There’s a very good reason that FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is the #1 highest-rated show on MAL – it’s an anime that has everything Western fans have been looking for in a show for years, and as such has managed to raise the bar for plot-driven anime altogether. This post contains spoilers.
bathos n.– 1. An abrupt, unintended transition in style from the exalted to the commonplace, producing a ludicrous effect.
2. Insincere or grossly sentimental pathos
I’d say both definitions are fairly appropriate for Angel Beats – which isn’t a bad thing, by the way.
art by hanehane kiro http://gelbooru.com/index.php?page=post&s=list&tags=hanehane_kiro
I’ve been looking forward to this show ever since I watched the first episode at the start of the season, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed – with the exception of some rocky moments (namely episode 4 and a lot of episode 5, which weren’t bad, just… rocky), I was impressed with every episode, and will come away from the series with vivid memories of events throughout. <- That sentence is about as much ‘review’ as I can give you, since I find this series hard to talk about in a straightforward way. This post will be somewhat disorganized, but I hope you’ll bear with it.
(Note: I couldn’t decide how to title posts for shows that I finished which aren’t part of “Finish or Fail” series, and I didn’t want to call them “Reviews”, so I’m instituting the “Completed” title for them. Also, there will be spoilers, but they don’t really matter, and will probably sell you on the show anyway, haha.)
B Gata H Kei is rock solid – I have nothing negative to say about it. I was constantly impressed by it’s writing, which created a hilarious and believable romance that, for once, made real progress at a satisfying pace as the series continued. Every episode made me laugh, and the jokes struck me with their cleverness – often the punchline is a bit of music, a very quick cut-away, or a background detail, so that the joke doesn’t feel too obvious nor intrusive, but a bit of fun cleverly spliced into a continuing scene. The running gags stayed funny and didn’t get old, which is way more than I can say about most school anime with running jokes.
My Sword Is Unbelievably Dull 