May 6th, 2024
Top 7 Donghua (2022)
Anime Relations: Douluo Dalu, Douluo Dalu 2nd Season, Tunshi Xingkong, Tunshi Xingkong 2nd Season, Douluo Dalu II: Jueshi Tangmen, Tunshi Xingkong 3rd Season, Tunshi Xingkong 4th Season, Jinyi Shen Jiang
This is an outdated list from 2022 of my top 7 Donghua (Copied over from my signature)
Mortal's Journey
Spirit Cage
Swallowed Star
Soul Land
BTTH
Carp Reborn
Perfect World
Mortal's Journey
Spirit Cage
Swallowed Star
Soul Land
BTTH
Carp Reborn
Perfect World
Posted by ST63LTH | May 6, 2024 2:43 AM | 0 comments
April 29th, 2024
New MAL About Me Graphic
Just made a new About Me Graphic to replace the long serving Xiaowu one I had previously. I think this new one communicates better without the clutter my previous design had while still having a modern visually appealing layout. The inspiration for this graphic came from YouTube Music App where the design was very minimal and super effective for communicating information visually rather than through text. Have a look at the behind the scenes as well as the Before and After
Might have a go and change my Profile Picture as well
Might have a go and change my Profile Picture as well
Posted by ST63LTH | Apr 29, 2024 2:03 AM | 0 comments
December 29th, 2021
Super crooks Review
Anime Relations: Super Crooks
TL;DR: is it worth watching? Yes if you are into the gangsta. / Baccano! vibes. It has a well informed western atmosphere, superheroes, overall entertaining events, dynamic action/animation and a wide amount of in depth characters. It has many plot-twists but they are pretty predictable once you start catching on to the pattern of the story.
Super Crooks Recap (minor spoilers)
Super crooks is a superhero-supervillian anime where the righteous are employed by the union of justice caring about their public image and upholding absolute justice while the evil lurk in the shadows under an overbearing criminal organization dubbed the network (with the exception of stragglers like Johnny and Kasey). This anime takes place in a chaotic America where heroes overwhelmingly outnumber villians and We follow a social outcast Johnny as he discovers his unique electricity manipulation powers. His misfortunate journey of aiming high for justice but causing accidents with his powers leads him into supermax, a high security prison that holds supervillians. After his sentence, Johnny moves back into society as a seemingly changed man; However, trouble finds him once again when he and his subordinates almost get caught during a jewelry heist within a day of Johnny's release. Kasey, Johnny's girlfriend has a 'big job' that promises to pay big and once the heist is over they will live a life of mundane luxury away from petty crimes and conflict asserted by Union of justice and the network. This big job carries heavy risks which could set the team back heavily.
[Spoiler] it does happen when Praetorian and The Bastard intervene to prevent the mission completion. 5 years later, the team get together to do one final heist after an altercation with Salamander, the new step-in boss of the network catches old man the Heat cheating in a casino and is forced to pay-up USD $100 million. The final heist is the biggest risk the team has faced so far and carries much more risk than the previous job 5 years prior yet they reluctantly reconcile for the final heist.
Story: 6/10 (SPOILERS)
The American influence and experience can be seen in the anime through the Marvel references, scenery, character clothing and mannerism and much more. I haven't read the comic but I did hear that these were all influenced by the experience of the author who travelled to the US during his career. Naturally, there is a lot of Film convenience - when the Bastard catches the team after they return to the Romanian hideout with the 'goods' he spares them all out of goodwill because of his 'retirement' or when Praetorian is about to catch Johnny and his small-time partners in crime but is somehow saved by Kasey who had afternoon waitress shift at her vegan restaurant job. The story does well to tie loose ends by the closing scene with people of Johnny's past (Tom who becomes a journalist and wanted to promote Electro Boy in the first episode) or the team members living situation and even the closure of the final mission exposing Salamander as the criminal mastermind behind the super crook team's seizure of The Bastard's possessions.
Art Animation & Sound: 7/10
The art style was unexpectedly very detailed and had a high contrast, cool dark tonal color palette in dark scenes (Supermax flashbacks, scenes involving The Bastard) and warm, colorful palettes in heartwarming/happy scenes (scenes typically involving Kasey, members of the teams MC joins) The animation style during action scenes are fluid, dynamically violent and graphic with guts, limbs and head explosions being a common occurrence throughout the series. But don't forget to blur out the middle finger because that's much worse than seeing torn off limbs or organ splatter (Jap logic??)
