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Blak3 Nikos
Posts: 158 Location: USA |
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Originally posted April 4, 2019
Oh boy, this weeks review is going to be covering a Gonzo show, hooray. If you didn't know or have forgotten whenever I encounter a Gonzo anime it's either going to be a hit or miss or a mixbag. The last time I reviewed an anime made by them not only was it garbagio, but at the last episode the main antagonist complained about some stuff that she didn't like about the christian bible. Which had nothing to do with nor was this her reason of committing her goal. Trust me when I say you don't want me to go into long details why I thought this and the rest of this show was so ridiculous. The less I remember it, the better. Luckily for me (hopefully) this weeks review is a revamp one that will cover an anime I use to watch and liked. It is called Desert Punk. "After an implied global nuclear catastrophe Japan has been reduced to a desert ("The Great Kanto Desert"), and the surviving humans seek out a meager living in the hot sands. Desert Punk focuses on the adventures of a wandering mercenary named Kanta Mizuno, nicknamed Desert Punk (Sunabōzu), due to his seemingly incredible feats of skill and daring while on the job. Throughout the series, he acquires an apprentice and makes a few friends as well as many enemies." (info by wiki) Oy vey this show was not as good as I remembered. When I first rewatch episode 1-8 I had a bad feeling that this show was going to be mostly seen as either semi-ok or just plain ok. But when I reach episode 10 (technically episode 9) the show finally started become a little more investing to watch. The writing, comedy, entertainment was getting a bit better and a certain character (who I will talk about later) received some good character development. However the good times I was having with these small improvements (except for that character's development, sort of) quickly flew away when I watched episode 19-24 (aka the part where the series met it's terrible fall.) I'll explain what I mean later on in the review. For now I would like to discuss the positive things that I liked about this anime. The first would have to be the Great Kanto Desert itself. I love the whole concept of this place. If you wanted to survive out there you have to defend and take care of yourself 24/7. Because if you don't people with cruel intentions will steal from you and most likely leave you dead. Or the desert's unnatural weather (It's very hot by day/ very cold by night) will completely ruin and eventually kill you if your not wearing the proper attire and equipment. The second thing that I like about this anime would have to be the titular character himself, Desert Punk. Through out the series Kanta Mizuno can mostly be described as a moron, selfish, and heartless little brat that only cares about 3 things (himself, cash, and women.) When it comes to his job as mercenary (believe it or not) he's actually a grade A expert. The guy will do whatever it takes to get his job done (when he's not messing up or getting distracted by boobs.) Another positive thing I can say about him is that even though most of the time you see him being an idiot. He actually shows time from time that he's smarter than he looks. The guy can come up with a lot of plans to outsmart his enemy depending if the situation works in his favor. Plus he has he's desert smarts (he pretty much knows everything about the Kanto Desert like the back of his hand.) The second character that I liked from this show would have to be Kosuna. Granted in the beginning of the series she was mostly seen as an annoying and useless little piss ant that you could care less about. Except hope that she later on has some good character development, gets killed, and if neither of those two happen. You might as well quit watching this series. Thankfully by episode 10 the writer decided to pick option A. As you keeping watching you notice that she's seen as less of a nuisance and more useful to Kanta. She also slowly get's good at surviving the desert and becoming a mercenary (maybe even a better one than DP himself.) The third one would have to be Rain Spider. Desert Punk's rival and one of the best debt collectors in the Kanto Desert. I feel like the main reason why I like this character is not because of his skill, but because he's seen as a comedic relief. If all else fails he runs away like the little weasel he is or if something bad happens to him it's done so in a funny way. I also appreciate he's English voice actor Kenny Green. Whenever you hear he's performance you can easily tell how much fun and effort the guy is putting into this character. In summary I'm glad that a character like Rain Spider exist, without him this show wouldn't have that much positives to work with. The last two things would have to be the voice acting (it was ok. I'm grateful that most of them (except for this