Oh...so long review for an 'above average' anime? :S You really are patient!
Matantei Loki Ragnarok tv,manga Review
Loki, god of Mischief has been banished from the world of the gods and sent to Midgard. There he meets a human girl named Mayura Daidouji. He is told that he needs to collect evil auras to return to the world of the gods. In order to collect evil auras, he starts a detective agency which specializes in the paranormal. Along with other gods that have been sent to assasinate Loki for reasons previously unknown.
Is it possible for the ancient god of evil to survive in and unfamiliar world in the form of a eight-year-old child, lacking his former abilities?
Story & Playability
Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok (Or Matantei Loki, as the manga is called) is a deconstruction of the Norse mythology we know and love; but if you don't know anything about Norse mythology, that's okay, too. Depending on the reader, it might be better if you don't know it. This is a review of both the anime and manga series, and it mostly comparisons. If you read and watch, you'll see that there are some significant differences between the TV anime and the original written manga.
Loki is the Norse mischief god who gets exiled to the human world (In a child's body) when he goes overboard with his tricks and general "evil". In order to get back to Asgard, the realm of the gods, he must collect the evil spirits which possess human hearts, which he doesn't really want to do. This is explained by Loki himself in the very first chapter of the manga. It is never addressed in the anime.
Anyway. In order to better search for his targets, he sets up the Enjaku Detective Agency, with his male meganekko servant, Yamino. Who better to come across the agency than a pink-haired genki girl named Mayura Daidouji? Mayura is a fanatic about mysteries and the occult (One could call her a "mystery otaku"), but has no sixth sense whatsoever, which may be the reason why she never learns of Loki's true identity for the whole anime series (I sadly have not gotten my hands on the Ragnarok sequel yet, sadly, so I’m not sure what happens then). This is opposite to her dad, who is in charge of a Shinto shrine. The man can see ghosts and spirits - Yet he doesn't believe in them. In this manner, Loki has tons of fun playing with his psyche, making ghosts and demons appear out of nowhere to scare the living crap out of him.
Did I happen to mention that the god of gods Odin, who banished Loki in the first place, is now sending other gods and goddesses to kill him? Some having their own personal agendas and scores to settle? No? Well, I just did.
You'll spot differences in the anime and manga as soon as you watch the first episode. The first chapter of the manga has Mayura stumbling upon the detective agency, and later on utilizing Loki's abilities, because she's worried that her friend is being targeted by a man who kidnaps girls and chops their heads off with the clock tower’s minute and hour hands. The first episode has Mayura looking for a creepy, talking doll that she found, and it goes from there: Loki fighting Chuckie's sister in a pretty standard exorcising shonen battle.
The fact that this series is deconstructing Norse mythology is a refreshing tone for me. I haven't seen so many series that utilize Loki, Heimdall, Thor, Odin, or even Freyr and Freyja (Romanized as Freiya for those not too keen on pronunciation). I've seen a lot based on Shinto or Buddhism, but the Scandinavian tales are something I've rarely seen incorporated into anime.
If this is sounding like a ghost hunting version of Detective Conan, I won't argue. The similarities are there, and veteran readers may not want to watch neither adaptions of the series. However, those interested will be advised to read the series on CityManga first, as they will get a much more detailed and darker storyline that's not so played out.
Now here's where I'm probably going to have the most fun - The characters section.
Loki - As said before, Loki is a trickster god. Watching the anime without knowing this bit of information, however, you might not ever guess. He rarely shows any signs of mischief in the anime, aside from the two times he surprised Mayura-papa with ghosts and demons popping out of nowhere (And only once was the purpose to scare him; the other was just to test his sixth sense). That seems to be the only sign of trickery we see from him, and thus it's harder to imagine him being banished for something so horrible that Odin would want him assassinated. In fact, the anime version of Loki seems to be downright brooding at times. I guess he has reason to, but his main expressions consist only of pouting, brooding, smirking, and something else that I can’t describe as other than neutral. It wouldn't kill him to be a bit more smile-y.
The manga version of Loki is much more believeable, in terms of the original myths. He has no qualms about surprising Mayura-papa with ghosts, demons, or shikigami (Have you seen all the Ecchans yet?) whenever he feels, or whenever he needs stress relief. He gets information by being cute, and seems to be more of a covert pervert, though not to extreme levels. He's a mysterious, cunning, lady-charming, petty, tricky, sneaky, quite merciless, and sometimes downright scary child. This is how Loki should be portrayed; or, at the very least, makes his status as a trickster god more apparent.
