The review will have spoilers in the last paragraph but I'll give a warning. Ergo Proxy is a 2006 anime done by Manglobe studios, known for being behind some banger anime originals like Michiko to Hatchin and Samurai Champloo. The thing about Ergo Proxy is, that if you ever looked at various recommendation lists all over the internet, you'd always find it under a "mature, psychological, symbolism packed, underrated gem, must watch, thonk provoking" description. All the biggest brained anime watchers love it. Maybe because of that I was expecting something incredibly deep and profound, but instead I got... hmm. A good show with a seemingly flawed production with an incredibly cool backstory that didn't get enough chances to shine? I think that would be right.
I think the biggest flaw of this show was the slow/lacking first half, that I believe could have been utilized better. I found the exposition episode 15 (in form of a silly gameshow) fun and creative, but in the grand scheme of things it sucks that the biggest exposition dump we got was in episode 15! and the last episode during the mandatory MC vs the "Villain" talk. I think a lot of the other episodes could have easily served as smaller exposition dumps instead... However, Episode 16, the one where "nothing" happens and the protagonists are physically stuck though is probably my favourite. That episode was a bottle episode done right, it advanced the characters plenty, and it also added to the general meaning of the show. The Disneyland episode was also fine (I see people online dislike it) because it gives us more info about proxies and how they work. And more Pino... But the first half really focused on the Romdeau dome and "grandpa pls give me some answers" while the michelangelo statues with the names of philosophers laugh at Re-l. Now, as I understand, this show gains a lot if you rewatch it, as in a lot of the things that happen in the first half make more sense with the knowledge you have gained in the second half, cool and all (not actually, I'm not a huge fan of that tactic), but I still think the first half is a tad too slow.
Next we have the symbolism. It's pretty decent, as far as psychological/mature anime goes. A lot of the names are utilized well and hint at somebodies function and role in the story like Deadalus, the proxies, cogito virus etc. A lot of things that happen in the anime mirror the real state of things that will only be apparent later so, job well done in that department, the names aren't merely references. Still, I don't think it's anything too mindblowing. And I'm not sure if I'm reading into things too much but Vincents issues with his sense of Self throughout the show remind me of Lacans mirror stage and self-alienation... But my knowledge on Lacan which was hammered into me during my first year of uni is 5 years old by now and I don't remember things as well as I'd want.
Now, the characters. I really loved Re-l, the spoiled bitch!! Jk, but I truly enjoyed her quirks, and how it made her interact with those around her. I love her silly blue eyeshadow and the fact that she's often shown without it too. Isn't it weird how in anime that feature girls with visible make-up on, they never seem to remove that make-up, or change their hairstyles? Well, my queen Re-l actually has hair that gets greasy and needs washing lmfao. Jokes aside, I enjoyed her growth and the fact that she had a no-bullshit attitude till the end, even though "fate" drew her to Vincent, so to speak. Vincent annoyed me a bit in the first half, simply because he had 0 agency and was just constantly confused and catatonic, it made it hard to get through his portions of the story until the two reunited. After that it got a lot better. Pino though, she was amazing. Remember how in my review of 86, I talked about the difference between "children in anime" vs "anime children"? Well, luckily, she is the former, and she's really amazing. Great child character for once, only made better by the fact she also actively participates when some thinking needs to be done instead of being just comedy relief/moe bait.
SPOILERS AHEAD
I really enjoyed the "positive" ending, although it hints at future conflict. At the end, it was cool to find out who the Creator is (maybe I didn't pay enough attention in episode 15 after all lmao), the whole purpose for proxies, domes, autoreivs, cogito virus, abandoned pristine towns being maintained by autoreivs, Monad, Re-l and Real, Proxy One, purpose of Ergo Proxy, Boomerang Star, all the shit leading up to the creation of Proxies... Once all the puzzle pieces fall into place - it makes for a great backstory. As far as dystopian stories go, this one was planned out amazingly but... but...!!!! I feel like the show almost like just glosses over some of these things? I feel like Re-l herself doesn't get a satisfying conclusion or her questions answered, instead only we do. In that way I feel like this more or less "untold" backstory was more interesting than the whole thing with Re-l's grandpa, the silly menacing statues, Deadalus and Raul conflict we had going on, that we spent quite a bit of time on... Because when you learn about domes and proxies being allowed to create those domes in any way they liked - the whole conflict in Romdeau (the conflict between the artifical infertile humans that is) is kind of pointless. Or at least, it's not as important as everything else, because most of those artifical humans were not privy to almost any of that information, the grand plans, nothing. However I still find Raul and Deadalus to be well made characters. Fuck Grandpa Meyer tho that man is useless.