one voice actor I will talk about later) were actually trying to put up a good performance even this show isn't exactly great.) Finally the artwork and animation ( both of them were mainly seen as average. It might not have a good design that Samurai Champloo or Stand Alone Complex has, but at least it looks better than Gantz's artwork and animation. I rather stare at something decent than look at something that looks like complete trash.) The downsides: 1. (Episode 6) there are 2 errors that happens in this episode. During the chase scene between DP and the 4 raiders. DP shot down one of the members, but a few minutes later the four are together. Then a couple of minutes later DP shot down 3 of them. But when the chase scene was finally over DP was completely surrounded by the four of them. I know this doesn’t make any since, but that is exactly what happen. 2. The voice actor for this antagonist in episode 12 was bland. I wish he put more effort into his performance. Like I said before I know that this show isn't exactly great, but the least that this guy could do is try to making his character sound good instead of someone who sounds like he wishes he was off doing something else. 3. Episode 19-24 (Spoilers ahead.) The reason why these episodes were not only seen as the show's greatest mistake, but also led to it's down fall was because of two reasons. The first would have to be the writing and the tone shift. In episode 19 the show goes into a serious direction by having Desert Punk and his apprentice Kosuna join some rebel group (who's goal is to take down the rotten Oasis Government) that was formed by some familiar characters. But the way how it was executed was done so poorly. There was some stuff that didn't make any sense like how did the group save Junko and Tech, how was this group formed without the Oasis Government knowing, when did Junko change sides, and etc. Another issue that this arc had was the tone shift. The anime looked like it wanted to take itself serious, but couldn't because it didn't want to go too dark. So the creators of this show decided to blend it's usual light-hearted tone with a serious one in the most stupidest and unbalanced way possible (the tone was practically everywhere through out the last few episodes.) Finally 4. The second reason why this show failed. It deviated from the manga. Look there is nothing wrong with doing things differently from the original source material. But the only way you can get way with that is if you make sure your version looks just as great or even better than it (Prime examples of anime's who did right was Trigun and the 1995 film Ghost In The Shell.) Unfortunately for Desert Punk it couldn't do neither. Through out episode 1-18 instead of having the same feel as the manga which according to the wiki had "a more realistic look and far more common use of black comedy." The show decided to do things differently by having a lighter tone (this included quirky and sexual humor.) Then once you reach episode 19-24 it completely separates itself from the manga by trying to create a somewhat serious arc. I think you can already guess what happened when they tried to do that. In conclusion this anime was not as good as how I remembered. It might've had some good characters, an interesting concept of the Kanto Desert, some ok voice acting, and average artwork and animation. But compare to the big downsides that this show created. It had no way of overcoming it or receiving a second season. But you wanna what sucks the most? This show actually had the potential to be great. If it was handled a lot better than how it originally was or if they just followed the manga and had some, but good ideas that worked. Then maybe Desert Punk would've been loved and remembered a lot more than it does now. The only people that I can see watching this is either people who might be curious to see if this is actually worth watching (which is only a few) or people who wants to see fanservice (which is probably some.) But even if the ones who came to watch the fanservice were to check it out. I bet you they wouldn't watch every episode or the whole entire season. With that said I'm giving this wasted potential a 5.8/10, let me know what you guys think in the comments. |
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Blak3 Nikos
Posts: 158 Location: USA |
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1999 the final year before the turn of the next century, the 21st. A lot of memorable popular culture happen during this time period. The Matrix debuted, Pokemon became the 3rd highest grossest film (right next to that was Tarzan and Toy Story 2), and Triple H became the final WWF (now called WWE) champion in 20th century. For VG games like System Shock 2, Resident Evil 3, Persona 2, and Super Smash Bros came out. For cartoons shows like Spongebob, Futurama, and Batman Beyond debuted. As for anime: One Piece, The Big O, and Hunter x Hunter (1999 version) debuted as well.