The VA did a great job voicing the characters, it helped a lot with formulating personalities of the different characters in the heist team. Furthermore, the music used weren't the typical suspenseful deep dark tone, they were instead the psychedelic, abstract type with different styles of instruments. I wasn't very clued in on the style of audio but it did help with setting the mood in fight scenes.
Character: 7/10
Honestly, despite having so many characters in focus at once did a lot on me mentally but the different character backgrounds allowed me to empathize with their reason to revolt against the network and the union of justice (not that I condone crime) Characters with important family relationships like TK MCabe or entrepreneur type characters like Forecast and surprisingly Roddy Diesel shaped how the overall team dynamic played out during mission-time. Also blackmailing Gladiator into joining the final job was a pretty interesting turn of events; I think Gladiator had the most outspoken personality - his dialogue is just so different (end of Ep11 as a swimming Gladiator approaches the island he says "90 minutes, I can shave time off that" which is a chad way to assert dominance). Overall, the wide characters also meant the main characters Kasey and Johnny weren't as extravagant and heavily focused but it did mean we weren't always locked onto them burning us out by episode 5.
Overall & Enjoyment: 7/10
I was pleasantly surprised to have watched this just as it aired on Netflix and it is probably one of the decent anime series licensed to Netflix. It didn't suffer from being generic and had a reasonably easy to follow story. The characters had vast backgrounds and behavioral tendencies despite being a short series which made character development a lot less 1 dimensional. Overall, I did watch with an open mind for this since it isn't really my type of anime and I will probably forget about it down the line despite enjoying the viewing experience.
Super Crooks Recap (minor spoilers)
Super crooks is a superhero-supervillian anime where the righteous are employed by the union of justice caring about their public image and upholding absolute justice while the evil lurk in the shadows under an overbearing criminal organization dubbed the network (with the exception of stragglers like Johnny and Kasey). This anime takes place in a chaotic America where heroes overwhelmingly outnumber villians and We follow a social outcast Johnny as he discovers his unique electricity manipulation powers. His misfortunate journey of aiming high for justice but causing accidents with his powers leads him into supermax, a high security prison that holds supervillians. After his sentence, Johnny moves back into society as a seemingly changed man; However, trouble finds him once again when he and his subordinates almost get caught during a jewelry heist within a day of Johnny's release. Kasey, Johnny's girlfriend has a 'big job' that promises to pay big and once the heist is over they will live a life of mundane luxury away from petty crimes and conflict asserted by Union of justice and the network. This big job carries heavy risks which could set the team back heavily.
[Spoiler] it does happen when Praetorian and The Bastard intervene to prevent the mission completion. 5 years later, the team get together to do one final heist after an altercation with Salamander, the new step-in boss of the network catches old man the Heat cheating in a casino and is forced to pay-up USD $100 million. The final heist is the biggest risk the team has faced so far and carries much more risk than the previous job 5 years prior yet they reluctantly reconcile for the final heist.
Story: 6/10 (SPOILERS)
The American influence and experience can be seen in the anime through the Marvel references, scenery, character clothing and mannerism and much more. I haven't read the comic but I did hear that these were all influenced by the experience of the author who travelled to the US during his career. Naturally, there is a lot of Film convenience - when the Bastard catches the team after they return to the Romanian hideout with the 'goods' he spares them all out of goodwill because of his 'retirement' or when Praetorian is about to catch Johnny and his small-time partners in crime but is somehow saved by Kasey who had afternoon waitress shift at her vegan restaurant job. The story does well to tie loose ends by the closing scene with people of Johnny's past (Tom who becomes a journalist and wanted to promote Electro Boy in the first episode) or the team members living situation and even the closure of the final mission exposing Salamander as the criminal mastermind behind the super crook team's seizure of The Bastard's possessions.
Art Animation & Sound: 7/10
The art style was unexpectedly very detailed and had a high contrast, cool dark tonal color palette in dark scenes (Supermax flashbacks, scenes involving The Bastard) and warm, colorful palettes in heartwarming/happy scenes (scenes typically involving Kasey, members of the teams MC joins) The animation style during action scenes are fluid, dynamically violent and graphic with guts, limbs and head explosions being a common occurrence throughout the series. But don't forget to blur out the middle finger because that's much worse than seeing torn off limbs or organ splatter (Jap logic??)
