Re: Hamatora: Season 2

fullmetalgeass★ 4

[EDIT AS OF 9/23/14: So it finished. I liked the last episode. The final 3 episodes that aired after I reviewed were pretty decent compared to the rest of the show. That being said, they don't make up for a lot of what happened before them. The score is now 4/10. [EDIT AS OF 9/15/14: So episode 11 just happened. Episode 11 (and 9) are great examples of how good the series COULD be. Why all episodes aren't the qualities of these two, I couldn't tell you. But if Re:_ Hamatora concludes with the same strength as episode 11,and maybe intelligently, I may review my review-- I have to say, Re:_ Hamatora surprised me with that episode. Does it make up for everything else I pointed out up until now? Absolutely not.] I didn't see any reviews of Re:_ Hamatora that best fit how I take the series, so here's my go at it. If you disagree with anything I say, please tell me. I would love to have my opinion changed about Re:_ Hamatora, though I haven't the slightest idea how it will be done. (Note: I'll try to keep the discussion to only the second cour.) (Also note that while this show isn't finished, I've seen enough to get a sense of the show. Especially after the first season.) Re:_ Hamatora is the second season (well, 2nd part of a split-cour) of Hamatora, a story that appears similar to Darker than Black at first. I had high hopes for the show- the art was interesting, the music was pretty good, and the premise was interesting, to say the least. Sadly, it fell flat. In my opinion, here's why: [ART: 5] The first season had some really cool art early on. Every time I watched the opening I sort of felt like I was on an acid trip. Despite Hamatora's colorful approach, the art isn't really all that great, but at the same time, it's not terrible. Pretty much the definition of mediocre. Inconsistencies here and there are understandable (we're obviously not watching the BD or anything) but the art style itself isn't all that interesting. [SOUND: 7] Pretty much the only thing I like about both seasons. Re:_ Hamatora has a pretty awesome OP, not to mention a fairly catchy ED. Asides from that, the music throughout is played quite well. I never felt bombarded by music playing during each and every moment. And I liked the music to boot. [CHARACTER: 3] Finally, trouble's a' brewin. Re:_ Hamatora really falls flat on its characters. All of our characters are fairly one-dimensional, a problem in both seasons. Nice is the M.C. who will win no matter what. Murasaki is the friendly rival who always is trying to get better. Art would carry the show if he didn't annoy me so much. He gets pretty badass, but Art's actions don't exactly have motivation now (and just leave us asking "WHY?!"), but from what the show has given us so far I doubt it will be a very good reason. The addition of Honey felt sort of forced (1st season), but hey, why not? Hajime is standable as the show's best character. Sure, you have your trope of the small, hungry girl, but the show doesn't shove that down your throat too much. Her backstory is cool and somewhat intriguing. If every episode was the great quality I saw in her backstory episode this season, this would be a VERYYYY different review. [STORY: 3] A show REALLY has to annoy me to get any worse than this. Re:_ Hamatora has a lot of problems with its storytelling. Let's get an especially glaring issue that only appeared this season: THE GOD DAMNED TRANSITIONS. I swear that they were only put in because all the episodes weren't long enough. Another glaring problem: why did we get filler [EDIT: by filler, I don't mean non-canon, I mean not contributing to the overall plot. I use it for them interchangeably, however wrong I am (sorry).] episodes? They don't add to the enjoyment at all, and what's even worse, this is a 24 EPISODE SERIES. Now, on to the actual story. The first season quickly proved that, excuse the cliché, "we weren't going anywhere fast." I hoped that Re:_ Hamatora would maybe attempt to break this pattern, but unfortunately, it didn't. From the last episode of the first cour to now, you could probably fit all that happened RELATING TO THE ACTUAL PLOT in 4 episodes. Sure, I'm pulling that number out of my ass, but it's probably not all that wrong. As of right now, 9 episodes have aired. Not a lot has happened. These last 3 episodes are either going to leave us unsatisfied or we're going to get 3 episodes that try to tell us more than an Evangelion fan on speed contrasting the original series versus the rebuild. Yet another problem here (see a pattern?) is that the show takes it self way too seriously. I've had to pause an episode from time to time to take a breather from all the pseudo-philosophical bullshit it was spouting one moment, then be subjected to more mindless filler. [ENJOYMENT: 4] Maybe I'm slightly masochistic but I slightly liked watching this trainwreck of a show. I like watching bad anime-- it makes me appreciate the good ones more. [OVERALL: 3] Re:_ Hamatora really fell flat, which wasn't all that surprising after the first season. I would not recommend this show to anyone in search of something good-- but maybe to someone who wants to watch something with a good premise fall flat.

Smugdear★ 7

The sequel of Hamatora The Animation completely exceed my expectation, the series is truly different from its prequel and different in terms of good. One of the massive different that created in Re:␣Hamatora is the story orientation, Re:␣Hamatora have clearer story orientation than its prequel. The main plot of the story is visible, the story evolves nicely and keeps focusing to the main plot itself. It maybe not the best that exist, but the plot manage to balance the story. One more thing that we should notice that the sequel appeals more to the mystery instead the comedy. So the main attraction has changed tothe mystery. While the positive is lying in the ground, the negative is playing in the back scenes. Re:_Hamatora have some plot holes here and there which are too bad. Like modern anime these days, the animation is decent. The animation of Re:_Hamatora is less colorful than its prequel and has the darker feeling than it's prequel. But the good news is no need to suffer that series of contrast anymore! What can I say about the sound? It's quite decent, the seiyuu is doing a fairly good job. I should say that the Opening song "Sen no Tsubasa" is successfully beating my heart with its beat... while the ending is ordinary. While the story has a magnificent job to save the anime, the character is a bit flat. There are many unused supporting characters in Re:_Hamatora, there is minimum development between these characters. Our main antagonist motive is very weak while others are fine. It was enjoyable, not the most enjoyable anime but can fill you with excitement and its jocularity. In the end, Re:_Hamatora quite succeeds in saving its prequel from the apocalypse, if you want to watch an anime with Super Power filled with mysteries that lies hidden within the stories, then it's for you.