Reviews by Fernando Leonel Alba

I’ve seen many comparisons with the previous anime which I found a bit unfair so I thought why not write something about it? With my own take on said comparisons.

In terms of visuals, this remake follows the same idea as the new Bastard!! which was also made by LIDENFILMS. Compared to the previous adaptation, the overall artwork here is more consistent and doesn’t have the same quality drops, and of course the characters look closer to what you can find somewhere else this day, instead of the typical 90s look they had in the 1996 anime. The models are also more consistent, as another decision made with this series was to be more faithful to the source material, which means that this show has less comedy which in turn is not as exaggerated, and thus the characters don’t turn into chibis during the funny moments. Still, from what I’ve seen and read, even the manga has more comedy than this, so clearly there´s an idea of presenting an overall more serious story.
With that said, at some point even the artwork begins to suffer from quality drops and being more inconsistent and with the character models going off.

The coloring is also obviously different from how it was back then, and even the directing seems to focus more on showing the characters, with very little of the backgrounds and even less long shots. A good example of this is the scene where Kenshin closes the door of the dojo and goes towards Kaworu on the first episode. Which is also the reason why the backgrounds on this newer version are such a mixed bag, all the crowds besides the main characters talking and moving instead of just standing still is fine, but the buildings and environment look so…uninspired and unpolished, especially every time that grass and water are shown.

The special effects are overall ok in both versions but don’t really make sense in either of them, as sparks and beams come out when swords clash or just move during an attack. Well, I guess not much can be done when the action is limited to just people jumping and fighting with swords. Also, just like the older series used negative colors at points, the newer show seems to have its own version, as you can see when Kurogasa paralyzes people on the sixth episode. I don’t know, this stuff looked cool to me when I was a kid but come off as silly to me now.

As for the actual animation, the idea behind it is to present the stronger characters as being way faster than everyone else. The 90s anime did it with a few frames followed by speed lines, the newer goes for teleporting the likes of Kenshin or Kurogasa with some light beams here and there to represent the slashes of their swords while everyone else falls to the ground. Since this version is more faithful, Kenshin isn’t AS stronger as he was in the previous anime, and some of the more over the top moments have been changed, as you can notice with how he stuck a dude on the ceiling with his barely visible sword and not just his finger as he was shown doing it in 1996. Both versions have quite limited motions but the 90s version is slightly superior.

As a whole, as a kid from the 90s and someone who watched the original Rurouni Kenshin as one of his first anime at, like, 13, I am biased towards the aesthetics of the previous version. The coloring and models may be more inconsistent, and the chibi bits unnecessary and clashing in tone, but there was a certain charm and warmth in it that the newer anime simply lacks, making it a bit more soulless. With that said, the highlights of the show are still left to be adapted in this version, so visuals and directing might surprise us all once the big arcs are adapted.

What’s undeniably worse in the new version is the sound department. The original Rurouni Kenshin has one of the best and most iconic soundtrack in any fighting shounen anime, for some even in the medium as a whole. Personally I don’t rank it THAT high, but I consider it to be very very good. The remake has a serviceable music, nothing wrong with it, but it just can’t even begin to think of competing with the older one.

Something I was never fond of in the original were both of its openings. I know they are some of the most cherished of all time, but to me that has to do more with nostalgia than anything else. The music in both is…acceptable, and the visuals and songs flow together really really well, but I just can’t stand the voice of the singer, which I rank among the worst I have heard in the whole medium. And I still prefer them to whatever the new anime went for in its first intro song, which not only do I think it sucks and skip every time, it doesn’t even fit the series, though to be honest, I thought the same thing with the classic ones. The second one is much better in my opinion, even if it’s still just fine.

As I mentioned in my Ravages of Time and Oooku reviews, what pisses me off not only about the Kenshin remake but other series like Vinland Saga and Golden Kamuy is that they are historical series, yet don’t even try to mix some elements from their time periods and setting to their intros. Just look at the latest one from the third anime I mentioned, which is half rap and half English, for a series that happens during the Russian-Japanese war and a big part of it is showing the Ainu culture. But apparently none of that matters as long as the song hypes you up, even with series that are not supposed to hype you up.

To me, openings and endings are not important nor do they reflect the quality of an anime in the least, but since they exist, they shouldn’t just promote an artist or sell on the product to be considered great, they should also reflect what the shows are like. Otherwise you end with the Death Parade situation, one of the most dramatic anime of all time about dead people, where the intro has one of the most unfitting upbeat songs ever while the characters dance like idiots to one of the silliest sounding voices I have heard in my life. If they don’t, they are just like those misleading trailers for movies and stuff, and since those are criticized, I don’t see the reason why these shouldn’t be as well.

Something that I always preferred in the 90s anime where the ending songs, there were seven of them if I remember correctly, and although they didn’t fit the anime that well either, by themselves they were pretty good songs, and just like the openings, the directing in all of them was great. The new anime has a first outro so bad and unfitting I couldn’t even finish it the first time, and I proceeded to skip it every single time. The second isn’t as bad, but I still find it unfitting and nowhere near as good as the ones from the previous anime.

The sound effects are…serviceable on both versions. The 90s one had good ones for its time that are outdated by now at times and surprisingly good at others. The most iconic fighting scenes and techniques haven’t been covered yet, so maybe this will change once that happens, but so far the adaptation from this year has presented some very stock sound effects. Again, not bad, but very generic and forgettable, and inconsistent in how impactful they are in different episodes. As a whole, this aspect is the one where both series are more on par with the other than anything else.

As for the voice acting, I can’t help but think that no version is really good, and ultimately, deciding which is the best one comes down to personal preference. The 90s anime had a curious cast, where a big portion of the most important characters were voiced by people that either weren’t voice actors, or barely have had experience in the field at that moment. Yet at the same time, others were performed by people that were already veterans, or would become veterans just some years later. The end result ends up being a mixed bag by itself. The thing is, the newer one was well selected and the voices fit the characters well and their performances are good, it’s just that it has a huge legacy to face. As so-so as the original voice acting was, those people voiced the characters so many times across so many different products, they inevitably got better at it, and practically became the characters themselves for long time fans.

To speak a little about the most noticeable changes, Kaoru sounds sweeter and younger now than she did back then, not just simply because Rie Takahashi sounds like that, at least when she uses her cute tone, but also because in the 90s anime, Kaoru was a lot more violent, a trait that many female leads had around that time for comical effect, that as a far as I remember from the little I read of the manga, she wasn’t like that in the source material, thus making her newer self to be more faithful to the original. In the end, both are good and fitting for the different takes on the character.

I don’t know who voices Sanosuke now but he sounds like Yuuichi Nakamura to me, his voice sounds good and fitting to me, and frankly I prefer this voice actor to Yuji Ueda, who I never liked much. With that said, the new voice lost the raspiness of the original, again, it’s not bad, but this way the character lost a little of the aggressiveness and the idea of a “badass sounding guy” from back then.

The biggest, most notorious and most divisive change was of course Kenshin, who now is voiced by a man and not by a woman. The thing is, the casting choice back then wasn’t just because, there was an in-story and directing reason for it. As he is supposed to be based around a supposed real samurai that was rumored to be a woman or a boy for how young he looked and sounded. Also, because that voice was simply funnier during the comical moments, which were drastically changed or removed in this anime. Since the new adaptation goes for a more serious approach and tone, the male voice fits better with the new take on the character, just like Kaoru. This way, the change from the normal Kenshin to the angry Kenshin or the Hitoriki Battousai may not be as impactful and noticeable as it was before, but eh, you gain some, and lose some.

Tomokazu Sugita as Kurogasa. He is a good actor that always gives his best on every performance, but I just can’t take him completely seriously for some reason. He did very well with his character, who was remade to look and sound younger than he was in the previous version, but he is simply not in the same league as Akio Ohtsuka for me.

Satoshi Hino as Saitou. I expected Ken Narita to take over what was once a role of the late Hirotaka Suzuoki and nailing the performance once more as his perfect replacement, but whenever this actor, Hino, uses his serious voice he isn’t bad, here he did a great job.

As a whole, the sound department is overall better in the original anime, but the voice acting is on par on both versions because of the different takes on the characters and tone on each one, and if for some reason you must choose one over the other, it ends up coming down purely to personal preference.

As for the writing, the plot revolves around a samurai from the Bakumatsu era reflecting on all the killings he did for achieving peace, and defending innocent common people in the Meiji era, as he is constantly challenged and faced by his past in one way or another. The show as a whole follows a very standard classic fighting shounen formula, in the first episodes Kenshin finds what comes to be the main group of characters, while he goes around saving folks from the corrupt authorities like Zorro, basically. Then a short arc establishes said group for good as well as his main rivals during the series, and then two (or three) big arcs follow, and then the series ends.

This essentially means that at the beginning, the anime is rather slow moving, even more so if you only watch this version and are used to the pacing of newer action shounen. Still, in terms of writing and pacing, things that I consider are most important, the new anime beats the original as far as I’m concerned. This season decided to adapt a short prequel manga which wasn’t all that good, even if it served to explained a major aspect of the main character, before stopping at the beginning of a big arc, one of the most highly acclaimed in the whole medium, so its quality is affected because of that compared to the previous adaptation, but in its favor it removed all the filler present in that version.

Not to say that fillers are bad by themselves, sometimes they can add more build up for a better pay off (Dragon Ball), rearrange events for the better (Hokuto no Ken), or show more fights that are completely skipped in the source material (Yu Yu Hakusho), but in the case of 90s Rurouni Kenshin, they were mostly used to stretch the duration with minor fights in between against clearly outclassed enemies, and then finishing the series with 32 episodes of original material that, before the so called big three, were considered to range from average to the worst filler arcs in all anime, before ending incomplete, with a sequel that was half recap and half rushed storylines, with a divisive original ending, which I personally found good and fitting. As good as the Kyoto arc may be, it can’t make up for so much inferior content.

Even when taking differences from both anime aside, I still don’t consider the writing in any of them to be that good. Sure, the characters talk about the new and the old eras, there are clashing ideological and political views, which in turn serve to flesh out the cast and what not, but the dialogues themselves are quite simple and come down to preachy monologues, as you would expect from a politician during a speech, basically. Plus, on a series where Kenshin is faced and challenged about his ideas and past actions, and what they led to, it’s a bit of a flaw when he is clearly right all the time since, besides Hajime Saito and Aoshi Shinomori, every other guy he fights is presented as a psycho, while he is the only one that makes a real point, and has grown and matured over time.
The exposition is awkward in both versions, since information and backdrops for the characters are presented in quite random ways and moments.

Speaking of characters, since the anime is all about fleshing out Kenshin, he is hands down among the best protagonists in all fighting shounen and the medium in general, while everyone else fills their role just fine. Kaoru is an ok love interest, and despite her naivety, she brings him the peace he so much longed for, and serves as the representation of his ideal new era. Yahiko is an ok student of both, he begins as weak and very rude but grows consistently in later arcs, and Sanosuke goes from a brute that fights against everyone just because, to the biggest bro that ever broed as the series goes on, way before Roronoa Zoro. His backdrop story was changed a little in the original anime, but both are good on their own.

