CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Contributor Report: Maokun
The following is a list of all ratings and reviews submitted by Maokun. The links below can be used to quickly scroll down to a specific title. Quickly scroll to... 5 Centimeters Per Second Ah! My Goddess - The Movie Ah! My Goddess OAV Ah! My Goddess: Adventures of the Mini Goddesses Akira Angel Beats! Angelic Layer Animatrix, The Another Baccano! Bakemonogatari Cowboy Bebop Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo Slayers Next
5 Centimeters Per Second (Jump to title) - Overall: 9 - Violence Rating: 1 - Nudity Rating: 3 - Theological Themes: 1 - Other Negative Themes: 3
Ah! My Goddess - The Movie (Jump to title) - Overall: 7 - Violence Rating: 2 - Nudity Rating: 1 - Theological Themes: 4 - Other Negative Themes: 1 Review What is it? This movie is a direct sequel to the Ah! My Goddess OVA for which you can find more information here. It is strongly recommended that you watch that OVA first i you want to understand the setting, relationships and mechanics. An old, powerful member of the race of the gods and former mentor of Belldandy, Celestin, was eternally sealed in the moon long ago for transgressing against the system. In the present, he is released by a wistful faerie and he proceeds to meet with Belldandy and kiss her, causing her to forget all her memories of her time with Keiichi. As Keiichi and Belldandy's sisters try to restore her memories to only little success, it becomes evident that giving Belldandy amnesia was only part of Celestin's larger plan of revenge against the heavens' This movie has a much more epic scope than the OVA before and explores deeply the cosmological and theological mechanics of its universe. However, as a part of the AMG franchise, the threat to the world is only a background excuse to the real conflict which is the disruption of Keiichi and Belldandy's relationship. The main theme of AMG has always been that true love can transcend and trump even divine laws and cosmic interference and this movie is far from the exception. While amnesia is a rather tired cliche (even back then, at the turn of the century,) it is very well handled here and provides a believable conflict parallel to the one explored in the OVA to arrive to a beautiful conclusion that can be summed as "If I had to do it all over again from the beginning, I'd choose to fall in love with you again." In spite of that great promise, the title is weighed down by the abuse of conventions and cliches pulled straight out of soap operas such as forced kisses by third parties that become misinterpreted and other misunderstandings of the ilk, that coupled with the whole amnesia scenario makes of this a much less compelling and original love story than that of the OVA. What should I expect? A decent fantasy setup of goodness and love versus a force of despair that intends to destroy the earth, but which is secondary to a beautiful if somewhat trite romantic tale. Adequate production values. What should I NOT expect? A breakthrough in the way romantic stories are told. Anything I should be wary about? The only objectionable content in the movie is the depiction and usage of the term "goddess" and other related terms, like "heaven". AMG borrows heavily from Nordic mythology and mixes it with a bit of modern western religion plus a shake of the author's especial theological sauce. However, it is quite clear that it's just the cosmology of this particular fictional universe and bears no resemblance nor intends commentary or interpretation of our own universe's idea of God. Something worth of singular note? The symphonic melody and song played during the climax of the movie is very beautiful and a particularly well made piece of post-barroque religious music. SCORING (The score above represents my subjective liking of the series, I'll attempt to be more objective in this section) Base score: 7.0/10.0 Add 1.0 if: -You've seen and liked the prequel OVA. Those who have only seen the TV series will enjoy it too, but the movie is definitely more connected to the OVA's particular canon. Add 2.0 if: -You are into love stories with an epic fantasy setup Subtract 1.0 if: -The overused conventions of soap operas to add conflict to an established relationship make you grit your teeth. Subtract 2.0 if: -You mislike -for religious reasons- representations and references to other gods, even fictional ones and the depiction of detailed usage of magic such as rites, circles, etc. Subtract 5.0 if: -You dislike romance thrown into your fantasy epics. -You haven't seen the prequel OVA or at least the TV series. Subtract 7.0 if: -You have seen the prequel OVA and/or the TV series and didn't like it. You will find nothing different here.
