Change Your Image
jeremygirvan
Reviews
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (2010)
It's funny.
Everyone questions why grown men like this show. Answer: it's funny.
That's it. Apart from that, it's still a good show. Not perfect. There are a few bad seeds here and there. But it's still enjoyable. The animation is fun, the songs are BEAUTIFUL (except for the main them, which everyone skips) and the lessons they teach are valuable to kids.
But the added bonus is a rich community of insightful and diverse brony reviewers on YouTube, such as the Fiery Joker, Silver Quill, Mysterious Mr Enter and Jerry Perry to name a few. They're smart, funny as heck, and actually make you think about a lot of things - not just about the show, but about yourself and life in general. You can really learn a lot from these guys. I know, weird right? But it's great to hear their differing opinions on their favorite and least favorite aspects of the show. In truth, this is the best message this show can teach us: everyone has different opinions.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep? (2015)
Why, Hasbro? You were doing so well.
I think Jerry Perry said it best in his reflection "Glass of Water: Self Destruction." This episode was great, right up until the end where Luna explains she created the monster of this episode. Let me explain. MLP:FIM has a tendency to teach important lessons to its young audience. This was not one of those episodes. At first, we thought it was an endearing tale that was a metaphor for the effects of depression, represented by the monster infecting Luna's dreams which she requires the Mane 6's help to defeat it. But this beautiful metaphor that would have explained how people (especially young people) with depression should seek help from their friends in combating the illness - because that's what depression is, an illness (like cancer). But this all falls to pieces when she reveals that she created the monster herself to punish her for the crimes she committed as one of the series previous antagonists. The show made it out like this was some sort of endearing trait to make us want to love and cuddle Luna because of how much pain she's putting herself through. Which is a terrible lesson to tell kids. If you know someone is harming themselves, as Jerry Perry stated, you drag them to a hospital - regardless of whether or not they hate you forever. The episode teaches that something like depression and by extension self-harm is an acceptable character trait. And not only that, treats it like it's something that has a quick-fix solution to it. This is NOT OK!
Gakuen mokushiroku: HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD (2010)
Monica Rial
This woman voices an atrocious, obnoxious, whinny, egotistical &*(%# who does nothing but cry, scream and rant about how smart she is and how dumb and useless everyone else is throughout the entire series. And yet, Monica managed to make this character likable and have a strong presence in the series (see episode 2 and tell me her break- down wasn't powerful). Also, so long as you don't watch this with you mum (and can endure the nudity present in episode 6 - a very funny episode, btw), you'll basically develop a tolerance for the obscene amount of fan-service, which will instead turn into more of a gymic than anything. Also, surprisingly, all the obscene characters actually feel genuinely human (at least, the main characters do). You actually believe that these are normal teenagers in a zombie apocalypse when listening to their dialogue and how they interact. Like in one scene where the main character is carrying an unconscious, naked and extremely busty school-nurse on his back, he states "If this were under any other circumstances, this would be so %^&#ing hot." Yes, despite having super-model teenager samurai killing hordes of undead while the police and army are shown to be useless, the main cast feels surprisingly human. When they're dealing with anxiety (parental issues, dead boyfriends, etc.), how the main character copes with these issues is very human while also being logical and understandable - such as telling a girl to shut up about her neglectful parents when she should just be happy she knows they're still alive.
Fate/Zero (2011)
Perfect on all accounts except one.
This show is guaranteed to have something you'll like. There's so many great characters with their own set of morals, beliefs and desires that it's impossible not to identify with at least one. But it does have one flaw: the ending. Fate/Zero is a prequel but feels like a stand alone series that you'd assume to have a satisfying conclusion to wrap up all loose ends. However, the ending feels like it's just thrown in as an excuse to set the story up for Fate/Stay Night. And Stay Night is an average show at best - with all the clichés like teenage heroes and token girls (one of Zero's strongest and most interesting female leads, Saber, basically becomes just one of many token love interest for the main character in Stay Night). As long as you can handle a less than satisfying ending, Fate/Zero is an amazing show that doesn't do what you expect - which probably stems from the fact that it's a prequel and the writers got all the cliché overused plot devices out of their system. The main focus of the story doesn't rely on the epic battles, but rather the build up to these battles; the plans and preparations made, spying on the other Masters and Servants, discovering the motives of each character, the backroom deals made to further each Master's advance. It's basically a deconstruction of the Master/Servant Battle Royal formula (commonly seen in shows like Pok'e'mon, Digimon, Yu'gi'oh, etc.), and with adults.
Luther (2010)
Brilliant and Fresh
A hardcore detective befriends a brilliant and beautiful murderess. The relationship between Alice and Luther is just inspiring and a brilliant plot device. She sees the world from the naive perspective of a serial killer (that the world is scum and so are the people who inhabit it) while Luther sees more of the world than any one person should endure, yet he still holds hope for humanity. They both learn to see things from the other's point of view and come to depend and even respect one another, despite playing for the "opposite teams." Both Alice and Luther are truly brilliant and original characters in their personality and development. For these two, along with a brilliant and well developed cast of characters, "Luther" is truly a "Must See" before you die.
Being Human (2011)
It's not another Twilight
Being Human is a breath of fresh air for the whole "Creatures of the Night" genre. If you think it's just another Twilight rip-off I'm gonna stop you right there. Aiden is not just some Edward. He's believable as a Vampire. When he's jonesing for some blood he looks like he's going to puke and start ripping out his hair. His love interests, unlike in some other vampire shows, are based either on him acting like a normal human being (with humans) or drugs (with vampires). Blood is crack to him. He's not a monster, really (none of them are). He's just a very old drug addict. He's also hilarious. ("Really? The vampire bit doesn't freak you out but the male nurse thing does?") Josh is a brilliant werewolf. He's a stereotypical Jewish man and former honor student with OCD. He had everything; close friends, loving well- to-do family and the girl of his dreams. But every full moon now his heart stops, his organs fail, his skin rips apart and every bone breaks and relocates itself and he must suffer through every last second and give his mind up to a serial killer (who looks awesome by the way). He lost everything and it's obvious to see why. He's also hilarious. ("Great, we're living with Sally the peeper ghost") And Sally is just plain lovable. She a free-spirit who had everything to live for but ended up living more dead with her new friends than she ever did alive. Ghost have the obvious trait of going insane if they stick around for too long. They also have many addictive abilities that look fun but are incredibly dangerous. The second season will have a plot twist that will make your head spin with delight. Sally has many problems to deal with being a ghost. But hopefully her loving friends will keep her sane. She's also hilarious. ("You two gonna go all Twilight on each other at some point?" - "I'm not a peeper... much... I would get that mole checked out if I were you.") These are just real, likable people under extraordinarily circumstances.
Compared to the UK version, I'd say there both equally great. The US version has more depth to it (more in it to like while the UK version I'd say is deeper (the characters are closer and more it's more emotional). I've watched both and I'll say this; there's no forth season of the US version (UK watchers know what I mean).