I was planning to post sooner about these three shows that I recently completed, but attending and writing about Anime Expo got in the way. So now that that excitement’s over, I feel obligated to write a few words about each of these series…
DRRR by ユッキー
Durarara!!
I didn’t become as enamored with Durarara!! as many other fans who were watching it, but I did like it very much. Unique story, fascinating characters, and a very stylish setting. What I especially liked about it is how the fates of the characters ended up being tied together so brilliantly in the end (via Izaya mostly). I also liked the entire concept of the Dollars, and the relationship between Mikado, Anri, and Masoumi was very well written.
I suppose one complaint I have about Durarara!! is that, while the main characters received great development, others in its large cast did not. I would have liked to see characters like Simon, Erika, and Walker given a chance in the spotlight, but I guess that’s what happens when you have such a large cast in a standard sized series. Also, the strange mix of fantasy (Saika, Celty, Shizuo’s Herculean strength) and realism (the rest of the show basically) just didn’t click with me for some reason.
I’m not familiar with the Durarara!! novels so I don’t know how close the anime followed them or if they ended the same way. The “return to the status quo” ending that the anime had left a lot of loose ends (Celty’s story particularly) so it feels like another season is possible. Hopefully it will be, and more of the character will be developed =)
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さん ⌒▽⌒ わん by ウラカタ
Working!!
Working!! is one of those anime where you’ll only like it if you like light, slice-of-life comedies with simple, episodic plots rather than an all-encompassing one. Even if you do like the genre, the humor and characters may not appeal to everyone. I just happened to be one of the ones who enjoyed it. I found the characters to be fun and not all that cliche, and despite the moe-ish Poplar, the rest of the cast is fairly unique. In fact, despite initial impressions, the show ends up focusing on the relationship between Takanashi and Inami, a relationship that’s actually quite interesting.
A-1 Pictures (most famous for Kannagi I believe) did a pretty good job on the animation. Good cast of voices (Eri Kitamura, Daisuke Ono, Jun Fukuyama) and the opening song is one of the most catchy I’ve heard in a while.
As expected, the last episode of Working!! left it open for a second season. The series gave me quite a few chuckles so I hope to receive more with a season 2!
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デタラメ人間の万国ビックリショー by mee
Fullmetal Alchemist 2/Brotherhood
And last but definitely not least, the long awaited manga-based remake of the Fullmetal Alchemist anime. Since I’ve never read the manga, I can’t help but compare FMA2 to the original TV series. After a slow start while getting to the manga-only material, the series gets better and better. From what I’ve heard, it follows the manga almost perfectly. Since I’m not a huge FMA fan, and I’m not very good at writing full reviews of longer series, I’ll leave the reviewing to others and just say that FMA has a brilliant, touching story and, much to my pleasant surprise, delivers a satisfying ending. For some odd reason, I’m not particularly attached to any of the FMA characters – I love them as a whole within the story I guess.
I still think the original anime is very good, but this new anime has less flaws and a more fleshed-out story and characters. Like the original, it has noticeably good opening and ending songs and above average animation. Despite not being one of its biggest fans, I’ll miss FMA. But at least we still have a new movie to look forward to!
I agree about Erika and Walker not being developed enough. I hink they were mainly for comic relief though, but since the series has such great characters I do hope that they will have more screentime in the future.
Usually I’m not a fan of series with a large cast, but Durarara is an exception since most of its characters have been given a lot of depth and all of the complex relationships.
I”ve only seen half an episode of Working ^^;;
I highly recommend the FMA manga~ I’m a huge fan of the series. I find it one of the deepest, most thought provoking series I’ve read/watched in ages. I love Arakawa for her amazing mind and all the little details and twists she threw into it.
I do prefer Brotherhood over the original anime, but one of the few things that I DID like about the first anime was the concept of the Homunculi.
And the only original FMA opening I liked was Melissa xD
@ Myna
Yeah, if there is another season of Durarara!!, development for characters like them are in order. With such a large cast already, they definitely don’t need to add many new characters XD
I’m really bad with reading manga, so I doubt I’ll ever read the FMA manga now that I’ve seen the anime version of it (which supposedly follows the manga very well). There were some things I too liked more in the original series, but not a lot. And I love just about all the FMA songs =P
Really? I find reading manga much easier than watching anime. It goes by quicker imo, and sometimes I just lack the patience for watching stuff ;P
And Brotherhood does indeed follow the manga extremely well. It was near perfect to the manga :D
@ Myna
I should say that I’m bad with reading manga online specifically. It hurts my eyes and I can’t stand scrolling through scans to see the entire page. If someone handed me a bunch of manga volumes, I would be much more inclined to read them =P
The second FMA was bad at adapting some manga chapters and skipped some things in the beginning, but overall, it was a pretty good adaptation. I hated how they did the Isbal flashback in the anime though. In the manga, it was a whole volume and was pretty good stuff.
Surprising that you’ve never read the manga after watching the first anime. xDThe manga was one of the best FMA experiences I had, hands down. lol, can’t blame you since you’re not really a big fan though. :P
@ Mikoto
One of my friends complained about the Ishbal flashback too. It’s too bad they didn’t do well with that, but at least the rest of it was a good adaptation.
As I said to Myna above, unless I really loved the anime (to the point of obsession) chances are I won’t pick up the manga. I tried to read through Fruits Basket and Soul Eater online, but I never got very far. I much prefer having the physical books in hand, but since I don’t spend money on manga, that doesn’t happen very often. That’s why I’m so glad that they made an anime for the manga-version of FMA. Even though I probably never would have gotten the motivation to read the manga, I was very curious to see the “real” FMA story.
@ Yumeka – does that mean that you’ve never finished Fruits Basket? And it’s a shame that you haven’t been reading Soul Eater. The current arc is fantastic.
And I totally understand about reading manga online. My eyes got so sore after I read about 79 chapters of FMA in one day x______x but the pain was completely worth it. And I keep up with my weekly/monthly series so I don’t have to marathon through it.
@ Myna
Not yet, but that’s one series I definitely would read all of if I had the actual books rather than read online. Just waiting for the day when I find someone to borrow them from (since I doubt I’ll ever want to spend the money for all the volumes).
I read a little of Soul Eater past where it diverged from the anime, but I didn’t keep it up. I guess I just didn’t like the series enough to read it online.
The only manga I continually read online was Inuyasha because it was my favorite series for many years and I didn’t fall behind, so I would only have to read one chapter a week.
Having just posted my own review of FMA: Brotherhood – two months later – now I can finally read this post of yours, which I didn’t want to read until I got my own post up(!). (I wanted to get my own thoughts posted before seeing what yours were on the series…)
Brotherhood does have a wonderful ending, doesn’t it? I almost want to read the manga now, having seen the series. :)