Then there's his sweet tooth. If Loki is seen eating, it's usually something with a substantional amount of glucose in it. I'm not sure if this is a taste from him being in a kid's body, or if he actually ate like this back on Asgard. He’s eaten cake, candy, ice cream sundaes, ice cream cones, waffles with ice cream and syrup, tarts, and something else chocolate that he was drinking as if it were soup (Chapter 7, page 6, if anyone can tell me what the hell it is...). He’s even seen eating an ice cream cone in episode 3. I’m getting the feeling that he likes ice cream best. It’s a good thing gods don’t get cavities, huh?
Loki also seems to have a wide variety of facial expressions, in the original adaption. Much more than the anime. He seems to pull out a new one every chapter, depending on the occasion. I think my favorite was his fire-breathing rage face that appeared after Heimdall plated one on Mayura, which he makes of page 7 of chapter 16.
Yes, you read that correctly: Loki actually showing signs of jealousy. While this was barely looked at in the anime (As well as any other feelings he may harbor for the mystery girl), the manga expounds on this more. Within the first ten chapters, we already see him getting flustered once being asked by Mayura if he was worried about her. A surprise hug from behind has a similar blush-inducing affect on him, and he's even grabbed her chest (Mind you, not on purpose, but he didn't seem very sorry that he did). Bottom line, the manga indefinitely looks at his character and his relationship with Mayura to shipper-riffic levels. I say "shipper-riffic" because this is the biggest difference in any relationship between him and a girl, in the different adaptions (The second one would probably be Skuld), which, of course, ignites shippers to no end. You heard me, MayuLoki fans - Go look up the original for some fantastic moments. Including a kiss.
*Ahem* Enough of that. My main point is, manga Loki seems better suited for the role he's supposed to play. He’s more fleshed out character-wise, and is generally funnier to read about and look at.
Mayura - Dear Lord. The anime exaggerated her character so much. She believes everything strange is a mystery! Even "mysterious" spots appearing on a volleyball, which were obviously just dirt. In the manga, she was never this deluded and stupid. Sure, she still gets excited over "fushigi mystery", but she has a brain and uses it. She knows when something is truly mysterious, and when there is perchance a logical explanation. I cannot stress this enough - Do not hate on Mayura for being a mystery otaku if you have only seen the anime. It doesn't do her justice in the slightest.
Mayura’s father, Misao Daidouji (I wonder how many people actually know his name!?), is constantly exasperated by his daughter’s interests. He always tells her that ghosts and demons don’t exist, even though he can see them plain as day. This has done nothing to deter her from her hunt for mysteries. To Misao’s grief, she hangs out at the Enjaku Detective Agency with Loki and Yamino quite a lot. He believes they are suspicious, but lets it pass, since they are good friends with his daughter.
Mayura doesn’t have any canon romance interests, though it is implied that she has some sort of close feelings for
Loki. When she believes that he has disappeared, she looks for him all over town, even though she has no idea where he
would be. She admittedly does not know a lot about Loki (Even though she tried to find out who he really is after seeing
his eyes glowing red at one point), and is deeply upset by this.
She has a crush on Loki’s true form, however, after bumping into him on the street one day. Of course, she doesn’t
know who it really is.
While Mayura is an occult enthusiast and a part-time miko at the shrine, she does not believe in God. Or gods. This is because as a child, no matter how hard she prayed to God to keep her mother alive, it did not work. It’s implied at the end of the final episode, however, that she begins to believe in God after finding Loki once again (Having asked Loki’s true form to let her see him again, since he said that he was a god).
I have to say, though, that Mayura is not one of the bitchy PMSing tsunderes that we see so commonly. She has depth. She has personality (Albeit an extremely weird one). She knows what she wants in life and goes after it with wild abandon, and is not easily taken down from her quests. She has no insecurities, which might be bad to some, good to others, depending on your POV. She isn't extremely arrogant, extremely ditzy, or extremely inadequate at whatever she does. She's somewhere in the middle. Her personality is balanced, and I love it. Haters may hate, but they just pick on anyone who interferes with their favorite pairing, or doesn't fit their quota for a good female lead. She may not be an action girl in either adaption, but she's definitely one of the better female protagonists I've seen in a while.
Heimdall - Now here's where I have something to itch about. I've read up on the Norse tales before even stumbling upon this series, and Heimdall's revenge-hungry attitude strikes a bad chord with me. I don't remember him being so willing to hurt innocent people, in the original texts. I'd call this deconstruction, but I wouldn't be so sure. He's like this in both formats of the series, naturally, buuuut...
