My reviews on pretty much anything.

I Love to Hate School Days

"In the school, the three guys met. Their relation had been changed in the season, and turned into three love stories."

Three guys…?

So here's a show that's revered for its ending. I never spoiled myself by reading BBS posts about it, but I did expect something of that sort to happen.

I finished watching this series early this morning, so this review is going to spoil everything if you haven't seen it already.

Where do I begin? Well, I guess I'll just start off by pointing things that I really hate about this show. One of them is the character design. I think that there is NOTHING interesting about Makoto. How he manages to womanize almost every girl in his high school perplexes me. The rest of the cast feels linear and bland as well.

Makoto is not the type of person I see as a womanizer. Maybe in this universe, his plain and normal look is the biggest trend in that high school. He's also not the type of person I could see myself hating either. If he went to a more realistic high school, he probably would be overshadowed by plenty of factors.

What happens to the characters is nothing but misery. Katsura and Sekai did this all to themselves. Katsura knew that Makoto was cheating on her for days on yet, yet she insisted that she was still Makoto's girlfriend. Sekai condoned Makoto's perverse actions on her and eventually grew a huge distrust in Makoto despite previously helping her. I don't see anything good about all this.

The only character I felt some sympathy for was Taisuke. He was constantly overcasted by Makoto. He had a crush on Katsura, who was in a one-sided relationship with Makoto the whole time. He also was in a minority of characters who I believed had some common sense. Kokoro's friend, despite her short appearance, summed up how wrong everything felt.

Where exactly are the parents when all of this nonsense is happening? This show fails to explain anything about the lack of parental figures. If the parents were involved in this mess, maybe all of this wouldn't happen. Maybe this is a universe where parents don't exist? Who knows.

There's questionable things in this show. Whenever they are showed, I question whether I should take them seriously or laugh at them. Makoto's garbage can of tissues felt like a gag. The lounge area is the most striking one out of all. There's no explanation for it either. It's just a room reserved in the back which includes a bed and a box of tissues. Surprisingly, it seems to be condoned in the school festival, which makes its implementation feel very awkward.

There's also a plethora of negative moments that happen in this show, esp. in a scene where a sex tape of Nanami and another boy is revealed to the entire classroom in the "lounge" area. Kotona's treatment from her classmates also aggravated me. It made me furious at how despicable a number of characters are in this show.

In the end, there is nearly nothing positive gained in this show. The homicide of Makoto is bad on paper, yet it made me feel relieved and glad about something so horrible and cruel in this show. It surprised me that the director managed to pull this feat off, but I still think that it's oh so very messed up.

Now, it's time to turn the table around. I'll play the devil's advocate here.

The only thing interesting about Makoto is how he manages to have intercourse with every female role in the story. It is based on an eroge after all, so it shouldn't be that surprising.

Makoto's development and story is so unbelievable and highly unlikely that it's the basis of this anime. Some suspension of disbelief is necessary to appreciate this show. The same thing can be explained about the lack of parents. This allows the drama and violence to happen, which helps further the plot, especially for a show in this genre.

The director obviously wanted the audience to hate Makoto. Perhaps that was the whole point, but I still think that it's questionable to reinforce such a dark themed show with constant fan service.

In the end, I think that School Days had the potential to be very good. I believe that the execution could've been better. If they only made the characters more likable and less stereotypical, applied some more sense or explanation to awkward situations, and added more character depth. The side characters felt like throwaways in order to progress Makoto's story, which is a shame.

Monster - 1-24

I think that I'm remaining somewhat consistent on my daily Monster intake. That sounds like a really bad idea if it was the actual energy drink. (I only drink one energy drink a week) There's going to be a ton of spoilers in this post. I seriously don't want you to spoil yourself if you plan on watching this show.

So far, I must say that I LOVE this show. The way that the directors sequenced the events is executed very well. It's at a pace that just about feels right and nearly every moment in this show is interesting.

It's been a mere 24 episodes for me, but SO MUCH has happened! I'll just get to what strikes me the most in this show. I won't put them in any order.

In my opinion, I think that Lunge has to be one of the most interesting characters in this show. I just want to be in his shoes for just one day so I can get into this guy's mind! (Yes, I want to try his invisible keyboard input ability and I wonder if it actually helps memorization)

His firm grip over the Dr. Tenma case, including the police watch, are pivotal parts to this show because they add a lot of tension. In the back of my mind, I would always say that Lunge and the police officers are insane for ignoring what Johann is really capable of, but then I thought about what this show would be like without it.

Without Lunge's bewildering obsession over Dr. Tenma and his interpretation of Johann as Dr. Tenma's split personality, this show wouldn't be as tense. I just wonder how Lunge would react if he's introduced to Johann and how much would it take to make Dr. Tenma innocent in his eyes.

