Pupa! Anime or Manga?

Hi mina san! I was somewhat busy yesterday and was unable to write our daily review! I will make it up by writing two reviews today and a recommendation! So, for today...Our review will be...Pupa, the Anime! Again this is a review, so there will be spoilers, but up to a certain point, this can be read without the spoilers. I will mark that spot clearly, and please remember our NO FLAMING rule, and I hope you enjoy this review! 

Pupa, originally a horror story manga collection by Sayaka Mogi, was adapted in to an anime version by Studio Deen on January 9, 2014. The story revolves around our two main characters, Utsutsu and his younger sibling, Yume. Both were raised in harsh family circumstances, having an extremely sadistic and abusive father, who constantly beat Utsutsu and his mother. After a ripping divorce, the mother leaves Utsutsu and Yume behind, and their father also leave the two kids. After the harsh treatment, Utsutsu takes care of his younger sister and vows to always protect her and forever be by her side. One day, Utsutsu and Yume comes across a strange lady who warns both of them to stay away from the "Red Butterflies". After entering a park, both see the red butterflies and become infected by the virus called Pupa, which turns Yume in to a cannibalistic monster, but leaves Utsutsu with regenerative abilities. As they come across the strange lady again, revealing her name as Maria, informs that Utsutsu will forever have to be food to Yume and constantly suppress her hunger. 

PLEASE DO NOT READ ON IF YOU DIDN'T WATCH PUPA! THIS IS A REVIEW AND MAY HAVE SPOILERS!

All I have to say to this anime was that it was severely disappointing. While watching this anime and comparing it to the manga, half the time I was pulling out my hair and screaming at the computer of how much they ruined the story, art, and plot line. Sorry for those of you enjoyed the anime, but I severely disliked the anime overall. Especially since I was an avid fan of the manga. 

"Justify your reasons LalakoKyubey!" is probably one of the thoughts running through your mind when reading this harsh outbreak and critique of this anime series. From here on, I will explain the reason why I hated the anime so much, and did not even dare to write a recommendation for it. 

Too many plot holes! In the manga, Utsutsu was a bipolar character, having deep background stories to why he had problems, and why he was so protective of his sister to the point where it was considered out of the norm. The story line in the showed deep continuing conflicts with his family, Utsutsu's true terror of hurting people he loves, and the uncontrollable frustration outbursts that he goes through, showing the psychological and horror aspect of this manga. I personally thought Pupa, as a manga, was a true work of psychological thriller and gore, lurking in to the true aspects of human fear, unlike the common shock and run that most horror stories do. Utsutsu continues to dig in to the past and the origins of the Pupa virus, about Maria, trying to actually help his sister, until he looses all mental sanity, is ripped open, and tested on, until the original Pupa butterfly saves him, as seen the latest translated chapters of the manga.

Utsutsu's Severe Bipolar Personality  

The anime presented us with 4 minutes of sibling porn, gore, and no character development. It was totally random, jumping sequences. Somehow Utsutsu's bipolar, somehow Yume turns in to a monster, somehow they are kidnapped, and somehow, everything works out at the end, as Utsutsu continues to get eaten by Yume for eternity. That is too many "SOMEHOW"s in this anime series, and those are just the major plot holes. There is so many in between that I can't even explain, like Utsutsu's friends, whom in the manga know about Utsutsu's harsh past, but clearly in the anime are just naive passersby who don't care about the random cigarette burns running up Utsutsu's back and arms. The anime made no sense, and was just random clips of Yume eating things, and ripping up dogs and people. 

The second thing that got me angry was the lack of thought and time in to each anime. Sayaka Mogi pulls off that sketchy art in her mangas making it somehow innocent and dark at the same time, but for the anime artists at Studio Deen, did a horrible job attempting to copy Sayaka sensei. The blood looked like tomato juice ground up and the details and shadows of the characters were simply just pushed off, thought of as something unneeded to tell the story. I think that I would have forgiven Studio Deen and its terrible job with Pupa, if the art was at least good, but when watching Pupa, the plot holes and the scribblely art just made me frustrated and made me want to just scream at the producers. 

Don't mistake this the wrong way. I love Pupa, and its manga. I just hate how the anime producers took this wonderful series, and created trash out of gold. Pupa was a deep and thrilling story to me, and it shows the true anger inside humans, showing frustration, love, and blind rage at the same time, creating interesting and relatable characters.

So what do you think? Do you agree? I would love to talk about this anime with you, just comment below! Hope you enjoyed my review, and remember there is one more coming today after the recommendation! 

PS: If you liked this, please press +1, and follow us! Let's share the art of writing and otaku-ness to the whole world! 

