I think it serves very well as a movie in isolation, I am giving it a 8/10.
HOWEVER, having watched Coming To America (only once, CTA was for for me about the black subcommunities of America. While these are certainly still present in C2A, they are much less so.
Just watched it, and it is actually quite good. Don't get scared off by the kinda low rankin: It is probably either from My Little Pony haters - or the Friendship is Magic purists. Obviously, this IS a subjective rating - as all are - but the show is indeed pretty good.
The major change is probably that the story is constantly progressing through the episodes and episodes are not almost entirely closed within their own as they were in FiM.
I have to admit, it is a tad bit hard to figure out in which order they are to watch if you are not familiar:
1. The Movie: MLP - A New Generation
After that, the current 3 chapters - luckily, Netflix have sorted these automatically:
Additionally, it is accompanied by the Tell your Tale series on youtube, which seems to consist of 5 minutes shorts, referencing to the series, but I haven't watched it yet. I didn't feel I was missing any story elements not watching it.
It is not horrible, but kind of absolutely average. It feels this could have been easily 8 instead of 24 episodes, it feels make episodes are not contributing much long term. Watchable, but not too exciting.
Coming from someone who started to watch Star Trek with TNG only recently, and watching this after finishing TNG and DS9, with being in season 4 of Voyager, this movie was just terrible for me. Nothing ever happened in here, and minutes of nothing happening all the time. This was a torture for me, and I did speed it up very quickly at times.
I was done after 13 minutes. Hard pass.
Watched the first 11 episodes.
Another Isekai (humans gets reborn in another world), what's up with all of them suddenly?).
This time, the person is the definition of what people would consider a IRL looser: No job, no life, not having worked for twenty years.
He is also an utter pervert. Of course he is. We knew this would be the case.
While he is in the body of toddler and infant, he is still that pervert. Which is troublesome, given that he doesn't drop that attitude towards girls that are like 11 years old. Like... what?
Also, expected, he sees women mostly as objects for his lust. He is, and I am not kidding, even talking about that "the breasts of that 11 year old will grow if he works on them".
Given all of the above, you really wonder what kind of persons they are targeting with these tropes. Who are they aiming for!? It even somehow suggests that it is okay to be a perverted, misogynistic sexual harasser (It is not, and if anyone does this even remotely in Real Life they will get into huge trouble)...
This is roughly the same crap that has ruined other animes for me as well, or least made them much worse (The Seven Deadly Sins, No Game No Life).
I subtracted 2 points flat merely for these issues. Heck, given that stuff I am not even sure I can recommend this to anyone.
I think the story overall would be okay, but...spoilers ahead:
The whole arc starting from episode 8 is just so hyper stupid. Like suddenly, without much of story-buildup, the whole anime changes: From the kinda slice-of-life pervert story we suddenly switch into a brutal gore kind-of story where people get brutally salin, including teens or children. Like...wtf and how did this even happen?
That was such a turn of events that just didn't feel consistent to me at all.
The graphics are okay, and I think the voice acting very good.
It is interesting nobody here noticed that literally everything in the movie is a sign for schizophrenia.In fact, I interpreted the movie once I noticed as absolutely everything it happens in there is just within his own mind:Him being the center of everything, people sending him secret message, imagining stuff that people said, taking every little hint to absurd levels of serious.
I would assume many people who now symptoms of schizophrenia would agree upon this.
Under this aspect, the whole show doesn't exist or any directors. It is all what he expects and assumes his life and environment to be.
I did expect it would be clarified at the end of the movie, but it wasn't. Him taking the door could be interpreted as him leaving his own mental bubble and mindset, though.
This is basically a pretty much super average super hero anime.
That could be enjoyable.
But it wasn't for me. The issues are characters that you can't relate to, that you don't care about. The protagonist is basically a All Might (from MHA) value-wise, but he is actually pretty much a looser and a jerk at the same time. He is like the most unskilled of all the heroes available, is super annoying and just a prick other times, trying to play being more important than he is.
