ShoddyPenmen Anime blog

ShoddyPenmen blog is a online anime article outlet. find here articles about upcoming anime titles, first impressions on new series, and series summary articles and more!

[theshoddypenmen]

2021 spring spotlight: Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s song.

Each anime season, us fans of the art are showered in a torrent of titles every few months. Some are titles that are continuing that we love. Others are new works looking introduce its story to the viewers in hopes in capturing new hearts. While each is unique, there are some that emerge and separates itself from its peers and demands the attention of the community for its quality. Vivy: Fluorite Eye's song is a work that offers high tier entertainment on all levels for the viewer. A candidate to be considered for anime of the year as well most certainly best of the season, This piece not only has all the components that make A great anime, but all those components are elite and should be something others in the industry should aspire to. Plot and Premise Our adventure takes place in A futuristic setting where artificial intelligence technology is at an advanced stage and is growing rapidly. The story is centered around a female android Vivy, whose program is to sing for humans and make them happy in doing so. One day suddenly a virus, that has over taken an android teddy bear (gosh i love anime) approach's Vivy and reveals to her that in 100 years there will be an AI uprising that will kill all humanity. That virus was sent back 100 years to find Vivy and together change key events in history to avoid the genocidal war and save the world. The story is actually a topical one, exploring the idea of Artificial Intelligence in similar ways we are in real human life. Taking a look at moral questions like " should AI's have rights" and " how do we feel about Ai's and human relationships?". Human beings becoming dependent on these artificial beings is another fascinating concept this piece touches upon. Truly a fun fascinating story, especially for Sci-fi fans.    While the premise of the story isnt necessarily unique, what makes this piece great is the way the story is told. The progression episode to episode unveiling the story is perfect. The changes in the environment and technology as the years and episodes continue is excellent and while the time travel aspect could be considered a weak point for the story ( how does a virus travel back in time?) your interest in the plot is still maintained throughout. In order to stop the future crisis, the characters are challenged to make difficult life or death decisions to change the past story line. Having that task not be clear all the time, or changing that particular event not having the precise expected outcome is a fun aspect of the series. Characters The story is centered around the pop star singer android VIvy. What makes Vivy such a fascinating character is that she is some how A lifeless emotionless being, but still remains full of emotion and depth. At the heart of her character she is just designed to sing and entertain humans, which on its surface isnt at all deep. But during her journey you begin to relate through the idea of everyone and everything has its purpose. Everyone wants to know what there purpose in life is. Like a lot of people in real life we believe we will find fulfillment in finding that purpose. This is a layered concept that will resonate with astute audiences. However, there is a parallel idea that we are not a monolith and we are capable of many different things, and just like Vivy, things we had no idea we were capable of. Vivy is strong. Dedicated to her mission and both grabs the heart of the audience through her love and kind nature, and garners respect through her actions. complex, likable protagonist.   Throughout the story Vivy and her virus companion Matsumodo  meet various characters, and each of these characters are used to discuss the questions regarding humanity and the future of artificial intelligence. meeting a scientist who falls in love with an AI. dealing with terrorist groups that are anti-Artificial intelligence and carry out operations to destroy the industry. Vivy interacts with politicians who lobby for policy regarding the humanity and rights that the machines are entitled to. Each encounter is a fascinating look into the possibilities people may have to deal with going forward with the technology. Vivy meets a variety of other AI models. Some of the models are even directly descended from Vivy's technology and the piece takes looks at Inter-AI  relationships and the complexities of them. music and visuals Vivy: Flourite Eye's song has some of the most compelling music of the season. This fact is only rivaled by having some of the best fighting scenes and just visual designs  this spring as well. The music is high quality throughout the story. The singing is beautiful and strong in every character. The scores that play under the scenes are always on point and really sells the moment to the audience. The scores are noticeably great and adds to the overall viewing experience. The tracks under the fight scenes really get you pumped and are real jams. The tracks under the more emotional scenes are beautiful and brings out the type of response that is appropriate for the scene. Having a nice pop song that jams as its opening, and a absolutely beautiful piano ending the music in this work is just elite.   Fighting scenes are the easiest way to get your audience hype and frankly i was really surprised at the level of those scenes in this show. VIVY KICKS ASS. The action can feel really intense watching and each moment is animated very well. The way Vivy's super speed and strength and quick super human reflexes is conveyed in the fights are really exciting to watch.  Also lets just be honest, i will always love super android robot fights with explosions and lasers. That's kind of the whole reason we are all here right? Either way the fight scenes in this are incredible. They grab your attention and do not let go.   The scenery drawn is top notch. The futuristic backgrounds are cool and sure to please sci-fi fans.    Vivy is a solid project all-around. Great music, good protagonist, fun story, beautifully drawn fun action. Anime of this quality are not common. especially ones with female leads that don't make me feel like the show has been overly sexualized. I don't leave this anime feeling like i watched the female lead sexually objectified at all. meanwhile, Vivy showed she was strong, brave, kind and strangely relatable.....for a robot. Highly recommend this piece and kudos to its staff all-around.

