Black Bullet Anime Review

The anime adaption of Black Bullet produced by Sentai Filmworks ran over 13 episodes from early April to late June this year. Sentai Filmworks has been responsible for anime of the likes of Another, Angel Beats, the upcoming Akame ga Kill and many other successful titles. The studio has poured some serious money into this anime, featuring a line up of award winning voice actors of the likes of Yuki Kaji (Eren form Attack on Titan) and many others. Black Bullet is a very enjoyable anime however it is fundamentally flawed with a confused target audience that inhibits it from being a real master piece of an anime.

Story

The story in Black Bullet revolves around an apocalypse type situation where the majority of the human race has been overrun by the monsters known as Gastrea. Humanitie’s only defence is varanium, a type of weaponizable metal and a race of genetically mutated young girls known as the cursed children. Black Bullet gets very brutal very quickly, deaths are frequent and children are no exception. At times it can be very confronting to see these children whom are submitted to brutal discrimination, physical abuse and inevitably sad ends.

Black Bullet tries to portray the darker sides of humanity into the series and it does this quite effectively. From discrimination, selfishness, hatred and revenge the show covers it all, however it doesn’t not blend well with the theme of cute littler girls. In short the story has excellent pacing, development, is simple and easy to understand while still being unpredictable, however it suffers from an identity crisis.

Characters 

Rentaro is the main character in Black Bullet and carries the show extremely well. He quickly distances himself from the typical harem protagonist that everyone is expecting, displaying a vey fatherly like attitude towards the cursed children. Rentaro is the base of all interactions, even more so than most protagonists. Side character to side character interaction is almost inexistent as the show is mostly focused from the first person perspective of Rentaro. This can be effective at times however sometimes it feels as though certain characters are simply not getting enough screen time for the audience to properly understand their actions.

Art and Animation

The art and animation in Black Bullet is generally very nice. General scenery and character designs are nice to look at, but on occasion the quality can drop in detail. The battle scenes however, are very, very good and consistently so, however, some of the movement animation of the monsters could be improved.

Music

The music in Black Bullet in generally well implemented into the show, however at times it felt that silence would have been better suited to some of the more dramatic scenes and the volume of the music during action scenes needed to be increased. The openings and endings of Black Bullet are also nice but nothing outstanding.

Conclusion

Overall I give Black Bullet a 7/10, perhaps I am being too critical but there are certain critical factors that conflict with what the show is trying to achieve. The series is well adapted with nice animation however a few inconsistencies prevent it from been taken to the next level. I would recommend this series to those who enjoy Senien but also enjoy a little light heartedness here and there. Black Bullet is a nice series that I generally enjoyed and I’m sure many others will as well.

-PandaSlayer

One Week Friends/Isshuukan Friends Review

One Week Friends is a 12 episode series that aired from early April to late June this year, adapted from the original manga written by Maccha Hazuki. The series has been received well by the general community, standing out from the hordes of school romance animes this season.

Story

The story for One Week Friends is very sweet but also very sad. It revolves around Kaori Fujimiya, a sweet girl who purposely remains distant and avoids making friends due to a memory issue she has resulting in her memories of her friends to be reset every week. The plot immediately makes you question what the extent of her memory problems are, keeping you questioning as her problem is discovered and changed as the story develops. The story is not always clear with the aspects of Fujimiya’s memory problem, which at times can get confusing but generally remains transparent and consistent.

One Week Friends is very sweet, all the main characters have a sense of innocence to but at the same time they understand pain and what it means to be selfless. Hase the main character, will often struggle emotionally with Fujimiya’s problem, as time after time all his hard work, efforts and feelings are completely forgotten. The story shows you that that Hase is still a relatable human being not a man with an iron will and that only with support from his best friend and others around him is he able to carry on. The story of One Week Friends is very sweet but understands the harsh reality and emotional toll that memory loss can have on those around them.