His manga version is superior. Of course, he's still eager to kill Loki and get his eye back (Which Loki does not have), but he has more of a humorous side to him, as well. Like trying to curse him by dumping trash in his yard. When Loki catches him doing this, Heimdall is put on a leash and made to clean the agency. He barely puts up a fight, other than telling Loki that he'd kill him some day in return.
Also, he apparently attends cram school religiously. He freaks out when he’s late for it. Not sure why a god who supposedly possesses foreknowledge has to attend school at all. If it’s for comic relief, though, it works. I doubt many readers will know that detail about Heimdall, anyway.
Anime Heimdall does lighten up as the episodes progress (By the end, he's even feeling sorry for Frey, who can't tell Mayura he loves her), and it's hard to argue on the different adaptions; but I'm still going to have to nitpick at his personality until I can finish reading the entire series. Maybe by then he’ll have even more character development.
Yamino - A character that is basically the same in both adaptions. Only he seems to have a mail order fetish in the TV version, and seems to know martial arts in the manga. What a difference...
Yamino is Loki's humble servant, and also his second son and middle child. He loves to do housework and chores, and would do anything for his "master". He's a bit clumsy, but this aspect of his personality is not overplayed by any means. He is also an exceptionally good cook, even making it onto a cooking show. Too bad it was a set-up to have Loki killed.
Yamino is actually the giant "World Serpent" Jörmungandr (Or Midgardsomr, in the series), and can transform into his snake form at will, though he's only seen doing so when Loki has been put in danger. He is extremely dangerous in this form, and is significantly less friendly, but that's to be expected. His arch enemy is Thor, who he has battled with in the past, leading to his fear of Narugami in the manga. And speaking of him...
Narugami - In short, Thor in a Japanese teenage boy's body, with his mighty hammer now a wooden sword (Which we seldom see actually summon any thunder...). Thor may not have been the brightest bulb in the box, but he was never like this. In a way, I sort of like him as a not-so-serious god. He's comedic and rather sarcastic at times; not to mention his inability to hold down a part-time job. Seriously. He has a new job every episode, from working at a coffee shop to dressing up as a giant anteater at the zoo. His new fun, slightly inattentive personality has to balance out Heimdall and Loki's seriousness.
Still, I am one for keeping legends as they are, and the Narugami version of Thor could use some tidying up in the brains and looks departments. One would think the son of Odin would be smarter and know how to find his way back home. Plus, when one thinks of Thor, they think of a massive man with muscles. Look at one picture of Narugami and tell me where you see muscle. I dare you.
He can be very petty at times, but he has reason to be, with his monetary status. He also doesn't have much respect for Yamino, commonly referring to him as "four-eyes", or "megane". It seems to be on instict that he treats him like this, as he doesn't know that Yamino is actually his arch enemy in human form. Though that doesn’t stop him from enjoying the food Yamino makes.
Ah, I almost forgot. Narugami’s immense appetite. Seriously, you would think that a guy with so many part time jobs that involve food would at least try to scrape some free grub (But I guess an ally of justice wouldn’t stoop so low). This guy is a bottomless pit, which may be one of the only accurate aspects of his character. He even gets into an eating contest with Fenrir and Gullinbrusti in one of the latter episodes.
Freyr - The hopeless suitor for Mayura, who has no idea how he feels about her. I never read up on Freyr too much, and I find his personality in this series to be both funny as sin and annoying as hell. He's downright silly, and has the attention span of a goldfish. He also seems to have a thing for bargain sales as much as Yamino does for mail order. He's also an overprotective big brother. Oh, boy.
Freyr despises Loki for "leading on" his sister, and refuses to believe that Freiya would go after such a beast. He can and will interrupt whenever Freyja is making a move on the trickster god, helping Loki by either stopping her altogether, or creating an escape path. He tends not to listen to Loki's side of the story, but given who Freyr is, it's not surprising.
Freyr is also shown as very eccentric, going to great lengths to become a phantom thief just so he could face off against Loki. After all, detectives and phantom thieves always face off against each other, don’t they? His phantom thief outfit is the only one he possesses, most likely, as it’s the only thing we ever see him wearing. The fact that he’s never been caught by the police in broad daylight is befuddling.
He also rides around on a mechanical pig named Gullinbrusti. Just sayin’.
Reiya/Freiya - I don't like these two very much, though they're the same person. Kinoshita made Reiya too cutesy, and made Freiya too clingy.
