Anime Reviews ⇢ Contributors ⇢ ABlipinTime
Contributor Report: ABlipinTime

The following is a list of all ratings and reviews submitted by ABlipinTime. The links below can be used to quickly scroll down to a specific title.
.hack//Quantum (Jump to title)
- Overall: 5
- Violence Rating: 5
- Nudity Rating: 5
- Theological Themes: 0
- Other Negative Themes: 1
Review Mostly aimed at .hack fans with enough content to sorta water your appetite but not enough to satisfy you in many respects. It's only 3 half-hour episodes in length and wraps things up fairly well (not many obvious plot holes for a short story).
General summary:

spoilerThe story revolves around the typical .hack story of seeking the answer to why people are in comas.


Ah yes, and the ending theme is appropriate.

Numbers aren't enough to specify the content, so let me go into detail.
Violence: The story is told in an MMORPG, so while there can be alot of violence, none of it has blood. The violence is central to the plot, and though no one is shown to actually stab or even harm someone else, it's implied that such things are going on.

Nudity: Nothing even close to sex or references. There are moments of somewhat vague (but not blurred) nudity, and a prolonged scene where it's obvious. Also, the avatars of characters aren't entirely modest.

There is no magic in this show. As in all .hack films, everything characters do is possible in the RPG. However, the .hack franchise has an odd point of view with respect to human consciousness. Also, the "world" itself has its own stories with respect to religion for in-game experience, though this isn't important or mentioned in this show.
.Hack//Sign (Jump to title)
- Overall: 7
- Violence Rating: 2
- Nudity Rating: 2
- Theological Themes: 1
- Other Negative Themes: 1
Review .hack//SIGN is when the world is stuck in games... not just playing, but actually someone got caught in this thing. The reason? Somehow in the programming of this game, code was written to be able to get someone's consciousness stuck in the game. If you're an observant, careful viewer, you'll be able to discover the why (but sadly for your geeks, not that how).

I don't believe I've seen a more mysterious yet clean anime.
Spoiler: The only "nudity" would be the exposure of the chest area of female avatars, nothing more.

The story is very intriguing, especially if you walk in on it halfway. (Doing the latter makes several scenes that look possibly spiritually bad, mystical, or scary, unless you know what's going on.)

Violence:
At a minimum. On a rare occasion, a character here or there falls, but since everything is in a game, no one dies and there's no blood.

Directing and soundtrack:
The directing keeps things mysterious, hiding important details, and the music follows along making things weird.

Who could watch this: Just about anyone.

Did I enjoy it:
Most certainly. Would I rewatch it? With friends, probably.
Clannad (Jump to title)
- Overall: 10
- Violence Rating: 3
- Nudity Rating: 0
- Theological Themes: 0
- Other Negative Themes: 0
Review Clannad is a story about family, caring for other individuals, friends, and classmates. It's about the uniting of an unnatural group of friends through various activities, esp. the pursuit of helping others' dreams come true and restoring hope.


For the parents information...
Important point: I watched both a fan-sub of the original and the American subbed DVD. In the latter, some of the unnecessary bad content is removed (thankfully). (Peave: they also removed my fav ending to the Tomoya bonus episode.)

Language:
D word and S words on occasion. More so if you're watching the original (or a fan-sub).

Nudity:
Athletic trunks are about the worst it can get, unless you have some objection against school girl skirts or you're watching the fan-sub.

spoiler(In both the original and DVD vers.) There is porn mag hidden by one character, but you can't see anything on it. In the original, there is another scene where a character is holding a porn mag and you can make out someone on the front. The scene lasts maybe a few seconds.
The original also contains a scene of two characters bathing, and though most of their body is covered in suds, the scene was cut out in the DVD.



Violence:

spoilerThere is excessive beating of one character, primarily for comedic reasons. Whenever he and a specific other character come head to head, his head rolls, or rather, flies. This violence occurs early in the show, but drifts to only a rare occasion as the show progresses.


There is talk of more serious violence between certain characters, but none of that is shown.

Spiritual / mystical:

spoilerOne of the early characters in the show is actually the ghost / spirit of a girl currently in a coma. No spiritual details about how or why this is possible are given - her purpose is primarily to help build the romance by getting people involved in her sister's wedding. It's actually very touching if you take it how it's intended: nothing spiritual, just caring for others.



Peculiar:
Spoiler: A metal doll and a girl in another world or dimension. Both play a role revealed in After Story.




Story:
It's a romance, yes, but it's not in your face. A bit of the story is taken up by arcs that show you character development and have the main characters become better friends. The arcs are not at all boring or a waste of time. Clannad is a complete story and satisfactory if finished by itself. However, the story gets better and more complete as it continues with Clannad After Story (but the recommended minimum age for watching goes up).


Directing:
Perfect. Captivating.

Soundtrack:
Excellent soundtrack (taken from the Visual Novel that the show is based on) presented with just the right timing.
Excellent opening as well.


The presentation (directing, sound, lighting, artwork, etc.) is what makes Clannad a classic. Would I rewatch this anime? Already have and would again.

Recommended age:
Most of the content would be suitable for 13-year-olds except what I've already listed above.

Clannad After Story (Jump to title)
- Overall: 9
- Violence Rating: 5
- Nudity Rating: 3
- Theological Themes: 4
- Other Negative Themes: 2
Review If you haven't seen Clannad, you really need to watch it to understand what's going on in this story. The quality of this anime is pretty much the same as before.