Ah! My Goddess OAV (Jump to title) - Overall: 8 - Violence Rating: 1 - Nudity Rating: 2 - Theological Themes: 3 - Other Negative Themes: 2
Ah! My Goddess: Adventures of the Mini Goddesses (Jump to title) - Overall: 7 - Violence Rating: 1 - Nudity Rating: 1 - Theological Themes: 2 - Other Negative Themes: 1 Review What is it? Adventures of the Mini Goddessess is a spin-off of popular early 90s OVA Ah! My goddess, or more exactly, an animated adaptation of the 4-koma spin-off of the AMG manga. For those who don't know the franchise, here's a link to the CAA review of it. Funny and lighthearted, each 5-minute episode is a small sketch featuring Belldandy, Skuld and Urd, the three "goddesses" living with ordinary college student Keiichi Morisato and the adventures they have while he's away studying and they reduce themselves in size in an attempt to stave off boredom. Joining them is Gan, a common house rat who they befriend, but who accidentally ends becoming the victim of their well-intended but ultimately disastrous magic powers. (In the case of Urd and Skuld, not always "accidentally", nor "well-intended.") In spite of the inherent zaniness of the premise, a good number of the episodes could be more properly described as slice-of-life than as plain comedy. What should I expect? Slapstick humour, lightheartedness and tons of cuteness. It is best served as "snack watching": Watch one or two episodes here and there in between episodes of other series. What should I NOT expect? An ongoing plot (though some episodes are connected or reference past episodes,) depth, or production values. Anything I should be wary about? As you can see above, the series gets 1 in all the contents warnings, except for a meager 2 in "Theological Themes". This is because the series main characters are said to be "goddesses" (In fact they bear romaji-zed versions of some nordic deities' names.) However, the term is rather misleading and in reality, they are simply another race of humanoids with magical powers (and advanced technology) that is tasked with helping humans reach their potential. They are organized in complex hierarchies atop of which may or may not sit an actual "God", but this matter is not very elaborated in the franchise and is not even mentiioned in this particular series. SCORING (The score above represents my subjective liking of the series, I'll attempt to be more objective in this section) Base score: 6.0/10.0 Add 0.5 if: -You've seen and liked some of the parent titles of this franchise. Note, however, that this title may perfectly be enjoyed without any previous knowledge of the original story. Add 1.0 if: You are looking for lighthearted, easy laughs. Add up to 2.0: In the measure you like cuteness. Subtract 0.5 if: -You've seen and disliked any of the parent titles of this franchise. As stipulated above, this spin-off is sufficiently separated from the parent story not to be totally dismissible if you didn't like it. Subtract 2.0 if: -You expect depth and intellectual stimulation from your anime. -You place weight on production values and/or you dislike early 90s' typical character design. -Slice-of-life bores you to tears. Subtract 5.0 if: You loathe cuteness. Or rats.
Akira (Jump to title) - Overall: 9 - Violence Rating: 7 - Nudity Rating: 2 - Theological Themes: 4 - Other Negative Themes: 3
Angel Beats! (Jump to title) - Overall: 8 - Violence Rating: 6 - Nudity Rating: 1 - Theological Themes: 6 - Other Negative Themes: 3 Review What is it? Angel Beats! is a series about redemption, finding meaning and moving on. As detailed in the synopsis above, the setting is an enclosed high school that constitutes an afterlife of sorts for those whose lives were cut tragically short before they could become adults and left life with strong regrets and unfinished business. From being unable to forgive oneself for failing to catch a ball in a decisive game, to being paralyzed from the waist down -unable to live a normal teen life, to having been incapable of saving one's younger siblings from murderous maniacs, all the kids that arrive here are full of pain, frustration or self-loathing and are offered the chance to live a normal, happy (if bland) school life until the moment they reach contentment, self-forgiveness and peace. Unfortunately, the rules, mechanics and internal organization of the place are not clearly presented and there are those that will not swallow such a preposterous premise whole, creating conflict between those that mistrust the system and those that would protect it. A very limited creative power available to everyone allows each side to deploy heavy weaponry, and so, the afterlife school yard becomes a battlefield. Amidst this conflict, a new student arrives. He's one of the rare cases that cannot remember their lives or the way they died. Amnesia is