All in all, this anime is pretty "deep" in the sense that it hides most of the information necessary to understand the backstory (and thus the reason for why everything is happening - which is really Not That Deep, but that doesn't make it bad) in one goofy exposition episode you probably won't be 100% attentive for, and the very ending. Some of the philosophical concepts featured, like the Descartes's famous "cogito, ergo sum" serve to explain some things like the virus and ergo proxies existence which is cool, but it's not like they make you think super hard to reach that conclusion haha. There's a lot of concepts and ideas that are less impactful on the overarching story that I'm sure I've missed which is what should be the catalyst for my rewatch but.. I must admit I'm a tad too lazy for that. I still enjoyed the characters and their back and forth journey but the pacing could've been better. Basically I think it could've been improved in some areas but I still liked the overall story... I guess I just didn't enjoy some of the ways in which it was told. My conclusion is - I'm either too smallbrained to Truly Get It, or I'm too bigbrained for most anime watchers. Because I enjoy a healthy dose of self-deprecation I'll go with the former.
Ghost Hound is a 2007 psychological/mystery anime made by a pretty skilled team of directors, scriptwriters and sound designers from what I can see. It is kind of surprising then that it went under the radar, and it generally isn't talked about much. I can only guess that might be because of the ending, which I will go into later at the end, and mark the spoilers since I want everyone to be able to read it.
Short summary of the plot:
The plot centers on the small town called Suiten where everyone is somehow connected, very typical (and accurate to real life tbh) for small town mysteries. The main characters are 3 middle schoolers, the protagonist being Taro, a boy who was kidnapped 10 years ago with his older sister who got killed. As he tries to remember his incomplete memories from the time of kidnapping weird shit begins to happen in the town, and the trio try to solve it with the help of adults around them!
Starting with the sound design, because that's the first thing that I noticed stood out in this anime. Straight up, I think this anime might have some of the best spooky/unnerving sound design I've ever witnessed. I wouldn't call this anime horror, but some of the scenes made me feel uneasy and scared mostly thanks to the incredible sound effects and the creepy music. It remains strong throughout most of the show, but then the quality kind of dips at the end, where I haven't noticed the same amount of spooky effects. Still, when it comes to sound design wise this anime will be in the top spot for me along with Boogiepop Phantom.
The animation was alright, although it doesn't stand out too much and that includes the character designs too. As I watched it I came to appreciate how ordinary the whole cast looks like but I think the art style makes people gloss over this anime - at least it did in my case when I first encountered it.
I found the plot to be great, and the way in which the mystery aspect was approached and solved was amazing. Probably one of the best set-ups for mysteries with fun unravellings. In my whole history of watching anime I haven't seen such a good blend of science and the supernatural. At the end of the day, this anime is about the supernatural but you get to see how people that do not believe in such things come to terms with it, explain it and make sense of it in a realistic way. Because of that it makes a pretty good case of supernatural stuff being real - even in our world! Kind of. Basically you don't have to suspend your disbelief to an insane degree, but you also kind of do, depending on where your personal beliefs lie. There was a lot, and I mean a LOT of terminology being thrown around but I think that makes perfect sense in this anime. Everything is explained well though, and most of the terms were very accurate from what I can tell. To name a few topics in psychiatry: psychiatrical methods, types of therapy, disorders, trauma - all portrayed well and accurately. Small town political conspiracies were also another aspect of this anime that I absolutely loved.
