Big Three In A Nutshell - Demothis

Hello! Demothis here! When I talk about anime with other people I usually cannot add much to the conversation because the bulk of anime(episode wise) that I've watched comes from three anime in particular. These anime are One Piece, Bleach, and Naruto Shippuden. I cannot really talk about these in the depth that I'd like because almost nobody I talk to has seen them. They're just too long for most people. I've tried time and time again to get people to watch them but to no avail. I still find that people who think of watching anime as one of their hobbies should know at least the story of some of the larger anime out there, especially the major ones. So I've ventured out and found AMV-like videos that go over the entire(or a large chunk) story in 10-30 minutes. Remember though, watching these is no substitute for the real thing.



                                                   ONE PIECE

                                                    BLEACH

                                         NARUTO SHIPPUDEN

What's Next?
I will be posting a review on Soul Eater that I was supposed to do last week some time during the weekend. As for next week, I will be posting a review on Birdy The Mighty Decode.

Woodpecker- Future Diary (Mirai Nikki)

Woodpecker signing in here. So I just recently finished watching the anime Mirai Nikki, and I can definitely say that I will never look at my phone the same nor will I get involved in an even slightly obsessive girl. This anime shows the dark side of characters as well as the lovey dovey romance of two young teens hopelessly in love.

Overview:

This anime is a great watch, not only does it have its fair share of plot twists and mix ups, it also keeps you watching all the way through. This anime has a very Shakespearean like tragedy between two people who are in love and who will eventually have to kill each other.  Along with its intense action scenes Future Diary is also inclusive of its its fair share of blood. I will say though it is not too much for any one person to handle.

Plot: 4.5/5

The story starts off with the main character, Yuki, in his bedroom thinking about his "imaginary friend", Deus who is the God of time. Deus enrolls Yuki into a game where you have a device called a future Diary and you must use this device to eliminate the other 11 players until it is just you. Now you may be asking, "why are they playing this game?" This game is to decide who will be the next God who will take Deus' place. Getting back to the Future Diaries, each Future Diary has its own special ability. Yuki's for example is the "Random Diary", this gives him the ability to read what he has saw, read, or heard in the future. Each Player, First-Twelfth, uses these diaries to their advantage to take each other out. On the flip side, if one of the players does something that they normally wouldn't have done to change their future, it will also change the other players diaries. This story gets really intense as the anime continues as all of the characters are  brutally eliminated.

Side Note: Don't get to attached to the characters, remember only one can live, the rest must die :(

Music: 2/2

I got a real kick out of this anime's music. This anime did a really good job at setting the tone for when Yuno (The psycho who is in love with Yuki) has her mental breakdowns and either goes into her rampage or crazy stalker mode. Aside for the creepy moments it had a great battle soundtrack, and some average soundtracks for setting intensity.

Though the music may be great, I wouldn't set your focus on it. The real awesomeness lies in the story itself.

Animation Style: 2/2

The animation style for this anime was great! The only real problem I had with it was that some of the brutal deaths in the show was censored, but other than that I thought it was fantastic. They did a great job at intensifying the eyes when the character felt fear, or was inflicting fear upon another character. I felt that the job on the blood was very well done too. A warning in advanced though you will notice that eighth looks completely different than the other characters so it may catch you off guard, but do not fear, it is the only flaw you will find.

Characters: 1/1

Now to the good part! The main focus of characters in this anime are Yuki and Yuno. They are the lovers during a brutal game of siege and chaos. Just know that Yuno is infatuated with Yuki and will do anything that he says. Moving on, the other main characters are Deus, and the other 11 players in this game. 1st: Yuki, 2nd:Yuno, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th (Yuno, and Yuki are the only ones that use their names often in the show instead of their numbers). I loved all of the characters in this anime, because they all had their own unique set of skills and talents that made them all gifted killers. You will notice that almost every contestant in this game have some sort of psychological disorder or dysfunction.

AMV's:

Next Time?

Still in the air. Will Post Saturday. Woodpecker signing off.

  

-Woodpecker

Progress Report - Roxas

Hey readers, it's Roxas. I regret to say that I am in between content right now, so I will not be posting a review this week. Instead, I will give a progress report of my upcoming reviews.

Death Note: Another Note - The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases
This story is actually a light novel, not an anime, movie, or manga. This chronicles one of L's toughest cases he has ever undertaken. L will also take on one of his greatest foes ever (in my opinion he is much better than Light), BB. I am really enjoying what I have read so far, and can't wait to get my review out.



Quality is a bit low, sorry about that.
 It was just that cool. Seriosly, look at this beauty.
yodibujo.es

 

Tsukihime: Lunar Legend

I chose to watch this series due to it being a Type/Moon series. Fate/Zero, my favorite anime of all time, is a Type/Moon series, in case you were not aware. I have seen 4 of 12 episodes, and I am very interested to see where it is going. However, I am worried that the show will lose steam. The story revolves around a high school student who can see the "lifelines" of objects and organisms. I don't want to reveal any more than that, so you'll just have to stay tuned.

