So since Im a follower, heres my review of Hyperdimension Neptunia: The Animation. Be warned, there *might* be ranting and walls of passionate text. And also note that this review is both strictly based on the anime and that in this review, I tried to look at it not as a Neptunia fan, but as an anime fan. With that out of the way, lets begin. I didnt like it. I didnt like it at all. No matter how I try to look at it, I cant see any proper effort being put into this. It just feels like theyre riding on the Neptunia train and milking it for all its got. Theres very little passion being put into this, and all in all, it just seems kind of half-assed. I literally had to stop watching for a while just to watch some good anime before going back (both because I was a Neptunia fan and felt that I needed to watch it, and because I was a healthy teenage male). I really cant get over how much anger (not hate) I feel towards what became of this anime. Mad Scientist has pointed out that this anime is sort of like a slice-of-life anime with the Neptunia characters and isnt meant to be taken seriously, and I agree. But their execution of a slice-of-life anime that isnt meant to be taken seriously is poor. And I dont think that the producers meant for the anime to be like that. A good slice-of-life anime should not just be fanservice- this anime fails in that expect in that they try to put tentacles into every other episode (its a figure of speech). Dont get me wrong; there SHOULD be fanservice. The only anime I know that is slice-of-life and has no fanservice is Nichijou, which I maintain may just be the best slice-of-life anime out there along with Danshi Koukousei no (oh, what a surprise) Nichijou in that we didnt need fanservice for humor and good ratings. Characters should be made lovable (or moe) without relying on fanservice; both the above anime does this by completely fleshing out their characters and making them quirky, fun to watch, and making them give us a sense of disbelief that can only come in a random and nonsensical anime. If were talking about believable characters, the slice-of-life anime that comes to mind is K-On!, although even I admit that the characters, in a way, are barely three-dimensional. Hyperdimension Neptunia: The Animation, however, completely fails in fleshing out their characters. And for me, who prefers characters over story, this is unforgivable. I blame the producers for this because the seiyuus work is okay (I darent call it good, but its not bad either), and they represent their characters quite well, although even then it seems half-assed. I blame the producers because they just want to put every single character from the games into the anime. When I think about it, this means that they dont have the faith that a second season would come out, so theyre just trying to make the best of it. This is wrong. This kind of thing should never happen. Always try to make something the best you can instead of giving up and just copping out, thinking youll get money anyway. As a result, characters end up one-dimensional and characters beside Neptune, Nepgear, and Noire barely get any screen time, with little to no effort made in developing the characters beyond the knowledge in the game. And since the anime is supposed to be SEPARATE to the games, this just wont do. Strangely enough, the storywriters seem to take this anime FAR TOO SEROUSLY. I have a differing opinion to Mad Scientists about how the pointless nature of the anime is the point; the evidence is that they did try to make two major plots; one involving the CFWs and one involving Peashy and Rei (I dont know if the Peashy and Rei arcs were supposed to be combined, though, since both are really short). They tried to make the anime dark, something I noticed especially in the first half of the anime. They tried to make the anime serious, they tried to make the anime something somebody can watch intensely, and they failed. And by failed, I mean FAILED. I mean, the premise is basically cute girls doing cute things with cute shenanigans getting in their way from time to time! You dont try to turn that into a serious anime! K-On! didnt, Nichijou didnt, Girls und Panzer didnt (although to be fair, it was still a pretty shit anime)... heck, even My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic didnt! No, the most painful thing is that THE GAMES DIDNT. In the games, even when things are getting pretty dark and serious, there will always be that ONE character who just ruins the mood and brings back the lightheartedness of the game. And trust me when I say that THIS WORKS. The dialogue is easily one of the best parts of mk2 and Victory, and one of the better parts of the first game. I mean, sure, maybe youre trying something new; maybe youre trying to take the anime in a serious direction. I can respect that. But in that case, what I cant respect IS ALL THE GODDAMN FANSERVICE IN THE MIDDLE OF THOSE SCENES. DID THEY EVEN REVIEW YOUR EPISODES BEFORE MAKING AND RELEASING THEM? And the fanservice couldve even saved the anime, if the art wasnt as bad. Now, let me just put this out there: the art *may* not be bad depending on what youve watched and what you like, but I didnt like it. The animation style is almost completely different from that of the games, which I absolutely adored. Heck, a lot of the art that I see on this page is HELL OF A LOT BETTER than the one in the anime. To give a proper example, the Noire picture I posted recently was far better than what I see in the anime, which has far too simplistic colours and a lazy animation style- its just like