From start to finish - an absolute joy to watch. In what I would consider a not particularly impressive anime season, this series really shines out as an example of what you can really do with a bit of creativity. The series (if you don't include the OVA and the Net Episodes from Season 1, which you don't really need to see) is only 10 episodes long but it still manages to tell a fantastic and touching story.
What really amazes me is how good this is compared to what I was expecting. Having watched the OVAs and web episodes that "aired" prior to the TV series itself, I found myself thinking "Looks cool, but doesn't really make any sense or go anywhere". The TV series was able to flesh out the previous content and weave it into a very compelling story. What's even more amazing is that from what I understand, this started out as just a small little collaberation between Toei Animation and a friggin' toy maker (Banpresto)!
I get the feeling that not everyone will be quite as smitten with the series as I was, but it just worked for me. I liked the characters, the fantasy setting, the music, everything. This absolutely shines out as my anime of the season, and possibly the whole year.
Oh, and Koto is love.
Mike Flanagan continues to channel his love of Stephen King into a miniseries that's actually better than most King TV screen adaptations we see. I wasn't totally won over by his Haunting of Hill House and haven't bothered with the follow up series yet, but this is in a totally different league.
Midnight Mass is absolutely steeped in thematic material. This could be a bit much if it didn't sit so well alongside the characters, the writing and the narrative. The series has hell of a lot to say about religion but it's never coming down for or against it. It allows each character's religious beliefs (even if they have none) to let us understand them and what their faith means to them.
I highly recommend going into this knowing as little as possible. Suffice to say that there are horror elements which creep in and it certainly fits into the classic Stephen King story mould. There are twists which are telegraphed from the start (if you notice the actors in old-age makeup in the first episode then it's a bit obvious where things are going) and some which are much more subtle.
But the show really shines through the performances. Just about every episode has at least one scene which is completely mesmerising. It's not afraid of letting it's characters have discussions and letting us be there for the whole thing. More films and TV could benefit from this approach. I need to highlight Hamish Linklater in particular as doing an incredible job.
If I have any criticism it's that the visuals are a little frustrating. The series has that weird "modern" undersaturated look with minimal lighting which leads to things looking a bit flat. This is offset by some gorgeous cinematography and strong editing.
Also, Bev is the worst.
I still have Absentia and Before I Wake of his non-obscure works left to see, but I find this the best thing Flanagan has done to date. It turns out "original work + heavily literary-influenced" is the ideal middle point of this director, so his preoccupied philosophical/religious ideas don't feel as grafted on as sometimes happen in his adaptations (like the last episode of Hill House), and the influence helps stressed the emotional/thematic resonance further than his more purely formal genre exercises (like Hush or Oculus).
The complexity here feels very much Stephen King-influenced (agreed with some comments of "best King novel that he has never written"), but being original work means Flanagan starts off with pure atmosphere and characterization of his own creation, which is why I don't find the pacing and monologues of early episodes to be too much like others do. They feel like carefully crafted momentums that deepen this rich world and cast of characters to parallel the horror-tinged mysteries taking place alongside them.
In fact, the only time they truly feel their length is when the other shoe drops a full reveal at the series' midpoint in Episode 4, because as good as its "after death" discussion and others are, they now feel in the way of a clear forward narrative now gaining steam proper. This problem persists a bit into Episode 5, but the devastating ending finally has the characters caught up with the audience, leading into the last two episodes that are the best landing in either of Flanagan's films or series. Horrific, supremely crafted, and surprisingly tender, the ending of series sees Flanagan has the characters confront their past traumas and current beliefs (whether firm or wavering) alongside the horror taking place, and the way he clearly grapples and ponders along with his own characters onscreen during the final stretch is the most moving filmmaking this director has ever done.
As per usual with many popular shows and films, it’s overhyped, overly serious, emotionally manipulative and mostly dumb.
It’s a show that thinks that people with shitty lives and gambling problems are willing to die for a 0.1% chance of winning a lot of money.
Bit of a thin motivation, wouldn’t you say?
Wouldn’t you probably flee the country, if your financial situation was that shitty? Wouldn’t you rather rob a bank, or a rich family? Yeah me too, I wouldn’t hesitate for a single second if it was between that or participating in some sadistic game.
