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jordanrjenkins
Reviews
Kuroko no basuke (2012)
"Super-powered" basketball with awesome character development!
I'm a die-hard basketball fan. I've watched a lot of basketball movies (Hoosiers, Glory Road, etc.) and the one thing they all have in common that absolutely bugs me is lack of defense in games. I lost hope and thought all basketball movies/TV shows were like that.
But, Kuroko's Basketball surprised me! Every character and team in the show displays tenacious, realistic defense in games! The characters and teams demonstrate strategic thinking, analytical observation, emotion, and heart within their games. I loved that! Basketball is mostly a mental game, like chess, and this show does that so beautifully! Every player, every team, every game has its own style and unique challenges! Every game is different, unique, and more entertaining than the last! Any game-winning play is never predictable--you're always in suspense and never know what'll happen until the game clock runs out! I loved the humor! Character interactions and awkward situations are hilarious! This show taps into a lot of your emotions. You'll laugh, you'll get angry, you'll be heart broken, and you'll be on the edge of your seat! When I say "super-powered basketball", I'm referring to how unique basketball skills and abilities are dramatized to look like superpowers. And it's awesome! Plus, characters get better and better throughout the series, and it's awesome to see them develop new exciting moves or new dominating abilities.
The music gets better and better every season! It sets the appropriate mood with precise timing.
You'll love this show!
Sword Art Online (2012)
Mostly bland with some flavor at times
Okay, so I watched the whole first season of this show, and I'll be basing my review off of the first season. After all, the first season is the main story of the series.
First, I'll express why I gave this a 6 star rating. After that, then I'll share what things this series did right:
The story revolves around Kirito and Asuna, and every other side character receives very little development or attention. Nearly all side characters contribute very little to the story's progression. They never alter the course of events or help the story to go in a certain direction. And sadly, Kirito and Asuna just aren't interesting enough to me. I understand that perhaps the author or writers wanted Kirito to be a calm, peaceful individual. I'm sure that made him connect to some viewers, but he didn't connect with me. I thought he and Asuna were boring. There wasn't very much gravity-pull from me as the audience to them. I think some of the other reasons I wasn't as interested in them was because we hardly knew who they were outside of the game. We didn't get to go deeper into the characters' backgrounds and understand why they were who they are at the present. I didn't learn what shapes their perspectives on life, or what makes them differ from one another in perspective.
I bagged on this for too long. Here's what I DID like: the anime looks beautiful! The attention to detail, color, and everything in the art is gorgeous! The music as well provides an epic, operatic tone to the battles, which helps to create more energy. The voice acting was professional. The voice actors connected with their roles and provided the right levels and expressions of emotion through their voices. There is very little filler in this series. The biggest weakness of one of my favorite anime (Bleach) is that there are WAY too many filler episodes. Sword Art Online has very few filler episodes. The series moves along at a consistent pace.