Zíza

I must admit, it's not bad. The central characters are interesting and the heroine is incredibly consistent, so I liked her overall. The hero is likable, also played by Yokohama Ryūsei. The rest of the characters were kind of made up to fill out the 10 episodes. I'm not saying they were downright bad or uninteresting characters, but they were written in a fairly simple and superficial way. An adult romance with a nice main couple and interesting, not shallow dialogue. [SPOILER] It had too much of a happy ending for my tastes, it basically felt like world peace where everyone was happy as a clam, or at least they just got a satisfying and good ending (some more, some less). Considering how it tried to feel so realistic the entire time, I found that last full stop unnecessary; though I get that it's a dream come true for anyone who became really close to the couples. [END SPOILER.] Easy viewing. A better 3 stars.

I approached this series with no expectations. With such a cheesy title, what could it possibly give me? Even the plot is corny. In fact, everything that happened was corny, but it was really great, fun, with great energy. Yoshioka and Suzuki had divine chemistry between them, great dialogue, and they faced all the clichéd obstacles together beautifully, overcoming them in a non-clichéd way that made my heart leap. Basically, I feel like the writer of the source material, or the screenwriter, took every possible cliché he knew and threw it at the characters' feet. The characters may have stumbled, but then they continued on as people and not just clichés. I enjoyed them immensely, looked forward to them every week, like I was in cliché heaven without the unpleasant aftertaste that clichés can leave. I know, I keep repeating myself, cliché cliché cliché, but I'm just an excited fangirl about it. A great story about building relationships between a girl who attracts bad guys, a mangaka who's always locked up at home, a boy who lost his father, and the world around them. Aside from the romance, we get comedy and drama and most importantly, a bit of self-reflection toward the genre – without even a stroke of fan service! The beginning of the last episode was particularly great in this regard. For me, it was the highlight of the spring season (although Ichikei no karasu is also pretty good).

The cast is definitely interesting, and so are their characters. They're interesting in the sense that if someone told you about them you'd be like, yeah, that's an interesting person, funny, hardworking, driven, etc, but if you throw them all together like that it doesn't quite fit. Eita and Keiko had chemistry, but only occasionally; whether that was their characters or they themselves I still can't decide. Unfortunately, I also didn't like that for all the things the characters managed to say to each other, there were still some things they didn’t, and that was all that made up the plot. So basically nothing much happened. I mean, he worked over there, she worked over here, their families were going through divorces, but somehow it was all rather ridiculous, uninteresting, and lacking in anything to offer. This is a story that would be fine about twenty years back. It's overused, it's been written a million times and unfortunately there was nothing in it that made me want to say: "Oh, it doesn't matter that it's dated in the delivery of the story and characters, at least I'm enjoying it, it's funny, the characters have crazy chemistry with each other, ..." Just nothing, no added value. Sure, it's not a downright bad series, and if you're a fan of Keiko or Eita, go for it; Keiko in particular was awfully good here, but that's it. A series that fired up only to fizzle out.

It bothered me terribly what a conflicted vibe the series was throwing. Is it a crazy romantic comedy? Is it an ordinary romantic comedy of life? Is it a tragic romance? It was constantly mixing things up in a weird way, at times the characters seemed more like caricatures and at times they were absolutely great (then again, I did feel strongly from the beginning that Ayano Gô wasn't exactly the right fit for the character). I couldn't find my way through it and was constantly struggling to like anyone, no matter how well they acted. If it had found even a single way I would have been happy to watch it, because the plot was quite interesting and the cast was interesting too; but I just felt like I was floundering around like a fish out of water and it didn’t leave me very satisfied. Too bad.

