Julia's Reviews on Various Media

[Juliko]

Started this review last week but only finished it today.

Rating: 83/100

Tell me you've heard this premise before: Normal girl gets accepted into a prestigious school, gets into a clique, but is bullied by both other members of the clique and people outside of it, including a stereotypical alpha bitch who rules the school, and experiences both romance and hardship. A fairly common story that's the focal point of a lot of movies, shows, and books about teenagers aimed at teenagers, and depending on the execution of said story, it can turn out well, or it can turn out really bad and cliche. Thankfully, Dear Brother, or Oniisama e, is the former. Basically, take the premise of Mean Girls, change the setting to an all-girls school in 1970s Japan, amp up the melodrama by making half the characters either kinda psycho, suicidal, or giving them mountains of sad backstories, complete with stuff like divorce, suicide, affairs, and so on, have it be directed by Osamu Dezaki, and have the entire story written by Rose of Versailles creator Riyoko Ikeda, complete with 70s shoujo flair, grace, and style, and you've got Dear Brother in a nutshell. Of course, the premise I mentioned above is really an oversimplification of things.

The story centers on high school girl Nanako Misono, who frequently writes letters to her pen pal, former cram school teacher Takehiko Henmi, who she refers to as her brother. She gets accepted into the prestigious Seiran Girl's Academy and is looking forward to life in high school...but for some reason, she gets recruited into the school's sorority, an elite clique consisting of the school's richest and most talented students, which angers most of Nanako's classmates, who think she somehow must have gotten in through cheating. As a result, bullies try to make Nanako's life a living hell through every cruel deed possible, whether it be rumors, slander, violence, or so on. Her friends do help whenever they can, though even some of Nanako's friends may not have her best interests at heart. But Nanako finds herself caught in a web of deceit, misery, toxic class politics, and jealousy, and even has to contend with secrets that completely shatter her worldview forever, including ones about her own family.

A warning for those wanting to get into the series: Dear Brother tackles a lot of difficult subject matter such as violent bullying, divorce, characters attempting suicide, extramarital affairs, the whole enchilada. Whether the show tackles them with tact, nuance, or the sensitivity they deserve, I'm not the best judge on that one, so I couldn't tell you. If there's one thing I can say about Dear Brother, it is filled to the brim with almost non-stop drama up the wazoo, complete with teenaged angst, girls being absolute bitches to each other, wild catfights, lots of screaming and yelling, and its usage of sensitive subject matter could put it on the level of a soap opera. And yet...having seen the show, here, all of it just works. Dear Brother stands out from others that use the exact same premise in a lot of ways, and it comes with such a style, grace, and elegance that actually helps everything I just mentioned above fit perfectly into place. One of the reasons for this is the fact that Osamu Dezaki directed the anime, and while the show doesn't exactly have the highest budget, Dezaki is famous for always making optimal use of the animation techniques available at the time (For further reading, Mike Toole wrote a great article about him on ANN here). He has very specific directorial choices that he's pretty well known for, such as split screens, repeating certain shots three times at different speeds to stretch certain moments out, and most famously, frequent usage of lush, heavily lined, watercolor still frames to heighten emotions or close off scenes. Plus, the animation itself is surprisingly kinetic, using a lot of frames and with smooth movement and motion from the characters, far more fluid than was present in Rose of Versailles. Dear Brother holds up surprisingly well in terms of the quality of its animation, especially considering this was made in 1992, not too long after Japan's economic bubble popped. I don't have as much to say about the soundtrack, as it's pretty nice in its back and forth usage of elegant classical music, as per the setting, and music box lullabies, though some of the shoujo sound effects are pretty dated at this point.

Of course, you can't simply sell an anime on its animation alone, as you need a well-rounded cast of characters to hold it up, and I'm happy to say Dear Brother really delivers here. Now, usually when I say something is melodramatic, I mean this in a negative way, because drama should be used to flesh out and bring out the best in the characters, not simply be a vehicle for endless angst or rehashing cliches soullessly. I should know, I've done this in plenty of my own fan fics before. All the characters have their own sets of issues to work through, and they don't always tackle them in healthy ways (Which, to the show's credit, it does acknowledge). There's vicious cat fights galore, and sometimes the characters just don't want to talk to each other and resolve their issues (This is pretty prevalent early on with the characters of Mariko and Tomoko). But here's the thing: While all the drama that goes on is definitely over the top, it never borders on cheesy except for several rare occasions. It doesn't try so hard that it just winds up being silly, and instead, its used to flesh out the characters even more as the show goes on. From the main characters to even the side ones who appear later on, all of them are engaging and deep, and it's great to watch them all grow and deal with issues that, while over the top, many teenaged girls have experienced and can relate to. Because of the way the show builds the chemistry between all of its characters and the care that goes into fleshing them out and developing them, all of the over the top drama here actually feels earned, rather than simply feeling forced and shoehorned in just for the sake of it, something that's plagued other media with a similar premise. This is further compounded by the fact that, with the manga only being a paltry three volumes long, and the anime was due to go on for 39 episodes, rather than simply pad out the anime, the production team decided to expand on the characters and backstories that didn't get as much development in the manga. For example, Nanako's friend Tomoko was a minor character in the manga who never got to do much, but in the anime, she's a prominent supporting character who gets a lot of screentime. Fukiko and Rei's past is expanded upon, several sorority members get more to do in the anime, Mariko's arc is more fleshed out, and even Aya and her girl posse get expanded roles.

I personally do like this series a lot, though I wouldn't consider it an all-time favorite. For one, the early parts of the series indulge in the "characters refuse to talk through their issues and keep silent to drag out the conflict" trope that I tend to hate, though I didn't find it nearly as annoying here, and the show does have its fair share of silly moments that really break your suspension of disbelief. I mean, when an older student does a better job at keeping a violent classroom in line than a teacher does, maybe that teacher shouldn't be teaching. Some later parts of the series may not sit well with modern viewers, especially near the finale, and Dezaki's overall involvement may be a double-edged sword for those who aren't huge fans of his style. The reception for his work on the Air and Clannad movies wasn't the best, so his style is pretty love-it-or-hate-it, especially depending on how well you can stomach the dramatic scenes. Even the character designs don't look like your typical anime style, and you can thank Akio Sugino for that one, who was frequent collaborator with Dezaki before the latter's untimely passing.

Bottom line, Dear Brother is definitely a great anime that should be on everyone's radar if you're looking for something that has more meat on its bones than others that have used the same premise, but it's not for everyone. If you don't have a tolerance for bitchfights and melodrama, or can't handle the sensitive subject matter depicted, Dear Brother may be too much for you. Plus, while the series is finally available on Blu-Ray, Discotek Media stated that for some reason, the producers only allowed them to license it for a year, and since the BR came out last year, if you want to own this series, you better get it now before the prices on it start jacking up like crazy. As someone who spent ten years trying to find one movie on DVD at a reasonable price, I can tell you the pain is real. But Dear Brother is a great anime that shouldn't be missed, especially now that it's come back into the limelight thanks to being streamed on RetroCrush.

 

[Juliko]

This review was just finished today.

Rating: 59/100

Man, I really wanted to like this movie, and there are things that I do like about it. Unfortunately, Poupelle of Chimney Town really isn't one of the better kids movies that came out in the 2020s. The premise at first seems pretty cool: In a town completely encased in smoke, where nobody knows what the outside world looks like, not even the stars, a young boy named Lubicchi spends his days cleaning chimneys despite his fear of heights. One day, a glowing heart gets dropped into a garbage pile, turning into a man made entirely of garbage, whom Lubicchi saves from getting incinerated. After a rough start, Lubicchi and the garbage man become friends, with Lubicchi giving him the name Poupelle. Their friendship winds up both drawing suspicion from the community and sparking a big adventure where the two of them discover just what's beyond the thick smoke of Chimney Town. The premise reminded me of this manga I'm reading right now called Beyond The Clouds: The Girl Who Fell From The Sky, though Poupelle doesn't have any people with wings in it.

Yeah...Poupelle of Chimney Town is pretty much a huge laundry list of cliches right off the bat. Human kid with no friends who wants to see something others don't want to? Check. Mysterious friend who winds up helping him do just that? Check. Sick mom? Check. One-note bullies who pick on him? Check. Mysterious villains who don't want the town to know about life outside their town? Check. Missing parent who influences them and winds up being the key to everything? Check. Follow your dreams and don't conform to the oppressors moral? Checkity check cheeeeeck. I wouldn't have minded all these cliches if the movie actually bothered to execute them well. I mean, my favorite romance anime of all time is Ride Your Wave, and that checks off a lot of cliches, but also managed to stand out on its own by way of the animation and exploring the death of a loved one through a fun, crazy idea it had. Instead, Poupelle of Chimney Town doesn't seem interested in doing anything new with its premise or characters, playing them so straight that everything is about as bland and charmless as white rice.

Speaking of the characters, all of them, from Lubicchi even to the side characters, have absolutely zero charm or depth to them, as they're all so cliche and one-note that you can easily recognize them from so many other media that have portrayed their archetypes better. Most of the side characters don't even so much as get any names, including some of the one-note bullies who pick on Lubicchi! Most of the side characters feel lifeless and shallow, with their only purpose being to advance the plot and nothing else. The talkative miner is just there to be an exposition dump who tells Lubicchi the secrets behind Chimney Town and the government, and the villains themselves are stereotypical villains ripped out of other things, yet somehow they don't do much of anything themselves! Lubicchi himself is okay, but he's really bland and forgettable, no different from other characters in other movies who act the same way he does. Even Poupelle himself is just a walking cliche, and you can predict his role in the story literally as soon as he and Lubicchi meet.

I'm also pretty mixed on the animation. For one, the movie is mostly CGI, with some 2D animation sprinkled in there on occasion. Honestly, I wasn't a fan of the CGI animation, as it just felt really clunky and uncanny at times, mainly for the human characters. It works better with Poupelle and a lot of the Halloween costumes in the beginning, but that's about it. On the other hand, the backgrounds and the setting fare much better. The steampunk skyscrapers and building designs all have great designs, and the backstory behind the setting really makes it feel like a world that's completely isolated from everything. I'm further conflicted on the soundtrack, as the actual songs are great, especially that epic Halloween-themed musical number that the movie opens on, but the background music itself is kind of obnoxious and could have benefited from holding back a bit. It also commits the cardinal sin of setting upbeat music to what are supposed to be sad moments, which really kills the atmosphere. Also, Poupelle of Chimney Town's pacing is surprisingly fast. The movie begins with Lubicchi trying to save Poupelle, and the two of them getting wrapped up in action packed, heart-racing situations that amount to a grand total of 20 or so minutes before they even get a chance to introduce themselves. Granted, the movie starts to calm down a bit after that, and with the pacing being what it is, it doesn't leave a moment to get bored, but often times it felt like Poupelle of Chimney Town was little more than shiny keys that a parent is waving in front of their kids' faces to keep them entertained.

As much as I hate admitting it, in the end, Poupelle of Chimney Town is just another kids movie that just rehashes the same cliches that others like it have done without doing anything new with them. It has a few good ideas, but barely utilizes them. The reason I like other kids anime movies such as Child of Kamiari Month and Okko's Inn is that while they also rely on a few stock cliches, they also knew to try and do new things with them, even if they don't always succeed. Kamiari Month stood out in its emphasis on Shintoism and Japanese folklore, and Okko's Inn went out of its way to rectify a lot of flaws that the original TV series had while tackling the original story it was based on in a different way. They still managed to be fun movies, even if they aren't trying to bring the house down, and I, a 28-year-old adult, still managed to enjoy them. I couldn't enjoy Poupelle of Chimney Town because it's just a boring, soulless cliche fest. If you want to show this to your kids, for babysitting fodder or as a way to introduce them to anime, go for it. You do you. But I'd recommend skipping this one, as other movies with a similar premise have done its ideas and characters better.

 

[Juliko]

I originally started this review on July 21st, 2016, but didn't finish writing it out until today. Whelp.

Rating: 75/100

Sailor Moon Crystal had a rather rough start with its first two seasons, and in a way, its still struggling. Despite being released on a monthly basis, the animation was often very wonky, and the awful CGI transformations really didn't help matters. It compressed two arcs of the manga into thirteen episodes each, which made the series feel very rushed and half-baked in regards to its pacing and characterization. So when a third season was announced, promising to adapt the Infinity arc, which is considered by many fans to be one of the better parts of Sailor Moon, fans were skeptical and understandably worried. Continuing where the second part left off, Chibiusa came back from the future and is hanging out with Usagi and friends as part of training to become a sailor guardian. For the most part, things seem to be back to normal. But a new enemy has risen, and it's up to the sailor guardians to put a stop to it...but they're not alone. New sailor guardians, like Sailors Uranus and Neptune, step in to help, Sailor Pluto returns, and Chibiusa even makes a new friend in Hotaru Tomoe, a young girl who's been having quite a bit of trouble. But there may be more to Hotaru than meets the eye.

On a technical aspect, this third season does improve on a lot of things compared to the first two seasons of Crystal, the biggest aspect being the animation. For one, Toei seems to have taken the hint about the CGI transformations and did away with them entirely, returning to 2D animation that's smooth and fluid, with striking colors that really pop, and making them look much better and more attractive than the first season did. Granted, some parts of the transformation sequences may seem too reminiscent of shows like Pretty Cure, another magical girl franchise Toei produced, but considering that they actually bothered to listen to criticism in regards to CGI transformations, I think that can be forgiven. It also helps that the character designs have been revamped, making the girls look much more their age, and not like Barbie dolls with pointy chins and giant anime eyes slapped onto them. Another thing this season brings back are more cartoony, lively facial expressions that harken back to the original 90s anime. They're not as comedic or over-the-top as the 90s anime was, but not only do they make the characters feel and act more emotional and lively than they did in the first two seasons, they also bring some much needed levity and give the girls a bit more personality to them than before. This was another complaint some fans had against Crystal, namely that the show took itself far too seriously at the expense of levity and character development. SMC's third season still struggles with the latter, but the fact that Toei actually made an attempt to address most of SMC's flaws when and where it mattered definitely deserves praise where it's due.

I don't have as much to say about the soundtrack, as it's pretty much the same as the first two seasons, so there isn't much to comment on. Plus, it's Yasuharu Takanashi, for Pete's sake. His music is always good. I do think the opening and ending songs are way better than the first two seasons' opening and ending songs. Fight me. That being said, the characterization issues that plagued the first two seasons are still very much present here in season 3. Since the anime only has 13 episodes, it feels the need to speed through several arcs and characters at the expense of actually fleshing them out and developing them. Because of this, the audience isn't given much reasons to really care about the new sailor guardians, with one exception being Hotaru, but she's really the only thing the arc has going for it. Thankfully, Chibiusa doesn't have a lot of the more annoying brattiness she had in the 90s anime, so her portrayal here is a massive improvement over the original. Since I haven't read the entirety of the Sailor Moon manga (I plan on rectifying that soon), I can't comment on the accuracy of the characters' portrayals here, as I'm mainly familiar with the 90s anime's depictions of the outer guardians. I mean, the characters in general are okay, but because the anime doesn't feel the need to really flesh them our beyond their immediate personalities and backstories, they still come off as rather bland and uninspired. Plus, the villains are pretty much your typical villains-of-the-day and only appear for one episode and never again. Though considering how much I hated Mimete in the 90s anime, I'm sooooo glad she gets far less screentime here, and a less screechy voice, too, so she isn't nearly as annoying here as she was in the 90s anime.

