Reviews

Just finished watching season one's 51 episodes. The story, animation and voice acting deserved an 8. All of that was superb. But...

Each episode ran, on average, 22 to 23 minutes. It consisted of 15 minutes of story. The rest of the time was filler consisting of Intro, Recap, Intermezzo, flashback footage to previous episodes, closing credits, 'Clover Clips' (usually a chibi skit but having little to do with the story), and the next episode preview. In all, the filler ran on average 17 to 18 minutes. Let me restate this. For every 15 minutes of story, there was 17 to 18 minutes of filler. So, there was really only 25 actual episodes bloated into 51.

I had to deduct 2 points for the bloat and the waste of my time, resulting in the 6 score that I assigned. I'm hoping they do better with season 2. I will watch it for the story but I really hate having to forward through all of the crap. That's a lot of work to watch a piece of simple entertainment.

Addendum #1:

Just finished season two. I still have the same complaints. Great story. Lots of crap in every episode. Additionally this season, several episodes in, a complete episode was devoted to a recap of season one, an inappropriate placement. Two thirds through the season, one episode was dedicated to replaying all of the chibi skits, doing nothing to further the story. After leaving a cliffhanger in the second last episode of the season, the last episode was a recap of season two. Frustrating!

As of this date I have watched the first 66 episodes released on Netflix. The first season, consisting of 26 episodes, was fairly simplistic but had likeable characters, competent world building, and logically developed consistent and growing relationships amongst its characters. By itself, the first season would have rated a very average 6 as nothing stood out. The writing and animation was mediocre and the music was passable. At least the story was being built, albeit slowly, especially the relationships amongst the characters. It was watchable if nothing else was available, promising better in the future.

I have no idea what happened to the 40 episodes of season two. The animation quality consistently degraded linearly until the final episode. Watching them back to back, it was barely noticeable. But if you watched episode 27 followed by 66, it was hugely noticeable. Additionally, the story was completely ignored in favour of turning these episodes into 40 nonstop tag team wrestling episodes. Of course, there is a large market for this type of anime, such as Dragonball Z. They jettison plot for wrestling type action. Certainly, these episodes generated several additional series and movies, confirming a financial success. It should be noted that watching these episodes was like seeing UFC match's, with the outcomes being just as predictable. Characters on the left are bad guys and the ones on the right are good... Now, everyone bash each other's heads in. That was 44 episodes of the most lazy writing that I've ever watched. There wasn't even an attempt to enhance the world or story line. Even the relationships that were being evolved between the male and female character were completely ignored and dropped, relegating the girls to wrestling match audience members. That is probably acceptable to the target audience of pre-middle schoolers, aka grade schoolers.

If you believe that the epitome of entertainment is tag team wrestling, with it's built-in story line of good verses evil, then this series is absolutely for you. For those expecting a story... Well, just forget it. No attempt was made.

Looked interesting on Netflix so I thought that I'd give it a try. It became immediately obvious that I his was derivative of Top Gun. Still not a problem as you can still get half decent entertainment from such films. Well... I didn't last the first hour. I tried. I rarely drop out like that, even on the worst films.

What was good: Individual takes were very good in 4K; stylish even.

What was bad: Everything else. I have never seen a film so poorly edited. The acting was entry level and forced, something you would see in kids sitcoms. If these actors are any indication of the Indian profession then their whole industry is in deep trouble. It may explain the emergence of other markets such as South Korea and Japan over the Indian movie industry (which has been around much longer). The special effects were nothing special. The direction is reflected in all of the above. There was a potential story, but again, I gave up without finishing the movie. It wasn't well delivered anyway.

If you are Indian then national pride may make the film palatable. I advise all others to avoid it.

I've viewed many, many programs over the years. But, I have never seen a drama this close to perfection. Other reviews have already said everything that I'd like to say. Every part of this production, from the writing, camera work, scenery choices, music, direction, choices of actors and their acting, as well as direction, was incredibly superb. I am completely blown away.

