Animovies review - Big Fish & Begonia

Ever wondered what the result would be if you mix a typical Ghibli-style of storytelling with the animation power of the studio behind legend of Korra? Well, then you get the movie Big Fish & Begonia!

Animovie reviews - Big Fish and Begonia

Big Fish and Begonia, or Dà Yú HǎiTáng as it is known in Chinese is the first fully animated feature by the Chinese animation Studio "B&T Studio", with support from the Korean Studio Mir, who is best known for their work on Legend of Korra and Voltron Legendary Defender.

it's been circulating in festival circuits and will have limited theater runs later on in this year. For example, MangaUK has announced a limited theater run in the UK starting April 18th. And I've been lucky enough to have seen it at the Brussels Anima festival last weekend. So this is my review.

The story

This story takes place in the spirit realm filled to the brim with spiritual beings from Chinese myths and legends. Our main character Chun participates in a yearly coming of age ceremony where all spiritual beings born in the same year are transported to our human realm for a period of seven days. They do this so that every spirit knows what the human realm is and what humans are. But since they are spiritual beings, they need to take a different form when they travel to our world; this in the shape of a red dolphin.

When Chun enters the human realm, she notices a small family of a teenage boy, his younger sister and the bestest of good boys who enjoy watching the yearly appearance of red dolphins near their house. The family travels in a boat alongside the dolphins for a while and the teenage boy plays a dolphin-shaped ocarina, which charms Chun.

All spiritual beings travel the world and on the seventh day they are returning to the spiritual portal. But wouldn't you know, humans are dicks. In the region of her return path, Chun sees many dolphins getting caught by fisherman and she eventually gets stuck in a similar fishing net.
The teenage boy notices the red dolphin struggling to get out and swims in stormy waters to free the dolphin. But by accident Chun knocks out the boy that helped her, causing him to get sucked up by a nearby whirlpool and drown.

Filled with regret, Chun takes the ocarina and returns to the spirit realm. While her family is glad that Chun returned without physical harm, Chun wants to find a way to right her wrongdoing.
Through mystical means (I have no better way of describing this without spoiling some nice imagery) she ends up with a caretaker of human spirits. This is the place where good human souls go after they die. They end up in a sort of "library" with fish bowls and in the shape of very tiny dolphins.
The keeper of souls gives Chun a proposition. He can revive the dolphin that houses the spirit of the drowned boy in exchange for half of her life force. Due to her regret, she sees no other way but to accept this Faustian bargain.

She gains the fish bowl and the keeper explains the rules. She has to nurture the tiny baby dolphin to a full-grown creature, then find a portal to the human world similar to the portal used in the coming of age ceremony and use a token from the human world to help the creature home. Once the dolphin is returned to the human world, he is physically revived in his human body, but he will forget everything that happened in the spirit world.

But the path towards returning the dolphin to the human world is one filled with peril. The other spirits shouldn't know about this deal, since it's a taboo thing. Not only that, it appears that by doing this deal, various weather calamities are happening throughout the spirit realm. While the other spirits are seeking to find the cause of the calamities (to try and get rid of it), Chun and her neighborhood friend Qiu try their best to keep the dolphin out of the hands of the other spirits.

And what happens next is a pure Ghibli-style adventure that is better left... unspoiled.

My experience

This movie was way better than I ever expected. It blew my mind. The animation was really good! But I honestly can't see what was done by the Chinese studio what has been done by Studio Mir. Because this movie looks like it's a sequel (or prequel) to Legend of Korra. The similarity in art style is uncanny. And honestly, I don't mind. I loved the Legend of Korra and the episodes based in the Spirit realm were some of my absolute favorites.
And I don't know much about Chinese mythology, but this sure made me curious. So many creatures with so many powers that are clearly based on various myths and legends. I kind of want to see more of these realms. I'm genuinely curious.

There are a few downers to, to this movie. I'm not a huge fan of the main character Chun. She has a split personality in the movie and flip-flops between cold and emotionless to heartwarming and caring and looking as if she jumped straight out of a Ghibli movie. They should've stuck with one version overall, to be honest. They could've made Chun as interesting as Chihiro from Spirited away. But as it stands now, this flip-flopping makes the main character quite unlikable; especially if you start thinking what she ends up doing and nearly destroys the entire spirit realm for her selfish reasons.

Also, I feel like a lot of story points are left unfinished. The story arc of certain characters just ends with us wondering what happened to them. I can't say who, because it's spoiling a few plot twists. It feels like the story was cut for time constraints. If there ever comes a sequel to this movie, or a full-fledged tv-series; there's at least one character of which I want to know how she ended up.

Oh, and one more thing... Dolphins ARE NO FISH. They're mammals. Yes, I know the Chinese title literally says Big Fish and Begonia. But the localization team could've tapped the studio on the shoulder and have said: "yeah, over here we call them mammals." And honestly speaking: "Dolphin and Begonia" would've made as much sense of a title like "Big Fish and Begonia", but it would've been more accurate.

But in the end, those were just a few minor concerns. Overall, I loved this movie. It's a great theatrical start for the Chinese B&T Studio and certainly a movie worth checking out in theater, on streaming and to own on Blu-ray. Definitely worth checking out.