Since the new adaptation took away all the filler of the previous one, that also means that the main cast no longer interacts with some recurring minor characters from the 90s anime, they added nothing on their own to be honest, but served to flavor the main ones during the relaxing moments and give the previous version that certain charm and warmth that the newer series lacks for the sake of plot progression, gain some, lose some.
Aoshi and Saito like I said are the only decent rivals Kenshin has in the early episodes and arcs. The former for his code of honor, the latter for being the strongest not psycho opposition to the protagonist in both strength and ideals.

As for what’s in for the future, the highly acclaimed Kyoto arc will present a whole new decent set of antagonists with strong backdrop stories and even different dynamics amongst them, while keeping all the themes from the series. If the remake adapts that arc with the same seriousness as this season, it will increase its overall quality by a lot. With that said, said arc will still have typical fighting shounen issues, such as characters fighting one against one while calling out their attacks and fighting styles as they already did so far, in unrealistic fights, especially for an historical series and setting, but at least all of that will lead to an epic and bittersweet finale.

When comparing the value of both series, the new one is clearly at a disadvantage, as the 90s anime was one of the most famous and beloved from its era, with some of the most praised arcs and soundtracks in the medium that made it super memorable, and it didn’t have much competition out there, while the newer one, while I’d bet it was big in Japan, didn’t have nearly the same impact in the west, partly because of nostalgic bias in favor of the previous version, but also because of all the competition it has right now, as well as many refusing to watch a series made by a pedophile author.

As for what is the version that I personally enjoyed the most, it’s the prequel ovas followed by the live action movies, but limiting it to these two, I have to go with the newer one by a little. As much as I prefer the aesthetics and the 90s feel of the previous anime, keeping the core story without all that inferior filler made it a more pleasing experience altogether for me.

In the end, I give the edge to the original anime only by a little thanks to its aesthetics and legacy, and only compared with this particular season. If the following ones do a job as decent as this one, or even better improve it with more polished dressing, I will rate those ones higher, and place the remake altogether as better as the older series.

Remake 6/10 for now
Original 6.5/10

This is a series with an interesting premise and concept, numerous revelations, growing stakes up to shake two worlds collapsing into each other, ideas about the next step for humans or something, an anti-escapism message, and characters that do change throughout it. It should’ve been a good and quite praised series, and yet it’s not, why’s that?

Inconsistent aesthetics

The first and most superficial reason, yet true to these days, is that visually is not great. For a show about people playing a videogame, the game itself doesn’t look very engaging, the avatars look plain and some are not very different from the real people using them, the setting in the game is both typical and unexplored, the artwork, backgrounds and special effects in it look outdated for a 2023 anime. The real world looks more polished than the VRMMORPG that the characters play, despite being limited to a house, a hospital, and buildings, the artwork in the real world and the backgrounds in it look more detailed and updated than the virtual world, even the real character designs are more interesting to look at than their in-game avatars, how is that possible? I swear, in this trapped in a videogame sub-genre, only .hack//Sign did the designs properly, and that’s the oldest and one of the worse looking of them all!

Uneven atmosphere

For a series that tries hard to be a psychological thriller and at times even horror, it sure likes to mix the oldest, most simple, most generic, childish even, type of comedy, and a lighthearted adventure type of feeling during the game, and that clashes a lot with the pretense of a serious show about serious topics. Plus, just like the visuals, the in-game soundtrack and sound effects go completely unnoticed and aren’t impactful enough. Again, the real world just sound better, especially when reality begins to collapse near the end of the series. Voice acting is not very impressive on either side, but works just fine for what the series needed and was going for.

Interesting concept and themes but bad writing and characterization

Now on to some real issues regarding the writing itself. Superficially, Good Night World should’ve worked just fine, especially for our current times. It’s about game addicts, a very relevant topic today, that play a videogame using virtual reality, so the technology is up to date, if not advanced and a tentative look into a possible future, and the main ones are all a family, so it also tackles into the internal issues of a dysfunctional family, it has an ever present and catchy element of an advanced AI developing itself to the point of becoming semi sentient, and threatening to take over the world, and a villain that thinks that that’s what’s needed in order for humans to take a needed next step in evolution for both the species and the world itself and that kind of stuff, eventually the two worlds and realities start to converge and collapse into each other and a lot of people die either mentally or both mentally and eventually physically, as it usually goes with this type of premises, so the scenario is both familiar and on theory exciting, as the stakes are seemingly incredibly high, one of the main characters is directly responsible for everything that happens, and having someone that tries to fix past mistakes it’s always catchy and relatable, and everyone is messed up in one way or another, which well-handled can potentially lead to powerful character development and arcs. The problem lies in the writing itself and its poor handling of everything.

Overreactions

First of all, if you thought that people on previous videogame anime took their games seriously to the point of making you cringe, think again after you watch this because this anime takes it to a whole new level. Over here there is the inceptive of money alright, and a big prize at that, but only a few characters are really interested in that, others just want to escape reality within the game, and get extremely offended when someone say that ”it’s just a game” and take it on a personal level. Regardless of their motivations for playing the game, everyone acts like psychos, which is all well as far as showing how extreme some real people from our real world can take it, and as long as the payoff is good, but over here you never feel that that’s the case, as most characters stay the same without changing in the least, while the only few that develop do it in a way that feels like character rewrite instead of organic development.

Weak characterization

The main characters themselves are very messed up, a shut-in nini that only cares about his unreal family and that only knows how to say shit and fuck, his brother, who is completely different in-game than he is in reality, a chronically online mother, away from the family, or so it seems, and a neglected father who is honestly a complete piece of shit and only makes matters worse. In short, they are all awful and you don’t really want to follow them, at least not without knowing if they change and grow to be better by the end of it.

And as it turns out, none of them do, or at least not in a way that feels plausible. The older brother is the one with the most focus in the whole series, and the one you feel will be the hardest to develop, yet he takes most big revelations straight and changes completely by the end of the series, although in sudden ways. For such a character, he sure can adapt and grow as a person rather fast, and that is not very believable, especially for someone that never tried to fix his “shitty reality”.

The younger brother is completely different in reality than he is in the game, and although that’s fine and a good representation of what can happen in real life as well, once you get to know his real self you notice how he lies to others and himself, and that he seemingly is aware of everything that’s happening. Just like his older brother, he doesn’t even try to do something to fix the situation, making him a big hypocrite with an unbelievable change with no buildup throughout the series.

The father is plain awful, just how much can you mistreat your wife and kids, act completely different in-game, be responsible for numerous deaths, create something terrible without taking proper care of it, and that leads to a big catastrophe, and still be forgiven and redeemed because of “reasons” and “character development”? Well, this character sure can’t, as he is consistently awful throughout the whole show, until he does the most unbelievable 180 at the end of the anime and gets the most undeserved happy catharsis I’ve seen in an anime in my whole life, man, and I thought Domain of Murder was bad at that.

And the mother is completely wasted in the anime, she is never looked into, she reappears in the real world of the series out of nowhere in her presentation scene, she reconnects with her sons just fine making it seem that the problem wasn’t that big nor very difficult to solve in the first place, the anime hints at her being possibly cheated on, adding to making her a miserable character, she knows the way younger girl that’s interested in her husband, with the connection between them never being cleared, and does absolutely nothing of importance throughout the series, nether in-game or outside of it, she is just there, not even playing the role of emotional or moral support of the family that ties it together in the end, that’s something that the men, forced by the writing, do by themselves, so she is relegated to a character that does not do even that.

And that’s only for the main ones, if you want to talk about the secondary characters, one is a psycho obsessed with money, others like to distress by being assholes in-game but remain completely unexplored otherwise, the main antagonist wants to erase and rebuild the whole world while being a literal kid that is not fleshed out nearly as much as needed so where the hell does he come from with that, others take their in-game role very seriously and are perfectly fine with dying for his cause without being fleshed out in the least, and there is even one that gets a lot of focus for a few episodes, that acts like a spoiled and bratty child, doing what she wants only out of a superficial and childish “love” for a person that she doesn’t really know about and that only used to be edgy along with her, and for what? To have all of her backdrop story to be revealed out of nowhere as a completely fabricated lie before literally being erased from the story, talk about a complete waste of time and pacing and also, bro, what the hell am I watching?

Ridiculous revelations

That one particular character that turned out to be an AI is just the prime example of the numerous instances where the series wants to catch the viewer by surprise with a big revelation, or a newly introduced element and topic, a big plot twist that changes the series completely, or a cliffhanger that makes the audience impatient to watch the next episode. It was done so much to the point of having no downside to take everything in or connect with the characters, or let them be explored and developed in a way that feels organic, and above all, it was done in a way that nothing seemed anticipated in any way and everything felt like an asspull. The best way I could come up with to describe the show, is if .hack/Sign was written by JJ Abrams, a guy known for stuffing his products with numerous plot twists and plot points just to surprise the viewer without ever caring about consistency nor logic. And apparently I’m the only one who thought that a series with broken people trying to connect with others through a videogame, something that they couldn’t do in the real world with their real families, an advanced AI going crazy and affecting the real world and people, and a dead girl resurrected in a way, in the form of an AI, and being hidden in a game as one of its main objectives and reasons for its existence, with a girl falling in love with the protagonist and trying to reconnect him with reality, and anti-escapism messages, is similar to that anime, guess that shows how much it was forgotten.

Inconsistent stakes

As it’s usually the case with badly written fiction, side characters receive the worst outcomes for the sake of making it seem like there are stakes, while the main ones go practically unharmed. Secondary assholes? They get trapped in an eternal limbo of mental torture until they fucking die, but the main ones? They can find a solution that has practically no way of working, and yet it works only for them. Other unlucky side characters die when the two worlds start to collapse into each other and onto themselves? The main ones go completely unharmed with no problem, even the ones that are considered unimportant for the making of a new, better world or whatever.

Asspulls and cheesy writing

And why is that? Well, aside from being the main characters, it’s because they get to keep the super powers they have in-game in the real world, or develop even better and more broken new ones in a hurry without much explanation other than the very short and not very clear sequences that are supposed to excuse what’s happening on screen, even though the show does spend a good chunk of time in exposition about less relevant stuff that goes nowhere, during previous episodes. In case they don’t, they’ll find an improbable solution just fine, based on the power of love or some corny shit like that, don’t worry about that.

Immature presentation

And of course, all of that comes accompanied with an edgy presentation. Messed up characters, everyone swearing, yelling at the top of their lungs, gory imagery, no subtlety whatsoever. For a series that wanted to explore serious themes and topics, it comes off as a pretentious edgy shocking show for teenagers instead.

Conflicting ending and messages

The finale is the typical happy one that seemed to have fixed everything with a reset of sorts, which is lazy in itself, but even then the anti-escapism messages are not well delivered, as the characters change completely in ways that don’t feel organic, and if the very last scene means what it suggests, then they didn’t really actually manage to escape, so what was even the point of the whole thing? It affects the main message because of that, you can’t have a proper message if the character arcs which are the base for it aren’t well handled, and the ending goes against and contradicts said message.