In particular, I want to focus on the writing and acting. This script was incredibly brilliant. I have never seen such incredible character development in any production before. Every single character, be it a minor or major player in the story, had a journey. Not just one or two characters but every single one... And there were a lot of characters. Incredibly, every single actor delivered a performance on their particular character to absolute perfection. What an incredible story!

This production represents the epitome of drama production worldwide. I am completely amazed.

My initial opinion of season 1 was to award an 8 rating based on the potential story growth of this series. However, after viewing season 2 I had no choice but to bring the rating overall down to a 6.

Technically, the voice acting (I watched in English) was adequate in spite of the fact that not a single character had any emotional range. The anime was far better than average, the fight scenes particularly well done. The music supported all scenes adequately but was in no way exceptional. This is where the trouble begins...

There was no story growth. There was no individual character growth. There was nothing to further the story or any viewer emotional investment on where it was going. There was nothing but solid fight scenes for all 13 of the second season episodes with nothing furthering any part of the story or it's further development. All character development was taken from previous series and there was little to expand upon. You could have dropped watching every single episode of season two and missed nothing of the story.

If your ideas of excellence in story telling is tag team wrestling than the second season was designed specifically for you. It will deliver in spades. For everyone else, you'll be bored stiff by the third or fourth episode. The scenery may change a little but not the story. I am seriously unsure if I'll watch season 3 at this point. The producers look to be more interested in revenues than keeping their views happy. I suspect this will kill future ongoing offerings of the series. Too bad. The original and subsequent offerings were great up until now.

It amazes me how underrated and under viewed this anime is. This is an exceptional drama about an attempt to recover and rescue people left behind ten years before, after a major city is destroyed by the meltdown of a nuclear power plant by genetically engineered humans. The story is demanding of the viewer as sensitive topics are raised and multiple perspectives are presented, leaving the discretion of the viewer to decide what is right and wrong. It purposely challenges human morality in its various forms making the act of viewing not for the faint of heart. This anime was made during a similar disaster (but not as extreme) in Japan, delaying its public release for several years. I suspect this is the reason for the low viewership. It's a little close to home.

The story is exceptional. By itself it would rate a 8. It follows three genetically engineered girls who were designed to withstand the radiation but are unexceptional in any other way. These teen girls are very human, and as is the tradition in anime are very cute. However, don't expect fan service as this is not that kind of program. The music and soundtrack meets the needs of the story but is unexceptional. I would rate it at a six.

What really is outstanding in the production is the anime. It needs to be seen and not described. It does equal Justice to both beauty and ugliness in the wasteland city. It rates a very solid 9.

I was really looking forward to this series and purposely waited until I could binge it all after season two completed. I started by watching the prequel (same title with a zero at the end) which was made after season one. It was ok. The animation was nothing special but the story was good and made for an ok time waster. I gave it a six.

Season one established a set of characters (largely not found in the prequel) and set up the story world that was interesting, establishing good and bad characters. The animation was a little better than the prequel but not by much. The established story stuck to the world line and was again an ok time waster. It was worth a six... Nothing special but relatively entertaining.

I have no idea what changed in production for season two. The anime was incredibly well done, especially the fight scenes, all worthy of inducing an epileptic fit for those sensitive to such things. Something went very, very wrong though. Episode one continued the story and world line from season one. Major continuity breaks broke the story material, especially noticeable between episodes two and three. Then there was nothing more contributing to the story line from there on. Story continuity fell out the window. Where continuity broke, back fillers giving background were supplied... but explained nothing. The same was attempted through narration but failed completely, descending into gibberish. It was one continuous fight from then on for the rest of the episodes and didn't resolve by the final episode of the season. For those that like their graphics gory (nothing wrong with it) thousands of people were killed. Almost every episode, from three on, especially targeted innocent cute teen girls either being shot in the head, bodies exploding, they were tortured or mutilated. A study was made of each one. Almost all major characters were killed off. The nicer they were, the worse the death. Occasionally the same would happen to other people (but not as graphically). If you are a fan of superhero movies, you would love it. Unfortunately, and in common with that genera, the story completely disappeared in the carnage; broken story continuity prevailed.

