Flawfinder

Ever since it first arrived on the anime scene, Boku Dake ga Inai Machi aka ERASED has taken the community by storm. A little more than halfway through the series and it's already regarded as one of the greatest anime in years. Which makes sense because it has a lot of positives that make up anime: good animation, intriguing premise, and dynamic direction. It seems like the noitamina that fans wanted back after a recent string of mediocrity over the last year or so.

But there's no getting around the fact that ERASED is an emotionally manipulative drama. This is not a negative or a positive in of itself because all good/bad dramas set out to force the viewer to feel something. What matters is how said feels occur and ERASED has made both good and bad choices in regards to its execution. Whether or not this will pay off in the end remains to be seen, but recently there's been more bad than good. The amount of focus in regards to one of the girls has gotten ridiculous considering there have been other victims as well, and prevalent problems that were easily dismissed at first have started to become impossible to ignore.

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Upon release, Guilty Crown quickly became one of the most controversial anime to exist amongst the fandom and still withstands a considerable amount of backlash to this day. Part of it has to do with the huge amount of hype surrounding the talent behind it. Part of it has to do with it airing on the noitamina timeslot back when it was well-respected. A lot of it has to do with its incredibly cliche writing, lackluster/stupid characters, and awkward plot turns combined with a self-serious tone that never once acknowledges its stupidity.

And yet, most people watched it. Most people laughed at it. Why? Because there was something about stupidity taken this seriously that really compelled us. And over time, this reviewer has come to appreciate Guilty Crown on its own terms whilst understanding that it's less a bad anime and more a well-made show that wasn't what fans wanted at the time. It's fast-paced, all the important characters are developed well enough, the technicals are consistently good for the most part, and most of all, it's a show that seeks to offend on purpose. Guilty Crown is an anime that seeks to challenge the fanbase without losing its identity as a genre piece, not unlike Metal Gear Solid 2. And whilst it's not a perfect one, shaping your viewpoint in that direction allows Guilty Crown to stand on its own as a solid satire piece in a medium full of weak entries.

Rating: 4/5

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Blood Blockade Battlefront (also known as Kekkai Sensen) is Bones' biggest hit in several years, selling over ten thousand DVDs/Blurays on the first volume with a bright future ahead for the remaining ones. With the director of Kyousogiga, the original manga being written by the man who brought us Trigun, and a well-respected studio who has produced some of anime's biggest hits in the past, it seemed like a dream combination for all the nerds to fanboy over. But whilst the result has achieved a large fanbase thanks to its madcap energy, the actual quality of the show is anything but ideal.

Including the opinions on this review, the show has achieved a not-so insignificant amount of fan backlash for its decision to focus on style at the expense of substance, its shallow characterization, and the three-month delay between the penultimate episode and its finale due to scheduling/production issues. And despite the show's visual and technical positives, BBB managed to actively throw away everything that could have made it a good time to the point that it became one of the worst anime the writer managed to finished this year.

It's a show that thinks that as long as it looks cool, it doesn't have to actually try. Well it's right, given its popularity. But that won't stop this reviewer from calling it out on its fundamental failures.

Rating: 3/10

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Planetes is a great show on the whole, but certain parts of it aren't looked at enough, particularly its ending credits. Through a triumphant-sounding song combined with visual imagery and impressive time-skipping techniques, every time you finish an episode, you're treated to cheery reminder of what drives the main character despite everything he goes through. Whilst he may grow older and suffer setbacks in his life, his childhood dreams still exist. And although he is far from fulfilling them in his current position, that doesn't mean he can't grab whatever he can get whilst waiting for the day said position now longer restrains him.

Whilst the ending only captures a small part of what humans go through whilst growing older and is never given physical form within the actual show, it is still an impressive piece of animation that shows exactly what you can accomplish with credit rolls. Most anime credits, whether they be openings or endings, are lifeless on a visual level – telling us nothing other than "this exists" without any actual meaning to its existence. Always saying "hey, this character is in the series" or "hey, we're foreshadowing a plot twist that will totally become relevant nine episodes in". Planetes' ending credits rises above those trappings and not only breathes life in its visuals, but even if you don't know the main character on account of never having actually watched the show, you can still get an idea of who he is and what you have to look forward to as you follow his journey of making it as a space garbageman just by watching said credits alone.

Most people skip ending credits after finishing an episode. If more of them were Planetes', they'd be less likely to do so.

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