1 Year Anniversary Special: Top 5 Favorite Reviews and Top 5 Hated Reviews!

Hello ladies, peoples, and animals it is I, the Arcane Reviewer! Here to say happy one anniversary to me! That's right, one year ago today I started doing these reviews. Now I will admit I am very sorry for the hiatus I took I still feel as though I should celebrate being able to come back to this little blog and keep doing reviews. I know my reviews aren't the best or even the most thought out but hey, I never calmed to be perfect. But at the same time there are some reviews of mine that I have to admit that I just really liked writing and I feel came out really well. So how about I count down my Top 5 Favorite Reviews and my Top 5 Hated Reviews. Because there are some reviews that I will admit I hate looking back at now. So how about I start this list off with the best, here are my Top 5 Favorite Reviews!

Top 5 Favorite Reviews

Number 5: Fate/Zero Review

This was a review was one that I was really looking forward to for a while. Ever since I stared this blog I was really saving Fate/Zero for a while. So when I went on a little Fate marathon in the months of November and December I thought it would be the best time to hunt down the show and finally review it. I was very happy with how it came out. My only real problem with the review is that I didn't make it longer. But aside from that I loved writing this review and it's still one of favorite reviews even to today.

Number 4: Chobits Review

When I decided to do Romance Month, which I was very happy with, I knew for a fact that I would have to review this for two simple reasons. One; it's one of the most popular romance anime so it would make sense to review it for Romance Month. Two; when I first watch Chobits, I fucking hated it. I mean I hated it. But as years passed by I stared to wonder why exactly did I hate it so much. I really couldn't think of a good reason so I decided to rewatch it and see how I felt about it years later. I am very happy say that when I went back to watch Chobits I just loved it. I was very surprised by just how good this show actually was. So when I finally wrote the review it was actually insanely fun to do because I had just so much to say.

Number 3: Serial Experiments Lain Review

Not only does this anime have a special in my heart the review does too. When I was watching Lain it was during a time in my life when I wasn't too sure what college I wanted to go too and I wasn't really taking my education ever seriously during my final years of high schools. But when I decided to sit down and watch Lain I was just horrified by what I saw. The story of a girl who's life was quite literally fading away and how she started losing her grip on reality. This scared the living shit out of me! This was so damn scary that I completely changed and took my education very seriously. So this review sticks with me because this was one of the few times that an anime really made me rethink my life. I know that sounds silly but I can't deny that this anime was pretty damn freaky and this is one of my favorite reviews.

Number 2: Guilty Crown

This review, oh my god, was so much damn fun to do. This was my first really negative review. Because I fucking hated this show and I still do. Guilty Crown was an anime that I decided to watch in one sitting. I stayed up all night so that I could watch because the first 12 episodes were actually pretty damn good. So when I watch the last 12 I was angry at just how bad the quality dropped. So when time finally came for me write the review I went mad on my keyboard. I just typed and typed and typed, until I couldn't think of anything else to hate about this show. i went fucking ballistic on this damn show and it resulted into a review that I think was really funny. Due to how mad I was at the show. So I guess I have to thank Guilty Crown for giving me a great review. But seriously though fuck Guilty Crown. Don't watch it.

Number 1: Aku no Hana Review

I have to say. I really loved how this review came out in the end. When I was on hiatus I really struggled to find any anime to actually review. I felt really unmotivated to watch anything, it was a really dull time for me. So one day I decided to check out a manga that I heard was really missed up and was disturbing. When I finally checked it out for myself I could not believe just how amazing this story was. I found it really fucking hard to not put down my phone and look something else up, I read manga on my phone most of the time, I had to keep reading. When I was done with it I felt that itch. That itch I feel when I really want to review something. So I decided to say "fuck it, I don't care if I don't review manga, I'm reviewing this!". That is how I finally returned to doing my reviews. Because of one of the most fucked up but best manga I have ever read. But the review itself was also really good. I had a lot to say about the manga and I just decided that I am going to write until I have nothing else to say and just like that the review was made. It's my favorite review to date and the manga that got me back into reviewing.

But with any good review, sometimes you have bad ones. So it's time that I poke fun at myself and list the top 5 reviews that I personally hate.