Again, since I haven't read the entirety of Sailor Moon's manga, I don't know how accurate Crystal's adaptation of it is compared to the source, so I can only go off of what I see. The story does make an attempt to have more stakes and have villains that want to destroy the world rather than simply take it over, resulting in the villains being much more vile. I can appreciate Crystal's attempts to give the story some more meat and have more of a conflict, which is totally fine, and the characters do serve their roles pretty well. So in the end, Sailor Moon Crystal's third season is about the same as the first two seasons, with the only real improvement being on the animation and adding in some comedy to break up the darker moments. The characters still suffer from either not being developed organically or being used as props to advance the story, and the show's overall compressed nature doesn't really give the show a lot of breathing room. But as far as the overall adaptation is concerned, compared to the first two seasons, Sailor Moon Crystal season 3 may very well be the best adaptation the Infinity arc is going to get, and the improvements from the first two seasons do help to an extent, but not enough to make it into anything other than slightly above average.

That being said, I commend Toei for addressing some of Sailor Moon Crystal's issues, and while season 3 may still suffer from a lot of the issues the first two seasons had, I still think it's a fairly fun time.

 

[Juliko]

This review was written on August 29th, 2021.

Rating: 91/100

(This is a redone version of my older review from 2011. The older one comes across as too overly fangirly for my tastes, and my reviewing has evolved since then, so I made a new review to make it more in line with how my current reviews are now)

There was a time not long ago when Noitamina, an animation block in Japan, really pushed the bill and popularized two genres: adult slice-of-life and experimental horror/adventure. They did branch out to other genres over the years, to varying degrees of success, though nowadays, they don't put out as much quality work as they used to. Instead of focusing on teenagers, a lot of their anime focused on adults or college students, which really made the block stand out in its heyday. One of the shows they aired that I really liked back in the day was Bunny Drop, based on the manga by Yumi Unita, and even years later, I think it still holds up. Now, keep in mind, when the anime aired, its manga wasn't finished yet, and...the manga's ending has garnered a LOT of controversy, both in Japan and the West, so not a lot of people like the manga anymore. The anime avoids adapting the later parts of the manga, which I think is one of the reasons why it's still highly regarded today.

When Daikichi Kawachi finds out that his grandfather has died, he decides to attend his funeral with the rest of his family. But there's a child there that nobody recognizes, a little girl named Rin Kaga. As it turns out, Daikichi's grandfather eloped with a much younger woman and somehow managed to sire a child, with Rin being said child. Things are very awkward at the funeral as a result of this, and when the subject of raising Rin comes up, nobody wants anything to do with her, whether due to being busy with their own children, finding Rin's silence unsettling, or finding the idea of adopting a strange child they never heard of utterly scandalous in light of her questionable origins. Daikichi is appalled by his family's dismissive attitude towards Rin, knowing she's all alone in the world and needs someone to help her, so he decides to make a bold move: Offer to raise Rin himself, even though he knows absolutely nothing about raising a child. With this, he has to change his lifestyle completely, doing everything that parents do for their kids: Buying her clothes, making sure she gets to kindergarten on time, transferring to a job with flexible hours, learning to be more responsible, and trying everything he can to make sure she has the best life possible, no matter the cost to himself.

Bunny Drop as an anime chronicles the life of single parents, the challenges they face, but also the wonderful things they get back from it. It's a very realistic and down-to-earth anime, never making anything too dramatic, nor simply glossing over the problems that come with single parenthood or even familial issues on top of that, through introducing a variety of characters that Daikichi interacts with that are in similar situations. Any conflicts the series has, while never simply tied up in a neat bow, are approached with realism and grace, without unnecessary exaggeration or embellishment to make them seem bigger than they are. This is Bunny Drop's biggest strength, the fact that it remains a down-to-earth, but still fun and cute series that has characters that you want to root for. Some may take issue with the show's premise and pacing, as it's very deliberately slow and normal, having little action or ambition. Some shows don't necessarily need it in order to be good, and I think Bunny Drop is one of those shows that benefits from restraining its sense of scope, but if you're coming here looking for something more blood pumping or intriguing, this ain't the show for you.

It helps that the animation has a bright, soft color palette, and the character motion is seamless and smooth without feeling overly so. The opening and ending visuals, on the other hand, are deliberately eclectic, with striking, bold colors, harsh paint lines, splashes of watercolor effects, and with the occasional cut-out-like designs when it feels like it, and I think it works here, since I don't think the show could have made good opening visuals depicting just Daikichi and Rin by themselves. Going for a much more artistic look makes for much more creative freedom, and it works wonderfully here. The music is pretty nice too, though it's been years since I've listened to the soundtrack, but I do remember liking it. Also, who else was blown away by the fact that the opening was sung by PuffyAmiYumi, aka Puffy? They haven't really done much since then except for the opening theme of Teen Titans Go, and the less we talk about that trash heap of a cartoon, the better.

Of course, the show wouldn't be a success without its two main leads, and they really carry the show wonderfully. The show really puts emphasis on showing them spending time together and growing as people, and they grow far away from the typical stereotypes that are often associated with them. Daikichi grows from an immature manchild to a more responsible adult, and Rin isn't simply a precocious child whose only purpose is to make cheesy, snarky wisecracks for cheap comedy, she's just a regular kid going through her own issues and blossoming under the care of someone who truly loves her for who she is. Plus, the series doesn't try to completely idealize children and make them out to be perfect little angels, whether it be showing them pretending to be adults, wetting the bed and trying to hide it, coming into the house covered in sticks and mud, or asking for rulers to measure their poop. The anime adds to the charm by casting real children as the kids in the series, which makes them feel and sound much more authentic than listening to a 30-year-old woman trying way too hard to sound like a child. Bunny Drop is really about kids being kids and parents learning to raise them, and I want Daikichi and Rin to be happy!...though not in the way the manga does it!

So if you're looking for something sweet, wholesome, and just plain nice, definitely check out Bunny Drop if you can. It's one of my favorite anime and it deserves more love. Just don't read the manga. No, seriously. Please don't. The manga goes in an absolutely disgusting direction at the end that completely taints and spits on everything the earlier parts of it established, which the anime deliberately chose to avoid. You're not missing anything by not reading the manga. Trust me on this one.

 

[Juliko]

Just finished this review today.

Rating: 88/100

Most of my favorite anime consists of stuff that's either obscure or not very well known, or only well known in certain circles. While I've grown up watching anime, it wasn't until 2005 when I learned that anime was originally made in Japan, and I hadn't quite developed my preferences nor made a point of watching anime all the way through until about 2010, when I was in high school. That being said, I lurk on Anime News Network pretty much on a daily basis, and long ago, there used to be this really good weekly column series called Buried Treasure, where Justin Sevakis would talk about an obscure anime, its history, his opinions on it, and its overall availability. Some were good, others weren't, but I remember always looking forward to those articles as I always found them very interesting. I actually found a lot of my favorite anime through Buried Treasure, and I'm sad the column was shut down. I do remember the very first Buried Treasure article I saw, which was this one, talking about a short, little known anime short film called Hotori: Tada Saiwai no Koinegau, which translates to The Simple Hope for Joy, but I saw a subtitled version that translated it as I Only Want Happiness, but I'm just going to call it Hotori for the sake of brevity. The film came out in 2005, airing on Animax and based on a story that was the third winner of the Animax Grand Prix, a contest held by the channel of the same name to see which stories they could adapt to animation in some form. I remember watching Hotori after reading about it and liking it, though I forgot about it for years. This year, I rewatched it, and honestly? I think it still holds up surprisingly well, as much so as it did when I watched it as a kid.

In the year 2034, technology has advanced to the point where humanoid robots can act like actual human beings with memories implanted into them. In a facility known as the personality plant, a robot named Suzu is being prepared to become a replacement son to a family whose child, Ryou, died from a disease, and a nurse monitors his progress every day as he receives new memories and learns all about the complexities of being human, such as understanding emotions and human interaction. While out playing, Suzu encounters a young girl, Hotori, who he finds out is slowly dying from an Alzheimer's-like disease that's making her forget her memories. The two of them become friends and bond over their opposite situations, and slowly, Suzu begins to grapple with his own feelings and doubts about being a replacement for a dead child. But when Hotori's symptoms get stronger, she makes a frightening request: She wants Suzu to shoot her with a gun she found in a greenhouse, as she doesn't want to die having forgotten all that was important to her.

One thing I definitely noticed about Hotori upon rewatching it is that while the film was made in 2005, it really doesn't look like it. It has the look and feel of hand-painted cel anime from the late 90s, complete with slightly foggy backgrounds and the muted color palette. I say this as a compliment though, as the animation itself is pretty okay. Nothing groundbreaking for a digipaint anime from 2005, and by Sunrise standards its budget isn't the highest, but it does its job fairly well. Though if I had one complaint, it's that the eyes on the child characters are a little too big, almost making them look like aliens. It's not as bad as, say, the terrible Ijime OVA, but the big eyes do give the kids this really uncanny look to them. The music fares better though, with every usage of violins, pianos, saxophones, harps, cellos, and acoustic guitars fitting like a glove. I could probably give the soundtrack two words: Restrained and contemplative, never going overboard with trying to make you feel for the kids and their respective plights.

Really, restrained and contemplative are pretty good words to describe Hotori as a whole. The movie is slow and gently paced, and the main conflict is sad, but fairly down-to-earth, with no real antagonist in sight. Since the film has a small cast of characters, and runs for about 40 minutes, it doesn't have a lot of time to develop them fully, which is fine. Characters like Suzu's nurse Usui and Hotori's father and brother serve their roles well, and their personalities and problems are down-to-earth and relatable, even with the sci-fi angle the movie is going for. Suzu and Hotori, the two leads, receive the most screentime and development, and the film makes great use of them, total opposites of one another, but still managing to make them interesting and relatable, showing their weaknesses and strengths and having them subtly change, from Suzu learning more about feelings and emotions to Hotori being scared of losing her memories and all that makes her herself. It also helps that the movie is pretty heavy on "show, don't tell," relying more on body language and facial expressions to convey what the characters are feeling than relying heavily on dialogue and exposition dumping, and the gentle, low-key atmosphere of the film only elevates it, and everything else, beautifully. Even if the characters aren't the most three-dimensional and layered, they don't really feel like stock archetypes, though I wish we could have seen more of Ryou's parents and saw how they came to like Suzu as he is rather than just a replacement for their dead son.

Now, I'm sure people are going to take issue with the fact that a child wants her similarly-aged friend to help her commit suicide, and I can understand why. As far as I can tell, Hotori tackles the subject fairly sensitively and delicately, without relying too heavily on pointless melodrama, milking it for pathos, or treating it lightly. And don't worry, the film isn't as depressing as I'm making it sound, as it also has a pretty nice ending that neatly resolves Suzu and Hotori's arcs. That being said, there are a lot of questions Hotori leaves unanswered as a result of going for that ending, but there are other questions it doesn't really try to answer as well: Since Suzu is a robot, is he going to stay a child forever, or will he grow up physically in some capacity? I can understand wanting to leave some things to the audience's imagination, but...food for thought.

To quote Mr. Sevakis' article above, Hotori ~The Simple Hope for Joy~ is a pensive little jewel that reminds us of the joys of simply living, of accumulating memories. It walks a delicate line, maintaining a solid balance between the joy and the sad in life. It's quietly unforgettable. It's a shame there isn't more of it, but I'm glad Hotori is what it is, and I couldn't ask any more from it.

 

[Juliko]

This review was written on May 14th, 2022.

(This review covers both the original manga and the sequel)

Rating: 70/100

Stories about man's best friend have been around forever, and they always manage to resonate with mainstream audiences, especially pet owners. I mean, how can you not fall in love with stories about dogs? But there are just as many stories about people and man's best friend going through hardships, especially ones where the dog in question winds up dying in some capacity. Not many people like those stories for that reason, which is fine, but unlike most people who want to avoid stories like that, I deliberately seek them out. Because I'm a sap like that. Hell, one of my favorite series of all time is Dog of Flanders, which is pretty infamous for being extremely sad. This short manga, Hoshi Mamoru Inu, or Star Protector Dog, is one such story. The premise at first is pretty simple: A family adopts a dog that they name Happy, but soon the family falls apart, and Happy winds up bonding with the lonely patriarch of the family. When circumstances leave the man homeless, he takes Happy for a drive down south...but then the man winds up penniless and dies, with Happy following suit later on. The sequel manga follows up on this and tries to answer some lingering questions, along with showing other characters and their bonds with their canine friends as well.

As far as the art is concerned, it's pretty good. The backgrounds are all detailed, with a bit of rough sketchiness that makes it feel like a real lived-in world. I mean, just look at the covers for the manga. They pretty much speak for themselves. The characters don't necessarily get the same treatment, but I appreciate that Takashi Murakami still managed to make them look distinct and didn't try to go for the typical anime style. All the characters have their own designs that are a good mix of both cartoony and realistic, and yes, this includes the dogs. You won't find gigantic sparkly shoujo eyes here. The people here look like people you'd see on the street, and I commend Murakami for sticking to a more realistic, if rough and sketchy style.

The characters is where things start to get tricky. At first, we only learn about the man and his family. We never find out the patriarch's name, and the only person in said family that gets a name is the daughter, Miku, and she disappears not long after her introduction. The only character we follow is the old man, who does change across the course of the first volume. But he doesn't necessarily get fleshed out in any way, and the characters that appear in the second volume have only cursory connections to him at best, and not much else. The dogs get plenty of characterization through their thoughts, actions, and body language, but even they can't really carry the stories. The side characters get more focus in the sequel manga, but they're also not very interesting to follow, and even take away from what's supposed to be the main plot of that particular volume. Also, I find it utterly unbelievable that a pet shop would be totally okay with allowing a homeless boy to outright steal a dog right from under their noses. That would never happen in real life no matter how compassionate the pet store employees are.