Have you seen Big Fish & Begonia? What did you think about it? Let me know in the comments down below.
And until next time, V out.

My review in vlog form

Official Trailer

V Reviews the Deah Note Netflix Movie - A rushed mess

Last week the Death Note Netflix movie was finally released to Netflix. And it was received with "mixed" responses (to say it nicely). But as I promised earlier on, I sat down and took an attempt to watch it.

I nodded approvingly (a few times), I cringed (A LOT) and I literally rolled over the floor laughing at the horribly stupid finale. That's the movie in one sentence. Let's dig a little deeper in what worked and what did NOT work in the Death Note movie.

V reviews: The Netflix Death Note movie

Casting: A mixed bag

This movie caught a lot of flack for the whitewashing of Asian roles and portraying everything in an American setting instead of Japan. I could only sigh at the ignorance of such comments. Come on people, People if you want this in an Asian setting, go watch the Japanese Death note movies. There's like six of them now.

This is an American adaptation, get over it already. Could there have been made more roles available for Asian actors? Yeah, definitely! But we got what we've got.

And what we got is poor. Let's run over this quickly:

• Horrible casting choices: Nat Wolff as Light, Margaret Qualley as Mia and Shea Whigham as James Turner.
  Wolff is a B-grade Tobey Maguire. He looks nor acts nothing like Light from the manga/anime (safe maybe the last five minutes). Margaret looks like she would fit right in a high-school movie like Mean Girls, rather than anything related to Death Note. The most out of place character is probably Shea, who looks and acts like he has no clue in what kind of movie he's in THE ENTIRE TIME and he has no chemistry with any other character in the movie.
• Okay casting choices: Lakeith Stanfield as L and Paul Nakauchi as Watari.
  Both are clearly good actors who are giving it the best they can. But the script often forces these two to do or say stupid shit. Don't blame the actors, blame the script.
  Also, can anybody explain to me how the only Asian actor casted ended up playing the one character that ISN'T Asian in the original story? (*facepalming*)
• Amazing casting choice: Willem Dafoe as Ryuk. I honestly can't imagine anybody else in Hollywood as the Death God and he NAILS it! I get that the number of appearances were limited due to budget constraints; but every scene with Dafoe in it was elevated to a new height.

Pacing: Rush rush rush

The biggest flaw this movie has is that the entire feature is rushed beyond belief. The original series and manga is slowly paced, which is very fitting for a suspenseful thriller. Every chapter, every episode is paced and filled in such a way to keep you on the edge of your seat.

But in this movie everything rushes by you so fast, it's very hard to catch the minor details (apples, marbles, pictures, etc) and it makes the plot details harder to follow to those unfamiliar with the source material. It also has a consequence that things that could've been missed suddenly need to be repeated.

Honestly, this should've been a Netflix (mini-)series. This so more time could be spent on character development and the plot twists.

Image and Sound: Good and bloody awful (respectively)

The overall imagery and cinematography is one of the few things I can applaud in this movie. The overall feeling I get from watching this movie, the angles, the set pieces, etc... it's all good looking and would've made for a good movie (if the rest would've been good). There's a lot of visual clues and hints of events to come for those that spot it.

But the music? Oh my god, it's frigging awful. The overall soundtrack is bad enough as it is (it's like fit for a B or C-level movie), but the songs that are inserted in the third act are not only distracting, they literally made me roll over the floor laughing because they're so horribly chosen and don't fit the mood of the scene AT ALL.

The song used at the Ferris wheel climax is (no joke) Chicago with I don't want to live without your love. The choice is so baffling, it made me laugh non-stop for at least five minutes. The song used when Light explains his plan (The power of love from Jennifer Rush) is equally weird and distracting. And both should be moments that require your full attention. But it does the exact opposite. After the movie ended, I could only think about the stupid music and not about how the movie actually ended. That's the effect the music has on you.

The Screenplay: In need of at least two more rewrites

I need to give the movie some praise: There are hints of a good story in this script. There's a few changes to the source material that either make more sense in the modern US setting or help with Light's motivation to kill criminals.

Let me give you an example. In the manga the sole reason Light starts killing criminals in his Death Note is boredom. No, he literally says so in the first chapter and the chapter is equally named Boredom. But the change that Light is taking revenge for a failing justice system in this movie is kind of a better motivation, don't you think so?

However, for every change to the source material that is good, there's two other changes that are awful or horribly dated in 80s/90s movie cliches.

A few examples: Making Mia a cheerleader (dated cliche), removing Matsuda from the story (he's essential to the story, so why?), forcing Watari to do Light's bidding (HOW? WHY? That's impossible!), skipping out on the Lind L Tailor scene and ruining the follow-up with Light's father (WHY? The Lind L Tailor scene twist is amazing).

Killing L live on a worldwide broadcast, only to reveal it's a dupe? Brilliant!

Turning Light from a tactical mastermind into a sad duped kid

While I applaud the fact that the creators have tried to make Mia more manipulative herself (rather than be manipulated in the source material), the fact that Light is left as a sad little shell of his manga counterpart is what makes fans of the original rage on the internet. There's a reason why I keep comparing him to Tobey Maguire. He's really similar to Tobey's performance as Spider-Man in the Raimi trilogy (up to and including sad and angry faces).

