When I first started watching this series, while I knew it wasn't going to be something I was going to really enjoy I did think it had some potential as an educational series following the footsteps of shows like "The Magic School Bus" and the like. And in the earlier series of the show it did at least, in my opinion, accomplish at least that goal very nicely. Each episode solved its own problems with scientific solutions. Broader narratives to a degree took more of a back seat. And although the narratives and characters weren't very interesting to me in the first season, It didn't distract from what I thought was the main educational purpose and interest that I could get from each episode. The educational content also did follow a sort of logical narrative structure as well, because it was clear that the writers wanted there to be sort of a gradual development of technology throughout the series but in ways that at least attempted to make some sort of sense.

Review - Hunter x Hunter (2011)

 

Battle Shonen is an extremely difficult genre to get right. It has become an extremely oversaturated market, and you hear of a new one being released almost every year. Hunter x Hunter however, proved that the genre still has an impact. I would argue, that this series, and its manga, is still innovating the genre today. I've rewatched this anime something like 5 times now over the years, and I've never gotten tired of it. The reason why is because, this series which is made in a genre that is generally aimed towards children and teens, actually has a very mature story.

Review - Berserk (1997)

 I am rewriting this review in spite of the kind of hate that I know will end up coming from the fanbase. This because it is worth speaking about, especially to anyone who cares about what kind of morals or values are represented in a series.

I Dislike Generative AI - Here's Why

 

During my daily routine worrying about our future late stage capitalism dystopia, I was reminded about the ever encroaching black hole generative AI has on human creativity. As a musician, not only do I have to worry about the existential dread of trying to pursue a creative dream in a world where the only thing that matters is how well something can sell, but I now also have to worry about the fact that our capitalist overlords have managed to figure out a way to make money off of art without an artist.

Media Literacy - Introduction to Propaganda

  One of the key issues found in many of today's entertainment mediums is how it can be used to purport ideology, morality, philosophy, and values. This is often considered a good thing because since it allows an audience to think about and refine their own values, they can become more grounded. However, as unfortunate as it is, not all media we consume operates in a genuine fashion. Sometimes an author, publisher, etc. has ulterior motives. Consequently, the finished media takes more of a propagandistic form, with intention to force a reader/viewer's mindset in a particular direction through ingenuine framework instead of honest messaging.

Review - Idiocracy

 

Many people laud this film as somehow being predictive of the future, however, besides a relatively obvious critique of corporatism that is found within the film I do not find that to be the case.

This movie either intentionally or unintentionally, is promotive of eugenics. If it weren't its explanation for societal reduction of intelligence would focus purely on environmental and social occurrences instead of attempting to portray intelligence as a genetic trait by comparing it to evolution and reproduction.

It also, in classic early 2000s humor is extremely offensive in its portrayal of individuals of which it calls stupid (though using much more offensive language) and those people are portrayed in an extremely harmful stereotypical way. It is exceeding the harm the Good Doctor had in terms of offensiveness.

For that, I did not enjoy this film.

Rating: 4/10

Review - Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu: Die Neue These - Kaikou

 Very rarely do I get upset when watching an anime. Regardless of it is bad, I can normally get through it without actually being upset at the decisions made in production. This is one of those exceptions. Having the original OVA being one of my all time favorites, I was already coming into this remake with relatively low expectations based on what I'd heard about it, and even then I was extremely disappointed. This is a poor bastard shadow of the original OVA, and you should not watch this and instead go watch that.

Review - Lazarus

 

When I found out that the Creator of cowboy bebop, one of my favorite series was releasing a new show and called it his masterpiece...I immediately added it to my watchlist. Unfortunately this show is not a masterpiece and cannot compare anywhere close to the quality of bebop. While the show was superbly animated, had good art, and a wonderful soundtrack... Unfortunately it's plot was just not good. The score I give it is purely because of that and how much of a sucker I am for good jazz. The op did that for me.

Review - Psycho-Pass 3: First Inspector

 There are a whole lot of reasons as to why psycho-pass failed throughout the years. I could talk about the slow degradation of the show's animation and heavier usage of bad CGI. I could talk about how in later seasons the soundtracks tend to get worse with overutilization of staple themes basically throughout especially the third season to the point where it became annoying. I could talk about how in the third season the main character cast is all but abandoned for newly introduced characters that are more of a shadow of the characters and developments we saw in season 1. I could talk about how the sibyl system keeps being portrayed as some godlike entity yet quite clearly it is extremely subjective and constantly is changing itself. I could even talk about how after season 1, the majority of the plot points are legit just copy/pasted stories of "insert new reason why the sybil system isn't registering someone who is literally murdering other people as a criminal here" However, what I want to talk about most is in fact none of these things. Really, the reason why First Inspector is so awful, is the message it is telling viewers.

Review - Trigun Stampede

 

A complete bastardization of a cult classic. While the original Trigun had its issues, mostly with Vash's sense of morality having double standards in the second half of the show, Trigun Stampede abandons everything that was good about the series in order to make an edgy adaptation for a younger audience... but it just fucking sucks ass and feels like a cash grab.