But I think Star Protector Dog's biggest issue is that it doesn't try to answer a lot of its biggest lingering questions. The first volume is a pretty solid story on its own, albeit very sad and not for the faint of heart, but I think the sequel volume bogged it down by focusing on characters that really didn't add anything to the plot. I mean, I don't mind leaving some questions unanswered, especially since real life doesn't always give you neat and easy answers, but what's the point of establishing a mystery and advertising it as the plot to a sequel manga when you're not even going to do anything with it after a while? Eh, in the end, Star Protector Dog doesn't have much to offer other than feels and realistic but cartoony artwork. It's a shame because stuff like this is usually right up my alley. But hey, if other people get something out of it, then that's fine with me.

 

[Juliko]

This review was just finished today.

Rating: 69/100

One thing I really love about anime is that in Japan, pretty much anything goes. People could make anime and manga for pretty much anything, from simple, slice-of-life stories with little to no conflict, or they can go balls to the wall wild and come up with the absolute craziest premises you can think of, and Japan would have no problem putting them on TV. I mean, where else can you find an anime about a general from imperial China being reincarnated into modern day Japan and helping a girl pursue a music career? Or a show about a bunch of buff dudes using sentient monsters named after famous songs and bands to fight each other across generations and family trees? Or about a guy who fights crime while his head is literally a chainsaw? Or a show about a spy, an assassin, and a mind-reading child becoming a fake family in order to fulfill a mission sanctioned by their government? So the fact that Japan just recently made a cute anime about high school girls using singing acapella as a means to heal peoples' injuries and have it be treated as a valid medical pursuit, along with basically making it a musical at points, should be just as fun and interesting, right? Ehh...Healer Girl is fine for what it is, but it stumbles a lot in terms of how it handles its premise and many other things.

Me saying that Healer Girl is about high school girls singing as a means of healing people medically is not an exaggeration. Basically, three young women—Kana, Reimi, and Hibiki—work at a medical clinic in a small town as apprentice healers alongside their famous mentor Ria. In this world, singing and music can be used as medicine and has been officially recognized as a valid medical pursuit. Kana in particular is eager to become a healer after having been saved by one as a child, and is determined to follow in their footsteps. But so far, she and her friends are trainees and still have a lot to learn before they can earn their licenses. They also have to deal with a rival healer from another clinic, Sonia, who is determined to beat Ria at her own game, and their own personal flaws if they want to grow as healers.

So...yeah. Healer Girl is basically an anime musical in the vein of Sing a Bit of Harmony, complete with characters bursting into song at completely random times, even when it's not needed. I mean, when your whole premise involves having magic healers work side by side with surgeons, pharmacists, and traditional medical doctors, and leaning very heavily into the musical themes, it's kind of inevitable. Now, the premise by itself is actually pretty interesting, and Healer Girl does manage to do things with it, from showing the main trio actually learning the ins and outs of healing with song, having them actually partake in singing while an actual surgery is going on, the limits of what they can do at their current level, and so on. Plus, Healer Girl also manages to smartly avoid going the pseudoscience route in the vein of "You can cure cancer by singing!" by empathizing that healing with song isn't without its drawbacks, and that even in the show's universe, advances in medicine still can't cure everything. On that note, I can definitely respect Healer Girl for going all in on its premise and having a more nuanced, holistic approach to health care. The colorful, smooth animation also helps with this, making for some great visuals and imagery...though, whose bright idea was it to have the main girls have two-colored hair? It just looks weird!

Of course, that doesn't always mean Healer Girl sticks the landing, and if you couldn't tell by the rating, there's lots of areas where the show really stumbles. For one, Healer Girl as a show is extremely cheesy, treacly, and saccharine. The whole show is a bright, candy colored piece of fluff where any and all conflicts are resolved pretty easily, leaving it without much in the way of tension, and any resolutions it does offer are pretty anticlimactic. The middle section especially suffers, with the sports and cultural festival episodes being the most egregious offenders, what with having the characters sing-talk for 80% of the former, and somehow being able to flawlessly play instruments while wearing full body animal costumes in the latter. Both were completely ridiculous and really dumb. There are also times when Healer Girl seems to have very little regard for following its own rules. In one episode, when the main trio sing to soothe a surgeon's nerves, which has all the complexity of your typical Disney fairy tale wave a magic wand and get your happily ever after, they sing in a closed room, but in another episode, the girls sing WHILE in the operating room, not wearing any masks or scrubs or anything of the like, just three feet away from the surgeons and the operating table. Uh, hello?! Did the staff behind this show just forget that hospitals have strict hygiene rules, especially when surgeries are being conducted?! Say what you will about Gray's Anatomy, at least that show didn't feel the need to have surgeons and nurses not wear scrubs and masks while in the operating room! I'm pretty sure anyone who doesn't wear masks or scrubs while in the operating room would get fired for putting a patient's life at risk for infections if they did that. Basically, at times Healer Girl goes all in on its premise, but also makes serious missteps and undermines itself at times to the point where your suspension of disbelief is broken and you can't take the story seriously anymore.

The characters by themselves are perfectly fine. Nothing groundbreaking, since they start off as pretty blatant archetypes at first, and their character development is pretty predictable as well. Most of the side characters don't really do much, with Shinobu being the biggest victim of this, though I do appreciate that the anime put in the effort to give Sonia more depth to her over making her another typical alpha bitch stereotype. If there is one thing that the show does manage to nail, its the chemistry between the main trio. By themselves, Kana, Reimi, and Hibiki are pretty stock standard, but their interactions and banter do feel genuine and organic, and they actually feel like a close-knit group of gal pals who do everything together and truly cherish each other...though Reimi's whole exaggerated, obsessive, crush-like worship of Ria is pretty creepy and annoying. Plus, the show also gets some points for having plenty of adult women as respected leaders in the medical field. But as it stands, the characters have about as much depth as the cast in every Love Live series ever, which is to say...not much.

Plus, for a series that banks itself on its music, the actual songs are pretty...dull. I mean, I liked most of them, but many of the songs are the exact same boring acapella ballads but with different lyrics, with very little in the way of variety. On one hand, I could understand not wanting to have the healers sing or play heavy metal music during an operation on a patient, as that'd probably ruin a surgeon's concentration to the point that they'd put their patients' lives at risk, but nowhere does the series make any mention of this in-universe. Every single song is just plain generic, well sung as they are, and feel copy-pasted from other ones that came before it. It says a lot that the actual background music feels more inspired than the actual songs. Then again, I do listen to the opening theme song a lot, so I'm a complete hypocrite, and other shows have done far worse than Healer Girl has, so I don't want to be too hard on the show.

Basically, Healer Girl is sweet, saccharine, treacly, nice and fluff. Nothing groundbreaking, but nothing really bad either. It stumbles a lot, but it does have its heart in the right place. Healer Girl as an anime is perfectly wholesome, though doesn't have much to offer than that, but it could be a great anime you can use to get your preteen relatives into anime for the first time. The show feels like it was made specifically for girls, so it'd be a nice gateway anime for your daughter, kid sister, niece, or what have you. It may be a little too overly sweet and sugary for me, but Healer Girl is better than most if you're into anime about cute girls singing wholesome ballads and want a nice musical to bop your head to.

 

[Juliko]

This review was just finished today.

Rating: 85/100

If you can believe it, while I did watch a Ghibli movie when I was younger (My parents said I saw My Neighbor Totoro but I don't have many memories of it), I didn't start watching Ghibli's filmography until I was in...maybe late high school or college. I remember asking my dad to take me to see Ponyo in theaters when it first came out in the US, and not long after that, me and one of my friends went to see The Secret World of Arrietty. I had already seen it before I saw it in the theater, but in Japanese, and both times I remember liking it, to the point where I bought the DVD that Disney put out afterward. But on a whim, I decided to rewatch the movie and see if it still holds up, especially now that I've seen more Ghibli movies since then. I'm glad to see that Arrietty knocked it out of the park here. If you're a fan of slow-paced family movies that aren't filled with overwrought sentimentality and avoid a lot of the usual trappings and cliches, Arrietty is definitely a must-watch.

Based on the 1952 book by British author Mary Norton, a family of ten centimeter tall humans called Borrowers live quietly under the eaves of a house in a forest. This particular family—the father Pod, the mother Homily, and their 14-year-old daughter Arrietty, live peacefully and happily, making a home for themselves by taking things that the regular humans won't miss, like dropped items or miscellaneous things like sugar cubes, dropped pins, or tissues. But they have to be careful, as they can't afford to be seen by the larger people, afraid of the dangers they pose. However, on Arrietty's first attempt at a real borrowing, she's seen by Sho, a young boy who moved into his grandmother's house in preparation for his upcoming heart operation. Sho wants to befriend Arrietty, but she and her family decide they have to move, afraid of what will happen if unscrupulous people see them. But circumstances force Sho and Arrietty to work together, and Arrietty learns that maybe the human race isn't so bad.

I mean...what can I say about Ghibli's animation that hasn't been said already? Character motion is smooth, the colors are vibrant, there's meticulous detail put into just about everything, and I really don't think I can add anything new that others haven't said already. That being said, if there's one thing Arrietty as a movie absolutely succeeds in, its its sense of scale. The creators really succeeded in showing how everything feels absolutely huge compared to Arrietty and her family. When big things are around her, they really look BIG, and its especially prevalent when regular humans are animated around her. Plus, the movie also makes great use of its setting as well. Arrietty and her family live in a brick pile underneath a house near a forest, and it goes way out of its way to show what the Borrowers manage to create out of everything they take. Since Arrietty is the main viewpoint character rather than Sho, making this more of a "fantasy creature meets boy" rather than the other way around, which is the more typical setup for these kinds of movies, we see how she and her family live and how they go about their day. Arrietty is a lush movie that just sparkles with life wherever it goes.

The soundtrack is also nothing to sneeze at either, especially since Joe Hisaishi isn't involved with it for once. In a rather bold move, Ghibli decided to hire a Frenchwoman by the name of Cecile Corbel to not only sing the opening and ending songs, but to basically make the entire score for it. Even back in 2010, it was fairly rare for Japanese movies to hire people outside the country to compose music for movies, though that's been steadily changing, what with people like Evan Call and Kevin Penkin being recruited to make music for anime as of recently. I think this was a good decision on Ghibli's part, as the entire soundtrack has this really neat, subdued, somewhat Celtic and Irish sound to it, what with its heavy usage of harps, acoustic guitars, Irish flutes, bagpipes, and other instruments. It really makes it feel otherworldly, even though the movie takes place in the modern day, and it's just so refreshing to listen to. The vocal songs are great too, and considering the OST won best original soundtrack at the Japan Gold Disc Awards and sold more than 200,000 copies upon its debut, that's how you know for sure the soundtrack rules.

The characters are pretty good too, save for one. While they don't exactly get much in the way of development, as this is a slice-of-life movie tinged with light fantasy, their acting is excellent on both the Japanese and English sides, and the animation really brings them to life and conveys their feelings and emotions through their expressions and body language. The only character I really had issue with was Haru the housekeeper. She just felt like she was just shoved into the movie for the sake of having a villain and introducing a conflict that honestly didn't really need to be there. Arrietty as a movie already had a good source of conflict via the subtle tensions between coexisting species. I mean, Haru is a pretty subdued villain all things considered, and she's better executed than other villains similar to her, but the artificiality of her presence and the conflict she brings just felt a little forced. Then again, something like this was in the original book as well, and Haru and the overall conflict is significantly toned down compared to the novel. But it's been a long time since I've read the original book, so I can't comment on how the movie executed it compared to the source. Speaking of toning things down, I admit that I hated Homily in the book. I thought she was way too neurotic and hated that she seemed to freak out over everything, even over things not worth making a fuss about. She literally calls Arrietty wicked and claims she's the devil's spawn because the latter made an innocuous comment in the book. I'm so glad the movie toned down Homily's personality and made her more subdued, making her fears and nervousness feel much more realistic and understandable.

Furthermore, Arrietty does have themes of environmentalism throughout its narrative, but it never feels preachy or condescending, focusing on the subtle tensions between the coexisting species. It doesn't point any fingers, but lets everything resolve itself naturally. I personally had no problem with the movie's deliberately slow pacing, as I'm always a fan of anything that actually allows its characters and world to breathe, let the audience soak things in, and appreciate atmosphere, but this isn't a movie for anyone looking for Michael Bay style action movies. Others wanting something more exciting may take issue with this, but I don't see the pacing as a problem. So yeah, The Secret World of Arrietty is definitely one of Ghibli's better movies and a great movie to watch if you want something more peaceful and subdued rather than the more fast paced, instantly gratifying fare the movie industry has been churning out today.

 

[Juliko]

Oh yay, another review I just finished! Damn, I'm on a roll this week!

Rating: 87/100

Man, Pokemon's really been going all out on the animation front in the past few years, hasn't it? We've got Pokemon Twilight Wings, the PokeToon shorts—which as of this writing are finally getting dubbed into English this summer!—Pokemon Evolutions, and now, a recently finished web series from Wit Studio called Pokemon: Hisuian Snow, based on the video game Pokemon Legends: Arceus. Hisuian Snow was first announced in a Pokemon Presents video released in February 2022, alongside the reveal of Legends Arceus DLC and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Needless to say, considering how good Twilight Wings and the various PokeToon shorts turned out, many fans were hyped for this, me included. Plus, unlike what happened with Yoru no Kuni, TPCi made it clear that Hisuian Snow was going to only have three episodes straight up and not be a full-on adaptation of the game, which was about what I expected. I mean, considering the pattern the Pokemon animated shorts have been going with, I had a feeling Hisuian Snow was going to do something similar to what Twilight Wings and the PokeToon shorts did, i.e. be more low-key, atmospheric character focused pieces. I'm glad to say that Hisuian Snow met my expectations and is still pretty amazing on its own.

Hisuian Snow focuses on a young man named Akio (named Alec in English, but I'm going with his Japanese name so as to be more accurate to the setting) visiting the Hisui region to see his father. He hears rumors of violent Pokemon wreaking havoc in the nearby forest, which makes him reminisce on an encounter he had when he was a child. As a kid, he wandered into a snowy forest and met a shiny Hisuian Zorua against his father's warnings. After some mishaps, Akio winds up hurt, but the Zorua helps him out. But humans are wary of Pokemon, seeing them as hostile monsters, and Akio has been told that there's no way Pokemon and humans can ever really coexist. Years later, Akio wonders how that Zorua is doing, hoping to see it again.

Much like with what Colorido did for Twilight Wings and their PokeToon shorts, Wit Studio really went all out in the animation department here, not just with the character motion and the little details, but the beauty of the environments as well. From the white snowy peaks to the setting sun bathing everything in its light, the whole short is just brimming with warm colors, from gentle yellows to harsh oranges. That contrast empathizes the story's main theme, that Pokemon are both beautiful and dangerous in this world's era, and Pokemon and humans haven't learned to coexist yet. The fact that there are characters who outright say that Pokemon are dangerous and shouldn't be messed with isn't exactly a sentiment you normally get in a franchise like this, and we, the audience, already know it's going to be disproven based on the story beats and...well, the franchise itself. It makes sense, as the time period both Legends Arceus and Hisuian Snow take place in is during a time when Pokemon were still alien to humans rather than the constant companions they are in the main series proper, but it is refreshing to see a different take on the idea of befriending Pokemon, and even the source game leans heavily into this mindset and disproving it. Granted, the animation isn't as dynamic as, say, Yume no Tsubomi or I Became a Gengar, but what the series lacks in kinetic motion, it makes up for with its usage of colors, light, and shadows, and keeping true to the visual style of the game its based on, along with some stark, trippy visuals at the beginning of episode one. I don't have as much to say on the soundtrack, but it's pretty nice and gets the job done.

