Zíza

It's been a long time since a serious anime caught my attention like this. Everyone seems to see their own thing in it, but I found it quite deep, with an interesting central character who managed to keep her cool and try to save what she could. I also especially liked the symbolism of the color red. When the going got tough, red just figured in there. Not to mention that the opening and ending themes were entertaining and I listened to them every time. But what impressed me most of all – the well done ending. I really liked the ending, and I'm glad they stuck to the subject matter. A weaker 5 stars.

I liked the relationship Arisu and Himura had with each other. They were understanding of each other and always there for each other. So it's not surprising that their close friendship was used to imply that the two of them could pull off all sorts of things together. Within limits and humor, of course. I enjoyed the series a lot in the beginning, it even had a fairly original take on crime scene reconstruction, but I wasn't so into it towards the end, as I became more and more focused on Shangri-La and its representative. It lacked the momentum that the series had before. Another plus is the fact that the police weren't just seen as someone who arrests criminals that Himura points out. Yes, they relied a lot on his abilities, but it was never that they acted without thinking it over. I liked everyone in the series, I just didn't like Hasegawa Kyōko very much. Otherwise, fine. An unpretentious detective series with a cult on top. A better 3 stars.

For as much as I was looking forward to the movie, I didn't get exactly what I wanted. The hearts of Hero series fans leapt when Amamiya showed up at the "crime scene", but that's it. After that, it couldn't quite thrill, even if it wanted to. It was basically just a "special" for the second season with a star guest appearance by Matsu Takako. It didn't get the characters anywhere. And that's exactly the "shift" I had been looking forward to. Well, the story is standard – what Hero has always given, it will give now. A Kiryu who won't quit, colleagues who are annoyingly adorable and always lend a helping hand, and a villain who will be exposed but punished? I know. Don’t go anywhere without pétanque.

I really enjoyed the beginning, Kame was good in a comic role and really gave the impression that he's enjoying it and knows what he wants. Although you suspect some mischief, it keeps things light for quite a while and although they do get up to some mischief, it's more fun than drama. But then it breaks and the last episode in particular just feels like it doesn't even belong in the series. Not to mention it just feels like a levelling of the previous episode. For a long time I thought I was going to go higher with the rating, but the ending didn't really work in my opinion. Let's just say it was still going strong up until the eighth episode, but then it lost its luster and was just playing with "Bushidō".

Today was the day I'd been saving the Jack for. It suited me perfectly. Great action, at times the shots of Jack driving reminded me of similar shots in Speed Racer. Jack was smart and cocky, but he wasn't immortal and he didn't know everything. He's just a really good ex-soldier. Helen had beautiful eyes that hid an intelligence that could expect not to be subjected to blonde jokes. Honestly I'd quite like to read the book because I'd like to know what was going through Jack's mind, that's how intrigued I was by his character. I had fun, Tom didn't come across as stunted, and the story moved along smartly. There was no room for pity, finally.

I confess I was quite surprised at how much I enjoyed it, especially at the beginning. It was all "overacted" but entertaining. What I appreciated most about it is that the main character doesn't let herself be intimidated, she just tries to get what she wants; it wasn't a simple “yes" or “no", the girl tried to be nice and direct and tell her counterpart everything, even if it took her quite a few years to build up the courage to do so – but what can you do, no one had threatened her territory until then. A fairly breezy high school comedy romance. Finally. Not to mention that it had fairly well-developed character psychology. Especially towards the end, it's very noticeable. Thumbs up.

To me, this movie is just a very extended and edited version of a video of Angela playing and singing her song “Tegami" to the students. You won't get by without tears, reflecting on life, maybe remembering what you did when you were 15 or wondering what you’ll be doing in 15 years. A film from a high school setting that can definitely warm you up. We get a nice setting with a song. Plus, this film made me realize how often a character portrayed by Kiritani Kenta can very smoothly push the "little things" further and lift the spirits. From what I have heard from his colleagues in various interviews, he is like that himself. A strong 3 stars.

A big plus of the series is that the character of Kuroda Kosaka is very well written. So well that he manages to shape some of the other characters' ills so well that you don't find them so terrible in the end. It's basically a well-written song: the beginning lures you in, you want to hear what happens next, but as the song progresses the pace loosens up and you might even wonder if it's worth listening to the song all the way through; but then suddenly the drums kick in, and the ending of the song is fun to listen to again, and in the end the song doesn’t leave you disappointed. The same thing happened to me with this series. Not to mention that I'm studying international relations in Asia, so I found some aspects interesting from my "professional" point of view. Mainly in the fact that Japan at the time was starting to move away from being too attached to the US in international relations, and after Abe took over in late 2012 things started to pick up a bit. This series seemed to fit the mood. A weaker 4 stars.

The film is so clearly a Hosoda, it reeks of him in every frame. It's true that some scenes felt unnecessary, but I still enjoyed the film. It took me a while to get into it at the beginning, but as time went on they all grew on me and I let them "enchant" me. Although I felt that some of the directions the story took were a bit too goal-oriented, as was the arrival of some of the characters, I figured it was just a fairy tale so those kind of devices were fine. Actually, it's nothing more than a magical tale about talking animals, a fable (?) that of course has a moral. Nothing extraordinary. But I liked it. A weaker 4 stars.

Seeing it again after a long time, it caught me even more. I kind of found that the more time I spend with these jerks, the more I like them, the more I enjoy all the shenanigans with them. Definitely the TV show and the first movie were better. But this isn't a bad show either, and if you don't look too closely, it's actually pretty satisfying. Nothing changes, just a bit of a new way of command comes in. How new is it, though?