APolygons2-25753 Reviews

【Oshi No Ko】 (2023– )

There is a lot that shouldn't work about Oshi No ko, at least on paper.

[8/10 · 28 June 2023]

It's a mixture of so many seemingly random genres and ideas, that by the synopsis alone one could not be blamed for thinking it's a complete mess. Coming from the author of love is war, Aka Akasaka, you would also not be blamed for thinking the show isn't that funny in comparison.

There are some good jokes here and there, but it's nothing like the masterfully structured comedy progression of love is war that some people may expect. Actually, on a writing level or even style, these two stories feel completely different. The only real point of comparison, are the more depressing and serious parts of both stories, so unless you are specifically looking at things like Ishigami's backstory and Akane getting cancelled, you will not have a single reason to think these 2 stories are from the same author.

So, if Oshi no ko is nothing like love is war, then what IS it like?

Well.....

Stories have different goals. Some are there to send a philosophical message, some are there to make you laugh, and some are there to make you cry. One of those possible goals, is to show case something real or "social commentary".

And in oshi no ko's case, that thing is, the entertainment industry.

It goes out of it's way to dive deep into each part of it, show you the behind the scenes, and scummy acts or people that go into each part of it. Like the power dynamics, or the affect online harassment and attacks can have on one's mental health. But it also doesn't show you an overly negative image, you will also see what there is to love about the industry, and why for the right people dealing with the problems is nothing but a set-back to be overcome for reaching greatness.

The show is not biased and that's a great thing. But the story is not about that.

It's actually about these 2 characters who got reborn as their favourite idol's kid after they died while keeping their memories....

but the story is not about that. It's a murder mystery, where the primary goal is catching the killer, and every other event is a stepping stone for reachi.....

but the story isn't about that.

It's actually about these flawed characters and how they each deal with set backs that life throws at them in different ways.

But.... it's not that either....

It's all of these.

To me the greatest strength of the show is how all these seemingly unrelated elements come together to create a cohesive story. The reincarnation premise serves as a wacky initial hook to keep you going. Then the small bit of comedy makes you care more about the cast. The showcase of the entertainment industry, becomes the main setting of the story. The backstories and character progressions are what give the characters depth, and now that you care about the story and characters, the depressing plot points are what create the most impactful moments.

And to make it fully work, the murder mystery serves as that 1 plot point that the show is constantly moving towards. The final piece that gives the story a sense of progression.

And that cohesiveness created from a jumble of ideas, is what makes this series a one of a kind. And why I fully recommend it to anyone who may be interested.

BoJack Horseman: Free Churro (2018) Season 5, Episode 6

It's great, but a bit overrated

[10/10 · 24 January 2023]

After this and fish and out of water being both more highly rated than they deserve despite being really solid episodes, I have realized that the Bojack horseman fandom, loves, and I mean LOVES gimmicks.

Now neither of these are pointless gimmicks, but seeing this have the same score as "times' arrow" is really weird.

It's a stand out, and one of the best episodes of the show, but a 9.8?

Really?

I genuinely believe the only reason it's THIS high is the fact that it's portrayed in an abnormal way. Which in this case adds to it, but if this format was used more often, the ratings would have been a lot lower.

There is also the fact that I don't believe it fully earned it's run time. There were some masterfully written and thought provoking stuff here, but there was a good amount of fluff that could have been cut out as well.

You can tell they were stretching what they wanted to say a little, just so the entire episode can be bojack talking. Which again, does work, it adds a certain realness to it that you wouldn't be able to achieve without doing this.

I wish it went a little less in the comedy direction, the music guy while at times pretty funny, i don't think did enough to justify it's existence. It kind of messed with the tone a little.

I don't think the episode is perfect, I split my 10/10 episodes into three categories of greatness, and this is on the lower side of that.

It's ambitious which I for one adore, but it's not the best thing ever like the score would make you believe.

But I will say is that due to how different it is, it's great in a way that I can't remember ever seeing before it, and to some, that alone may justify it being this high. And they wouldn't be wrong for thinking that.

I am really glad this episode exists for a lot of different reasons, but I wouldn't call it my favorite.

Pantheon (2022–2023)

It's dead

[9/10 · 22 January 2023]

Wow, this is arguably the best sci-fi of 2020s. With the potential to go down in history and be something truly special. With clunky yet still clean visuals, great music, and top notch writing.

Easily one of my favorite western animations, and one that I truly looked forward to and was waiting to one day call it a masterpiece.

But they had to go ahead and kill it.