Next, the characters. I actually loved all the characters in this anime, more or less. Taro is a really good well-natured selfless protagonist with a truly gentle heart which, when I say it doesn't really make him stand out. I know anime doesn't lack these types of protagonists in any way but Taro's good boy shtick really seemed well done here. Maybe because it isn't hammed up too much, and he isn't obnoxiously selfless and infinitely kind - just a kid who is marked by a really traumatic event in his past. This can be said for most of the characters in this show, they're all pretty low key, regular humans, there's no autistic theatrics and hyper exaggarated emotions and facial expressions that anime tends to do. Most of the characters with "ulterior motives" are also actually portrayed in a very neutral, realistic manner, things aren't so black and white. I actually disliked the other two boys of the group at first, but I warmed up to them quickly, which was kind of the point of the story anyway. I like how the three started hanging out, and included a fourth guy to the group midway through the series which I think is kind of cute. I liked all of the adult characters as well, including the one and only mandatory big boobs character lmao. The way the kids interact with the adults, the way that adults actually do something and help the kids reach their goals, it was all well done imo. One thing I didn't like - and the plot failed to provide any answers to - was how ALL, no exceptions, ALL mothers in this town were crazy in some way. Traumatized, filled to the brim with guilt, catatonic, abandoning their kids etc. Not all female characters, but mothers specifically. I thought a point would be made regarding that - especially considering the theme of life/reproduction/afterlife and I think there could've been a great conclusion to that mystery, but it was never fully explained and it makes me think was that even done on purpose then? Did they just "accidentally" make all of the mothers crazy, forgot about it, and suddenly un-crazied them all at the end? If so then, that's just weird. Especially since one of the aforementioned bad moms said herself "this place doesn't agree with me". Maybe moms are more sensitive to the crazy supernatural shit going on - but it was never fully explained, and the show really made a point of explaining most of the stuff like that, which kind of sucks!! I also found it interesting that NOBODY online has noticed that!
Finally, the ending. Sadly, I think the ending was a bit rushed, at least it felt that way compared to the rest of the show. The overall message - humans should be careful when playing with creating life because we don't truly understand the world around us - got through just fine, but I think more could have been done there. The ending being just a rescue the princess operation was what kind of sucked and brought the whole up until that point well executed plot down. Some things remained relatively unanswered, and maybe I missed one part of the plot but I failed to understand who the guy with the piercings really was and where he went afterwards, he just kind of disappeared. Now, if you read my previous reviews you'd know I don't mind unfinished, vague endings with what feels like incomplete or lacking worldbuilding but this show was kind of a whodunnit mystery first and foremost so it kind of has a duty to explain things, and explain them well otherwise there's no catharsis at the end. Most of the things were answered though, just not in a super clear way. Sadly, the creepy factor went way down in the ending too, I feel like this was done in the favor of the plot wrapping up in a positive, almost comedic manner. Again, this show wasn't a horror show, but it still kind of sucks about that tone shift, when I think the show handled the tone amazingly up until that point.
My overall opinion of the show is overwhelmingly positive, and I'd recommend this anime to anyone that likes a good small town mystery with supernatural stuff thrown in. It's nothing groundbreaking, but I believe it was executed really well. The whole time I was having a lot of fun watching it, and if it weren't for my husband watching it with me I probably would have binged it really quickly. I also enjoyed the lack of coomer shit, boobie lady aside, but her body wasn't her main trait so she gets a pass, even though compared to everyone else she looks ridiculous - but we kind of find out why later! Which is nice I guess.
Little disclaimer, this will mostly be a rant, and it's spoiler free. Not exactly a detailed review as much as it's me unloading something that's been on my mind since I first heard about CSM a few years ago. Enjoy!
Once a year or so, I'm down to watch some overhyped garbage with my husband, in 2022 that was the one and only, Chainsaw Man.
I've been reading praise for CSM way before the adaptation was even announced and I never got what the big deal was. Every person that praised it, and had their identity tied to the post praising it or whatever, was a young weeb with a few exceptions. When things become big seemingly out of nowhere, I love observing the fanbase for some reason. The usual fan was someone that didn't read manga a lot, only watched entry level stuff, was in their 16 year old egdelord phase, you get the gist. If they were an adult, they were either a dude into femdom (the hot new thing!), a standard coomer, an nlog, or girls that felt really guilty for enjoying it because of how unoriginal it "seemed", and actually was. Because of that, I had no issues with handwaving the praise and the dick sucking. But as the adaptation got announced and as the anime came out, the fans became more numerous and they came out at full force to shit on the anime for being an awful, disgraceful adaptation that does the magnificent and awe-inspiring manga no justice. To the point they started a petition for a new director to remake it. As a result of that, I felt like it just wouldn't be fair to only review the anime but to read a bit of the manga as well, specifically up until the point the anime ends.
