My collection of short anime reviews

The hand that starts all the trouble.

This series, one of my favourites, is finally over, and here is the review.

Story:-
Our protagonist Zed is transported from his boring world to an alternate dimension (sound familiar?) and finds out that he has been chosen by Amil Gaoul, the most powerful of all 6 key spirits, which if collected, will save or destroy the world, depending on how you look on it. Basically, the story revolves around on collecting the key spirits, amongst all other normal spirits that dwells on the dimension.

In a previous entry, I have said that Kiba is one of the best anime in 2006, and yeah it still rings true at the end. This anime is one of the better ones I have watched in 3 or 4 years. Kiba is not your typical shounen anime, with its hero Zed being one of most realistic hero characters I have ever seen. Zed has everything I want from a shounen anime protagonist, and more. Brash but articulate and decisive but does not really act before thinking. Do not give sh*t to the ‘good and evil’ thing and always lusts for power. Zed is the main reason why this anime is truly spectacular.

Writers of this anime also tends to take high risks with some parts of the story. For example, they like to introduce a new characters, then killed them a few episodes later. This is repeated quite a few times in the series, which actually can cause the series to stink. But nonetheless, they pull this stunt cleverly and actually make the series much better in the end.

This anime lacks 2 things, and they are filler episodes and elements of romance. For me, the non-existence of these 2 things are truly a god-send.

Nevertheless, the anime does have weakness.The last 10 episodes or so seems to be rushed. For example, in one episode, Mirette was kidnapped at the start of the episode but by the time the episode reached the halfway line, she has already been rescued. If this happen in Naruto, such rescue attempts will at least take 10 episodes muahaha.

The storyline is not exactly spectacular with no expansive plot-lines, but for the factors mentioned above (and below) the series is still excellent.

Character design:-
This is another of this series main strength. Zed seems to be sloppily designed, giving him the look of a normal person that does not stand out. This actually make Zed more believable, as someone who finds out that he controls a massive amount of power. Other characters such as Roia, Elmeyda and Zico are appropriately designed to play the role they are assigned to.

Voice acting:-
Zed’s voice acting is great, but not excellent. That sums up the voice acting in Kiba in whole.

Music:-
The OST is great, no question about that. Already have them on my Winamp database. For themes, only the first OP theme and second ED theme are good.

Animation and direction:-
The direction complements the story and makes the series great. You can’t really complain about the directing. Meanwhile, about animation, they are fluid even in fast-paced action scenes but honestly speaking, they are not as good as, let’s say, One Piece HDTV.

Conclusion:-
9 out of 10. If not for the rushing in the last 10 episodes and also normal-quality voice acting, this will get full marks.

FIRE!!

Shortlink: http://wp.me/prgSo-V

My first post this year, after a long break from watching full series of anime because of playing the god-damn MMORPG flyff. Still playing yeah.

There will be no picture for this review of .hack//Roots, I am so lazy to take screen shots.  Edit (19 March 2007): added a picture!

Story:-
Just like its many predecessors, the setting takes place inside a MMORPG where a bunch of characters, inclusive of course of the main protagonist Haseo, formed a guild named Twilight Brigade (and yeah, there are guilds named like this in flyff clusters) to find that rare relic named The Key of the Twilight. Then after the guild leader goes missing, the vice-captain goes to a coma like those people in .hack//sign. This caused Haseo to become emo up until the end of the series, and you will have to buy the games to know what happened next muahahaha.

Anyway, IMO Roots has a better storyline compared to SIGN, and can become even much better without all those romantic tinges over it. If you do not like the story, control Haseo yourself in the game. For 26 episodes, quite a bit long though because this is just a teaser before the game trilogy.

Character Design:-
Not exactly original, the same styles used in the sign series are also used here. Nothing more to be said, move along.

Voice acting:-
Haseo has a great voice actor, and so that floating old geezer at the bridge and Tabby. These 3 stands out very well. Apart from that, nothing really good, even Ovan or Shino.

Music:-
Great OST, but not the OP or ED themes. In fact, the insert songs are better than the themes.

Animation/Direction:-
The animation are fluid. The direction are pretty safe though, nothing to rave or comment about.

Conclusion:-
7 out of 10. Meh, nothing to shout about as a standalone series. Playing the game after watching this are almost essential.