Zíza

It's definitely not a series without its flaws; even the beginning didn't particularly grab me, but as it went on it just sucked me in and I couldn't stop watching. I watched the second half of the series in one sitting and I'm so glad I didn't watch it when it came out because the wait for the next episode would have killed me. Matsushima, though she was yet again playing a teacher – I may not know her otherwise – really shone. I finally felt like she managed to extract all the acting talent she has in her. She was perfectly complemented by my favorite Japanese actor, and I could have snorted with delight. Who's the culprit? What was really going on? And it all started with selfishness... I kept changing my mind about who the culprit was until the very end, and at the end it really surprised me who the real culprit was. Like Karel Gott accepting a Nightingale: "I really wasn’t expecting this." And that hasn't happened to me in a long time.

Very bad. Maybe the animation looks stylish and cool, and maybe the soundtrack isn't bad, but those are about the only things I find positive about it. The characters? The story? The trains and the tracks? Ha ha ha. Bad, very bad. If you put together your favorite ice cream, your favorite main course, add a quart of your favorite mustard or ketchup, stir, boil, salt, pepper, burn, and what you scrape off the pot is exactly the quality of this anime. I haven't had something so horribly bad in a long time.

It started out interesting; not a very original concept, but at least this girl wasn't a nun (remember You're Beautiful) and wasn't constantly agape at all the things she was encountering in the world of "boys". The music is typical K-pop (oh, right, the name...), but also nothing miraculous. It was cute (at times the couple's interactions were awesome), sometimes insane and overwrought, laughable, confusing. It was flagging a bit towards the end, but it still somehow held on to 3 stars. So why did I only give it 2 stars? The abrupt ending. I don't know what happened, but they cut the series by 2 episodes, so it just ends as stupidly as it possibly could. I would have been happy for that length, but it would have to wrap up all the problems it introduced, so it just sucks. And what a disappointment. Add to that how I wasn't always entertained... and that I was bored and rolling my eyes by the end. A weaker 2 stars. The heroine may have done a decent job of pretending to be a boy by the standards of a Korean series, but those boobs... no one could have missed that. Boing. And the shower scenes have leveled up, I must admit – not just one guy anymore, but now 7. What show can top that? :-P

It definitely has a message, and it's up to the individual how they take it. But it's so bland, unoriginal, it's clear from the start how it's going to end. I wouldn't mind that, but if only it weren't dull, uninteresting. Everything is like it’s made from a template – the story, the music, the animation, the dubbing, the designs of the characters, their behavior, the jokes ... It's as if the creators said to themselves: "Okay and now let's get everyone drunk on dinner rolls. This was popular here, this is what the audience was happy with here, this is what worked here, this is my favorite joke, we have to put that in there too... and now we're going to take it all and make a great stew! And everybody will love it!!!" NOPE. I liked stuff like Tangled, How to Train Your Dragon, even the stupid Nemo or the even stupider Kung Fu Panda much better – at least they had some spark. A weak 2 stars.

Bland and flavorless, no suspense, cliché upon cliché that you can't even digest properly because the movie just won't let you, Cam Gigandet can't act, and the ending is a waste. The music didn't impress either. And I kinda regret the money I paid for it. The action was slow, and it wasn’t really any good. The vampires weren't that great, either. It's just a very, very weak film. Somehow, after sleeping it off, I can't even remember what (if anything) I enjoyed about it...

I'm used to Miyazaki's work being tinged with "let's protect nature – sort trash – don’t burn forests", but this time it was too much. Again, no expense is spared when it comes to fantasy, I really liked the white creatures in the forest, the story was also interesting, the ending was kind of bittersweet (which I didn't mind at the time), yet for me this is one of the weakest films I've seen from Miyazaki so far. It just didn't touch me, not this time. His work has always left something in me, now not a peep. Still, it's a quality piece of work that's definitely worth seeing; me once. A weaker 4 stars.

Set design great, nicely shot, a beautiful creature... and then there’s the rest of it. Messy and flaccid, of questionable artistic value, quietly loud, stereotypical – like it's all set in some artificial town full of robots playing humans. And yet they are all completely horny. I don't understand the Oscars (except for the sets), but neither do a lot of other people, so it's okay. 50%.

To me, this movie is just a very extended and edited version of a video of Angela playing and singing her song “Tegami" to the students. You won't get by without tears, reflecting on life, maybe remembering what you did when you were 15 or wondering what you’ll be doing in 15 years. A film from a high school setting that can definitely warm you up. We get a nice setting with a song. Plus, this film made me realize how often a character portrayed by Kiritani Kenta can very smoothly push the "little things" further and lift the spirits. From what I have heard from his colleagues in various interviews, he is like that himself. A strong 3 stars.

I'm familiar with the source material, both manga and anime, but certainly familiarity like this doesn't affect the rating and overall "digestion" of the film. It's the kind of goofy thing where you just don't know whether to laugh or roll your eyes. Luckily Rena Nōnen made the whole experience enjoyable for me; she really has it in her, I guess it's those peepers of hers that do it. Plus, Masaki Suda is another "teen" I watch and I was pleased with his performance here (he was walking on pins and needles!). We simply get a glimpse into the lives of nerds (played as if they've fallen out of the manga), maybe even fall a little in love, but like everywhere else, we don't get a satisfying result. If you're not in the mood for something wacky, don't even bother watching it. Unfortunately, it felt like a big bore at times – the footage is really overdone. A weaker 3 stars.

I want seconds! :-) A house full of weirdos is visited by Kuranosuke, who also has his own perversion. No one in this anime was normal, and that may have caused me to see them all as perfectly normal over time. I had fun with them, and I wanted to see what would happen next. This anime is the only one from the 2010 fall season where I listened to both the opening and the ending every time. Both are absolutely brilliant and fitting – both visually and musically. The quirkiness of the characters was so nice and accessible that I looked forward to the next episode every time. A better 4 stars. It's not for nothing that I would call josei my favorite genre ^^