And I don't just mean "not make more"

they actually killed the series. They are not only NOT releasing the already finished. I repeat, ALREADY FINISHED, season 2, they also removed season 1 from their streaming platform to not have to pay the creators going forward.

That is absolutely horrible and an insult to everyone involved. Hope this show gets bought by a company that deserves it.

Rick and Morty: Ricktional Mortpoon's Rickmas Mortcation (2022) Season 6, Episode 10

Feels like a teaser for next season instead of being a proper finale

[8/10 · 12 December 2022]

It's not a bad episode. In fact it's in the better half of episodes this season, but like, really?

This is the first season where the plot felt like it it didn't move at all.

It's weird because season 5 had great story beats, but had a few episodes that were no where near up to the normal rick and morty standard.

But this season while not a single one of the episodes was bad... there was very little that the show delivered for it's story.

Now that's not the worst thing ever, but I did come out of this season thinking by rick and morty standards it was average.

Yes, season 5 had bad episodes.

But it also had way more episodes that stood out. I still think this is an improvement, but I can't say I wasn't disappointed by the lack of story.

The episode itself is fun. It has some nice moments and is entertaining through and through. Although it's not the funniest and most of it's value comes from character development and being a fantastic teaser.

And to be completely fair, while it being a teaser in the first place isn't something that I love, I also admit that, that is completely a problem that only stands because I have to wait for season 7.

Which means it won't be one for future viewers.

Anyways, this season had a lot of good, but not as much great as I expected.

The only episode that truly stood out to me was the meta one which as a wanna be writer, I absolutely adored.

Rick and Morty: Full Meta Jackrick (2022) Season 6, Episode 7

I don't understand you people

[10/10 · 25 November 2022]

This is my 4th favorite episode of the entire show.

And one of the only 4 that I rated a 10/10.

There are so many genuinely smart ideas and I personally was laughing my ass off through out the entire episode.

From the previously on being one of the coolest openings to an episode of a show I have seen, to the commentary on the very structure of story telling, to using story elements as characters, and so, so, so much more.

If you know anything about writing, you should love this.

I've seen a few say it's too meta, as if that's suppose to be a critical complaint.

Explain to me why that's a problem. Some say because it stops being funny, which is subjective and I personally found this to be one of the funniest episodes. Some say it's trying too hard to be smart... which... it is, but they never explain why it isn't working.

Like, you can't say something is trying to be X positive thing as a complaint, without saying why it isn't that.

Rick and morty has always tried to be smart, that isn't new, tell me why you think it isn't that.

You wanted adventure? You wanted originality? You waned cool concepts?

This episode has all of them. At this point people are just complaining for the sake of complaining. S4 wasn't as good as the first 3, and the entire middle section of S5 was rick and morty at it's worst.

But this season has been great, and this was imo it's best episode by far.

Pantheon: You Must Be Caspian (2022) Season 1, Episode 6

TOP TIER SERIES, but this one thing is pretty funny

[9/10 · 10 October 2022]

I mean there is a lot to be said about how great this series had been, but I'm not here to talk about that. I'm sure many others will.

I'm here to tell you about something that most people probably won't even notice or know about.

And that's the fact that this show's depiction of iran/tehran is hilarious. It seems like they looked Arabistan data to make it. Even the text they used to write the persian stuff has an arabic font to it, which makes it near unreadable.

I'm just sitting here wondering how a series this well researched, messed up something like this.

I mean it's barely relevant to the story, so I kind of get why they wouldn't think too deeply about it, but still.

This series is absolutely fantastic though and genuinely the best sci-fi of 2022.

Maybe even the best of 2020's so far. My only real complaint is that specially at the start the voice acting quality seems a bit low, but that has been getting better overtime.

Make this popular, I will be really upset if they don't make a season 2.

Bubble (2022)

Bubble, a beautifully animated, directed and composed disappointment...

[6/10 · 16 May 2022]

Tldr: it's a flawed story with likable characters, a lot of cool yet mostly unexplored ideas, top tier animation and an amazing soundtrack. By no means a must watch, but still worth watching if you're interested in the concepts or want some top notch parkour animation.

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For the lack of a better word, this movie was lacking.

But why? The concept is great, the music is amazing, the animation is some of the best out there and the writing while not the best of the best, it is also far from being bad.

So why? What could possibly be the reason...

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Loosely based on little mermaid. A well known story, that even if you somehow don't know it, you will since the movie tells it, and says how it ends not too far into the first act, and to me, that's this movie's biggest downfall. Basing your main plot around a well known story, means audience having a good idea of what the story beholds from the start, which obviously is not the best thing, specially when you say how it ends and make sure the few who don't know it are also spoiled.