a common (and often cheaply used) trope, but in his case it works fantastically as we're witness not to his character growth, but his re-growth: Devoid of memories, his personality is apathetic and mistrustful at the beginning, but he soon grows into an extremely caring individual which, as we later learn, mirrors his character growth while he was alive. Once he takes the spotlight, the series reaches its emotional heights as he starts helping other members of the cast to face their regrets, achieve their unfulfilled dreams and move on, while inadvertently affecting the system in ways the initial guerrilla tactics never could which leads into a new, more terrible conflict. What should I expect? To cry like a baby in the emotional scenes. These kids had hard lives and see them facing their pain and reaching catharsis should pluck the heartstrings of but the most cynical individuals. What should I NOT expect? A satisfactory ending. The one issue with the series is the amount of episodes. With such a huge cast it was impossible to give each character the emotional and heartfelt happy ending than a handful of them got in only 12 episodes. In fact, many of them had rushed endings and others only were just briefly mentioned off-screen, which seemed badly rushed and unfair to those characters and tainted the good taste the series had slowly build up. The ending itself was not bad in my opinion, but the rushing up and lack of closure do the series a big disservice. Anything I should be wary about? There are several depictions of grisly deaths and a few cases of disturbing cruelty. Since people in this place are already dead, they can die and then "respawn" as if nothing, and die they do in several creative ways to almost a comedic extreme. Additionally, the cryptic nature of this afterlife makes some of the characters theorize about the nature and existence of "God" and some have quite blasphemous ideas. However, it's very clear that the characters are speaking in ignorance and blind resentment and their ideas are never corroborated or supported by the story. Something worth of singular note? Angel Beats! has great production values for a TV series, has great music and is very easy on the eyes. SCORING (The score above represents my subjective liking of the series, I'll attempt to be more objective in this section) Base score: 7.5/10.0 Add 0.5 if: -You appreciate good production values. Angel Beats! doesn't disappoint. -You liked The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Angel Beats! is a clear post-Haruhi anime and it learned some good tricks from it. -You like "moe" character design. Add 1.0 if: -You like stories that make you reflect on your life and challenge you to do better. Subtract 1.0 if: -If you dislike "moe" character design. -You condemn the use of firearms and/or guerrilla tactics Subtract 2.0 if: -Graphical depictions of death distress you. -You cannot forgive an unsatisfactory ending. Subtract 4.0 if: -You are bothered by characters in your fiction expressing negative sentiments against the concept of "God"
Angelic Layer (Jump to title) - Overall: 7 - Violence Rating: 3 - Nudity Rating: 1 - Theological Themes: 1 - Other Negative Themes: 1
Animatrix, The (Jump to title) - Overall: 8 - Violence Rating: 5 - Nudity Rating: 3 - Theological Themes: 3 - Other Negative Themes: 4
Another (Jump to title) - Overall: 7 - Violence Rating: 8 - Nudity Rating: 1 - Theological Themes: 4 - Other Negative Themes: 2
Baccano! (Jump to title) - Overall: 9 - Violence Rating: 9 - Nudity Rating: 2 - Theological Themes: 5 - Other Negative Themes: 4
Bakemonogatari (Jump to title) - Overall: 9 - Violence Rating: 6 - Nudity Rating: 6 - Theological Themes: 4 - Other Negative Themes: 2 Review "Bakemonogatari" is a portmanteau of Bakemono -monster or ghost and Monogatari -story, so it's usually (but not officially) translated as Ghostory or Monstory, but more widely known by its Japanese name. It's infamous Studio Shaft's adaptation of a series of light novels by the same name, covering the first few arcs of the novels. It is an extremely hard to recommend title as genuinely great it is. Not only because the amount of controversial content that could turn potential new viewers away (more on that later) but because its very unusual structure and dialogue-focused, character-driven narrative. Koyomi Araragi is an ordinary teenager -or was until his fateful encounter with a female vampire (which is not elaborated in the series,) that left him with some vampiric powers; chief among them, super-fast healing and regeneration. He's a very caring individual and very willing to go out of his way to help others, sometimes recklessly so, relying in his regeneration powers to bear the brunt of the consequences which earns him the respect (and often, much more) of all the damsels in