Reiya lost both of her parents in a car accident and felt genuinely lonely, which may be the reason she developed an unrequited crush on Loki, the one who decided to protect her against her greedy family/the spirits in her house (Which one depends on which adaption you’re looking at). She’s very quiet, and the clothing she wears gives her an innocent and almost doll-like appearance. She may or may not have some kind of connection to her other self’s memories, since she wished Freyr good luck on finding his sister, when they had never even met before. I can deal with Reiya for the most part, as she's younger and more innocent; in fact, her crush on Loki can be downright adorable... Until she turns into Freiya.
Freiya wants Loki's ass, both ways. She first appears wanting to kill him for rejecting her and getting her trapped in Reiya's body (Long explanation), then realizes that she just doesn't want to do it anymore, and settles for having an unrequited love... ... ... Just kidding. She still goes after him like she's a female cat in heat. But maybe that's just my perspective (To each his own, after all).
If there’s one thing I could choose to nitpick about Freiya, it would be her outfit. Really? A simple blue dress? Freiya is the goddess of love and motherhood here, people! One of the major ones! She should have something a little more decorated, shouldn’t she? Ugh. The plainness does not fit her character at all.
Fenrir - Yamino's older brother and Loki's eldest child. He has been described as being two-faced, being rather angry and sharp-witted towards people when alone with them, yet extremely cute and adorable whenever he's with his beloved "Daddy". He also has a rather uncensored mouth in the English dub, and uses impolite Japanese in the original. Did I mention that he's a dog?
As far as I can tell, Fenrir’s comic form is fairly similar to his original mythological self. I have nothing to say about that other than his small dog form makes him less intimidating than he should be. Of course, changing into a giant wolf can change that opinion in a heartbeat...
Also, it should be noted that I prefer his English voice over his Japanese. John Swasey captures Fenrir's tough and gruff, yet adorable attitude perfectly. Nojima Hirofumi's "Daddy" voice is rather creepy, to me, but his normal voice is fine.
Hel - A solemn character indeed, she is Loki's youngest child and only daughter. The gloomy appearance she has is equivalent to her Norse mythology original, though perhaps she was not quite as pretty in the stories and myths. Hel rules over the underworld, but this isn't touched upon by either formats. The manga does have her say that half of her body has rotted away, which is the closest thing to an accurate physical representation, but the anime does not include this.
Hel had a rather rocky relationship with Loki. He has admitted to not being able to understand her while living in the god's world; but after spending time in his child's body, he feels that he is ready to make ammends. This really does suck for him, since she was tricked by Odin into believing that her father hated her. But by her end in episode 25, she and Loki have come to understand each other. The episode made me jerk a tear. Really.
Hel is, I think, the only character I like more in the anime. I think it's because they kept her around longer. In the manga, she had a one chapter appearance (Two, if you count her first, very brief, entry). She had a few episodes where she played a large part. She wanted to make Loki suffer from loniless, essentially making him feel as she did when he and her brothers went to the human world (It looked as though they were having loads of fun without her); she kidnapped Mayura, Yamino, and Fenrir, though it's not made explicit where she held the latter two. The manga settled on having her wanting to spend time with her father, whom she thought knew her as ugly.
Hel is not one of the characters in anime that has no reason to be depressed (“It’s been so long since I’ve remembered how to form a smile.”). She had problems. Her family practically abandoned her without even knowing it, she seriously thinks she's ugly, she's the sole guardian of death, of all things. Both versions really make you feel sympathy for her, and it’s not forced. You feel it because you want to. It’s really a shame that she wasn’t a bigger character. It would’ve been nice to see her with a smile on her face more.
The Norns - I don't want to take up any more of your reading time, so I'll make this as quick and detailed as possible. Basically, the Norn sisters (Urd, Skuld, and Verdandi/Verthandi) were hired by Odin to have Loki done in, in the anime. After a couple of defeats though, they realize that Odin is a jerkass who didn't care about hurting them, and switch over to Loki's side. In the manga, they had never met Loki before, and had less interest in killing him (Zip to none, actually).
Skuld is the only one who showed hesitation in her attempts, since she and Loki had some history in the anime, apparently. She acts like a clingy fangirl in the manga, however, seeing as Loki was some sort of memetic sex god back on Asgard. She is given less depth in the manga, and is more or less an airhead who wants a chance at adult Loki.