In a world where every dude wants to either be dommed by Makima or rape her, where people praise Denji to be a hilarious and ground breaking protagonist, where every 17 year old self identified "femcel" that just discovered imageboards other than 4chan exist avatarfags with kawaii, anxious, "she's licherally me!" Kobeni is that too specific? maybe, but it happens so often, where suddenly every "self aware", critical anime connoisseur references CSM or uses one of its characters as a profile picture - surely, this manga deserves the hype? It garnered such a huge fanbase, it seems to be the hot new thing, an amazing subversion of the genre, a self aware but poignant story, a deconstruction of the genre, etc, etc....
And with that, I have to say, there's nothing better than the feeling that you've been right all along. Turns out, all it takes to be called "deep" and "different" is for the mangaka to dress all the characters like in Reservoir Dogs (muh western references! the mangaka watches movies!), and all the weebs will worship the ground you walk on. Oh yeah, and instead of making the motivated, stubborn, tragic and vengeful character the protagonist, make the AnyRandomGuy a protagonist, but wait, he also has a tragic past because of course, but remember! this is still somehow subversive and deconstructive, what are words anymore?
I laughed when people unironically said Chainsaw Man is good actually because the women don't get blatantly sexually harassed and groped, nevermind the titty shots in every chapter, and that Denji had amazing character development, because he learns that sex without feelings is not special and he should strive to have sex with someone he *gasp* has feelings for! God! A concept never seen or explored before in media.
Now to give the fans some credit where credit is due, yes, the manga was more expressive and slightly more chaotic and I do think the anime felt more polished and thus not as fitting for the atmosphere and the whole vibe, I do agree with that. It still however doesn't make the characters any less bland and uninteresting, the story any less uninspired and boring etc. Although I had the ending spoiled a long time ago, I still might finish the manga at some point to give it a proper review perhaps, but the anime all the fans are outraged about - it only feels like it's exposing how delusional the fanbase got. When you remove the chaotic scratchy artstyle you're left with a dime a dozen storyline and maybe slightly more nihilistic characters than what is expected for the shonen demographic.
In the end, this manga does what so many manga did before and imo is not something worth praising for when it comes to originality, and it's that typical Japanese take on "society and people suck, everyone sucks and we have to deal with it and survive" or some variation of that. I encounter manga like that so often so I'm wondering, what the hell are csm fans reading if they think that csm is special? It only has a slight contemporary twist to it, but seinen manga is so full of these types of stories.
I'm not going to lie, if I continued reading maybe I'd find the characters more likeable, I have pretty low standards when it comes to that, I get attached to anything if I read it long enough. I already like Power and her antics, and I like Makima as well but.. BUT. I cannot stress this enough, this manga is not worth the praise it gets.
This is a spoiler free review.
Last Exile is an adventure/sci-fi/steampunk anime about two childhood friends who fly their own vanship (picture a chunky monoplane) and get themselves into something much bigger than what they ever planned. The anime came out in 2003 and was made by Gonzo, kind of known for their fumbled endings.
The animation was digital as that became the standard at the time, but it also features some of the earliest CGI during action scenes, mainly for animating the ships. The early CGI is definitely noticeable and jarring at first, but I feel like the amount of it lessened later, or I just got used to it.
Something this anime stands out in, in my opinion, is the good character design, totally fitting for the world the characters are in. The characters were designed by Range Murata who has a very recognizeable artstyle that you must've encountered if you ever frequented any weeby space ever.
I don't know how to describe his designs other than all of his characters look very round and soft, and the color palettes are usually warm toned and muted. He draws a lot of machinery, stylish sci-fi or steampunkish uniforms without abusing a million details or making the designs look messy, tacky and not coordinated. His use of color accents etc. always reminded me of Kazuma Kaneko's art in the early 2000s a bit. Just gives me the same vibes. The sci-fi uniforms too.
He does have a thing for lolis though, but ughhhhh I can't say I don't like his artstyle, I really do. Wish we had more of that instead of Genshin Impact/vtuber/Mika Pikazo/glossy ai generated anime girls-core or whatever the fuck I should call it. You know what I mean.