 

animezforeverdubz.webs.com


 





Blazblue: Alter Memory

 

This anime is currently ongoing, so I will not be able to review this until it has ended. Episode 8 aired today, and their are 12 episodes total, to give a timeframe. This story is really complicated, so I'll just say it is about a rebel against a government called NOL. The rebel's name is Ragna the Bloodedge. So far, it has been a mixed basket, but the pros are currently outweighing the cons. If you are free some Tuesday afternoon, you should think about checking this show. Episodes can be found here.

 

 

http://dalian.7thstyle.com

 

 

Again, sorry I couldn't get a review out guys. Rest assured I will release one next week on Tuesday.



Wolfe: Date A Live (デート・ア・ライブ)

Wolfe reporting.

Logo. Source.

I've been putting off this review for a bit, probably because the anime disappointed me. I don't mind the dating elements as long as there's enough darkness and variety. By variety, I refer to the fact that most "dating anime" tend to fall under really, really predictable schema. You're practically watching the same thing with slightly different characters, anime to anime. That's why I had some hopes going into this one, as things happen that are not under the predictable schema of dating anime. Ultimately, though, it did disappoint my expectations.

Red & Black. Seriously tailored to me. Source.

If dating anime bore me, why did I even get my hopes up? Well, there're a few reasons. First of all, I love clocks (not digital). So, upon seeing a certain character around on the Internets, I started looking into Date A Live. She dresses beautifully with reds and blacks (red and black being my favourite colours), with one of her eyes being red and the other one being a clock. Honestly, you couldn't have appealed to me more if you tried with this character.

The other reasons I had hopes were the premise (which had enough of a twist to be entertaining) and the main character. But more on those later.

The Japanese デート・ア・ライブ transliterates to "Dēto a raibu", with 'Dēto' meaning both "date" and "to go on a date", 'a' being the equivalent of English letter "A", and 'raibu' meaning "live". I'll note that I called the anime "Date Alive" in title, versus "Date A Live". It's hard to know if I'm correct on the pronunciation, but that's how I chose to go about it. "Date Alibe" or "Date Aribe" would probably be a closer pronunciation.

Only Season 1 is out currently, consisting of 12 roughly 24-minute episodes (my favourite length for a season). They left a lot of things unfinished, so I'm fairly confident that a Season 2 will be released at some point, and I look forward to it.

Personal/Subjective Opinion: 10.5 / 13 (=80.7%)!
Score Without Edges: 9 / 13 (=69.2%)!
Objective Opinion: 4 / 5 (=80%)!
Average Score: 229.9 / 300 (=76.6%)!

It's like female armour in video games. Source.

Concept: While I think it takes two full episodes before this concept is fully explained, I don't feel as if I'm ruining anything. The concept is that there are Spirits in existence, creatures (or rather, women) who appear randomly and tend to cause destruction when they do. The government already has a branch of people to take care of this, the AST. Of course, for reasons unexplained, the AST consists only of women (mostly younger), and their armour choice isn't reasonable. When a Spirit appears, a spacequake occurs soon after. So, when a Spirit is detected, alarms sound and everyone in Japan goes into underground shelters. The AST then attacks the Spirit by guns and swords until the Spirit is dead or until it disappears (which can only happen if they lose track of it). Usually, a Spirit isn't able to be killed, and the entire team is usually only enough to annoy the Spirit. Because the concepts and plot are intertwined in this anime, I'll go more into the concept under "plot".

Introduction Sequence: 1 / 1. The introduction sequence was good, actually. It wasn't good enough that I watched it every time, but that's really rare (and, should I find one like that, it gets an edge). It's spoiler-free and character focused, with quick flashes of fighting and character shots. It gives you a good taste of what the anime is about. Link: Date A Live Opening.

Animation Style: 1 / 1. For a dating anime, it generally kept away from the chibi-style (which would have been an instant frowny-face) as far as I can remember. There's even a bit of mecha going on for the AST, as well as some beautiful fights (swords, inaccurate guns, the whole schebang).

Examples (I think these three really show the anime):

AST on the attack. Source.

Princess thinking deep thoughts (sarcasm intended). Source.

Pain. Poor main character. Source.

Music: 2 / 1. Hah, the music for this is actually incredibly fitting. There's obviously some time spent on it, too. I suppose for a dating anime, mood-setting music is a must. I'm even giving it an edge, because listening to it, it's like I'm back in the anime. Why can't all anime have music like this? The linked track is very fitting indeed. Link: Date A Live OST.