Clearly the face of self-confidence and wit that Light is supposed to be...

I could only cringe at the scene where Light rushes up to Mia and says: "I have a Death Note." No really, that literally happens in the movie. He was almost begging her: "Give me attention, I have an object that may interest you!". That is 100% the complete opposite of anything Light Yagami would ever do.

What is missing from the movie

First and furmost, both famous memes are not present. The iconic scene of "I'll take a potato chip and eat it!" is nowhere to be seen, nor is the "All according to Keikaku/plan" line. But I can understand that some higher ups would be opposed to silly lines like that if they don't get the context of the source material and fandom.

But several characters have been scratched from this movie to my surprise. Yes, the absence of Light's mother is explained in the movie. But Light also has no sister in the movie (as if to emphasize that Light is a loner?).

The most surprising absence however is the character of Matsuda (or whatever they would've renamed him). Of all supporting characters, Matsuda is on one end the most sympathetic character (as the bumbling rookie cop that believes in justice), but is an essential audience point of view character. He could be the one that asks the difficult moral questions or helps avoid plot holes by asking typical "how does this work" or "how do you know that" questions.
And he would've fit right in the movie as partner to Light's father, maybe as "the only cop that sides with him", or "too young and inexperienced to judge him".

And trust me, adding a character like Matsuda would've livened up this otherwise dreary and rushed plot. Heck, due to what happens in the final episode of the anime/manga, he's technically a major character. So scratching him from the story is a missed opportunity.

Matsuda, the heart and soul of the series

Afterthought

This movie is just another wasted opportunity. And honestly, it could've been a lot better with only a handful of script rewrites. It's like they had to push this through a budgeted schedule and a lot of things ended up suffering because of it.

In the end, it's just another anime adaptation that we can put on the pile of "failed attempts". I wonder what the next one is going to be.

Rating: 5/10. It has traces of a good movie, but doesn't go further than "traces". Skip it, unless you're really interested in how they f**ked this one up.

Until next time, V out.

V reviews: Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2

Finally the busy weeks are over. So to celebrate it, last Sunday I went to the movies with a few friends for the latest Marvel movie spectacle: Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2.
And... it was an amazing thrill ride!

Is it as good as the first one? Yes and no.
But let me explain, while trying to keep the spoilers to a minimum.

Yes it's good: The comedy

If there's anything that I was doing during the movie, it was laughing my ass off.

Groot's innocent antics, Drax' oblivious and loud humor, Rocket's and Star-Lord's bickering and Even Mantis' innocent child-like humor was all good. And all of the visual comedy. Oh my god, this movie is just so hilarious!

Yes, it's good: The character development

Since most of the characters were already properly introduced, this time we had time for character development.

Yes, some characters get more development than others (it IS a big cast), but nearly everybody had their moment. Star-Lord has bonding time with his father, Gamora has her issues with her "sister" Nebula, Rocket has his moment with Yondu (of all people), Drax even has some moments with Mantis and even Groot has (although VERY minor) a bit of a growing-up phase.

I just wanted a sister!
That's why I'm going to kill you!

Yes, it's good: Emotional moments

I can't talk too much in detail about this, due to this topic being very spoiler-heavy.

But there are some REALLY emotional moments in this movie. Some of the last scenes even brought me to tears. It's heartbreaking.

Yes, it's good: The main villain

Yeah, surprise! The villain is actually pretty good! There was some confusion at first on whether it was going to be one of the Gold People, the Ravagers, Thanos, Ego himself or somebody else.

But I think most people familiar with the Marvel comics and saw a bit of the trailers, you were pretty sure how this one was going to turn out. And I confirm: Your suspicions are correct.

And I find it to be pretty good, and pretty much honest to the comic book incarnation as well.

Good guy or bad guy? Who can tell?

Yes, it's good: Many nods to the fans

First off: A few great cameo's, including Stan Lee (obviously). I'll keep the rest vague, because seeing the cameo's will trigger some sort of "YES!" from the Marvel fanboys.

But one Cameo character that appeared along Stan Lee did trigger a "What the?" from my friend and I, since we thought this specific character was part of the Fantastic Four Universe (and thus part of 20th Century Fox). But according to sources, it was part of the same deal that allowed Fox to use Negasonic Teenage Warhead in Deadpool and allowed Ego to be part of this movie (who apparently is also a part of the F4 universe).

Oh, and err... the rumors are true: David Hasselhoff HAS a role in this movie. How and what, I'll leave that part a secret.

Yes, it's good: So many mid/after credits sequences

One tip when you go to the theaters. Sit down until the last credit has rolled. There are SO MANY mid/after credit sequences. Some are simple fun stuff (like the dancing groot scene from GotG 1), others are setting up the third movie (yes, they WILL return - confirmed at the end).

Also fyi, try reading the actual credits. There are a few fun nods in the text as well.

Not that good: The overall story

If you start to think about it, the story is kind of predictable, it doesn't make a lick of sense from time to time and there are quite a few plot-holes. So much in fact that I think Honest Trailers is going to have a field day with this movie.

But does it really drag this movie down? No. Or did you forget that it was exactly the same case for the first movie? The first movie had lots of plot holes as well. And the more you thought about it, the more you could see that a lot of the story didn't make any sense.