My personal opinion is that stories largely drive series and movies. When there isn't any, then it is not worth watching, regardless of the rest of the productions spit and polish. The story in the second season was completely washed out. It made the prequel look brilliant. There is no way I could rate this better than a four. This was killed by tossing the story aside. You can't give spoilers when there is no story.

I was hoping for better. What I got was a movie that had the writing and production prowess of a CBC made, direct to TV, videotaped production from the early 1970's. Fortunately, they used more than one piano for the sound track. Yep, it was that bad! I am amazed that the his was actually released. The story goes nowhere and has little continuity tying two timelines together, ultimately resulting in a reveal or plot twist that anyone could have guessed in the first twenty minutes. Worse, no plot resolution resulted. They just gave credits afterwards. This movie didn't even qualify as a time waster.

What initially looks like a science fiction ends up being the schizophrenic dream of the main character as he descends into depression, looking for some kind of excuse to keep from committing suicide. He does this by imagining that he is responsible from preventing the Earth's destruction. He relives, in his mind, various scenarios, with friends and family being violently killed off and being brought back again.

There is no question this was original and visionary when first released, bringing anime to adults around the world. I can't help thinking that the original viewers must have been severely disappointed by the last three episodes. For me, this series was a solid 9 until then. The final descent into mental illness as an excuse to end the series was a cop out. However, this classic is a must see for all fans of anime. The animation and use of sound was a visionary breakthrough for the time.

This is a tremendously powerful fictional story about a group of railroad employees and their attempt to save lives during the Bhopol Union Carbide India gas leak disaster, resulting in the immediate deaths of over 15,000 and lifetime sickness and disabilities to an additional half a million people. What isn't so obvious from the fictionalization is the factual elements of the story that the writers built into it. Any casual search of Wikipedia and the like will demonstrate how accurate they stuck to the facts and what an absolute bunch of scumbags Union Carbide's management, the politicians of India and the USA, and their international lawyers were.

I have not been a fan of Indian productions in the past. That changed today. This production is absolutely world class and speaks to a story that never should have been buried so quickly by the world press. Every aspect of the acting, filming, writing, and production is top notch.

Did I like the story? Not even a little bit. It was wonderful to see the fictionalization of people helping other people. It was truly inspiring. It hurt deeply to see the world's reaction to the incident. This is an absolute 'must watch'. Just don't expect a comfortable ride. It isn't. This production illustrated one of the greatest horror stories of the last century.

This was a really great show, well produced and acted. I would have rated this an 8 had there been an ending to the story. I feel taken though. Several years later, there is no second season. I wouldn't have started watching had I known this.

Save yourself the trouble. Half a story, no matter how well done, is no story at all. All of the actors and production staff have move on with their careers and have left this behind. This is tremendously sad as it was so well written and produced. The shot locations were great and exotically shot. The reason for the 6 that I rated this reflects that. If only the story came to term!

This film is a complete mess from start to finish. It was apparent even before the actors showed up on the screen. Colour balances were off, never providing a consistent look from scene to scene. The actors did their best but story continuity was missing. Characters in four separate stories appeared in each other's stories as other characters. Shots randomly moved from story to story. There was no ending to each tale. Music was negligible.

Gratuitous nudity and implied sex doesn't make this an adult story. It was just thrown in here or there, largely adding nothing to further the separate plots.

I just hope that the actors cashed in and moved forward with their careers. This represented the opposite of art.

It's a mess directed at people who are messes. I could feel my IQ dropping while watching it. I gave up after a couple of episodes about nothing. Very few ratings indicate others felt the same and couldn't be bothered with the effort to watch the series. I don't get how this can possibly be described as adult entertainment. It boggles my mind that there are people who rate this series as high art. How many ways can this be said? The main character is a sub-mediocre failure in life and doesn't care. Hence... sub-mediocre. The people liking this??? They probably profoundly identify with the main character. Nothing could be sadder. If you have a modicum of self respect, avoid this like the plague.

