Gleam_Queen

If you read the manga and like me, were looking forward to this adaptation - prepare for a dissapointment, that is, if you bother to watch this... Basically, someone has taken this story and though... "How can I make this fairly well known story that bit more popular? I know! I'll make it a lot less mature (i.e. easier to follow) and conform to idealism by throwing in some well known cliche's - newbie's and the more impressionable viewers will eat this all up!" ... and her we have this hour long OVA. I'll expand on the above... Originally, a young couple are at sea, when they see somethinghighly curious; this 'horror' tourments them wherever they go - true harrassment via an unlikely offender. After acting in an arguablely unreasonable and paranoid manner - the girl soon becomes ill, her boyfriend, who is somewhat in the loop when it comes to science and has sceintific connections, works hard to find answers to this mystery whilst avioding constant peril and virtual isolation - it's a true horror story. In this OVA, we have his girlfriend as the leading character - and isn't she an angel. She's on a hoilday with her friends - she is made aware of this horror, takes it in her stride, goes to 'rescue' her boyfriendwho's in trouble, whilst not knowing hat's going on and not really having a clue; erazing the formality that existed beforehand - along the way, she meets a pretty guy around her age who, like her, as a tragic backstory that has allowed him to be driven. Basically, we have a role reversal that allows us to follow the 'hot girl' instead of the 'in the know guy' and the disease has been pushed on to lesser characters; the conveinent and 'more deserving'. Now - I will forget all about he manga and treat this OVA as a stand alone story... Still, not good! Story... We have a pretty female lead, on hoilday with her 'less likable' friends. An obscure terror shows up and this girl must now leave her friends behind and 'leap into action' (she's no action girl, this is all suppose to be quite realistic) upon coming to the accurate conclusion that her boyfriend is in need of a hero. On her journey, she comes across a guy who is of much help and has somewhat of a similar backstory to hers (rocked by a certian loss). This story leaves the more observant viewer asking a few questions, such as... "The body count is massive, yet the main gets attacked often and is never phased - why is this?" 'If paracite monsters are killing and infecting people threwout a mulitude of area's, why are plains still opporating and sending people into the 'eye of the storm'?" "The train the two mains are on has just crashed out of the blue, all on it look either dead or unconcious - why are the two 'mains' allowed to climb out, unscratched and unshaken before walking down an underground tunnel which I'm sure lacks oxygen, whilst maintaing energy to spare?" Basically, the plot bends to the will of the famale lead - she's the main character and a decent person, so why shouldn't 'the unlikely' simply open it's door for her whenever she stops by? This is the immaturity^, now, for the cliche's... Character... A typical case of possotive and negitive accossiation. We have a pretty leading female who's 'sensible' persona arguabely borders on Mary Sue - she's the friendly mediator type; everyones friend who makes friends easily, yet she'll also do all in her power to protect those around her, she'll even speak for the unfortunate who don't have a voice. She always wants the best possible outcome, such as hoping officials will come out with a cure for the many infected, highly dangerous strangers roaming the streets, in favour of killing them. She doesn't get too scared or show a single hint of selfishness or hesitation when it would be perfectly natural to do so either. On a whole, she's ideal. Her sidekick is a good looking, young (about her age) video photographer who has all the action recorded and is very interested - in a constructive way, in uncovering what is going on - he has a bit in common with the leading female and seems to have a crush on her. We have the female leads two frineds - a promiscuous, overall stylish 'pretty' girl and a chubby, introvert girl with no particular styling in clothes, hair or facial features and no particular body shape - ofcourse they aren't going to be admirable or acheive anthing! Art... Fine, nothing spectacular, but nothing wrong scenery wise - the character design is lovely however; everyone looks different and fairly realistic. Enjoyment... It was fine as a stand alone series, not too complex; which is what you shoud really get from a plot like this, but the length was sensible and it did have what most would call an end? I watched this and threwout I had the though lingering in the back of my head - it all reminded me of a tacky Hollywood movie where the pretty girl screems her way threw to the end (only, minus the screaming, this girl bough us little). So on a whole - no, I didn't enjoy it personally. Overall... For me personally, a bit of a watse of time. The manga was just 20 chapters long and it moved at a steady to fast pace - everything; begining, middle and end could have been covered in this OVA, why they changed it o something else, I can only put down to marketing? There was no need for this (again, forgetting the original) to incorporate such cliche's as; character sheild, 'petty behaviour justifies death', 'everyone loves a tragic female lead' and 'mix gneder team with clear romantic feelings apparant' - whilst spoonfeeding information in a way that only fits a story 'aimed at all' (such as; data that answers everything, present on the desktop screen of a computer, which happens to be swithched on, in an importiant person's home, that happened to be easy to access). On a whole, the simplification and writing tools (cliche's being the critical and more accure term at this time) spoilt things. :(