[manga-and-stuff]

Source: Berserk / ベルセルク  

by Kentaro Miura 

[theshoddypenmen]

2021 spring season anime spotlight: Shadows house

Being an avid anime fan, it is always safe to assume the following: things that are different and unique will always be looked upon in a positive light. After consuming as much Anime and manga content as I have, anything that makes me say to myself "I haven't seen this before", while still being abled to enjoy it makes any series worth noting. Combine all that with enchanting dark music and beautiful gothic scenes and undertones and you have the makings of A real quality project. Shadow house manages to provide us with all of the previous as well as a story so far that is as compelling as any show premiering this season and is a welcomed addition to my fandom archive Premise and plot so far Shadow house is centered around the concept of a royal family of shadow beings that are made of soot (gosh I love anime). The family seems to similar to a European nobility. The family resides in a massive estate with A large castle at its center. The shadow family is Served by its Army of very human looking " living dolls." The doll primary functions are to clean the enormous estate and generally be of service to there masters. Each living doll is initially assigned to a member of the family as their personal servant. The dolls job being to serve as the personal facial expression tool of their individual masters, since the shadows  do not have faces of their own. The story follows A newly activated living doll named Emilico. Emilico being a new doll must learn what it means to be a doll in the service of the members of the shadows family. Learning the proper ways to clean after there masters, as well as understanding the importance of being the emotional visual conduit for there specific charge. Eventually we come to understand that just like in real life nobilities, there is a interfamily rivalry taking place among the shadows. The viewer is taken on this journey of understanding the family political dynamic as well learning how the dolls work, how they are created and most importantly, what is the true purpose of these human like machines. Characters Shadows house introduces A wide variety of characters relatively quickly. There are many members of the shadow family that are living on the estate and even more living dolls serving them. The audience is introduced to several of the apparently young shadow family members and their personal corresponding living doll. The relationship between the shadow and doll seems to be a close intimate one, where the dolls primary job is to serve as the face of their shadow master. The dolls must act out the emotions and expressions of their shadow master, mimicking their masters poses as well. The relationships in the show are unique to each set of shadow and servant. while most dolls are totally sub servant to their master, the way each combination interacts is different. Some shadow masters are strict with their dolls, punishing and scolding them when they make the slightest misstep, other masters are lenient and try to teach their dolls gently to better serve them. There are masters who are open to there shadows inner thoughts and feelings, even to go as far to value the input and advice of their servant. while other masters only view their dolls as the personal loyal servant and value nothing from their doll other than complete obedience and fealty. The variety of characters and relationships are fun and a good way to make the story diverse. Music and visuals You just have to love a show that has style, and its probably safe to say that Shadow houses best trait is how stylish it is. The music in an anime is critical to an show at all levels. Whether its A suspenseful score playing underneath A pulse pounding scene, or the ending song to groove out to at the end, the music of the show is a big part of enjoyable it is. Shadows house is spot on with all of its sound selections. My personal favorite are the scores that play underneath some of the inner thought monologues of Kate (the protagonist shadow master) The combination of her voice and the track really enchants the audience and actually helps you focus on what she's saying and internalize it better. great Intro helps draw in and entice the audience right away, as well as sets the tone for the dark, mysterious, clandestine tale about to be told. Doing a good job of drawing in the audience, the  visuals for the opening are stylish and do a good job of showing how cool the shadows are in this show, as well as making you curious about elements in the story. The designs on all the characters and their  outfits are cool. the scenery and backgrounds in the scenes  are beautiful and immerse the viewer really well. Both ending and opening visuals are gorgeous and make them worth sticking around for every episode. I highly recommend this title from this spring season. Seems like a fun wholesome title to pick up. Im sure the manga is probably breathe takingly gorgeous and i am going to pick up this series when this anime finishes this season. Great work by Cloverworks studio this season ( even though im mad at you still about what happened with the end of promised neverland but....) and i hope anime fans pick up this title. Solid, interesting creative piece that i hope going forward we support titles like this.

[theshoddypenmen]

Fall anime 2019 first impression series : Ascendance of a bookworm

  By A.E Cole

Excellent anime come in many forms. from the variety of action adventure shonen, to exhilarating sports series, to suspenseful love drama, anime has many styles and they all entertain. however, some of the best anime are based on just one interesting concept. Built on top of a "what-if" if you will. Ascendance of a bookworm is a fun title based on the ideas "What if a bookworm got reincarnated in a world with no books?" I apologize for not having a trigger warning for my book fans, as i have described literal hell. For the protagonist, A girl named Urano reincarnated into the body of a little girl named Main. This is pretty much hell. 