The VA did a great job voicing the characters, it helped a lot with formulating personalities of the different characters in the heist team. Furthermore, the music used weren't the typical suspenseful deep dark tone, they were instead the psychedelic, abstract type with different styles of instruments. I wasn't very clued in on the style of audio but it did help with setting the mood in fight scenes.
Character: 7/10
Honestly, despite having so many characters in focus at once did a lot on me mentally but the different character backgrounds allowed me to empathize with their reason to revolt against the network and the union of justice (not that I condone crime) Characters with important family relationships like TK MCabe or entrepreneur type characters like Forecast and surprisingly Roddy Diesel shaped how the overall team dynamic played out during mission-time. Also blackmailing Gladiator into joining the final job was a pretty interesting turn of events; I think Gladiator had the most outspoken personality - his dialogue is just so different (end of Ep11 as a swimming Gladiator approaches the island he says "90 minutes, I can shave time off that" which is a chad way to assert dominance). Overall, the wide characters also meant the main characters Kasey and Johnny weren't as extravagant and heavily focused but it did mean we weren't always locked onto them burning us out by episode 5.
Overall & Enjoyment: 7/10
I was pleasantly surprised to have watched this just as it aired on Netflix and it is probably one of the decent anime series licensed to Netflix. It didn't suffer from being generic and had a reasonably easy to follow story. The characters had vast backgrounds and behavioral tendencies despite being a short series which made character development a lot less 1 dimensional. Overall, I did watch with an open mind for this since it isn't really my type of anime and I will probably forget about it down the line despite enjoying the viewing experience.
Posted by ST63LTH | Dec 29, 2021 9:05 PM | 0 comments
Wan Jie Chun Qiu Review
Anime Relations: Wan Jie Chun Qiu
Wan Jie Chu Qui Recap (spoilers)
The Ancient Clan is an ancestral bloodline that inherits elemental powers referred to as totems; However due to constant fear of the power they possess, the Ancient Clan became a target and their numbers dwindled as they were captured or killed. The Ancient Clan members parted ways and lived the lives of normal people until Yi Xun is assigned to the rowdy Shangshi province known for its conflict with the Ancient Clan. After a strange string of events, Yi Xun obtains the ability to use totems temporarily which turns makes the Ye Xuan Tian division, Shangshi's provincial garrison suspicious of his ties with the Ancient Clan. As Yi Xun finds himself colluding with Ancient Clan he discovers, they aren't the faction that has been causing commotion in Shangshi City and the conflict spurred from a corrupt Xuan Tian division guard Ge Tan. [Massive Spoiler] Ge Tan's motive in hunting down Ancient Clan members is to obtain their powers and he makes it a point that he wants to obtain the Ancient Clan's indestructible Black Gold relic to inherit celestial power.
Story & Character: 3/10
Spring and Autumn is a different take on the wuxia narrative with a royal prince main character that inherits an unknown power and a marginalized minority the prince grows fond with once he discovers the true story behind their conflict with his subordinates. There are a lot of varying characters and personalities that it's a shame the donghua was so short, it could've been a masterpiece in the right hands. However, it didn't live up to its ambitious appeal mainly because the main character was written so incompetently leaving many plot holes or broken logic through the story on several occasions. On many occasions throughout the donghua, there are chances where Yi Xun could have prevented the build up of Ge Tan and Sang Rou's climax battle but because of plot convenience he decides inaction is the best approach. Firstly, the segment where Yi Xun first meets with Ge Tan, Ge Tan has a stand-offish welcome which could have been de-escalated if Yi Xun mobilized his forces against Ge Tan for insubordination to a royal (he also has the emperor's token so he authority to mobilize troops which doesn't end up happening until the end of the show for some very odd reason) Secondly, when he went to save Chu Ci's friend on the mountain from Ge Tan, Yi Xun and his team have a showdown against Ge Tan and his lackeys which ends up in Yi Xun's victory but he doesn't pursue the weakened and vulnerable Ge Tan at all but instead lets his lackey Sang Rou join his team. And thirdly, since San Rou joins the team without a proper interrogation she is able to send information back and forth to Ge Tan which eventually leads to the secret realm being destroyed and the Ancient Clan losing the Black Gold Relic; However, despite having a large interval of time between the team leaving the realm and Yi Xun finishing his training none of the characters thought it was suspicious that Sang Rou was missing. Even the person who was suspicious of Sang Rou most, Yi Xun shrugged it off which added to the accumulative stress that lead to such an absurdly unnecessary boss battle in the end.