For some strange reason, I really liked the movie. I liked the atmosphere, the effects, the acting, I loved the camera work. I can see what flaws the film had (for example, the under-portrayed character and motivations of the Mikado, or the relationship between the detective and Hiyakawa; I believe we get a lot more exposition in the prequel, but I kind of figured it all out), but one way or another I will forgive it because I enjoyed watching it. And that's what it's all about. Okada and Shison had fine chemistry, but don't expect some miraculous b romance, let alone anything more. It's just a simple mystery with ghosts and curses. Besides, a person who knows a little Japanese will probably enjoy it more. Mikado is written in kanji, which can also be read as sankaku, which is “triangle", and that theme is woven throughout the story where it serves basically as a protective symbol for Hiyakawa (at least that’s what I gathered from the film). And towards the end, the room is interwoven with threads that are made up of words/symbols – which in turn references what Hiyakawa was saying about the power of words and that they can easily become a curse. I enjoyed it.

A film packed with action, flashbacks, and emotion. You can really see in Sato that he's aged and matured in the ten years since the first clapperboard, which suited this piece perfectly. He still hops around, swings his sword, spins every which way, maneuvers, spryly dodges, and you can feel his strength; but when he’s standing you can feel his exhaustion. It's interesting. I really felt like everybody had to work a lot to make this movie happen. Old friends reunite and some have such great chemistry with Kenshin in the heat of battle that it's a joy to watch. Maybe it could have used more space for the story itself and the motives of the characters; after all, most of it was masked by action, thankfully we get that depth in the prequel The Beginning. It must be a great show on the big screen. I walk away satisfied and I’m glad they ended Kenshin's story this way.

Short but powerful. While it has been ten years since the Tōhoku earthquake and subsequent tsunami, for some it's as if time has stood still. Especially for those whose family members were never found. Even though life goes on throughout Japan as if nothing happened, because this country resting on four tectonic plates can't go long without a natural disaster, still 11 March 2011 is etched in their memories, as even this ordinary special proves.

As always, I commend the animation, it's really beautiful. The idea of incorporating the songs was also interesting, it sounded like an opening/ending for the beginning/end of the main character's life stages. The characters and their personalities were ok. So far so good, fine, not mediocre. But the script. Dear Lord, the script! Mr. Shinkai, please find someone else to write the scripts and stick to animating and directing, because you're just not very good at those scripts. Maybe the book is better, more coherent, makes more sense, but this was really bad. Weirdly disjointed, for a long time you're actually groping for what it's exactly about, and by the time it becomes somewhat clear, another theme has gotten mixed up in it. If it had been two different films, it would have been better. And then there was the ending! God, that ending! I haven't seen anything so stupid in a long time. [SPOILER] Three years of constant rain? And everyone's fine with it, especially things, their apartments that don't succumb to mold, corrosion, disrepair, the global order going under? Sure, after three years of rain, it would definitely be this sunny. Whoopee. [END SPOILER] And unfortunately I didn't enjoy watching it that much. I was actually kind of looking forward to it being over.

I liked this series better than the first. It felt more alive, more energetic somehow. I also found it much more suspenseful, I kept wanting more and more episodes; that wasn't the case with the first series, where I was perfectly fine waiting for the next day, or just leaving it aside for a few days. This series really intrigued me and I wanted to know what was going to happen next, I loved it. I'm not saying it has the best story in the world, in fact there you could find lots and lots of flaws, but the way it played out didn't leave much room for me to think about it while I was watching and ruin the experience. This was helped quite a bit by the fairly likable heroine returning from the last series, the beautiful animation, and the new character of the king. I could go on and on about what was wrong with it, or what I really liked about it, but I don't want to. I will say this, though: I really enjoyed it. It went by pretty quickly and I was just a little disappointed that L wasn't Jesus. :-D

Nice animation, gotta give it that, it was a joy to watch. Even though the story wasn't great, and the characters were as they were (not really interesting but not hateable), there was quite a bit of fighting, which was good. There wasn't any room for character development or any bonding between the viewer and the main characters, except that just surviving was fine, since the anime didn't really play at being anything more than what it was: pretty animation and battles. I watched it during meals, and I always ate well.