Plot: 2.5 / 3. Okay, to start out with, I'll say that this anime does indeed stand out among its genre. I know I did some bashing earlier because it didn't stand out as much as I'd hoped, but it definitely stands out, especially when Kurumi Tokisaki shows up. If you skipped to this section, please read my earlier "concept" section first. The main character is told that if he manages to get a Spirit happy enough and then if he kisses her, she'll no longer be the destructive Spirit she was before. Turns out Spirits don't actually want to destroy everything they're around, but it's because they have issues with controlling their power and they have no natural concept of value. Once the Spirits are "tamed" (that's the term I'll use), they're now able to control their power. They also hang around the main character, forcing him to go on dates with them every so often, slowly learning how to properly be a normal human in society (and making food discoveries).

As for the whole making-a-Spirit-happy-and-then-kissing-them part, that's all actually controlled. The main character (Shido) has an earpiece which allows him to speak and mainly to obey commands from an airship. This is where things get a little complicated. People everywhere love to play a dating game on their phones. So, when Shido is encountering a situation, the airship's board generate options for Shido. They then vote on these options, and the winning option is the one Shido has to use. If ever faced with too intense a situation, the airship can send out the situation to game-players, who then make a decision. The most popular decision on their part becomes the decision Shido must make.

One of the guys who plays the game is Shido's friend. Source.

So, poor Shido is basically the character you control in a dating game, with no power over what he gets to say. I actually found this very entertaining, although largely unrealistic. And, as time goes on and Shido tames more Spirits, things become more complicated (jealousy-wise). And, with regards to others getting jealous, Shido is as blind as a bat.

Kurumi Tokisaki! Source.

Later on, a particular Spirit is introduced... you guessed it, Kurumi Tokisaki. She is amazing. AMAZING. Up until this point, the entire anime has been cheerful/cheery and upbeat, as you can probably guess by reading my descriptions. She introduces everything dark, and she does so perfectly. The upbeat atmosphere is maintained, but with her introduced, it becomes disturbed, uneasy. You know that she's dangerous and/or "bad", but you're not quite sure why/how. Then you figure some things out about her, and she is just one amazing piece after another. Hint: she's killed a lot of people. A LOT of people. Everything about her makes me smile internally.

Lastly, there's a final piece of plot at the very end regarding another character (and this is somewhat unexpected, so I won't mention the name). I found this to be a bit odd, and it didn't quite land right, especially becomes no ends were tied regarding Kurumi Tokisaki. It wasn't bad, so I won't mark it down for it, but it wasn't my favourite arc change.

1.5 - unreality premise + Kurumi Tokisaki = 2.5 / 3.

Characters: 1.5 / 3. While the characters had their own mentalities and behaviors, most of them are given no back-story. While this is later used to add an unexpected element, I still found this to be frustrating. The Spirits are completely unexplained (you just have to accept that they happen), and all of them (alright, technically "most", not "all") have basically zero back-story. It seemed that the writers didn't want there to be back-story, so as to add elements or characters basically whenever they wanted to. The main character is given practically zero back-story as well, and if I recall correctly, it's as if he lost his memory, basically. Having said this, the main character isn't pathetically weak, which is refreshing. And, of course, my favourite character in this is Kurumi Tokisaki. She is well-developed in many aspects, a complex character. Pictures: Shido Itsuka, Tohka Yatogami, Origami Tobiichi, Kotori Itsuka, Yoshino, Kurumi Tokisaki.

1.5 - little back-story + Kurumi Tokisaki = 1.5 / 3.

Swordfighting! Source.

Combat: 1.5 / 1. The combat was really good in this anime, surprisingly so. Of course, you have Stormtrooper Accuracy with the AST, but that's just another unrealistic element. I'm giving it a boost in combat, though not a full edge like Fate/Zero got. That's not to say that combat happens a lot, but when it does, it landed well. Sadly, I was unable to find a clip for the fighting that happens most.

Power Balance: 0.5 / 1. The Spirits are seriously powerful, to the point of being OP, but they seem to be countered reasonably by the AST. Admittedly, that's a team of people against the single Spirit, but it keeps the Spirit on the run, which seems even to me. The only issue is that one particular character is seriously OP; were it not for him/her, I would give this category a 1 / 1. However, because of spoiler-related reasons, it wouldn't be wise for me to inform you on which particular character it is. Hint: fire.

Addictability: 0.5 / 1. In the beginning, the anime was very addicting. However, after you got used to the elements present, things slipped back towards the cliché dating anime... until Kurumi Tokisaki is introduced. So, while the beginning and end of Date A Live were very addictive, the middle slackened.

FOOD. Source.

Darkness and Bloodiness: 0 / 1. It seems pretty unfair to rate down a dating anime in this category, because darkness/bloodiness and dating anime are pretty much mutually exclusive. Regardless, I have it as a category, and it is addressed. For the sake of this anime, I'll pretend that this category is an edge, so the score without edges will remain unaffected. While the anime has some dark elements introduced with the introduction of Kurumi Tokisaki, this is only for the last few episodes, and isn't enough to boost this category to a 0.5. There is zero bloodiness. There is very little darkness. As with F/Z, there are some referenced darkness/bloodiness (mainly with Kurumi Tokisaki), but I don't get to see them! That's seriously not cool.