Chu Ci is a poorly written character; Her existence in the show is just to slow down Yi Xun and cause problems that require him to fix delaying the story. Her mischievous demeanor causes her to escape death many times though, it's not fun watching her in any scene.
Art & Sound: 5/10
At this point, it's natural that a donghua CGI art and animation quality haven't improved since 2017 - especially for a adapted by Ruo Hong Culture. Instead, the 3D assets are slightly changed and reused for the next production saving time and budget in the process. However, it does lead to an unfinished, low quality product which we can see in this series - the characters are pretty low poly and their movement feels stiff. The backgrounds are empty and lack diversity of elements (this isn't so bad in the first episode with the forest scenery, province guard mansion etc. but it gets more low detail as the series progresses)
Sound is average, nothing out of the ordinary
Overall & Enjoyment: 3/10
I tried to cover the story and characters in as much detail as I could but it is hard to make this series easily understood because many of the events and characters just feel dispensable and 1 dimensional, lacking purpose. The illogical reasoning which led to the end boss battle could have been revised by the team at Ruo Hong Culture instead of having a single adventure by an incompetent third prince main character. If you don't watch much donghua this is a hard pass and I wouldn't recommend it unless you're looking for a specific aspect like ancient legends etc.
The Ancient Clan is an ancestral bloodline that inherits elemental powers referred to as totems; However due to constant fear of the power they possess, the Ancient Clan became a target and their numbers dwindled as they were captured or killed. The Ancient Clan members parted ways and lived the lives of normal people until Yi Xun is assigned to the rowdy Shangshi province known for its conflict with the Ancient Clan. After a strange string of events, Yi Xun obtains the ability to use totems temporarily which turns makes the Ye Xuan Tian division, Shangshi's provincial garrison suspicious of his ties with the Ancient Clan. As Yi Xun finds himself colluding with Ancient Clan he discovers, they aren't the faction that has been causing commotion in Shangshi City and the conflict spurred from a corrupt Xuan Tian division guard Ge Tan. [Massive Spoiler] Ge Tan's motive in hunting down Ancient Clan members is to obtain their powers and he makes it a point that he wants to obtain the Ancient Clan's indestructible Black Gold relic to inherit celestial power.
Story & Character: 3/10
Spring and Autumn is a different take on the wuxia narrative with a royal prince main character that inherits an unknown power and a marginalized minority the prince grows fond with once he discovers the true story behind their conflict with his subordinates. There are a lot of varying characters and personalities that it's a shame the donghua was so short, it could've been a masterpiece in the right hands. However, it didn't live up to its ambitious appeal mainly because the main character was written so incompetently leaving many plot holes or broken logic through the story on several occasions. On many occasions throughout the donghua, there are chances where Yi Xun could have prevented the build up of Ge Tan and Sang Rou's climax battle but because of plot convenience he decides inaction is the best approach. Firstly, the segment where Yi Xun first meets with Ge Tan, Ge Tan has a stand-offish welcome which could have been de-escalated if Yi Xun mobilized his forces against Ge Tan for insubordination to a royal (he also has the emperor's token so he authority to mobilize troops which doesn't end up happening until the end of the show for some very odd reason) Secondly, when he went to save Chu Ci's friend on the mountain from Ge Tan, Yi Xun and his team have a showdown against Ge Tan and his lackeys which ends up in Yi Xun's victory but he doesn't pursue the weakened and vulnerable Ge Tan at all but instead lets his lackey Sang Rou join his team. And thirdly, since San Rou joins the team without a proper interrogation she is able to send information back and forth to Ge Tan which eventually leads to the secret realm being destroyed and the Ancient Clan losing the Black Gold Relic; However, despite having a large interval of time between the team leaving the realm and Yi Xun finishing his training none of the characters thought it was suspicious that Sang Rou was missing. Even the person who was suspicious of Sang Rou most, Yi Xun shrugged it off which added to the accumulative stress that lead to such an absurdly unnecessary boss battle in the end.
