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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Watch | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 |
 Ggultra2764
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[series:2362#1552] |
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Dream Eater Merry sticks out from many shounen titles in that it doesn't have the feel of your typical shounen ilk as it gives off a mysterious mood in its focus on teenage boy Yumeji and dream demon Merry venturing through different dreams. The story is focused on Yumeji's unique ability to see and enter the dreams of those he encounters and Merry is trying to uncover information about her origins as she comes down with amnesia under mysterious circumstances when she enters our world. The first half of the series offers a solid amount of story development as more about the dream world is revealed with the introduction of more dream demons like Merry and hints are dropped concerning the mysteries concerning both our lead characters that reveal a greater enemy threat at hand. Another plus for the series is that it foregoes many of the unwanted moments of humor that many shounen titles often have the annoying habit of doing, as the primary focus of the series lies more in either Yumeji's mundane school days with Merry or the two entering dream worlds to uncover more about their circumstances. Sadly, the series quality takes a hit in later episodes when it introduces an enemy threat having nothing to do with Yumeji and Merry's present situation and as a result, leads many unresolved plot threads in its wake and the lack of a proper ending. While different from the norm for your typical shounen title, Dream Eater Merry sadly suffers the fate of many anime titles based on an ongoing manga source as its story doesn't get too far to show its potential thanks to creating an anime-only story arc and ending just as its plot is starting to pick up.
Last updated Sunday, January 08 2017. Created Sunday, January 08 2017. | ||||||||
| Rent | 9 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 8 |
 Dreamer
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[series:2362#2279] |
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After watching through the first episode, I was thinking this was going to be a sudo-comedy. I mean, we had talking cats, fighting at that... and all done in a more stylistic animation. However.... Art, Animation & Character Designs Artwork is pretty darn good. At times we have some really nice lighting effects.... nice ambient lighting (take episode one where our protagonist falls out of bed). Details are high and colors are not rich per se, but well done considering the surreal atmosphere. Character designs were some of the best I've seen. Details here were rich and animation sequences cleanly done. Facial expressions were excellent..... especiallly the mouth animations. Really nice. Music The OP is a nice rock piece with female vocals. It's upbeat with a few nice riffs. It isn't that bad... and it sorta grew on me. There's some interesting pieces for the soundtrack. There's mixtures of hard violins, whiny cords and sudden orchestras during fight scenes..... then all of a sudden it jumps to some really hard hitting rock riffs with hard bass. Loved it!! Then there is the "whistling" sequences. Really relaxing and really adds mood to the scenes where used. I'm thinking of picking this one up (OST) just for this particular piece. Nice! Series and Episode Story So after getting over the initial episode and false impressions, we get into the real story.... after episode one. The concept here is an interesting one.... would have made for a good plot and story telling. Unfortunately, it's a hit-n-miss. By the end of it all, the story seems unfinished and fragmented. However, the anime isn't a loss by no means. We have some nice characters here... referring to the "dream demons"... or "Mumas". As well, the other characters for the most part were enjoyable. One thing to note is this series is slightly on the artistic side.... as mentioned above. This lends the series a more surreal feel... which really works well for the setting.... dreams. This in turn, gives our characters (demons) a more realistic feel and personality. The plot doesn't progress that much. Or either that, there wasn't enough episodes. By the end of the series, we end up with more questions than when we started. Second season maybe? Overall, this series was enjoyable to watch.... if not slightly confusing and disjointed. I'm wondering if there's a second season coming as the series leaves the viewer with tons of questions and nothing resolved. I hope. Last updated Wednesday, May 04 2011. Created Wednesday, May 04 2011. | ||||||||
| Watch |
 Stretch
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[series:2362#628] | ||||||