Rushed pacing

Perhaps, the result of every issue besides the presentation is the rushed pacing itself, which tried to cram a 52 chapter manga in a single season tv anime series. Pluto managed to do that but only by adapting everything into hour long episodes, at the expense of accessibility and enjoyability, while Good Night World clearly tried to do the exact opposite thing. Based on one review I read, it seems that even the source material has this issue of having a short yet very overcomplicated and overstuffed plot with poor handling, but it’s still clear that the anime tried to do a speedrun of the whole thing and threw as many revelations and plot twists per episode as it could in order to come off as exciting, engaging and addictive, and just like it happened to The God of Highschool some years ago, it backfired horribly because you can only do it so much before even most of the casual viewers are unhappy with your product.

Conclusion

As a whole, I found it to be an ambitious and semi memorable show with many interesting ideas and good intentions within a rather complex and layered plot, but poor decisions in its handling, pacing and progression, ending, tone and presentation, that ended up ruining the whole thing. Interesting to give it a try for its themes and topics, but a not worth watching complete mess as a whole. I’d suggest watching .hack//Sign instead, if you are a veteran viewer that can stomach very talky and slow moving plots.

Ever since the trapped in videogame type of isekai sub-genre became a fad, you could read some people saying that this one show, the first of them all by a long margin, is actually the best, and since those comments come from people who hate that genre, I always wanted to check it out. I was initially planning to review the franchise as a whole once I finished it, but who knows if that will even happen.

Obviously, this anime is quite outdated when it comes to visuals, for a 2002 anime the artwork is solid and the backgrounds are great, while everything else is just fine, the character designs were once iconic, but now come off as simple and kind of generic, plus the character models can be inconsistent at times. Since the series is dialogue-heavy, the characters remain mostly standing or sitting while talking, which means the actual animation is mostly static, even though there are a few fights in it, which in turn are decently animated for the time but the motions are still nothing very impressive. Coming from that era, most of the special effects are quite good, but there is also prominent CGI that by now is crude and weak looking, not so much as there was in other shows from that time, thankfully, but it’s still there and affects the overall.

The sound department was and is still praised, the sound effects were very good for its time, although a bit outdated by now, the voice acting a bit atypical and very mature for its type of series, with Mitsuki Saiga being the best possible choice for the protagonist, and the soundtrack is easily among the best and most atmospheric in the whole medium, especially the opening. The composer is the well-known Yuki Kajiura, who would go on to make very similar soundtracks in later works, mixing a little bit of different influences depending on the aesthetics of each title. The problem here is the directing, which is weird at times, using the themes in ways and moments that feel misplaced, which is why I have to take a point from the overall sound department.

The plot has to do with people playing a VRMMORPG, but one of them, the protagonist, can’t logout, so it becomes a problem because of the effects that that can have on her body, and for everyone else, who considers her a cheater that’s breaking the game and is responsible for certain things that are happening in it.

The series is not an action adventure like every other that would follow it in its genre, it’s a mix of slice of life, as it shows the role playing of everyone and what and how they do in the game, as well as real life issues of each one becoming important regarding character dynamics, and mystery, as the objective is to find the true identity of the main character, aspects of the videogame they play, and by extension the setting itself, from its very core and beginning, as well as finding a McGuffin that can lead to that, and also, well, prevent the world from that game to crash, of course, that was obviously needed to happen.

The anime shows how some of the characters take the game more seriously than others, some just want to have a good time, some just want to chill out, and others take their in-game roles very seriously, more than they should, which is actually a bit of a weak point from the anime. Well, at least every perspective is explained through the exploration of the characters both in game and also outside of it, though to a much lesser extent, with the exception of the main character, of course.

Some, mainly the protagonist, are there for escapism purposes, others to build bonds that they lost in real life, or to do something for someone else, and it’s interesting to see how everyone is confronted about what they want to do in-game and their way to achieve that, with obviously the anti-escapism of the main character being the main theme, character arc, and message in the show.

And that’s its main difference with the other series in its sub-genre, which would ditch every attempt at a serious exploration of a meaningful message nor care for characterization, and mutate into power fantasies where bland overpowered otaku and/or gamer protagonists with no personality whatsoever defeat one dimensional villains and get all the girls in the world.

.hack//Sign is not like that in the least, Tsukasa is initially distant and aggressive towards others, a loner, cynical even, and although that makes up for a good character arc as she warms up to others and face her reality, it’s true that you don’t want to follow a main character like that all that much. Well, at least her reactions are justified when you take in count that a lot of players attack her out of the blue with no explanation nor much solid justification. That is a nice detail not only because it shows that she is not very liked by others, but also because it establishes her character better than just having her being an antisocial just because and to fit with the emo fashion of the era. I said that but that aspect of her personality is also explored through her in real life persona and drama, which is quite heavy and serious and treated tastefully, and obviously won’t be covered here.

She is also not powerful in the least, if I remember correctly she is a middle level spell caster in the game, and although with very high potential, it also means that could be beat by anyone in a 1v1 in the game, if not for the broken items she acquires at some point, which actually turn on herself after a point for plot reasons.

Another good aspect of the show is showing how the existence of Tsukasa is seen by the rest of the players, as a some sort of threat for the stability of the game and world they interact in and with, leading some to go for aggression, while others try to communicate, reason, understand and bond with her, to get to the bottom of the mysteries of the show together. Eventually this is resolved and abandoned because of the stakes that the show goes for near the end, when everyone unites to face the biggest threat and matter at hand. That is something that I also found to be a positive, compared with other anime from the genre that have high stakes from the beginning, but also characters that don’t care much about them, or give more importance to whatever the protagonists do in ways that don’t feel plausible in the least, and that make them look like idiots.

Another thing I never liked on later titles is how similar the avatars of the players were to their real life designs, .hack//Sign not only has them looking completely different in game, some even change their gender, something that also happens in our real world and life.

Now for the negatives for which I don’t rate .hack//Sign higher despite my praises.

First, although the protagonist is eventually fleshed out and developed and gets a catharsis, as I said she wasn’t very likeable in the beginning, it’s understandable for the reasons I mentioned, but not many would have the patience to follow a main character so apathetic that also has amnesia, thus being both unlikeable and mysterious in a bad way, since she doesn’t remember who she is, and thus can’t be fleshed out until late in the series.

Then, as well done as it is, this is still a series where people take playing a videogame more seriously than they should, they are not even professional gamers, why do they care so much? It’s kinda cringy to watch.

Then, as much as the series tries to introduce high stakes near the end, at the end of the day, it’s still just the world within a videogame, besides the protagonist, everyone can just logout and unlike later anime, death is irrelevant for everybody besides the protagonist here, so the stakes are not as high as the show tries to make it seem like they are.

Speaking of which, Tsukasa goes through several life threatening situations, which in theory should raise the stakes since she can’t logout, and thus starts feeling the effects of the game on her own body, but something happens to either save her in the last moment, or even after apparently being badly hurt, the only thing that get affected are her memories and stuff, which she regains at the end anyways.

Also, it doesn’t make much sense for the antagonist to let her roam free throughout the series while she needed her, that’s what ends up being her downfall in the end.

Then there is the end of the series, which at the last moment throws a cliffhanger hinting at more stuff to come, which you’ll never get to see unless you read other manga, or light novels, or play the videogame series, or listen to drama cds. The series is just a middle point, and its ending the entrance, to a much much bigger and longer franchise, which tarnish what was otherwise a very solid ending up until that point.

Two ovas were released afterwards, and they are not worth watching in the least. One is mostly and unrelated and irrelevant side story of a character that doesn’t appear in the main series, until it shows a bit of the past of a main character, which not only comes out very late, but it also contradicts part of what was shown about her in the series, while the other is just fanservice for longtime fans of the franchise, since it reunites the cast of the anime with ones from the games, some of which have very similar character designs and thus ruins the uniqueness of the ones from the original, because it takes place after the all the plot points from the initial games are over, thus, if you are an anime only, like myself, you won’t even have an idea who all those people are and where did they come from, and even then, that ova can barely count as an outcome, as it is just a festival for the characters to celebrate, while not bringing closure to the anime in the least.

Its legacy was apparently quite tarnished, since the genre moved on to something completely different than it, and later entries wouldn’t follow its ending, and would mutate to a more comical and lewd approach, thus departing from what gave it its uniqueness in the first place.

Personally, I enjoyed .hack//Sign a bit, for basically being the opposite of what I came to hate about modern anime in later years, but it’s still understandable why it’s not liked very much. It’s visually outdated, it takes a while for the protagonist to become likeable, there aren’t many nor very high stakes, the series is incomplete, and people usually want to watch videogame anime for their takes on the core mechanics and the adventures in the world the makers come out with in their series, not a very static and dialogue heavy anti-escapism series about the introspection of antisocial people or straight up losers. And even I had a bit of a tough time to appreciate the anime, despite loving some heavy dialogue series and movies, because those are usually about existential or psychological topics, while this one is about people taking seriously playing a videogame. It’s worth watching for its themes, messages, character immersion and atmosphere, but the plot is certainly not very engaging and slower than it needs to, and the ending is somewhat lacking, so it’s more of an acquired taste type of show for veteran viewers, the exact opposite of what you’d expect from its premise, and what its genre would become.

After twenty years, it’s finally here, the long awaited adaptation of the beloved manga Pluto, itself a reversion of an arc of Tetsuwan Atom/Astro Boy, and although it rearranged the order of some events, it did a great job in translating the original to the screen.

In terms of visuals, as you have come to expect from something done by Naoki Urasawa, there is a consistent artwork, realistic character designs, beautiful and accurate renditions of real locations around the world, and great paneling and special effects. The anime does a good job in capturing the aesthetics of the manga but not in the same level of quality, the artwork is indeed very good, the backgrounds are indeed beautiful, and the updated designs for the robots are far better than the originals from seventy years ago, but as it happens with everything from the author, the human characters have very similar faces, reading the manga and watching this anime feels like you are consuming Monster all over again. Plus the anime has very static animation, with very few very well animated and very well directed scenes, and although the special effects, lighting and shading are very well done and do a good job in imitating retro coloring and aesthetics, the CGI present in the series is not as good as everything else, coming off as quite jarring and clashing with the rest of the visual elements.

In terms of audio, Pluto has sound effects that range from the incredible to some that are good, but are also done to be similar to retro sound effects, and thus they are weaker than the others. The music does its job just fin but it’s nothing amazing nor nothing that stands out that much, the main theme, which is also used as the ending song before the switch in protagonists, feels like it belongs in a spy flick, and I don’t know why they went with that, when Gesicht is a detective, not a spy. The voice acting is simply one of the best in years, very well casted, with most people being very experienced or straight up a veteran in the medium, fitting, mature, and atypical even, as the seiyuus don’t portray their characters as they usually do.