Review - Jin-Rou

 Jin-Rou is probably one of the pinnacles of early 2000s animation. This film has some of the most fantastic animation that I have ever witnessed in almost everything that I have watched. It is so smooth that it almost gives the impression that the characters you see are in fact, real. It's hard to describe beyond saying that the animation takes on a three dimensional form even though it was animated in only two dimensions. Small details such as waving hair, shifts in clothing, the way characters move through the world, are all so meticulously drawn for every frame. It is on a level of animation that one could argue even exceeds a Ghibli film in terms of impressiveness.

Review - Shingeki no Kyojin: The Final Season

 

I will keep this relatively brief.

I absolutely adored the first 3 seasons of Attack on Titan. I thought it had a lot of spirit and atmosphere, and it made waves among the anime world, and justifiably so. However starting at the final season things really just started to go down hill. The art style was completely changed because of a change in companies and instead of keeping things faithful they decided to abandon it for something that was worse quality. This include worse usage of CGI than in prior seasons. Similarly, the animation quality dropped off between the third and final seasons. The soundtrack fails to have some of the subtly and variety of the previous shows and prefers to be more "In your face" almost all the time. The OP and Endings at this point have tried to copy the success of the first to the point where they are not really at this point "Unique" or particularly different, just more of a worse copy.

Review - Animal Farm (1954)

 A somewhat mild bastardization of the original book by Orwell. This film was was funded in part by the CIA, and I attribute that to the reasons why multiple part of Orwell's original message of the book, including its ending, were changed from the film. While the film has its moments, while the animation is beautiful, and the music compelling, unfortunately the changes in plot cannot be overlooked. It changes the message completely from the original critique Orwell made, and transforms it into a propaganda film that attempts to portray the animal's situation with Jones as potentially better than where they ended up. And that any attempt of rebellion against an oppressive society would necessarily doom them to the same fate. If you wish to experience this story in its best form, please read the book or if you must, listen to an audiobook. In that way you can experience the actual message Orwell was attempting to give you, not what the CIA wants you to think Orwell meant. The film is not worth watching. But I also find it the height of irony that a book that gives a critique of Authoritarianism was turned into propaganda by an actual government agency.

Rating: 5/10

Review - Jigoku Shoujo Mitsuganae

 

The third season of jigoku shoujo, is, unfortunately.... a disappointment. Not bad, but disappointing. It is incredibly hard to live up to the impeccable job that the previous two seasons did, and so, I wasn't expecting that this season would be necessarily better than the prior ones, however I was hoping for at least something similar in quality to the first show, and unfortunately it cannot deliver even in that regards. If you haven't seen the prior seasons well, you should, they are amazing. That being said, the issues with this season can be broken down into a few primary sections.

Review - Little Witch Academia

 

While I am always very critical of shows released by Netflix, especially anime, I am also fair especially in regards to shows it produces that do work well, and I am the first to admit this is one of them. Little Witch Academia creates a very compelling world that can provide for a very interesting and enjoyable watching experience. That combined with interesting and unique visuals (which can be a hit or miss whether or not a Netflix anime will receive the "copy/paste" style or something unique), and a very competently made soundtrack provides a show with what I consider to be a slightly above average quality.

Review - JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken Part 6: Stone Ocean

 

    

Jojo is an anime which is known for its eccentric art style, it's over the top characters, and overall bizzareness. Sadly, Stone Ocean experienced what I call getting "Netflixed". What do I mean by this? Well, in essence, getting Netflixed means getting watered down to a diluted version of its former self. Like many Netflix shows, Stone Ocean relies on an overabundance of poor CGI in addition to bad animation. It is hard to believe, given the extremely slow release date and batch release of this show when compared to previous Jojo parts, that it somehow was released at a lower animation quality than perhaps even part 1 had. Compared to the absolutely stunning visual style and animation of part 4, and the extremely detailed art of part 5, part 6 is a shell of its former self. The CGI sticks out like a sore thumb and is painfully noticeable (Good CGI ought to be subtle). Additional cut corners include not drawing full background characters (instead opting for silhouettes which clash with the established art style), and a generic bastardization of the background art compared to other seasons, such as generic sky, buildings, etc.

Review - Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

 I do not ever have high hopes for Netflix adaptations, because a lot of their shows tend to be watered down content. Likewise, I did not have high hopes considered the game it is based on really had a poor release. However I was pleasantly surprised when I found in this show, not only the pristine visuals/animation of studio trigger, but also a fairly competent plotline. At least for me, not only does this series question the idea of humanity itself, but it also really has a successful utilization of the tragic hero. The worldbuilding is quite realistic in my opinion - you'll see a lot of small details if you pay attention which really adds to the life of the world they live in. The plot was fairly well written in regards to pacing, you can finish this in an afternoon if you have time, and it doesn't feel like the story was rushed either.

Review - Shiki

 

I to be honest, was not expecting to write a review of Shiki, but having not been able to stop watching it and binging it to completion within a day, I could not stop myself.

Review - Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu

 Legend of the Galactic Heroes is a tale told on on a scale unparalleled compared to that of many other plots. It displays an intellectualism not seen by many other shows in its complex use of strategy and analysis of political ideologies.

Review - Serial Experiments Lain

     

It's not particularly common for an artform to completely overturn the generally used portrayals and accepted principles of it's form in order to innovate. However when it does happen, the results are always polarizing. Either it becomes a resounding success, or a complete failure. Serial Experiments Lain is an example of *why* innovation is a good thing. And its critical success ought to make that clear.