[WT!] Hyouka - A Slice of Life Mystery

MAL | PVTitle: Hyouka: You Can't EscapeStudio: Kyoto AnimationGenre: Mystery, School, Slice of LifeSource Material: Light NovelVideo ReviewI'll go out and say that I'm making this WT! thread half because I enjoyed Hyouka and half because I created a video review as a project.The video review is much more concise and to the point (being 4 minutes), as well as being spoiler free.For those of you interested: Video reviewAnd off to the written review we go!IntroOreki Houtarou, a minimalistic high school freshman is forced to revive the Classic Literature Club at his sister's request.Oreki, a boy who states proudly that "I don't do anything I don't have to. What I have to do, I do quickly." is immediately pulled into an excited world shaded "pink" rather than the "grey world" he prefers, by his club mates.StrengthsKyoto Animation, the producer of Hyouka, is known today for their superb animation. Hyouka is an early example of this. Aired in the spring of 2012, Hyouka is still in my opinion one of the best animated shows I have seen. The animators who produced Hyouka paid extreme attention to the show's background environment when animating this show, resulting in a realistic feel from the constant flow of detail in the backgrounds. In addition, the animation quality maintained its high quality throughout the whole 22 episodes. This by itself is commendable.The soundtrack of Hyouka fit the bill perfectly. The calming melodies (especially the classical music) played throughout the series set the mood perfectly for a relaxing and curiosity piquing show.The characters worked perfectly in both the context of mystery and slice of life. In matter of mystery, the main characters each had their own role to trigger a mystery arc: Chitanda instigates the mystery, Satoshi provides information, and Oreki solves. In context of slice of life, every character is lovable in their own way and how they react with each other is entertaining, whether it be solving why a door was locked or competing in a cook-off, they were fun to watch.WeaknessesLike all slice of life that is not marked as a "comedy" Hyouka may come across to some as boring. Rightly so, as most of the enjoyment of Hyouka comes from character interactions.Some of the reactions dialogue are over-dramatized, (examples are like when everyone treats Oreki like a genius when he solves something slightly obscure), which may turn off some viewers.Mayaka doesn't really serve a purpose other than to tell off Oreki a lot and prevent a love triangle between Chitanda, Oreki, and Satoshi from happening. Furthermore, she only gets sufficient screentime towards the end of the show, which may be a bit frustrating for some viewers who view Mayaka as a brick wall.Final WordsHyouka was unique to me. It was a slice of life mystery, which I had never even heard of before. At first I was hesitant because it didn't seem like the right combo, but boy was I wrong.If you're a fan of SoLs and are not bothered by a lack of excitement in a show, I have to say to you:Watch this! http://ift.tt/23QETkK

[WT!] Mangaka-san To Assistant-san To The Animation

MAL | PV 1 | PV 2Title: Mangaka-san To Assistant-san To The AnimationProducer: Lantis and Magic CapsuleGenre: Comedy, Ecchi, Harem, Seinen, Slice of LifeSource Material: Manga (finished)tl;dr Sweet and short, funny shit but also weird shit. Viewer discretion is advised.IntroductionI waltzed into this series after a stressful week of finals last summer, yearning for some stress relief (laughter, not the alternative). I saw this series in the recommendation section on the MAL page of Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun and clicked on it. From the reviews, I got a lot of mixed responses to the series: lots of complaints about asspull characterization and poor execution on the plot. Basically a shittier ecchi version of Nozaki-kun.But what I received was completely different from the dominant reviews on MAL. While I was watching the first episode, I entered wary from the negative reviews, became pleasantly surprised by the lightheartedness and hilarity of it, and ended up shocked. Why did I end up shocked? It had ended too quickly. I looked at the video timestamp when the ED rolled and realized the episode was only 13 minutes long.Immediately, I continued the series and ended up finishing it the same day. Needless to say, I chuckled a lot during the series. 11Wait a minute hold up, why are you saying you only chuckled? It wasn't funny? Why should I watch it then? is what you may be asking. My answer is that in this review I will not be sugarcoating anything. In reality, chuckling is pretty damn good because most comedy series really only get you blowing air out of your nose.So Why Are You Telling Me To Watch This?Comedy is a simple genre. Make the viewer laugh consistently and you win. So from now on, I am going to be following this principle in my attempt to entice you with this series.If I were to judge Mangaka-san on each of its aspects such as art, sound, characters, plot, etc out of ten and get the mean score, I doubt it will be over 5/10.The production quality and plot is most definitely not strong with this series. In fact, if I were to compare it to other shows like Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works in art and sound, or The Monogatari Series in plot, this series will be labeled as SHIT.But I rated this series higher than those mentioned above.This series, in retrospect, is a major "hit or miss" series. It's either hilarious or downright weird and stupid. For me, this series was a "homerun". However, a lot of my enjoyment of this series had to do with my taste in humor. I, as a proud male viewer, find ecchi entertaining and often a nice complement to comedy.You may be thinking right now, "Oh if I liked shows like Haganai, Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?, or No Game No Life I should find the ecchi here entertaining right?"Nope.I say this because Mangaka-san really does take ecchi to a really weird extreme. I even showed a scene posted on this subreddit and he proceeded to stop talking to me about anime.WAIT WAIT DON'T RUN AWAY I SWEAR THAT SCENE IS THE WEIRDEST SO IT DOESN'T GET ANY WORSE THAN THAT!Okay so now you understand the extremes to which this show go to, right? If you feel a bit uneasy, fear not, from my somewhat unreliable memory, I assure you that the rest of the series is a more tamed.You Didn't Really Answer My Question, OPOkay, okay, jeez.So why should you watch this series? Obviously because it's ridiculous and funny.It had me chuckling even minutes after a funny scene happened, and relieved all my pent up stress from exams (again, from laughter, not the alternative). Most comedy shows I've watched like Nozaki-kun, Haikyuu, SYD, and even D-Frag (great show btw) only had me smiling or blowing air out of my nose.Furthermore, the aesthetics such as art and sound were not so bad that it is unwatchable. It's just shit compared to Unlimited Budget Works.Final WordsSo you're still uncertain whether to watch it or not? Here's my advice. Watch the first episode, as it is 13 minutes long (like every other episode. It's not just episode 1 that is 13 minutes), and then decide from there. Enjoyed it? Continue. Creeped out to the point where you're reconsidering your life choices? Go watch something more series like Bakuman. http://ift.tt/1SP8LZS

/r/anime, what show gets your "I can't believe this didn't suck" award?

I recently finished Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? Of the dead and thoroughly enjoyed it including its first season.At first I was skeptical about starting this series, because I thought it would be some cliche harem ecchi, but lo and behold I ended up finishing both seasons in no time.What series did you have low expectations, only to be pleasantly surprised? http://ift.tt/207N8XL