mdz

What exactly am I watching? [Contains mild, creative language used to emphasize certain things, also contains spoilers] This review doesn't seem to flow, think of it as fragments of criticism. So basically, I started the movie with mediocre expectations, it had a horribly low rating, but it was animated by Ufotable. So, I may be watching mediocre shit, but at least it'll have pretty visuals. Anyhow, the introduction piqued my curiosity, a group of fishermen appeared to be dazed and shocked from a discovery, the discovery wasn't revealed till later. Now, what was the discovery? It was landfish. The landfish essentially have a grotesque smell, followed by awhat the fuck appearance. Imagine fish, now imagine mechanical spiders. Now imagine a combination of the two. Now give the combination of the two to the storyboard of Guilty Crown. And now you have your fucked up landfish. The landfish play an integral role in this, they basically invade town and do whatever the fuck they want. They don't target humans specifically, they just do what the fuck ever, like eat the shit out cars and subways, just for shits. Later on, it's revealed that it's not limited to just fish, it just originated from them. The storyline started off as somewhat meh, but possibly promising. It quickly drifted off to something you would write in a drugged frenzy. The storyline is basically composed of the chick accompanied by some dude, looking for her fiance. Along the way, they discover that the landfish was conceived as a biological weapon during WWII (unpredictable, right?). They also discover that the fish is half organic, and half synthetic; but, it's also infectious. In other words, a pointless biological weapon because it fucking infects everyone, your side included. The rest of the storyline is inconceivable shit, so I'll move on to the other sections. It should be noted that it's not shit because it's bizarre, different, and shocking. It's shit because it's shit, it's cliche and it flows about as well as this shitty review. Seriously, it ends by trying to invoke some fucking philosophy. The entire storyline thus far was giant fucking robot monsters shoving their tentacles up your ass to mind control you. The characters were also a bit "what the fuck" worthy. Essentially, it's just the main heroine, but her two friends should be noted. First first friend is perhaps the paragon of "what the fuck how retarded are you?" A giant landshark comes through the window when she's screwing two guys, needless to say, she was injured. During the attack, she was scared shitless and the two guys ditch her. After the attack, she thanks the two guys for "saving" her on TV, then proceeds to screw them once more. The second friend actually started off as a pretty decent character; she was the third-wheel. However, it appears that any redemption for a decent character was killed during the second half. The characterization was also minimal. You're just given some history, and you'll have to assume the rest by assuming some common character archetypes. The history would be much more convincing, if the voice acting wasn't so bland. The voice acting in this was beyond mediocre, it was the apathetic type of emotion, it just didn't fit the characters at all. You could find better voice acting in Hentai than this, just saying. In Hentai, when a giant tentacle monster attacks you, emotions are heard. In Gyo, when tentacles attack you, you're reading off the script. However, ufotable did a decent job here, the visuals were good. The OST was lackluster to say the least, it's mostly silent. It could be argued that it enhanced the ambiance, but when music did play, it usually wasn't anything special. This series also intends on inserting fan service, regardless of the occasion. It's more of a, remember to pay attention, otherwise you'll miss some boobs, or some scenes reminiscent of something you would normally find with the keywords tentacles and schoolgirl penetration. Some examples include a certain characters death scene. She's essentially about to die, then her eyes flashes before her eyes. What flashes? Was it precious child-hood memories? A lost love? Regret? No, it was her essentially before being screwed by the entire football team fully nude. The law enforcement in this anime also seem to fucking blow. Hey, giant fish invading? No problem, let's fly a plane and hope for the best. Guarding a quarantined zone? Beat the shit out of anybody that tries to past, regardless of the reason. Your loved one's stuck on the other side? We should probably convince you not to go by physical encouragement. Overall, if you're looking for plenty of nudity, and tentacles, go watch hentai. If you're looking for cheap scares, and shit storylines, go for Another or this. Shit, this review blew, but I spent too much time on this to delete it. TLDR: It's not shit because it attempts to think outside the box, nor because it attempts to be creative & innovative, it's shit because it's shit.