Steins;Gate Montage Neurosis | Q's Anime Video Review

A Progressive Grind Through Okabe & Makise Kurisu's Thrilling Journey Through Time, With Confrontational, Subtle Yet Robust Drama ~ To my knowledge no one else asides White Fox has made an anime including time travel since and better.

Our first of many more Youtube video's to come ~

Shinsekai Yori (From The New World) | Q's Anime Review

Timely Romanticism & Compelling Mystery
Shinsekai Yori (25 Episodes Single Season) 8.82 out of 10 Stars

Shinsekai Yori (From The New World) is a deeply personal memorandum that covers Saki's raw, unfiltered & spotted story in navigating through friendship, love, tragedy. Where the story is compelling, unique and beautiful in it's sense of culture & adventure - It is equally terrifying, disturbing and heartbreaking. In that beneath the utopic & pleasant offset is an underlying mystery & the horrifying evils necessary to preserve it. The sense of Karma is unmistakable as Yusuke Kishi's masterwork which took 30 years of planning is brilliant, being that for the initially pleasant & hopelessly innocent childhood Saki & her friends are able to enjoy and even what the entire foundation that the archipelago of Japan is built upon in this post modern society, was rudely founded upon the horrifying sacrifice of countless innocents and the backs of many more countless slaves, along with a millennia of meaningless slaughter. Being where Saki's entire idea life in the village consisting of romance, friendship and adventure, Saki & friend's unquestioned existence is ripped completely apart. As their innocent curiosity is the violent catalyst that unfolds the buried horrifying origins of humanity, their village, queerats and Cantus, secrets that all are forbidden from learning.

Yusuke Kishi
[Author & Original Creator]

This being the first of many steps of a simple, yet humble queerat's decade long plot to rein the fires of catastrophe over the ignorant existence of humanity & the entire archipelago of Japan. Shinsekai Yori is a beautifully haunting and a emotionally violent story that questions humanity, revealing the base instincts that come even from those with the godlike powers that the people of Kamisu District 66 call Cantus. Depicting how we still yet try to put ourselves above other species to justify our means and hypocrisy, at all humanities attempts to separate ourselves from the likes of animals and other sapient beings, even if we can't escape from our most base of instincts no matter how much we dabble with intellectual pursuits, politics & perhaps our perception of morality. Where Group One's youthful innocence of experiencing timeless moments of joy & friendship, is washed over by a horrifying wave of secrets & tragic events to which they'd never see their world the same again.

Welcome to The New World ~

Sora No Woto (Sound Of The Sky) | Q's Anime Review

A Tale Filled With Moe Comedy & Wonder, With Subliminal Moments
Sora No Woto (12 Episodes Single Seasons 2 Ova's) 7.96 out of 10 Stars

While often slandered as "Military K On!!", it's quite an oversight to assume Sora No Woto doesn't have it's own merit as it's own unique story, while some will carelessly draw parallels between how Rio & Kanata play brass instruments, along side plausibly similar character designs & the slice of life aspects each series has to call Sora No Woto a "Rip Off", that's really where the similarities end, as I find the comparison surface level and facile, paying little attention to the stark differences regarding the text. In that while K On! continued to be a text book example of a completely episodic comedy throughout it's span of 30 sum episodes, with everything plush & Kawai (Cute) - Sora No Woto on the other hand blossomed more so into a coming of age story, and at least made some attempt at a collective overarching narrative and theme, contrasting it's light hearted moments with prospect of war that threatens their peaceful way of life on the outskirts of Seize, however rosy and sentimental such a take on war that may be.

While somewhat of an average story with a glossed over and an idealized version of what war really means, what particularly strikes me are some of the more subliminal & quiet moments within the series along side occasional laughs that I find make it worth the watch. Not to mention it's a really beautifully rendered animated series for it's time.