It’s such a silly concept, and yet it’s presented as if this is some sort of serious and important drama with a lot of social commentary about poverty.
I’m sorry, but this is a show where the big villain looks like he walked out of a comic book (he literally looks like Victor van Doom from the Fantastic Four), and his minions have masks with Playstation buttons on them.
It’s schlock, but it thinks it’s Parasite.
And don’t get met even started on the acting, it’s fucking horrible.
This might’ve worked if our characters would be forced to participate involuntarily, but at that point you’re just remaking Battle Royale and The Hunger Games, so you’re kinda screwed regardless with this concept.
[spoilers sorry lole]
last 2 eps completely ruined the show; too many things left unexplained or given corny ass reasons; last episode REALLY horrendous; tried to make us sympathize with psychos; mid ass ending; hella plot holes and pretty predictable (was able to guess that front man was cop brother cus like who else would it be + old man was behind it all due to the fact that he was #1 like srsly) . really peaked in the "game" part of the show. why fly the vips in so late too? why have the organ plot? and in the marble game, why did ali lose since one of the rules were they HAD to play a marble game, yet lost despite not playing any? i get theres very few rules but one of the rules was they HAD to play a marble game but idk. they should have both died at least as a compromise lole. and final fight was so predictable with the anime-ass rain + ground stab near head instead of the finishing blow and suicide lmaooo.
game-part alone nice 7.5. kinda stupid fun to watch and shit.
kinda psuedo deep commentary on society (yea bro ur not wrong capitalism is ass and pushes us to do wild shit) and show was also pretty corny lolz
Let me quote a Google audience review:
"I'm only about half way through the fifth episode but I'm so frustrated. I read through some of the other comments and I'm glad I'm not the only one pulling their hair out over the stupid decisions some of the characters make, especially Kinsey. Don't get me wrong it's an incredibly interesting concept and the some of the effects are super cool but certain aspects have me banging my head against the wall. There's a bunch of discoveries that are forgotten like the ghost key or characters that seem important but disappear for multiple episodes such as Ellie or the great great grandfather. Ellie made some kind of huge discovery where she yelled for Lucas into the well but then she's just gone. And the dad's just dead so they have a sad backstory and unanswered questions.
The mother is scarily detached from her kids' life and lets her youngest son who seems to be in grade school stay alone in a mansion by himself, even though he shows repeated concerning behavior talking about a lady in the well and whispering. I know her character is supposed to be a grieving mother who was never good at parenting but they just made her useless and pitiful. I'm seriously curious as to why we follow her story even though she seems kind of unimportant and neglectful.
And don't even get me started on Kinsey. She was already very rude from the beginning but she was traumatized and grieving so it wasn't that weird. But then she literally kills her ability to feel fear??? Like she's in high school she should know it's a vital feeling in order to survive!! After that her character just becomes painful to watch, she straight tells her mother that she's bad at parenting and she should just stick to painting and house renovations because "that's what you're good at" and she sees absolutely nothing wrong with that until she finds out her mom was in her life more that she thought she was. It's purely downhill from there, she then shows the guy she likes the keys which is a stupid thing to do you, don't just start showing people magic! He's freaked at first but then afterwards is totally chill about it?? She then abuses the music box key to absolutely humiliate this one girl, who, sure was mean, but she took it way to far! And then Gabe joined in on it and he was totally fine with the fact that she was using magic??? All the girl did was say that Scot was mediocre, and they made her humiliate herself in front of the school. Kinsey isn't cute or quirky and is far from the yeah new confidence you go girl! She became an awful character to watch and main characters with bad personalities makes it hard to cheer them on. I'm sure it was to show the addicting power to abuse the keys but still!
There are moments when the acting is a little lack luster, like most of it is totally fine but then it's just these odd few second scenes where the actors are just weird and 100% unnatural. Also the Well lady straight up killed two people for like literally no reason?? And we're just fine with that? If she's into killing why doesn't she use her power to threaten Bode into giving her the keys? And Kinsey and Tyler keep going back and forth from super close and buddy buddy to I hate you and at each others throats.