Top 5 Hated Reviews

Number 5: Corpse Princess Review

The Corpse Princess review was a review that I felt was just a really poorly put together review. Not because it was my feelings on anime changed or anything like that. The reason was the actual anime was so lack-luster that when I actually had to write the review I had nothing to say. I was just struggling to find 11 different ways to say that anime was just "okay". I had nothing to really work with and nothing to get mad or praise about the show. I had so little to actually say that I felt that the review was one of my most boring and hollow reviews to write and review. It was a review that I just couldn't find anything to say and I just hated it once I actually finished it.

Number 4: Angel Beats Review

Okay let's get this out of the way, I fucking hate this show. It's shit. So when I review the show I thought I was fair but when I really look back at the actual show I can't help but point out just how shitty the anime really is. I just hate everything about it. So after a good year I decided to look back at the show and I shocked myself. I was so damn soft on this show it disgust me and I was most shocked at the final score I gave it. A 6.5. A fucking 6.5. What the fuck was I thinking?! This show doesn't even deserve a goddamn 4, and I a gave it a 6.5?! Was I high or something!? Now I don't like to go back to my old reviews and edit them, it's not my style. But holy hell I will never forgive myself for giving this show such a high score and that's why I hate it so much.

Number 3: Squid Girl Review

Okay so I know I don't get a lot of views on my reviews but I'm proud of the views I get non-the-less. When I reviewed Squid Girl I was pretty excited, mainly because I really liked the show and I wanted to share my opinion about it. Clearly no one really cared. Squid Girl is my least watch review ever and I am a shamed of it. I think the review itself is fine but it's clear that no one gave a damn about it because of how little views I actually got. It still haunts me to this day and I can never live it down.

Number 2: Mistudomoe Review

Oh god this review. One thing I love about reviewing anime is that it never feels like a job. I am doing something that I love doing and I never feel hindered by it, until anime came around. This anime sucked all of the joy out of reviewing and for the first time ever I felt like I was just watching the anime and reviewing it because I had too, because it's my job to review anime. That's why I hate this review. Not only that but this anime was just so boring and painfully stupid to actually write a review about. I just hated every damn moment of typing up the review. So in turn I hated how the actual review came out and I hate the show just as much.

Number 1: Elfen Lied Review

Seems kinda of obvious that my most hated review is my first review. Yeah I hate my Elfen Lied review. I always go back to it now-and-then and I just can't stand it. I mean damn that review was bad. I gave Elfen Lied a damn 9 even after pointing out a lot of bad things about it, really unbiased huh? The Animation Category was only 2 sentences long and I hardly talked about the plot or characters aside from the main characters. Every time I look back at it I can't help but be so ashamed by the fact that, that thing was my first review. But I can also look back at it and appreciate how far I came from that style of reviewing to how I review now. Elfen Lied, I may love the anime but I hate my own review for it.

So those were my favorite and not-so-favorite anime reviews that I've done so far. I'm happy to say that I'll keep doing reviews and I hope to get even better at them in the future. Also no need to worry, the 4th Kara no Kyoukai review will be released this Saturday. I just wanted to think back on old reviews and find a way to celebrate on one year of reviewing. Thanks for reading.

Arcane Reviews: Kara no Kyoukai: A Remaining Sense of Pain

Hello ladies, peoples, and animals it is I, the Arcane Reviewer! Here to continue my retrospective of the Kara no Kyoukai films. This one is gonna be a bit tricky to review. Just to start off, this is one of the darker entries in the Garden of Sinners series. This film has some of the most brutal death scenes and contains a lot of rape. Yes, rape. To make this review short for those who don't like the idea of rape in anime and just want my opinion on the matter I will say that this is a good film. If you can handle it then you should check it out. If you don't think you can then skip this one. Now with that out of the way let's talk about this dark as hell movie. Kara no Kyoukai: Remaining Sense of Pain. Let's begin shall we?