Based on what the various Pokemon short animations have done with their previous shorts, Hisuian Snow is very much a character study at heart, with a fairly small cast to follow. Most of the development goes to Akio, and we get to see first hand how his experiences with the Hisuian Zorua change his view on Pokemon and himself as a person, along with how this experience inspires him to convince others to do the same. The side characters don't get much to do, especially the ones who appear in the final episode, but they all serve their roles nicely and their beliefs towards Pokemon are presented as understandable without coming across as antagonistic, nor does the series try to portray Akio as being wholly in the right. You're not exactly going to find much in the way of complexity or grandeur in Hisuian Snow in terms of its plot or characters, but the things it is able to offer are not too much, not too little, just the right amount needed to do what the show wanted to do. Even the Hisuian Zorua has a surprising amount of personality and depth to it, and it's literally an animal. Basically, Hisuian Snow wonderfully succeeds in being a character study and for being entirely dedicated to its lead character learning new things and changing significantly because of his experience with Zorua.

If I had to name any flaws Hisuian Snow has, it's mainly in the minor details. For one, the short intro bit at the very beginning of episode one, showing a Zoroark going berserk after seeing its dead child, doesn't really get followed up on. We never find out the context behind it, what happened, or if the Zorua or Zoroark in the story is the same one Akio encountered. I don't know if that scene is just there to establish the fact that humans view Pokemon as dangerous or not, but I kind of wish more had been done with it. The final episode has some characters from the game make cameos and even help Akio out in the conflict for that, but one of them doesn't talk, and the rest of them just feel like plot devices. While Hisuian Snow does make an admirable effort, I think Twilight Wings did better in terms of fleshing out the rest of its ensemble cast, along with various episodes of PokeToon. But that absolutely does not mean Hisuian Snow doesn't have anything to offer by itself, as it's still a great, wholesome little character piece that really excels in what it set out to do.

So yeah, whether you're a Pokemon fan or not, don't sleep on Pokemon: Hisuian Snow. While not without the occasional stumble, it's still an excellent web series that's full of just as much passion and heart as its contemporaries.

 

[Juliko]

This review was just finished today.

Rating: 80/100

I've been following Barbara Dee's bibliography for quite a while now. I remember reading an article about one of her earliest books, Star Crossed, that said that she wrote it after her daughter came out to her as bisexual, which I thought was very sweet. I read Star Crossed, and I thought it was nice but it didn't blow me away. I did read another book of hers, Halfway Normal, which I liked a lot better. Which reminds me, I really need to re-read and review that some time. Afterward, I read two of her other books, Everything I Know About You, which I liked, and Maybe He Just Likes You, which I thought was okay but had some elements that could have used more work. Barbara Dee is usually pretty good about writing about sensitive subject matter tastefully while keeping her books friendly for their intended audience of middle schoolers, and she never amps up the drama for the sake of it, as other writers are wont to do. I found out that she wrote some more books, with Violets Are Blue being the subject of today's review. As someone who's not into makeup or musical theater, I thought this was pretty good.

12-year-old Renata "Wren" Lewis is going through a hard time. Her parents divorced, her father got remarried, her mother's hospital job is going badly, and a supposed friend turns out to not be such, resulting in her life being thrown into upheaval. Her mother suggests they move to a new town for a fresh start, and at first, things seem fine, if a bit awkward. But there is one thing that Wren takes comfort in, and its special effects makeup. After discovering how-to videos by internet sensation Cat FX, Wren finds that with special effects makeup, she can transform herself—and others if she wants to—into anything she wants to be, be it a mermaid or a movie monster. Her new skills get her recruited onto her middle school's production of Wicked, though its partly against her will since her mother is worried that she isn't making any friends. To complicate matters further, Wren notices her mother seems to be behaving strangely—putting a lock on her bedroom door, disappearing a lot without warning, and keeping a disproportionate amount of pills in her cabinet. Despite Wren's best efforts, her life seems to be falling apart all over again.

As far as Dee's prose goes, it's not much different from her other books. It's clear and concise, and pretty easy to understand, so I didn't have any trouble following what was going on. But it's been a while since I've read her other books, so I can't really comment much on it. If there's one thing I wish the book had done, it's go into more details about how special effects makeup works. I know this is a middle grade novel, so I don't expect it to go into the nitty-gritty about how certain things like facial creams, blush, hydra latex, or complexion palettes are actually made, but I still feel like Dee only scratched the surface of what special effects makeup is. Granted, I was able to understand what it was, unlike how something like More Than Magic: Secret Friends to the Rescue explained 3D wiring (i.e. it didn't), so I'll give Violets Are Blue points on that front.

The characters and the overall storyline are definitely stronger here. The last Barbara Dee book I read was Maybe He Just Likes You, and while I did like it, there were a lot of elements that didn't work, such as some characters being downright intolerable and the ending message being a little...misguided in its attempt to wrap things up. Violets Are Blue makes significant improvements on these fronts, as the characters here, while not as developed and fleshed out as Halfway Normal, are still pretty likeable and realistic, though I wish we could have learned more about Wren's ex-friend Annika. I also liked Wren as a character, and the book is very good at putting you in her head and making you understand why she does the things that she does, and she behaves like a typical 12-year-old should. She has her flaws and weaknesses, but just as many strengths and good qualities that make her relatable. I also appreciate that Wren's new stepmother is a genuinely nice person that actively tries to get along with her and reach out to her rather than just making her into yet another wicked stepmother, so kudos to you for going against stereotypes, Dee.

Violets Are Blue is a pretty good book, all things considered, but it does have a few things holding it back from true greatness. The story moves slowly and the build-up is subtle and well used, but I can see kids who aren't into slower-moving stories getting bored with it quickly. As someone who hasn't seen Wicked, a lot of the references to the musical flew over my head. Plus, one particular subplot near the very end felt very rushed, and I felt like more could have been done with it. I don't want to go into spoilers for those who haven't read the book yet, but I felt like that subplot could have been fleshed out more and given more time devoted to it rather than having it just be sped through just to get to the final reveal. But none of those are enough to kill my enjoyment of the book. So since I've read a bunch of Dee's books already (I haven't read My Life in the Fish Tank yet), how do I like Violets Are Blue compared to her other novels? Well, I admit that Halfway Normal is still my favorite Barbara Dee book, but Violets Are Blue is now my second, just ahead of Everything I Know About You, and way better than Maybe He Just Likes You, IMHO.

So yeah, while not without its small issues, Barbara Dee hit another home run with Violets Are Blue. Definitely check it out if you like middle grade novels like this.

 

[Juliko]

This review was written on May 19th, 2022.

Rating: 49/100

One time, a few years ago, I mentioned to some people in a fandom that I wasn't a particularly big fan of a show because I felt that it came across as too treacly and saccharine, with the main character embodying a lot of those qualities. But apparently a lot of people didn't like this and proceeded to accuse me of only liking tragic edgy shlock and claiming that I hate it when kids shows have an optimistic tone. If anyone's seen some reviews I've done for the various seasons of Pretty Cure, I can attest that that's not true. I just prefer the shows I watch, books I read, and games I play to actually have substance to them, and not just lean too far into both extremes, such as being too sugary and saccharine or being too morose, dark, and bleak. Unfortunately, Vampire in the Garden, a new Netflix anime made by Wit Studio, is the latter. If anyone is looking for a good example of a show that's absolutely drowning in pointless edginess and misery porn, Vampire in the Garden pretty much embodies all of those qualities, and not for the better.

Basically, the story focuses on a world where vampires and humans are locked in endless conflict, and because vampires have heightened senses of hearing, humans have forbidden music of all kinds. Momo is a young girl living in one of the few human strongholds left, and while she's had experience with killing vampires due to her mother's job as a military general, she grows weary of all the fighting. When she gets into a fight with her mother over a music box, she runs away and encounters the supposed queen of vampires, Fine, and the two escape together. Although their initial encounter is rough, the two slowly become friends and bond over a shared love of music. But their newfound friendship is considered taboo by both humans and vampires. Momo and Fine hear an urban legend about a paradise called Eden, where humans and vampires supposedly live in peace, so they decide to try and find it, hoping to escape the conflict that they're embroiled in. But their journey is not a happy one.

Yeah, the whole premise feels like a cookie cutter YA novel trying to capitalize on the vampire trend, similar to what the Twilight books wound up doing years ago, only here there's no romance. But the premise like this can be done well, and others have managed to pull it off well. But Vampire in the Garden is not one of them, and there's so much wrong with it that it's not even funny. For one, the series is fairly short, only going for about 5 half-hour episodes, so the pacing is very fast, having very little in the way of breaks and quiet moments. Now, I know a lot of series that have less episodes and even shorter episode run times, but have managed to make optimal use of them in order to do what they wanted, with some examples being Yoru no Kuni, the various PokeToon shorts, and even Pokemon Twilight Wings. But here's the thing: All three of those short series I mentioned have one thing in common, which is the reason that people like them show much, that reason being that the three shorts managed to make you, the audience, care about the characters and their plight, mainly because the shows themselves cared about them enough to show how they grow and achieve their goals in the end, even when the roads to getting there weren't exactly pleasant. Which leads me to the main reason why Vampire in the Garden fails as an anime: It's so obsessed with being as bloody, violent, edgy, and downright miserable and morose as possible that it's completely impossible to care about the characters and the situations they're in.

Honestly, watching Vampire in the Garden felt like I was stuck in a bloody mud pit and couldn't get out. Everything about it feels like whoever produced this wanted to make it the most miserable, morose, unnecessarily angsty anime possible. For one, none of the characters save for the main two are even remotely likeable, and even the two leads are bland as hell, barely changing much throughout the show, and any changes they do go through are so predictable you can see them coming from a mile away. The show makes absolutely no effort to develop its characters or give them any depth beyond their most basic archetypes or short flashes of their backstories that just are just there for more forced drama. Most of the characters end up dying anyway, and the show thinks it's good at making you care about them, but its method of doing so involves shoehorning in a LOT of melodrama, a lot of it in the form of characters constantly screaming, crying, angsting, and being angry with no end in sight. Any moments of levity and quiet are really short and often followed up by, you guessed it, more fighting and blood and angst, leaving practically no time to catch your breath, and I can only assume the short number of episodes has something to do with this. Also, can I just say how much I hate Momo's mother Nobara as a character? Most of her screentime consists of being a hardened military leader and yelling at or slapping Momo around. The show is trying to make the case that she wants to save Momo from the vampires, but with the way the show presents her, it never felt to me like she truly cared about Momo and was only trying to save her for her own benefit. And even if Momo did act willful and ungrateful during their argument, does that really justify Nobara slapping her and treating her like shit over really petty things? Any time Momo and Nobara are seen together, Nobara is either angry at her or pulling a gun on her, and any attempts she made to apologize to her all felt shallow and fake as a result of her inconsistent characterization.

Which leads me to Vampire in the Garden's biggest flaw: Momo and Fine's journey winds up being rendered completely meaningless and pointless as nothing in the show ever changes from when it first started. From beginning to end, Vampire in the Garden shows nothing but the vampires and humans at war with one another, and any solutions to the problem are rendered either too good to be true or wind up never having existed in the first place. Combine that with all the blood, gore, violence, and characters being absolutely nasty to one another, this makes the series feel completely meaningless, as the characters we're supposed to care about never manage to achieve their goals, with their whole journey being in vain, nothing ever gets better for them, and any happiness they find winds up being an illusion. The war between the vampires and humans never gets resolved, and most of the cast dies at the end, making Vampire in the Garden nothing more than a painful slog of nothing but seemingly endless misery and tragedy porn. Actually, Vampire in the Garden is literally just relentless, neverending misery porn, nothing more. Honestly, the only good things Vampire in the Garden has going for it are its detailed backgrounds, animation reminiscent of early 2000s stuff, and the soundtrack which consists of mostly classical music and opera singing, and even those can't save the show from just being a relentless angst fest with no light at the end of the tunnel. The whole series feels like it's constantly beating you with a hammer while screaming "FEEL SAAAAAAAD!!" and it just doesn't work because it has nothing else to offer.

Look, I like my fair share of tragedies and bittersweet endings every now and then. But making a show be literally nothing but non-stop angst, drama, and misery, without any meaningful reason for the audience to care about your characters and story, and have it end with basically nothing changing in the end, really doesn't work. At all. I just watched a French movie recently called Long Way North, and while that movie had plenty of tragic moments, it at least had the characters accomplish what they wanted to do in the end, so everything they went through wasn't in vain. The movie In This Corner of the World took 70% of its screentime to establish its story and characters and make the audience care about them first, knowing to save the tragedy and sad moments for later, making it hit harder than it would have had the movie used it earlier. One of my favorite movies of all time is the 1997 Dog of Flanders anime, and it starts off happy-go-lucky and sweet but slowly becomes more tragic as it goes on, and it also has a sad ending, but it actually had a point to its tragedy, to establish how classism hurts both the privileged and the working class people. Hell, what many consider to be one of the best video games ever, Mother 3, is universally praised as being one of the saddest games ever, and didn't need to rely on having absolutely nothing but constant sorrow and drama for 30 hours straight. My point being, if you're going to make your story a tragedy in some capacity, don't make the tragedy all there is to story, and have more to offer than just that. Vampire in the Garden has literally nothing to offer except endless angst that's ultimately pointless in the end. I once wrote a fan fic years ago that many people claimed was pointlessly dark and edgy, and some of their complaints about it are valid, but if there's one thing I can say about it, it's that I at least TRIED to have there to be more to it than just angst and drama. I made sure to at least develop the characters and throw in moments of needed levity, even if I didn't always succeed, and stuff like this and Magical Girl Site are way worse and edgier than my old fic could ever be.

Vampire in the Garden is on Netflix right now, and maybe it can be something you can use to introduce a teenager to and have them transition to watching anime that's more mature than stuff like Pokemon and Naruto. Otherwise, Vampire in the Garden doesn't have anything to offer unless you're masochistic enough to endure seemingly endless angst, gore, and melodrama.