Anyway, all of the characters are dressed for the ocassion, the main characters don't stand out like crazy or each have their own signature outfit (unlike the second season I'll mention later). I really appreciated that. I'd also love to add the voice acting was good, natural and not screechy or annoying at all. Even the child character, Alvis, had a nice voice and it didn't get too grating hearing her repeat two names over and over again lmao. There's only one character with a, let's say stereotypical unnatural anime voice and her whole purpose is to be an extravagant, rich and immoral leader so it fits her and makes sense, everyone else sounds really low key and natural. I didn't even take this voice acting into account until the second season.
The characters, I was mostly a fan of. A lot of attention is given to the secondary cast in this anime which I wasn't expecting. It makes the environment feel more alive. I don't believe it was done entirely to the detriment of the main two characters, childhood best friends, but their conflict mid show felt a bit weird as the anime suddenly decided to be harem-like for 2 episodes only to never be brought up again.
The story wasn't perfect, as some things were never fully explained and imo should have been (like the whole deal around Alvis), but some things I was fine with not having a clear answer for. It just sucks plot important stuff was fully explained on the back cover of the DVD for the anime, and not in the anime itself, but I believe those things were kind of understandable from the context. I don't think everything needs to be spelled out really (like what the Exile really is), but it wouldn't have done any harm if things were a tiny bit more clear since the worldbuilding is quite an important aspect of this anime and it's important to understand the gravity of the situation our characters are in... This whole thing aside though, I enjoyed the ride. The first few episodes are slow but then the pace picks up and I really got into the world and the politics etc. Although imperfect I think it was pretty satisfactory.
Now, was the ending fumbled? I don't think it was disappointing at all, we got a decent conclusion for most characters. I think the last few episodes leading to the ending were really good, especially surrounding the crew of Silvana and the final battle etc. All in all I think this was a solid anime. Also, almost completely devoid of fanservice, so, yay!
Right after I finished this anime I noticed there was a second season I didn't even know existed, so I gave it a try. Immediately it begins with a little girl in her underwear. All the things I said here about character designs and voice acting went out of the window RIGHT away. Every character has their own stupid unique looking gadgets, the two sister princesses are dressed like they come from entirely different eras/cultures despite being sisters and leaders of the same kingdom, mismatched accessories, grating, squeaky, exaggarated and moany voices... A true marvel of modern anime and such a slap in the face compared to the tame first season.
Texhnolyze is a 2003 anime done by Madhouse (you know you're in for a treat!) that, similarily to Ergo Proxy, can be found in all "dark, gritty, psychological, thunk provoking" anime lists. And actually, I feel like this anime deserves the title more.
I was filtered by the first episode at least... 3 times that I can remember. It takes a while for this anime to get going, and the protagonists directionless presence coupled with his extreme passive disdain for everything can be exhausting - watching him feels like you're watching a stray dog wander, he's merely an animal. But you know what.. It really pays off! It does! And I can't really say that for every anime that was sold to me under this premise. I thought of making this review long and complicated but honestly I don't know where to begin exactly. I think this anime really isn't meant to be binged, because of it's pace, it was a lot more enjoyable to watch it slowly, every couple of days I'd watch an episode before sleep and it proved really effective.
I was mostly in love with the surface world that was presented to us in the last 4 episodes, but I'd almost consider that a spoiler if I talked about it here. I loved the references to Edward Hopper's paintings, and to me, the surface world was almost like paradise - perfect and therefore static, not evolving, not decaying but slowly dying. And it's so interesting how Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou does almost the same thing but from a totally different perspective.
I loved all of the characters, each one of them representing a different idea, having a different purpose and realizing it, or failing at it in a different way and with that conveying a different message, but everything was consistent and all of the characters stayed true to themselves. The setting was amazing as well, an underground city, with a big obelisk in the middle that represents the rulers. Ah, if I say any more I'll just spoil everything. If you like media that explores the ideas and theorizing negative/positive impacts of transhumanism, nihilism, religion, evolution, chaos, human naaaaature - I think this anime does a really good job of doing that and conveying it through different characters. I don't think this anime was perfect by any means but I found myself liking it a lot more than I expected. I really loved Doc, her weird incestuous actions and devotion to her craft and Yoshii, a chaotic character whose goals are so unclear at first. Also the opening and the ending? Both are bangers.
BL Metamorphosis is a manga about the friendship between a 17 year old girl, and a 75 year old lady who bond over a very unusual thing - BL!