I thought that I was watching something from American comics such as DC. Lots of action but poorly written and conceived. It's a passable time waster if you you have low expectations or nothing better to do.

The animation on the kaiju was fairly well done but the rest was at best average. All of the music was unmemorable.

What it really comes down to is that this series could have been much better but there was no investment placed in the storey making and world building. If they had at least targeted a specific market it could have been much better then the mishmash that was presented. It gives the impression of somebody cashing in. Continuity was lost in the first few minutes of the first episode. A North American distribution will find it acceptable.

I didn't expect much and was pleasantly surprised. Episodes to date faithfully recreate the first 45 or so episodes of the anime series. That is a real testament to the writers. Just about another 1000 to go! I'm only up to episode 500 or so myself but am still working on it.

All aspects of the production and acting were very well done, especially the cgi special effects. In fact, the casting was superbly done, each actor faithfully rendering their character to perfection.

This series won't appeal to everyone, especially those that don't appreciate silliness in their entertainment, but it will appeal to fans of the original anime and others. Very good slapstick entertainment. Highly recommended.

I watch parts 1 and 2 back to back. Like many, I was disappointed by the last two episodes of part one. That was simply because I wanted a happy story resolution. The writers could easily have done that but logically expanded the story to its next logical step. If I had to wait a season between parts, I would have been devastated. Fortunately I didn't have to do that, going straight to the second part. I was tremendously rewarded.

In total, there's 30 episodes, each running up to an hour and a half. That is a massive amount of story!!!

I'll keep it short. This series, even when viewed as a dub, is one of the best, if not the best (depending on the day) televised programs that I have ever been privileged to watch. The writing was incredibly well done. The world building was intricately developed. The acting was top notch. The production and music was excellent.

I can't recommend this more highly. Absolutely superb.

I am writing this review August 29, 2023. This anime was released in 2003. In that time there has only been 283 reviews with 2 written ones and a total aggregate rating of 7 out of 10. That's a high score for so few willing to watch this single season series. I did watch the whole thing on Prime because of this rating. Unfortunately. They rated the program at 18+.

Each episode is a separate story that is loosely tied to each other by virtue of the fact that the four main characters appeared in each one. One of these characters was completely redundant contributing nothing to any part of the story. Had he disappeared completely, the story wouldn't have changed at all. None of these characters is fully developed and the viewer will have no emotional tie to any of them. You will not hate them. Neither will you like them. They are essentially unappealing and uninteresting.

Technically, the anime is falls into the poor half of the animation spectrum during the time it was made, not being well done. In today's terms, it's not done well at all. Nostalgia won't save it.

The music falls into the elevator spectrum of jazz, not matching any of the story actions or emotional events. There was nothing to be excited about at all here.

The writing quality was poor and you could have driven a truck through the plot holes that occurred every few minutes during viewing. The story held some adult themes (hence the rating of 18+). However, it was so poorly done that it could only have appealed to prepubescent eleven year olds. The favourable ratings probably originate for this reason, as something like watching "forbidden fruit" for a very small demographic. There was little, if any adult sophistication demonstrated. For anyone else, watching would be painful, if not downright boring. That is why there are so few reviews. Hardly anyone got through the first episode.

To be fair, if you have a great deal of patience and are bored out of you mind with a lack of any other pastimes available, you could watch it to kill some time. Just don't expect much from the series. It is very lacklustre, bland being the best description and doesn't deserve a high aggregate score.

Season one established a world and story line. It wasn't well written but showed some promise. Season two took this world and threw out anything that resembled story logic and substituted verbal diarrhea. All the main characters were killed off and revived multiple times. Each episode lacked any kid of continuity with the previous episode. Where story logic broke down, some element that was inconsistent with the story world was introduced. Of course the characters backed this up and 'always' knew of the possibility that this item would be used. That's incredibly lazy writing. This series died on the storyboard. Forgetting the animation and musical background, there were no redeeming reasons to watch this series unless your interest was in dic picks. The whole thing was pointless, especially the ending. I gave this a 5 as the production, minus the story, was adequate when compared to other anime.