Another thing that happen that year was that a man named Shinichi Watanabe not only directed one of the most notable comedic anime's in the 90's. But that same anime helped him become a recognizable figure in the anime industry. It was called Excel Saga. "It's hard to take over the world, and the enigmatic Il Palazzo, head of the ACROSS organization, knows this, so he aims to start small by conquering the city of Fukuoka. Two young officers, the Excel and her partner Hyatt, are tasked with executing this plan, but standing in their way are the City Security workers, a group consisting of three (mostly) normal guys, a very severe girl, and some robots. Regardless of simplicity, Excel and Hyatt always manage to screw up their missions, which usually result in death and lots of destruction. Heppoko Jikken Animation Excel♥Saga chronicles the elaborate troubles that the ACROSS officers get themselves into, as Excel and Hyatt never fail to do their jobs improperly." (Info by My Anime List) Excel Saga can be definitely described as strangely weird and random. The only words that would most likely pop in your mind when your watching this would be the following. "What in the world am I even looking at?" But despite what the content contains in the end it's still pretty entertaining. This is the type of show that you wouldn't mind watching during your spare time (regardless of how you feel.) If I had to be even more honest I feel not a lot of anime fans would into ES. The only people that could possibly enjoy this the most are the kind of people that like random and strange humor. One of things that I like about this anime would have to be doing things differently. So remember when I said in my Desert Punk review that "there is nothing wrong with doing things differently from the original source material. But the only way you can get away with that is if you make sure your version looks just as great or even better than it."An that I gave a few prime examples of anime's that were able to pull that off? Well luckily for us Excel is another one of those prime examples. Each episode (excluding 10, 13, 20, 24-26) does parodies of different random pop cultures or regular culture things. While at the same time the show follows ongoing original storyline. One of my favorite episodes would have to be episode 17 "Animation USA." The reason is because I mostly see as less of parody and more like a tribute to American pop culture that happen during the early to late 20th century. One of my favorite moments from this episode would have to be that one part when Excel's (the main titular character) character design starts to look almost like a U.S. comic book character. I really appreciate the great effort that the ES crew has put in to make this episode both look good. I'm also glad that Shinichi created original characters like Pedro, the Great Will, Nabeshin (a cartoon version of himself), and That Man (the leader of ACROSS.) Expand those ideas and give them their own characters and storyline. Without them this show wouldn't have been remembered like it is today. One of my favorite characters on this show would have to be Excel. Excel is a loud, obnoxious, annoying, scatterbrain, and chatterbox woman who works for a secret organization name ACROSS (who's goal is to conquer the world.) Whenever she goes on her missions it rarely goes successfully well (mostly due to her own incompetence.) An whenever it does it's either by accident or she got help from someone. But believe or not if she never existed not only would this anime be less entertaining and have no main character. But the show would've most likely look like a complete mess. In other words whether you like it or not Excel plays a huge role in this series. An that would be the balance to the other storylines that appear in this show. Plus she does go through a little character development in episode 24-25. Another character that I like would have to be Pedro. an odd, but hard working man who tries to make money for his sexy wife and adorable son Sandora. However reality aka Shinichi sends him on a spiraling adventure. One filled with ups and downs. Some of those includes (spoilers) being burned alive, having an affair with the Great Will, trying to come back alive so he can get his sexy wife and son back from his scumbag friend Gomez, and dealing with THAT MAN. The best way to elaborate Pedro and his adventures is that their truly something else, but just like this show. It's still pretty investing to follow. The fourth thing that I liked was the bonus episode. When your creating an episode like this and there's no sign of a 2nd season happening. You have to do two things in order to impress your audience. You have to capture their attention and make sure they NEVER forget what they saw. Fortunately for Shinichi he was able to fulfill both of those qualities. Alas and not shocking I cannot tell you in details what happens in this episode. But I will leave you with this info. The bonus episode was so "interesting" that the network that Excel Saga usual aired on during the time it was new (TV Tokyo.) Never aired it on their platform. The only way you could watch is if you buy the complete series on DVD. Yup, it's one of those episodes. The last few thing would have to be the storyline (It might of been very peculiar for the most part, but at least I enjoyed everything that it could throw at me. I