Scalpelexis

A.k.a. how one military cross-country was filmed to perfection. I specifically highlight the word "filmed" because the alpha and omega of the whole thing is Roger Deakins' fantastic camera, which doesn't flinch from anything. The illusion that this is one continuous drawn-out scene works flawlessly, and I enjoyed the limited personal space of the characters around whom the camera swirled, did somersaults, crawled, never farther than half a meter away. I felt unsettled, now and then apprehensive, as if I were experiencing it myself alongside them. The opening sequence in the trenches in particular is pure stress, while the epic final run is a feast for the eyes. But that’s it for praise from me, because the film is incapable of offering anything more, nor can in this format. It's just and exhibition of cinematic technical craftsmanship where the story is pure grey, there's no room for more varied acting, the script is OK, and the inability to rate the man in the lead in any way worries me to the point of being disturbing. I was left wanting more of a powerful bombshell at the end that would highlighting the importance of the moment and the mission. All of that was sadly lacking for me. A better 3 stars.

There are tons of high-quality anime set during wartime (not girls in tanks or with propellers on their feet) that also bravely take on political and social subthemes, and 86 is definitely one of them. The alternating confrontation between the progressive and San Magnolia residents and the almost Nazi-esque ones and their racist conscription of non-whites into dirty life-or-death battlefields is decently handled, and even if this makes the romance-tinged Romeo and Juliet storyline predictable, none of it bothered me. But what grates rather more than less in the first half is the story and execution. We're kept on healthy emotional alert throughout, whether through fierce spider-mech battles or heartfelt political declarations, but the series can't manage a very deft handling of the ridiculous amount of tasks it has to accomplish in the opening episodes. Every now and then it spouts exposition out of thin air like a La Palma volcano. It knows full well that it has an overwrought ensemble of characters, but its effort to get rid of them are inept. Then we spend far too long on boring Skyping, only to spend the last 2 episodes not knowing what to do with all the extra time. In terms of quality it trends in a true sawtooth pattern, up and down, thankfully coming to an end right at the beginning of the second part. As soon as the series doesn't have to explain anything anymore, it revs up to an absolute maximum in all areas. For me, both the civilized and endearing passages about the newfound life of outlaws in an advanced society and the relentless, adrenaline-pumping racket were handled so well it was unbelievable. Suddenly, the anime seemed tangible to me, and so believable; I could empathize with the feelings of the main characters as they struggled with their new sensations of regular life, followed by the strangely antithetical withdrawal from the war that had raised them. The tenderness of caregivers, the fun and comfort of a good Christmas, and yet on the other hand the anger and despair from an unexpected blow: I experienced all of this as well. The 16th episode was fantastically heartbreaking, while the last episode made me shed a tear of happiness. I'm glad that for once the content above all of the 2nd half is up to the standard of the excellent graphics and music from A-1, who to my great joy announced that they would be continuing with this project. For the 1st "bark" I would hover around a respectable 3 stars; I will unashamedly give the second half a weaker 5 for how I gulped down 86 with gusto.

86 knows how to reward the viewer. Everything we deserved and wanted. More please...?

Wow! I wasn't expecting such a racket from 86, but this one thumped through all open channels. Exactly what the chef ordered.

A minor aggravation. The first action sequence, as the sneaky mechs duke it out amongst the ruins of the city, had gusto, and Sawano musically enjoys these moments. Except that the transition into the school lecture squeaked worse than an unoiled door. The more observant will immediately notice that the show needs to present us with the collision and ideology of both worlds to give us a minor excursion into the geographic past of the stage, and in the context of being meaningful, this was simply pointless, almost embarrassing. It would require the leading lady jockey to know her stable inside-out despite the silly implications of late night chat adventures, is far from a convincing delivery.

Yeah, uh, okay. Once you start apologizing too often, the characters start making confusing decisions too often and are too often given roles/abilities that are out of character or there are too many situations like "Gee, I have to get rid of him, but I can't because I’d end up getting rid of someone else, so I have to get rid of still another person...but I just can't", then you know you're starting to run around in circles, and by the end of Season 3 it's sad to say that we've gotten nowhere. The characters are severely underused, be it The Seven or even Soldier Boy himself, and I didn't enjoy any of them, quite the opposite. I fear that too much melodrama will lead to too many seasons.

Akame ga Kill! meets Cyberbunk. This relatively entertaining ride through a futuristic world with elements of dictatorship literally almost shattered into pieces halfway through. What at first appears to be a more ordinary gangster adventure of one extraordinary group of criminals eventually unfolds into a Matrix-like plane and starts waxing poetic about horizons farther afield, whereas they can only touch on them in an annoyingly fleeting manner because there's no time for more! To its immense detriment, it's not just the potentially rich worldbuilding that's being skimmed over, but also the characters, where you can strongly feel the colorful handwriting of the creator of Danganronpa. As it grinds on and on and on in a rather nonsensical manner, the protagonists only manage to fulfill their basic justifications and only minimally do we get to see their roots, leaving them boringly parked in the black-and-white and tired templates of familiar archetypes. I wanted desperately to know more about Kant, more about the social structure, propaganda, connections to other worlds and what the local "Big Bang" was/caused by, whereupon we get our answer in a fast-paced penultimate episode full of deus ex machina, which I would figuratively liken to spitting in the face, in an already over-the-top conclusion. It’s made up to us in the lavishly colored and stylized audiovisual design of Studio Pierrot, which is easy on the eye. The detail of the action scenes is fantastic, with explosions that would make even Michael Bay jealous, all culminating in a supercharged epic final act of battle royale format. Akudama Drive could relatively easily have been a masterpiece, it just lacked the desire to grow and go deeper. It hurts, it hurts, because the excellent passages in the opening half were entertaining. This way, it's a kind of undercooked one-off that will soon be forgotten. A better 3 stars

An episode for Star Wars fans with all the trimmings. It got me on a cheap nostalgia kick, but the hunger for it was immeasurable.

A relative disappointment. The script was weak, the action was by no means exceptional or original. Above all, the reported 35-minute running time is a cheat, because if you subtract the opening recap and end credits, we're barely at 25 minutes. It drives toward an action-packed climax, which calms me some.

Nice chase with the AT-ST, which looks like a creepy mix of a Tyrannosaurus and a Tripod here. That's all there was to it though, unfortunately.