Story:

The movie follows a young woman named, Fujino Asagami. The first time we see her in the film is of her being raped by a group of thugs. Afterwards all of the thugs that participated in the rape just so happen to be getting brutally killed off one-by-one. This gets the attention of Toko as she is already on the case with the help of Shiki and Mikiya. As you would expect it's Fujino who's doing the murders but she almost seems to be joyful while committing these horrible killings. She also seems to be experiencing a horrible sense of pain that just won't go away as well as demonstrating powerful telekinetic abilities. So now it's a twisted game of cat-and-mouse as Shiki is hunting down Fujino and she's hunting down the men who violated her. This film is fucked up. This is probably the darkest anime I have ever had to review and oh god is it hard to review. The themes brought up in the film is the feeling of pain and pain of rape. The rape part is very unsettling due to how graphic the film gets with the scenes but at the same time the film shows how the pain of being violated can effect one's psyche. Fujino is like a fucking horror movie villain as she slowly hunts down every last member of the gang that did this horrible act upon her. There's also the theme of feeling pain and if pain makes of human. I wish I could talk more about this but I'd be giving away some major spoilers. So trust me when I say that the film does a good job at explaining this theme in very disturbing detail. The story is dark, unsettling, and very hard ti set through but I'd be lying if I said that it wasn't done well.

Animation:

Just like always the animation here is great but holy crap, the backgrounds here are even darker then the first film. The movie has a very dark tone so in turn the setting is just bleak, ugly, and almost disturbing to look at. It goes hand-in-hand with the fucked up feeling that the movie is going for so in retrospective it does a good job. But the highlight of the animation here is the final scene. One big ass action sequence that is just batshit insane to watch. The final fight in the film is animated beautifully and is so tilling to watch. The fast pace movements as well as the intense cat-and-mouse style to the fighting made so interesting to watch. The rain effects during the fight was also extremely well done to. It feels like it's actually raining really hard while these characters are ducking it out to the death and the way the rain moves along with the characters is just amazing. So the animation is once again really well done here but that final fight scene is the real highlight of this film.

Music:

Just like the other movies before it, the music does not disappoint. The music here is very similar to the first film. The music is very atmospheric and very hunting. It almost feels like the further we dive into Fujino's mind the music in return gets more and more disturbed. You also have the music during the final fight. The music during this fight is very intense and fast but the song also has a very quite tune to it as well. Not only that but the film also knew when to completely stop using music to further deliver the straight of the scene itself. The music here is very good and I feel like the music just keeps getting better and better as these films go along.

Characters:

Okay so to be honest none of the main cast here have any real development in this film. We see some at the end but I'm not going spoil that. However the real star of the movie is actually Fujino. Holy shit is she one fucked up person. Fujino's character is displayed as someone who isn't quite sure what it really mean to be alive. She basically comes off as someone who's completely devoid of any emotions or feeling at all. But when Fujino starts to feel the pain in her abdomen this is when her character really changes. Before when we saw her she was just an emotionless shell that didn't even care about being raped constantly. But once she feels this horrible pain she turns into the near monster of a person. She starts to find enjoyment in the killing and mutilating of the men who raped her. But even as she starts to go even more insane through out the film you can't help but feel sorry for her. She seems like someone who just wants some basic human connections is her life but her emotionless state and now her new murderous intent she just seems too far off to help her.

Overall:

To close this review I would like to say that this is a good film. However I would like to warn you that is the darkest film in the Kara no Kyoukai series so this film may not be for everyone. But overall I thought that this was a very good film. Just really fuck up and hard to watch.

Arcane Reviews gives Kara no Kyoukai: A Remaining Sense of Pain an 8 out of 10.

You can watch "Kara no Kyoukai" on:

No legal streaming sites. Sorry 

Arcane Reviews: Kara no Kyoukai: A Study in Murder-Part 1

Hello ladies, peoples, and animals it is I, the Arcane Reviewer! Here to bring you a new anime review. Yeah sorry about no review last week. I was a bit busy with college stuff. Nothing important. However this review being on a Saturday is not me being late with reviews. Nope this is a new thing that I'm gonna start doing now. Reviews will no longer be on Wednesdays but insisted being moved to Saturdays. Also as you might have been able to tell from the review I did two weeks ago, the Nitpick category will no longer be used anymore. I don't like it and I feel as though it was hindering my writing for these reviews. But anyways let's move on. Last I was here I reviewed the first Kara no Kyoukai film, which is actually like the the 4th film in the timeline of the movies. So now today we jump back in time to the origins of Shiki, when she still had SHIKI. Today I'll be covering Kara no Kyoukai: A Study in Murder-Part 1. Is it just as good as the first one or does it pale in comparison? Let's find out shall we?