Else, the plot is evolving so super slow, the presentation isn't exciting or providing tension either. It just felt like "let's get over with this".
Rating: 5/10. This might seem very, very harsh on this, but I dropped after 7 episodes wasted of my lifetime. And I tried; i switched between English and German dub even, not making a difference. It just felt...doll, monotonous and boring.
I actually thought this would be a recap movie like for Attack on Titan instead of a sequel.
It was not, obviously,and thus I recommend watching the first Steins;Gate anime at least.
It was a bit interesting to have another main character this time, but I feel in general it lacked the drama of the series, tension and the anticipation.
It definitively felt a bump weaker than the anime.
8/10 (animes being 10s)
I think it was okay-ish. I think this kinda feels like a girl's dream, horses, and one only YOU can tame and talk to. And the air of freedom?
I don't think it was quite for me, though
6/10 (you likely will enjoy this more than I did)
This has incredible detailed animation and images, really impressive.As are the badass songs. Sissy horse? Certainly not!
The movie translates it's messages well with few words.
Love to the details.
Else, it is beautiful, emotional and at times a tad bit sad.
9/10
There is also a follow up series - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_Riding_Free
and another movie inc.- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_Untamed
A bit hard to describe without spoiling too much.
This starts as a typical CIS/criminal thriller, but evolves into something...more and mysterious.
This is a horror movie, albeit I feel pretty cleverly executed.
The rating below is explicitly for these who would watch horror movies, or at least could take some stuff
Rating: 9/10
I didn't really know much about it, and didn't watch too many furry animes either. I think I actually foncused it with Beastars, and didn't know the difference between both.I actually thought both might be even related and one the successor to the other, or a spin-off
Back to BNA: It is likely less brutal than Beastars, overall pretty mild, family friendly, and maybe the biggest thing for it is...it is just charming, and a huge adventure with an equally charming as well as clumsy and adorkable main character. It is about getting amazed over and over by this awesome world and creatures! And they are all so cute and adorkable!!
Yet, surprisingly, despite being so adventurous and light-hearted, it manages to maintain a thrilling story which wants you to watch the next episode to unravel some secrets.
Be Like: The Cat Returns, A Whisker Away (maybe, still unwatched), Whisper of the Heart (maybe, still unwatched), Beastars (maybe, still unwatched), some western adventure-fairytales
Rating: 10/10, I loved it!
I think this is about the Golden Seal, not Poltergeist report. The former is kinda average.
Steins; Gate 0
Obviously the successor from S;G, so there isn't too much to say about the plot. It follows an alternative world line in which Okabe fails to rescue someone, and leads to the events of the very last S;G episode and makes it happen.
I felt you need to pay way less attention than in S;G, and roughly only the last quarter is like the second half from S;G. Those who have watched will understand.
Rating: 10/10, still Steins;Gate
I rec watching S;G first, obviously.
Opinion:
I would have to actually rewatch the start of the series again, and still missing season 3 (?).
There are action scenes in there for sure, but I think the thriller and mystery part plays a higher role.
Unlike Black Lagoon, while the different arcs seem to be pretty loose at first, they are in a way connected more to the main plot.
I think I would have wished a bit more for a streamlined and connected plot, with some twisting questioning appearing later having happened earlier on to keep you
At the end of the series (?), episode 25, there is still not revealed what these gates are and where they are coming from in the first place.
Rating: 9/10
Like: ...black lagoon (with mystery elements and plot twists?), Black Bullet
Akame Ga Kill
I am in the mid of it, and I am deeply impressed. It started a tiny bit slow, but not too much. It is quickly escalating to some extreme scenes. It is about a assassination group killing corrupts in a government city, supporting rebels to overthrow a corrupt government.
The characters are pretty extreme, fleshed out, interesting and come with backgrounds, they don't feel like they are thrown in lovelessly.