Edit, 5/22/2022: I found out I was admittedly wrong about one thing. Apparently there was a stinger scene at the very end of episode 5, after the credits, that I didn't see on my first watch. Because I didn't see this stinger, I thought that Momo's journey wound up being completely in vain, making the series feel completely pointless, but it turns out the stinger has a much happier outcome for Momo than I thought. Because of this, I've decided to be a little bit generous and bump up the rating slightly, from a 40 to a 49. That being said, my overall feelings for Vampire in the Garden remain the same, and had the series been longer and bothered to put in some more moments of levity and flesh out all its other characters, it might have been something good or even great.

 

[Juliko]

This review was started on July 4th, 2022, but only finished today. Boy, I've wanted to talk about this one for a LOOOONG while.

Rating: 79/100

(This review covers parts one and two)

Ah, vampires. Stories about them have been around since the mid-19th century. From the very first vampire novella Carmilla, Bram Stoker's Dracula, the God-awful Twilight series, Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles series, to the newest TV series on Netflix, First Kill. Vampires and their lore are rife for all kinds of storytelling ideas, and the anime/manga industry is no different, offering stuff like the dark, violent Helsing series alongside more sweet and wholesome vampire fare such as Ms. Vampire Who Lives In My Neighborhood. I remember when the Twilight series was huge, but I was never into it, or the vampire trend in general, so I mostly stayed away from vampire-themed stuff. But as of recently, one show I initially missed out on caught my attention, called The Case Study of Vanitas, more so when I learned that it was a new series by Jun Mochizuki, known for her other manga Pandora Hearts. I remember reading and owning 12 volumes of Pandora Hearts when it was first being brought to the US, but I dropped it due to other obligations and sold my copies on Ebay. I really need to get back to it some time. A podcast I follow was praising the English dub for Vanitas up the wazoo, and I thought "Eh, why not? I'm bored. I might as well watch something new." So I decided to watch Vanitas, since the series' second half had ended around that time. As of this writing, I've only read three volumes of the manga, but now that I've finished the show, I can say...it's actually pretty good! Though not without its issues.

In an alternate 19th century Paris, humans and vampires have co-existed for centuries, though that's because humans believe vampires have been wiped out long ago. A young vampire, Noe Archiviste, is on a mission to find the mysterious Book of Vanitas, a clockwork grimoire that is said to corrupt vampires and turn them into bloodthirsty, out of control curse-bearers. The Book of Vanitas is the creation of the feared Vampire of the Blue Moon, considered a monster by the regular vampire society. Luck seems to be on his side, as he finds the book on the very first airship he boards, in the possession of a mysterious human man who refers to himself by Vanitas and claims to be a vampire doctor. Their first meeting is awkward, but through a series of circumstances, Noe and Vanitas find themselves joining forces to heal cursed vampires, but there lurks the threat of an unknown being called Charlatan, the one likely responsible for corrupting them in the first place. And is Charlatan the only force at play here?

Most anime studios tend to favor a particular type of series. Sunrise likes its mecha, JC Staff and Doga Kobo like moe girls, Studio Deen has its bishounen anime, and Hal Film Maker is often into slice-of-life. The Case Study of Vanitas is animated by BONES, and many of that studio's shows are very different from one another. This is the same studio that made anime such as Angelic Layer, Kurau Phantom Memory, the Cowboy Bebop movie, and Ouran High School Host Club, among many, many others. The fact that their shows are so diverse is really one of BONES' biggest strengths, alongside the effort they put into their execution, even if their attempts don't always land. The animation they did for Vanitas is surprisingly smooth, and even when it isn't, the colors are sharp and bright, the fight scenes are well choreographed, the backgrounds are beautifully rendered, and even the costumes are well designed. Sometimes the anime employs some artfully creative cut out sequences or charcoal art with watercolor backgrounds for added atmospheric effect. This is because some of the staff that worked on this worked at Shaft, and you may know them for stuff like the Monogatari series or Madoka Magica. Granted, Jun Mochizuki's artwork is highly detailed and intricate, so there was no way BONES could really replicate it in an animated medium without possibly going bankrupt, so it's inevitable that some things had to be simplified. But for what it's worth, the animation still remains true to the manga as a whole, and what the anime lacks in some details, it makes up for with smoother motion and colors that pop. Also, Vanitas has much more of a budget than the Pandora Hearts' anime ever did. Yeah, I remember when people utterly lambasted Pandora Hearts' animation, even though there are plenty of anime that had far worse animation and had even less of a budget, even when PH first aired. Though...there is one thing about the character designs that bothers me: Why the hell are everybody's eyelashes the same color as their hair?! It just looks weird to me! It looks fine on characters with darker hair like Vanitas, Dominique, and Olivier, but seeing yellow or pink eyelashes on the characters just looks off to me. Unfortunately, this is also in the manga too, so I can only assume this was a deliberate style choice on Mochizuki's part. Ehhh, I don't know.

As for the soundtrack...Come on. It's Yuki Kajiura. Does she really need an introduction at this point in time? What else is there to say about her and her work that hasn't been said already? She's one of the most prolific composers for a reason. The last thing I watched that she did the music for was Fena: Pirate Princess, and I didn't think her soundtrack was very memorable there. Then comes Vanitas and she brought her A-game once more, with her trademark violins, female vocals, gregorian choirs, and pretty much everything else she's good at. Since the anime specifically takes place in an alternate steampunk version of Paris, there's one instrument that gets top usage here: Accordions. Lots of them. Because you can't have France and Paris without accordions, right? Hell, the second opening has an impeccably, fluidly animated five-second shot of some dude playing an accordion in tune with the song! I don't think I can add much to praise Yuki Kajiura's soundtrack here that hasn't been said already, but there is one thing I can say that absolutely needs to be said: Where in the world can you find a composer who manages to both incorporate accordions into battle music and make accordions sound absolutely BADASS? Because she pulled out all the stops here, and it's fucking fantastic. Just watch episode 23 to see (or in this case, hear) what I mean. I have to admit, I am kinda surprised Kajiura was put on yet another anime based on Mochizuki's work. Was it because BONES knew she worked on PH and brought her on for that reason, or did Mochizuki-sensei like her work for PH so much that she wanted her again for Vanitas? Who knows?

The characters are where things start to get thorny. A lot of the more prominent characters, like Noe, Vanitas, Dominique, Jeanne, Chloe, and Astolfo are pretty nicely developed, all with their own unique flaws, strengths, idiosyncrasies, backstories, and so on, even if the anime wasn't able to adapt all of them to the screen. But there are just as many characters that either aren't utilized enough or are just flat-out forgotten after they're introduced. Roland's partner Olivier doesn't really do much except for help everyone in the Gevaudan arc and be Roland's perpetually angry babysitter, that's it. Dominique's older sister Veronica is just there to be a callous bitch and doesn't do anything for the plot, and speaking of not doing anything, poor Luca got it the worst. Out of all the characters, he was the one I wanted to learn more about the most, as he has the highest governmental authority in the vampire world, but due to being a child, he can't really do anything with said authority, so he's basically relegated to being a puppet figurehead. That makes for a lot of interesting story ideas that both the anime and the manga really could have built on, but after his initial introduction, he pretty much disappears. The poor kid doesn't even do anything in the second season other than be used for a one-note gag in episode 20, for God's sake!! Then again, the manga has this issue with Luca as well, and for all we know, Mochizuki might address this problem, but since the manga is on hiatus for the time being, that might not change any time soon. Tl;dr, the cast is pretty large, and while some characters get the right amount of development, others are very mismanaged.

Of course, underutilized characters aren't the only problem Vanitas has as a show. I only just started reading the manga, but the anime cuts out some minor yet important details that make things in the anime seem more nonsensical than they were in the manga. In episode 4, Dominique lures Vanitas into what's essentially a torture chamber, and the anime somehow makes it seem like she managed to tie Vanitas up to a giant wheel. The manga actually shows the process, explaining that she had two attendants restrain him and tie him up. Not sure why the anime chose to leave this out, probably for the sake of faster pacing, but it just feels jarring. Also, from what I've heard, the anime's adaptation of the Gevaudan arc, which covers four whole manga volumes, leaves out a significant amount of content, such as additional backstory information for a certain character, and even whole scenes that were meant to set up future arcs and plot points. Hell, apparently one particular character is said to have set up the events of the Gevaudan arc in the manga, but in the anime, he only has one small part, which is in the Bal Masque arc, and never appears in the anime after that. Jeez, way to leave out a lot of important context, anime. I've only read up to volume 3, so I can't confirm whether all this is true or not, but based on the research I did and from what fans of the series have said...yeah, I can understand wanting to catch up to the manga and end at a certain point rather than go for an anime original ending, but BONES, there were probably better ways to do it. Furthermore, the series also sets up a plot point in episodes 11-12 involving one of the antagonists (Any Vanitas fans will know it when they see it)...and then it just forgets about it a la A Wrinkle In Time. Like, why even bother setting it up if you're not even going to do anything with it for the rest of the series?! (And for anyone wanting to ask, yes, for all we know, Mochizuki might address this in the manga since its still ongoing, but since it's on hiatus, we don't know when that'll be)

There's also the character of Vanitas himself. Personally, I like him as a character just fine, as he's wonderfully complex and flawed, with the series really going out of its way to show why he's the way he is, even if we still don't have all the answers, though I do like Noe better. But there are many people who may not like his eccentricities and initial arrogant persona, even if the series reveals there's more to him than that. The series takes a pretty big risk by making him a massive scumbag in the beginning, and I know episode 3 ruffled a lot of feathers, because in there, he flat-out kisses a woman without her consent, which we would consider some form of sexual assault. To be fair, the series does have a lot of its characters point out how utterly wrong this is, though you probably wouldn't know that from the way the scene is animated. Many I know were pretty put off by this, and I can totally understand why. Personally, while what Vanitas did was genuinely wrong, I wasn't bothered by it because, 1. Again, like I mentioned, several characters call him out on this, even if Vanitas makes no effort to at least apologize, 2. Jeanne gets back at him for it in the very next episode when she drops him to the floor like a hot potato after rescuing him, 3. Both the manga and anime do explain why he pursues her and why he does what he does later in the series, and 4. I'm just happy Mochizuki didn't make him do anything like, say, grab her boobs. If that had happened, I would have dropped the series like a hot potato. So yeah, for anyone who wants to watch the series, your enjoyment of it will very much depend on whether you like Vanitas as a character or not.

Though...come on. Look at this little shitgremlin. He can either be the sexiest man ever or he can make you want to punch that smug grin off his goddamn face.

Spoiler

In all honesty though, The Case Study of Vanitas as a show is still a hell of a fun ride, incomplete story notwithstanding, and there's a lot about this horny goth parade that definitely appeals to my inner 12-year-old. Yes, I said horny because this series really goes all in on the "bloodsucking made to look sexy and sensual" tropes, complete with sex metaphors, but its sensuality and sexual imagery actually feels genuine and authentically intimate, more than any jiggling boobs, panty shots, or ecchi anime could ever hope to achieve. I mean, just watch these two clips to see and hear what I mean, as simply describing it doesn't feel like enough. But simply relegating Vanitas down to just sexy bloodsucking doesn't do the series justice. The story is always moving forward, even if it does get convoluted at points, the setting is very intriguing, and I'm genuinely interested in learning more about this crazy world Noe and his buddies live in along with the amassing mysteries the series sets up. If this had come out when I was a lot younger, I probably would have considered this one of my favorite anime of all time, if not my #1 favorite, but I'm glad I've seen it now, my criticisms aside. I bet I probably would have crushed hard on Noe in particular. I actually do a little bit, because Noe is a good boy who deserves all the love and tarte tatin! I would let him suck my blood! Noe is a better vampire than Edward Cullen will ever be! Suck it, Twilight! Also, I kind of hope Hot Topic eventually makes Vanitas merchandise, because that show would be absolutely perfect for that store. I mean, if they're doing it for Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun, I don't see why they can't do it for Vanitas!

So yeah, The Case Study of Vanitas is a fun, action-packed vampire goth parade of a show that's blunt, edgy, over-the-top, theatrical, gleefully campy, violent, sexy, and sometimes in poor taste. But if you're into that stuff, definitely check out Vanitas if you want a fun time. Oh, and I wholly recommend the English dub. Seriously, Zeno Robinson's voice for Vanitas is such an absolute delight to listen to.

 

[Juliko]

Haven't done one of these in a long while. Better get back to reading some books, then!

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
Rating: 5.5/10
A book from the 70s about a kid befriending a family of immortals and learning that maybe living forever isn't as cool as it sounds. I wanted to like this book, as stories of immortality and its downsides are rife with storytelling potential. But I admittedly didn't like this one. None of the characters were very interesting, the villain was obvious and cliche, and we never get an explanation for why the spring water the Tucks drank makes them immortal. I also really didn't like that the book tried to pair a 17-year-old boy with a ten-year-old girl. Nothing comes of it, thankfully, but that aspect of it really hasn't aged well. The only things I really liked about Tuck Everlasting were the prose and that the novel and its chapters were fairly short. But it's pretty forgetable and I can't really fathom why this is considered one of the best children's literature books out there.

How Do You Live? By Genzaburo Yoshino
Rating: 7/10
Man, I was kind of hoping I could write a much more detailed, in-depth review of this one, since Hayao Miyazaki said once that this is his favorite book. But I didn't really find myself connecting with it. I mean, it's a fine book, don't get me wrong, and I liked Copper as a character, what with being a preteen boy growing up in pre-World War II Japan and his relationship with his friends and family, particularly his uncle. But I found that Uncle's sections drag a lot, and sometimes the educational segments seemed to get in the way of the story and came across as rather heavy-handed. Of course, the translator's note at the end detailing why Yoshino-san wrote the book explains a lot of things, namely why How Do You Live? is the way it is, which helped. I don't think it's anything special, but it's a solid work of children's fiction.

The Many Mysteries of the Finkel Family by Sarah Kapit
Rating: 7.5/10
After seeing that the author of Get a Grip Vivy Cohen put out a new book, I knew I had to read it straight away. It's a pretty big departure from Vivy Cohen, but for the most part, I found The Many Mysteries of the Finkel Family to be pretty cute and relatable. I liked the main duo, and both characters had endearing personalities and flaws that are pretty realistic for kids their age, autistic or no. The side characters were okay, but some where hard to keep track of. I was a little thrown off by a lot of the Jewish terms and customs (Is Ima supposed to be their mom?), as my knowledge of Judaism is admittedly very limited, and I did find the ending to be a bit abrupt. But for what it is, I found this book to be a cute, relatable middle grade romp. I also appreciate that the conflicts Lara and Caroline get into are things that every kid their age can relate to, such as making friends that don't always have your best interests at heart, and that the overall plot isn't centered around their being autistic. That being said, I do feel Vivy Cohen was a little better, but that's just me.