Hopefully the show gets better!"
- Marissa Hebert
Unfortunately, as Marissa likely discovers, it does not get better.
Three episodes in and I'm already seriously annoyed by the characters' irrational choices and unrealistic behavior. Keeping secrets or lying for no good reason, promising one thing and doing another, etc. And they keep doing it over and over. And I'm not even mentioning their almost casual reaction to discovering a magic mirror that serves as a gateway to another realm. After such an experience any real person would start to seriously question their f****ng sanity or at least have a panic fit and leave that house to never come back again. I know I would. But no, these kids are like: "Wow, magic door. I guess that's nothing to be seriously alarmed about." Even after losing their father in a horrific and traumatic event it doesn't seem to bother these kids at all that they just almost lost their mother too inside this magic mirror maze. And these are just a few examples on the top my head. There's much more where that came from.
It's like watching an '80 horror movie where someone in an already dire situation hears a scary noise and decides to go towards it instead of running to safety. And sure, that was okay then. Maybe fun even. But today, these 30-40 old "proven devices" have become just that: old. Really old, both literally and figuratively. But apparently 30-40 years was not enough time for these writers to come up with something different or original.
It's a shame really, because I think the story overall is quite interesting. But it is starting to become almost unbearable to watch when the only reason the characters behave the way they do is because it's the easiest way to move the plot into a certain direction. It's lazy writing like this that makes characters unbelievable and unrelateble.
This series was certainly an interesting watch. From the synopsis alone you may be forgiven for assuming this could turn into another raunchy high school love comedy, but nothing could be further from the truth. This series is dark and twisted, and a brilliant watch because of it. The main character is a thoroughly unlikeable, cowardly (and pretentious) wimp, which may sound like a turn-off for watching the series, but stick with it, because the series basically revolves around him being tormented by the messed up girl, Nakamura.
What I really liked was that this series took scenarios that, in other series, would be played for comedy, only here they're not funny and cause a great deal of angst and torment for all involved.
Another thing that sets this series aside from most other anime is the style of animation which uses rotoscoping. This style sadly was enough to make a lot of snobs turn their noses up at the series without ever giving it a chance. Personally I have no problem with the animation style and in fact wish more series would do this. (Trapeze is the only other example I can think of off the top of my head http://trakt.tv/show/trapeze)
It's a shame that the series hasn't done too well in sales because that means we probably won't get a second season. This really is unfortunate, because whilst stuff definitely does happen in this series, by the end you are definitely left with the impression that things are only going to get more twisted and messed up and that we've only started down the path of depravity (and in fact, the last episode makes this very clear). This series is adapted from a Manga though, so if you do really like what you see you can read that to find out what happens next.
Much as I wish I could rate the series higher, there are a few things stopping me from giving it a better score. The animation quality is sadly somewhat lacking. There are lots of crowd shots where nobody is moving at all, which is all the more frustrating because if anything, it should be easier to animate crowds in this style. Some scenes were drawn out a big too long to the point where you just want something to happen already (a good example would be the walk home after the infamous "classroom" scene. Yes building atmosphere is fine and everything but 5+ minutes of just walking? Come on...). And even though there's a lot of schadenfreude to be had from watching Kasuga suffer at the hands of Nakamura, he is still pretty insufferable and cringeworthy to watch at times.
In spite of all it's flaws however, this is still a very interesting and different show that I would definitely recommend. Just be aware that if you want to know what happens next, you'll probably have to read the manga.
What I expected was a mature, gritty version of Sabrina The Teenage Witch. What I got was a very political, very Christian, horror-themed version of Sabrina that still seems targeted specifically at a teenage demographic.
Is it just me, or was the original TV series accidentally progressive for showing an alternative non-Christian lifestyle in a positive light? This new series seems to undermine the progressiveness of its source material by re-imagining this non-Christian lifestyle as explicit devil-worshipping, where witches routinely commit murder and cannibalism. Sabrina's own aunt Zelda expresses disappointment about missing out on an opportunity to eat "long-pig".
