AltizGremlin Reviews

SSSS.Gridman (2018)

Explaining the SSSS.Gridman's world and why it's quite unique

[9/10 · 26 January 2019]

I know, Evangelion did the 'Monster of the Week' formula turn into an anime about escapism before and everything I'm about to say here might be very obvious to some people, but Gridman had some interesting points on that subject: This anime is about a real person. Akane is portrayed as a goddess from another world. She created a whole city inside her mind, where she could reign freely and forget reality, and that's why everything was shown as anime, a very common escape route, especially to someone with her cultural background. The fights inside Akane's mind were Tokusatsu style because those were the coolest imaginable combats she could imagine, being a Gridman fan (also, that's why something from our world was used there and not something original). The hero chosen was Gridman for that very reason, and she used that beloved heroic image as her will to recover from that sad state, a very tough internal fight she was losing constantly before, also the reason Yuuta seemed to spawn from nothing; that was her will to be freed from the seemingly hikikomori state she was living. The alien was also extremely cleverly inserted on the world, with the clear visual of a villain, but being so close to her, almost as if that place could only exist if he - her fears - was simply hanging there normally, acting as an intermediate to her powers. That shows how she was clinging on that negative feeling to keep her on a pseudo-safe world. The final fight sounded extremely corny, but every single word there was literal, so it makes sense. Some people may argue that she looked like a very weak goddess, but it was on purpose, she wanted to lose the fight, but that instill fear of leaving her room wasn't letting go, and consumed her. The moment Gridman - her will - won the fight, she was able to stand for herself and come back to our world. Akane then 'wakes up' from that state, ready to finally start her life outside the room, that was very cluttered to give us the impression she did everything from her bed. Now she's ready to be a goddess in the world of gods.

Sound! Euphonium (2015– )

Just listen to it, goddammit

[9/10 · 26 January 2019]

I'm not here to talk about the weirdly relatable characters, about their song choices being perfect for a real fanrare and research behind uncommon instruments. I'm here to talk about SOUND. If you pay close attention to the sounds of this anime, you'll quickly realize it's masterful - and by that I mean an opening door, footsteps, a page being turned. After many years working as a translator, I reached a point where I was tired of listening to shows being extremely sloppy with their sounds, having to listen hundreds of times the same part of the episode to come with a good subtitle. Sometimes my work involved big blockbusters, and even they had some really awful sounds thrown in the mix. On Hibike! Euphonium, that was never a concern. After I watched it for the first time, I decided to re-watch some scenes where the girls played instruments, and every sound matched their movement (not on the right chords, of course, but the motion was very close), and it was possible to listen a key press on a clarinet, or even the slight delay the air took to fill the instrument before making notes. The care of that department was mind blowing. Want to watch Hibike? If you like or don't mind a slow pace, teenage drama, and listening to a variety of instruments out of the mainstream, you'll love it.

Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995–1996)

Seat thyself within the damned golem, Shinji

[10/10 · 26 January 2019]

Everyone talks about EVA. And I'm here, helping to clutter the world with my view of it, and the only way to make it unique is to be really personal. Now I see it was the moment I watched Evangelion that made everything so special, when every character felt like looking on a mirror, and those twisted reflections made me rethink a lot of stuff about myself and people around me as well. Before EVA, I never thought that not knowing yourself was a real thing, until it made me delve and notice I knew nothing about my own brain. The difference on my attitude on the following months was very noticeable, and even many years later I still think there wasn't anything I could've watched, or even done on that moment to make such a difference. If you want to watch Neon Genesis Evangelion, don't do it on a happy day to chill, or expecting something to watch with your friends. But, above all things, don't watch it looking for a hero, cause you'll only find yourself.

March Comes in Like a Lion (2016–2018)

Start taking notes, It'll teach you how to live

[10/10 · 26 January 2019]

I can't preach enough how much this is one of the best character driven stories to be made in the modern era. Part of it is credit of the source material, for sure, the mangaka who made it is extremely sensible and wrote it beautifully. But studio Shaft has shown us how to adapt things well, first with the Monogatari Series and now with Sangatsu no Lion. There's enough good stuff here for me to make a book about every episode, but I must say that one thing in particular just made me lose my marbles, and I'm talking about the last episode from the second season. I won't spoil anything here, so all I can say is: It has the best prologue to a last episode that was ever made. And I'm not exagerating just to create shock value, I genuinely believe it and extend this to any other kind of episodic show, be it anime, live action, series, anything. If, for some reason, you never watched this anime, do it right now. Also, don't think I hyped it too much with all I just said, it will surprise you with everything else before getting there.

Re: Zero, Starting Life in Another World (2016– )

Ever seen a normal distribution graph?

[7/10 · 26 January 2019]

Re: Zero gave me some of that Steins;Gate feeling I was longing for, and made me go crazy theorizing about conspiracies and figuring how the world worked. It was growing within me faster than the episodes aired. And it was from studio White Fox, the same one that did Steins;Gate, another good sign. I can't pinpoint the episode, but it peaked sooner than I thought. I was very intrigued by everything by the middle, and some episodes were pure joy to watch. Slowly, it started to forget everything that made it cool and mysterious, flat out ignoring things that they told about the story and plowing through content as if there was no tomorrow. The last fourth of the anime was barely watchable, with a very lackluster ending. It made a perfect bell graph, or a roller coaster with a single bump if you prefer. The overall experience still makes it a nice watch and can hold the score enough, but it gets really painful if you think about the true potential it had.

Charlotte (2015–2016)

Great delivery, bad handling

[7/10 · 26 January 2019]

This anime suffered from overhype at its release. It came after Angel Beats, a very well known and loved anime by the weebs, with the promise to fix its problems and deliver an even better story. And, I must admit, kinda did; but then forgot it had a schedule and had to rush. Story-wise, it has some really neat concepts to work with, but could be a movie or a couple OVA's. Sometimes the longer format of an anime really helps to give you the feeling of something alive, get familiar with its characters and grow inside you. But the characters on this anime are really well introduced, and you immediately can feel close to them - the intense moments are really intense, and the emotions always feel like a punch. It simply delivers everything very well and right away. The episodes made to develop our relation characters feel very bad and useless compared to the ones delivering the hard stuff. I had to rewatch the whole thing to be sure, and I was right. There are two or three breathtaking episodes, filled with every kind of emotion you can wish for, dealing with touchy subjects with such finesse I had to take a bath and reset my mindset, but the rest is just... eh. Give it a shot, it's worth for the good parts. Those good episodes are outstanding, really great if compared to other modern anime and movies, but the remaining 75% of it is skippable.

Kizumonogatari Part 3: Reiketsu (2017)

There's more to this than meets the eye

[10/10 · 25 January 2019]

As the nature of every non-linear story, Monogatari can be very confusing. Now throw a lot of post modern art, symbolism, metaphors, and wordplay on a very subjective language to that and you'll have a very dense story, the kind that only appears once in a lifetime. If you're able to see through all the layers of 'animeism' of the series, this movie will give you gossebumps from start to end as it becomes the best way to both start and end a journey. A true lesson on how to manage non-linear narratives.

A Silent Voice: The Movie (2016)

Koe no Katachi is criminally underrated

[10/10 · 25 January 2019]

Makoto Shinkai shadowed this movie so hard it seems that Koe no Katachi lost its capacity to shine; he did a good job and all, but this is just one step above on every aspect. Doing an adaptation of another amazing work, inserting several manga inside a single movie of that quality is really hard, and only a few people did that throught history. Naoko Yamada is still the messiah anime needs but not the one weebs want. She's Jesus and Batman combined, and Liz and the Blue Bird will probably suffer of the same thing.