I'm also shocked out at how immense Johann's influence over Germany is. I was just informed about his illegal chain of banks in episode 24 and remembered Kinderheim 511. How does he remain so elusive? His methods of killing are elaborate and executed with frightening precision. (In striking contrast to Dr. Tenma's perfect diagnoses and treatments!)

There's so much more I can get into, like Dieter, Eva, and Anna. But I don't feel like elaborating anymore. I can't rate this show yet because Im not 3/4ths in yet. I usually rate anime when I get to that point, however I have nothing but well deserved praise for this show.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni - Thoughts

It’s a pity, but this show is nearing its end. I just finished watching episode 21 and I tried to piece together what exactly this show is trying to teach me. I’m not going to spoil anything, so don’t worry.

This show is not for everyone. After watching 10 episodes, I had a hard time understanding what exactly the events in this show are trying to convey. I read comments from people who had the same difficulty as I did and read some very good responses.

One response is about how you should interpret what this show was displaying to you. Even though whatever happened in your eyes happened, you shouldn’t believe everything that you see. It could be an interpretation from a specific character’s imagination and you simply weren’t informed.

Another response is about the suspension of disbelief. Yes, the events that are taking place in front of you might seem impossible or very unlikely to happen, but it’s exactly what it is. There’s no way around it because the answers are right in front of you. It’s all up to you whether you believe it or not.

These two sides of understanding this series have bothered me ever since. However, it makes this show all the more entertaining and interesting. I might simply be over-analyzing, but it’s been awhile since a show made me think this way.

Also, there might be an influx of spoilers in the comments section, so be wary.

Kimi ni Todoke - 7

I guess this will be a daily thing because I finally returned to the swing of watching anime on a daily basis.

Anyways, I just want to start on Kimi ni Todoke because it's my favorite show of the fall 2009 season. There's so much I can praise about this show, but I guess I'll just segment my love for this show in my weekly episode reviews.

If you haven't seen this show, please do. Of course, in all my episode reviews, there will be spoilers.

Even though the plot development felt subtle, we got to learn a lot more about the characters. Surely, it was entertaining to watch Yoshida, Yano, Ryuu, and Sawako messing around, but we sure learned a lot more about the characters in just a single room (Kazehaya and Ryuu playing baseball and Ryuu being the only guy to stop Chizu's 99 guys defeated streak).

The only thing that semi-griped me was Sawako's repeating of everything that friends do. In my mind watching this, I would always say that such things between friends is simply casual. But I can understand now because these things are still relatively new to Sawako. Besides, it's not boring how she says it at all. It's charming. The glowy and bright ambiance around Sawako doesn't help it either.

I loved when Yano teased Kazehaya by cuddling with Sawako. It's funny to see the ever popular Kazehaya get flustered like that. Sawako was very adorable when she said that she loved Kazehaya.

I can only predict the obvious development of Sawako and Kazehaya's relationship as well as Ryuu and Chizu's relationship. Just like the lyrics to the opening song, there will also be humps and bumps in the road now that the "French Doll's" presence in the storyline feels like it's about to make itself clearly evident soon.

That's another reason why I like this show. We know that these events will ultimately happen, but the way this show pulls it off keeps it entertaining and and very interesting.

Monster - First Impressions

Right now, I'm somewhat occupied with the current fall 2009 line-up. I like a lot of shows and I'm still planning on dropping probably one or two more (I'm looking at you, Fairy Tail).

Anyways, after my most recent drops, I now have more time to watch shows I missed. One show I was recommended to was Monster. When the first torrent debuted years ago, being the meat and potatoes kid I was, decided to skip over it and watch more fan service-y material.

Well, now I regret that because I walked out of the room amazed after watching the first episode today.

I love it so far because Dr. Kinzo is put into a situation where he has to make very important decisions. I'll put you in Dr. Kinzo's shoes. There are two patients who are in serious jeopardy and they will most likely die, but you're the best surgeon in the hospital. Patient A arrived in the hospital before Patient B, but you're being pressured by your director that you should help Patient B because he/she has a much higher social status that Patient A. What would you do?

They showcased the ratifications of helping Patient B and it hit me hard, esp. towards the end where the memory of the cons of that decision resurfaces.

Doctors do experience tons of stress, however being pressured by your director specifically telling YOU that you should help patient B doubles that stress.

There's so much I can say about this episode. The director pretty much is the corrupt reality that some hospitals do face (I hope that this isn't too common). Helping the mayor may earn the hospital a better reputation, but to consider a life more important than the other is a very serious topic.

Already, I am predicting that this will be a fantastic series. I can get into every little detail of this episode, but I should continue watching all 74 episodes instead of walking in circles.