Chu Ci is a poorly written character; Her existence in the show is just to slow down Yi Xun and cause problems that require him to fix delaying the story. Her mischievous demeanor causes her to escape death many times though, it's not fun watching her in any scene.
Art & Sound: 5/10
At this point, it's natural that a donghua CGI art and animation quality haven't improved since 2017 - especially for a adapted by Ruo Hong Culture. Instead, the 3D assets are slightly changed and reused for the next production saving time and budget in the process. However, it does lead to an unfinished, low quality product which we can see in this series - the characters are pretty low poly and their movement feels stiff. The backgrounds are empty and lack diversity of elements (this isn't so bad in the first episode with the forest scenery, province guard mansion etc. but it gets more low detail as the series progresses)
Sound is average, nothing out of the ordinary
Overall & Enjoyment: 3/10
I tried to cover the story and characters in as much detail as I could but it is hard to make this series easily understood because many of the events and characters just feel dispensable and 1 dimensional, lacking purpose. The illogical reasoning which led to the end boss battle could have been revised by the team at Ruo Hong Culture instead of having a single adventure by an incompetent third prince main character. If you don't watch much donghua this is a hard pass and I wouldn't recommend it unless you're looking for a specific aspect like ancient legends etc.
Posted by ST63LTH | Dec 29, 2021 9:05 PM | 0 comments
Ganbare Douki chan Review
Anime Relations: Ganbare Douki-chan
Ganbare Douki-chan follows Douki-chan, an introverted office worker who shares intimate feelings with a male colleague and tries to share her feelings with him but gets outshined by an extroverted female colleague and is forced to live in the shadows of her love fantasy. Overtime, Douki-chan gains enough courage to push through and pursue her love interest despite the odds being overwhelmingly against her.
Story & Characters: 4/10
The story is very simple, easily to pick up and follow despite its short length; Although the series doesn't bring anything revolutionary to the table, we do get a story where females compete for an ordinary salaryman. The characters in this series are basically kept at 4 but the story follows a conflict of love interests between 3 characters and it does well to cover the character personalities and overall behavioral tendencies by the last episode. However, I did feel that we were left on an open for interpretation conclusion possibly to accommodate a sequel leaving nothing resolved in the end. The series gets repetitive fast which is natural for a normal anime about lifestyles but in a way the constant drag by the extroverted colleague left a bad impression of the series for me.
Art & Sound: 5/10
The art is pretty good quality but the animation is kept to a minimum leaving a lot to be desired but there could also be underlying reasons for this approach. The character designs were pretty realistic as well as the episodic scenarios (at the office, after work, work gatherings etc.)
The sound was noticeably more minimal in comparison to the art and animation, the VA were alright and the sound/music didn't raise any red flags.
Overall & Enjoyment: 4/10
This series had an interesting set of characters, environment and story but I think the execution could have been better. I didn't really enjoy the dragging of the love conflict as much as I hoped I would but the art quality made up for the viewing experience. I wasn't as fussed about the animation either.
Story & Characters: 4/10
The story is very simple, easily to pick up and follow despite its short length; Although the series doesn't bring anything revolutionary to the table, we do get a story where females compete for an ordinary salaryman. The characters in this series are basically kept at 4 but the story follows a conflict of love interests between 3 characters and it does well to cover the character personalities and overall behavioral tendencies by the last episode. However, I did feel that we were left on an open for interpretation conclusion possibly to accommodate a sequel leaving nothing resolved in the end. The series gets repetitive fast which is natural for a normal anime about lifestyles but in a way the constant drag by the extroverted colleague left a bad impression of the series for me.
Art & Sound: 5/10
The art is pretty good quality but the animation is kept to a minimum leaving a lot to be desired but there could also be underlying reasons for this approach. The character designs were pretty realistic as well as the episodic scenarios (at the office, after work, work gatherings etc.)
The sound was noticeably more minimal in comparison to the art and animation, the VA were alright and the sound/music didn't raise any red flags.
Overall & Enjoyment: 4/10
This series had an interesting set of characters, environment and story but I think the execution could have been better. I didn't really enjoy the dragging of the love conflict as much as I hoped I would but the art quality made up for the viewing experience. I wasn't as fussed about the animation either.