watching the first season of Haganai all over again, with the animation errors and such. And something else that gets me, although I dont know if it bugs anyone else, is the colours of Neptunes and Nepgears hair, Neptunes more so because of the shape. No, you could say the same for a lot of the backgrounds too, as well as a few other characters (colouring for Blanc and Noire, at least, is fine); they are too bright. Too bright, and overly simple. Neptunes hair especially gets me, though I dont really know why. Probably the only piece of animation I like from the anime is the openings. Its done quite well, and it shows. Although I would be lying if I said that they didnt do anything right, though. The first few episodes are easily the best of the bunch. The animation (except for Neptunes hair ARRRRRGH) is pretty solid, the voice work is good, and they actually set the tone for a light anime with lots of references right. I liked the first few episodes, and I thought from then on that it would be a pretty good run. Something to be said about the rest of the series, though, is that when the anime is trying to be lighthearted and fun, it delivers. I delivers the heck out of lighthearted and fun. It delivers like a crane, it delivers like a mailman, it delivers like a gynecologist. It just works, and I could only wish that they stick to that tone for the entire season. The dialogue is also what you can expect from a Neptunia game; when it wants to be cheesy, its cheesy, but we like it all the same because of the power of context. And when it wants to be funny, its funny. When it wants people to go Ah! Theyre talking about THAT!, it works! Dialogue is always really clever with Neptunia, and the animation shows the same. Plus, the anime tries to be original. Other than the generic tentacle capture scenes, most of the series of events are not seen that much, so it might be worth watching just to see those things done. Then again, most of its not done well either, but its an okay ride nonetheless. Music is insignificant. To conclude, Ill just do it like Mad Scientist did, with a rating and a little summary to explain my choice. Story (3/10) - The producers took themselves far too seriously for such a lighthearted and fun anime. Sure, there were times where they let go, and when they do that its a genuinely fun anime. But those times are rare in between, so I dont like the story. Characters (4/10) - The problem here is far too many characters and not enough time. As a result, characters seem one-directional (I mean dimensional) and boring except for a few of the mains. Regardless, the characters all remain likable for their few quirks, which I always enjoy. Just... cmon, producers! Give them time to develop and flesh out! Dialogue (7/10) - As expected, dialogue is always fun to listen to. Not much to say here, but I like the talking scenes far more than all the other scenes. Art (2/10) - Shit. Animation (3/10) - Character movement outside the battle scenes are choppy, simplified, and undeveloped. As far as I can see, only one or two things are moving at any given time, and thats just not natural. Music (2/10) - Insignificant and forgettable. It wouldve been better to reuse the tracks directly from the game, but that would probably be the cause for more ranting from me. The only reason Music gets a two is because of the opening theme, which I like because it fits, but even thats not enough to save the soundtrack. Voice Acting (5/10) - As the score suggests, I think the voice acting is just average. I think the seiyuus just got lazy through the second half of the anime, but sadly, thats what leaves the last impression. I maintain that its much better in the games than in the anime. Enjoyment Factor (Variable) - I didnt like it, but I wont deny that there ARE people who watch for the fanservice. These people would like this anime. I, personally, dont. Final Score (4/10) - I dont regret watching it *that* much, but I definitely wont recommend it, even to a Neptunia fan. Stick with the games, Id say. Again, some people may have different tastes, and those people may like it. Im just saying that Im part of the minority of Neptunia fans who openly admit that they dislike the anime. Now here is my list of anime that does things right, in context to the anime: (Note - the review has technically ended, and the below is just my preference) Story : Its better to have no story than a bad story, so Nichijou proves to be the superior one in that aspect. But if you want a serious story with still-lovable characters, I definitely recomment Steins;Gate. Even with Steins;Gate, though, there were constraints that made the character interaction and relationship development less than the Visual Novel (which I maintain is the best visual novel I have ever played, even compared to Katawa Shoujo, because of the Suzuhas Shippaishita scene, which is MUCH more effective in the visual novel than in the anime). When I see Feiris giving up her D-Mail and all that development compressed into one episode, I get pretty disappointed. I mean, in the visual novel, there is the amazing scene where Feiris and Okabe actually explain the reason Feiris father was alive and why he needed to die. And in one of the most touching moments of the VN, Feiris father accepts that he should not have been alive, and leaves Feiris in Okabes care, spending the last few moments of his life with his daughter and the man she has fallen in love with. Then theres the Kurisu stuff, but thats been covered pretty well in the anime and holy shit Ive just written so much about Steins;Gate, so I better