especially liked episode 23-25. Where the show decided to go on an almost serious turn. An unlike Desert Punk, the way how it was executed was perfect.) The characters (majority of them were mostly seen as alright. Some were entertaining, but still alright.) The comedy (was fine, but there were a few episodes that didn't make me laugh. Either because I didn't get the joke or the writers had to do a little better than what they did before.) The voice acting (the English voice actors did a wonderful job with their roles. Although I feel sorry for Jessica Calvello (the voice of Excel.) After the 13th episode she temporarily damaged her voice and had to quickly be replaced by Larissa Wolcott (who no offense comes in 2nd place when voicing her) for the 2nd half of the show. The reason why I say that is because when Jessica voices Excel she has a unique talent to bring out the perfect annoying character that you can't help, but to beat up or put out of her misery. I know that sounds rude, but believe me when I say that this is actually a compliment and the reason why I like Jess's version of Excel. Finally the main artwork and animation (it was alright, but the one that impressed the most would have to be the different types of styles that the artists and animators put in. I really like the creative designs that they always show from time to time. It really helps the series stand out from the different anime's that have aired late 1999 - early 2000.) In conclusion Excel Saga maybe strangely weird and random, but at least it's pretty entertaining at the end of the day. It also has an enjoyable storyline, some alright and satisfying characters, some fine comedy, wonderful English dubbers, and an alright, but at the same time interesting artwork and animation. If you have the money, time, and are interested in this type of content. Then definitely put some investment into watching Excel Saga (especially it's 26th episode.) I'm giving this anime a 8/10, let me know what you think in the comments. |
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Blak3 Nikos
Posts: 158 Location: USA |
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Originally Posted April 16, 2019
The last revamp review for this month has something to do with Arms. I really don't like this company. The previous anime I watched that was made by them was Isuca. A show that I really didn't have a fun time watching. Granted it wasn't as bad as the despicable Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid, but that doesn't mean I find it more tolerable than VD nor would I ever want to watch it again. If you didn't know Arms was a company that use to make a lot of hentai content. Until 2004 they decided to go into the anime business. Some of the anime's that their known for (aside from the ones I just mention) are Queen's Blade, Ikki Tōsen, Wanna Be The Strongest In The World (a show wrestling fans probably shouldn't watch), and a certain anime I will mention later. The rest are bunch of unknown show's that I could give less of a crap about nor am I even considering of checking out. Now that I told you the TL;DR of Arms history, let's get back to the main subject. Like I said before the last revamp review for this month has something to do with the company Arms. An that would be the first popular anime that they have ever created. The infamous Elfen Lied. "Lucy is a special breed of human referred to as "Diclonius," born with a short pair of horns and invisible telekinetic hands that lands her as a victim of inhumane scientific experimentation by the government. However, once circumstances present her an opportunity to escape, Lucy, corrupted by the confinement and torture, unleashes a torrent of bloodshed as she escapes her captors. During her breakout, she receives a crippling head injury that leaves her with a split personality: someone with the mentality of a harmless child possessing limited speech capacity. In this state of instability, she stumbles upon two college students, Kouta and his cousin Yuka, who unknowingly take an injured fugitive into their care, unaware of her murderous tendencies. This act of kindness will change their lives, as they soon find themselves dragged into the shadowy world of government secrecy and conspiracy." (Info by My Anime List) Elfen Lied has been watched by many people with various feelings for it. Some hate it for showing explicit violence and gore or for the few flaws (that I will discuss later) that it contains. Some love it for the first 2 reason that the some hate about it ( the explicit violence and gore). While others (like me for example) can see what this show truly is. A pretty good romantic and heartbreaking anime that goes over some interesting subjects. While at the same time feels incomplete. Later in the review I will elaborate what I mean by incomplete for now (like always) let us discuss the positives. One of things that I love about this show would have to be the town Kamakura. Elfen Lied is one of the few anime's out there that uses it's main location as an important device to both the story and the characters themselves. The reason is because both the author and director of EL see that Kamakura is more than just a town with beautiful areas, but a place where you or someone your with can have some memorable or notable moments there (good or bad.) Prime examples of what I mean would have to either be at the beach or an area that's used most of the time in the anime. The stairs that overlook the coastline of Kamakura. The 2nd thing that I like would have to be the Diclonius or Diclonii (for short.) A mutated species that look exactly like a regular human being except for two differences. 