Characters

All of the characters in One Week Friends are generally very simple, yet they are also characters with a lot of depth. For the most part of the show Hase and Fujimiya carry the story by themselves, however the side characters are made of good use, often creating necessary conflicts so that the duo can move forward or simply acting as moral support for the main characters. The side characters are introduced on a steady rate, however I felt that Saki and a few other less relevant characters should have been introduced or given more depth earlier as they helped the carry the story very well once included.

Art and Animation 

One Week Friends has a simplistic and unique art style often with some really beautiful background scenery. Some people may love the art, others may find it  to simplistic. I personally really enjoyed it and felt it suited to the overall feel of the show.

Music

The music of the One Week Friends remained generally okay throughout the show, working reasonably well with the scenes. As the story progressed and the story become more intense the music became more relevant and quite effective. The opening and ending music of the show were also nice and well suited to the show.

  

Conclusion 

One Week Friends is a different take on the usual slice of life romance. The story remained the centre point of the show throughout and was very engaging to watch. Overall One Week Friends was just very enjoyable. I recommend this to people who have enjoyed the likes of Hyouka or Clannad that deals with some sort of emotional struggle or hindrance to people lives. I give this series an 8/10 a great watch and one of the best of this season.

-PandaSlayer

Bleach Chapter 587 – The Headless Star 6 Review

Although we have known for quite some time now that Uryu has sided with the Sternritters for Ichigo this is still a big deal and Kubo really tried to emphasize that this chapter as Ichigo continued to demand answers from Uryu but in the end came up empty. The ‘Light’ that Juha uses promptly takes him, Uryu and his right hand man right up into the sky and leaving behind a colossal explosion. Orihime saves Ichigo from his own stupidity and tackles/shield him from the explosion.

Kubo brought back the humour in this chapter along with the original characters, and personally I really enjoyed it. Seeing Chad throw Ichigo around like he was nothing and straight into a pile of rubble and quickly snapping Ichigo out of self pity.

Ichigo was never really the intelligent type, so with the help of Chad’s wisdom he makes up his mind that he’s going to kick Uryu’s ass regardless if he had a good reason to switch sides or not, funny how he didn’t do the same to Orihime in the Arrancar arc, although that may have been classified as Waifu abuse.

Enter Urahara and with him, the most interesting thing that happended in the chapter. Realising that they need to get back to the soul palace immediately Urahara says “Shall I get you a ticket to Reioukuu? Although it might take some time”…. This could mean many things since Urahara has always been such a mysterious character. The first is that Urahara has a natural way of getting into the soul palace similar to how he does with Hueco Mundo. His words ‘get you a ticket’ could infer that he has connections with the soul palace but also may not have the best relationship with these connections. It’s also worth mentioning that Ichigo didn’t really seem fazed by what Urahara said meaning that Ichigo either learning of this relationship before, or is just not surprised that Urahara is capable of such a task.

Kubo continues to pile on the comedy in the rest of this chapter as Rukia and Renji emerge from the rubble, showing themselves to be undamaged. Bazz-B appears and Renji and him instantly engage a battle of words and fists. From this point of the chapter to the end, the dialogue increased for the humour and it was honestly quite hilarious and good to see that Kubo can still write effective comedy back into serious moments. Things like Renji blushing after Bazz-B complemented on his eyebrows and a badass Sternritter getting personal about his hair cut was simply hilarious.

Bazz-B instantly goes to burning finger four creating a huge explosion, however I really don’t think this will be enough to take Renji down. We are most likely at the beginning of a 1v1 or 2v1 fight with Renji (and Rukia) and Bazz-B, which will most likely reveal more of Bazz-B’s power and fighting potential.

The chapter ends with Juha and friends all arriving at the soul palace, which I was honestly surprised about. It gives perspective as to how powerful Juha really is if he is confided at taking on the whole zero division and the soul king almost by himself. I give this chapter an 8/10 it was good, but in a different way this time, more old Bleach humour and bring back the original cast.

-PandaSlayer