Planet Earth is Blue by Nicole Panteleakos
Rating: 7/10
This is a cute book, all things considered. Most of the characters were pretty likeable, I liked reading the chapters that focused on Nova's point of view, and the prose was pretty decent. The book takes place during the 1980s, and I wasn't born during that time, but other than some intentional liberties taken, from what I can tell, the finer details of the era are on point. Plus, I appreciate that Nova's previous foster families weren't depicted as being over the top abusive like other media tends to do. I do wish Nova had a bit more agency and made her own choices, but since this is a slice-of-life novel, I didn't find it to be too much of a problem considering the setting and the overall conflict. I also found the twist at the end to be rather predictable. Eh, nothing groundbreaking, but it's still a nice little book if you're looking for a time killer to read. I kinda wish I had more to say about it, as I had intended to write a bigger review, but I've decided to settle on doing a smaller review for it.

Mindblind by Jennifer Roy
Rating: 4.5/10
Dear lord, this book was a slog to read through. This was boring. Very, very boring. All the characters were bland and revolved entirely around Nathaniel with not much else to their character, the writing had very little focus, all the overly technical terms flew right over my head, the pacing was agonizingly slow, and Nathaniel as a character is just yet another amalgamation of a bunch of autism stereotypes thrown together. Plus, the book is written from Nathaniel's point of view, yet everything he says feels so detached, stiff, and robotic, which some have referred to as "the autism voice." After reading this, now I completely understand what that article meant. I wouldn't recommend this one at all. There's a crap ton more books featuring autistic main characters that are way better than this, like Queens of Geek and Me and Sam-Sam Handle The Apocalypse, along with the next book after this.

Ellen Outside The Lines by A.J. Sass
Rating: 8/10
Unlike Mindblind above, and similarly to The Many Mysteries of the Finkel Family, Ellen Outside The Lines is much more respectful in its depiction of an autistic person without resorting to unflattering stereotypes. The characters were endearing and likeable with realistic flaws, I liked the central conflict, the prose was pretty good, and—again, like Finkel Family—the conflict isn't solely about Ellen being autistic but about issues that kids Ellen's age can relate to. Plus, the ending was pretty sweet and subverted my expectations quite a bit. My only gripes with it were that I wish we had learned more about the kids and their lives outside the trip to Barcelona. Plus, I wasn't too big a fan of the Xavi/Merixtell subplot, as it felt like unnecessary padding to make the book drag on for longer than needed. Still, I liked this book for what it is, and I'm excited to see what A.J. Sass has in store next.

 

[Juliko]

This review I just finished last night.

Rating: 77/100

Nahoko Uehashi is no stranger to having her work adapted into anime. For anyone not in the know, Nahoko Uehashi is a writer who's published a lot of fantasy novels in Japan, all of which have received fairly critical acclaim. In fact, two of her novel series, Seirei no Moribito and Beast Player Elin (or Kemono no Souja Erin), have both been adapted into anime, the former in 2007 and the latter in 2009. I've seen the anime for Moribito and I absolutely adore it, but I haven't seen Elin yet, even though I own the first novel in that series and haven't read it yet. But it's safe to say that Uehashi has a pretty strong pedigree, both in the literature and anime world. So when I found out another one of her works was due for an anime film, called The Deer King, I couldn't wait to see it, even after reviews for it started coming out that pointed out that the movie has some pretty significant flaws. Because lets face it, these days, pure fantasy stories that actually give a damn about their worlds, characters, and stories are becoming fewer and fewer in number. Thanks a lot, isekai trend. After having seen it now...I'm admittedly rather conflicted, though I do agree with a lot of the reviews for this movie on one thing: The Deer King really should have been a TV series, like Moribito and Elin were.

Van was once head of a group of soldiers defending his homeland from the Zol Empire, which was looking to assimilate it into their territory. But after he loses his family to an epidemic, Van falls into despair and is taken as a slave to work in a salt mine. One night, a pack of strange dogs attack the mine, and a mysterious illness, the same one that killed his family, breaks out, killing everyone except him and a young toddler, Yuna. Van manages to take the opportunity to escape and takes Yuna with him. Elsewhere, the Kingdom of Aquafa is working tirelessly to study the Black Wolf Fever and figure out some way to cure it, and the thing is, it only seems to afflict people from the Zol Empire. A priest-doctor, Hossal, decides to risk his life to search for a cure, encountering Van as Yuna gets kidnapped by the mysterious wolves. Van, Hossal, and a woman named Sae—who was sent to kill Van by her country's orders—have to work together to both save Yuna and prevent their world from falling into a war.

If there's one thing I can absolutely say about The Deer King, is that it is DENSE. By that I mean it contains a LOT of content that's stuffed into two hours. If you thought Maquia: When The Promised Flower Blooms was dense and full of content, then The Deer King has it beat. You have a guy and a little girl becoming a family, tensions between empires, a mysterious illness, something about an emperor visiting, and so on. The movie really goes all in on trying to have as much content as possible, moving from one plot point and set of characters to the next, leaving barely any time for the audience to catch their breath. On the one hand, this means there's always something going on, so you won't find yourself bored. On the other hand, The Deer King really tries to tell a huge story in the span of two hours, making its pacing fairly fast as it does so, but two hours is not enough to cover all that the movie tries to. It's incredibly hard to keep up with the various characters and plot points, and every 5 minutes, I kept asking "Wait, who's this? What's happening? Huh? What's this about the emperor's eyes? Slow down, movie!" It basically has the same problem as The Heike Story, in that it tries to juggle a huge amount of events and characters in a time frame that's just too small to handle the weight of its source material. This is why I say The Deer King should have been a TV series, that way it would have had more time to flesh everything out and let the audience at least process what's going on. Beast Player Elin had 50 episodes, and Moribito had 26 episodes (and only covered a couple volumes of the novels, at that).

Because of this, most, if not all the characters, feel more like props moving the story forward rather than actual characters. Now don't get me wrong, the main three adult characters that we follow have some pretty solid characterization. Out of all of them, I found Hossal to be the most interesting, with his desire to cure the Black Wolf Fever but being so disconnected from the outside world that he can't even gather firewood properly and having to reconcile his beliefs in science with faith and religion, integrating them into his worldview in order to find answers. Plus, the movie is also pretty good at letting the characters' actions speak for themselves, rather than simply explaining who these characters are outright. One scene involving an evil Zolian prince has him deliberately squishing blood out of his infected leg and demanding an Aquafan sage lick it, an action that not only establishes his sadistic and evil personality, but the power dynamic between the imperialist Zolians and the conquered Aquafans more than any monologues could ever hope to do. Even more subtle things like Van reaching through his cage to comfort Yuna show so much more than just relying solely on dialogue, and these little touches are present throughout the entire movie, something director Masashi Ando is apparently well known for. So what the movie lacks in more overt characterization, it makes up for in its clever usage of "show, don't tell." That being said, I didn't find Yuna to be that compelling of a character. She was mainly there to be a cutesy toddler and a damsel in distress, and since she's toddler-aged, it makes sense that she can't really have a proactive role in the story, but I wish the movie could have had her be more than just a damsel. While I can definitely respect Ando for wanting to make do with the allotted time that he had, and what he's able to accomplish is definitely laudable, but it doesn't change the fact that two hours is not enough time to carry the weight of so much material, especially when taking the fast pacing into account. Plus, the final villain at the end just came out of nowhere and felt tacked on.

The actual animation itself is pretty stellar for a movie. Production IG is no stranger to both making movies and Uehashi's work. They did make the anime adaptations of both Moribito and Elin, after all. Their animation is always very consistent depending on the content they're making, and honestly, The Deer King's character designs are very reminiscent of Moribito. Every character has their own distinct look without looking generic or overdesigned, the backgrounds are rich and detailed, and the character motion is pretty smooth. Not KyoAni smooth, but it does its job decently well. Considering that Ando previously worked with Ghibli, there are certainly a lot of parallels in terms of the backgrounds and character designs. I do have to admit, I barely paid much attention to the soundtrack, as I was expending more energy on trying to keep up with the movie than with admiring the soundtrack. The OST is nice enough, but I couldn't tell you the first thing about it. Maybe I'll have more to say about it if I rewatch the movie once it comes out on home video or something (Which, as of this writing, just got confirmed for a BR release set for October 18th! Thanks, GKids!).

So yeah, Masashi Ando's film debut, while noble and timely, couldn't quite carry the weight of its massive source material. That being said, this is a pretty solid movie on its own merits, and I'd gladly watch this over all the bland isekai anime that rehash the same premises over and over again. So for all its flaws, The Deer King proves that high fantasy anime aren't dead yet. Feel free to check it out if you're looking for a fantasy with a bit more bite to it.

 

[Juliko]

This review was just finished today.

Rating: 65/100

I think it's safe to say by now that I'm a low key fan of Frances Hodgson Burnett. I love A Little Princess, and I like The Secret Garden okay, but I feel the former book is slightly better. At one point, I had read the first novel she published, Little Lord Fauntleroy, but I promptly forgot about it afterward. But during its time, Little Lord Fauntleroy was shich a hit that it spawned merchandise and set fashion trends. One person described it as the Harry Potter of Victorian era England in terms of its level of success. But it also garnered a reputation in modern times for being way too saccharine, treacly, and sentimental for its own good, way too much of a product of its time. Having re-read it recently...yeah, that criticism is pretty much right on the money, because dear God, is Little Lord Fauntleroy a slog to go through.

The story centers on 7-year-old Cedric Errol, a little boy who lives with his loving parents in New York. His father dies tragically, but with this comes another set of news: It turns out Cedric is the grandson of the Earl of Dorincourt, a high ranking noble in England. Said grandfather wants Cedric and his mother to come live with him in England, inheriting a great fortune, a luxurious estate to live in, and is promised everything he could ever want. Being a little boy, Cedric is overjoyed at the thought of becoming a rich nobleman's child...completely unaware of the fact that his grandfather hates Americans and intends on keeping his mother away from Cedric. The Earl of Dorincourt has hated Cedric's mother for marrying his youngest son, but wants to educate Cedric and teach him to become an aristocrat so he can at least have someone to pass his fortune onto. But Cedric's sweet personality and generous nature warms the hearts of all who meet him, and maybe, just maybe, the Earl can find it in his heart to love him as well.

Now, Burnett has written a lot of books besides the three famous children's books I mentioned above, but out of those three, I feel Little Lord Fauntleroy is the weakest of them all. Plus, this was admittedly the first children's novel she ever wrote, and honestly, it's normal to produce work that starts off bad before improving and putting out better things. If people don't make mistakes, how can they learn and improve? Writing is a craft that has to be refined over time. I should know, I took creative writing classes in high school and college. Little Lord Fauntleroy was also the book that put Burnett on the map, so I can respect it for at least getting her name out there. But great novel Little Lord Fauntleroy is not, and there are a lot of things that just scream "This is my first novel ever!" For one, there are paragraphs that are way too long and could benefit from being cut down into smaller paragraphs. The edition I have has several paragraphs taking up entire pages with no breaks in between! Furthermore, there are several passages and whole chapters that just drag on and on, bogged down by overly sentimental writing that's so cloying and sugary sweet that it makes me want to puke. Now I feel bad for having said that A Little Princess' prose came off as pretentious, because that actually had some restraint compared to Little Lord Fauntleroy's overall prose.

But I could forgive that if the characters were engaging. Sadly, that's not so. Every single character is a stereotype, and any development they get is so predictable and cliche, even by the standards of the Victorian era. Their characterization also feels a little too black-and-white as well. Every main character is either completely good or turns good later on, or if they're villains, completely villainous and bad, without much in the way of depth or nuance to make them feel like three-dimensional characters. Granted, the Earl of Dorincourt changes over the course of the series, but a lot of it is just exposited in the narration rather than showing him actually caring for Cedric. Speaking of Cedric, dear lord this kid is such a blatant, overly perfect Gary Stu it's not even funny. The book tries so hard to make him come off as just so pwecious, intelligent, perfect, and angelic as possible, but all it did was make him so saccharine and syrupy that I'm pretty sure any diabetic who reads this will wind up dead. He has zero flaws, he rarely faces any real challenges, and any that do come up, he always manages to resolve with Grandpa's money, everybody worships the ground he walks on, he's smarter than most seven-year-olds should be (What seven year old is interested in politics at that age?!), and need I mention the fact that he refers to his mother as Dearest? Blegh. Granted, from what I've heard, Cedric is the kind of child every Victorian era parent wanted their child to be: Absolutely perfect, devoted, unfailingly kind, and obedient. But none of those qualities make for a good protagonist if you can't give them three-dimensional flaws or weaknesses that can make people care about their plight. If a character is too perfect and manages to resolve everything without trouble, then we as the audience can't bring ourselves to care or like them because we never see them actually struggle or deal with any problems that would make them grow. Thankfully, Burnett seemed to have realized this later on, as the protagonists of her later children's novels, A Little Princess and The Secret Garden, would go on to have more well-rounded personalities and be given a fair amount of flaws, even if in the case of the former, it's not quite that obvious upon the first reading.

Because of all this, the story isn't much to write home about either, as it's just another rags to riches story with more focus on the riches part, which is a shame because Little Lord Fauntleroy does have good messages about seeing the good in people and using your privilege to help others. There's value to be had in stories that empathize being kind to others and using what privilege and platforms you have to make the world a better place and improve peoples' lives. Considering the turbulent times we live in, those messages are more relevant than ever before, and morals like that can be done well if put in the right hands. But as much as it tried to do so, Little Lord Fauntleroy ultimately failed in doing that because it couldn't be bothered to make its characters interesting and relatable or show them actually dealing with their flaws or adversaries. As much as I wanted to like this, Little Lord Fauntleroy was more interested in fluff and shilling Cedric than trying to tell a good story. It really says a lot that A Little Princess and The Secret Garden are better remembered nowadays than this turned out to be. I've heard that the anime version from 1988, Little Prince Ceddie, improved on a lot of this, but I haven't seen much of it yet. I really ought to remedy that, though.

Sorry, Little Lord Fauntleroy. It may have put Frances Hodgson Burnett's name on the map, but of all her children's books, this didn't age very well, and it's too sentimental, padded out, and saccharine for modern readers to digest.

 

[Juliko]

This review was written on August 18th, 2022.

Rating: 84/100

I missed out on watching Given when it first came out, as at the time, I was still going through anime burnout and couldn't muster the energy or motivation to watch anything besides Pokemon or titles that really interested me. Plus, having watched K-On way back when, I thought Given was just going to be K-On but with guys and I didn't give it a second thought. But now that I've finally clawed myself out of burnout and upon hearing news that it finally received an English dub after years of not having one, I decided to give it a chance. Especially since now I actually have a Crunchyroll subscription. Now, having seen Given, I'm kicking myself for having misjudged it, because this is everything I wish K-On had been. Plus, Crunchyroll just announced that it, along with the movie, is going to come out on home video later in the year, and I actually like it enough to want to own it!