The story also seems to take a few pages from Harry Potter with Sabrina being persecuted by pure-blood witches for being half-Muggle and it even has its evil version of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It actually really feels like it is a knee-jerk reaction to the popularity of Harry Potter; a story with a protagonist whose challenge is to resist the temptation of evil witchcraft.
Finally, why do they have to refer to everything as "dark"? When Sabrina tells Harvey about her "dark baptism", maybe it would have sounded a lot less crazy if she'd just called it a "baptism"? It's like listening to Dr Evil (from Austin Powers) explain how he got his M.D. in "evil medical school". There's absolutely no subtlety to be had here.
Don't get fooled by the first episode. This show is pretty bad (at least if you expect quality writing out of it).
The main problem for me was the lack of story. They setup a life or death siutation but instead of showing the players coping with it we get a timeskip and a chronological adaptation of the source material (light novels) which means lots of irrelevant side stories. The stakes are mainly ignored and hardly anyone works toward the goal of completing the game (clearing all 100 floors). When the SOA story arc comes to an end it is abrupt and makes no sense at all due plotarmor. The second arc is still airing but luckily it'll be over soon. All changes have been for the worse.
Another issue are the characters; cardboard cutouts and personality changes on demand. Most of the women (or better girls) tend to exist to form a harem for our MC. Speaking of which, this show goes full-shonen as far as his powers go. It is ridiculous what he can pull off (getting his own skills in an mmo, hacking, highest leveled player in the game when all you see is him idlying and helping lowlevel players.. it get's even worse in the second arc).
Given that it is an action show you would at least expect the fights to be good. Unfortunatly these are a letdown. The bossfights usually look rather bad. Not only because of the CGI but the way they animated it. There is hardly a battle choreography and they overuse still frames. You can literally see that the only things animated are the flashing lights which are supposed to represent sword strikes.
Add to this the ever increasing fan-service, silly dialogue, unbelievable romance and countless things that make no sense.
Due to reasons I cannot understand this show is popular and sells really well so a second season could happen.
Put this off for a while to see what the reaction would be, it's ... pretty much what it says 'on the tin'. romcom vignettes, based on miscommunication drama and odd expectations, etc. highschool drama. Technically well produced, the art style, comedy and action flow is also exceptional. Characters are, strong typed initially, so you get to unravel a few of them, but they're all tinged with melancholy and confusion, which makes them semi realistic as teenagers.
The drama elements are, most likely from people's own personal stories with a touch of dramatic license, combined with just fantastic recreations/rumour/narratives to avoid embarrassing the writers, i.e. they're just different enough from cringe-y to be sugary reimagined versions, i.e. what if my crush said Y instead of walking away or ignoring me, etc. In a writing sense, they could "milk" romcom tropes for decades because they never have to make the characters real for more than 5 minutes or give them lives to live. They also don't focus on the erotic or adult too often, which is, arguably where the show will fall down for some viewers too, as they want the entire clutch of romantic angles in a big glorious 12 minute episode "basket".
And, there's options to thread /weave in standard characters later on that have longer lives, or returning roles or more interesting lives., i.e. mis-directed crushes, gay characters, fast/slow mismatches, age differences, uncomfortable sex or nudity, the third/fourth/fifth wheel, etc that Koi to Uso (love and lies), or more directly, Kuzu no Honkai (Scum's Wish) plays so heavily on. I think fans of the anime romcom setting will probably either adore or hate this format, or tolerate it, because either they want to be the voyeur, or enjoy the schadenfraude, the failed romance, yearning, or crushed hopes. there's probably a very large audience for that as well, the "tsun" aspect.
i wouldn't say it's low brow, or high brow drama, it's like relationship candy. for 3 to 6 minutes, you get a short, driven fantasy that's supposed to capture your feelings, then it switches to another couple. Nothing too complicated, nothing too demure, just candy for the drama itch that the audience wants to say no to, but just one more, and another, and another.
In this sense, you can binge watch an entire series of shorts like this for days on end, but not feel like anything has happened either. Some of the "flavours" in the relationship are significantly forced into being, but overall, like an assortment of candy in a grab bag, the sour and the sweet, the bitter and the bland mix well, and you'll keep on devouring more and more to see what's next.
