Wolfe reporting.
Edit: Accidentally reverted this post to draft.
Valvrave the Liberator was a fairly good anime. It reminds me of a manga, with the last-save mechanic being at least a little bit overused. It became expected, though, and, regardless, I actually enjoyed it. It's a 12-episode anime, which is a very common length for something I'd watch.
I give it a 4.5 / 10.
Future notice on how I do my ratings: 5 is for an anime that I neither liked nor disliked. The farther down, the more reasons to dislike it. The farther up, the more reasons to like it. I can think an anime is good and still mark it below a 5, if, for instance, the plot was amazing but all other aspects weigh it down.
Animation style: artsy! The Valvraves were designed by someone trying to make a machine look as cool as possible (and, while references are made to the pretty light it leaves, no explanation is made). So, in a comic book sense, it was pretty cool. The animators really fleshed out backgrounds, as well; I recall a particular scene that was up for but seconds and yet you could see the whole town in all its splendor.
Music: The music was good, but there were roughly 2 instances where the credits roll music was played during the anime itself, and I can't help but feel that it was overused. The animators clearly liked that soundtrack, but I'd have preferred if there was a larger selection (like Guilty Crown). I didn't really notice anything besides that.
Plot: Very clichè, comic-book-esque, straight-out-of-the-manga. World gets attacked, main character thinks the girl he has a crush on is dead, so he jumps in a machine, resigns his humanity, and then proceeds to freaking destroy everything with no former practice whatsoever. He also becomes inhuman, able to jump bodies by biting skin. As with a Batman or Spiderman plot, the people rely on the main character to protect them, getting him fame and popularity, etc. High School setting, I should note (ever so common in modern anime). Because he's stupid enough to stop others from using the other Valvraves (they tie to a person and can be only used by said person thenceforth) without explaining to them why, they do so anyway, generating some last-second-save outcomes. Ex: Enemy arrives. Main character gets in Valvrave and goes out to meet them. Gets stuck in some trap; enemy moves to attack city. Enemy fires, and... fire is blocked by new Valvrave, manned by some comrade, who then proceeds to save the day. I liked the plot, but it wasn't very unexpected, nor was it very enticing.
Characters: There isn't much backstory to any of the characters. There are occasional references to the past, brief flashbacks and the like, but most of past is not mentioned, which is very disappointing. For instance, "L-Elf" had a picture of a girl in his pocket, and we see a flashback of her saving his life when young, but we learn no more about that. As for character development, I was disappointed with the girl who was obsessed with popularity; she seemed inconsistent and shallow. When she stole the main character's body, I assumed she was going to be a foe, which would have wholesomely explained her prior actions, but I was disappointed once again. Most of my marking down for this anime comes from lack in this category.
I will mention that the entire anime is very clean, with the exception of about 30 seconds towards the end of an episode late into the 12-episode series. While the animators didn't have to show as much as they did, they could have shown a lot more, and unlike in other animes, it seemed relevant. Not only that, we get to see the main character's response in retrospection, which is fitting. There isn't much blood or cursing, nor any nudity, only this one scene of obvious nature. It was unnecessary.
Episodes were fairly redundant and predictable, which was disappointing. The plot failed to advance much. It ended with mention of further seasons, which I found surprising, for the plot seemed to me to be at its very end.
Hey, Woodpecker finally made his first post! We're all so impressed. Rumour is that he intends to do another post tonight, but will procrastinate it much past that.
Now that I finally am able to hunt for AMV's, I found none... well, there was one, but it was terrible. So no AMV's for this anime, but I'll definitely have some for next week's choice, because..
Next week: Steins;Gate!!
Edit: Accidentally reverted this post to draft.
Valvrave the Liberator was a fairly good anime. It reminds me of a manga, with the last-save mechanic being at least a little bit overused. It became expected, though, and, regardless, I actually enjoyed it. It's a 12-episode anime, which is a very common length for something I'd watch.
I give it a 4.5 / 10.
Future notice on how I do my ratings: 5 is for an anime that I neither liked nor disliked. The farther down, the more reasons to dislike it. The farther up, the more reasons to like it. I can think an anime is good and still mark it below a 5, if, for instance, the plot was amazing but all other aspects weigh it down.
Animation style: artsy! The Valvraves were designed by someone trying to make a machine look as cool as possible (and, while references are made to the pretty light it leaves, no explanation is made). So, in a comic book sense, it was pretty cool. The animators really fleshed out backgrounds, as well; I recall a particular scene that was up for but seconds and yet you could see the whole town in all its splendor.
Music: The music was good, but there were roughly 2 instances where the credits roll music was played during the anime itself, and I can't help but feel that it was overused. The animators clearly liked that soundtrack, but I'd have preferred if there was a larger selection (like Guilty Crown). I didn't really notice anything besides that.
Plot: Very clichè, comic-book-esque, straight-out-of-the-manga. World gets attacked, main character thinks the girl he has a crush on is dead, so he jumps in a machine, resigns his humanity, and then proceeds to freaking destroy everything with no former practice whatsoever. He also becomes inhuman, able to jump bodies by biting skin. As with a Batman or Spiderman plot, the people rely on the main character to protect them, getting him fame and popularity, etc. High School setting, I should note (ever so common in modern anime). Because he's stupid enough to stop others from using the other Valvraves (they tie to a person and can be only used by said person thenceforth) without explaining to them why, they do so anyway, generating some last-second-save outcomes. Ex: Enemy arrives. Main character gets in Valvrave and goes out to meet them. Gets stuck in some trap; enemy moves to attack city. Enemy fires, and... fire is blocked by new Valvrave, manned by some comrade, who then proceeds to save the day. I liked the plot, but it wasn't very unexpected, nor was it very enticing.
Characters: There isn't much backstory to any of the characters. There are occasional references to the past, brief flashbacks and the like, but most of past is not mentioned, which is very disappointing. For instance, "L-Elf" had a picture of a girl in his pocket, and we see a flashback of her saving his life when young, but we learn no more about that. As for character development, I was disappointed with the girl who was obsessed with popularity; she seemed inconsistent and shallow. When she stole the main character's body, I assumed she was going to be a foe, which would have wholesomely explained her prior actions, but I was disappointed once again. Most of my marking down for this anime comes from lack in this category.
I will mention that the entire anime is very clean, with the exception of about 30 seconds towards the end of an episode late into the 12-episode series. While the animators didn't have to show as much as they did, they could have shown a lot more, and unlike in other animes, it seemed relevant. Not only that, we get to see the main character's response in retrospection, which is fitting. There isn't much blood or cursing, nor any nudity, only this one scene of obvious nature. It was unnecessary.
Episodes were fairly redundant and predictable, which was disappointing. The plot failed to advance much. It ended with mention of further seasons, which I found surprising, for the plot seemed to me to be at its very end.
Wallpapers:
Hey, Woodpecker finally made his first post! We're all so impressed. Rumour is that he intends to do another post tonight, but will procrastinate it much past that.
Now that I finally am able to hunt for AMV's, I found none... well, there was one, but it was terrible. So no AMV's for this anime, but I'll definitely have some for next week's choice, because..
Next week: Steins;Gate!!
You are so cruel...
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