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- Verified Buyer
The case art isn’t impressive, the title sounds too sci-fi for me, the plot summary on the back sounded just ok but... This is one incredible series. I can’t believe I put off watching this one for so long but like I mentioned the title gave off a sci-fi or supernatural feel to me and I’m not into those kind of anime so I kept passing it up. I want to be conservative and say this is in my top 3 but I am very tempted to jump to this one being my new favorite anime. This is so well balanced in every way. You get plenty of action but there’s not so much action that they neglect a plot, there’s some drama but it’s never over the top and ridiculous, animation is in the style that I personally find to be the most appealing which I’ll elaborate on later, and there is never a dull moment. From the aspect of mature anime, this one pretty much hit a grand slam by again being balanced, there’s mature themes but it’s never overdone or so explicit that you think “there’s no need to show that” or “ok I don’t want to hear nonstop profanity”. So that being said there is strong language but it is pretty strategically placed to add effect instead of say Black Lagoon which is just nonstop “f words” and begins to take away from the show, and there are some sexual scenes but they are just enough to let you know what’s going on without getting too graphic cause why does anyone need or want to see that(normal people anyway). But honestly the story is great and to brag on the animation again, it is perfect to me because newer anime has gotten too computer generated looking even if it’s traditional style. Like Sword Art Online animation is outstanding but it’s got too much of a shiny computerish feel to me and this has the traditional artistry feel and at the same time is phenomenal. I also like that they kept realist character designs and didn’t have characters with green, purple, or pink hair. The background scenery is fantastic. The voice acting was really well done. Relationships are very well done and feel natural and not like they are forcing people together and trying to make a romance out of nothing. And all the relationships have a very realistic feel in the way bonds are made. One guy gave it a 2 star and criticized the monotony of the voice actors. We are all entitled to opinions but for anyone who knows how people with psychiatric issues like an assassin who’s been turned into a machine would have, they would have a blunted affect which would lead to a monotone voice. I really believe this some of the best entertainment I’ve seen from an anime. Any emotion you feel isn’t forced by fake drama like you get with most slice of life anime that create unrealistic situations and try to force emotions. Every emotion you feel while watching this has a natural pull and nothing ever feels exaggerated just to force emotion onto you. It’s also mature while not mature in the sense of being over the top inappropriate. The part that I hated(and not hated as in it was not good but hated because I felt really bad for the characters) was the part with Drei because she just didn’t deserve that path. Also between two years she “develops” ALOT. I guess Scythe had some secret stuff to help female development because Drei went from looking 10 years younger than Reiji to a 26yr old in her physical prime. There isn’t ridiculous fan service but does have some sexual scenes while not too graphic. I also greatly appreciated the more realistic approach it took compared to (again) Black Lagoon which had Revy never miss a target whether she was shooting from the hip or not even aiming and then you have the parts where people stand in a circle watching two people shoot at each other and somehow the bullets don’t hit any of the bystanders. In episode 1 of Phantom you see Ein shoot someone with Reiji behind him and I was thinking “great... another show that disregards obvious physics” and then you see the bullet graze his hair and I knew I was going to like this show. Although I do have to admit that towards the end there started to be more unrealistic gun fights but at least it was few and far between and wasn’t constant like in Black Lagoon. And anyway from episode 1 on I was hooked. Now if we talk realism again... should Reiji or Eren be alive? maybe not but at least they don’t ignore their injuries. All in all this is one fabulous anime. Like I mentioned there is strong language with a few f words, there is some nudity with one unnecessary frontal nudity of a female on the beach in the first like 20secs but few sexual scenes and not too graphic, violence is not too bad compared to say Attack on Titan or Akame Ga Kill(actually it’s very tame compared to those 2). That being said this is for older audiences. So IMO Black Lagoon didn’t compare to this one, Attack on Titan isn’t as good(of course I think Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress was better than AOT too), Akame ga Kill I absolutely loved but they are so different so it’s hard for me to decide, 91 Days is great but not as good, Sword Art Online while very entertaining isn’t as good, Full Metal Alchemist isn’t even close, and I could go on but I just wanted to name a few anime that are well known or that I really liked or that were similar in content to Phantom:Requiem for the Phantom and how they compare.