There is an openly gay character, a possibly hinting lesbian and trans character, but unlike most animes, I like that they are merely making it one attribute of the characters, instead of the defining one. That guy dude is a bastard of a fighter and is surely remembered by the audience for that and his motivational words!
It is also pretty brutal, for that matter. Albeit so far, still miles away from the likes of Hellsing Ultimate.
Familiar to: Hunter X Hunter, Black Bullet, Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Rating: 10/10
The Asterisk War (Netflix)
Genre; Pretty slight ecchi and harem, but mainly action
I think it started somehow interesting, but became repetitive, especially in the tournament. A plot that is barely advancing, of which the tournament takes a large place in, add random weapons each is carrying and you got your pretty average action anime.
The initial plot device of the lost sister doesn't advance much at all, and when you got a 16yo protagonist that is not a pervert, but seemingly seems to see a 13yo naked or her having feelings for him or whatever, that's pretty cringe.
There are also some concepts, such as among special humans are even more special ones, but there is simply no difference in the story line regarding them - why introduce that in the first place then? There are tons of anime that have done that much better, where these even more rare humans are often ousted from society, like the cursed children in Black Bullet.
The fights in this anime often come over as cheap as well as randomly, think being it closely to I am almost to loose, but this anime just randomly puts down a random weapon concept to have me win this fight!
And why is it even named like that, there isn't a war at all in here. :confused:
Honestly, at some point I just didn't care about anything in the anime at all.
Rating: 4/10
God Eater
Think of a more futuristic and based of the real world Attack on Titan with high-tech gear. Somehow felt a bit similar to Black Bullet, too.
At least I ended up binge-watching this, unlike Black Butler which was more a pain than enjoyment. Plot seemed to be consistent, enough plot twists to not get boring and was pretty exciting overall.
I think people could claim it was a bit cliché - Typical 12/13 ep anime with a protagonist becoming more and more powerful. It was done well, however.
There were many characters you would get the impression of just being there as a part of the team, but later on, solid backstories are revealed.
Also, at the end of each episode, a tiny bit of backstory is slowly revealed how the monsters came into existence.
Rating: 9/10
Opinion: It stroke me initially as an over-average run of the mill action anime, and this was mostly staying. I think Season 2 got better, especially the second half. I think the anime should have started way earlier with putting questions into the viewer, that makes you want to watch all the episodes.
Rating: 7
Rating season 2: 8.5
Black Butler
Was pretty lackluster, and I don't get the seemingly high ratings: The animations were often dull and noticeable slow, often stay at the same scenes for too long. There were in theory interesting character backgrounds, but they aren't really fleshed out at all. Why create an episode about different skills of each and how they are recruited, when it is simply not important to the plot at all and not coming up again?
The protagonist? What's that? A 14yo boy-brat, for real?
Story elements were popping out of a nowhere suddenly. You could just as well inserted someone farted at the other end of the world and another guy drops dead.
Overdrawn character faces when they are loosing a fuse. Just plain annoying.
But the worst part was that basically none of the characters were likeable. I simply didn't care for the future of any of them, whether they live or die.
Maybe it is just the victim of the things working better as a manga, or a bad anime adaption, IDK. There are other seasons, and at least from a first glance the second looked better with another protagonist, but I pass and not intent to torture myself another time.
Rating: 3/10
AngelBeats (netflix)
This was weird all along. Some fighting, pretty weird humour and often over-the-top. It got pretty good rating, but wasn't my cup of tea. Somehow some kind of highschool musical drama I suppose?
The visuals have been stunning, maybe too stunning. I didn't feel much anticipation and excitement for the next episodes, and there is barely tension, overall pretty lighthearted.
Rating: 5/10
Black Lagoon
Initial rating: 3/10
Later Rating: 6/10
Rating explanation: Ger dub wasn't nearly as good as the English one. Plus another reason below.
