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deltaengineering · 5 years

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Summer Anime 2019 Part 1: no more intros

Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo. / O Maidens in your Savage Season

❓ There’s an outbreak of puberty in a high school literature club and things get really awkward really fast.

✅✅ This doesn’t pull any punches with the horny content and it’s hilarious.

✅ I like the characters as well, they seem to have a bit more to them than normal but they’re still likeable.

✅ Nice looking and well directed.

♎ Mari Okada’s trademark blunt writing is still there, though it works better here than it usually does. She really has gotten a lot better since she started writing more personal stuff instead of just vague supernatural seishun feels.

Dr. Stone

❓ A mysterious disaster turns everyone on earth into stone. Several millennia later some shounen characters are the first ones to awake and they do some caveman chemistry.

✅ The idea is pretty novel by Weekly Shounen Jump standards.

♎ I have to say that for a WSJ joint, the writing is fairly tolerable as well. It’s still dumb, but not insultingly so.

❌ But in the end, it’s still WSJ and you’re still just watching a bunch of terrible looking meatheads doing basic science on the level of a YouTube primer and shouting about how awesome that is using assorted catchphrases.

❌ And it’s on the same day as another shounen-ass shounen, to which it is inferior. More on that later.

Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru / How Heavy are the Dumbbells you Lift?

❓ Doga Kobo x bodybuilding

♎ This is possibly the least surprising anime of the season, because all you need to know is what the Japanese bodybuilding meme is and what Doga Kobo usually does. Well, there’s no loli this time at least.

✅ Not surprising + Doga Kobo = looks good

♎ It’s not exceedingly funny but it’s competent enough at comedic timing.But some one-note jokes (such as Akemi being thirsty for muscle) get old.

✅ Doesn’t rock my socks off but it’s alright for the time being. Pretty competent and with room for improvement with more characters.

Enen no Shouboutai / Fire Force

❓ A boy with a hero complex becomes a firefighter. Since this is a shounen universe by the author of Soul Eater, this is rather literal: Get ready to punch fire demons.

✅ You ready for some DUMB ANIME SHIT? Because this is a lot of that, in a good way. In particular is gets the tone right and is neither too clowny nor too grim. Mostly.

✅✅ Looks amazing. The production is top notch and the fire is especially impressive - it better be, because there’s a lot of it. The design is also good.

❌ Shounen writing rears its ugly head again. I don’t expect subtlety, but a dozen flashbacks to Shinra’s not-very-complicated backstory plus his incessant insistence on being A HERO are not a good sign at all. At least this time the blah is limited to the thematic core instead of everything.

✅ I was entertained for now, but I’ll have to see if the good production values can keep it up and make up for the simplistic core in the long run.

Granbelm

❓ Average girl becomes magical, summons a mecha and gets involved in a magical mecha fighting ring.

✅ This looks pretty neat, seeing as it is made by the Re:Zero team.

✅ Since it’s an original, there is much less LN jank in the writing though.

♎ Still feels mostly like a mashup of very generic anime tropes - reminiscent of Mai-Hime, of all things. It might go somewhere, but might just as easily not.

♎ In particular, it might start copying Re:Zero’s derpier aspects. It already has a fondness for the ragefaces.

✅ Since it’s not in fact isekai, it is allowed to throw shade on isekai.

Joshikousei no Mudazukai / Wasteful Days of Highschool Girls

❓ Some highschool girls chat about boys and whatnot.

♎ There really isn’t much to say about it, to be honest. The characters are okay but very archetypal, it looks average, and the humor is neither amusing nor particularly annoying. It seems to have a severe lack of personality - especially compared to Maidens, which is this show with the safety off.

❌ It is, however, just far too long. These kind of mild 4koma antics wear out their welcome at full length and without anything else it becomes tedious. All the segments feel disjointed and random anyway, so there’s really no upside to yawning through 24 minutes of it.

Kanata no Astra / Astra Lost in Space

❓ Several anime characters get lost during summer camp on a distant planet and have to find their way home in an FTL spaceship they stumble across.

♎ Speaking of archetypal characters - you couldn’t put together a more anime cast together if you were making a parody. You got your spiky-haired protagonist, dim genki girl, big boobed shy fujoshi, sparkling ikemen, brooding rival, androgynous twink, glasses wearing supergenius, a tsundere and a loli. They work very hard to establish this too.

