Arcane Reviews: Summer Wars

Summer Wars

Hello ladies, people, and animals it is I the Arcane Reviewer here to bring you an anime movie review. But this is no ordinary anime movie oh no no. This my fellow readers is Summer Wars or as I like to call it, OH MY FREAKING GOD THIS MOVIE IS AMAZING!!!!!.......Sorry I kinda lost myself there. Let us begin shall we?

Story:

The story takes place during summer (shocker I know) as we see our main protagonist, Kenji, is sulking over not being able to represent Japan in the math olympics. But just as soon as it would seem that Kenji would end up having a very boring summer one of the most popular girls in school, Natsuki, come to Kenji offering him a job as a fake fiance for her family's big get together for her great grandmother's 90th birthday. So all seems well with Kenji messing around and getting to know Natsuki's whole family. That is until he ends up unleashing a horrible A.I. that plans on hijacking the entire network and using it to possibly send the actual world into chaos. Nice job Kenji.

Summer Wars has a very funny set up to it's story that just ends up going off the rails when the whole evil A.I. is introduced but in a good way. The story also isn't so much focused on the rough A.I. as much as it focuses more on family values all through out. This movies really shows that family really is none of the most important things in life and it comes across as very natural and not forced. The story is a big strength when it comes to this film.

Animation:

Oh my god what do I say here? Long story short Summer Wars looks amazing. The animation is just jaw droopingly beautiful, it just looks great and it does a good job at separating the real world with the cyber world as the art style changes. It just look amazing and obviously is a point into it's favor.

Music:

The music in the movie is also pretty good. The movie knows just what type of music fits the right moment. When the movie has to be up beat and funny it plays music that just makes you smile hearing it but when it comes time to take things slow and really draw the audience with the emotional weight of a moment in the film it really does give you emotionally filled tunes that just pull on your heart strings like a kitten with a ball of yarn. The film knows what it wants to portray when it uses it's music and it does one hell of a job.

Characters: 

Now this really is when the movie is just in the okay factor. There are a lot of characters in this movie and you can't really get a feel on them. Kenji is the only one who does stand out without being an odd character. He pretty much is an everyday man but everyone else is a character archetype. Like you have the annoying kids, the drunk uncle, the over bearing mother, and the over protective cousin. The characters aren't given a lot of time to develop pass the archetype that the movie has set for them. However, with all that being said, none of the characters are unlikeable. They all have at least one or two scenes to shine and are a absolute treat to watch on screen seeing as how they're meant to be funny and absolutely are. So even though the characters are just okay when they come to development they make up for it in charisma. 

Nitpicks:

This is the part of the review where I layout all of the little thing that I didn't really like about the movie. Well guess what.....I have no nitpicks. Yup, this movie is just so fucking awesome that I regret ever making this part of the review because I have nothing to put here......so......scroll down or something I don't fucking know.

Overall:

Well as all of you can tell I love this movie. This is in fact my second movie of all time! I have nothing bad to say about this movie and it really is a great piece of animation. Anyone who says that they love anime must check this film out and you will not regret I promise you.

Arcane Reviewer gives Summer Wars a perfect 10 out of 10.  

         

Arcane Reviews: Elfen Lied

Elfen Lied

Hello ladies, peoples, and animals it is I, the Arcane Reviewer here to bring you a review. I'm going to start doing anime reviews here and I think it would be cool to start off my first review with one of my personal favorites.

Story:

The story of Elfen Lied centers around a young woman named Lucy who escapes from a research facility but not before taking a nasty bullet to the head. We then meet two college students, Kouta and Yuka. As they end up meeting Lucy who now has developed a split personality called Nyu. They decide to take her in only to end up in the middle of an crazy and emotional filled ride that involves a new species of human, the possible end of mankind, death, sorrow, and a whole lot of fan service. The plot of Elfen Lied, without giving away any spoilers, is a very interesting one that explores all of mankind's darkest sides. Though one might say the story could be a bit dull at points I feel as though it does keep you wanting to know what else is in stored for the characters as more secretes are revealed as the show goes a long so I will say that is it's biggest strength.

Animation:

On the technical side Elfen Lied looks very good. Characters are drawn very nice and no one is very stiff, everyone moves fluently and the quality of the anime is very good with almost no drops happening through out all 13 episodes. So I think that this is also a another strong point for the show.

Music: 

The music in the show doesn't have a lot of variety and that is one of the weakest points. The one track "Lililum" is a beautiful song and has many different interpretations of it that mainly rounds up Elfen Lied's soundtrack. There are other tracks but not a lot and they aren't to important seeing as how the show mainly showcases "Lililum". 

Characters:

Elfen Lied's characters can be hit or miss sometimes. Lucy the main character is a very interesting character so anytime the show focuses on her it's very good. But sadly the characters of Yuka and Kouta aren't. You can forgive Kouta at points but Yuka is an awful fucking character. She never shuts up about anything and pretty much just comes off as an annoying bitch. Other side characters go from okay to being very one note and pretty much add nothing to the overall story. Thankfully the show doesn't focus on them to much so more of the focus is on Lucy or another interesting character to I can forgive the show for that.

Nitpicks: 

Well here is the part that I point out all the little parts the I didn't really like in the show. First off is the nudity. Elfen Lied shows off a lot of nudity and I mean A LOT. So much so the it gets really damn silly as to how they find ways to get the characters naked almost to the point of comical. Another thing is the overuse of blood and gore, though I never really got sick of it I will admit the level of violence in the show did get a little crazy. It seemed like everyone drank Kool-Aid before they where killed.

Overall:

Well overall with all the good and bad I have said about the show I still find myself highly recommending this anime to you. Though I feel that it's not the best anime out there I still find myself loving every second of this show and I always look forward to re-watching from time to time. It is my personal favorite anime and I feel that even if you don't love, you'll find something here to talk about. So go and check this anime out because it really is something different from the normal anime you'll see.

Arcane Reviewer gives Elfen Lied a 9 out of 10.