Bokurano: Ours Quick Review & Commentary + Q's Wall of Fame Induction

An Interesting, Salacious & Juicy take on a Myriad of Individuals 
Bokurano: Ours (Single Season 24 Episodes) 8.78 out of ten

            Bokurano:Ours Truly just about has a little bit of everything, there's a dash of a darker taboo of romance, has family dynamics, there's a little bit of comedy, it's heavy in drama and insecurity, there's moments of happiness and peace, states of urgency, a little science fiction and a physiologically idiosyncratic premise. In Bokurano we have a full cast of characters that already draws intrigue from the first episode, you'll find yourself asking " who's he/she, there's something interesting going on there, I want to learn his story" etc. Especially since the character designs are great as well as intricate and the setting and environments they're in are well designed as well, this is something that you just look at and accept, and I feel that's a very key component to have. There's no one liner I could give a person to sell them on this series, so I kinda felt bummed.

            From the batting point were introduced to a gorgeously made opening soundtrack, with great lyrics, vocals, percussion, a tickle of synth & some guitar, just a little bit of every thing.

 I stepped back thinking "yes I've heard this somewhere before" such as Neon Geneiss Evangellion's soundtrack, or "Cyber bird" from Yoko Kanno's work on Ghost in the shell SAC. Coincidently, if you've watched both of those series, with both of their heavily sci fi, idiosyncratic and psychological premises, you should absolutely watch Bokurano. 

From the get go you'll also see the great art direction this has, it's tidy, but warm and slightly softer, a cast that has the creators full investment regarding some of the stunning and very interesting character designs as well as a great dub that translates this all really well.

This series gives us a colourfully juicy but grim take on a great variety of 15 children/teens (16 sort of) from a summer nature school deceived into being contracted into being put into a position of being wrested into saving the world in exchange for the high price of giving up their lives. We watch a myriad of characters that are forced into nervously rouletting there lives one at a time disturbing the delicate lives they've walked until now. In Bokurano we get a span of uniquely different individuals and how they are now forced to think and inflect upon, when getting shot up an emotional ether of a myriad of emotions, to think their lives had any significance in the short years they were blessed and if they're ready to exchange their lives for something important in this world. When the time comes, we get a stand alone episode of who they were and their relationships with other people before they found the mech they named Zearth that they now have to pilot with their life force.

              This is a 2007 anime with very good animation for the time & does still stand up to some of our current animation today, though it looks slightly dated, but for me it was homely and easy on the eyes. I Found the character designs to be excellent, the voice actors chosen to portray these characters were carefully chosen, and chosen well indeed. There's only the Japanese dub, and let me tell you it's great. I feel at the time this was a very high quality anime regarding video quality, and you could tell they put top effort and priority into making the character designs, including the environments (which are fantastic), and the general over art style was simply just so well fleshed out.

           So yes 15 children/teens (sort of 16) that have been deceived into being forcibly contracted (later 17 18 people contracted) into saving the world by giving up their lives

..yes..yes.. So this gets pshycological, this gets Idiosyncratic, this gets neurotic..this gets Erotic..(lol)so..uh..Larp/Erp..no I'm joking there's none of that.

Yes this has a full fleshed out cast with variety, which is one of the reasons why this series scores top marks for me, Despite the actual video quality not being all there and being done since and better, but still, you can very much still appreciate this anime and the gorgeous well thought out art style, some good stuff. So yes you'll be able to install this series very deeply into your heart and emotional memory and enjoy. Facial expressions in this anime are quite notable and very good, they all have a story in their eyes, which is very important.

               You have assholes, hot heads,  introverts, subservient and docile characters, shut in's, boyish girls, pushovers, polite girls, jovial personalities, neurotic psychopaths and an asshole floating in the air..yes..I don't want to reveal much about him, so lets just say this asshole fairy like character adds a nice spice to this anime. This anime has pretty much a little bit of everything, and very believable cast, and I'd almost recommend this anime with no hesitation, but yes I understand there's some adult content and very mature themes, so very much PG14+ content here, but even so I really think you should only watch this series if your 16+. I mean, there is indeed some very controversial content so think twice if your not at that mature age yet.