✅ Apart from this ridiculous assortment of memes, Astra leaves a solid impression. The scifi universe isn’t completely nonsensical, and the concept has potential.

✅ It’s well put together too, with good direction and high production values.

❌ The only real negative is that Astra can’t shut up about its protagonist’s backstory. There were about as many repetitive flashbacks in this episode as in the first episode of Fire Force, and it’s only not as bad because Astra’s was double length. If this remains persistent, it may be more annoying than it’s worth.

Katsute Kami Datta Kemono-tachi e / to the Abandoned Sacred Beasts

❓ In a grimderp version of the American Civil War, nobody stops to think that turning people into murderous animal hybrids might not be a good idea and might leave some grudges after the war is over.

♎ Looks average at best. If it’s trying to be Fullmetal Alchemist, I have some bad news for everyone involved.

❌ This definitely can’t be taken seriously, because it’s so contrived and on top of it the tone is all over the place. It can turn from graphic massacres to funny hijinks to inhumane experiments on a dime. To work as intended, it would need a far more delicate hand on all levels.

♎ That said, by the end of it, when there’s a pileup of tragic betrayals and one CAIN MADHOUSE turns out to be a moustache-twirling villain with a cackle to match, it comes close to being the entertaining kind of schlock.

♎ Since this was only the setup, it might be worth it to find out what the actual plot is like going forward.

The Case Files of Lord El-Melloi II: Rail Zeppelin ~grace note~

❓After getting punked in the fourth Heaven’s Feel, Waver decides he wants to try his luck in the viper’s nest that is the Clock Tower (if you did not understand any of that, this show is not for you)

✅ Fate has the moneybags and moneybags make shit look good

❌ I would like to watch a dark comedy about the backstabbing and incompetence at the Clock Tower - The Death of Kayneth, if you will. However, there are only the mildest traces of this in Case Files and it takes itself far too seriously.

❌ Since I bounced off this show the second time now (there was an episode 00 a few months ago) I don’t know if I want to give this show even more chances to prove to me it’s not heartachingly dull. It’s not really funny and there’s barely any action.

♎ That leaves character drama. I do like Waver but not enough to watch him mope about his bro Iskander being dead all day. The rest of the characters are a mixed bag and evidently not good enough to keep the show going on their own.

Maou-sama, Retry!

❓ 💩

💩💩 100% of all the isekai shit and nothing else. This is highly derivative and amateur even by the standards of highly derivative amateur isekai LNs.

💩💩 Looks like absolute garbage even at ep 1. I should be happy that no talent is going to waste here.

💩 The least offensive aspect is that our MMO-reborn haxlord picks up a tiny Ramrem for casual dadfeels. It still sucks and there’s another show this season that does this better.

Sounan desu ka / Are You Lost?

❓ Comedy short about girls stranded on a remote island learning basic survival skills.

❌ One girl is hypercompetent at survival, the others are not. Hope you think this is comedy gold cos it’s all we got.

❌ show bad

Tejina-senpai / Magical Sempai

❓ Girl with breasts is an enthusiastic amateur magician and is so bad at it that every attempt ends in some compromising position.

❌ We can only afford one joke per comedy short, okay? Do you think we’re made of money and/or talent?

❌ This one is quick on the draw with the segments at least, and crams in 6 instead of the usual 2-3. So it’s theoretically less tedious, but in practice it’s all a blur of unfunny either way.

❌ show bad

Uchi no Ko no Tame naraba, Ore wa Moshikashitara Maou mo Taoseru kamo Shirenai. / If It's For My Daughter, I'd Even Defeat A Demon Lord

❓ Handsome young adventurer finds an orphaned devil child in the forest. Dadfeels ensue.

✅ So this is the one that does Maou Retry’s core aspect better. And it does it quite well, in fact; it’s cute and wholesome.

✅ Basically it’s Sweetness and Lighting with JRPG questing instead of cooking. That show was alright.

❌ However, to make up for being good at something, know that it has absolutely nothing else. The setting is off-brand JRPG mush and not even attempting otherwise, the production values are pedestrian.