         The story is based on a young girl named Urano, In her regular world she loves books and everything about books. One day she wakes up and realizes she has been reincarnated into a little girl name Main. She also finds that she is now in a new world different from her own.This new world apparently has literacy and books are very rare. Frustrated that she doesn't have any books available to her, Urano decides to create her own books.

        The concept of this shows piques my interest immediately for several reasons. first, the world Urano is in now has a completely different writing system from her own. This means she will have to learn how to read and write from the very basics. This is actually fitting because the body of Mine, the girl Urano is inhabiting, seems to be a young girl, around four or five. The concept of her learning how to read and write  matches her age. secondly, with Urano’s love of books, she has wide knowledge of paper making and other book making techniques. This is fascinating because of the potential impact it can have on the story and the world setting itself. combined with the fact that its just kind of freaking cool to learn how to make papyrus and other ancient writing tools is just kind dope to me.

       Urano having knowledge from her previous world have already impacted her new world. Urano essentially  invented shampoo in her new world using previous knowledge from her old one. This is the concept i find most fascinating about the series. Im really  looking forward  to how Urano will impact the world more with her knowledge, especially of technologies. the potential outcomes are interesting and can be fun to watch develop.

       I find it impressive that with the cute character designs and dialogue that the  story has woven in a serious plot point to keep viewers engaged. The story has hinted several times at Main sickly and frail body. Apparently Main has had poor health for most of her life and is A real concern for her family. There have been multiple instances where this fact has been referenced so its definitely a point that will impact the story.

      i expect this title to be a fascinating, adorable, heartwarming story. The characters already seem very lovable. Urano’s new family seem very loving, her father especially very doting. I expect to laugh, to think, to cry and generally be entertained. i find sweet stories with interesting premises pleasing. They don’t all have to be cyborgs with giant gun heads i guess.

[theshoddypenmen]

Fall 2019 Anime first Impressions: No guns life

By A.E Cole

Coming into the fall season for anime, i was excited for several titles, and i am still currently expecting this seasons to be another of what has been several consecutive seasons of quality, strong anime titles. So far, 2019 fall is delivering, and one titles that has personally stood out is the new mad-house joint, "No Guns Life." Based in a cyberpunk future were cybernetic body modifications have become prominent, protagonist Juzo Inui, A cyborg with drastic modifications, most notably, HIS WHOLE HEAD IS A FREAKING GUN! when i first came across this series my first feeling was this was going to be a very gritty, grimy, underworld type of story. however after the opening, i could tell that there would be more humor and levity that I first expected, to which i was pleasantly surprised. That Pretty much was my reaction to this series in general, Pleasantly surprised.

 Characters so far

     Protagonist Juzo is a striking character to say the least. He seems quite tall compared to the other characters. Oh, and by the way, THE GIANT FREAKING GUN FACE ! No lie when I first started notes on the show my first thought was " how the hell does he talk? or smoke?" Also, the smoking gun visual pun makes me chuckle every time i think about it. Odd appearance aside, Juzo is already proving to be a complex, layered, nuanced and fascinating character. Juzo comes off as the "hard-boiled loner"type, however through his interactions with other characters we can see he has at least a bit of a fiery side. along with seeming to be thoughtful, gentle, and stoic at times with his disposition. That combination usually always equals A likable main character and Juzo seems like no exception. We have briefly been introduced to a character named Tetsuro.          Tetsuro is a young man who has been experimented on and modified to be able’d to control other cyborgs. we meet him as he is being chased by his creators, we don’t know much other than he was illegally experimented on and is being used as a tool, but his arrival adds A fascinating, fun phase to the story. I look forward to his story.

     The world and setting

    futuristic dystopian worlds are always A winner for me, and the setting of No Guns Life is simply pleasing all around to take in. The animators did a good job conveying the dark, hard-scrabble nature of the city. you can feel the seediness in every shot. Watching it you really get the feeling of dirtiness and corruption that’s  reflected in the story so far. That dark tone plays perfectly with the Beruhren Corp and their influence in the story. 

    Berhren Corp seems to be a massive military technology conglomerate and A corrupt one at that. apparently the are the ones responsible for the proliferation of body modifications in the series. Beruhren also being the culprits of Tetsuros body experiments, they seem plenty evil and powerful so im looking forward to all the diabolical morally reprehensible activities. 

    This title has definitely made the biggest impression on me so far. with the story setup being so efficient so far, i feel confident in where the plot will lead. The fights already are exciting and the concept is very fun and creative. Madhouse is no stranger to expectations and this new series has certainly created some from me. Most impressive in the end? Between setting up the characters and story in one episode, grabbing my attention from literally the avatar poster. Bravo, No guns life. Bravo. expectations and this new series has certainly created some from me. Most impressive in the end? Between setting up the characters and story in one episode, grabbing my attention from literally the avatar poster. Bravo, No guns life. Bravo.