 I started watching this anime because my nephew’s into it, and I have to say, I really liked it!
The protagonist, Yuji Itadori is a happy-go-lucky character that wants to do good, and doesn’t take life too seriously; he’s really likeable, as every good protagonist should be! I also like the fact that it’s set in the present, in Tokyo, and not some fantasy world. The artwork and animation are all superb, as is the story. The first season has High School vibes about it, which is fun. Nothing more to say, except, get on it!
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 I started watching this because I loved ‘Gomorrah’ (La Serie), and felt like more of the same. Also, I thought the setting of Rome would be grander and more epic.
Obviously, it wasn’t as good as ‘Gomorrah’, and I never expected it to be, and because of the limited use of locations, Rome didn’t look that impressive either. That said, there was enough meat on the bones to keep me watching for all three seasons, and to be fair, it was a good watch, which I enjoyed. The main problem with the show, was the fact that none of the characters were that likeable! They were all corrupt and self-centred, so there’s no clear hero. ‘Aureliano’ who’s clearly the main character, is a d!ck most of the time; as are the rest of the characters! I’ve since discovered that this series is a spin-off of a movie that came out a few years before the show, and the show is actually a prequel! So I’m looking forward to watching the film next. Not sure if I’ll watch the follow-up show, ‘Suburraeterna’, as reviews seem poor, but we’ll see. That said, I still have a hunger to see more Italian crime dramas!  I watched this anime because my niece and nephew were raving about it.
At first, I wasn’t really feeling it; the protagonist, Tanjiro, was a bit too much of a cry baby and a whinger for my liking, but he soon reveals himself to be a total bad-ass! The second season hits you in the feels with what happens to Rengoku, but my favourite was probably the third season. The artwork, animation and especially the fight scenes, are absolutely superb! Our little gang of heroes (Tanjiro, Nezuko, Zenitsu and Inosuke) are all very likeable, and the way they banter and get along is one of the reasons the show works so well. The lore and mythos created by the show are also very compelling. My only gripe is the aforementioned whinging by some of the main characters; they constantly catastrophise and flagellate themselves mentally whenever something goes wrong. The show can also break out into babyish scenes, but I think that’s a cultural thing with Manga and anime. Overall, a brilliant show; watching the main characters grow in strength, ability and maturity each season is very satisfying! Definitely check it out!  I remember when the X-Men cartoon first came out, back in the early 1990s. I was SO excited, because I was an avid comic book reader at the time, and was collecting X-Men comics.
There was an X-Men cartoon that had come out a few years earlier, called ‘Pryde of the X-Men’, but it was only a one-off. The artwork in that cartoon was amazing, and in those days, thing’s only ever improved with every passing year, so I was expecting the ‘new’ X-Men cartoon to have art work of a similar standard, if not better! I was so disappointed when I saw it. The artwork and animation was sh!t! The storylines were also just diluted, weaker copy’s of the comics. Being a fan, I was loyal to the brand, so I watched the series in its entirety, but I never really liked it. It was Ok. Since then, the X-Men cartoon of the 90s has only grown in appreciation (not by me though), so much so that Disney/Marvel brought it back! I wasn’t going to watch it, but my older brother (who was also into comics back then) and his kids, said I should give it a go, so I did. It was actually good! The artwork (my main gripe with the original) and animation are both improved, as are the scripts! I don’t read X-Men any more, so I have no idea how ‘accurate’ the story is to the comics, but frankly I’m better off not knowing, because then I get to enjoy the cartoon for what it is! Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised, and look forward to the next season!  I loved this series!
At times, it felt a bit slow, but the narrative was so well constructed and the characters were so compelling (I was fully invested in their journey) that I didn’t mind at all. On top of that, the narrative had enough twists and turns to keep you wanting to watch the next episode, so definitely bingeworthy (if that’s how you consume your programming. Personally, I prefer to savour each episode). I won’t spoil it, but if you want a realistic sci-fi about where our world is heading with all this A.I. nonsense, you HAVE to watch this! The fact that it’s also animated is all the more reason to enjoy it! The ending was perfection. What more can I say? Just watch it! It’s a masterpiece!!  I was definitely aware of ‘Cowboy Beebop’ in the late 90s and early 2000s, but unfortunately it was never on my list of things to watch. It’s only after Netflix made a live-action series, and everyone began to go on about how great the anime is, did I finally get around to watching it.
Everyone was right. The anime is great! Right from the opening titles, you know you’re in for a treat! The art style, the energy, the wise-cracking protagonists; it’s so much more original than anything on at the moment, and it’s from the 90s! Man, the 90s really were a golden time… The episodes are self-contained, and I have to say, not all of them are amazing, but it’s always fun to spend time with the characters, and there is an overall arc, even if the show isn’t one long narrative. Honestly, I loved it. It’s so good! Hard to believe in a couple of years it will be thirty years old!! (Fcuk, time flies)  Ah ‘Gomorrah’, what a series. Definitely up there with the best of them. It charts the rise and fall of drug dealers in the Italian city of Naples, as they are undone by ego, ambition and betrayal, in a truly epic series.