When it comes to its plot, Pluto retains some of the naivety and narrative weaknesses that you could expect from the original work and era that inspired it, since to its core it’s a story about one single robot killing off seven others who all have such advanced capabilities they basically have super powers, and they patiently wait for their enemy to arrive and kill each one of them one by one, instead of forming a group and face the threat all together to survive, plus the antagonists at some point feel like butt hurts who redirect their hatred to the wrong people, exactly because they know that they can’t do much against those that they really want to kill out of revenge.

As you can see, the overall plot structure of Pluto wouldn’t allow it to be a very good series, at best it would be a decent semi episodic action show but not much else. What Urasawa did to enrich the whole thing was turn it into a typical story of his, and fill it with the themes and messages you can expect from him.

Thus, what was initially just a campy straightforward action series, becomes a murder mystery where you see the protagonist gathering clues and using his own resources, connections and logic to tie things together and find the culprit, not finding it out of nowhere or through some supernatural stuff. Plus this is not a baity type of mystery show, questions keep piling up but answers are given shortly afterwards, without delaying the plot and keeping the viewer in the dark, it’s the type of mystery that follows the procedures of the protagonists to find the answers, not one of those that present seemingly unrelated clues for the viewer to reach the conclusion on their own, I thought I had to clarify that, if you go into this series expecting something like that, you will be disappointed.

With that said, I have to say that at some point Gesicht does comes into some clues and people related to the main culprit out of luck and convenience, he still does his proper job of tying everything together alright, but that doesn’t change the fact that the writing did get lazy at some point for him to be able to do that.

Pluto is also a war drama, as every major character has taken part of a brutal war, and are haunted by all the killings they did at some point in the past during their lives. For those that have consumed Fullmetal Alchemist, it has some similarities to the Ishvala arc in some places, for those that know their history, they will easily notice the real life war and invasion which the one from here is based on.

And it’s also an existential drama thanks to some of the robots being so advanced that they blend in within humans and many of the latter can’t tell the differences. Despite that being the case, the manga and anime do a proper job in showing what robots can’t do that humans can, even though it gives the androids emotions and stuff, they can’t cry, they can’t feel the exact same things as a common human being, they can’t express themselves in the same way, and most of the stuff they do on a daily basis comes from imitating humans so they can feel as part of the same society and blend within it. And unlike NieR:Automata ver1.1a from this same year, it makes more sense here on this setting for machines to have the concept of being a superior being as basically the same as being equals to humans, since that species is the most present and dominant all around the world and around them all the time, whereas in the other series, they are nowhere to be found or seen. Likewise, since the human characters are the creators of said androids, it makes sense of them to make them to their resemblance and think of them as advanced the more similar they are to them, despite the illogical actions that can come from that, which is exactly what Tenma warns everyone else about.

Pluto also bothers to show different perspectives around these androids, as they are legally allowed to marry, adopt sons and daughters, live together, and even retain the memory chips of their deceased relatives, despite that, some people accept them just fine, others discriminate them for not being humans, whether explicitly telling them what their differences are, or in the form of others that just see them as advanced weaponized machines for the governments to use, and there are even some racist alt-right organizations that want to kill them or not allow them to have the same rights as them, does that ring a bell with real life organizations and real life communities?

There are also some very few robots that do try to rebel against humanity, they don’t see them as a superior or equal being and try to take over or kill them, which is a good detail, so the theme of racism doesn’t come off as one sided and emotionally manipulative.

Other good elements in the plot come from Gesicht himself, who comes to a full circle arc where he goes through the same experiences of other robots or people he interacts with throughout the story, whether living the same fate as the first robot couple he comes across, or learning about his past and realizing that he was capable of, and did, the same thing as the criminal he frequently visits, or even coming to an understanding with an Adolf guy who hates his guts and wants to dispose of him. A good detail is that, like Parasyte which I recently reviewed, over here an antagonist is betrayed by the organization they are part of and becomes their target, with the difference here being that it ends with no choice but an attempt of mutual understanding and a kind of alliance with their biggest enemy in order to survive, neat stuff that enriches the plot and character dynamics.

Something that it’s not very noticeable in the anime because of its hour long episodes that are tough to sit through, is the very good pacing, as no moment is wasted and everything progress the plot, themes, and characterization at every moment. I would have preferred a normal duration 24 episode series, but it’s true that not every episode could end with the cliffhangers they clearly wanted them to, and Urasawa’s works are for the most part closer to HBO live action series than other manga or anime, so this format fits its tone, atmosphere and western appeal just fine nonetheless.

Another good detail within the writing is something that’s easy to miss the first time, but as I was watching the anime after I read the manga, I noticed it right away. I’m talking about the foreshadowing of future events and revelations, some like the ones around Gesicht, a random old man talking about a God playing a big part in the last volume and episode, and the big main one being foreshadowed at least three times, first with the detector, second when Tenma says that the perfect and most advanced machine can develop feelings, emotions and conscience to the point of even being able to lie to itself, and third on the scene where Uran reads Pinocchio, which also serves as a meta reference of how the original Tetsuwan Atom/Astro Boy was inspired by that story in the first place.

As for the characters, every major robot has a whole episode dedicated to each one of them to show their daily lives and the people they live with, their background stories during the times of war, their interactions amongst themselves, and of course their tragic deaths, except for the one that obviously can’t die, and does indeed get resurrected at some point in the story. Development and catharsis are otherwise reserved only for a few of them, mainly the main two protagonists and one of the main antagonists, titular character of the whole thing, and even then it’s not very believable, as it comes off as sudden and more like character rewrite than a proper change.

As for the antagonist, besides the main one, there is Adolf who gets a good character arc that feels way more organic, and the actual main villain of the whole story, who although to his core is just a simple butt hurt who wants to destroy the world and everyone in it alongside it, he is so cunning, manipulative and provocative, as he isn’t afraid to confront his targets to their faces and lie to them, he is quite enjoyable to watch or read.

As for the human characters and other robot relatives, they are good but they just lack enough screentime and presence to shine as equally, with the exception of Tenma, who although mostly the same as his original version, he is given more dimensions to his personality, feeling closer to a redeemed Gendo Ikari in this version, both in the way he reconnects with Atom and what he does for him, and for his later revealed responsibility in the whole conflict, thus easily being the best human character in the whole show.

As a whole, the characters are overall very good but could have been a bit better if the antagonists weren’t as simplistic and the secondary cast, besides Tenma, could’ve had more screentime and a more important role.

Despite all my praises, Pluto is certainly not a masterpiece in my opinion, as there are weaknesses in its writing, besides the ones I already mentioned, such as how lucky Gesicht is at times, and how the main characters are passively waiting for the antagonists to act.

Near the end I was noticing that Gesicht was firing his cannon that requires authorization all the time, yet I also thought that maybe he was given such permission before that, and that’s how he was able to do that.

What I can’t excuse, however, is how underwhelming and rushed the ending feels compared with everything else, Tenma, the one that was most against improving machines, ends up being responsible for the whole thing and yet doesn’t try that much to fix his mistake, what was up until that point explained mostly through reason, logic and science, ends up being mixed with mysticism and emotions, which although kind of anticipated in a way, it still doesn’t feel that it fits much within the setting and story, the anti-robots organization plot point loses its focus and most likely gets resolved out of screen, several characters have a sudden change of heart in the end, leading to a solution that feels like the power of emotions and friendship solved everything, and also, everything regarding the teddy bear feels unpolished and unfinished, where did it came from?, what was it doing exactly?, what ended up happening with it? It felt ambiguous and unfinished. Perhaps it was a major villain in the original manga and anime, and the information and resolution of this character are present over there, but Pluto needed to have its own version of that so it doesn’t feel like it ends up having loose ends.

The main message is kind of naïve but also sweet and properly built throughout the whole series, so it fits the plot, it’s just that is delivered straight to the viewer’s face, when the rest of the show was having better exposition up until that point.

Despite its minuses, Pluto is overall a great sci-fi, political and existential war drama and murder mystery in my opinion, all packed in a tightly paced show that’s worth consuming despite its lack of hype, hour long episodes, very serious tone and mostly static animation, with a better established setting and a complete story, thus overall better than its direct competition this year in the form of NieR:Automata Ver1.1a, even though I enjoyed that one far more. And for all the reasons mentioned, I consider it to be the best anime of 2023 I watched, and the best one that came out in years.

Almost but not exactly the same

I’ve recently watched and read Kiseijuu/Parasyte, a very interesting case of a work that was very faithfully adapted and yet with a very relevant difference that isn’t brought up as much as it should, so I thought about writing about both versions.

Interesting premise

The premise is about monsters taking over humans from within and mimicking them to feast on them, hence the name. Since the origin of the parasites is not clear, it can be seen as a combination of Devilman, the first one in its kind in the manga and anime mediums, with The Thing and the Invasion of the Body Snatchers. What you get is a premise that’s interesting but not very original, even more so for the anime, which came out during the post Walking Dead and Shingeki no Kyojin fad.

Strong plot and themes

What sets this work apart from similar ones is the layers it adds to its premise, making it a far more complex and layered plot than you would expect from it, since it doesn’t stop at just humanity being devoured by monsters until they can fight against them, it also tackles into some sociological and even kind of philosophical questions regarding humans, the way we function as a society, and even our place on the Earth and even the whole universe, and if you’ve read some of my reviews before, you know by now how much of a sucker I am of such themes.

The theme exploration comes mainly from three character arcs, one from Shinichi, the protagonist, who managed to not get completely possessed by the parasite that attacked him, and just like Akira Fudo, he goes from a kind, quiet and nerdy guy to a cold and strong badass, with the difference being that the change is more gradual, believable and explored here, as there is a good focus on how his close ones perceive him, mainly his mother and love interest, as he becomes both inexplicably stronger and colder, resulting on some of the best scenes in this work, and he slowly regains his emotional side as a human being later on after all the tragedy that continuously take place around him.

Then you have Migi, said parasite, who although as colder and calculating as others of its kind at first, everything he learns, his interactions with Shinichi and his fights for survival against other parasites, and even consuming the same food as his host and eventually friend, end up making it completely different from them, as it becomes more sensitive, and also by developing both strengths and weaknesses in its abilities that most other monsters present throughout the show don’t have.

The third one comes from the best antagonist in the whole series, Ryouko Tamiya, also known as Reiko Tamura, who from the very beginning is far more concerned than the rest of her kind to learn more about her species both on a physiological and even existential level, as she is the only one that really wants to learn where they came from and what would be their role on the Earth, she is also the one that tries to learn about humans, understand them, communicate with them, even live through some of the same experiences as them, and she ends up even developing emotions along the way, even gaining the enmity of other parasites in the process.

Besides these three, it’s interesting to see the different perspectives among the parasites, as Migi wants to survive, Ryouko/Reiko yearns for learning, others try to blend in, and some others are just there to feast on humans, some for the sake of survival, and others like hungry beasts. This is one of the main elements within the plot and questions throughout the story, the role of humans on Earth, who called the parasites monsters for eating them, even though we, as a species, do the same with other animals on our planet. Just think about it, most of us eat other animals just to survive and stuff, yet most of us want them to have a delicious taste in the process, so eating them ends up losing its purpose of survival which we so much use as an argument when questioned about it by vegans. So, weirdly, the theme suits the anime better than the manga for the time it came out, when these sort of discussions and questions were becoming more prominent and relevant. Oh, and there also parasites that hunt humans just to test their strength to both themselves and others, just like some dickheads in our species hunt animals for the same reasons and for the sake of sport and entertainment.

