simpsonDDS Reviews

Space Dandy (2014)

Wantanabe doesn't disappoint. Very funny.

[8/10 · 7 January 2014]

Hilarious and highly original animation. It's basically a parody of all those old, campy western cartoons, but with literally no restrictions on the content. In the first episode alone you'll see giant space battles, utterly absurd and colossal alien wars, supernovas, planets getting blown up... and huge floating boobies with also happen to be space stations. I was amazed at how much things escalated on the first episode - seriously the most trippy episode i've seen in any animation.

Lots of references to great western sci-fi's (especially in the excellent English dub), lots of silly humor, and some golden dialogue to pair up with the great character designs. I can tell this will be a fan favorite for many anime watchers.

One minor downside I was slightly disappointed in was the quality of the animation. It's not bad, but in certain scenes it gets extremely choppy. I am unsure if this was intentional or not, but for 2014, i'd expect smoother animations.

Overall, 8/10 - must watch.

Fate/Zero (2011–2012)

Incredible scene after incredible scene

[9/10 · 16 August 2013]

This anime is fantastic. The most amazing thing about it (especially in the second season) is its unflinching attitude to the darker themes - some scenes will shock you, others will make you cry, and all of them are fantastic. Just when you are about to predict the story it will smack you across the face and tell you to try again. When you know that almost 95% of all the characters can either die or get some seriously messed up treatment, it makes for some of the most tense TV moments... ever.

The characters are generally good. You'll find yourself picking sides and favourites very early on due to the nature of the show. The show presents all sides, all characters and their motivations while managing to keep the some huge story elements secret until they are revealed - that's good writing and it engages the audience.

Animation is literally eye candy. I don't normally enjoy CGI effects, but this show perfectly marries 3D and 2D animation into one. The production values of this show are amazing and I applaud the animators and artists for not taking a half assed approach to some scenes while giving special treatment to others. The OST is used well and the sound is very nicely done.

Overall, 9/10. The 1 deducted was due to the story maybe introducing a little too much characters early on, making it fairly hard to keep track of in the first few episodes.

Attack on Titan (2013–2023)

A complete outsider review of Attack on Titan

[7/10 · 16 July 2013]

Like many I only recently broke into the whole anime scene shortly after hearing the buzz around Attack on Titan. This is the very first anime series I've experienced so I judged it with the standards I would hold for any other none-anime TV series or movie.

The series has a fantastic start. The first 5 or 6 episodes completely exceeded my expectations - The music was great, the pacing, writing and directing was all near perfect, and the animation was well done. There were moments in this series that made me so shocked and amazed that I thought I was watching Game Of Thrones again. It also doesn't shy away from gore or sad themes, which is a plus. The actual concept of the story is extremely well realised, so I applaud the original manga for that.

Now, for the downsides. I am going to write more about this since everyone seems to be avoiding it. I'm not sure who said this anime has "excellent characters" but this is not right. The characters are VERY average. The main characters have SOME development, but generally remain the same throughout. The minor characters all seem to be 2D cutouts of your average teen drama with some exceptions. Character development, for the most part, seems to be exclusively limited to characters dropping on their knees, crying and doing an extensive monologue of past events, or what is to come. It may have worked well if it was used occasionally, but this technique is used multiple times every episode. There are some episodes which really seem to be fillers - one episode seemed to reuse a little too much footage from previous episodes, and another episode seemed to be jam-packed with voiced over none animated scenes. I felt like the last half of the series started dropping in and out of quality. You'll often find yourself - in later episodes - sitting through 13 minutes of stupid monologue only to get to the fully animated treats.

In conclusion, this is well worth watching. Plenty of "WTF" moments, emotional scenes and action in a well realised world. If you can look past the flaws I mentioned, you'll find a truly special experience.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)

You need to admire what this film attempted

[6/10 · 11 July 2013]

The writer/director of this film went into production with the intention of changing the Halloween franchise from a mere set of slasher films into a fully blown anthology, focusing on different, unrelated stories in the Halloween universe.

The result was a very Lovecraft styled movie, trying to keep the suspense and horror through what the audience didn't know. Overall it works fairly well and that's why I'm giving it 6/10. The atmosphere and sound is probably the films biggest strength.

However, the acting, writing, pacing and obviously rushed ending kills any hope the film had of being received well - which is why many of you probably haven't heard of it.