Believability: This anime has some believable elements, and a lot of unbelievable elements. For instance, under the main premise, the main character get fed his responses via earpiece. Now, in the real world, people won't let you hesitate that long in a conversation, nor would they fail to notice you back-talking to the people on the other end of the earpiece. Not only that, but characters are basically invincible, able to smash through buildings and only get a few non-bloody smudges on their face. Of course, any character that is able to rest, no matter how brief, is fully healed. While reality wasn't completely thrown out of the window, it was absent enough that I noticed, and that isn't good. Last but certainly not least, you have the main character's ability to make others fall in love with him. Now, I suppose I could be mistaken, but I think it would take more than a "hello" and "you look nice" to get just anyone (and I mean anyone) to fall head-over-tails in love with you.

Hearts and smiley faces. Source.

Philosophy: Oh, there's a laugh. Philosophy. Listen, if you're going to a dating anime for philosophy, you're doing it wrong. I don't think there's a drop of philosophy to be found here, except for the typical "make love not war" sort of background mentalities. Instead of killing the dangerous creature, we're befriending it. Yay. Hearts and smiley faces. Fluff.

Pros and Cons: Edges on music and combat. Weaknesses on believability, middle of anime, and darkness/bloodiness.

Objective Opinion: 4 / 5. Animation Style had good effort (1), music stood well alone (1), reality wasn't well-represented (0), introduction sequence didn't have spoilers (1), and there were good characters (1).

Wallpapers:

Epic wallpaper 001. Source.

Kurumi Tokisaki the incredible. Reds & Blacks. Source.

Princess. Source.

Just another cool wallpaper 002. Source.

AMV's:

E.T. Remix (Katy Perry) - This one is really good! I've never seen cut to beats like this. Hopefully my next AMV (which will probably be Ergo Proxy) will be cut more like this.
The World Calling (There For Tomorrow) - This one is really good too!
Had Enough - This one focuses on Kurumi Tokisaki, though it isn't very talented cutting. It shows all the dark this anime has to offer (not much).
Agony (Kotoko) - This one is more of a character-focus, with some of the romance. It's well-cut, just not to the song.

Next time:

I'm hoping to do Ergo Proxy next time, but I might choose something else. I might even re-review some of my first reviews (because my first few reviews were terrible, and some of my favourite anime). We'll see. In case you hadn't figured out, I'm the one who posts on Mondays.

Wolfe out.

Baldr: Summer Wars | サマーウォーズ

Heyo, happy sunday, Baldr here(finally, as some of my comrades might add). I am going to start off with Summer Wars, a 2009 film distributed by Warner Bros. The premise is based mainly around technology, which is one of my personal favorite bases. The film comes from Mamoru Hosoda, this is his second full length film, his first being The Girl Who Leapt Through Time in 2006. So without further ado, let’s get started.


Plot

The plot revolves around Kenji Koiso, a high school junior and math genius who works maintenance on the cyber world of Oz. Senior Natsuki barges in and says she has a job for one of them. She takes him to her family’s estate in Ueda where they are celebrating her grandmother’s 90th birthday. When they arrive Natsuki reveals that the job is to pretend to be her fiancé. That night he receives a text that is a math problem, he solves it and the next day his account is hijacked by an AI and it is wreaking havoc on Oz.

Overall I liked the plot in its entirety though there are some places where it gets a little lost. In addition there is a weird subplot about baseball that goes on in the background during most of the movie and doesn’t have anything to do with the rest of it. I do like the fact that though there are some parts that are predictable, it does surprise you much more than an average blockbuster. Overall I thought that it was an exciting and interesting story that I enjoyed following the whole way through.

Love Machine after taking Kenji's avatar

Characters

I really liked the characters in this film, they all felt very realistic and well portrayed. However, there is not much character progression as it is only 114 minutes long. One of the characters I thought was one of the most interesting didn’t have very much screen time, but honestly that might be why he was an interest to me. I think that the characters were one of the better aspects of the film, I thought the interactions between the different family members was very well done and felt authentic. Hosoda had originally planned for there to be 80 members of the family, all of them main characters, but thankfully that got narrowed down. Most of characters are important in their own way and play their own part in the film. I think that the characters really make the film worth watching, and are among some of my favorites.

The Jinnouchi family

Animation and Music

The story switches between the real world and a visual representation of Oz. Both settings I enjoyed and they both looked very good, but I am a sucker for a virtual world, and most of the action happens in Oz making it the more exciting of the two. The music wasn't anything special but it fit the mood nicely, and gave some parts the intense feeling they needed.