distress that he encounters. And so, he's surrounded by 6 girls with very different personalities who tease, threaten, flirt, and philosophize with him; chief among them is Hitagi Senjougahara a schoolmate whose traumatic past made her into an extremely cynical and distrustful person who weaponizes school supplies to defend herself and who insists to become his girlfriend after he helped her at the beginning of the story. Their unusual "pull-and-shove", but ultimately heartwarming relationship is one of the series' strongest points. The paranormal plot of the series as described above is then, but a faint blueprint to lead the story forward and connect the characters but it definitely plays a secondary role to the characters' interactions which have been aptly described as "verbal ping-pong". There are running gags, there are action and suspenseful scenes, there are even a few highly emotional moments, but more than all that together there's talking. Almost every single time Koyomi encounters one of these girls, they'll engage him in long-winged, rapid-fire dialectic, clearly bent in outwit him even when talking about the most trivial topics and it's a wondrous and superbly entertaining thing to behold. As they exchange witticisms, we're regaled with with artistic camera pans of the scenery and clever graphical symbolism to emphasize some of the points touched in the conversation. This means that there's not so much /animation/ per-se in the series, but otherwise production values are amazing. Beautiful character design, detailed and colorful background, a great soundtrack and amazing voice-acting will carry you through the series and leave an enduring impression in you. The brilliance of the execution of those interactions is difficult to convey with other words and "a show about teenagers talking of random topics" is a hard sell. Moreover, the harem-like setup is not coincidental and the series is rife with fanservice, innuendo and open sexual advances (that ultimately amount to nothing) which may disturb or annoy some viewers, specially because two of the characters have the appearance[/] of 10-year old girls (they aren't.) There's also a couple of episodes with very graphical, very brutal violence. It is most definitely not a series for everyone, which makes me a bit sad because there are no other titles that do something even similar to what Bakemonogatari does. SCORING[b/] (The score above represents my subjective liking of the series, I'll attempt to be more objective in this section) Base score: 8.0/10.0 Add 0.5 if: -You like paranormal setups -You like character-driven stories -Cliche romance stories' relationships make you roll your eyes and wish there was something different Add 1.0 if: -You like strong and intelligent female characters -You like the so-called "harem" genre -You like series that make you think Add 2.0 if: -You liked Seinfeld and/or Plato's Dialogues Subtract 1.5 if: -You can't behold graphic violence -You dislike the so-called "harem" genre -You dislike paranormal setups and depictions of eastern magic and myths Subtract 3.0 if: -If you cannot stomach fanservice, innuendo and the such -You think that every minute characters in your fiction spend talking is a minute less of explosions or other cool stuff that could be happening instead. Subtract 5.0 if: -"Loli" is a thing that disturbs you
Cowboy Bebop (Jump to title) - Overall: 10 - Violence Rating: 6 - Nudity Rating: 4 - Theological Themes: 3 - Other Negative Themes: 5
Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo (Jump to title) - Overall: 7 - Violence Rating: 3 - Nudity Rating: 3 - Theological Themes: 1 - Other Negative Themes: 5
Slayers Next (Jump to title) - Overall: 9 - Violence Rating: 3 - Nudity Rating: 2 - Theological Themes: 6 - Other Negative Themes: 0 Review Slayers Next is the highest achievement of an already good franchise bringing back the lighthearted parody of the popular fantasy tropes found in role-playing games. However, Slayers is not one of those parodies that cruelly laughs at its subject; rather, it laughs with it, weaving a complex and thrilling fantasy plot while lampooning the details. It is a series I'd recommend to everyone, if it wasn't for its focus in black magic that could drive some concerned Christians away. I will not lie: following the aforementioned fantasy tropes, black magic in The Slayers' universe comes from making brief allegiances with demons to draw from their power and the spellcasting chants are really dark. It is, however, shown that this comes to a dear cost to the protagonist and she must ultimately face the very demons whose powers they have been depending on, so while black magic has a very important role in the series, it is not glorified nor shown under a positive light.
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