Every day, quiet high schooler Mafuyu Satou carries around a red Gibson ES-330 guitar, formerly owned by a friend he tragically lost. One day, while napping on the stairs, an abrasive classmate named Ritsuka Uenoyama encounters him and scolds him for letting his guitar strings rust, offering to help fix them right afterward. Stunned by Ritsuka's knowledge, Mafuyu begs him to teach him how to change strings and play the guitar. Ritsuka is a talented guitarist, but doesn't feel like he'd be a good enough teacher for him. But Mafuyu is persistent, and eventually, Ritsuka not only relents, but lets Mafuyu join his band. At one point, Ritsuka hears Mafuyu sing and is mesmerized, wanting Mafuyu to become his band's vocalist. With this, Mafuyu's once dark world becomes a little brighter, and with help from his new friends, there's a chance he might finally be able to heal from the tragic loss of his guitar's previous owner.

The animation was done by a studio called Lerche, who you may know worked on shows like Astra: Lost In Space and Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun. The overall look of the show is pretty decent, but the show itself has very little in the way of actual animation. But it does manage to come to life when it matters, like for the band's first performance in episode 1 and during their big concert. It does use some clunky CGI during that same sequence as well, but thankfully they're not used too much. Plus, what Given lacks in overall animation, it manages to make up for in its love for its subject matter. One of the things I didn't like about K-On was that for a good portion of the series, it was much more focused on showing the characters eating cake, drinking tea, and talking about anything except music despite being a series based on music. Given goes all in on its themes of music and bands in a way that shows that the producers knew what they were talking about, like explaining what effects pedals are, the importance of taking care of a guitar's strings, how taxing it is to come up with lyrics, and so on. Speaking of music, the soundtrack is pretty good as well, and you can't have a music anime without good music...though I'm admittedly not a fan of both the opening and ending songs.

Noitamina anime tend to have better characterizations than most (with some exceptions, i.e. Fractale and Guilty Crown, along with many other duds), and Given is no different. Part of the charm comes from the fact that while the two main characters are teenagers, most of the supporting cast consist of adults, and the show is careful not to shoehorn in any unnecessary angst and drama. At least, no more than is necessary. Instead of relying on unnecessary twists, Given thrives on letting the characters just interact naturally with one another and create their own tension. The show does a great job at showing all the different sides to the characters to the point where you can't really describe them with just one sentence and that's it. There's a huge amount of subtlety in the relationships between the various characters, and none of it feels shallow. Plus, I feel Ritsuka is a much better take on a character who's abrasive and isn't good at being honest than, say, Kaito from Tsurune, because unlike Kaito, Ritsuka, and by extension the show itself, actually realizes when he crosses the line or says something he shouldn't and makes efforts to make amends, though Haruki's my favorite.

If you're a person who dislikes slow paced anime or even LGBT-themed anime at all (And yes, Given has characters that are VERY explicitly canonically gay), you're probably not gonna like Given. But it really is a must watch for people who love a decent romance and want something more meaty and substantial than most anime of similar fare. The show's only real flaw is that the ending is very open-ended and leaves quite a bit of loose threads hanging, though the 2020 sequel movie would rectify this. Though I'm admittedly hesitant to watch the movie because it apparently has one character doing something he really shouldn't to another. But Given as a show is still really good and deserves all the love it can get. It's a show that actually gives a damn about its subject matter and a good reminder that Noitamina can still churn out great shows.

Given may not be breaking any molds, but I highly recommend it if you want a sweet, wholesome time killer that's still substiantial enough to leave you wanting more.

 

[Juliko]

This review was written on August 5th, 2022, and for anyone who's not Italian, I guarantee you you've never heard of this in any capacity.

Rating: 81/100

Has anyone ever heard of Ai no Gakkou Cuore Monogatari before this? Yeah, me either. I didn't learn about this anime until earlier this year, when a fansub group I follow decided to sub it, as it had never gotten translated in any format before this. But I immediately decided to watch it as soon as I read the news because it's an anime based on a Western novel and reminiscent of the World Masterpiece Theater despite not being part of that staple. How could I not want to watch it? And as you can tell by the rating, I'm glad I did, because Ai no Gakkou Cuore Monogatari is actually a pretty sweet anime that's also criminally underrated. Based on the 1886 novel by Edmondo de Amicis, Cuore, Libro per i Ragazzi (translation being Heart: an Italian Schoolboy's Journal), the story centers on Enrico Bottini, a schoolboy living in Turin, Italy late in the 19th century and his experiences going to school, enduring hardships alongside his friends, and learning life lessons from his new teacher, Mr. Perboni. That's really it as far as the story goes. There isn't much in terms of an overarching plot, and the series is pretty episodic.

But before I talk more about Cuore, I want to talk about something that actually spawned from it. For all you WMT fans out there, you may be familiar with an anime called 3000 Leagues In Search of Mother, which aired in Japan in 1976. The interesting thing about 3000 Leagues is that it's not based on a whole novel, but rather, a tiny excerpt from a single chapter of Cuore itself. In Cuore, there are segments where Mr. Perboni tells moral tales to his students in order to teach them life lessons. One of those stories happened to be a story of a boy named Marco going from Genoa, Italy all the way to Argentina to find his mother. I don't know who did this, but somebody looked at that part of the novel and said "Hey! Why don't we make a whole series out of this one segment?" Basically, the producers for that anime took the very basic idea and timeline and built a whole story out of it from the ground up. Ironically enough, Cuore itself wouldn't get an anime adaptation until five years later in 1981, and it wasn't included in the World Masterpiece Theater.

Moving on to Cuore itself, the animation is...alright. Pretty limited, which is understandable considering when it was first made, but what it lacks in actual motion, it makes up for with non-standard but charming, distinct character designs, nicely painted backgrounds, and its attention to detail in regards to the setting. Though Cuore does have a pretty glaring issue which, unfortunately, has been common with series like it: the series can never seem to get its characters' names consistent in terms of spelling. At one point, Enrico's friend Crossi's name is spelled Crosi in one scene, but then it's spelled Crossi in another scene. In a later episode, Father Fernando's name is spelled as Felnando, with the L being capitalized in the middle for some reason. The hell? Have the staff never bothered to hire proofreaders or something? I don't have as much to say about the soundtrack. It's dated, but still pretty nice, all things considered, using plenty of woodwinds and accordions, though some of the higher pitched background music can get a little grating on one's ears. Both the opening and ending themes are very nicely sung, though.

Now, I know I said Cuore as a series is fairly episodic, not following a linear narrative, just showing Enrico's school and family life, but that doesn't mean there isn't any character development. Similarly to the shows in the WMT, all the characters are shown growing up and maturing, for better and for worse, are forced to come to terms with their flaws, and really change throughout the series. Cuore isn't the most original story out there that explored this concept, but it's main charm is about highlighting the every day struggles of boyhood. Enrico and his family are all charming, likeable characters with their own unique strengths and weaknesses, and the series really goes out of its way to give the same treatment to Enrico's classmates. Seriously, Cuore does a stupendous job of really giving a lot of time and depth to Enrico's friends and classmates, even those outside his social circle, whereas most series wouldn't give a damn about any character that isn't relevant to the main story. Every one of Enrico's friends, from the large, dependable Garrone, to the overweight, quiet yet mischievous bookworm Stardi (Who's my favorite, BTW), have different sides to them that give them more color and dimension than most series care to give, and I'm so happy Cuore cared enough about its ensemble cast to flesh them out and make them feel like people...most of the time. I did feel one character's turnaround at the very end came out of nowhere, but it didn't negatively affect my enjoyment of the series. One thing I can absolutely say in Cuore's favor is that I feel Mr. Perboni is one of the most well-written teachers I've seen depicted in an anime. He's strict, but not overly so to the point of being sadistic or heartless. He's depicted as a reasonable man who can be stern when he feels it to be necessary, but actually takes the time to listen to and reach out to his students when they have problems, never resorting to doling out punishments just for kicks and giggles.

Cuore, as a series, is fairly wholesome and optimistic, rarely ever resorting to cliches and actually making an effort to treat serious subject matter with respect, but like the WMT, it isn't afraid to show bad things happening to children. Granted, a lot of that is limited to the stories Mr. Perboni tells to his class to teach them moral lessons, like a story about a boy offering to be a lookout for an army, only to get shot and killed in the process of doing so, or a story Mr. Perboni tells about a kid getting stabbed to death because he got into one fight too many, leaving his elderly grandmother all alone. The series tackles issues such as bullying, poverty, the importance of an education, and something I don't see get tackled in a lot of anime: Adult illiteracy. Cuore treats its subject matter fairly well...except for one: Child abuse. Without spoiling anything, two episodes focus on two characters being abused by their parental figures, showing how their abuse affects them and whatnot, which is fairly good at first...but the resolutions to the episodes come off as way too optimistic and treacly for my liking, and winding up coming with their own sets of issues, with one episode straight out ending with the abusive parent magically learning the error of their ways and instantly changing for the better right then and there...which absolutely does not happen in real life. That one in particular really broke my suspension of disbelief, especially since I've seen other shows, even WMT shows, that tackled the subject with far more nuance and sensitivity. Also, this is more of a personal nitpick, but some of the characters' voices can border on being really high pitched and grating for those who have sound sensitivity like I do.

As far as accuracy to the book goes, I can't say, as I haven't read the original novel. I did find out there's an English translation out, so I might check it out when I'm able. In conclusion, Ai no Gakkou Cuore Monogatari is a fairly sweet, wholesome show that does make some missteps, but still manages to be charming and fun all around. People might not like the series' episodic format, the limited animation, or the non-standard character designs, but fans of the World Masterpiece Theater, me included, will definitely get their fix with this series. Plus, I'm super glad that fansub group decided to take a chance on it, as I never would have seen it if they hadn't, and I highly recommend it for people who are looking for an old-school slice-of-life series that's full of heart.

 

[Juliko]

Wow, I never thought I'd finish a review before a show reaches it end. But I just can't keep my thoughts about this show inside any longer. I just can't.

Rating: 50/100

I normally don't try to review an anime before it ends, as I prefer to watch it all the way through before sorting out my thoughts on it. But dear lord, Prima Doll as a show annoyed me so much that I honestly just can't hold my feelings on it back any longer. Prima Doll is a new multimedia franchise created by the company Visual Arts/Key, who many will know as the people who created beloved visual novels such as Air, Kanon, Clannad, and Little Busters. They're still making games to this day, and I remember watching the anime adaptations for Air, Kanon, and Clannad when they came out, and loving them, though if I were to watch them now, it's likely my feelings on them will change. But lately Key has wanted to expand their horizons, and I can understand wanting to try something new...though multimedia franchises usually don't fare well in this oversaturated market. Yet even by those standards, Prima Doll just absolutely screams shameless corporate artifice that's only there to sell products, and literally nothing else.

Long ago, there was a terrible war that ravaged the world, where autonomous mechanical robots made to resemble human beings, called automata, were used as weapons. Now, the war has thankfully ended, and automata are no longer used for wanton destruction. One establishment, the Black Cat Cafe, employs automata, with the cafe's owner, Nagi Touma, being determined to give them the best life possible. The story is told from the point of view of one automata, Haizakura, who's as sweet as can be but has no memories of the war and is terribly clumsy. But she settles into life at the cafe nicely, making all manner of new friends and searching for her place in an unfamiliar, peaceful world, alongside those closest to her. Just reading the premise, the concept of mechanical dolls being used for violence in an alternate universe steampunk war but searching for a new purpose is very interesting and there's a lot one can do with it. I can definitely get behind using that idea as a backdrop for a more character driven story about what happens when these humanoid robots have to find another function once the fighting is over. I'm sure there are probably stories out there that have done just that.

I would have loved for Prima Doll to do the same, and it seemed like it would...if it weren't so determined to be as saccharine, treacly, and aggressively moe as possible, so drenched in a thick layer of early 2000's syrupy sweet moe artifice that I'm pretty sure anyone who has diabetes would die just from looking at the character designs and hearing their ear-gratingly squeaky voices. None of the characters' have much in the way of depth and characterization to them other than "cute anime girl" or the one personality trait they have, and the show's attempts at giving them any kind of development just come off as shallow because even then, they still resort to insipid, tired cliches to force the audience to sympathize with them rather than, y'know, fleshing them out beyond their most basic character traits. Haizakura in particular is the biggest offender, which is really bad since she's the main character. She is so cloying and irritatingly cutesy, with the show trying so hard to make you like her and see her as sooooo pwecious with her overly pink design, inability to carry out even the most basic tasks, and gurgling "Myuuu!" every time she screws up like an idiot. And no, her being a robot only marginally excuses this, but the story doesn't bother to even do that much with her. The characters are so devoid of any depth to them that it's practically impossible to care about them. Seriously, it says a lot that a Pokemon short film managed to give its characters more depth, personality, and nuance in 13 minutes than this show could ever hope to do in 12 episodes.

The piss-poor writing even extends to the overall story as well. Prima Doll's biggest problem is that it's convinced it's great at tragedy and pathos when anyone with half a brain can see its attempts at doing so for the half-assed, empty, shallow tragedy porn that it is. It's trying way too hard to make the audience want to sympathize with its characters, begging you to shed tears, like it's trying to beat you with a hammer and shouting at you "FEEL SAAAAAAD!!" Especially in episode 1, where the main conflict is a little girl reuniting with her beloved caretaker automata, only for it to be revealed that the robot in question is losing her memories, similar to a grandmother going through dementia and possibly dying. What's the show's solution to this problem? Instead of explaining to the child that their caretaker is suffering from a mental disease—or in this case malfunctioning—and working to manage the situation as best they can, the show decides to flat out lie to the child by saying the robot is going on a trip, and then lock her away in the basement, which is basically the equivalent of telling a kid that their grandmother is going on a trip, puttng her in a medically induced coma, and locking her in a hospital room forever. This is pretty shitty if you use your brain cells, but the show makes it seem like the right thing to do, complete with cheesy music and overwrought monologues from Haizakura, utterly convinced its pulling every heartstring on the planet, and as a result, any emotional beats the episode tries to hit fall completely flat on their face. Because of the terrible execution, the show's moral comes off more like "keep the dying or mentally enfeebled away and hide hard truths from children." Blegh. Bite me.

This shallow mean-spiritedness doesn't stop there, either. In episode 2, when Gekka tells Haizakura about her experiences in the war and how it affected her, Haizakura, in her infinite wisdom, just...tells Gekka to get over it. Like, what? She goes into a cutesy wootsy monologue about how Gekka can shape her life how she wants to after the war now that she's no longer fighting, and the show wants us to agree with her, but the way the show depicts Haizakura in that scene makes her come off as incredibly insensitive in how she just flat-out dismisses Gekka's very traumatizing war experiences, treating them like a switch she can just turn off and on. That's like telling a Holocaust survivor who lost their family and developed PTSD and health issues to just forget everything and move on, not taking into account how they're probably going to need therapy, counseling, and medical help for the rest of their life. The story itself has barely any stakes or tension, and you can predict every single story beat coming from a mile away. Oh, and do I even need to mention the utter trainwreck that's episode 6? Way to shoehorn in barely disguised nudity involving underage-looking girls and shoving them in skimpy outfits, producers!!