I give Summer Wars an 8/10
There were not very many twists and turns in this movie, so it may be dull for some, but overall it is a very enjoyable experience. I have seen it a couple times now and I'm not going to be watching it by myself any time soon, but I would graciously watch it with others. It is just a good story combined with interesting characters that make for a great film.


Wallpapers:

(Source)

(Source)

(Source)

Woodpecker: Blood +

Woodpecker signing in. Today I bring to you my extensive review on the anime series Blood+. I found this anime satisfying in a lot of the areas that its twin, Blood-C, lacked. This anime is a great watch, and I would recommend it to anyone who can get past the fact that it is a 50 episode anime. This anime has a high content of violence, gore, and monsters, so for those of you who can't handle the following, you have been warned.

Overview:

This story starts out with a vision of the past during the Vietnam war where men are fighting monsters called chiropteran. These monsters feed off the flesh and blood of humans. They are quite similar to the yoma in the Claymore series. Anywho, there is lots of blood and guts flying around during this scene, and with glowing red eyes from the darkness comes a girl with a katana shredding people to bits. This gives you a glimpse of how dark this anime can be at times.

Characters: 1/1

The main focus of characters in this anime is Saya (The main character), Haji (Saya's one and only Chevalier (look at the bottom of this section for more info on a Chevalier)), Diva (Saya's sister/foe), and Diva's Chevaliers: Amshel, Solomon (Who is in love with Saya), James, Carl, and Nathan. These characters each have their own unique abilities and personalities that really set the stage for this anime. I can say with ease that almost anyone will enjoy these characters in general.

Chevalier: A Chevalier is much like a protector of the Queen chiropteran (Spoiler:: Saya and Diva ::Spoiler). They all start out as humans and are given the blood of their Queen to become the Chevalier. These guardians are both protective and are extremely OP (Over Powered). Another interesting fact you may want to know. The only way the Queens are able to reproduce is from the other Queen's Chevalier. I found this both odd and pretty interesting at the same time. Guess you will just have to watch the anime to get the full understanding and how it fits together.

Plot: 4.5/5

Before I begin the actual explanation/overview of the plot, I would just like to say that this anime is extremely long, so I will try to sum it up as much as possible.

After the intro, the anime starts with Saya being your typical teenage girl doing track and enjoying the day with her friends. Towards the middle of the episode Saya forgets her track shoes and goes to get them from the school. When she gets a security guard to help her find the shoes, he then tries to scare her when she said she thought she heard something. As he does this he is grabbed from above and ripped apart. This is when you see Saya meet her supposed first chiropteran. When it attacks Saya is saved by Haji who then gives her his blood and her sword, she then continues to go on a rampage and kills the monster later forgetting it ever happened the next day.

As a side note I would like to explain that chiropteran can only be killed with the blood of the Queen. Otherwise they will just regenerate and come back at you again and again. Unfair I know, but that's anime for you.

The story continues much like the Bourne Legacy. Saya starts to remember more and more of her past and increases her skills exponentially. As the story progresses even farther, they start to look for the reason for the return of the chiropteran and who their puppet master is. You soon find out that it is not Diva herself, but her Chevaliers who are "setting the stage", for Diva and Saya's soon to come showdown. On top of that Diva's Chevaliers are trying to convince Haji to become Diva's mate and produce a new generation of Queens. Haji refuses and Saya and him continue to wipe out Diva's Chevaliers until it is just Saya and Diva left on the stage.

Remember that this is a extremely compressed version of the actual anime. The anime itself is 50 episodes long so it will take some time to get through it.

Music: 1.5/2

In this anime I remember it being good, but I didn't notice anything to great about the music. The music was able to set the tone for both suspenseful moments, as well as the dark and creepy moments. The only flaw was that the action soundtrack was not that great and could have used some improvement. Given the above, I would still highly recommend this anime, it is a great watch and you can really connect with the characters and the music.  

Animation: 2/2

Much like it's twin Blood-C, Blood + had great animation. I was particularly impressed with how they did Saya and Diva's eyes. They glowed and really popped out on screen. Beside that they did a great job showing the blood and gore, the fighting scene themselves were great as well. I would say that all around this anime had  an amazing animation team and they should be proud of the work that they created. Two thumbs up for the animators of Blood + !!!!

Overall Rating: 9/10

Wallpapers:

www.wallsave.com 

www.mvscreen.com

www.gaiaonline.com

Unrelated Cool Wallpaper!

www.wallsave.com

AMV's:

Next Time?

Next time I will be bringing my own review of Future Diary, or Mirai Nikki. I hope you all enjoyed my Blood + review, and I will see you next week. Woodpecker signing off.