But it was a fun thrill-ride none the less. And thus the same goes for this movie. Though if I do have to compare the two stories, the first one is more action-focused, while this one is more character-focused.

To quote the Honest Trailer for the first movie:
"It's best not to think about it too hard".

Not that good: The Golden people

The Sovereign is their race, but err... yeah: They kinda suck. These golden people are mostly there to provide some sort of threat and comedic relief. The most annoying part? They're kind of confirmed to return in the third movie via the after credits scenes (the less, the better).

Not that good (or is it?): 0 connection to the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

While the first GotG movie had an explanation of the Infinity Stones, this movie literally has 0 connections to the rest of the Cinematic Universe (not even a Thanos cameo). No, there's not even a reference or set-up in the mid/after credits scenes. This REALLY is a movie that (kind of) stands by itself.

But in all honesty: I didn't mind. It's a bit of a breather to not have scenes forced upon us to set up future movies (like the Thor bathing scene from Age of Ultron).

"What do you mean, I'm not in this movie?"

Overall: Just as good as Volume 1

Overall, I had the feeling that this movie was about as good as the first one. But it doesn't surpass it. And while I feel it didn't need to surpass the first movie, there may be people of the opinion that it had to.

If people complain about this movie, it's mostly because it's not that "fresh & new" as the first movie, or that they expected it to have more action and less bla-bla. But I personally didn't mind..

If I had to score it, I'd give it an 8/10. It's no masterpiece, but it IS really good and I'll gladly welcome a third installment.

And yes... I'll go finish my anime reviews now. Until then, V out.

V reviews: Ghost in the Shell, the Live-Action movie

So after lots of doubting, This evening I finally went to see the ScarJo movie of Ghost in the Shell. This mostly because I'm a fan of the original movies and Stand-Alone-Complex tv-series. And I felt like I had to say SOMETHING about the movie.

And boy, did I need to have to say something.

First off, is it good or bad? The answer is: neither. It's certainly not a bad movie. The visuals are spectacular (even the haters have admitted that), and the music score is really good (they even included some of Kenji Kawai's tracks on the soundtrack). And yes, the world building and character designs are really good.

But the major problem of this movie has (outside of the whitewashing issue)... is the story.

Problem #1: Whitewashing? Does it matter?

Look, first off: If there was any franchise in anime history where it doesn't matter what ethnicity its main character is, it's Ghost in the Shell. The body is a full cyborg, and the author had already confirmed that the Major's looks were based on western models. So her having a Caucasian look-and-feel is pretty normal. Same goes for Batou. And looking from that perspective, a lot of the casting choices were spot-on!

ScarJo is in my eyes a perfect Major, and while I was skeptic of the translation of Aramaki and Batou, the movie incarnations (Takeshi Kitano and Pilou Asbæk) put down really accurate performances.

But even if I'm perfectly able to defend the casting choices, I do get where the criticism is coming from and the criticism is 100% legit. If enough Asian-Americans (and Asians in general) were being cast in (big) Hollywood movies, the casting of GitS wouldn't really be that much of an issue. But the opportunities for Asian actors are so slim, most of them are just getting annoyed by "the next big missed opportunity". And it shows everywhere. Have you taken a look at the list of Oscar nomination for Asian Actors? Don't... it's depressing.

Also, the story twist about the major's origin? That's not helping. That's only putting oil on the fire (*facepalm*).

Problem #2: Cramming too much in one movie

This movie is an homage to the original Mamori Oshii movie, but it also takes in elements from Stand Alone Complex (both the ending of the first season as well as the Individual Eleven arc - of all things) and even takes in some story elements from Arise (WHY Arise of all things)? And if that wasn't enough, it tries to mix those and broadening up the scope so people can understand the movie (thus removing almost all of the symbolism the original was known for).

What we're left with is... mediocre. It's not bad, really... It's just not anything good either.

Problem #3: Obvious script rewrites

It may be because I'm a writer myself, but it's sometimes really obvious to see where the script rewrites start happening (either that, or it's just a little TOO obvious).

The scenes that rely on previous source material tend to be well made and thought-out. But when the movie tries to be its own thing (thus script rewrites), it falters. And the moment the rewrites start happening is exactly in the second half. The moment the major is captured by Kuze. From that point onward the story went downhill fast.

And while the first half of the movie was exciting and interesting and genuinely made me wonder where the criticism came from, the second half made it pretty clear.

Problem #4: Mixing the Puppet Master and Kuze creates plot holes

The Puppet Master was an amazing antagonist. Kuze from Stand Alone Complex was an "okay" villain (who made great action scenes). So why mix those? The reason why the Puppet Master was a feared enemy and great hacker, was because he was an Artificial Intelligence. Everything he did against humanity was from the point of view that it wasn't a human being. Making the villain suddenly turn into a "discarded human" is not only stupid, it creates a lot of plot holes. Talking about the plot holes sadly enough would spoil the movie, so I'll shut my mouth here

Not to mention, it does tremendous injustice to both the original Puppet Master AND the original Kuze.

Problem #5: Cutter is a horribly boring antagonist.

Oh, is this a spoiler? I mean: you could see it from the first look of his face, right? It pretty much screamed: "I am evil! I am evil!" The only things missing were a curly mustache and a comically evil laugh... and a monocle!