The sociological aspect is present in the different ways the two species interact with their kind, as Shinichi is mortified by all the human deaths and want to warn others, but can’t because if he does Migi will dispose of anyone who knows about it to ensure its survival, and different authorities work together to find ways to identify and eventually fight against the parasites, and even the protagonist himself is reminded several times by several people what it means to be human, and how to face problems instead of running from them in order to keep on living, while also helping or receiving the help or advise of others in the process.

At some point, Ryouko/Reiko hires a detective to spy on Shinichi to both learn more about him and keep him on check, and yet that man, as well as another human/parasite hybrid end up cooperating with the protagonist instead, because, humans are capable of mutual understanding.

On the other hand, the parasites only stick together for the sake of survival, as soon as they can either eat, or kill, or take over another one, most of them will, that’s the reason why plenty of them turn on Ryouko/Reiko, because her actions are deemed as dangerous since everyone can be exposed to the rest of the world with the most minor mistake.

But it’s not like the manga and anime says that everyone in a species is the same, just like there are a few exceptions within the parasites, there are people who are not qualified as humans within this franchise, present in the form of a serial killer who is presented as a far worse monster than any non-human creature that appears in the story. Whether or not this is a correct take and idea from the author is an interesting discussion, but not one to have here on this review. The way this character is written doesn’t leave much room to talk about mental health and stuff anyways, his whole characterization is being a sadistic psycho for the sake of it without any character exploration whatsoever, he is just an over the top villain written on the early 90s after all.

Good pacing

The pacing is very good on both versions, as no fight or element or mini arc overstays its welcome and each one lasts just the right amount of length it needs to. If I had to choose between one of them, I’d say the manga is slightly better, as one can read at their own pace, but I also have to say that the anime knows how to end its episodes better than the lame attempts of the original version at finishing every chapter with a cliffhanger, even the ones that don’t have as much content as others.

Weak writing

Despite all the good things I wrote so far about it, Parasyte is sadly a series that works better for its themes and scope than level of writing, as there are plenty of illogical or poorly explained things, if even, in it, that end up playing against it and lowering the overall quality of the whole thing, such as:

Unnecessary and silly romantic elements

They even play out in the form of a telenovela, thanks mainly to the character of Kana, who for some reason is nowhere near as hated as much as Murano, the main love interest of the manga and anime, and I don’t understand why. Yes, it’s true, lots of lines from Murano are asking Shinichi if he is really him over and over again, to the point of becoming repetitive and even kind of annoying, but nowhere near as much as the main love interests of Naruto or Bleach, mind you. But even at her worst, that girl isn’t nowhere near as bad of a character as Kana, who appears as a sadistic girl that enjoys seeing others being beaten up, for no reason in the anime, and just because she likes strong men in the manga.

If that wasn’t enough, her reasons for falling in love with Shinichi are completely selfish and superficial, her dreams of her being rescued by him like he was her white knight are cringy as shit, and even worse in the anime thanks to the slower pacing of the scenes, voice acting and music. She also acts as a bitch whenever she is near Murano, and if all of that wasn’t enough, she ends up having a tragic end purely because she was dumb as shit and ignored every warning that was given to her. I’ve seen plenty of female characters being crapped on for years for far less and yet not this girl, why? It doesn’t count if the manga is retro or what? What did this girl add to the story? She, or rather, what happens to her, reminds Shinichi what it means to be human alright, but so did plenty of other characters, mainly other women, such as Murano or Shinichi’s mother, and they did a far better job at it.

At the end of the day I can’t help but feel like the preference of Kana over Murano comes from her adoring the protagonist, while the latter was constantly questioning and breaking up with him as they become more distant, which makes perfect sense given her lack of knowledge about the whole situation.

Harem bits

Nowhere near as bad as series within that genre of course, but you can tell the original work was written in the late 80s and early 90s when several girls end up liking or falling in love with Shinichi either only because of his manliness of just because he is the protagonist, something that not only is unnecessary, but also far more outdated in the anime for the time it came out.

Silly comical moments

Despite the serious pretense of the themes and plot, there are some silly moments that are meant to be funny that clash with the tone that such a story should have, and it’s even worse for those that aren’t even supposed to come off as funny, yet they do either because of the weak writing and or presentation, or because of another weak element, which is:

Weak and stupid secondary characters

Besides the main three and to a lesser extent Shinichi’s mom, nobody else is nearly as well written, and this isn’t just about Murano or Kana, or even other characters like the parasites, a lot of scenes comes off as unintentionally funny because of the stupidity of the common people from the manga and anime, such as chasing after a woman running with her head open or following a guy that single handedly killed a whole group of yakuza, crushing their heads, when the deal with the monsters was already known throughout the whole country or even world.

Unexplained things

For all the questioning that both Shinichi and Ryouko/Reiko did to themselves about the origin of the parasites, it is never answered, they have a thematic reason to be in the story that’s explored throughout the whole plot alright, but if the author didn’t intend to provide an answer for their origin, then why even bring it out in the first place? Hideaki Anno gets crapped on for not explaining where the Angels came from in Evangelion, when the series never even cared about that, but for some reason is not a problem here, it seems, even though it’s the main mystery of the whole story.

Also, that Kana girl has an ability similar to that of the parasites of detecting others with the same mental waves or something like that, and it’s never explained why or how she got them in the first place. As far as I’m concerned, the author only gave them to her for the sake of writing one of the worst love triangles of all time, with one of the most avoidable and pathetic tragic ends ever, with dozens of cringe overload included, both during, and after the event.

The serial killer also has a similar ability, but just like Kana, it is never explained why and how he has such ability, and the attempt of an explanation, which comes from him, as the result of all his sadistic killings, is so bad, it would be better if there never was one instead.

Plot armor

Despite all the deaths in the story, it somehow messes up by saving or resurrecting the protagonists more times than it would be acceptable. I can take the first time thanks to the excuse given and the consequences, shortcomings in capabilities, and character development for the two mains that come from it, but near the end of the series one of them comes back from the death or disappearing not one but two times at the most convenient moments.

Weak and rushed ending

Speaking of which, during the last arc, Shinichi fights against a much stronger enemy that he has no hope of beating, and yet he does in the most convenient, lucky and ass-pulled way possible, that thankfully was properly criticized when the anime aired, something that does not happen frequently with hyped series, especially at the moment they are airing because of recency bias.

What’s never brought up, however, is how unnecessary the follow up is, it’s supposed to be a relaxed epilogue especially for the protagonist after all the tragedy and angst he went through throughout the story, but here we are with an out of nowhere weak attempt of scientific and existential monologue from Migi (more so in the anime), a minor villain reappearing even after his role was over, everything in the last episode and chapter happening only because of the stupidity of Shinichi, and like I said, plot armor for the sake of a happy ending. Oh, and don’t forget how the humans and parasites end up learning to coexist despite nothing in the series leading to that.

Similar levels in visuals

In terms of production, both versions are very close to each other, the manga has an inconsistent artwork that’s at times very good and detailed, and others very simple and lacking, with generic character designs for its time, and with simply drawn backgrounds with not much variety. The special effects, however, are very good. The anime could’ve been much better in in this aspect, since the artwork doesn’t have the same drops in quality and is far more consistent, the backgrounds are better, the special effects are overall better, and the character designs got updated for the time it came out, Unfortunately the motions aren’t very good at any moment, and it’s also far worse during the action scenes, where characters stand still all the time, with just some speed lines representing the tentacles of the parasites moving at superhuman speeds. Not only that, but the bad CGI brings everything down. Good artwork? Yes, except for the CGI crowds. Decent character designs? Only if you don’t see those CGI crowds. Well done backgrounds? For the places, sure, but not with those CGI crowds. Not very good motions? It’s worse for those CGI crowds. Good special effects? Only until you see those CGI crowds, see what I mean? It’s funny because a lot worse came out since then, but still, it was quite an issue back then.

Horrible atmosphere

This is an issue that’s present only in the anime thanks to its audio department, the voice acting is fine, acceptable, but everything else is not. The opening was quite hyped back then and I never understood why, the lyrics are good, they reflect the themes of the series quite well, something rare for anime in general, I have to say, but the music it’s a combination of dubstep and screamo that made me want to rip off my ears, thankfully those times are over. I would say something about the ending if I even remembered it, but I do not. The background music has some good tracks in it, mostly the ones that attempt to be horror, but most of it is more unlistenable dubstep that doesn’t fit the series nor the limited animation. And finally there are the sound effects, which are good for the metallic clashes and stuff, but laughably low budget and effort for everything else.

Differences among both versions

To start with what the anime did better, there are some irrelevant girls that are friends of Murano in the manga, that the anime replaced with some girls that have a bit of a short lived importance at some point, thus introducing them earlier than the arc they appear in.

Something similar happens with the serial killer, who although is shown quickly in a random and out of place scene, that is still slightly better than he appearing in the last arc and becoming so important just because out of nowhere.

It also made the parasites in the original form much smaller, which although not as horrifying as I guess the original was going for, it makes more sense for them to enter a human body that way.

It also removed the stupid scene of Migi turning into a penis, and it toned down some unnecessarily violent scenes and the sex scene present in the manga, which although not explicit, it was done better in the anime but removing some details and giving it a more romantic and sentimental tone, closer to what was happening at the time of the series in terms of theme exploration.

Now for what it did worse, outside of the CGI crowds and most of the sound, the cringy scenes are even more painful in it, if I remember correctly it never explains how the police, military and scientists found out about all those parasites, something that the manga does, and the worst thing in it was the superficial update it gave to the setting by giving the characters cellphones fitting for the year it came out, something that Banana Fish would also do later. Not taking in count that, if the story takes place in 2014 instead of 1989 or some year in the early 90s, the level of technology that both the characters and the whole world have, should have a drastic change in the way that a lot of events play out, the characters could and should be in contact more frequently and quickly, to even be able to avoid several misunderstandings and tragic scenes, and also, the parasites couldn’t be hidden in the way they do, and the whole population would never react the way they do with them around. It’s the only thing I’m willing to give to a series that I despise in absolutely everything it does such as Crybaby over any other recent remake or adaptation of an old manga, the way it made the whole world to know about the demons thanks to the Internet, updating the setting in a way that others didn’t bother with. By not paying attention to that, a lot of the credibility in Parasyte gets compromised.

Conclusion

In the end, like I already said, Kiseijuu is a very interesting and overall well made series that sadly works better in theme exploration, main characters and conflicts it presents throughout its story than the level of writing of its plot and characters as a whole, and it feels like the author wanted to write a mature seinen story, while something else, like the magazine and later on the committee that ordered its adaptation, wanted to throw some shounen antics in it to make it more appealing for a larger audience, lowering the overall quality of the whole thing. Besides that, it’s worth consuming in either its anime or manga versions at least once thanks to its themes and main characters, with the original being slightly better for taking place in a time when the ways its events play out are easier to buy, but nowhere near as great as the retro suckers and elitists want you to think it is, by deliberately choosing to ignore all of its issues that they criticize whenever they are present on modern shows they don’t like.