-Woodpecker

Blade of the Phantom Master: Shin Angyo Onshi Review - Roxas

Salutations, my fellow anime aficionados, Roxas here again with an anime movie review this time. Tuesday has become my staple review day, so I will do my best to put out a review every week on this day. Interesting fact about this movie is that this movie was made in collaboration between Japan and South Korea. Nothing had ever been done like this before, and the result is quite interesting. Dubs and subs are interchangeable for this movie, as both are equal. Credit to Wolfe for the idea of a pro/con summary below the score.


Premise - This story is about a land called Jushin, where the kingdom of Jushin has just been destroyed. The world has fractured into smaller kingdoms and city-states. Cannibals lurk the deserts and power-mongers oppress the weak. While the kingdom of Jushin flourished, the king had an elite group of soldiers called the Amheng Osa. These soldiers traveled the kingdom, dishing out some good old-fashioned justice. With the kingdom gone, the Amheng Osa have pretty much vanished, save a few exceptions. This story is about one of those exceptions that goes by the name of Munsu.

Animation Style - This anime was made in 2004, but the animation never feels dated. In fact, this movie took some different and inventive approaches to the animation that I quite liked. I suspect these style choices have something to do with the South Korean influence on this anime. There are also some dream sequences where the animation really takes flight. One is very dark yet vibrant, while another goes with a minimalist approach, looking like an animated manga. The fight scenes were cool and bloody, but I will talk more about them later. The characters, for the most part, were nice and unique, though some characters did look a bit generic (Sarinjas).

Sorry about the quality. Apparently, not many
people like taking pictures of these not-so-unique beauties.

Music - This is a very well done score for this movie. I found myself captivated by the moving pieces that really matched the situations. It added depth, and never felt overpowering.

Plot - The plot for this movie was okay, and would have been really good if this movie was combination of five or six episodes from the middle of an anime. Unfortunately, this story gives a very disconnected beginning and a "what was the point of this?" ending. The movie feels as if it was broken into two distinct storylines, and then somehow mashed together as if they had something to do with each other. There were some very touching parts in this movie, but, while they did make you feel for the characters, I always seemed to come back to the looming fact that I knew next to nothing about any of these people. This fact greatly detracted from the story, and I wished they better developed the characters, especially Munsu. Another reason I really did not like the story is because of its violent inconsistency. Literally, there was inconsistency in the amount of violence. One minute you'd be seeing some characters talking, and then BAM! Everyone and their brother is decapitated, blown up, or shot in the face for no apparent reason. It made the fighting feel mindless, and, although cool looking, grotesque in context. I will say that the violence towards the end is meant to make you feel a bit sick, due to previous conclusions made. The last arc of this movie is very well done, though the very end of the arc made me question what the point was.

Characters - This category is probably the movie's greatest downfall. There are some characters that could have been great, given the proper development, and others that would have made the movie better had they not existed. The main character, Munsu, has a sarcastic yet conflicted feel. Despite his crass front though, he has a strong sense of justice. I quickly connected with Munsu, though he felt underdeveloped at times. This returns to my point of this movie making me feel like I walked into the middle of something, or the first half of something, before the explanations and back stories. There was one character that is met towards the beginning of this anime, that I also liked, but he is not in the movie for long, which is a shame. Now we come to a character that is not only poorly written, she is an object of sexism. Chun Hyang, or Sando, has about 4 or 5 lines in this entire movie, yet is introduced in the first 15 minutes of this movie. She is a great fighter, yet becomes a devoted and loving servant to Munsu for a ridiculous reasom. And if her slave-like manner wasn't bad enough, the animators thought it a good idea to dress her in next to nothing and call it a day. I was honestly appalled with this character, and the creators could have gone so many better ways than they did with her.

Conclusion - This was not a terrible movie by any means, and some parts, especially the ending, had some good story points. The animation was also a unique style that I quite enjoyed. However, the pros do not outweigh the cons this time around. The inconsistency was just too great here. Had Sando not been in this, I might have given this a 6. Unfortunately, she exists, and her existence must be weighed.

Score - 5/10

+ Unique Animation                                      - Sando

+ End "arc"                                                   - Generic villains
+ Munsu                                                       - Inconsistent pacing
+ Some cool fights                                        - Mindless Violence
                                                                    - Discombobulating beginning/ending

Wallpapers:

Source

Source

Awesome. Source

AMVs(Assume Spoilers):

Low quality, but good cutting. Falling in the Black by Skillet

Chop Suey by System of a Down

Goodbye by SR-71

Wolfe: Fate/Zero (フェイト/ゼロ)

Wolfe reporting.

Fate/Zero. F/Z. My goodness. This anime was absolutely amazing, and definitely high on my imaginary "best of all time" list. It has all the elements going for it, basically. Sure, there are a few points I wish to step on, and there are other points I wish to elevate above all others.