I love stories about female friendships, and what I love even more is stories of unlikely female friendships. The age gap makes for a fun dynamic and I absolutely loved the two characters, they were both portrayed so realistically, and so well. Urara, the high school student is what one would expect from a shy girl that loves BL manga - a bit of an unsociable NLOG that is easily embarrassed, she's also someone who is extremely uncertain of her future and is anxious about it. On the other hand, Yuki, an old lady whose husband died years ago, whose daughter lives abroad - someone that is confident and sure of herself, unashamed of who she is, serves as the perfect opposite of Urara. The sort of callousness that comes with age (maybe that word is too strong but I love the image lmao) in Yuki is exactly something Urara needed as her guidance, while Yuki got re-introduced to the world of manga, and got to feel excited again by doing new things. It brought her out from her routine and her comfort zone, and it made her want to take more risks that she felt she should have always taken - but didn't.
I especially loved Urara's slight indifference to the world around her, this brand of "directionless" teen character is something I don't encounter so often.
I was so glad to see a happy old lady as the main character, and her forwardness and self-confidence rang so true. It's truly something you gain as you age, and she reminded me of my grandma which filled my heart with warmth. It's weird to say but I kind of envied her life, reaching an age where you're content with yourself and what you made of yourself, and getting to enjoy the time you have as you come to terms with the fact that there probably won't be much time left. Sometimes, I really want to be a grandma...
Lastly, the ending as satisfactory and it wrapped up the little chapter in Yuko's and Urara's friendship well, it didn't end with some grand success story or in a melodramatic way, it was so sweet and poignant.
No spoilers in this review!
Soil is a manga made by Kaneko Atsushi and this seems to be his most well-known work. Most of his manga is intended for adult audiences, and all of them feature a very distinctive, western looking artstyle. I picked it up upon hearing it falls into a "messed up, weird" manga genre and I'm always up for reading those.
I could compare this manga to quite a few others when it comes to its themes. I was mostly reminded of Ito's Uzumaki, but the way the characters act kind of reminded me of Asano Inio's manga. Some of the story beats, and the way the story progresses also reminds me of Naoki Urasawa and his works. This story has it all, cults, uncanny valley people, alien conspiracies, otherworldly mysteries, crude detectives, the dregs of society... all the boxes are ticked.
I enjoyed the story - for the most part, however the grand mystery and the explanation for why things are the way they are might be a bit lacking if we nitpick it but I don't find that to be a total dealbreaker, I still really enjoyed the supernatural stuff. There are a few plot points which were kind of set aside or forgotten about, and it's a shame because it would've helped flesh out the main cast more. The story starts as a typical detective mystery but very early on it takes a turn into the supernatural. Now - this is where I found some conflicted opinions online. Most people that enjoy more down to earth stories said that the start was amazing, and then it got too weird. People that like mystery, abstract type horror however, enjoyed the second part of the story as well. Personally I found myself a bit exhausted by the beginning of the manga, mostly because of all the crude jokes which got a bit too repetitive, but also because sometimes I just have a hard time getting into something and memorizing all the characters. After I passed the 20 chapter mark I quickly finished the manga, so I can't say the latter half got too confusing or hard to follow - it didn't for me!
Lastly, I found myself liking the art quite a lot at some points, especially in the latter half. You know how usually in manga - east asians always look like beautiful flawless beings while westerners look extremely realistic to the point of looking like caricatures? Well, there's none of that here, since everyone is ugly! Joking, but everyone does look very realistic, and when translated into this artstyle with thick lines, it's hard to look aesthetically pleasing. Human anatomy is also respected so there's no tiny, petite, kawaii girls, instead everyone looks very real-life proportioned. That reminded me of Minoru Furuya's art. Why have I referenced so many things in this review?
Yuureitou is a mystery adventure seinen manga that I honestly thought was really fun but with a few glaring flaws when it comes to its theming.
First, the art style was pretty nice but a bit sameface-y and the way the main character Taichi looked reminded me so much of the MC from Genkaku Picasso by Usamaru Furuya, it's kind of uncanny. Yes I know they're both short black haired characters with glasses, but it's something about those lips and eyebrows man... While the other MC, Tetsuo, looked exactly like Alois from that anime original second season of Kuroshitsuji lmao. I honestly didn't know what I was getting into when I started reading this manga outside of reading like the first two sentences of one review on MAL, that stated this manga has the best portrayal of "LGBT" characters ever. The moment I saw the LGBT instead of say, gayness or homosexuality I knew I was in for a (sexist) treat and oh boy... But more on that later.