Biggest differences between the TV and written adaptions: In Skuld's relationship with Loki, and the agendas of the sisters in general. They also seem to be more fun-loving in the manga (Verdandi/Verthandi and Skuld especially; Urd, not so much).
Spica - I can't really give a review on this character, as I haven't read Ragnarok yet, and she only briefly appeared in the anime's final episode. From what I've heard, she's mother to three of Loki's children, and suddenly appears at the Enjaku Detective Agency's door one day. She becomes their maid, too, though I'm not sure how they settled on that. She apparently is a blue-haired, silent girl with the appetite to be feared (I think you need to mail order some more special ingredients, Yamino!). I really don't see any reason to dislike Spica (Shippers may disagree), but keep in mind that I haven't read the sequel yet... I just ordered it off of Amazon, so maybe I'll see for myself soon enough.
Overall, I like the deconstruction Sakura Kinoshita is giving Norse mythology. I doubt it would cater to everyone's whim though, given the sometimes predictable and by-the-book plot. The simplicity of some chapters and episodes, however, does nothing to deter from an enjoyable time.
Rating:
Graphics
The art. What can I say? When I first saw Loki, I thought he was Haruhi Fujioka. Maybe it was the long eyelashes.
Now, don't get me wrong. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It's the way Sakura Kinoshita draws, and I'm down with that. If you've seen the anime first, though, you'll be in for a surprise.
I am partial to his anime appearance (Maybe it's because of the eyelashes?) because I watched the TV adaption first, but the original manga does his character better justice. The anime gives Loki almost an entirely new appearance, which include narrower eyes, wavier hair, different bangs, and a less-detailed outfit. This seems to make him more adult, even trapped in his young body, which fits his anime personality. The manga, on the other hand, gives him a flatter hairstyle and bigger eyes (Did I mention the eyelashes?), with detailed clothing, and sometimes, even a headband. This seems to give him a false innocent look, which I think fits him better. He's meant to look like a kid, but at the same time have that mischievous air about him that he's known for back in the realm of the gods.
Enough about Loki (And his pretty eyelashes), though. On to lesser characters. Like Mayura. Her hair used to be just below shoulder length, didn't it? I don't remember it going down to her butt. Or being that fanned out. Though I guess for the sake of her flanderized animated character, the new style fits. I can't really say anybody else looks completely different, because there were only small changes in the rest of the cast, like Freiya's wavier manga hair (Which I do not think suits her as well as her anime form).
All in all, the character designs are fairly well thought-out, though some might mistake Loki for Gash Bell, with his overcoat and huge white bowtie. There are some panels drawn where I feel as though I'm reading a shojo, with the thin lines and such, but these pass by quickly. The backgrounds are typically shonen-esque, but what can you expect? One might also say that Sakura Kinoshita studied shading at Ken Akamatsu's studio, but I'm not about to get into a huge compare-and-contrast here. Kinoshita has a unique style for the shonen genre, in my opinion, but won't be nominated for Most Original Artwork anytime soon, and could use work on her backgrounds.
The anime art is clean and crisp, and rather new, seeing as it was made in the 21st century.
One thing you'll notice is that almost every character has his or her own unique eye style. I'm not sure of what you all think of that, but I like it. It's like the eyes are trying to match the characters' personalities.
The animation for Loki's staff summoning sequence is rather reminiscent of any given magical girl's anime. The sequence is long, brightly-lit, and happens nearly once an episode. Watching it is like reading Dragon Ball Z: It's exciting at first, but gets tiresome quickly, and you just want to skip through it to get to the good parts. They really shouldn't have used the full summoning sequence every episode. Shortening it would've worked better, but they only did this once. Every other time, he's pulled it out of hammerspace.
There's also a lot of stock footage used. One example would be Loki's spell-casting on Mayura in the first episode. You see the same scene used in episode eight, when Loki uses magic to move a potted plant outside a window. It's the same footage, just mirrored. The footage used for Loki's summoning of Laevateinn (His staff) is stock footage used bascially every episode. You'll notice more as you watch, trust me.
As the episodes progress, you see a lot more detail going into everybody and everything. Maybe this coincides with the fact that everything gets a lot more serious, and less comedic as time passes. With the special effects used, I have no complaints. Seems very modern and updated in terms of style.
Rating:
Sound
The soundtrack, depending on the listener, can either be good or bad. I see it as good.
The correct music is played at the right times, and it helps set the mood very well. There are a lot of tracks that are exceptionally well, but the prizes for Top Two have to go to the tracks "Demon Detective Loki" and "Demon God of Scandanavia".