1. Unlike humans, Diclonius have horns on top of their heads. 2. They have the ability to create non see-able arms called vectors which can be used for just about anything. Picking up stuff, jumping or levitating to different areas, or killing anyone they want. Another interesting fact about these vectors as that if they were to touch a human male, he would instantly be effected by it's virus. The virus doesn't kill the human male host, but makes sure that the next time he has a kid. It will not only be a female, but a Silpelit too (half Diclonius, half human.) One other thing that you should know about the Dicloniis would have to be their unknown tendency towards violence (aka one of the main focus points in the story.) Some do it just because they hate humans in general and want to populate the Earth with only their kind. Others do it just to defend themselves because of the awful treatment most humans give them. For the main character Lucy (who is the only true Diclonius left in the show and is the only one in her race that can reproduce) It's pretty much both, but mostly because of the 2nd option. The third reason would have to be the themes. EL goes over multiple subjects (some that Devilmay... I mean Devilman Crybaby goes over. However unlike that show, Elfen doesn't make it too obvious or shove it down your face a lot. ) Prejudice, isolation, revenge, abuse, jealousy, regret, identity and the advantages of humanity. But the subjects that I'm mostly intrigued to talk about the most would have to be prejudice, isolation, abuse, identity and the advantages of humanity (Since their the most focused topics in this anime.) A prime example of a character going through prejudice, isolation, identity, and abuse would have to be Lucy. Through out her whole life she has went through nothing, but crap. Most humans are either racist, mock, isolate, treat her like an experiment, or just abuse her. Back when she was young some kids at her school even bullied her while the adults and other kids turn to a blind eye (pretending like nothing bad was even happening.) All of this hell was brought down upon her because she looked different (other characters that almost went through the same situation as her would have to be Nana (another Diclonii) and Mayu (a human orphan that later on gets adopted by Kouta and Yuka.) A prime example of the advantages of humanity would have to be the relationship between Kouta and Lucy. Back when they were ten. Kouta was the only human who ever showed Lucy the many things that she was longing for. Acceptance, being treated like an equel, and most of all, love. Even though their relationship was seen as a tragedy most of the time, especially when they reunited (usual because of Lucy's tendency to be violent toward those that would harm or seem like a threat to her.) Kouta's unconditional love always prevented him from hating her. Because unlike the other characters in this show he only focused on the good and beautiful parts of Lucy. The last few things would have to be the storyline (Even though the pacing is a bit quick and the show still feels incomplete (Don't worry this will still be explain soon.) In the end I thought it was acceptable.) The characters (some of them like Yuka, Kurama, Nana, Mariko, and Mayu were seen as fine (mostly because their seen as good example of the themes that show goes over.) While the rest were meh.) The voice acting (they were okay, but if I had to be more honest. I feel like Kouta and Yuka's voice actors sounded a little awkward in some episodes. Take the end of episode 5 for example. Also the only voice actor I was mostly impressed with was Kira Vincent-Davis (the voice of Lucy/Nyu.) You can really tell how perfect and much effort she put into both of these roles. In my opinion I feel like no can do these characters right except for her.) The theme song (The only word that can describe it is this: magnificent. It fits perfectly with this show's overall tone. Which is both beautiful and tragic.) The last thing would have to be the artwork and animation (while the character designs looked mostly simple. The two that I was mostly impressed with was some of the areas that the anime shows and the wonderful transgressive artstyle that the opening contains.) Downsides: 1. The female Diclonius’s hair color. According to the wiki in the manga a Diclonius’s can have a different range of hair color just like any ordinary human being. But for some reason in the anime the males are the only ones that have different hair color while the females are only limited to pink or red. My guess as to why the creators did this is not for a person to easily identify a female Diclonius. But to make them look cute. For a team (especially the director) who wanted to try their best to make a faithful adaptation. This was a very bad choice. Not because I hate these colors, but because this was done on purpose to only attract people who like cute hair color. 