First off, I'm going to be ever-so-slightly changing my rating system. I think I'm finally able to do something closer to the ideal (mark-up and mark-down). However, this would have it so that more anime would be getting perfect and even above-perfect scores. This irks me, so I'm making some small changes: there will be a professional opinion score, a personal opinion score, and a combined score. The professional opinion score will be based off of objective ratings, the personal opinion score will be based off of subjective ratings, and the combined score will be the average of the other two scores. However, until some bumps have been smoothed over, I won't be able to implement this system until another post.

I'm also adding one new (and brief) section: Pros and Cons. In this section I will summarize the pros and cons, as the title suggests, and give edges and boosts based off of these. As an example: if I really like the combat, I'll give it an edge for combat, as well as a score boost of 1 for combat (making the combat subjective score a 2/1, while the combat objective score would remain 1/1).

I'm finally implementing the mark-up / mark-down system, so I'll be starting with a half-score and then marking it up and/or down for various reasoning. I'll explain the math at the bottom of each category.

At the end of my post, I'll do my best to do a score-review, to help the reader make sense of everything. Yes, this means my reviews will probably be longer and more complicated, but it seems to be the best way of going about things (for now).

That said, let's get started!

Regarding the Japanese title, フェイト/ゼロ, フェイト is "feito" and ゼロ is "zero", separated by a slash. So, "feito/zero" becomes "fate/zero". Big surprise. Japanese (at least, the transliteration portion) doesn't sound so hard now, does it?

The episodes are in half-hour increments (except for the stupid first episode), and there are 25 episodes.

Personal/Subjective Opinion: 13.5 / 13 (=104%)!
Score Without Edges: 10.5 / 13 (=80.7%)!

Concept: The concept behind F/Z is complicated, and it took me a few episodes to piece together a full understanding. That being said, the concept revolves around the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail chooses seven mages (by having a mark appear on their hand with three command seals) that fight to win the Holy Grail. Upon winning the Holy Grail, it grants a wish. These seven mages summon servants that are involved with most of the fighting. Each servant has a Noble Phantasm, which can best be explained as an edge/special ability-- Noble Phantasms are usually a big deal, like a limited-use moveset (the equivalent of a 5 PP move in Pokémon).

F/Z logo. Source.

There are seven classes of servants that can be summoned: Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, and Berserker. Apparently, there are other classes, but these do not show up in Fate/Zero and so I shall ignore them. Saber class are "agile and powerful melee warriors"; Lancer class are "very agile and skilled with long-range melee weapons"; Archer class are "usually proficient with projectiles"; Rider class "place emphasis on speed and powerful Noble Phantasms"; Caster class "are adept in magecraft"; Assassin class have lots of stealth but weak combat skills; and Berserker class are "heroes who have gone berserk in their lifetime" (Source). Saber class is considered the best overall class; Archer class has the special ability Independent Action (ability to act away from their masters); Rider class has the special skill of Riding (ability to fully utilize their mounts); Caster class has the Reality Marble/Territory Creation (alters/creates space); Assassin class has the Presence Concealment special ability (and, due to weak combat skills, are usually used to kill Masters); and Berserker class has the special ability Mad Enhancement (trades sanity for a large power boost) (Source). Keep in mind that this is a simplified explanation, and that there are also edges in various categories (such as obedience) that I will do my best to skirt around.

Introduction Sequence: 1 / 1 (subjective). Both opening sequences are absolutely gorgeous, although I preferred the second one. They were spoiler-free and focused on the characters. It was fast-paced, too. While I did skip it a few times, this was usually because I was seriously on edge because the plot had me needing to continue watching. If I was to say anything bad about it, it would be that it didn't represent the intensity of the anime.. but what could?! OP 1: Link. OP 2: Link. 0.5/1 + gorgeous + spoiler-free = 1/1.

Animation Style: 1 / 1 (subjective). As with most anime I've seen lately, the animation style is B-E-A-utiful.  Lots of eye candy to be found, lots of effort very visible and flashy. Berserker felt CGI, but this wasn't a bad thing. 0.5/1 + beautiful + not chibi = 1/1.

Examples:

Intense-looking Saber. Source.

Unhappy-looking Archer. Source.

Music: 0.5 / 1 (subjective). The music was fitting, but not overwhelming. It didn't ruin any tone, and occasionally helped to set it. It's probably closer to the 0.8 realm, but I'm calling it 0.5. Anyhow, here's the link to F/Z OST.

Plot: 3.5 / 3 (subjective). That's right, I'm giving F/Z an edge in "plot". F/Z's plot is... amazing. Except for the first episode. The first episode is a lot of back-story, but for someone going into the anime, it was a rather dull beginning. The first episode almost discouraged me from continuing onward in the anime. Not only that, but it's an hour long, unlike the half-hour of every other episode length. Moving past this, I was completely hooked into the anime by the end of episode 3 (and would have been at the end of episode 2 were it not for episode 1). Around episode 9 or 10, there is a side-story that Roxas liked but I neither liked nor disliked. I would have adored it if there were repercussions for the main character's actions (I like when there are repercussions for ignorance/optimism). There was a side-story around episode 18 or 20 that was (I believe) 2 episodes long, and this side-story was amazing. When it started, I was thinking, "Really?", but when it ended, my jaw was open. Not only this, but the ending for F/Z was one of the best endings I've witnessed, for a reason that, if stated, would be a major spoiler. Having said this, the plot (past the first episode) was thick, intricate, and fascinating. 1.5/3 + Great side-story + ending + edge = 4/3 - Ep1 = 3.5/3.