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(Watch+ or Rent-) (All episodes watched): After taking a brief glimpse at episode one and seeing what seemed to be a guy fighting talking cats, I was not impressed and set this show aside until virtually every other new Winter series had been reviewed. This show was going to have to make some sense and grab my interest quickly, because I don't like shows that simply scramble my brains. It turns out that while it hardly 'wowed' me, YM did make some sense, and the story might be going somewhere. The normal world part, at least, seems semi-interesting. I concluded that this series was good enough that I had better watch at least one more episode before I made up my mind about it. So far I've managed to keep a grip on what's going on, and it seems interesting enough. Episode two introduces the concept of 'Mumas', a sort of dream-world beings that sometimes attempt to possess humans; they are not necessarily evil, though, which was a nice touch. Episode four, on the other hand, seemed kind of dull; I'm impatient for the story to go somewhere interesting. About the only important event was Merry agreeing to cooperate with Hujuwara, and it was pretty obvious that that would happen sooner or later. Merry wants to return to the dream world, and Hujuwara... well, I guess he just doesn't want to get screwed over by a Muma. Wasn't it kind of foolhardy of him to think that he could take down a Muma with his bare fists--and in a dream, to boot? What guarantee is there that a person's physical strength will have the same effect in the dream world as in the normal one? It's hard to express any kind of combat other than the sort which we are familiar with, i.e, fists and weapons. Anyway, I wish exactly what the various characters are trying to accomplish, and why, was more clear and more intriguing. Episode five was better; it had some intriguing weirdness, which is something this show needs. But it's got to be weird while still making sense, which is tricky. During episode six the thought occured to me that I'm really not sure what's going on, other than the bare basics of Merry wanting to return to the dream world. Why is it so important to go back? What does Hujuwara think he can do to help her? Maybe I'm just dim, but I wish I had gotten a better picture of who and what they are up against. Numerous new characters are introduced, like a villain-of-the-week show, except that the fight with the last villain (and the ones before that) were never really resolved. It's hard to keep track of them all, so I wish I had some idea which ones are genuinely important. I'm uncomfortable about the possibility that this will never make complete sense to me. Jan-chan was right, this is a bizarre show, but this TV version gives me more a feeling of confusion than interesting originality. After episode nine, I still feel confused and lackadaisical, and I realize that the show has only three episodes to go, yet I see little sign of the story nearing a conclusion. The basic crisis seems to be more about whether the force Merry applies to Mumas is justified, not whether she will ever get back to the Dream World or whether the human characters will ever be safe from Mumas. I still have a hard time putting my problems into words, all I know is that some shows are engaging and fascinating as they tell a story which makes perfect sense, even if it is about bizarre topics. And some, like Yumekui Merry, are confusing and cannot firmly hold my interest, which means I'm not willing to make much effort to figure out what exactly is going on. I wish this had been a better anime, because the basic premise is original and might have been great fun. Perhaps the problem with the conclusion of YM, and with the series in general, is that sometimes when you are trying to tell a story to others it is easy to assume that they know pretty much what you know, will draw the same conclusions as you would, and that the message which you are trying to get across to them is obvious, when in fact it is not. Anyway, we get a pretty standard conclusion: an evil person (here 'Mistleteen') seems invincible, beats the crap out of each and every good guy or girl, but is ultimately undone by something they are incapable of, like selflessness, a desire to protect friends, character strength, whatever. It works fairly well but is hardly original and I remained confused about the details to the end. The story is far from over, since Merry hasn't made her way home; this was just an arc-clusion. It's hard to rate this show, because nowadays I may not have enough functioning brain tissue left to understand a show which might make perfect sense to many others. It had its moments, but in general it confused me, didn't seem to 'wow' me very much, and I am ready to move on to something new. Last updated Sunday, May 01 2011. Created Wednesday, January 19 2011. | ||||||||
| Unevaluated |
 Jan-Chan
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[series:2362#967] | ||||||
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OK.. I have read the manga that this series is based on... and it's strange..... Let me correct myself, it is very strange. Hujuwara is a highschool boy who is troubled by dreams of talking, walking and hat-wearing cats who gang up to attack him. But these nightmares all end with him waking up at home in his bedroom. At least until a strange girl falls out of the sky and lands on him!! Chasing her are talking cats!! This girl is a skilled fighter who has spent many years battling the talking cats and their shadow overlords in the 'other world'. Her encounter with Hujuwara pulled her through the 'vale' between the two worlds and now she is trapped on the 'human side'. She has been fighting so long that she knows only how to fight and has completely forgotten her earlier life a child in the human world. But Hujuwara has a rare gift that allows him to serve as a 'portal' between the two worlds and since he is weak, it appears that he has specifically been targeted by the shadows for demonic-possession. So let the battle between Hujuwara and his cute protector vs the evil cats and demons begin..... Summary - I liked the characters, story and ambiance of the manga story. It is kinda silly and charming, but it did work to both entertain and interest me. Let's see if the anime adaption can carry this tale from the page to the screen..... Pls read the manga if you want to learn more! Last updated Thursday, July 29 2010. Created Wednesday, July 28 2010. | ||||||||