1) The first is the music used when Loki summons Laevateinn, or when he's about to do something incredibly badass.
It's pretty much the guitar chorus for a rock band, which may not seem like the best choice for the summoning
sequence, but on its own, it is undoubtedly an awesome track. I seriously want to put it on Guitar Hero!
2) The latter is sadly not played very often in the actual series, yet it is one of the most epic sounding music tracks
I've ever heard. And I don't mean "epic" as in some random teenager going "THAT'S SO EPIC,
DUDE!!1!" I mean "epic" as in, "The Epic of ___", like a story about a great hero on a journey.
It really sounds like an action-packed BMG to Norse mythology, complete with cymbals, piano, tambourines, and some very epic violin playing. Yes, that epic was meant to be the adjective
version.
Like I said, your mileage may vary on whether or not the soundtrack is good or not. But I love the mix of playfulness, mystery, suspense, and feeling that is put into these songs. I really do.
The opening, "The Door to Paradise", takes some getting used to before you decide if you like it. It's slow paced, and you may have to listen to it more than twice in order to get a feel for it. I didn't like it at first, but it's grown on me.
The ending, "Believe in Heaven", is a fast-paced song fit for a shonen anime. It sounds like the opening to a spy movie of sorts. It's rock genre, no doubt. It doesn't taken millions of listens to decide - RIght off the bat, you either love it or hate it.
I'm sure you can imagine that the Japanese dub is great. It is. Everyone has the correct voices and sounds to them (Again, except maybe for Fenrir's "Daddy" voice). The reason I'm going give a good rating for the sound review is, of course, for the music, but also for the good dubbing job.
There are more than a ton of anime fans out there that will automatically say "The English dub sucks!" without even watching it, because they don't think that us Americans can live up to the voicing standards of the Japanese. Let me tell you: We got damn close with this series.
Loki sounds like Loki. Shannon Emerick did a phenominal job of voicing him, though some times may be worse than others. I may be wrong, but I don't think AVD could have found a closer voice for Loki than her. Her Loki voice is on par with Yuriko Fuchizaki's, indeed.
Mayura's dub voice is a bit off. Then again, voicing high-pitched teenage girls always present a challenge. Getting your voice to go high and stay consistently that way is a challenge, and trying to pull off the cutesy kind of voice is a destined fail for most voice actors. However, Kira Vincent-Davis is probably the closest thing we've got to Yui Horie's Mayura. She's spazzy, high-spirited, cute, and sounds like she's really into it.
Yamino. Holy crap. AVD really did their job with him. I heard his dub voice, and my mouth dropped open from the way it sounds. Illich Guardiola was the absolute best choice possible for Yamino. He sounds almost exactly like Miki Shinichiro. I never would've guessed that Guardiola could do a voice like this, after hearing him do Krad on DN Angel.
I've been told not to make a list of everyone's, so just trust me when I say that AVD did a damn good job with their dub casting. Go watch and see what I mean.
Rating:
Fun
I've said so much already that I can't say anything here without repeating myself like a parrot. Let me just finish by saying that the presentation is extremely well done, albeit a bit cliched. While younger readers/watchers will instantly love it, most people who have already seen tons and tons of titles will ignore it, or only watch one or two episodes in curiosity before dropping it; the reason being is, the anime doesn't start to be really original until later on, and nobody wants to wait long to get into a series.
Maybe I'm giving the series too much credit; after all, I am a fan of mysteries, magic, mythology, and the whole stuck-as-a-kid scenario. I must say, though: As a veteran reader myself, I enjoy this series very much.
(I tried not to be biased, but I'm sorry if I come off that way. This was my first time reviewing something on such a level of depth.)
Rating:
Final Verdict
6.6667 (above average)
Reviewed by Kyuukyuu111, Feb 09, 2011
Comments
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SchRita Mar 20, 2011
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CyanideBlizzard Retired Moderator Jan 23, 2012
Fantastic review!
First off, to get a big negative out of the way, is I'd recommend trimming up the story/characters part. While you provided incredible depth as to who everyone is and with the story, the problem is it's a little too in depth. While this isn't a bad thing, it's difficult to follow along when there's so much to read when some parts could of been summarized a bit more.
Otherwise I am in awe with the patience you've exhibited throughout this. Writing reviews are certainly not a short process, and with this much information and how well written it is, I have nothing but respect for you with what you've done. I also think you perfectly summed up the series. By no means is this show grand, but it's an enjoyable watch and it certain hits some really nice notes at times as well.
Great job!
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