A fairly underwhelming sci-fi/fantasy adventure. It has its moments though.
| Positive | Negative |
| Interesting sci-fi/fantasy setting | Rough character designs |
| A couple of good ideas | Clunky plot |
| Boring characters |
Category: Anime
Gosick
Among the blandest anime I’ve ever seen, and I’m usually a sucker for mystery plots.
| Positive: | Negative: |
| Victorique is pretty cool | Bland music |
| Horrible protagonist | |
| Useless side-cast | |
| Incoherent story | |
| Stupid puzzles |
Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai
Good for a slice of life coming of age story. But like all coming of age stories – it’s boring.
| Positive: | Negative: |
| Great ED song | Unremarkable OST |
| Characters are given careful detail | Characters are not really that interesting |
| Good pace | Boring premise |
| Good story, for slice of life |
Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai
Just a bunch of extra short side stories not in the original material. Even dumber than the actual VN, and it wasn’t smart to begin with.
| Positive: | Negative: |
| Funny to an extent | Bad animation |
| Aimless story | |
| Characters don’t translate well |
Macross Frontier
It has some problems, I particularly disliked that the villains are not exactly sentient, but is otherwise a pretty good space opera.
| Positive: | Negative: |
| Nice background visuals | The story is frantic and hard to follow |
| Interesting space opera setting |
Idol part of the anime felt a little bit half-assed
|
| A couple of good songs |
Too little light is shed on the Galaxy
|
| Alright characters | |
| Interesting setting |
Phi Brain
An anime about puzzles where none of the puzzles are solved on screen. I just don’t get it.
| Positive: | Negative: |
| Interesting concept | Puzzles are solved off-screen |
| Ridiculous story | |
|
Annoying characters
|
Ben-to
Having spent the past five years living in Japan I get where they’re coming from, the whole stress and boxed lunch thing… but the show is still really dumb, if you ask me.
| Positive: | Negative: |
| Somewhat likable characters, maybe | Ridiculous aimless story |
| Dumb ecchi humor |
Kimi to Boku
Why did I even watch this? This is one of the dullest things ever devised by a man.
| Positive: | Negative: |
| Boring character designs | |
| No memorable music | |
| Virtually no plot | |
| Boring characters |
Boku ha Tomodachi ga Sukunai
Just another slice of life moe comedy with somewhat quirky characters. Seen one, seen them all.
| Positive: | Negative: |
|
Funny to an extent
|
Aimless story |
| Quirky characters | No other male characters except for the protagonist? Seriously? |
UN-GO
I’m a sucker for both literature and old mystery novels, but this anime was sooo dull. Was it really based on what it says it is?
| Positive: | Negative: |
| Unique atmosphere | Boring characters |
| Nice ED song | Boring cases |
| Plot doesn’t go anywhere |
Persona 4
Probably the most faithful adaptation of a game yet, I was half expecting for them to start about their levels at one point. I usually complain that adaptations strive too far from the original material, but this one goes a bit too far in the other direction. xD
| Positive: | Negative: |
| Great music | Some aspects do not translate well |
| Faithful to the original material | |
| Good story | |
| Good characters |
Bakuman
Well, thanks for disillusioning me on the manga industry with this bland anime with meh characters and even more underwhelming romance.
| Positive: | Negative: |
| Interesting premise | Bland music |
|
Addicting plot (sometimes)
|
Bland characters |
| Underwhelming romance | |
| Gets repetitive |
Chihayafuru
A somewhat underwhelming anime about playing… errr, Japanese poem-card memorization game? Well, at least it’s something new.
| Positive: | Negative: |
| Great character designs | Boring characters |
| Alright music | Simplistic story |
| Interesting concept |
Katanagatari
An adventure through a very fascinating world following some really oddball, interesting characters. It has a lot of problems, but it’s still written by one of the best writers in light novel field.
| Positive: | Negative: |
| Peculiar visual design | Character designs lack detail |
| Interesting, historical Japan setting |
Lackluster fighting choreography
|
| Beautiful backgrounds |
Some fights are very anti-climatic
|
| A couple of good BGM pieces |
Story feels disjointed at times
|
| Morally ambiguous unique characters |
Feels a bit episodic
|
| A great number of quirky colorful villains |
The middle part feels uninspired at times
|
|
Good, Japanese fairy-tale like atmosphere
|
|
| Not afraid to “troll” its viewers |
Highschool of the Dead
No that many zombie anime around so at least it attempts something new to the genre. Too bad so much of it is cheapened by needless ecchi and plot that refuses to make sense.
| Positive: | Negative: |
| Great opening song | Movements are choppy at times |
|
Original concept for an anime
|
Lack of distinctive background of music |
|
Some cool action
|
A lot of things don’t make sense |
| Not finished |
Eden of the East
It starts strong but fizzles out in the middle. Still a fairly interesting modern sci-fi thriller with likable characters.
| Positive: | Negative: |
| Interesting concept | Too many things don’t make sense |
| Complex detailed setting | The logistics behind Eden’s application are never explained |
|
Good pacing
|
Ends abruptly before unraveling its potential
|
|
Charming protagonist
|
Lack of dramatic moments |
Rainbow
Oh, wow, you don’t see prison dramas in anime much. A really mature, disturbing show about the horrors of our society. And set during Showa of all things. Definitely highly recommended.
| Positive: | Negative: |
| Solid animation | Characters are not particularly interesting |
|
Dark hopeless atmosphere
|
Story is relatively simple
|
| Fascinating, original concept (for anime) | |
| Realistic characters | |
| Good character development | |
|
A solid, dark take on coming of age tropes
|
|
|
Good pacing
|
Fate/Zero
Written by one of my favorite Japanese writers and set into one of my favorite universes. There’s just no way I could dislike this one, though Kiritsugu’s lame backstory kinda ruined the character for me.
| Positive: | Negative: |
| Good flashy animation |
Kiritsugu’s flashback is lame, too long and ruins the character
|
| Cool action scenes | |
| Nice music | |
| Interesting story | |
| Captivating plot full of action | |
|
Great, profound, interesting, likable characters
|
|
| Great dialogue |
Mirai Nikki
So bad it’s good has never been better. One should make a drinking game out of plotholes in this mess of a battle royale anime.
| Positive: | Negative: |
| Good OP/ED combination | Sub-par art design |
| Interesting premise | Story doesn’t make sense |
| Yuno is cool | Plot doesn’t make sense |
|
So bad it is good
|
Characters don’t make sense |
| Pace is insane, people keep teleporting around | |
| Nothing makes sense |
Mawaru Penguin Drum
A really… peculiar show. The story would be pretty bland if you took all the quirky, surreal stuff away, but it goes weird to such extents that it’s just, wow, fascinating in a sense.
| Positive: | Negative: |
| Allegoric and stylish artwork | Boring character designs |
| Fine atmospheric music | Wastes too much time on Ringo’s arc |
| Surreal | Plot gets erratic near the end |
| Interesting story? | Can’t tell metaphors and plot points apart |
| Bland characters |
Visual novel & other stuff impressions 