Of the five seasons, the fifth and final one is probably the weakest, but even then, it’s still great. Honestly, I can’t say a bad word about this show. I thoroughly enjoyed watching every episode, and although it centres around the seedier parts of Naples, it still makes me want to visit the place! I don’t do, and have never done drugs, so in terms of authenticity, I have no idea how true any of the characters or scenarios are; which is probably why I enjoy it so much. I’m not hindered by how accurate any of it is, because I have no idea! The setting of Italy also helps in this regard. When I watch shows set in London, I can’t suspend my disbelief because they’re all so bullsh!t. London is nothing like the way it’s depicted on screen! In this case, I have no idea if Naples is really like that, so I can be carried away by whatever the show presents. Like any great story, what makes it great are the characters and how deeply you’re invested in their journey. What keeps the viewer captivated, however, is that no character is safe; the jeopardy is what makes you want to keep on watching, and what I like about this show (and Game of Thrones was the same) is that they’re not afraid to kill characters, even if the audience is invested in them, if it makes for a better story. There are very few instances of plot armour (the most egregious of which is the most obvious, regarding ‘the immortal’, but then, the clue is in the name). Absolutely recommend this show; in Italy, it’s super popular, but in the UK, very few people have even heard of it. It’s brilliant!  So after starting and then abandoning so many shows on Apple TV, I finally found one that I’d happily keep watching!
The Studio was the perfect antidote to a Hollywood that no longer seems to know how to make good movies, and this satire on the industry, by people in the industry, is reassuring because it shows that at least some of them have a clue! The show is incredibly well written, well-made and funny! The second episode alone is pure cinema!! (Seriously, it’s the best bit of filmmaking in film or TV that I’ve seen in YEARS!) If you love cinema, and are a fan of Seth Rogen humour, then this is a no-brainer. Best show on Apple TV by a country mile, and the best show this year on any platform, with ease.  In Britain, we can’t talk about the negative aspects of high immigration levels without being labelled a racist, or discuss the benefits of a state owned industries without being called a communist; the result of which is a country in perpetual chaos and denial. We can’t fix our problems, because we’re never allowed to discuss them honestly; instead, our politicians obfuscate their ineptitude and incompetence by keeping the electorate fighting amongst one another. All of this orchestrated by our completely untrustworthy media and (right wing) news barons.
To add to our problems, we’re trapped here! Scandinavia looks like a great place to live, even temporarily, but none of us will be able to, thanks to bloody Brexit! Anyway, this was another great series by the always affable Simon Reeve! He keeps it honest and charming, highlighting the positives (such as the aforementioned state-owned industries), but not shying away from acknowledging the negatives (violent gangs brought in by mass migration). In other, completely unrelated news, I need to find me a Danish chick so we can get married and live happily ever after in Copenhagen!  I’m still trying to rinse my free trial of Apple TV before it expires. I got to episode 6 of ‘Bad Monkey’ and stopped midway. A storyline that would have been wrapped up in a single episode of Tom Selleck’s ‘Magnum P.I.’ (from the 80’s) had so far been dragged out to six hours!! Why? Because streaming services need to create hours and hours of content for people to scroll their phones to!! So the only story points occur at the start and end of each episode; the filler is for the audience to stare at their phones.
Because I actually devote 100% of my attention to what I’m watching (in my home cinema set-up), I find this type of storytelling infuriating! So I stopped watching and decided to watch the number one rated show on Apple, with a massive 8.7 on IMDB! Unfortunately, Severance also suffered from the same drip-feeding of information that seems to plague every show in the modern era. Before I got to the season finale, I was about to give up, feeling that the show should be called Contrivance, as that’s all this series is. The writing, especially, just seemed lazy. I mean, there’s enough to keep you watching, but it was by no means the masterpiece audience reviews would have you believe. For instance, a character makes a decision: they’re going to destroy a piece of information. Ok, so that means the story takes a different direction? No. They, later in the same episode, retrieve the information they discarded. So what was the point of discarding it? Just to misdirect the audience for twenty minutes. In the next episode, a character chucks a phone in the bin. Later in that episode, he retrieves the phone from the bin. The writers tease the possibility of sending the characters in an interesting direction, and then pull the rug from under you. Another example is when (SPOILER) a character supposedly dies at the end of one episode, which provides a good cliff-hanger, only for them to be completely fine in the next episode. As said earlier, movies, TV shows, even the news, is made for an audience that is only partially paying attention. But just when I lost hope, the final two episodes of Season 1 pulled it out of the bag. They say that the audience will forgive anything for a good ending, and they are right! The season 1 finale was damn good! Will I watch Season 2? Probably not. I expect the writers to simply undo everything that happened and return to the status quo. Also, this show reminds me of ‘Lost’ (a show built on J.J. Abram’s infamous ‘Mystery Box’ style of storytelling); meaning they will continue to convolute and contrive, without actually knowing the answer to the mysteries they’re creating. It can only end in disappointment. |
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