The plot is really fun. It's not mind-blowing or anything, but it sucks you in because it's just a fun, edgy mystery. A lot of twists and turns, and the pace of the story keeps changing so it never gets boring. The art does a really good job of portraying the creepy moments. In that regard I think the story was well executed, it kept me highly entertained. I like how the setting changes multiple times, the characters really go through all kinds of places you wouldn't even think of they'd encounter on their trip to solve a mystery of a creepy clock tower labyrinth and get the treasure that resides within. They get stuck in isolated villages, on an island, the second half of the story turns into a race kind of, the ending of the story goes off the rails and so on. It's wacky, it's fun. The characters are colorful and I liked the fact that the main duo wasn't a pair of ultra moral people that always have to do what's right. They're pretty morally grey, willing to sacrifice others for their own gain and that opens up a lot of different outcomes and opportunities that you otherwise wouldn't expect. Also I have no idea what the age of the main characters is, even though they both look like teenagers the main character is at least... in his mid twenties considering he said the last time he saw his highschool crush was a decade ago, and the other main character was implied to be a 14??? year old yet that would have been improbable body development wise when we're shown flashbacks from 2 years back but maybe I misinterpreted a certain scene.
My main issue of the story was the whole running theme surrounding sexuality, and gender roles. First of all, the main character Tetsuo is actually a woman, not a guy. It's one of the main plot points in the story and we're supposed to "buy" how she actually has a "male soul" or whatever. Why does she have a male soul? Because as a teen she didn't want to wear dresses. She liked to go on adventures. She liked to play with toy ships instead of dolls! She feels inferior compared to males. She doesn't love the way a "woman" would love. I mean... seriously?
She appears perfectly androgynous in her suits, but people do point out her beauty often. The way she gets treated in the story is the usual way pretty boys get treated in manga. You know, the youthful bishonens that look 12, vulnerable and rapeable. Despite this when her suit is off she's the simple most curvaceous and sexy woman you could ever imagine. And oh boooooy does the mangaka want you to be aware of that. Every single chapter and new volume cover out has her with her tits out, in extremely sexual poses. She also apparently takes hormones but it's only noticeable in her voice which sounds boyish I suppose - but when she stops taking the hormones her voice goes back to normal. Which we all know is not what actually happens but okay.
On the surface this manga does have a pretty progressive message. One of the first instances you'll notice is a female journalist mentioning wanting to break through a male oriented society as a succesful journalist, or the main male character having empathy for women - but this inevitably ends up getting him sorted in this pseudo gay/trans woman/crossdresser box, as implied by multiple characters during various dialogues. He is also treated as if he also is "different". "People like us" is also a big running phrase. The closeted gay character dreams of being accepted into society and wants to open his own publishing company in order to portray "people like him" positively. But you know who the only gay character is? A dude that's into young boys. Not your usual homosexual but a true and honest pederast. He too, deserves a happy life, the story tells us. Despite the "progressive" message towards.. queer people, women are often made out to be over-emotional, pathetic etc. in this manga. A lot of women resort to using cheap manipulation tactics and get shamed for it, or are basically the bad guy. So the MC really stands out as someone that actually respects women and emphatizes with them, but I still side eye the mangakas choice to make every "traditionally" female character behave the way they did.
Finally, we have one of the main antagonists - a male public prosecutor that sexually abuses his daughter, but wait he's actually a good guy because he never inserted his penis into her so therefore he protected her virginity and purity! And actually he hates rapists and always punishes them the most in his job because they subjugate women! Yet the criminal he symphatized with the most was a man that followed a woman, strangled her, cut her into pieces and proceeded to live with her for weeks! You see - he actually CARES about women! As nothing but mere posessions, of course, but nobody cares to point that out. And without spoiling anything, it only gets worse later on, yet we're still supposed to be kind of symphatetic towards him.
Anyway... If this is the type of stuff that gets praised for being good LGBT representation then I have no words. I feel like people need to take a good deep look inside themselves and examine why they feel what they feel. Not conforming to a societies idea of a woman or man doesn't make you the opposite, or third, sex. You just end up conforming to gender roles hardcore lol.
