned out to be one of the better shows of its season to him. Noice.

To be fair though, the show doesn't really get good until after the first few episodes. The 2nd season though, from what's been said about it I'm a bit cautious.
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Edl01



Joined: 14 Jan 2016
Posts: 117
PostPosted: Thu Jan 14, 2016 7:14 pm Reply with quote
I just watched Con Revo a few days ago and absolutely loved it.
The show is a bit hard to get into but once you do it's a fantastic show that's clearly trying to express a powerful message about youth and the concept of justice.

I think Earth-Chan's episode was my personal favorite, with a mix of a compelling narrative and Earth-chan being adorable.

Slightly off-topic this show finally convinced me to go out and buy a copy of V for Vandetta, since Alan Moore's Watchmen clearly inspired this show and I'm a huge fan of that story but never actually got around to reading much of his other works.
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