Characters: 4 / 3 (subjective). These characters are also amazing, and I'm also giving F/Z an edge in "characters". I will probably not be using these edges as much as you think, but F/Z is really deserving of these. Each character had their own attributes, goals, attitudes, and relationships with other characters. Each master had a relationship with their servant, and the servants all had varying relationships with each other. You had the servant who considered himself above his master (*cough* Archer *cough*), and therefore wasn't very obedient. You had the servant who disagreed with his master because he had a knight's honour (*cough* Lancer *cough*), and therefore wasn't happy with obeying anti-honour tactics. You had Caster's affection for Saber and Berserker's hatred for Saber. This web that was the characters was excellently crafted, and an ideal to live up to. Pictures: Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, Berserker, Kiritsugu Emiya, Irisviel, Kirei Kotomine, Tokiomi Tōsaka, Waver Velvet, Kariya Matō, Ryūnosuke Uryū. 1.5/3 + (every character) = 3/3 + edge = 4/3.

Combat: 2 / 1 (subjective). Full points here plus edge for combat. I mean serious edge. I'd give it a 3/1 if I felt it'd be reasonable. I've never seen better combat in an anime, and I seriously doubt I ever will. Example: Skip to 5:10.

Power Balance: 0.5 / 1 (subjective). While there's a lot of power in the pool (I mean seriously, everyone seems to have their tricks and special abilities), it isn't quite balanced. There's a definite favour to two particular characters (namely, Saber and Archer), and Assassin was nowhere near even the normal warrior's strength levels.

Addictability: 0.5 / 1 (subjective). This anime was seriously addictive... once you get past the first episode. The first episode is the only episode I have qualms with, and due to these qualms, I refuse to give the anime the "1" it deserves for this category.

Darkness and Bloodiness: 0.5 / 1 (subjective). While it isn't consistently dark and is rarely bloody, the increasing darkness (exponentially throughout the series, reaching an all-time high by the end) was exactly what I look for in an anime. However, I have issues with a few particular scenes regarding the "bloody" aspects. Caster and his master have some... interesting habits. These lead to some WHAT SHOULD BE bloody scenes. Except, the camera and lack of lighting makes it so that we are unable to see these scenes. I WANT TO SEE THEM. IT IS MY RIGHT. IT IS MY DESIRE. 0.5/1 + dark - bloody = 0.5/1.

Believability: The anime is fairly believable... for the most part, anyways. I wish there was some sort of explanation as to why the public couldn't get involved (because some scenes result in destruction of property). I mean, if it was understood that magic prevented common folk from intervening, I'd be fine. "It was magic!" is a great way to solve anything, but that explanation wasn't given. Other than that, I didn't ever feel myself going: Wait a minute. She set up hundreds of bombs in how long?! (Look forward to my The Future Diary review, referenced just now.)

Philosophy: The philosophy, while complex, is simplex in origin. It asks questions regarding saving lives, for instance: if there are two boats, one with 200 people and the other with 300 people, and you can only save one, which do you choose? ..The occupants of the 200-person boat are complaining. Result? ..Having killed them, the boat with 300 splits into two boats, a 100 and a 200 person boat. You can only save one, which do you choose? ..You've now ended up killing 300 people to save 200 people. Is this alright? There is also the simple question of What wish would you have granted by an omnipotent wish-granting device? Last but not least, there's the ultimate question of how to fix the issues in this world (other than ending all of humanity, of course).

Pros and Cons: Edges on Plot, Characters, and Combat. Serious edge on combat. Weakness: first episode, definitely.

Wallpapers:

You should see this in detail. Source.

Some characters, being cool. Source.

I like this. I like this a lot. Source.

The "what have I done?" pose. Source.

AMV's:

There are great AMVs for F/Z! I love when this happens!

Keep in mind, Roxas already has some pretty cool AMVs for F/Z on his review.

El Que Quiera Entender Que Entienda - This one is really good! The song choice clashes occasionally with the audio, but it's well-cut, well-transitioned, and good clip choice. It even briefly goes over the classes.

The Beginning (One Ok Rock) - This one is pretty good, I just wish they hadn't left the F/Z logo on the screen for so long in the beginning.

Life Goes On - This one is really, really amazing. Some "MAD" content really adds to it.

Next Time:

Date A Live, in all likelihood.

Wolfe out.