But unlike what you may think, that's not always a bad move ,while that type of story in most cases is not as good or at least not as interesting as a truly original idea, it can and has worked before in many cases. But for that to happen you need a little something called, "reasons"

if those reasons aren't present, you are just actively spoiling your story for no, well, "reason". And to no ones surprise, all spoilers do, is lessening the impact. And ruining the shock factor.

Again, it can work.

You can use the known story, to set up a twist by breaking the audiences expectation.

You can expand upon the idea and add to it.

Or you can even just remake it in a different setting, but in that case telling the audience what you are based on from the start becomes a moronic move.

The problem with bubble is that other than the elements mirroring the little mermaid story, it doesn't expand on ANYTHING.

*********************************** Out of context spoilers for this part:

Where did the bubble came from? Who knows.

Why had the time stopped in the tower? Who knows.

Why was the girls sister which was the other part of these "bubble" angry when she left? Who knows.

Where did the bubble go? "yOu sEe thErE arE tHeSe vorTex"

no that is not an explanation. That's cop out answer/theming at best. At the very least the movie could have it match the themes of the show like what parasyte The maxim did.

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The show had a lot of ideas, but it didn't even attempt to go through any of them outside of the bare minimum. I just don't get it, if all you had to offer in terms of story was the little mermaid story, why would you even think of telling that to the audience DIRECTLY.

And I do mean that, the romance barely functioned since it was kind of rushed, and the characters where just ok. Nothing bad, but in no way special either. There is no message, there is no symbolism, there is no clever foreshadowing, theming or plot twist.

All the story had, was the little mermaid story and some unexplored ideas, and for some reason decided to spoil a massive part of it by telling you what the story is based on.

It's not all disappointment though. The animation and art are out of this world. The background were also some of the most wall paper worthy I have seen in a long time.

The music was also great. It didn't blow me away and become one of the best I have heard, but It was great through out the whole movie.

But the sad truth is that, this movie felt unfinished. It left a lot to the imagination in the worst way possible.

Wit has never missed the mark as far as I have seen, and this too was by no means a bad movie, but it was certainly disappointing.

Thanks for reading.

Vampire in the Garden (2022)

Needs more depth to be one of the best, but still good enough to be Great!

[8/10 · 16 May 2022]

For only 5 episodes,

This was way more impactful than it had the right to be.

I'll make it easy for you, the show is worth watching. The best thing you can do to see if it's for you or not is watching the first episode, which is one of the best first episodes I have seen in a long time.

It does get a little weaker around episode 3 and specially 4, but it picks itself back up for the final episode so I wasn't too bothered by it.

Bottom of the line is, if you want to go in completely blind, do it. It's worth you're time.

If you're still unsure, keep reading:

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the story is about a world were vampires and humans are at war while both sides are kind of both at fault and victims at the same time. Vampires think humans are the assholes who started it all, and vice versa.

We follow two leads, a human, daughter of a pretty of a big shot in the military, who ran away from home, and a vampire royalty who is dealing with her past. And most of the show is the journey of this unlikely duet living, surviving and running away together while being chased down by both humans and vampires.

They're relationship is the main selling point of the show. You just can't help rooting for both of them.

In fact all the characters are likable. No actually scrap that most of them are, and even the ones that have little to know screen time have enough depth to not be 1 dimensional. I even go as far as saying for a show that is only 5 episodes long the character writing is kind of impressive.

But that isn't even close to being the most impressive thing about the show. The star here is easily the execution. I talking about the directing, pacing and music. They work flawlessly in a final product that I can only describe as cinematic. So much so that I thought the first episode was the most cinematic and masterfully directed episode of Anime I have seen since the made in abyss movie.

Which says a lot considering how made in abyss is visually stunning, and what I'm talking about is a god damn movie.

And it's not just the visuals and direction, the music and it's placement is simply perfect. If i didn't know any better I would have guessed the music was done by the man himself Kevin Penkin. The style is very similar to his work, and that's a good thing, great even.

All these elements mixed together had the result of dozens of goosebumps and me crying 2 different times during this 5 episodes. It's not too hard to make me cry, but again for 5 episodes, that's still impressive.

Here's the thing, it's a simple story that is far from being the most original, and there isn't really anything ground breaking in that said story.

I'm not going to pretend like it's a must watch masterpiece.

It isn't...

But it doesn't have to be.