It's hard to rate this anime on certain things. For example, while there is violence, it may not appear relevant to the plot (it is), but it isn't always unbearable to watch either (no blood spilling, but there are obvious and sometimes serious injuries).

Nudity and sexual content are hard to rate since they aren't as prominent as you might think based on the ratings.
Spoiler: There is discussion of the main characters having sex to have a child, but it is never actually shown.

The story revolves around the events of the first one, so there is some mysticism, but it's primarily a plot device used for discussion and alittle deus ex machina.
ef - A Tale of Memories (Jump to title)
- Overall: 5
- Violence Rating: 0
- Nudity Rating: 5
- Theological Themes: 0
- Other Negative Themes: 0
Review Trying to give the content number ratings isn't very effective in this case, so let me just explain things...


Content you should know about (primarily for parents):

Language:
I do not specifically recall language, but given the tone of the show, I wouldn't be surprised if something slipped past me.

"Violence":
Spoiler: It is implied someone is accidentally hit by a car.

Sexual content:

spoiler
The characters get themselves... involved. This is implied via partial nude shots of the girls when they are lying with the boys.



"Religion":
One side character is dressed in garb, and though there is a church in town, this person has no affiliation with them (or any religion for that matter) nor do they say anything that could be interpreted as having to do with the spiritual or theology. i.e. They just look like a nun for no apparent reason.



Directing / "camera":
The early directing in the show seems experimental, which makes it great for AMVs.

spoiler Colors are inverted. Shots are taken from far off towards the characters or zoomed in on certain parts of their bodies. Every shot seems really irritating. Eventually, things settle into more mainstream anime style as the show goes on.



Story:
It makes good observations on human character.
Spoiler: This is an observation about girls in despair turning to boys for comfort, which ends up at... involvement.
It's a divided story, following two sets of people, so you'd think it'd be hard to care for each group. However the difficult circumstances the characters face did draw me into feeling sympathy for them, even if I didn't like them.

Soundtrack:
Best part of the whole show: opening theme song, english version. Still love it.


Who should watch this:
I would not recommend this for people suffering from the same things that the characters in the show suffered from, but since you don't know who that is, I'd stay safe by saying people over 16 should be perfectly fine.


Did I enjoy it:
I kept watching til the finish, obviously, probably more for the theme and satisfaction of the mystery of what-happens-next than anything else. I don't plan on rewatching.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (Movie) (Jump to title)
- Overall: 6
- Violence Rating: 5
- Nudity Rating: 0
- Theological Themes: 5
- Other Negative Themes: 2
Review If you haven't played the games and don't see the extended addition, you'll probably be lost throughout the film unless you have some Final Fantasy nerd to explain everything to you.

The story is about events in a game world, which means just about anything is allowed. However, the writers decided the world is on the verge of being runover by the returning super villain. It's up to the heroes to succeed in multiple, unbelievable fight scenes - blood not included since this is a game.

Mind control, resurrection, rad motorcycles are all wrapped up in this bundle.

The best part about this film is the animation. It's absolutely stunning. Watching in high definition is a must!

Overall, for you non-FF fans, it's another superhero story.
Last Exile: Fam the Silver Wing (Jump to title)
- Overall: 4
- Violence Rating: 8
- Nudity Rating: 3
- Theological Themes: 5
- Other Negative Themes: 0
Review If you're expecting this to be like the original or continue that wonderful story, sorry. That's all I can say. The medium is the same: a mixture of 3D and 2D animation, although you notice the 3D aspect more. This is primarily because the series is full of battle scenes of floating ships. The time period is supposedly the same, but you don't get to enjoy it's aura because most everything takes place...
Spoiler: ...over an ocean or in a fortress.

Also, we're looking at a moderately detailed story. Seems like alot of things were started and hardly developed, e.g. talk of the exiles. And very distantly-related to all this is talk of goddesses, though this doesn't go too much beyond the traditional cry of nations for divine protection.

spoilerThere is said to be some relationship between the exiles and the goddesses, but this relationship is never expounded upon. The exiles are said to have been built by a certain group of people given extraordinary tech, not gods.



There is hand-to-hand combat and such. The blood is cartoonish to a degree, but it's still sickening.

As far as nudity: the opening for the first 6 or so episodes (until it changes) isn't something to watch (though body parts are hidden). There is an episode where Fam and her sidekick meet the Russians, and a scene or two there isn't appropriate for viewing.

What about the story you say? - Adventure in a ship, long ending, and naive characters. (Sounds like the first one.) If you haven't seen the first one, don't worry: it's hardly necessary to appreciate the tale. However,
Spoiler: there are characters you won't recognize

The Secret World of Arrietty (Jump to title)
- Overall: 8
- Violence Rating: 2
- Nudity Rating: 1
- Theological Themes: 1
- Other Negative Themes: 2
Review Miyasaki brings us another classic, this time based off the story of the Borrowers. Never having read that book, I cannot compare the two, though I imagine great similarity. However, the story naturally inherits the skewed view of "borrowing" without permission as not being stealing. We also see the funny ethical issue of what to do with people who are tiny and by nature not the same species as humans (but they are?). The story centers on this ethical dilemma and you spend most of the movie thinking about it. On the other hand, you get to enjoy the classical Miyazaki feel that accompanies all of his films because Miyazaki can make even your backyard an adventure playground.

Final remarks: I didn't rate this all that highly because you kinda feel unsatisfied after watching the film. Very little is actually accomplished. Nevertheless, it's a rather calm and entertaining film suitable for the whole family.
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