I initially was pretty disappointed, knowing nothing about this anime at all beforehand. I think the animation style could have been so much better, and it also stroke me as boring plotwise. There isn't really a red plot line at all, it is just some episodes put together, with barely having much consequences or continuity. Instead of thinking of a single anime where the plot evolves much think of it of anime movies of a single anime. It is like 3-4 episodes an arc, and then having almost nothing to do or continuing from any before. At same time, I rather put these arcs as stories, which are only relevant within themselves, like in Sin City. And when I say Sin City, the anime is pretty much like that movie/comics; stories about the utmost evil criminals and not caring for what they do. Changing my view to the story-model made me enjoy this much more.
Yet despite that, it felt kinda lackluster to me. I mean, I think they could have totally put more tension into scenes, and more thrilling moments. Having seen anime like Death Note, even the (seemingly) most boring plots without action can come up with excitement, fear and other emotions for the viewer. This anime? I barely cared about what happened with the characters, especially with the stories repeating to quite some degree.
Having watched the final episodes in the OVA, the ending is like...what the hell? Completely random, just like switching from one arc to another was to me. They barely talked about what happened before even, and the ending making sense only half-wise.
It is OK to watch once you accept these arcs as stories, but is far from being an anime that I would recommend for someone not being into anime yet, and I am not sure I'd even recommend it much to fellow weebz.
Ultraman (2019 Anime series, Netflix)
Based on the live action series around the 60s from Japan, without having seen that, I assume it is like others of it's genre.
To the anime: It felt a bit weirdly animated, partly as if there were things recorded IRL and then in post-production changed to anime style. I felt that at some times there was a huge backlog when people were talking, think like open or closing mouths, slowly moving faces, such stuff, or doing things, were a larger time nothing happened each time, think of 1 to some seconds. This made it felt more slow than necessary. This thing got A LOT of flashy lights, and some weird movement scenes that didn't make me feel well. You might want to avoid this anime if you can't take these or are prone to epilepsy.
I actually felt the first 1-3 episodes being extremely action packed, and like the whole anime is, over the top and over exaggerated super powers and actions. But I felt this was much of an issue for me, after the first few episodes it just felt a tad bit repetitive, with nothing new to be seen. The actions scenes were IMHO going on for too long often, when I just asked myself When are they finally over?
I mean, plot-wise there have been some surprises at least, and that allied alien surely looks and sounds badass - With the latter also becoming at least a tad bit annoying to hear when you do all the time, given the voice. The Rina/model arc was pretty boring IMHO, and if I was right about post-production animating, then the actors felt a bit lackluster - or the VAs, if not. Many things in this anime were feeling cheap, and I didn't really care much for the characters, or much what happens with them.
Overall rating wise, I'd put it in the lower middle of it, roughly, like 3/10 to 5/10. I wanted to finish that season only, but I wouldn't be thrilled for when the next will release.
Maybe someone who likes these extreme Japanese Live action series and/or movies and might knew them - or the series this was based on - would like this anime more.
I stopped after looking at it for 5 mins. WTF is this.
The animation literally looks like it was done with the Source Film Maker. So badly animated, i couldn't take it.
Please watch the English and not the German dub.
First off, I watched this with German dub mostly, and while it wasn't terrible, the English one is way superior, and the German...maybe pretty dull. Watch it in English.
The killer B, who is murdering horrible criminals. Actually, he isn't as much as the protagonist as Keith is.
Maybe it was for the German dub, as Keith is way more badass in English voice, but this really took some time for me to kick off. It is all about the climax and ending building up and honestly, in the process - it feels like eventually it was inventing way more concepts for it than necessary. Some parts of the plot were confusing like the whole black wing king something which I felt was never properly explained.
Be like: Hellsing OVAs (less bloody, but all about the climax and ending building up), Darker than Black (same, plus maybe somewhat more similar setting)
Rating: 8/10
Wait lol...if a good guy is killing off defenseless and disarmed thugs who are no threat to him anymore - isn't he committing murder then? :shrug:
Stereotypical super agent movie, but the acting is pretty good.
I think the first half is filled with quite some tensions and maybe some plot twists and quite good, but the endless action scenes in the second half were not too great IMHO.