Did you ever think about what a mix between Monster and Time of Eve would be like? It’s called Pluto and it’s a very good manga that’s getting an adaptation coming out in October. AI no Idenshi is not that series, but it’s the one that could have been, as it presents a setting with artificial people living among humans, blending in in ways that on occasions the rest can’t tell much difference, while also the main character initially wants to know more about an underground illegal seller of artificial brains, or well, more like, a “fixer” of them, and possibly the one who ruined his mom’s life.

But this anime is really neither, as it deliberately keeps any more info of the protagonist than that as a secret to build some mystery around him up until the last episode, and thus that plot point doesn’t really go anywhere in this season, and since the source material for this consists of three manga at the moment, I think it’s safe to say that it won’t get resolved for some good time.

What’s left of the series is a slice of life show exploring the interactions between humans and humanoids, in the likes of Eve no Jikan, only different because it came out in a different era. Since that other series is from 2008 to 2010, it was still showing some fear of technology, discrimination and indifference from humans to robots and some low level existential crisis for the androids since they did have a personality on their own on a specific place and would ponder about their relationships among themselves and with their human owners.

It’s not the same with AI no Idenshi, as it was made on a time where technology is much different and present everywhere and at any moment in everyday life, with the fear of it pretty much being a thing of the past. Thus, its approach ranges from the existential to one more laid back and more of “what daily uses or routines robots and artificial intelligence would have “on their own”?” type of deal. That’s not bad per se, but it is certainly lacking in theme exploration when compared with the previous work.

But that still doesn’t make it a not good anime, it would still be fine if it was a slice of life series with a small and recurring set of characters, like Eve no Jikan, but it isn’t, as it intends to show many different ones doing many different things, thus it can’t really flesh any of them properly. The most a character can get is one or even half an episode dedicated to themselves before being completely forgotten by the not plot in here, and even then, since the anime is more focused on what they do and how they do it, instead of the characters as themselves, there isn’t much characterization to speak of here either. Just take a look at the two mains, they don’t get the tiniest bit of fleshing up until the last two episodes, and even only a little bit of them is explored, and their backgrounds are revealed at almost the same time.

But even then it would still be fine it there was an ongoing plot that somehow tied the mini stories, but it isn’t, that was discarded very early on. Ok, it would still be fine as an episodic slice of life sci-fi series if the stories where fine on their own. And in that regard the show is a mixed bag because it loves to self-sabotage itself for some reason. Did you like how in the first episode the anime set up questions about how valuable your memories are and how much do they make you for who you are, even if only a fraction of them are lost for your overall sake? Well, the second one is going to be about two dudes running and surpassing your own limits purely by will even when you shouldn’t be able to, oh, and a non-binary person speaking ill of a whole sex and gender despite previously being their own. Did you like how in the third episode two people are so attached to two robots, one made for company and another one being a toy, that they can’t tell them apart from real people, and how one of the latter even has an identity crisis for retaining data of a previous owner? Well, the next one is going to have lots of different mini stories about horny teenagers using technology for their perverted fantasies.

And that’s the main problem of what and how the series is, even when disregarding everything that it could have been but isn’t, it’s a very mixed bag of mini stories where you can’t really know what level of quality you’ll get in the next episode, and even at its best, it would only be just decent, as its own approach doesn’t let it explore a concept on that much detail. Another issue is the tone, as AI no Idenshi is half the time a silly shounen comedy, thus almost no topic is looked into very seriously either. By comparison, Real Drive was also a lighthearted semi-episodic slice of life sci-fi series, but it knew when and how to explore its topics seriously, and it also had recurring characters and kind of a sort of an ongoing plot.

At some point the series even seems to run out of worthy stories to tell, and instead of dedicating one whole story per episode, it starts showing two or more on each one, thus amplifying all of its issues that I already mentioned. Not even the background stories of the two main characters get a whole one, they are shown together in the last two episodes, and it comes off as sudden and rushed. The final one is good in terms of themes and showing a connection between the protagonist and other characters, but is obviously not a conclusion for the series in the least, as there are still far more manga chapters to adapt, and the whole season ended in a way that made it feel as just a buildup for stuff to come.

It doesn’t help that the production and atmosphere of the series are also very average, with very plain looking artwork, backgrounds and special effects, simple and very limited character designs, and stiff animation, especially in the beginning, as well as just decent sound effects and music, but not the opening, which sucks. The series is half comical and half melancholic, and the intro seems to belong in Dimension W, screw that, the ending fits much better, I have a review coming out where I shit on unfitting songs. Even the voice acting feels off for some reason, I don’t know what it is but no character has a voice that’s completely fitting for them.

As a whole, it’s a very lukewarm and inconsistent episodic slice of life sci-fi series that doesn’t dedicate itself much to a point before moving to another, with an uneven tone and very forgettable characters. It’s kind of watchable for being a type of show that didn’t come out in what feels like a long time, but other than that, it has nothing against many others of its kind that you can find out there.

If you are one of the three people that have been reading my Monogatari reviews you might have noticed that each one of them more or less reflected my impressions about them, thus Bakemono’s was a setup for what was coming next, Nisemono’s was very short and without much content, while Neko: Kuro and Second Season got a much more detailed one to explain everything I thought about them. Meanwhile Hana and Tsuki got one closer to the one of the second series, and I bashed Koyomi as it rightfully deserves.

So, in true Monogatari fashion, let me go back to something I wrote right at the beginning of my Kizumonogatari review:

“Ah, fucking finally, the one entry that chronologically starts it all, and it focuses a lot on Araragi and Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade, who so far remained mostly a good hearted pedophile with some serious incestuous tendencies, and a tryhard moe donut eater with a seemingly interesting backdrop that was only teased throughout the previous seasons.”

As you can tell by this paragraph, I did the mistake of skipping the first season of Owarimonogatari and going straight to that horrible Koyomimonogatari and the one I truly wanted to watch, Kizumonogatari, since I figured I would watch every entry before the two that finish everything together. Well, by doing that I wrote something which although it isn’t entirely inaccurate, it also omits how the two characters were more fleshed out during that particular series.

At the same time, in that review I wrote that it was good that Kizumonogatari’s release was delayed as much as it did because:

“If it came out after Bakemonogatari, it would feel like information about the characters was missing. By 2016, Koyomi, Hanekawa and Kiss-Shot were more or less explored or had their backgrounds revealed, especially Tsubasa, so it doesn’t feel like the movie trilogy it’s incomplete. Whatever it covers brings a proper closure of the past of the main cast just fine.”

Which would have made someone think that I did watch Owarimonogatari before because that paragraph is even more accurate after watching it. By the point that movie trilogy came out, along with what was shown here and the previous season, the characters felt all around complete.

Now, on to the present and the actual review

The first season of Owarimonogatari shares aspects with some previous series, it is split and needs another entry to feel complete like Neko: Kuro, and it only has two arcs like Nisemono, yet unlike the first, at the end of the day it still feels like its own thing with a beginning and an ending, and unlike the second, things move forward with an appropriate pacing, without making the important characters of a story to feel secondary and irrelevant despite being the focus of the plot.

The first arc shows the chronological first apparition of Ougi, sometime before the Nadeko arc of Second Season, and as soon as (she?) appears (she?) messes with Koyomi, making him face the past that he kept avoiding in what was written with the intention to represent suppression of painful memories, yet unfortunately at times felt more like the main character having an extremely bad memory for the sake of the plot.

Despite that, fleshing him out beyond his comical and archetypical role of a harem lead is definitely a good move and something that he really needed. It explains how he became a bleak and antisocial loner, which complements well with his development of that phase in Kizumonogatari into his personality of the rest of the franchise.

I mean, his backdrop story comes down to a kid that can’t accept that reality is not what he pictured it to be, so his actions come off as somewhat petty, but reminding myself that his whole world view more or less crumbled when he was very young and naïve definitely helped in making everything more acceptable. Showing this after the character already developed in the future events shown on the previous seasons or the exact next entries was also a good choice.

Besides him there’s also a little more screen time for Ougi, built up as the true antagonist of the whole franchise, and her different interactions with Araragi and the rest of the cast are pretty enjoyable and intense at times, allowing the protagonist to be more expressive without as many internal monologues, while everyone else is skeptical of (her?) intentions and actions, and even try to stop them.

There’s a newly introduced girl, Oikura, and what a messed up character with the most fucked up backdrop story by far. Much like Koyomi’s, her past in the school feels even pettier and her personality very exaggerated. As soon as her circumstances are shown, fortunately without an edgy approach, she becomes far easier to understand and tolerate.

The series makes a contrast between Araragi and Oikura while exploring them. His worldview crumbled and yet thanks to his circumstances, meeting the right people, and his own attitude, he powered through it and became a better person, when he is not acting like a degenerate. On the other hand, she didn’t have any of that, and went through much more serious stuff, so she pretty much became a mess and delved in self-pity and resolved to blame everyone else, much like Nadeko would do on a later arc that was shown in Second Season.

Having Hanekawa alongside Koyomi and being the one to confront her was a good move writing wise, because of both her personality and own character arc. Also, this one does a good job in setting up her actions in Hitagi End.

With all that said, I have to question the messages the arc sends, I doubt saying that is good to have someone to blame and hate for one’s own struggles for the sake of one’s own happiness, but at least the series itself turns against it at the end by having Oikura realize that she was the one on the wrong while hanging on a very thin line between sanity and insanity.

The other one is the usual of the franchise that you are the only one that can really help and save yourself and make your own happiness, which sounds really good on paper but just like Paranoia Agent, feels simplistic and not very empathetic, considering the circumstances of the characters, which in the case of Oikura become worse and worse.

The finale feels like a non-ending, as the girl gets a catharsis that even the series itself admits it’s quite anticlimactic, and it also doesn’t feel completely supported by the narrative. Despite having she realizing that she was wrong and that she has to stop blaming everyone else and make things better for herself, without a follow up to actually see that, it feels like something is missing.

And yet, somehow, it just…fits. The arc was quite distinctive for the usual pattern of the Monogatari series. Araragi can’t use his powers, he can’t rely on them to solve everything, there are no aberrations involved, it’s all about the mentality of the characters, the girl doesn’t want to be helped by Araragi, she doesn’t end joining his harem, she doesn’t try to solve her problems, nor self reflects enough nor gains a proper resolve and resolution at the end…and it fits, because she didn’t try that. If the arc somehow ended with everything being resolved and with a happy ending, it would make everything that led to it to feel superficial and the issues to be nowhere near as heavy as they were made out to be throughout the whole season at that point. So, it’s one of the saddest yet most fitting conclusions, based on the actions of the main girl.