♎ Apparently this turns into a fantasy version of Usagi Drop down the line. I’m not one to mark it down for that now, but that doesn’t sound too great. However, it’s questionable if 1. the anime gets there 2. the anime goes there and 3. I watch the anime enough for the problem to even arise. It’s not that good.

#anime #impressions #summer2019 #Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo #Dr. Stone #Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru #Fire Force #granbelm #kanata no astra #to the Abandoned Sacred Beasts #The Case Files of Lord El-Melloi II #Maou-sama Retry #Sounan desu ka #magical sempai #Uchi no Ko no Tame naraba Ore wa Moshikashitara Maou mo Taoseru kamo Shirenai.#If It's For My Daughter I'd Even Defeat A Demon Lord #Joshikousei no Mudazukai #Enen no Shouboutai

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techouspeaks · 5 years

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Rip Off Reviews: Angel’s Friends

A new title, same old ripping to shreds of things that have ripped off another. I go back and take a look at a show that tries to soar high like the Winx but is actually crashes down to brim stone!

Also, what is actually considered a real rip off? I may have the answer!

Decided to change the title for these from “Reel Rip Offs” to “Rip Off Reviews” since, if you known the Animated Heroine, she has a section called “Reel Rip Offs” and granted, at the time, I didn’t know what to call these reviews. So, yeah..You can say I ripped off another reviewer but without meaning to.

Honestly, since I rarely review movies, I really should have called it this title anyway. Granted it’s not that original of a title but I at least gave effort and admit to it. It’s hard to be 100 % original and even the term “rip off” has lost it’s meaning these days. So why I do I still slam and call shows rip offs when I know nothing can be 100 % original?

Well, here’s the thing, you can usually tell when something is trying to do it’s best to be it’s own thing and not a rip off. People say that Winx ripped off of Witch because they both contain 5 friends (later 6) that are fairies. However, Winx does try to include it’s own story and characters and the World of Winx is much different. In Winx, almost anyone can be a fairy if they’re born with magic or just somehow gain it. In Witch, only those chosen by the Heart of Kandrakar can become fairies. The Witch control the basic elements (water, fire, earth and air as well as energy.) and the Winx have their own powers including technology, something that you wouldn’t think a fairy of all creatures would have the power over of. Shoot, Aisha/Layla has her own unique power called “morphix”, which is this pink kinda slime like substance she can control. It can become anything from a shield to a weapon to even something she can ride on.

Same with Pokemon and Digimon. People say Digimon ripped off Pokemon but the only thing they have in common is that the monsters evolve, can fight other monsters and their name as well as kids to even adults occasionally having one. The rest of the story is completely different and told in a different way. Digimon focuses on the kid’s adventures of growing up and dealing with real situations that kids do face like being adopted, having a family member pass away, getting bullied, ect. While Pokemon is more focused on the Pokemon and taking care of nature while battling out to get stronger in a competition. Sure they focus on the human characters from time to time, but it’s more so their interaction and having to do with the Pokemon. Rarely do they focus on a human character that has a career/dream that doesn’t have to do with Pokemon, but granted that’s the purpose of the show. Pokemon surprisingly is about taking care of the pet, which is ironic because Digimon was originally based on Tamagachis than it was based on Pokemon. In fact, the creators for Tamagachis were the ones that pitched Digimon to be a boy’s version of Tamagachis, making a show to market the product like most toy lines did back then and still do.

So as long as they do something to make it their own, than yeah, it’s okay for them to have similarities with each other. Angel’s Friends hardly does this and even more shallow is when we get talking about the original 2007 comic books.

“ Four Angels (Raf, Uri, Sweet and Miki) and four Devils (Sulfus, Cabiria, Kabale and Gas) are sent to Earth, in an unused area of the Golden School, where they learn everything they need to become Guardian Angels and Guardian Devils. The Angels and Devils are required to form pairs as part of their education, each of which will have to deal with a human being, known as Earthly Ones, and help them choose between the right and wrong way in life without being discovered. Angels and Devils cannot operate at the same time, so they decide, clashing in the Challenge Room, who will work first. Moreover, they are subject to the V.E.T.O. (Vetoed from Exposing, Touching or Obstructing/Overhearing in the comic – Italian: Vietato Esporsi, Toccare, Ostacolare/Origliare).” ~ Wikipedia

To make it more clear, the V.E.T.O basically means they cannot touch or expose each other or fall in love with each other. Now that does sound like an original premise and it is, but sadly, this show fails to take it anywhere deep or less predictable.