               Speaking of the heavily emotional content and mature themes, yes, this show is re-watchable, but still there's again a lot of heavy emotional weight on this series so this is the perfect anime for you to take time to digest, so don't go binging this, this series takes time to sink in and think about. Also your probably asking yourself "if the the characters die off that quickly why should I watch this" Don't get me wrong some do, but you'll probably won't find them as important and you won't see people dropping like flies since each of them are given a little bit of space and time before the day comes. So yes when their time "comes" they are given there own standalone episode, then we see what their about and their back story and that's the format of this anime for awhile.

                 Something that bothered me with this series, it's when someone dies and gets teleported away, it's truly as if they never existed. They do get soft mentions here and there but no one really seems all too traumatized. I think this is because only a very few of these characters we see regularly actually have meaningful relationships with each other, so when someone passes away we don't have anyone from our main cast mourning their death. Which brings me to another point, in that I wish these characters had more meaningful and robust relationships with each other, I just felt that this is somewhere were this series really missed the mark, I feel that, for the last survivors, it would be extremely interesting for them to truly feel like they are the survivors, that have survived this immense experience and in turn have this worldly feeling and awareness. Also mourning for the ones who gave up their lives for their own individual purpose, and maybe these survivors could draw fortitude and conviction from that. They sort of "touched upon this" but never really invested in this concept. All the stand alone episodes for individuals, when one of them were chosen revolves around only the individual and their inner circle of other friends and family, rarely including the other 15 contracted people.
             
         Talking about the story, there really isn't an emphasized over arching plot line, it only revolves around the fact that 15 were chosen and 15 will die, and let just say that one of them, perhaps may be saved.

But yes again, it focuses on who they were before the fact, why they're important and finally being in the act and finally giving their life for their own individual preconceived version of the world. Of course sometimes they don't want to, that's when they go bat shit crazy, and do some unnecessary, cruel, masochistic and sadistic things.

               You may have mistaken this as akin to Psycho Pass, Ghost in the Shell or Ergo Proxy in terms of the use and presence of the government, and the general consensus and meritocracy of it all, but no, this doesn't emphasize politics too much and is only a small factor in this series despite what you'd might think. It's more about these 15 individuals if anything else, and despite it's rather grim and nihilistic themes, this series does have a kind of dry sweetness to it, as well as jovial moments of happiness that gives us perspective of some of the bad moments and it turn makes this series stronger.

               Despite the many individual back stories were given, I can't really explain them (sadly one's that really interested me as well) without preserving some special moments and surprise for when you watch it, so my apologies for very very briefly talking about the characters back stories.

                This series has a wonderful and fleshed out art style, that's subtly sweet and matured.
A great soundtrack, very well designed and intriguing characters with great voice actors. In addition were given some meaty drama, bright family moments of happiness and jovial friendships. This series captivated me with some very interesting plot lines and characters. Everything from the great art style to the juicy and stylistic soundtrack deserve a hearty recommendation.

Highly recommended and Appreciated (Will Be inducted into Q's Wall of Fame)

Steins;Gate | Q's Anime Review & Commentary

A Progressive Grind Through, With Confrontational, Subtle Yet Robust Drama 
Steins;Gate (24 Episodes Single Season + 1 Ova + 4 Ona's 1 Movie + ) 8.51 out of ten stars

Now You may be juggling around with this anime because it involves time travel.. I absolutely understand how the premise of it can be off putting, since many have tried yet failed to make a well fleshed out story with time travel mechanics that we're easy enough to understand and at least had something resembling continuity - Without a ridiculous amount of unmotivated expository dialogue. Though, right off the bat, I'll tell you that I had & would recommend this Steins;Gate in a heartbeat. Despite being third of the first three anime productions White Fox has produced, it's an awfully impressive and engaging watch, as despite not being perfect in terms of animation and art direction, Steins;Gate certainly excels in area's where it counts the most - Such as the Dub.

To my knowledge no one else asides from White Fox themselves has made an anime including time travel since and better. If your looking for the best crop of the bunch, this is it...