Another thing I want to point out about this arc is the proper tone. Even though there are some comical moments they are mostly subtle and do not clash with the overall serious mood, some even feel like the characters have passive-aggressive interactions so they don’t end up fighting among themselves, AND THERE IS NO FANSERVICE IN IT, which was something extremely welcomed by me.

In terms of aesthetics, the arc goes back to what was done in Tsukimonogatari, which translates to good artwork and backgrounds, equally very little motions, and at times a bit too bright special effects, but overall a more polished version of that season in this regard.

The audio department, much like that series, has an electronic first opening and a typical jpop ending, in this case both with lyrics about two people being apart despite also being close, opening doors and trespassing borders, which fits what happens in it and the character Ougi (herself?). For some reason there are other two intros with Oikura as the main character instead of just one, and they are both among the best ones in the whole franchise in both music and visuals, and with lyrics that properly explores her mentality just like all the rest of them.

As for the soundtrack, just like in Tsukimonogatari, it is much more intense and suspenseful than the previous shows, and since this arc is far more serious, it is also a more fitting and improved version of it. Even the comical passive-aggressive interactions among characters give a high sense of tension thanks to it. Sound effects and voice acting are as good as ever, with the exceptional performance of Marina Inoue in what has to be her best and most distinctive one, properly managing different changes in tone and volume for Oikura.

As a whole it is an intense arc properly handled in terms of aesthetics, tone, pacing, character dynamics and resolution, although not as good in terms of how the messages are tied with the narrative, and the beginning isn’t on the same level that it ends up having as a whole.

The second arc is centered on Shinobu and it is essentially a resolution for her as Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade. Chronologically it takes place after Shinobu Time and around the same time as Tsubasa Tiger, from Second Season, so its ending leads directly to that arc.

Aesthetically it doesn’t have the bright special effects of the previous arc, so it’s an improvement. It combines the presentation of the inner thoughts and passages of the light novel of the characters from Tsukimonogatari and the Oikura story, much shorter, slower and easier for the eye to catch them than the earlier seasons. It also has its fair share of well animated action and CGI for a samurai armor and its powers that are well rendered. It also uses the style of Kiss-Shot’s past in Second Season for a moment.

Since unfortunately the arc begins with a very silly tone, the background music is inferior in the beginning but gets to the same level of quality at a midpoint when it takes itself seriously, and the opening is Mein Schatz, easily the best theme in the franchise.

The beginning of the arc is not good as it is very silly and has a lot of comedy and meandering, and even some fanservice, affecting the pacing and going a step back in terms of quality. Once it gets serious however, it explains the setting in a way that was not done before in the franchise, directly tying it with practically every past action of the characters, thus making them face their responsibility for what they have unwillingly done and retroactively making the weird happenings to the cast to make a bit more sense in-story, although it still doesn’t explain why everyone else in the town is clueless about what happens.

It has someone from Shinobu’s past as Kiss-Shot reappearing again and thus her having to stop running away from that character and face him, as Kanbaru tells her, in a scene that makes her seem more like the next protagonist of the franchise way more and way better than all of Hanamonogatari.

So, it reinforces the same message of the rest of the franchise of the characters being the only ones that can solve their problems, thus they have to face them. Like with the previous arc in the season, it’s a bit lost in the narrative since at the end it’s Koyomi who solves the conflict with dirty tricks, but it is an alright message as usual.

I also want to point out as a positive that Koyomi is put in a situation where he can’t be in three places at the same time solving the problems of everyone else, something that he is told throughout the franchise, thus he takes care of one situation, while trusting the others to someone else, as it was shown in Second Season.

And also, it ends with the message that oneself is the only one that can assure their own happiness, by beginning to actively search for it, something that changer Koyomi a little and a later point in time has a direct influence in the first arc of this particular season.

The conclusion is overall good for the season in terms of messages, themes, characterization, and as a closure for the second arc, but thanks to Koyomimonogatari, there’s still more stuff to cover, which is what the second entry is focused on.

Said second entry begins right after the ending of Koyomimonogatari and despite being divided in three mini arcs, they take place one after the other in order, and the content on each of them is very simple, so I find no point in breaking them down as I did with the previous two. The beginning isn’t very promising, as it goes back to the aggressively stupid meandering, comedy and a little bit of pedophile humor and fanservice, while it also takes away the importance of death in the franchise even more and a bittersweet ending of a previous arc. Oh, an also, the backgrounds are at times very bright.

Thankfully, as it happens with most arcs and series in the franchise, it becomes a bit more serious and overall better later as it goes on, but still, despite being the overall conclusion of everything, it never feels like there is much gravity and adequate seriousness in it, partly because the outcome is already known thanks to Hanamonogatari. You thought I would forget to mention it and blame it for the lack of tension? I never will.

The importance of the first mini arc comes to down to explaining the setting even more, through dialogues, because either the author or the studio clearly isn’t very good at showing instead of telling, and a certain way of doing things that take away a little of proactive initiative of some characters, but it also retroactively justifies what seemed to be scripted actions of some others, who have actually been preparing the outcome they wanted, instead of a predetermined one fabricated by someone else, while it also explores a very secondary character a little more.

Afterwards, the plot progress and it doesn’t at the same time, as pacing stays somewhat in a rare middle, with several character interactions that range from the normal to even the kind of metaphysical, that serve as a progression for the romantic aspect of the franchise, and as a setup for the conclusion of it as a whole, at least as far as the anime goes.

The conclusion still continues to explain the setting, in the same manner, and still keeps retroactively justifying actions of the characters and setting up the plan for the outcome and the conclusion, while it also gives an answer for the mystery behind everything, which is very simple and previously suspected by most people that have been following the franchise. It doesn’t surprise anyone, but it fits with the whole and the future, meaning, Hanamonogatari.

What’s good about it is that it explains what every important character has been doing out of screen for the outcome to happen the way it does, and what the secondary ones kept doing with their lives, the bad thing is that the anime still doesn’t know how to show those things, so instead chooses to tell them.

The best aspect of the resolution and the season as a whole is how everything ends up being a product of the doings and the mentality of the main character. When I came to know about it I thought it would be very far-fetched and out there to be convincing, but thanks to all the previous build up from earlier entries, I find it to be fine. Also, as a message and closure for Araragi, it is nice that he finally does something for and by himself, and accepts his dark side, in a similar character arc of the one that Hanekawa had.

The bad thing is how it still happens through big conveniences and last minute apparitions and saves, as the series itself admits by calling them even miracles. The characters manage to fulfill a certain outcome and fool it at the same time, similarly to the ending of Jigokuraku, but they do it by making everything seem very easily solvable, ending everything in a fitting albeit a bit underwhelming way. Basically, the finale was a bit meh in terms of plot, but good as far as characterization, which is basically how the Monogatari franchise is as a whole, so it fits.

Visually, after it gets rid of that super bright background, the season is among the best in that regard, if not the best, as it combines every visual trick used earlier, except for the art style used during Kiss-Shot’s past, even integrating the one that up until now was reserved only for the endings, and with a more…relaxed, and nowhere near as bombastic directing, making everything a bit…friendlier and easier for the eye to keep track, as well as read the light novel lines in between. The only issue is that, as usual, the motions aren’t very good.

As the tone is much more lighthearted than it was in the previous season, the music takes a step back in quality as well. There is one ending that is the same as most of the earlier ones, and three openings, one akin to those of Hachikuji, which means I skipped it after the first time, another one similar to those of Hitagi, which means I didn’t find it special in any way but I still somewhat enjoyed for its retro aesthetics, this time in the music which gave me a very City Pop feeling, and a third one which I didn’t care about and felt like a very inferior version of the one Ougi had before.

As a whole, the resolution felt…appropriate, as it fits with what was previously done, and what was assured to happen next, while it also reveals what every character is up to or going to do next, as a form of catharsis, albeit it does it with not the best presentation and without making much sense thanks to the conveniences in the writing, while nothing feels very serious because of the very lighthearted tone. Basically, the franchise in a nutshell. I rate the first season with something between 6 and 7 out of ten, and the second barely with a 6.

I wasn’t planning on giving my thoughts about the whole franchise in this review, since I still have one more entry left, but from what I read it’s just another filler season of mini stories like Koyomimonogatari, that takes place between this one and Hanamonogatari. I can’t imagine myself having much to say about something like that, let alone something positive, so I prefer this one to be my SECOND to last review of the whole series.

From a critical stand point, the writing is cleverly done for the dialogues but nonsensical in terms of plot and logic for the most part, even if there are some explanations for the setting and the weird events at the end, and the progression is very slow thanks to a lot of meandering, hit or miss comedy that abuses of being referential, creepy fanservice, and some entries that could be reduced by a lot or skipped almost entirely. It is also just good enough in sound, despite the very good voice acting, and although the visuals are overall extremely good, a lot of the weird imagery doesn’t feel justified by the narrative and is there just because. It’s not the plot you watch this franchise for though, but rather the messages which are good albeit not very well delivered, and most of all the characters, which are among the most memorable and fleshed out casts in the medium, and far better than what anyone would expect from a harem, unless that someone consumes the genre specifically for the perverted situations and the fetishized archetypes that pose as characters.

As far as I know, there is still more stuff to be adapted, as the novels kept going (and keep going, I think?), but seeing how this entry had a fitting ending with no loose ends, I don’t think that seeing more is really necessary, and I’m not the only one it seems, seeing that nothing else of it was released for five years now.

As a whole, I think Bakemonogatari and Nekomonogatari: Kuro are a watchable setup, with Second Season, Kizumonogatari and Owarimonogatari as worth watching follow ups or prequels and the highlights of the franchise, that makes a decent whole, but the rest is either filler or way inferior and could have been shortened by a lot. That is why I personally prefer the manga version, which I’m close to finish, for being far faster and in my opinion more focused, even though it lacks a lot of the highlights of this one. If I go by numbers for all the seasons together, Monogatari ends up being barely a 5/10 as a whole, but if I rate everything as one big series, it goes up to something like a 6.5/10. I’m not satisfied with any option to be honest, as I find the first to be too low, and the second too high, so I settle for something in between. Meaning, I find it to be just barely something like a 6/10, nowhere near among the best in the medium by any stretch of the imagination, but not plainly a waste of time either.

Now for my personal rankings of:

Songs that I cared about

Mein Schatz
White Lies
Mathemagics
Yuudachi Houteishiki
Sugar Sweet Nightmares
Marshmallow Justice
Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari
Perfect Slumbers
Kieru Daydream
Decent Black

Characters

Kaiki
Hanekawa
Senjougahara
Kiss-Shot/Shinobu
Oshino
Gaen
Kagenui
Ougi
Nadeko
Koyomi
Kanbaru
Oikura
Ononoki
Rouka
Tsukihi
Karen
Hachikuji

Entries in the franchise

Second Season
Kizumonogatari as a whole
Owarimonogatari as a whole
Bakemonogatari
Nekomonogatari: Kuro
Tsukimonogatari
Hanamonogatari
Nisemonogatari
Koyomimonogatari


Recommended stuff

-The Tatami Galaxy for similar aesthetics, directing, voice acting, internal monologues and main character arc.
-Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai: Megami-hen (only worth watching and unfortunately last entry in a horrible franchise) and Ouran Koukou Host Club for harem series that bother to flesh out their characters.
-Mononoke and Boogiepop wa Warawanai for more serious anime about people mentally hunted by supernatural entities.
-Ghost Hound and Paranoia Agent for interconnected plots about interconnected characters being mentally affected by supernatural stuff and their own lives.
-Katanagatari, another series from the same author with a similar style of writing.