There are shows that aren't really flawed in any way, but they won't reach for the skies either. Those shows almost always end up being some of the most enjoyable and wildly loved stories out there.

I wouldn't say the show is good enough for you to go out of your way to watch it if it doesn't seem to be your cup of tea, but if you have any amount of interest, watch it.

Thanks for reading.

Castlevania: It's Been a Strange Ride (2021) Season 4, Episode 10

Extremely good series, tainted by it's very last episode. for one reason alone, fanservice. just hear me out.

[4/10 · 14 May 2022]

Trevor belmont had a fantastic death. It was in an epic and visually stunning fight that I will probably remember fondly for years, and they decided to bring him back to life, for no reason other than fanservice.

I don't think people understand how powerful a character death is, and how little it's value becomes once you find out that it was fake out. You shouldn't bring a character with a perfect death back to life. And I do mean perfect, thematic wise, character wise, story wise, in every way it made perfect sense for belmont to die, but he didn't.

It doesn't matter that there is a half assed reason for HOW he survived, that's not the problem. It's not like my complaint is about it being a plot hole, since it isn't.

But hey, true they took away the impact of a fantastic death, that's a problem, but at least there isn't more things wrong with the ending...

is what I would have said if they didn't also bring Dracula and his wife back to life, which for this case, there wasn't even a half assed reason for how. Like what? Did their soul flee from the frankenstein's monster and somehow became two different bodies? Funnily enough they didn't even try to give a reason for it. They used the old trick of, well it's mystery and no one know....

This is just fanservice for the sake of giving the fans an out of place happily ever after.

One thing that weirded me out was the suicide scene. I wasn't upset by it, but it wasn't necessary. Now, I'm not saying it shouldn't have been there, it was emotional, made sense and I liked it ,but I am saying it's weird how they killed off a character that they could have let live, and made the characters that should have died somehow be alive.

The series would have been a 9/10, but just for this last episode I have to give it an 8.25/10.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (2009–2010)

really solid, but still overrated

[8/10 · 18 August 2021]

FMAB is praised to death. Its the number 1 highest rated anime on 9 out of 10 sites with ratings, and its a definitive masterpiece to half the people who watched it, so it has a LOT to live up to.

I'll make this review as short as I can so hear me out.

Fmab has solid animation, great music, fine pacing, a really good cast, and an impactful story. So, what's the problem?

Well the story and characters both suffer from 1 single element.

The main villain... father.

From his origin to his death, he's a walking plot hole with a 1 dimensional personality. I don't think I need to justify calling a generic none-human with a god complex 1 dimensional. Since that is as cliche as it gets, but I know most people just don't care or don't notice the plot holes made from him so,

Enough wasting time, there are more, but these are the 3 biggest problems that come from his character.

Spoilers for fmab:

1. His origin: everything in fmab follows the rules of alchemy, the laws of alchemy are at the core of this show. The intro for the first 20 or so episodes is about these rules, the mystery is unsolved by it, and everything makes sense in its context. Except father that is. Made from blood of a human slave? That is just the author giving 0 reasoning for something they can't explain. If the rules weren't present for every single other element, I would just write it of as not important. But the show clearly puts focus on these rules, so yes it is very important that the very existence of father doesn't have a proper explanation.

2. he's stupid: he is meant to be a higher being than humans. Yes his downfall is that of pride (witch is problem by itself that I'll get to later) , but the problem is the humans only bested him, not because he didn't see them as equals, but because his way of thinking and specially fighting is extremely dumb. Like how at the last fight he wasted half the very limited energy he had on a massive explosion with a handful of people as targets, witch killed none of them! The problem isn't that they didn't die, the problem is father doing something that is dumb by every human standard. He was meant be far smarter than humans, that was how he got his body, by outsmarting the king! You can't just make this character do the stupidest thing, and use his god-complex and pride as an excuse. Not seeing you enemy as an equal is not the same as fighting like an idiot.

And finally, he still has the 7sins: you don't need to be smart to realize fathers character is anything but empty of things like pride, greed or wrath. A lot of his actions come from those places, I can't just except that he doesn't have those sins, when his action are proving the opposite.

There are more, another huge problem is the final fight being EXTREMELY plot convenient to a point that the last minutes of it are just plain stupid if you think about it more than 5 seconds.

So yeah FMAB is really good but it is not perfect. And even if it didn't have these problems, I would still rate it a 9. It simply didn't do anything things specially great enough to be a masterpiece, but it did do everything really well, and even with these problem it is still ONE OF the best SHOUNEN anime out there. Its not the king of anime, but it is easily top 100.