Oh, and I feel really bad for the voice actresses being made to overact and push their voices to almost unsustainable levels here. Because we can't have cute anime girls without making them sound like five-year-olds, right? And dear lord, Chiyo's voice actress in particular plays her with the most ear-splittingly chirpy chipmunk squeak that I'm pretty sure would break your ear drums. As someone with auditory sensory processing issues due to being autistic, Chiyo's voice really grated on my ears, and I can't imagine it being a pleasant experience for others either. I heard somebody else criticizing Misaki Kuno in another show she was in, and at first, I thought they were exaggerating with how bad her voice was, but...after hearing it here, I totally understand now. It's not the worst forced voice I've heard (Looking at you, Hikaru from Star Twinkle Pretty Cure), but it's up there. Misaki Kuno is much better taken in small doses, and...this is not one of her better performances by a long shot. I will say Prima Doll does have one thing going for it in this regard: I'm glad they didn't have Ayumu Murase pitch his voice so high that he sounds like a broken Elmo toy. Thank God. But considering this show in general, that's not saying much.

Honestly, the show's only real redeeming qualities are the animation and parts of the soundtrack. Bibury Animation has made several anime such as The Quintessential Quintuplets, Grisaia Phantom Trigger, Azur Lane, and Black Rock Shooter Dawn Fall. Their work here is...alright. The backgrounds are nicely detailed without being overbearing, and I do like the show's aesthetic of steampunk with kimonos. I want to like the character designs, but the main robot girls look more like overly designed plastic toys than anything else, and the show makes it clear it's mainly there to look pretty and sell products. The animation is at the very least competent and does its job. I admit, this is the first show I've seen that Bibury produced, so I can't comment on how it is compared to their other work. The background music is fine, but not very memorable, and many of the songs are well sung. Well, any song that's not Haizakura's unbearable squeaking, that is. Not gonna lie, Houkiboshi has the best song in the whole ensemble, with Karasuba's coming a close second.

At this point, you're probably wondering "Wait, Julia. If you hate this show so much, why are you rating it higher than stuff like Lapis Re:Lights or Japan Sinks?" For the former, several reasons. One: Prima Doll doesn't have 24 main characters to follow, so it's not as cluttered as Lapis Re:Lights is, for what little that's worth. Two: as uninteresting as Prima Doll's story is, it at least has the wherewithal to adhere to its own rules and make sure its lore is consistent instead of going out of its way to contradict them for its own convenience. Three: There's no creepy siscon girl who gets off on stealing her younger sisters' panties. Petty reasons? Probably. I don't know. In the case of Japan Sinks, it promised a realistic character drama with a disaster backdrop but massively jumped the shark, was littered with pointless subplots, its characters were inconsistent and deplorable, and its animation was terrible. Plus, as one-note as the characters are, Karasuba was my favorite out of them, even though she's supposed to be seen as the Negative Nancy who's constantly exasperated by Haizakura's uselessness, though I actually sympathized with Karasuba, because her concerns about Haizakura were absolutely valid. So yeah, most of my ratings are based on my own feelings, thoughts, and personal preference. But yeah, the few positives Prima Doll has absolutely cannot make up for the huge flaws holding it back.

I really wanted to like this show, I really did. I never go into something wanting to hate it. But dear lord, Prima Doll was an absolute chore for me to go through. In the end, the show's just not for me. Is it somebody's cup of tea? Sure. If you like it, more power to you. Depending on how the final three episodes play out, I may or may not change the rating or add more details to my review. Who knows? There's probably a ton of stuff out there involving sentient robots that tackle this premise way better. Prima Doll is not one of them, and for anyone who can't handle over the top saccharine moeness, you'd best steer clear. Prima Doll is the very essence of cloying capitalism; cold, souless, and calculated, cynically produced by a production committee for the purpose of corporate satisfaction and nothing else.

 

[Juliko]

This review was just finished today. So happy to finally be able to talk about this game!

Rating: 85/100

Oh, Digimon Survive, you've had a long and hard journey just to come to fruition. Previously announced in 2018, Digimon Survive was touted as a hybrid visual novel/strategy game that promised a much darker, more realistic narrative than both its anime and game contemporaries. I was hooked the second it was announced, because as a person who grew up on the original 1999 anime and watched the later seasons afterward, I'm a sucker for Digimon going in new directions. Plus, Digimon media outside the main anime have started trying to appeal more to older audiences for years, especially with the Cyber Sleuth games, so something like this isn't necessarily out of the left field, and you can bet I and many others were looking forward to when Survive would come out. But then the game got delayed. Again. And again. And again, Gravity Falls style. As it would turn out, for a lot of different reasons: COVID, needing more money to produce the game as intended, the creators having to flat-out change development teams, and having to scrap several years of work and starting from scratch. People began to think the game would probably be delayed forever...until it finally, FINALLY got released on July 29th, 2022. I bought the Switch version (And managed to get Guilmon). So with all of this, was Digimon Survive even worth the wait? For me personally, I only have this answer: Hell to the YES!...though not without a few caveats.

One thing you'll notice right away is that at first, the game seems like it's just going to be a carbon copy of Adventure: Eight children on a camping trip find themselves teleported to a mysterious world inhabited by monsters and have to find a way to not only get back home, but ways to just survive day to day. But lots of things make Survive stand out from Adventure and its other contemporaries. For one, there's a heavier focus on survival and living day to day, and things like foraging for food to deal with food shortages, or finding working plumbing and clean water are treated as the serious concerns that they are, with some minor exceptions. Adding onto this is the game's heavier leaning into a horror-inspired tone, with a near constant sense of uneasiness creeping into every part of the narrative, like something will just pop out at you at any moment. Granted, Digimon as a franchise hardly ever shied away from occasionally dipping its toes into the psychological and emotionally dark aspects of the Digimon—which, interestingly, aren't referred to as Digimon in this game—especially when it comes to their relationships with their human companions. Survive is hardly an exception, with it stating flat-out that the Digimon partners act as mirrors to the traumatic struggles the kids go through.

Digimon Survive is, by and large, mainly a visual novel that's very heavy on its story, being told with art renders and dialogue trees where the choices you make can influence the trajectory of the narrative. Whether it's getting closer to your group of friends and helping their Digimon evolve, or deciding on the best course of action when dealing with the enemy. Some choices are innocuous and don't do anything, whereas others will have severe, long standing consequences that can even lead to characters dying. Yes, depending on the route you take and the choices you make that lead you to whatever story branches you go down, Digimon Survive shows its characters dying, and in pretty graphic ways, too. Granted, there are two deaths early on that are script-locked, and therefore guaranteed to happen on your first playthrough, so no matter what you do you can't save those particular characters unless you complete the game and do the New Game+ run. So yeah, Digimon Survive is dark and doesn't pull its punches. It's not Magical Girl Site or Platinum End levels of dark, thankfully, and its usage of violence and death actually do have purpose to them, rather than feeling like they're just shoved in there for the sake of tasteless shock value. Plus, there are still plenty of moments of levity sprinkled throughout the game so it doesn't feel like the game is absolutely drowning in non-stop misery and despair unlike some stuff I know.

This also extends to the cast of characters and how they deal with the events going on around them. One of the producers, Kazumasa Habu, said in an interview that he wanted to have Survive go in a much more realistic direction in terms of how real people would react to being stuck in a bad situation and dealing with monsters like the Digimon, and that any decisions they make won't always be the best ones. So basically, he and his team re-used the core archetypes that made up the cast of Adventure, but explored them in ways that make you wonder what would happen if tackled more realistically, similar to how Lord of the Flies handled the premise of kids getting stuck on an island and how their worst vices eventually get the better of them. In Habu's words, in the real world, not everyone is a hero, and real people can make bad decisions and are flawed, which is pretty apt. That being said, the cast of characters in Survive are still a pretty fun bunch in their own right, all with their own unique strengths, weaknesses, quirks, idiosyncrasies, and ways of dealing with their flaws, and they all grow over the course of the game, some for the better and some for the worst. A lot of their backstories and development are restricted to certain routes, so you won't learn everything about them on your first playthrough, but the game really goes above and beyond to make their chemistry feel genuine, and since Digimon Survive is a pretty long game (With Habu even saying that each route in the game, including the New Game+ route, contains 40 hours of content, which would make it total up to 120 hours overall), you're given plenty of time to spend with these characters, making whatever bad circumstances they endure, or the outcomes, hit even harder. On that note, I absolutely respect Habu for sticking to his guns and wanting to make the game the way he wanted to while respecting why Digimon is such a beloved franchise.

And it's really easy to see the love and passion that went into this game: The backgrounds are the right amount of detailed without being overbearing, with well-rendered portraits and adorable in-game sprites for the SRPG segments, framed with a great soundtrack, full voice acting that's absolutely stellar (The game only has Japanese audio, with no English dub), and strong narratives no matter which route you play. That being said, as much as I want to hail Digimon Survive as an absolute masterpiece (And believe me, you have no idea how much I really REALLY want to!), it's not perfect. One of Survive's biggest issues is its pacing. The opening chapters in particular drag on for quite a while. I personally didn't mind the slow pacing at first, as this is a game that really wants to take its time to flesh out its characters, establish atmosphere, and develop its setting. But there are definitely times where Survive seems to drag its feet when it comes to narrative progression, with segments where characters repeat things that were already said previously, or have story moments flat-out interrupt battle scenes multiple times when it would have been better to save them for after the battle for a more streamlined experience. I know chapter 11 of the Moral route (Which I played) was pretty egregious about this. Seriously, there are times in that chapter where the game will only transition to a battle scene for, like, a literal nano-second before immediately going back to a story scene. Over, and over, and OVER, dragging on and on and on. Even I got to the point where I was like "Oh my God! Will you just get on with it?! At least let me finish the battle!" One would think that the turn-based battle system would mitigate this somewhat by breaking up the pace, and as someone who always struggled with SRPGs, I appreciate how simple Survive's take on it was. The game mechanics are pretty easy to grasp, but if you do a bit of grinding, the difficulty levels feel too easy, even on hard (With the exception of the New Game+ route), and you can just brute force your way through enemies without much thought, kind of similar to Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure. On that level, the game is very beginner-friendly in a way that can appeal to younger fans, but Digimon Survive probably wasn't meant for younger gamers given its story and overall tone.

Some other, smaller things kind of threw me off too, but I'll list them off in a list format:
1. I wish the game had more Digimon to recruit, especially rookies like Terriermon or Morphomon or Lunamon. Their selection of recruitable Digimon just feels so limited, and at times it almost felt like recruiting Digimon didn't add anything to the narrative.
2. This is more a personal nitpick but...Habu, did you and your team REALLY feel the need to add in a scene where Takuma walks in on his female classmates changing clothes in the gym?! Granted, there's no nudity or anything, but I'm just really sick of the whole "guy walks in on a girl changing" trope in general, and considering Saki is canonically 12 years old...yeah. It adds nothing to the story and just felt tacked on. Thankfully, the scene in question is optional and easily skippable, so you can skip it and not miss a thing. Thank God.
3. Recruiting evolution slabs early on is needlessly hard if you don't know what to do. If you have a bunch of rookie Digimon but need to make them digivolve, getting the item needed for them is extremely tedious for some reason. Which is weird because it's a hell of a lot easier to recruit the items needed to digivolve a champion level Digimon to ultimate than it is to make a rookie Digimon digivolve to champion. This should not be.
4. Whoever was in charge of localizing the game is in dire need of a proof-reader. The translation itself is fine, but gender pronouns for Digimon are wildly inconsistent for some reason, there are times when characters refer to one character in the audio but the text calls them by the wrong name, and I don't think I need to reiterate the fact that a localization note was straight up left in a scene where Dracmon digivolves to mega level. I mean, didn't ANYONE in Bandai-Namco notice this blatant mistake?! I know Code:Realize had this problem as well, but as far as I'm aware, there were never any points where someone flat-out leaves a localization note in the game!
5. Some people might take issue with the fact that some routes provide answers for some subplots while in others they're ignored, which I can understand. Even the New Game+ route apparently has some issues with not utilizing certain characters enough or having some questionable narrative decisions even after you save certain characters. I haven't played the post-game route yet so I can't comment on it for sure, but that's what I've heard from other players.
6. Whose bright idea was it to not only give Patamon a voice actor that gives him a really terrible voice, but to give it an absolutely ear-splittingly awful sound effect when you battle it in the SRPG segments?! Good lord, hearing that sound effect actually physically hurt my ears. It makes him sound like a dying chipmunk!

All that being said, considering how hard Digimon Survive fought just to come to fruition, I'm beyond glad the game is here, even in the state that it's in now. For me, Digimon Survive, as a game, scratched an itch that I've wanted since Tamers, and after feeling disillusioned by Digimon Ghost Game's refusal to progress its story in any way, I can wholeheartedly say that this is honestly one of the best visual novels to come out this year, if not one of the best VNs ever. Granted, I say this as someone who hasn't played a lot of visual novels other than Ace Attorney, Code:Realize, Doki Doki Literature Club, Katawa Shoujo, a tiny bit of Clannad, and many short indie VNs, with A Little Lily Princess still being my number one favorite. Can Survive be a bit of a slog at times? Sure, but I'd rather watch a slog that actually cares about telling a compelling story and having engaging characters than, say, Tropical Rouge Pretty Cure, which made no effort to have either. Is Survive a bit too ambitious for its own good? Yes. But you know what? I'm fine with Survive as it is, and I really hope more Digimon games like it come out down the line. Also, for God's sake, please don't hate the game just because it's a visual novel and for not having enough SRPG elements. If you're planning on buying the game thinking it's just a SRPG and nothing else, don't. Habu has said that the game is 70% visual novel and 30% SRPG, and the game's been getting review bombed by people who bought it thinking it was more the latter than the former. Do your research before buying Digimon Survive, and don't complain about it not being the game you wanted it to be, because the producers have been pretty open about Survive's format! Survive is not a bad game just because it's more visual novel than SRPG.

Digimon Survive had a hard journey to get this far, and as far as I can tell, it's an ambitious game made by people who dearly love its mother franchise, and for what it is, I think it's a gem that deserves a bit more polish, but is still great for what it is. If you're looking for a compelling visual novel with a strong narrative and a more realistic take on a well-worn premise, don't sleep on Digimon Survive.

 

[Nicolas721]

It's nice to see people loving (for the most part) a Digimon product. I think I'll try the game after I finish Pokemon Violet (since I have no money now lol). I like that it offers a nice story with a customized experience, but at the same time I hope there are easy ways to check which content you missed.