Ah, fucking finally, the one entry that chronologically starts it all, and it focuses a lot on Araragi and Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade, who so far remained mostly a good hearted pedophile with some serious incestuous tendencies, and a tryhard moe donut eater with a seemingly interesting backdrop that was only teased throughout the previous seasons.

It is well known that it should have been released much sooner, since the adaptations pretty much follows the order of the light novels, which also jumps in time a lot. I don’t know why it took them so long to adapt this story but it ended up working for the better, because:

1-It came out after Koyomimonogatari, the absolute worst entry in the franchise, thus the huge leap in quality by comparison works in its favor.

2-If it came out after Bakemonogatari, it would feel like information about the characters was missing. By 2016, Koyomi, Hanekawa and Kiss-Shot were more or less explored or had their backgrounds revealed, especially Tsubasa, so it doesn’t feel like the movie trilogy it’s incomplete. Whatever it covers brings a proper closure of the past of the main cast just fine.

3-It also allowed them to adapt the arc the way they wanted. The entry feels pretty unique within its franchise because of that.
Leaving a proper release date aside, I also have to compliment the format. Although stuff from the novels is missing according to some fans, having the season being three and half hours among three movies feels like the right amount of length, not too short nor too long like some of the previous entries. Plus, the plot structure was very well thought of and distributed when you think about it, with the first film being the introduction, the second the conflict, and the third one the conclusion.

In terms of the actual content, Kizumonogatari has easily the best premise, since it covers the beginning of it all and how some characters are introduced and come to know each other, while it also fleshes out those that desperately needed it.

It is also the one with the most focused plot and pacing thanks to both the limited runtime and the material that’s shown. No meandering, no stupid conversations, no secondary characters stalling the story, and since neither Nadeko nor Hachikuji nor the Fire Sisters nor Ononoki are around, no incestuous nor pedophilic scenes. Everything serves the story or builds up the dynamics among the cast without stretching anything for more time than needed.

It is also the one with the most unique animation. I don’t know why the studio decided to go with something completely different this time, but I welcome the change, as I watched seven seasons of polished but quite same-y visuals. The artwork, coloring, special effects and character figures are distinctive from the rest of the franchise yet just as polished, with the only problem being that Koyomi and Hanekawa should look a bit closer to how they do in Nekomonogatari: Kuro and Bakemonogatari for consistency. In terms of motions, since Kizumonogatari is the most action heavy series of them all, it’s easily the best in that regard, something that expands to even the moments of talking.

Speaking of the action, the sequences are far more violent than what was shown thus far, but thanks to the directing it comes off more as quirky and trippy than edgy. The final fight in the third movie in specific feels like what Madhouse and Yuasa tried to do in Kemonozume, particularly in its ending, yet for some reason they didn’t.

What’s perhaps not as good as it was in previous entries, but still very good, is the backgrounds which are far more normal looking than the surreal ones that we were used to see, and there are not nearly as many quick cuts as there were before. Personally I prefer it this way, I find the directing and overall visuals less pretentious and they don’t give me a headache, while I can more or less guess a reason for the backgrounds in-story, since all the crazy stuff hadn’t happen in the town, school and houses yet for them to be as weird looking.

As a whole I don’t have a single complaint regarding the visuals, besides the characters looking very different than they do in the next entries in the chronological order, and the shadows that sometimes can be seen in their eyes.

What didn’t change at all was the audio department. There are some themes in it that seem to belong in a horror anime, but there are also some pretty common and forgettable ones that bring down the overall quality of the soundtrack, thus still no entry it’s on the same level of Tsukimonogatari in that regard. There is an ending throughout the trilogy which is good but definitely comes off as repetitive for how long it is. Voice acting and special effects are as good as they always were, with the only noticeable difference worth mentioning being the cartoony ones used during the final fight. They fit the quirkiness of the whole thing while somehow not clashing with the overall tone than the season goes for.

Speaking of which, despite some silly and relaxing comical moments here and there, it is the second most serious in the whole franchise, only after Hanamonogatari, although here it is better excused for the events that take place. Plus, the humour is not as in your face as it used to be in previous entries, even during the moments where the artstyle changes for something more chibi or retro like. The reason is simple, there are no references nor fourth wall breaking in here.

The plot is simple but focused and ever moving and without time leaps. This way it doesn’t feel as mysterious as the ones from some previous entries, but it’s alright because it is chronologically the first season of all, thus it is not about making you ask yourself what might come next, but rather just show how it all began in a properly straight forward way.

It shows how Kiss-Shot, Araragi and Hanekawa came to meet and know about each other, and the more complicated aspects of their relationships are finally explained and shown, nor told or referenced vaguely. Now we actually know how close and dependent the first two are from each other, and how screwed the third one truly is, and why and how the protagonist feels so indebted to them and vice versa.

But what’s it about? Araragi gives his own humanity to save Kiss-Shot and fights three executioners that are after her, before he, for plot reasons, fights her and becomes one with her at the end. Unfortunately the antagonists don’t really pose a challenge, but at least there is some battle choreography and planning during the fights.

Aside from that, it also shows a little more of the backdrop of Kiss-Shot than what was told in Second Season, and also the most dramatic dimensions in her character. It also focuses on making clear how Araragi screws up by trying to help, and ends up making everyone carry a burden, while it also makes him grow from an antisocial loner to the kind hearted harem lead that he would be during the rest of the franchise, all while perfectly connecting everything with the next entries in the series.

I overall think the manga version does everything better and it shows it better than this trilogy, but overall it is still pretty good on its own. But I also want to make perfectly clear that it is no masterpiece in the least, since it is still an unrealistic and unbelievable story where a guy with no fighting experience can best three veterans at his first try, characters fight throughout the whole city while breaking everything yet no one notices them, Oshino still appears out of nowhere to save the day, and there is no tension whatsoever since the main characters are immortal and the outcome is known before the beginning thanks to all the previous entries. And although not as much in quantity and not as disgusting as they were before, there are still ecchi and comical moments that could be taken away, improving the whole.

In conclusion, this is the only season in the Monogatari series that I enjoyed and the one with the best executed and most focused plot so far. Going by numbers alone, and heavily influenced by my own enjoyment and the visuals, it would rank at the top of them all, but I still won’t call it the best, because it doesn’t have the messages, theme exploration, psychological aspect and level of characterization of Second Season, which I would rate higher than this one if not for Hachikuji’s arcs. But it is still far better than most of them and a pretty good second place. I rate the first two movies with a 6/10 for doing a decent job at setting up a concept and presenting a conflict respectively, and the third one with a 7/10 for having the most and best content while also doing a good job in connecting the entries with the rest of the franchise.

This franchise used to have between eleven and twenty six episodes at some point but the previous entry had five and this one has four, is it running out of content or what? Oh well, at least this means that I can finish them faster, and for an IP that I’m enjoying less and less each season, that’s a good thing.

Visually, it’s surprisingly a step back from the previous series, because the artwork is not as polished at points, and due to the use of some very clear places as backgrounds and very bright special effects, sometimes things seem unfinished or lacking lining or details. At least it’s the season with more movement when people talk, there are almost no still moments in it. There are also some interesting visual bits here and there such as Pac-Man references, or the change of the way the light novel passages are integrated, this time mostly shown as what looks like letters that were torn apart.

In terms of sound, the ending has cool visuals but it is the most basic and typical so far, as is the opening, both are just very generic jpop songs, though I like Saori Hayami’s singing voice, way more than her acting voice, even though her performance as Ononoki might be my favourite from her for feeling a bit different than her usual roles. There’s, however, an improvement on the background music, as this entry has the most intense one, filled with themes that seem like they belong in a horror anime instead of this series.

Anyways, the name of the arc and the cover made me think that this season was going to be about Ononoki, a character I kind of wanted to see more of since she was given some of the best dialogues in the franchise, although they are usually next to some of the worst as well. And to be fair, more information about her is revealed, which is in turn related to the past of the four big exorcists within the setting, while there are still some interesting conversations about her or between her and Araragi here and there, so I guess Tsukimonogatari more or less gives me what I wanted, albeit in very small doses and with a not very good presentation, since it is told instead of shown. It’s understandable though, since despite having an important role in the entry, it doesn’t really revolve around her.

Instead, it’s supposed to mean a big deal and change for Araragi, but it doesn’t really feel like it, since he takes it straight pretty much right away, and the tone is for the most part very lighthearted, thus the viewer doesn’t really buy the supposed urgency of the whole thing. Also, whatever tension it tries to build lacks any possible impact, result of releasing Hanamonogatari before it. That’s the big issue of doing that, whatever big or suspenseful event might take place from here on won’t have much of an effect on me, since I already know the outcome and that everyone is fine because of that season.

At least, I’m willing to accept that it’s a series that escalates in quality from less to more, as it has a plain horrible beginning full of all of the cancer from the previous worst moments in the franchise. Lots of meandering, pointless conversations, attempting to have dialogues about serious things while simultaneously presenting the most stupid imagery along with them, and the biggest amount of incestuous ecchi and comedy yet, which in turn feels out of character from what was shown on Nisemonogatari. Remember how Tsukihi reacted to Karen and Koyomi back then? Well, the roles are reversed now for fanservice sake.

At the very least, as it goes on, it shows Araragi the consequences of abusing his power and acting rashly, so it makes everything he did before feel important for him by giving him shortcomings or even some kind of ultimatum for using his abilities. Too bad Hanamonogatari was released right before it.

There is a newly introduced guy that goes away just as quickly as he appeared before even being flesh out and for the short amount of screen time he had, he was pretty uninteresting. How do you make a character voiced by Takehito Koyasu boring? Tsukimonogatari shows how. He is not giving much to do, because as he himself points out, he is a pawn in the big picture.

So at least the show ends with a message of not letting you be played around by someone else, as two characters do the exact opposite as some previous arcs while doing the same thing as the best ones, by having them being proactive and going against what seems to be the predetermined course of action, while also setting up what everyone plans to do about it, as well as having them realize who is the real main antagonist that was pulling the strings from behind the scenes the whole time. Oh, and there’s also a very cute second to last scene with Araragi and Senjougahara, the last scene is whatever, it even ruins what seemed to be a breaking point for the two protagonists of the arc.

As a whole, it begins being the worst arc in the franchise by far, but as it goes on it increases its quality considerably, though just like Nekomonogatari: Kuro, it feels more like a buildup for things to come, a transition entry from Second Season to Owarimonogatari, instead of its own thing. I didn’t find it to be straight up bad, but to me it was just another passable anime like Hanamonogatari, and a step back in quality from the best point in the series just like that show.