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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Watch | 8 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 6 |
 Ggultra2764
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[series:2371#1552] |
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Now why does this seem like a thinly veiled excuse to feature attractive guys paired together with half-spirit beauties? While the premise for Zakuro seems interesting on paper with addressing the prejudices between humans and spirits, the series is too caught up in focusing on the romantic pairings developed between the "pairs" of spirit agents and later featuring heavy focus on Zakuro's origins and the conflict with a mystery foe. There is focus given to exploring the backgrounds of many of the show's characters, but many of them don't develop much thanks to the heavy focus on Zakuro and her origins. So for the most part, the show's characters are tacked on with a different archetype they follow throughout the series (for instance, Zakuro being yet another tsundere) and the big reveal on who the major baddie is gets spoiled in the OP and is actually rather predictable if you've followed enough anime titles. As mentioned by Dreamer, the human soldiers are mostly worthless in this series as they only serve to be eye-candy and romantic interest for their half-spirit partner(s) for much of the show. This is kind of a shame as the visuals for this series are quite gorgeous on the eyes with bright color tones and plenty of detail on scenery and character designs, particularly with outside scenery shots. Beyond that, not much else for me to say on the show. While having its potential with its premise, Zakuro gets too caught up in its cliches and archetypes to even bother trying to be a unique work.
Last updated Thursday, May 09 2013. Created Thursday, May 09 2013. | ||||||||
| Watch | 10 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
 Dreamer
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[series:2371#2279] |
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The synopsis made this series worth looking into.... so I thought. However, it wasn't what I was hoping for. Art, Animation & Character Designs Artwork really shines here. It's noticeable in the OP sequence, the ED and throughout the series. What really brings it to life are the subtle lighting effects, various shades and blends of subtle colors primarily on our characters. Speaking of the characters, they were near outstanding. Again, it's the color depths, various subtle shades and lighting effects. The facial expressions also bring them to life, adding depth to their character. Did I mention our girls are all super kawaii, Zakuro, Susukihotaru, Hozuki & Bonbori. Susukihotaru is my fav and super, super kawaii! Music The OP starts off really well. I loved how sounds in the first seconds, but then after that, it was just "ok". It was an upbeat techno piece with female vocals... and a quick beat at that. Not bad overall. Th soundtrack was mostly light pieces and during the not-to-frequent fighting scenes, we get a bit of enhanced musical compositions.. which wasn't much really. Series and Episode Story So the artwork was gorgeous, but what about the plot? Mmmmm, it wasn't bad really. The concept of these "spirits" as a class of "beings" (my own words and not portrayed in the series), and working alongside "humans" is an interesting concept however, it didn't quite work out as I was hoping. Frankly, it didn't really go anywhere. The plot focused on Zakuro's mother too much. I think it would have done better had the plot swung towards developing how, when or why these "spirits" became part of society. Unfortunately, we just have to take the fact of spirits existing along side humans, at face value. My biggest issue with this series was the worthless soldiers. They were basically powerless, helpless and almost did nothing for the series aside from being nice looking props in uniforms. Yes, the series was focused on our fox-eared girls but the 3 soldiers did share all the screen time with them so they should have had some type of abilities beyond that of the girls. Overall, this was sorta hit or miss type of series. It was barely enjoyable for me and the only thing that really kept me going was the excellent artwork. Last updated Tuesday, March 08 2011. Created Tuesday, March 08 2011. | ||||||||
| Unevaluated |
 Stretch
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[series:2371#628] | ||||||
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(Three episodes watched): This show is OK, I guess; it doesn't thrill me but there's nothing flagrantly wrong with it either. It has a touch of humor now and then, and the plot might be going somewhere. It seems aimed at teenage girls who dream of romance with bishounen guys. I'm not a teenage girl, however, so the romance thread isn't thrilling me. The references to Japanese mythology (pumpkin-headed children?) don't make a whole lot of sense to me, so I have little idea what's going on at times. Since there are a good number of decent series running currently, I have decided to drop OYZ; but if the pickings had been more sparse, I might have watched it without regret. Last updated Friday, November 19 2010. Created Saturday, October 30 2010. | ||||||||