And when you boil it down, his entire plan didn't make much sense to begin with. Not to mention the execution of his plan. The more you start to think about it, the more your head is starting to hurt because of the amount of stupid in it.

Problem #6: Section 9 is underused.

Though, this is a minor issue. I kind of expected it, since the existence of Section 9 in the original movie was kept to the bare bones minimum as well. The characters of Section 9 were only really fleshed out in the Stand Alone Complex and Arise series.

And while it was fun for a fanboy to see this movie's incarnation of Ishikaya (the beard!), Togusa and Saito, it was still a crying shame to see them being so underused.

Heck, during the first mission debriefing, Chief Aramaki gives orders to the Major, Bato and Togusa. The rest of the Team IN THAT ROOM get no orders whatsoever. They basically don't exist for the chief!

And boy, Togusa. I could go on a rant for how cut away Togusa is to almost non-existent. But I guess that was already obvious from the footage that was leaked in advance. So I didn't have much expectations for his character.

Is it all bad?

No, not at all! The visuals are AMAZING! I was often just gawking at the screen at the visuals and world building used. The sound is great! And the many references to the original movie were great to look at from a fanboy's point of view.

And one addition I did like was Batou's eyes. At the start of the movie, Batou has normal eyes. But due to the story progress, he has to shift to his cybernetic eyes. And it makes sense in this story structure. It really helps to sell his character. I know it's totally not fitting with the source material. But let's face it. If you would see Batou's face with the cyber-eyes, you'd be freaked out by his appearance. Again, it helps sell the character to a broader audience.

What would I score it?

A 6,5-7 out of 10. It's not bad, and as a fan of the franchise as a whole you SHOULD go and watch it. But it's not good enough to rewatch anytime soon. If anything, we'll have forgotten this movie exists with a year or two.

Long story short (tl;dr): A good looking movie where the story could've been a lot better.

That's it from me now.

Until next time, V out.

V Reviews: Occultic;Nine - An occult trainwreck

All right, I've got a bunch of reviews lined up, so let's do this! Let's start of this series of reviews with the biggest turds I've seen this year! Occultic;Nine

V Reviews: Occultic;Nine

Occultic;Nine was announced for the 2016 fall season, and had a title and short info box that kind of picked my interest. Though I should've seen the red flag as well.

Yeah, A-1 Pictures studio and the term "Light Novel" is NOT a good combination (cough*SAO*cough). Though in A1-Picture's defense: since they usuallywork with freelance animators, the end result really depends what director, writer and animators they have at their disposal.

So if there's a challenge, I'm here to pick it up. Let's open the details on this anime and see what meat is available...

The director (Kyohei Ishiguro) has directed Your Lie in April (which IS a great anime), but also the turd called Lance N'Masques (oh, dear).
The screenwriter (Noburo Takagi) is the man responsible for the screenplays for both Durarara and Baccano and did work on other supernatural shows like Shigoku Shoujo and Koi Kaze. Overal Takagi has done great work up until now, including in the same genre.
The overal editor (Akinori Mishima) has done so many things, it's also hard to pinpoint him as good or bad.

And then there is the light novels this anime is based upon. They're not awful, but not too amazing either. The novels score around 7-8/10 regularly.

So what went wrong?

Okay, I went a little digging here. The novel apparently got put "on hold" after two volumes due to "printing issues" (which is a very Japanese way of saying: "It didn't sell"). Though this might also be to refocus the effort of the writer (Chiyomaru Shikura) to finish the script for the anime AND the visual novel (slated for release this year).

I guess he's hoping the game will be a big enough success that the light novel can go on sale again? (sorry, I can't help but laughing after reading that sentence)

Not only that. People who have read the novels say that the entire first novel got adapted... into ONE single episode... which makes sense if you watched that clusterf**k that is the first episode.

So let me ask you this. A half-baked script that needs to be pushed into 12 episodes which at best functions as a promo for the upcoming visual novel that isn't even finished either? How can that work? That's asking for Murphy to pass by and apply his law.

And who knows what happened behind the scenes while creating this train-wreck. There are rumors enough that Your Lie in April was Lightning in a bottle and that Lance 'n Masques is the regular approach to how the director (Ishiguro) actually works (which I can't confirm nor deny, since I haven't watched THAT train-wreck).

But that's enough speculation. Let's get over the biggest missteps one by one.

The infamous first episode

Occultic;Nine quickly became infamous for having one of the worst first episodes in anime of recent memory.

If I hadn't looked it up I would've thought this was the director's first shot at directing an anime, because it was so horrendous. The episode direction was horrible, the aesthetic choices weird, the character introduction a mess, the pacing dreadful, the music editing sometimes real baffling and so on and so on.

If it wasn't for the murder mystery that seemed somewhat interesting, I think most of us would've just dropped it like it's hot. This was an episode that could be seen as "so bad it's good."

But since I recently finished Shirobako and thus the general process of making an anime, I kind of wanted to follow this trainwreck to see how hard it would continue crashing. I wanted to see if this was going to be a "boing boing paradise", if you know what I mean.

So did it? No, not really. The anime team obviously picked up all the bile that was spilled after the first episode and enforced changes on the series.