I guess what pisses me off the most is the whole "people like us" narrative. The weird, the different, the unaccepted. But somehow, women that don't conform to gender stereotypes (and possibly lesbians, since Tetsuo implies she's not reeeally into men even though I'd say she's bi) aren't even on the list, they're completely skipped over by the author in favor of "transness". Maybe I'm looking into it too much and the author just made Tetsuo trans because it's the more "exotic" choice out of the two, and on the surface is more controversial, but the fact that there's 0 women who don't perform femininity outside of Tetsuo in the whole manga, I'm led to believe otherwise.
One last thing, as I mentioned in my CSM rant, Denji is often praised as a new and modern male protag that's a pervert but actually respects womens boundaries, and how it's something never seen before. Well, based Taichi did it a decade earlier, and he did it better, in my opinion. He respected Tetsuo no matter what, managed to get over his unga bunga natural urges, which is the one thing I can say is actually commendable when it comes to this whole gender role/identity conversation.
I remember being 11 and hearing about this anime everywhere. A lot of older anime fans praised Wolf's Rain and always included it in their favourites list, but then suddenly it fell out of public consciousness and I'd only see it mentioned here or there. Since I am kind of on a 2003 classics streak (no really, I wasn't planning on it but both Texhnolyze and Last Exile are from 2003) I can only assume, as faith would have it, that I should watch Wolf's Rain, which was in the back of my mind since I first started getting into anime.
So in the ending, that is, the OVA, suddenly everyone dies except for the one MC. I have to say I was really disappointed with most of the deaths, even though this has kind of been "prophesized" in the story, that only one wolf will reach paradise or whatever... However, I did like the ending overall. I enjoyed the message, the implication of a loop, and the possible implication that the last loop, or reincarnation, is the final one and will actually bring salvation/liberation. It's a big vedic/hinduist samsara/moksha interpretation which I found enjoyable, I just wish this idea was stronger throughout the anime itself, rather than just in the ending.
Funny thing is my idea of what this anime is was completely different from reality. I didn't expect it to be in a modern/futuristic setting so that threw me off guard. I don't know why that is relevant to the review but it is lmao. Another funny thing - this is the first ever anime that I watched that had 4 consecutive recap episodes in A ROW. I can only wonder about what happened during production, but those 4 recap episodes actually cucked the series out of a proper ending, and they came out as an OVA a year later. As such, I'll be talking about the series+OVA as a singular piece because I can only assume that's how it was actually meant to be.
As I said, my expectations were completely different from reality, and I expected a kind of... spiritual, more mature series, but this anime wasn't really that. It's an adventure anime about 4 dude wolves that can turn into humans, and they're searching for "paradise" as that is kind of in their nature. They travel to all sorts of places that are kind of referenced in real life cultures and we slowly find out more about the relationship between humans, wolves and paradise but for some reason I never felt fully into it. I must say this was the first time in anime I ever encountered a young divorced couple, who slowly get back together as the show goes. A lot of firsts in this anime, huh. The story takes a wild turn in the ending though.
Ending spoilers if you click on this.
The ending packed a big punch and I enjoyed it's message and the vedic/hindu influence it carried, but as I said in the spoiler, I wish this idea was stronger in the rest of the show. A lot of things felt random, or as if they didn't serve much of a purpose for this story or it's final message. I don't know, maybe my attention wasn't the strongest when watching this show. I have to admit I was playing a dressup minigame for a few episodes so maybe I missed a few important points lmao. When I'm stressed out irl, I tend to divide my attention too much... I'm also writing this almost a month after watching so as per usual the details are murky. Lastly, I think the anime lacked character development of the main cast. Side characters get great treatment though and I found myself liking them a lot, but I wish could've found out more about the main four. They do get some development, but idk, it didn't feel like enough!
Ok ok. This is the edgiest revenge story you'll ever read. The art - pure hilarity I couldn't stop chuckling to myself as I read this. The plot is over the top brutal, everyone is EVIL, there's not a single decent person lmao. This is like, the revengiest of revenge horrors you could think of. It's weird to imagine both this and Petshop of Horrors got published in the same magazine, and that on MAL they're the two most prominent manga from that magazine! The plot centers around children inheriting their parents bad behaviour, or adults being affected by bullying from their childhood, and it's very in your face about it, like you really can't miss the point. It was an entertaining read, but imo not worth the praise it seems to have received from horror manga enjoyers...