Posted by ST63LTH | Dec 29, 2021 9:04 PM | 0 comments
Tawawa on Monday 2 Review
Anime Relations: Getsuyoubi no Tawawa 2
Train on Monday Season 2 matures in character and story from its prequel with the introduction of Ai-chan's younger sister, the female senpai (that is interested in Ai-chan's sister), a male teacher and his 19 year former student, a male salaryman and his female colleague and of course the original characters Ai-chan and the original male salaryman.
Story & Character: 1/10 & 2/10 Mondays are that dreaded demise for working class employees and even students for that matter, so to cheer us up we present to you Train on Monday Season 2, the sequel of a salaryman and high school student on a train now features male characters from all walks of life so the viewer can integrate themselves with the waifu of their choice. I like to think Train on Monday is a 5 minute cultured physics lesson that foregoes character development, socially immoral drama and overall structured plot. There's only one type of PLOT in this series and it's pretty graspable for its viewership. This show has character acting so unrealistic that you'd think it was from a h-tai. The female characters tease and seduce male characters much older than them and eventually progressing their relationships with trips to a farm, restaurant etc and at one point a fast and discrete marriage proposal. These couples feel like they're speed running life; And despite each of the couples having varying pace of progress and general personal demeanor they have the same dense, PLOT thickening character.
Art & Sound: 3/10 The color scheme brought this season was much more saturated and radical than the previous season with female character skin tones varying, their hair colors also varying despite being closely comparable. I think this was a much needed change since it now feels more like a slice of life style palette; However, this season's animation and art style felt more stiff and lower budget like the typical h-tai. The only well orchestrated animation was the bouncing physics; The same can be said for the sound effects - I feel the budget really focused more on bounce physics than the voice acting or music choice as they were both basic.
Enjoyment & Overall: 3/10 This has a much enjoyable atmosphere than Ganbare Douki-chan since it does somewhat "show don't tell" the story and has a wider character palette that become connected toward the end. However, at every opportunity in the show it's bouncing physics which gets pretty repetitive. The male characters are modelled in a way that they are shady and unrecognizable so that the viewer can implement themselves into their shoes and experience. It's a smart psychological ploy that is constantly used in the h-tai realm; Many of the design decisions are probably based on the typical h-tai anyway. Overall, I enjoy it when my brain is disengaged and studying physics.
Story & Character: 1/10 & 2/10 Mondays are that dreaded demise for working class employees and even students for that matter, so to cheer us up we present to you Train on Monday Season 2, the sequel of a salaryman and high school student on a train now features male characters from all walks of life so the viewer can integrate themselves with the waifu of their choice. I like to think Train on Monday is a 5 minute cultured physics lesson that foregoes character development, socially immoral drama and overall structured plot. There's only one type of PLOT in this series and it's pretty graspable for its viewership. This show has character acting so unrealistic that you'd think it was from a h-tai. The female characters tease and seduce male characters much older than them and eventually progressing their relationships with trips to a farm, restaurant etc and at one point a fast and discrete marriage proposal. These couples feel like they're speed running life; And despite each of the couples having varying pace of progress and general personal demeanor they have the same dense, PLOT thickening character.
Art & Sound: 3/10 The color scheme brought this season was much more saturated and radical than the previous season with female character skin tones varying, their hair colors also varying despite being closely comparable. I think this was a much needed change since it now feels more like a slice of life style palette; However, this season's animation and art style felt more stiff and lower budget like the typical h-tai. The only well orchestrated animation was the bouncing physics; The same can be said for the sound effects - I feel the budget really focused more on bounce physics than the voice acting or music choice as they were both basic.
Enjoyment & Overall: 3/10 This has a much enjoyable atmosphere than Ganbare Douki-chan since it does somewhat "show don't tell" the story and has a wider character palette that become connected toward the end. However, at every opportunity in the show it's bouncing physics which gets pretty repetitive. The male characters are modelled in a way that they are shady and unrecognizable so that the viewer can implement themselves into their shoes and experience. It's a smart psychological ploy that is constantly used in the h-tai realm; Many of the design decisions are probably based on the typical h-tai anyway. Overall, I enjoy it when my brain is disengaged and studying physics.
Posted by ST63LTH | Dec 29, 2021 9:03 PM | 0 comments