Though I kind of wished they didn't fix it. Why? Because an anime that's so-bad-it's-good is interesting to watch for years on end. But a trainwreck that gets repaired along the way removes much of what made it such an interesting spectacle in the first place.

So while story and editing sure got less awful over time, some things did NOT change.

Awful Pacing & Storytelling: Infodumps at 110% speed, preferably at a bar

One of the bad things that remained a constant throughout this mess was the general pacing and especially the character interaction. The main characters ramble on and on. And that would be fine if it was a fast-paced comedy (like Gintama). But this is a supernatural mystery, NOT a comedy (at least, not intentionally). And a lot of the rambling happens in exposition dumps at a bar. If you know anything about decent screenwriting, Infodumps in restaurants or bars are not done, or should be avoided as much as possible.

Infodumps are already bad by itself, though they're not always unavoidable. But doing them in bars or restaurants is cliche and generally bores the audience. Not to mention, the audio of several infodumps was sped up to 105-110% (just enough to have no audible voice changing), while the sound editors cut away the breathing moments.

No, that is not a joke. In some episodes you can actually hear the moments where the audio got cut (which actually was more interesting to listen to than the actual dialogue spoken).

The worst part about this... infodumping/rambling at 110% speed is the main "character trait" of several of the main characters, including the intended protagonist (Yuuta Gamon).

If you think that is bad, you are absolutely right. Literally more than half of all dialogue spoken can either be cut without consequence or kept to inner monologues. And doing that would result in way more interesting main characters than the ones we ended up getting.

Distracting character design: Boob physics Engine

But don't worry if you haven't noticed this pacing annoyance after a few episodes. You were probably too distracted by Narusawa Ryouka's boobs.

Oh my. It DID went boing...

One of the frequent complaints (or compliments, depending on who you ask) from people watching this anime is Ryouka's boobs. Ryouka is a hyperactive ditz who keeps hopping around (LITERALLY), which causes her boobs to be in constant bouncing movement. This in such a way you have to look at her, while wondering what the hell you're even looking at.

You could call this fanservice... but there's nothing to be served; the bouncing boobs only function as a distraction for the mess this show really is.

Bad character introduction: Let's fix this one at least

I've watched the entire series (you WILL require alcohol to finish it) and I still have no clue how most of the 9 "occultic" characters are named. We got a name clip, similar to the introduction of the Baccano and Durarara characters. But something apparently got lost in translation.
I'm sure it was the intention of the writer to have the name clip with all nine names appear in the opening credits (which was a thing in Baccano and Durarara). But it ended up being splashed in the first episode instead, way before most of these characters even got a decent character introduction.

Yeah, I know I can read the novel, or look up the names on myanimelist or so. But seriously: if that's the only way to figure out who everybody is, you're doing something wrong!

Anyway: Character introduction is something I can do instead of the anime, so here we go:

	Yuuta Gamon: Main character. A self-proclaimed NEET and a blogger of the occult who sucks at his own character description. No, really. A NEET who goes to school is contradictory to the definition of the word. And while he blogs about occult stuff, he doesn't like occult stuff at all. Yuuta gets involved with the murder of a professor early on and only starts sinking more into misery (and mystery) the further this story goes.
	Ryouka Narusawa: Hyperactive bouncy girl with her own personal boob physics engine. Nuff said.
	Miyuu Aikawa: The cute girl. Does Tarot card reading and is good at it... but doesn't really use it outside of her introduction episode (due to plot convenience).
	Sarai Hashigami: Son of the murdered professor. Is supposed to be smart and edgy. But in reality he sucks at his own character description and just keeps rambling instead.
	Aria Kurenaino: Self-proclaimed hex girl (or witch) who sucks at her job and has a sickening backstory. Takes up a lot of screen time in the first half, but has NO FUNCTION WHATSOEVER. This is a character that could be cut (together with her "demon") and there would be NO difference.
	Shun Moritsuka: Deus-ex detective. He somehow knows everything without any explanation whatsoever, doesn't do anything relevant, has the worst case ramble-itis and is annoying without end. Seriously, f**k this guy.
	Touko Sumikaze: Reporter on the occult. Doesn't get enough screentime in the first half, is totally useless in the second half (sigh)
	Ririka Nishizono: The yaoi doujin artist who can predict the future. Never explained why, has virtually no real role in the series and hardly gets screen time. And the way she's handled in the last episode is indicative of her presence on the series as a whole. She just disappears.

Other characters include the devil of the Hex girl (useless character that could be cut from the story), the creepy albino kid (obvious villain alert) , the stand-in detective with psychic powers (who, even with her limited screen time ironically is the most useful person on the show), the weird bartender (interesting concept, horrible execution) and the evil corporation (I... I just don't... sigh...)

All in all, there are almost NO characters to attach to, and the supporting "occult" characters that are somewhat likable get so little screen time, you keep wishing for certain other ones to just die (oh, wait...).

Is there anything that saves this heap of drek?

The murder mystery and the "256 incident" by themselves were actually quite interesting. It starts out with the murder of a professor in the occult (and the father of Sarai Hashigami). But the murder ends up having a deeper meaning when a yaoi doujin is found at the scene of crime that predicts events that are happening. Not too long after this murder, a mysterious event occurs where 256 people end up in a (sort of) suicide pact, drowning themselves in the park river of the city.