I haven't seen the original series, so I can only judge the movie on its own merits.

The animation was not particularly outstanding. My guess is that some reviews thought it was good based solely on it having been done at a higher resolution.

I was not impressed. There was no story. There were characters designated as good and bad guys. They fought. After many losses, good one... Hardly a spoiler.

If you are into wrestling then you will like this anime. Like wrestling, there is no back story. There is zero in the way of character development. Story logic has been tossed aside to accommodate the fighting action. What it comes down to is that you are easily entertained by constant battle and don't want to be drawn down to a storyline then this is for you. It's a movie length Tic-Tok video. For the rest of us, it's just plain painful.

One season available now. Season 2 completed last year but unaired to date. Teaser that it may be aired sometime this year (2023). Maybe season 3 in a couple of years??? Maybe a third of a story in the first season at best. This is exactly the kinds of production that never, ever gives a full story from beginning to end. No plan in place to do so. There was potential. No question of that. But honestly, who is going to watch less than half a story that will never be completed? I have never read the books. I can state that I think those fans have been taken advantage of. Any production that doesn't have a firm beginning, middle and end has no business being in the marketplace. Give this one a wide, wide pass.

There was a good story here. The whole script could have been done in half an hour. As of this writing, there's six one hour episodes. That tells you how much dead air there was. Some scenes had characters staring at the camera and doing nothing for up to five minutes. The actors seemed competent but were not allowed to act. Every one had to come off as flat and unanimated.

Plainly, the director thought he was the only creative entity involved in this production, wanting to display his artful use of the camera. Typically, shots consisted of intimate conversations between characters, in warehouse sized rooms, 60 or 70 feet apart from each other, while the camera moved painfully slowly in circles, to view the characters. The use of light and shadow was amateurish at best, mostly stobing lights. The background music consisted mostly is single note droning.

They should just have concentrated on the story.

This anime had little to no animation in it. What it was composed of, almost entirely, was still graphic overlays. Most of the apparent animation was done by shaking, sliding, or rotating them. The graphics were based on the school of Heinz Edelman circa 1968 as seen in the movie Yellow Submarine. Many elements were lifted almost entirely from there and included the same creative elements such as rooms and scenery that couldn't possibly have fit into a given location or scenario, as well as random visuals floating across the screen. Frankly, it was done better in Yellow Submarine. Still, it was pretty.

The story was pretentious at best and not well written. There was little to no world logic to the storey, and what there was, was mostly inconsistent. Jargon was used to substitute for a script. The same statements were used repeatedly. Each episode kept telling you what it just told you over and over. I don't think I could listen to the line "Ah. I see." One more time. It made the dialog exceedingly tedious. And it was slow... so very slow, relying on the graphics for exposition, which never happened. As a horror, it was underwhelming.

Music? What music? Yes, there was an opening and closing song, neither memorable. During the story there was mostly no musical background except for random notes thrown from the speaker randomly from time to time. The notes seemed to have been randomly sampled from Classical Japanese instruments. No musical themes linked the notes together. They were there to break up the monotony of the dialog. Once every three or so episodes there would actually be a small instrumental interlude lasting a very short period of time, but again, completely unmemorable.

If you are into experimental visuals then this might be for you. As an anime, it's a bust. It definitely is not meant for children. For most people, I would recommend a pass. This series is far to pretentious to be entertaining. A rating of 6 was the best that I could do, and it's very generous.

Every scenes actions and spoken lines contradicted the next, the only casualties being logic and continuity. I won't spoil it for you. I stopped counting continuity errors after the first ten minutes. I lost track somewhere after around 50 of them. There was a little bit of storyline up until that point. Things got worse later. It was so bad that it didn't even achieve the enviable status of being funny. Worthwhile watching as a learning opportunity. Grade school kids could have produced a better film. Granted, they'd probably get a larger budget then the professionals involved in this production. The actors couldn't have had the faintest idea what their lines meant or the context of their delivery. There are kids in grade six that can do better CGI. Everyone involved in this production should be dropped off on a remote island and be barred from being involved in movie production for eternity.