No Spoilers at all.
So, i just finished first season of the series, and having watched this far, i dont really know how this series got an 8 here... its a "kinda good" series, it makes use of a lot of good characters from british literature and has a good cast of actors, really good actually, and they kinda put together a good "ambience" for these characters on a good plot, the problem here is, the plot moves too slow, so slow you actually lose interest in the middle of the episode, i start watching it, and around 20-30 minutes i am already picking my phone and doing something else and not even paying atention, which is a shame, cause the series has everything to be good, another problem i find with it is the way the characters are "connected" everything sees so random that it doesnt seem random at all, its like, every character find each other from time to time with no reason whatsoever besides advancing the plot, its too much of a coincidence.
Its not a bad series by any means, but if you are like me, and like a little bit more action packed and not so "wait for the plot to happen" series, this is not for you, my personal score for this would be 6, cause of this point in question, but since this is a review for other people and not myself, i am confortable with giving it a 7, but i dont find it deserving any more than a 7.
You'd expect more from Tina Fey than this. A direct two season order is a blessing for this show as it wouldn't get it on its originial network for sure.
Although, it's not the worst I've seen and there are better ones being supported after they jumped the shark ages ago for several more seasons (Cougar Town).
However, the show has a likable maincharacter (Kimmy) and some fitting sidecharacters. But the focus lies partially too much on Tidus, the roomate Kimmy shares a basement appartment with. The occasional appearance of some known B/C actors is nice, like Dean Norris or Richard Kind or the recurring role of Jane Krakowski as the boss of Kimmy.
The Person I cannot stand the most is Carol Kane who plays the landlord of Kimmy and Tidus. One of the most "unnecessary" actors I've ever seen. I hate to see her here or in Gotham where she plays the mother of Penguin.
Personal preference aside, the end of the first season (last three eps) is based on most incredible stupidity for laughs. Some form of this would be acceptable as it used throughout the first season anyway (Kimmy's father is borderline stupilarious as long as he doesn't appear too often, or too long), especially since Tina Fey is an executive producer and guestappearing herself in these episodes. But the horrendous level of stupidity makes it barely watchable.
If you expect the same quirkiness as you know from 30 Rock, you won't be entirely disappointed but to some degree nontheless. It's still an okayish, uplifting, sort of wacky attempt at a comedy.
It is, by the numbers forgettable. a modern tech version of frankenstein + a procedural show. a solid 5 out of 10 show, even with the decent actors and sets that look great. it's a boring show because it's another police procedural.
On Fox.. The home that has no "Second Chances" to give.
What limits the enjoyability is the procedural nature of the show. but, once that's removed, there's no tension. Adding a single sociopath as the "arc" has 'resurrected' a story, but it's inherently limited, and that's how the show will remain.
Without a greater arc or a wider threat, or a greater sense of connection between the 4 different worlds (home/work of Pritchards / Goodwins), it's mediocre at best, and highly derivative procedural content. The sheriff will win because he has to, and Otto/Arthur the AI will solve the crisis because he's supposed to. It's not enough to carry the show because there's nothing left for the show to do, unless the FBI's only job in a procedural is to hire/find/acquire specialists to solve crimes (Hannibal, Limitless, Second Chance, White Collar, Quantico, Mentalist, Fringe, Numb3rs, Perception, Bones, Blacklist, Blindspot, sic.) Those other shows have spent time making their protagonist affable, and their handler/CI relationship work.
I thought i'd give it some props as a sci-fi enthusiast (I will watch almost anything), but episode 11 (and 12) has flushed that down the proverbial by cutting all of the secondary and tertiary subplots, and given us a cliffhanger that doesn't really work. Because at the conclusion of the season, there's no reason to worry about the characters. Everyone could die, and the series doesn't seem to have enough impact that it matters at all. Mary and Otto don't have enough chemistry as family, the Pritchard's don't either. Mid-season, there's enough drama and tension to be compelled to watch. but the technology wanders over into disbelief and CSI "enhance that image" levels of super-competence for a procedural at times, and while it's forgivable early on, Arthur is a feint towards a real character at times.