Yeah, he be dead boi

Our main cast tries to figure out what happened here while trying to find a friend who went missing shortly before this "mass suicide" occurred. And in this process they slowly start discovering shocking truths, since not everything is as they assume it is.

And if that sounds like an interesting premise of a story... that's because IT IS! Even if more than half of the characters involved are poorly written and executed; even if the animation is B-level quality and even if the direction often makes you wonder what the director was smoking while making his decisions... The mystery in this series kept making me come back (that and the fascination to watch a train-wreck in motion). Too bad even that part got ruined with the last episode.

The ending

Nope. Nope... The amount of stupid in the last episode is way too high to even comment on it.

I knew I was going to need alcohol to get through the finale ("probably a better time if you're drunk", like Jeremy Jahns would say it), but it clearly was NOT enough.

Look, mom! I can fly!
Why? Because f**k the story, that's why.

In all seriousness... with a clearly unfinished source story (since the game still isn't finished) and dozens of loose plot threads, you can't finish a series in one single episode (at least not in a good way). But the director and screen writer clearly tried (and failed). It's ironic, really. The reasons the first episode was a disaster were all the technical aspects, which have been fixed by the last episode. But the one reason to keep watching it after the first episode (the story) got absolutely ruined by the end.

Which means that this is one of the few rare anime that has a horrible beginning, a horrible end, but a somewhat enjoyable middle part...

Final conclusion

Don't touch this anime with a 50-foot pole. Unless you want lessons on how NOT to adapt a novel into an anime.

You may find the mystery interesting to keep following it (like I did). But since there is no satisfying conclusion to it, you should not bother.

My score: 3/10: A supernatural mystery covered in many layers of awfulness

Well, this is the worst I've seen in the past year. From here on, it can only get better.

Until next time,

V out.

V Reviews: Assassination Classroom: A feel-good anime in disguise

Last weekend the last episode of Assassination Classroom aired. Therefore it's a good reason for me to pick this anime for my first review. Because who doesn't want to see a yellow octopus-humanoid creature with a creepy smile destroy the world?

The face of doom... sorta... I think?

As you might've realized. That face doesn't look harmful nor threatening. I mean, there's no way anybody could make this face creepy, right?

Oh, right... I forgot this is a thing since the latest E3.

V reviews: Assassination Classroom Season 1

A: Backstory of the series

Assassination Classroom (or Ansatsu kyoushitsu in Japanese) is a manga created by Yusei Matsui from 2012 which is still running today.

Yuusei started out as assistent for the manga Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, which may explain his sense of humor and fascination for weird humanoid creatures.

In 2005 he got his own first success with Neuro: Supernatural detective, which ran for over 4 years and spawned a 25-episode anime in the fall of 2007. However, fans of the manga were kind of let-down with the "not-so-great" adaptation of the manga. And after the anime ended, interest in the manga slowly started to decline, which caused it to eventually end in 2009.

After Neuro ended, it took a few years before Yuusei landed another series that stuck. But in 2012, he struck gold with Assassination Classroom.

And gold is the correct term for this series. In the few years it's been running, there's a 22-episode anime with a second season already announced, a 3DS game and a Live Action movie with a sequel already in the making.

That's a lot for a manga series that's hardly 3 years old!

B: The Story itself

The story starts with the announcement that a "monstrous alien" creature has destroyed 70% of the moon, turning it into the shape of a crescent moon forever (which I know is technically impossible, but just roll with it).

This creature has declared that it wants to destroy the entire world in one year. But he gives humanity a "chance" to destroy him. And that's said with quite a sarcastic undertone, because this creature has superhuman abilities, can fly at mach 20 and has superior reflexes. And all that while he has the shape of a yellow octopus.

But for some weird reason, he decides to become a homeroom teacher in the Japanese class 3-E at Kunugigaoka Junior High School. Why exactly is still a mystery in the anime, but the flashback from episode 1 says it has something to do with a woman.

The government sees the opportunities in this and offered a 10 billion yen reward (about 100 million dollars) for the person who is able to kill this creature. And with this E-class having the most opportunities to perform this assassination, the Japanese department of Defense sends one of their most capable workers to the class in order to teach them combat and assassination techniques.

And if you think this creature would oppose this, you would be wrong. The creature gratefully accepts this opportunity, as long as he can teach this class and he even gives hints on how to kill him as well.

Since the creature doesn't have a name, it doesn't take long for the students to give him one. This being: "Korosensei", which is a combination of the Japanese words korosenai ("cannot be killed") and sensei ("teacher"). In short: "The unkillable teacher".

But I hear you ask: How can this series about assassinations with weapons be a regular Shonen series?

Actually, the Yusei evaded that touchy subject quite easily. Korosensei can't be killed by regular means. Guns, knives, grenades and even poisons don't work on him. But Korosensei has admitted he's weak to a certain "Anti-Teacher" substance, which is otherwise harmless to normal humans. The substance has been converted by the government to pellets and knives (which are sorta rubbery). The pellets are mostly used for pellet gun variations and grenades, but the manga is quite creative with the use of these pellets.

And aside from all assassination attempts, Korosensei does his best to teach his class as best as he possibly can. And he does a swell good job. He helps the students out with their school subjects and sometimes even their personal misery.