In the series, Raf finds out that she was born on earth and has to find out what happen to her parents. Gee, where did I've seen that from before? I know it’s been done before even Winx but hang on, I’ll get to the other parts in a bit.

Granted, yes they try to switch things around by having Raf already have powers and be an angel, rather than her being human and finding out she’s an angel, but switching it around doesn’t make it that interesting or at least, they don’t write it very differently. Raf finds out her true origins, is in denial at first, tries to leave her friends and her destiny to mope. She even thinks about joining the bad guys because the main villain pursues her that she will tell Raf anything she wishes to know about her parents and true origin. It’s the same as the Winx. Nothing is different and you can predict the plot easily!

Again, Witch and Winx are written differently from each other that the only thing they share in common is that the girls are fairies. That’s it! Even the tone and how the characters and story are written is different so you know that Winx isn’t a rip off. Angels Friends the tone is the same as Winx but unlike Winx, the other characters don’t get much development. Yes, Bloom in Winx is the main star and gets a lot of attention but we do cut back to some of the other characters and their development. At least more so in the first few seasons, but even later seasons the characters get some focus occasionally. Here hardly any development is made to the other characters and by season two, it seems like none of the characters have learned anything. They’re just back to square one!

There’s also forbidden love which is also in Winx, kinda. Bloom is at first, not allowed to be with Sky because Sky is a prince and Bloom’s kingdom was destroyed, thus no longer making her a princess by law standards, until the Secret of the Lost Kingdom plot. In Angel’s Friends, the forbidden love was staged by the villains and it turned out their love may not be even real at first. There’s later plots where they do show they’re in love but it’s again pretty cliched

Not to mention the designs are the same as Winx just with a weird head and this is where we enter the comic book series. Angel’s Friends started off as a comic book series in 2007. The characters look way different in the comics than they do in the cartoon.

First, in the original comics they were actually kids! They weren’t teens in the comics! The story is a bit the same but still different. Yeah, I will admit Raf is kinda odd looking in the original comics but, give credit, her attitude and how she is personality wise matches her appearance. She isn’t perfect nor perfect looking and at least here she has her own appearance. She doesn’t look like all the other characters. She looks like her own character. All of them do!

When they made the cartoon, you can clearly see they decided to go the Winx route and give up all the originality that the comic book was trying to go for and make it a Winx rip off. Shoot, the bodies are the same shape as the Winx. The only thing they did was change the head and face to be...Honestly, I don’t even know what that is! That face is just off to me! As odd as Raf was originally, I can see why they went with the design in the old comics. Her eyes are big and expressive and give off more personality. She’s cute in her own way.

In the cartoon, she’s kinda got them “Barney eyes” as Nostalgia Critic once said about Barney, where they’re big in the wrong way and small in the wrong way. At least with the Winx their eyes are big and show more expression. Here their eyes look like they’re stoned half the time and their faces seem really off! I honestly say that Raf is uglier in the cartoon than in the comic! At least the original design was meant to be cute and again you can tell what her personality is by her expressions and body language even seen in the comics!

In the cartoon, even Raf as well as the other’s clothing is shallow and uninspired. I get they want to give them some cool designs but again it just feels like they ripped off Winx, especially with how their wings are with this modern-esc outfit. They look like Magic Winx outfits if they decided for everyone to have the same wings.

Shoot, people say that Bloom is a rip off of Usagi from Sailor Moon but at least Bloom has her own colors and powers too! Raf has the same exact colors as Sailor Moon and is meant to be a klutz and your typical goodie goodie girl since she’s an Angel, but her “Barbie Doll” look makes her even more manipulative! It’s like if you were to fuse Sailor Moon, Bloom and Barbie to make an abomination from hell, that’s Raf in a nutshell! (Shoot, sometimes, Raf looks like Stella from Winx in some shots, just with again an ugly face and stoned out eyes.)

Not to mention but Sulfus, I still dunno what the actual hell they were thinking with his hair style! He looked fine with his long hair and his jacket outfit in the comics. To me personality wise, Sulfus is basically Riven if he went grudge or tried to go goth but didn’t know what the heck goth actually was!