Rating: 9/10
A good documentary, albeit I think somewhat dull at the beginning, about how trans are displayed in the media, how that is flawed and dangerous, how it affects how people treat trans persons IRL and expectations. And once you became aware of some things...some portrayals are just gross in retro perspective.
Since a lot of scenes of different movies and shows are shown, this also can work as an entryway to find other LGBTQ movies to watch.
This can be...emotionally hard to watch. Thus, the passage below is in a spoiler about the experience of a trans woman.
I had to be OK with my mom saying "I will never call you Jen because Jen murdered my son."
I had to...I had to be okay with that in order to survive myself, you know? In order to deal with not being able to see my grandma before she died because I could only come home if I dressed as a boy.
I had to deal with the fact that one of my best friends, who, like, I stood up at his wedding, won't let me meet his children.
I have to deal with these things. I have to live with those things.
-- Jen Richards, transwoman and actress.
Statements like these, which are hard to read, and many more in the documentary - They all highlight how our trans need all our support and assistance and tolerance they can get. They are still experiencing injustice daily.
Rating: 8/10
I can't believe there is an anime that is sicker and more grotesque freakshow than the year 2020.
It starts with a 2-on-2 one-sided fight, where team A is wearing masks and getting beaten hard and Team B is a girl...AND A CROCODILE-MAN. He takes a guy from Team masks...AND PUTS HIM RIGHT INTO HIS MOUTH - Where he is greeted by another man at the end of the mouth which speaks to that poor victim.
The outro of each episodes goes likes this: And in this episode we learned...and what will happen in the next episode is engulfed in the mist of chaos!
And this is pretty fitting: The whole series is just a chaotic mess. It is CONSTANTLY topping itself into more and more of the extreme. Half the time you will thing "For real? Did this really just happen!?" and the other half "HOLY SHIT! OH FIRETRUCK"
Make no mistake. This anime is absolutely brutal, and introduced background characters barely make it past the one minute mark. On the contrary, you think some of the characters in the early are making the impression of quickly getting replaced or being unimportant, when surprisingly the anime is also spinning around them much throughout.
It is actually hard to say which side is even the protagonists. And it seems to be more important that things are happening than actually figuring out who the strongest guy is or how other parties getting defeated. It is even hard to say which group are the good guys, if there are even any in this anime.
And despite all this chaos which is spiraling out of control more and more each time, the anime is surprisingly consistent, reasoned, has a streamlined story line and creating tension and excitement to bingewatch all of it like I did.
Genre rating horror-thriller-gore: 10/10
I refuse to give a general rating for this, if you can't take gore or horror, this anime isn't for you. If you can take it but aren't too into it, I urge you to give this a try.
Be like: Blood Blockade Battlefront (maybe, didn't want past the first episode), Hellsing (Hellsing being more serious), Soul Eater (with SE being less bloody and likely even less random. Yes, Soul Eater is less random than Dorohedoro), One Punch Man (randomness, but surprisingly Dorohedoro is more serious and brutal), I think in terms of the kind of humor some Scandinavian live action movies might be fitting like Seven Psychopaths, in Bruges or Adam's Apples, this anime goes might be like some crazy DC supervillains such as Harley Quinn.
Fun fact: Dorohedoro means "mud-sludge".
Info: Season 2 announced roughly in May 2021. I can't wait for this!
Great moments of the anime and reactions of mine below (spoiler)
So, did you watch it? Let me know your thoughts on this anime!
I can't believe there is an anime boss that might beat Saitama.
En. He turns enemies into mushrooms.
When I opened my eyes for the first time, I was surrounded by mushrooms. I have turned my parents into mushrooms.
I had to defeat him, he is my nemesis. Everything was covered in mushrooms. The whole city was turned into mushrooms. This is the truth behind the Day of the Mushroom of Doom.
From the moment he was born, En was surrounded by mushrooms. He believes he transformed his parents into mushrooms, and survived by eating them