go back to the review. Characters : This anime had a big cast. Sure, thats alright. But they failed to execute. Some people, including me earlier, might say that the sheer size was the reason why all the characters couldnt really be fleshed out, but then Id have to point out Durarara! and one of my favourite anime of all time, Baccano! to you. Baccano! is one of my favourite because of its large cast AND how they managed to make all of them likable, believable, and genuinely smart and good characters. Isaac and Miria easily go at the top of the list of my favourite anime couple, and theyre ranked high in my favourite anime characters list because of their concept, their behaviour, their voice acting... everything about them is wonderful. And its probably worth mentioning that they only get as much screen time as shared between the 15 or so other characters in the anime. Isaac and Miria have been put int he delicate balance of quirkiness, hilariousness, and genuine badassness. They are shown to be really pure and good people, and while that may not work as well or actually be boring in other characters (Im looking at you, Kirito), Isaac and Miria comes damn close to perfecting the role of good guys in anime. Its worth noting that in the Light Novels, Isaac is only pretending to be idiotic so that Miria can live a happy and exciting life, and that he went without Miria knowing in order to protect her, along with Firo. Needless to say, I love Isaac and Miria, as seen by my holy shit thats another long wall of text. Nichijou did characters well for a large cast too, but I dont have the space to talk about it here. A list of other likable casts from anime I havent and will not mention in depth include Gurren Lagann, Arakawa Under the Bridge, Baka Test, Fate, Cowboy Bebop, FMAB, and Kaminomi. Of course, there are many others, but I had to refer to my completed anime list, and thats what came up. Dialogue - Again, I have to point out Baccano!. The interactions between these colourful characters are amazingly well thought-out, and I enjoyed every second of it. Then again, the Neptunia anime didnt do anything wrong in this respect either, so I shouldnt talk about it too much. Oh, but if you want to see an anime with AMAZING dialogue, then let me recommend Bakemonogatari. Most of the episodes involve speaking despite the fantastical premise, and everything said is absolute horseshit. But the horseshit is amazing in every sense, and by dialogue alone, characters can easily be developed and understood. Art & Animation - In this case, Id have to give a long sigh and point out the mainstream anime of late, Sword Art Online and Shingeki no Kyoujin (Attack on Titan). I liked SnKs animation more, though. Thats for the battle scenes- for the more subtle and fun-time animations, I have to point out Nichijou... again. K-On had an awesome art style too, but its been emulated by KyoAni so many times its lost a tiny bit of its charm. I still think that the K-On animation is the best of all the lookalikes, though. Also, I have to point out Ghiblis movies as well as Shinkais, but theyre anime MOVIES, which means more time and such, so it wouldnt be fair Music - youtube/watch?v=kKzum5xCGjQ. Cmon. If you want an opening with a more nonsensical style, then any of Nichijous openings, or even K-Ons, will do. I especially think that Cagayake! Girls will be a fitting opening for the anime, although its not exactly contextual. An example of an awesome soundtrack in undoubtedly in Fate/Zero or Steins;Gate, but thats for the more serious, action-y type anime. For the slice-of-life ones, the soundtrack I like comes from Haganai, Haruhi, Lucky Star, K-On, Arakawa, Detroit Metal City (I HAD TO SAY IT), and others. Voice Acting - I cant really say the names of anime here, but I can say the seiyuus I really like. Hiroshi Kamiya is easily my favourite male seiyuu, with his distinctive style and how he can easily fit into most characters ranging from threatening but lighthearted people like Souma from Working!! to mysterious unaligned troublemakers like Izaya from Durarara! to even scary badasses like Levi from SnK. I cant really say who my favourite female seiyuu is, though, because there are a lot of good voice actors out there. Enjoyment Factor - My favourite slice of life anime of all time, which I havent mentioned here because it didnt fit in context, is Cromartie High School. I cant even say anything about it because of how nonsensically awesome it is. It perfected the nonsensical opening, character interactions, quirky art, and so on. To prove how amazing this anime is, Cromartie High School is the only anime that all of /a/ in 4chan can agree is a good anime. All. Of. /a/. In hindsight, the Neptunia anime was probably doomed to not be excellent from the start, because they had to derive from the games. But they could still be good, like Sakurasou when compared to the Light Novels... Its just that it isnt. All I can say is to try again, and this time, try to stick to what works. Theres no need for any dark or serious sequences in the anime, just keep with the lighthearted, happy tone of the games and it should be fine. Need I remind you the last time the games tried to move in a dark direction? (those who played mk2 should know) Anyway, that was long. But thats it. I hope you enjoyed reading it, and I would like for some of your guys to write your own views below and we can discuss it in the comments sections. Happy December! ~Wallaby Again, holy shit that was long.
Posted on: Mon, 02 Dec 2013 17:37:40 +0000
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