-LalakoKyubey 

   

MekakuCity Actors! Join the Mekakushi Dan! :D

How are you all doing! LalakoKyubey reporting for today's recommendation and review post! Today, OAR will cover the anime... MekakuCity Actors, also known as Kagerou Project~! This summer anime, ended in June 28, 2014, and although it's been a while since its last episode release, I think that this anime does deserve a review and a recommendation on this blog. Again, I please ask of you remember the no flame rule, and please forgive the minor spoilers, if there is any! With that, let's start our OAR's recommendation and review post~! 

MekakuCity Actors, a 2014 summer anime produced by our famous company Shaft, started as a story song series named Kagerou Project produced by Jin. This story revolves a teenage clique/group named the Mekakushi Dan ("The Blindfold Gang"), which consists of 9 members, where each of the character have a special eye power. Each episode talks about the background of each character, which relates to all the other 8 members in the group.

For this, it is better to go straight to the point. Do I recommend it? It is better to ask, who do I recommend it to? For those of you who thought that the summary was slightly bland and confusing, I suggest not to try the anime, but stick with the cool and interesting songs that Jin thought up of, consisting each of these characters. Those of you who know Kagerou Project, I suggest this anime. And those of you who really like Shaft in general, please watch the song series first before diving in to the anime. 

Most of you would be asking, "Why? Why is it important to follow these steps, LalakoKyubey? Can't you just watch it like a normal anime?" My answer to that is a eyebrow raise. All I can say to that is, "Maybe? If you don't want to understand it?" One of the weak points of MekakuCity Actors was the plot, and the impossible to understand story line without background knowledge. 

Now all of you MekakuCity fans will probably go, "Oh my gosh. I will murder you!" But my reply is, "Did you fall in love with the song series, or the anime?" The plot was difficult to understand because there was no development, and only back stories. If you watched Kagerou Project series, you would have known the main point and the main conflict that each character had to face. But since each episode was focused on background story and actually no development in the actual world, they had to cram the climax in to the last three episodes. 

Aside from the hard core plot, sometimes the art really shocked me. It was kind of a turn off when there is a beautiful drawing of the main character in a psychological setting, then all of a sudden, their theme song pops out with the music video. I was especially turned off by the way Shaft interpreted Ayano's Theory of Happiness. I mean, come on! Please, don't try the 3D effect randomly. You'll see if you watch the series. But aside from this complaint, I love Shaft's classic head turns, and psychological settings. They did a good job with shadow usage, and did an amazing job especially in this anime with prospective usage.  

                                                Head Turn!

                                           Prospective Usage! 

Did I like it? I guess so. I think I had too high of an expectation after watching Jin's amazing story line and music series, and after watching the anime, it wasn't as good as I expected. I wish that there could have been more, a more final statement from each character, but I do admit to having enjoyed the dark final episodes, and how the characters slowly realize their past and work together to mend the future. This anime is deep and thought provoking, and questions the thought of future and dreams. 

The story seemed to revolve around the question, "What is your priority and goal in life?" Shaft and Jin tried hard to work this in to an anime, and I did enjoy this anime a lot. Although I had some sharp comments, I did fall in love with the awesome covers and songs that Jin made, and MekakuCity was a pretty good anime in general. Now on to the scores!


Plot: 7/10 
Plot holes were the main deduction for this anime, and the unexplained rush climax development in the last 3 episodes. Besides from that, character development was very steady, and the back stories were quite interesting.

Art: 8/10 
I liked the art, except for the music videos they screened at the end. I think they should have gone with Jin's music videos and art, instead of choosing other artists.

Voice Cast: 8/10 
I agreed with everyone's voice except for Hibiya's voice, and especially Shuuya Kano's voice. I think that for Hibiya's voice, it should have been a little more childish seeing his age, and also more squeaky. It was way too deep for a twelve year old boy. I also think that for Kano's voice, they should have stuck with Hiroshi Kamiya's voice. I think that he has more talent and experience with manipulative characters, and would have been a better choice for Kano's character. 

Music: 8/10 
It was a good supporting music, but I felt like there wasn't enough. It wasn't as engraved in as other Shaft products that I have seen. 

Although I was picky about this anime, I do recommend it to those who like Shaft, and to those who are willing to spend extra moments to see Kagerou Project first rather then jump straight in to the anime. Overall, good job to the producers, and congratulations to Jin! 

I hope you liked this review, and I would be glad to hear your opinions in the comment box below! I am willing to talk about it, join me on my next review coming up in a few minutes! 

PS. If you liked this review, follow this blog and +1 this page! It would be great if you could spread this page around to every otaku! 

-LalakoKyubey