2. In the beginning of episode 5 during the time Kurama (one of the antagonist of the show) was talking to his personal secretary Arakawa. I’ve notice that the clouds above them weren’t moving. Did the animators forget that clouds are suppose to move or where they just feeling lazy and decided to not to bother with them. Either way it’s still an error to me. 3. The anime's biggest negative and the main reason why I keep saying the word incomplete. Arms. These idiots gave the director and the rest of the production team permission to make only 13 episodes (even though the team wanted to follow the manga's full storyline.) Thanks to the restriction the anime had to be different from the manga. A. The show only followed half of the manga's storyline, but at episode 13 the crew had to come up with an original and questionable ending that will never be solved. B. Some characters from the manga didn't appear in the anime. C. Some of the information about the characters past and more details about the Diclonius (including more info on how their genetics work) were taken out as well. In conclusion even though this anime was mostly seen as a pretty good romantic and heartbreaking anime that goes over some interesting subjects. It still deserves better treatment than what it got in the past. I feel sorry for the crew that worked on Elfen. If they had more episodes to work with I'm very sure this show would've been more loved and seen as a legend to this very day. If there is another anime that definitely earns a proper reboot, it's no doubt this one. If your still curious on checking this show out, I say go for it. This anime (while not perfect) is still worth viewing. With that said I'm giving Elfen Lied an 8/10. Let me know what you guys think in the comments. Here's a bonus note for ya. You will not believe who was inspired by this show. It was non other than the Duffer Brothers (I'm not even joking.) They loved this show so much that they use Lucy as a reference to their character Eleven. As a person who is a fan of Stranger Things, this actually makes since to why she and Lucy share some elements with each other. |
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Blak3 Nikos
Posts: 158 Location: USA |
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Originally posted May 2, 2019
Before we begin there's something I want to say first. Due to the controversy that's currently going on with FUNimation, Monica Rial, Jamie Marchi, and Vic Mignogna. I will not be watching any English dub versions of anime's FUNi owns or anime's these people and people involved with their controversy is in until this matter is settle. However if it's a revamp review I'm doing and I watched the English dub of a certain show before. That will be the only exception. Sooo remember back in my Gangsta review I said that Manglobe was shut down due to bankruptcy? Well I later on found out that there's more to that story. 3 months after it defunct, Manglobe surprisingly returned to the anime industry. But under a new name, Geno Studios. Thanks to this new company along with some new workers they were able to finish making the film adaption of Project Itoh's Genocidal Organ. In addition they made 2 other anime's and an upcoming one that is soon to be released this year. This week I will be reviewing their most popular 2018 show. Golden Kamuy. "Saichi Sugimoto, a veteran of the Battle of 203 Hill in the Russo-Japanese War, works as a miner in Hokkaido in order to provide for the widow of his dead comrade. He hears a dubious story about a hidden trove of Ainu gold, the location of which is hidden in the tattoos of a group of convicts who escaped from Abashiri Prison. When he discovers that the story is true, and that multiple other groups are in pursuit of the gold, he decides to search for it with along with Asirpa, a young Ainu girl." (Info by wiki) I'm kind of disappointed in myself for not watching this show so soon (then again I didn't even know if it was actually worth watching or not.) Cause in my opinion Golden Kamuy was very cool. The production team who worked on this as well as Geno Studios have done a very hinna (good) job at making this anime so enjoyable to watch. As soon as you view episode 1-5 or season 1 as a whole. You feel fully invested to follow the main characters of this series and their seperate, but equal storylines (especially Sugimoto and Asirpa's storyline.) But before I get to those two as well as 2 other character's I liked from this show. I want to go over something first. One of things that I liked about this series would have to be the Hokkaido Ainu themselves. Their a special group that has been around since the 9th Century. They have their own language, culture, history, survival skills, way of living and etc. However out of all of them their language was the one that impressed me the most. Here are three reasons why: 1. I really love learning about different languages that sound fascinating to me. 2. I also love learning the meanings behind their language. Like what they call their own people, animals, certain plants, and so forth. 