He also wants to help them get better in this school, because the 3E-Class is in fact the outcast class of this Junior High school. The head of the school is a twisted SOB who's trying to raise the amount of "superior" students, by turning the people with the lowest grades into outcasts (which in turn should motivate the rest to study harder). This in such a way that the E-class has to reside in a different building on a different campus site, in the mountains. This is all done in such a way that the E-class has almost 0% chance of ever upgrading to the regular classes.

And this is where this show truly shines. While the assassination attempts are quite funny and sometimes even ingenious in their making, it's the fights of these underdog students to be accepted by their peers and the rest of the school that makes this series truly interesting to see.

Going into further detail would spoil the show, but it's definitely worth a watch!

C: Characters

Character	Description
Korosensei	The main character of the show. He's the "evil creature" that has blown up 70% of the moon and is the sole target for these assassinations. Next to that, he's a devoted teacher, but also quite silly. And while everybody should do their best to kill him, he makes it very hard to hate him, because he's basically "the best teacher ever". Also, he can't lie, because his face is almost literally an open book and changes color depending on his mood/feelings.
Shiota Nagisa	The only student that can be seen as the "main character", since most of the episodes are from his point of view. Often seen as a weak student (both in studies as physically) and is often mistaken for a girl. He keeps notes on the weaknesses of Korosensei and is on friendly terms with (almost) everybody in the class.
Akabane Karma	Karma's a bitch and this guy's seriously tries to gain similar status. He's the smartest guy in the E-class, but got expelled a few times due to bad behavior and violent behavior. He may seem lazy, but don't underestimate him, because he's about as mischievous as Marvel's Loki. Also, he's possibly the most assertive character of the show, saying things that the characters with a more Japanese attitude wouldn't dare to say.
Karasuma Tadaomi	The loyal government worker who trains the students to improve their physical condition and assassination skills. Probably the strongest human on the show, but even he can't handle Korosensei. He's also the "straight guy" in this comedy, but can sometimes be a bit dense.
Irina Jelavic	A Russian assassin/spy who tries to reap the bounty on Korosensei. But due to failure, she ends up teaching English at the E-Class. Her biggest asset is her "charming" personality... No, I'm not talking about her boobs! Shame on you! I was literally talking about her personality, which earned her the nickname "Bitch-sensei".
Asano Gakuhou	The board chairman of the school. Is a "shadow figure" in the first episodes, but quickly reveals himself to be one of the primary antagonists of the series. Sinister SOB.

Since this is a class/school, there are tons of other characters, but they're mostly supporting roles. Though, they all have an episode (or half episode) where each of them gets the focus.

D: Adaptation from source material

The manga is adapted quite faithfully, with no filler added (hurrah!). A few chapters have been cut out from the manga sadly enough, but who knows? We might still see them in season 2. So if you're wondering on whether you should read the manga or watch the anime, you can go and watch the anime, because not that much is left out.

What I find positive is that the anime doesn't attempt to stretch out the individual chapters either. 1 chapter is 1 half of the episode (safe the pilot chapter obviously), even if it is a stand-alone chapter. This causes several episodes to have 2 stories. But honestly, I like that more than needlessly filling up the episode with nonsense.

Also, I find it positive that they work in seasons, rather than adapting all existing material in 1 show like Naruto or Bleach. It gives sufficient opportunity to faithfully adapt the series, rather than improvising to fill the needed timeslots each week.

E: Animation

The show is very well animated with no hiccups or signs of lazy animation anywhere. It's also bright and colorful, but the colors can quickly go darker when the story needs it to be darker.

F: Sound

Quite good, but nothing outstanding. The Opening songs are song by the student voice actors. And while they're not bad, they're not that outstandingly great either.

Conclusion and Personal Opinion

I personally liked this show a lot. After watching some dark animes lately (like Mushishi and Welcome to the NHK) and the long running animes having "darker" moments atm, I was in the mood for something light. This anime delivered that and then some!

I was often laughing my ass off during the comedy moments and often ended the episode with a big smile on my face. Truly, this anime generally made me feel better about myself. So I can say that I'm looking forward to the next season of this show.

Were there any negative things about this show? A few minor things, but it's more nitpicking than anything else:

• This is a typical shonen humor/action series. Don't look for ingenious storytelling or amazing new things here, because it's not here. On the other end, it doesn't fall into many of the cliché anime tropes either. There's no romantic subplots anywhere to be seen, which is VERY rare in these kinds of shows. Heck, even the typical anime "fanservice" that needs to be in every shonen series is very limited and limited to very specific characters (Trust me, this could be a lot worse!).
• The anime is great in terms of story, but can be very predictable at moments. Though it's the execution that's enjoyable, rather than the lack of inventive storytelling.
• A few chapters surrounding the swimming pool were strangely enough not adapted. And due to the very specific setting, will probably not see an adaption in season 2 either. This means that at least 1 supporting character will not get her own episode. Sad panda.
• Korosensei has a few Deus-ex-machina abilities to escape his assassinations. Let's hope there aren't more of these, because these will get real annoying real fast.

Overall, I give this series an 8,7/10.

It's very much enjoyable and a must-watch for everyone that wants to see something light and funny.

Looking forward to season 2, Nurufufufu~

Until next time, V out.