Story:

Now as you would be able to guess, this film takes place a couples years before the events of the first years. We go all the way to Mikiya's high school years and follow him when he first meets a young Shiki. The story here is not as intense as Overlooking View but still is a very high quality story on the same level but with different content in it. While Overlooking View was very much a story that talked about suicide and was built as a ghost story. However, A Study in Murder is more of a murder mystery while also having a very odd romance thrown in there. The movie doesn't tackle any major themes that the first film did but it's okay because this movie has a very good story behind. The story mainly centers around Mikiya trying to get to know Shiki more as he ends up becoming interested with her and eventually falls in love with her. All the while a series of murders are happening around the town that they live in. Even worse is that Shiki always seems to be at the scene of the murder. We don't see her actually kill anyone but she is always at the crime scene and standing over the corpse. This leads into Mikiya basically trying to convince himself and even Shiki that she's not the killer. Now even though the story here is really good it also does the dirty little things that a lot of movies in series do, give you a lot of questions and no answers. Now I can understand that this was made to be apart of series but the answers to who is doing the murders and why is he doing them actually doesn't get answers until the 7th movies. That's a pretty long wait. But aside from that small point the story is still very strong and really fleshes out these characters as well.

Animation:

Just like before, Ufotable delivers in this category. But I am very happy to say that the feeling of the animation here is on a very different tone then in Overlooking View. While Overlooking View had a very dark, washed out, and creepy atmosphere to it, A Study in Murder actually has more colorful scenery while mixing in the darker tones as well. This gives the movie a very different feeling to it because by showing what the modern day world looks like and then bringing the darker side of this world into the spotlight it makes it seem even darker. Not only that but the animation for the characters is still just as damn good as it was in the first movie. There aren't any big action scenes like in the first movie but the movie doesn't skip on the quality either. The animation is on par and even at some points better then the animation in Overlooking View. The anime looks really damn good and it just a joy to watch.

Music:

Just like with the animation the music is beautiful but is a different kind of beautiful. The music here works really well with the animation and really likes to keep things very quiet. While the first one had amazing music as well it was more of a dangerous and almost occult sounding, giving a lot of to the supernatural aspect of the first film. But this time around the music has more toned down and somber tone for all of the creepy scenes. But also has more uplifting and relaxing music for the more quiet scenes. If two people are talking and having a normal conversation then the music will be subtle and faint or no music will be used. However if a conversation is being had with a much heavier weight on then the music will be a little louder but will also have a much more sinister tone. The music works great here and is easily the strongest to the movie.

Characters:

Another strong aspect to this movies is it's characters. Just like the first film we don't have a very large cast. The only two characters that have any real importance in the story, Mikiya and Shiki. Mikiya comes off as a normal guy who just ended up falling for a very odd girl. Then again it's Shiki so I can't blame him. So his character is pretty damn determine to prove Shiki's innocent even if she herself believes she's guilty. You can really tell that he genuinely loves Shiki and wants to her to have a normal life. Shiki also comes off as a different person from the first film. That Shiki was a cold but good hearted badass while this Shiki is more of a shut in that doesn't want to get close to anyone. We even learn that she has another personality called SHIKI, (Note: The capitalization of her name means male in the Japanese writing. So the direct translation is just her name in all caps.) her other half that is more out going then her and is even more friendly as well. We get to learn a lot about the two personalities here and get a good sense of who Shiki really is. We see why she's so cold and why she's so shut in. But what sells these characters even more is the fact that they have great chemistry. We can get a good idea of how Mikiya could fall for Shiki while also seeing her warm up to him and how this starts to scare her. The characters work great off of each other and even more so are great characters in of themselves.

Overall:

This is a pretty damn good follow up to Overlooking View. Or a good beginning to the Kara no Kyoukai series seeing as how this is the beginning of the timeline. Oh fuck it, it's a good movie! It has a great set of characters and has some damn fine music. Not all of the questions raised in the story are answered but at least we got an amazing movie in the end, and that's really all that matters.

Arcane Reviews gives Kara no Kyoukai: A Study in Murder-Part 1 an 8 out of 10.

You can watch "Kara no Kyoukai" on:

No legal streaming sites. Sorry.