3. Currently to this very day their language is rare. Mostly because almost all of them are extinct. So not only did the Japanese government saw them as indigenous people, but also decided to preserve it so that many people can learn about their language (the info for number 3 was from wiki by the way.) One of my favorite characters that I love from this anime would have to be Saichi Sugimoto. My reasoning for liking this man is not just because he's kind and is searching for the legendary hidden gold so that way he can get a doctor for he's dead friend's wife. It's also because of he's nickname, Sugimoto the Immortal. Every time he's in a dangerous predicament he always and I mean always finds away to escape or defeat it. No matter how risk it is, the guy always takes it in order to survive and achieve he's main goal. During my time researching this show I began thinking how inspiring he's actions could effect me or others greatly. I really feel like I learn a lot from his experience and felt like I can do whatever difficult task was laid against me no matter how bad or frustrating it got. In summary (for Saichi) I'm really glad a person like him was put into the show. Without him, I feel like this show would be both missing something good and inspiring. My second favorite character would have to be Asirpa. A young Ainu girl who is not only an expert of her people's culture, language, and history. She is also an excellent hunter. Even though in the beginning of season 1 she was seen as a little stubborn and cold. She's mostly a kind, funny, and pure-hearted child with 2 goals that she wants to achieve. 1. To be a different kind of Ainu woman and 2. Find the person who buried the gold aka Noppera-bo (the person who murdered her father.) Before I get to the other two I wanted to talk about the bond between Saichi and Asirpa. The two of them have a great bond with each other. Almost similar to how an older brother and younger sister would act around each other. Whenever these 2 encounter animals and dangerous enemies (sometimes with some extra help.) They always find a way to conquer them. An whenever there's a comedic moment going on between the two of them, you always find yourself having a good time watching it. In summary (for these two) they make a really good duo and I (and I bet others who have watched this) would hope that they achieve their goals one day. The third character would have to be Lt. Tokushirō Tsurumi. An intelligent first lieutenant who just like Sugimoto is a veteran of the Battle of 203 Hill. After the war he suffered some brain damage and burns on the top half of his face. Resulting him to wear a metal plate on his head, leaving half insane, and suffering some mood swings and leaking from atop of his head (they both appear randomly.) After finding out the Japanese government refused to recover his dead comrades that fought along side him in the war. He decided to persuade the only soldiers that were alive (along side some other allies. Even the crazy ones) to join him on his conquest to find the legendary hidden gold, pay better for weapons, and start a coup d'état on the Japanese government. So that way Hokkaido can form it's own independence. (Bonus note: When it comes to persuasion, Tsurumi is very good. However he mostly uses emotional manipulation tactics in order to get people on his side. If you don't believe me go watch episode 13 and 19.) The fourth is Toshizō Hijikata (This is a fictionalize version of the real one by the way.) When it comes to old men in anime their either going to be seen as perverts, wise, or both. Thankful Hijikata is option B. That and he's more than meets the eye. Even in his old age Toshizō can move and fight like he was in his prime. An when it comes to getting people on his side, he can be very persuasive and reasonable (although unlike Tsurumi he doesn't use emotional manipulation tactics and he only gets people who are sane.) He's reasoning for searching for the hidden gold is to rebuild the Ezo Republic and fund Hokkaido's succession. The last few thing that I like about this show would have to be the storyline (I thought it was great. It was very investing to follow four different people's separate, but equal stories.) The characters (some of them were good, while others were insane, but in a entertaining way.) The action scenes (they can be described as both brutal and bloody. There are also times when it can catch you off guard (however only season 1 do you have that feeling.) The artwork and animation (It looked both beautiful and kind of unique. I really love the design for the trees, plants, and wood. It kind of reminded of an old Japanese art style you would see back in the day. Another thing I enjoyed looking at is the annoyed, angry, or disgusted facial reactions Asirpa would sometimes give. Every time I look at them they always look so unusually gross, but at the same time kind of funny to laugh at. ) One thing that I didn't like from this show was that episode 1-3 even some specific part of episode 7 had some pacing issues. Thankful it was only these four episodes, but at the same time I still wish the production team would've took their time making these. In conclusion Golden Kamuy was very satisfying to watch. The production team and Geno Studio has done an excellent job making this looks so.... well hinna. It has an investing storyline (that I hope they continue when they get the opportunity), great characters, wonderful music, surprising twists, good action scenes, and a beautiful and kind of unique animation and artwork. If your a fan of Manglobe's work and are curious to see if this anime is worth watching. Then I strongly recommend you give GK a shot. Trust me, I believe you'll like it. I'm giving this series a 9/10, let me know what you think in the comments. |
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