And it's slightly dissonant when you realise, anyone + Arthur could solve these crimes, and it would be just as compelling to watch, since he/it shoulders the duty of being the one that cares and does the bulk of the work, or could. He's the KITT to Michael Knight of the series in a lot of ways, so I'd guess that's a possible red flag. Procedurals get into this quagmire all the time when there's nothing to resolve, since the characters alone aren't compelling enough to carry the show because they have no integral lives outside of the crime/monster of the week.
Unfortunately, the show needs a rewrite for a second season to create a better arc villain and a better set of situations to unravel. Again, this show is on Fox, so that won't happen.
It might just have been a budget problem, but they opened up a significant scope of ideas, and then limited each box so that nothing passes in between each sub-story. If they had hired experienced scifi or procedural writers (or copied better writers), they might have added some chemistry between the characters, or a better mid-season arc to want to watch the series.
But, It's on Fox.
Yeah, I love this series. I've always been a fan of Key anyway and I remember being so stoked when I heard about this new project. For what it's worth this ranks in my top 3 Key works (along with Clannad and Rewrite, the latter of which sadly doesn't have an anime adaption(yet...?))
If you've seen other Key works like Clannad, Kanon or Air, you probably already know that they tend to enjoy mixing comedy with tragedy, often whiplashing you between the two very quickly. Whilst these elements are certainly present in Angel Beats, and whilst the pasts of some of these characters are still pretty horrible and tragic, I don't think the series generally wallows in it as much as other Key works perhaps did.
The series has a nice mix of action, comedy, music and drama and it works really well. It also has TONNES of characters (A trait it shares with Little Busters I guess) which sadly, due to the series only being 13 episodes long, don't all have time to be developed to their full. Still, they are all a fun and silly bunch generally, and watching their antics is very enjoyable indeed.
Finally some good news for anyone who wanted more. Key have finally announced that an Angel Beats Visual Novel will be released in 2014. By the looks of it, it will be released in separate chapters (or beats), but hopefully this will give people a chance to learn more about the characters that didn't get much screen time in the anime (well, assuming it ever gets translated :D)
http://key.visualarts.gr.jp/angelbeats/index.html
One year later, I am still heartbroken that Happy Endings actually did end. What an ominous title that was...
It took me almost the entirety of the first season to start feeling the love for Happy Endings, but I stuck it out and I found that while I was expecting a How I Met Your Mother meets Friends kind of show, Happy Endings was much more and very different in all the right ways.
Although the series builds from Dave & Alex's wedding, all 6 characters are equally hilarious, entertaining, adorkable (yes there's a k there), relatable and whimsical. I couldn't pick one strong character in this cast, neither could I pick a weak one (although Dave is a bit of an acquired taste). I will never forget Max' genius "hold your horses" or Winnie The Pooh episode, Alex' "I'm not as dumb as I am" and her couch prank or her "I may not know what an Ira Glass is", Brad's Sim-Brad, Penny's falls and head bumps, Jane's ideal salary negotiation, her calm authority and that episode she loses it all at the couples games night, and Dave's so subtle dorky behavior.
But that isn't even half of Happy Endings' strength. Never before has any show assumed the gay/black attributes of its characters so openly, without making that one particular define their whole identity. Happy Endings broke the stereotypes of those characters, and the stereotypical way in which they are usually dealt with in TV/Movies. It didn't dance around the obvious, try to make a political stance, or avoid laughing about it. As with any group of friends, they sometimes joked about Max not being gay enough, or Brad's black origins and the way he speaks, and the jokes were real and tasteful.
There's also the fact that Happy Endings is a physical + spoken + situation comedy at once, a traditional sitcom in that sense, but the spoken aspect was always subdued, full of references, and it made you work for your reward in every joke. I was often too focused on one aspect or character and didn't notice what else was happening simultaneously. I also missed some of the verbal jokes. That's why there is such an added value in re-watching Happy Endings.
I have seen every episode at least 5 times and I STILL find new things to laugh at. That's how much there is going on, and how brilliant the show is. I am grateful that we got 3 seasons of Happy Endings, but I would have loved more, so much and much and much more.