Let’s not forget they made the main boy angels in the comic books background characters, because well...girls hang out with girls only and guys are just for dating only unless of course, they’re bad like the devils and the boy angel that has a crush on Raf, is of course, changed from video game loving, smart boy to just eye candy with no personality and hardly any facial expression!

Plus, scream as you will against Winx sexualizing teenagers and making them so skinny. Angel’s Friends did worse! They took a character originally kinda thick (well hard to tell because she’s a kid and always wears a sweater like all the time) and made her basically Musa from Winx, well if Musa had no interesting back story or personality outside slightly attitude that occasionally has some wisdom but not much else. Even kind of changing her race from an Inuit girl to an Asian girl of some sort.

At least with the Winx, they were always intentionally to be design with a thin body. I know I did a thing on why they use the same body shape because it’s just easier to do that, but come on! They could have made this series about cute angels and devils in training, than going for a plot we’ve seen a million times, that Winx and Sailor Moon already did better! At least then it wouldn’t be so much a rip off and rather it’s own thing! The comics actually did have something going on but they decided “Eh, scrap it! We’ll make them superficial and unrelatable!”

At least with the Winx characters, they actually go through stuff. They have personal problems that kids can relate to. Bloom’s adopted and has to deal with that crisis of wanting to know her real parents. In fact, the creator of Winx, Iginio Straffi, said that Bloom was based on a girl he met that was adopted and said the same thing, that she wanted to know her birth parents. Musa lost her mother at a young age, Aisha’s parents have high expectations of her and had strict rules to follow. Stella’s parents are divorced and she tried to cover it up that it doesn’t bother her, but you can clearly tell it does but she’s trying to be strong, which a lot kids do that! Flora is soft spoken and has a hard time standing up for herself. Tecna is an awkward nerd and has a hard time relating to people.

None of the characters in Angels Friends ever shown to go through that. In fact, the ones that ever really do get development are they main two love interests. The other characters don’t go through any kinda of dilemma that would involve them personally, outside of tempting and guiding their human I would say friends, but more so human projects or whatever.

The humans they guide aren’t very interesting either. They’re just kind of the blank slates for the kid to fit themselves into to teach and learn the lesson. The situations are hammered down a bit too much but for real little kids, this might be fine.

Now, yes, the story has it’s own idea, least the concept of the angels and devils guiding people is interesting, though I wouldn’t say it’s that original. It’s been done before. In fact, many of the first magical girls did similar things. The idea though is made more shallow because the characters are one note with little to no development.

Winx fans complain that Bloom takes the spotlight from the other characters and they get least development. Not true, at least they do focus on the other Winx from time to time and they do have development. In this series, only Raf and Sulfus get a deep story (if you can call it deep...) and none of the other characters ever do! I looked back and there’s none! By season 2, the characters are exactly the same as they were in the first season!

Now is there anything to like about this show? Well, the first season teachers are kind of interesting, the world about angels and devils guiding and tempting is pretty interesting. While the lessons are pretty hammered down, they aren’t bad lessons. I would even recommend the show if you had a kid and wanted them to watch something that was slightly educational in terms of life lessons without it being too close to home. So, it’s not really that bad in terms of teaching kids morals, but I would recommend say Miraculous Lady Bug or My Little Pony even before I even recommend Angel’s Friends.

If you like this show, more power to you. I will admit I do like at least the two devil girls, Cabiria and Kabale, just simply because the voice actors do give them some nice dialog and a little personality despite, yeah it’s the typical bad girl troupe. Shoot, Cabieria is voiced by Lisa Ortiz aka Lina Inverse of Slayers and you may recognize her Pokemon! In fact, the voice acting in this show is pretty good. It’s just shame the rest is left to be desired.

I’m going to give Angel’s Friends 2 1/2 stars out of 10. The acting is good and the concepts are interesting, morals are hammered in your face but aren’t bad morals so it’s not terrible for your kids to watch it. Rips off so much from Winx Club and has a lot of cliches that they don’t do anything different with. Not horrible for kids but I would recommend something else before flying into this one!

2 1/2 Stars

Level: Not Good!

#angels friends #winx club #Winx #world of winx #tales of ladybug and cat noir #reel rip offs

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