cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1402187 *** **Great concept, poor execution.** Everything that relates to **the production value of this movie is subpar**: the voice acting, the sound design, the animation... There's nothing excellent here, there's really nothing good here. *The voice acting sounds awkward at time*s. Japanese voice acting is known for being great, but here nearly every line feels emotionless, and the main characters sound like they're whispering very loudly instead of just talking. Which is something I can only assume is an artistic choice? I suppose it fits the theme of the movie but it sounds bad. Notably, **Anzai Chika's performance as Kobayashi was actually pretty great**. *The music and sound design on this thing is also not great*. It sounds so quiet, so empty. Once again, this must have been by design, as it fits the theme, but it sucks! It makes the whole movie feel bland and faceless. Just because it's about a secret and escaping others doesn't mean the movie should be empty. *The animation is somewhat decent*. It's not a very distinct style, and some frames look horrible. There's also some scenes with 3D animation that are very not good. Still, for the most part it's OK. Still, this is definitely not a bad movie. **It's a very interesting concept**. Personally, I love time-related movies (like [Tenet](https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Tenet_(film)) and [The Girl Who Leapt Through Time](https://www.wikiwand.com/en/The_Girl_Who_Leapt_Through_Time_(2006_film))), and the idea of being able to stop time for a short duration is cool. *The relationship between the two main characters is also great, and very engaging*. Murakami's whole personality, or lack thereof, really made me think... I wonder if there really are people that act this way. Personally, I related to Moritani WAY more, feeling overwhelmed and just wanting to run away. Murakami's whole ordeal felt very odd to me, but it was still very emotionally compelling. I think it was conveyed in a very nice way. *The conclusion was a bit underwhelming though*, probably as a consequence of this running for only 1 hour. Still, it didn't leave a sour taste in my mouth or anything, I just wish there was more to the story. I suppose that's actually a compliment to the plot, in a way. ^I^ ^related^ ^to^ ^Moritani's^ ^perverted^ ^tendencies^ ^too.^ What do you think? *** Rating: 3/5 [Watch on Crunchyroll](https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GVDHX8V5V/fragtime)! [Arr 🏴‍☠️](https://animepahe.com/anime/11b014fb-ba59-1ff7-832f-24ad9baf71ba)!!!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/922307 > **This is a spoiler-free review** > *** > Let's start with the obvious: **the animation is brilliant**. It's MAPPA after all. The production quality on this show is very good, and leaves very little to be desired. Sure, *it's not the pinnacle of modern animation*, but it's more than serviceable, and it posed no issue whatsoever. > > Regardless, **this show is very interesting, visually**. The characters too, but mostly *the environment is totally CRAZY*! It's weird, and beautiful, and creepy. The flowers are just stunning, and knowing what they mean in the story just adds a special layer to such stunning visuals. > > The voice acting *(sub)* is great as well, but *the general sound design was subpar*. I felt like a lot of scenes were very silent, and not in a cool or creepy kinda way, just in a "they didn't know what to put in the background" kinda way... The [OP](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYzgZVhiqmU) is a TOTAL BANGER though, and it was hard to skip, honestly. > > Still, all of this isn't that big of a deal if the plot and the characters make up for it. > > But they didn't really. > > **There's a varied cast with their quirky personalities and origin stories**, but *they're so poorly explored that that barely matters*. The only characters that have any emotional weight are Gabimaru (MC) and Sagiri (MC). To be fair, these two do have very compelling backstories and cool chemistry. The rest of the cast either didn't have enough screen-time for us to truly engage with their stories, or had basically NO backstory at all. > > **Gabimaru specifically is a very emotional character**. His struggle with his *up-bringing*, with *love*, *family*, and *freedom* is really compelling, and so is Sagiri's struggle with *human nature*, *sexism*, and *her place in the world*. > > The plot is just OK. **The setup is awesome**, and promises a lot of action and adventure with lots of tension and high stakes, **but that just ends up not being the case**. *We spend most of the time watching cool fight scenes*. The fight scenes are very cool, sure, but **where's the substance**? I think a big problem is that Gabimaru is way too strong. His plot armour is just too much... > > And the ending... I mean, come on. **IT'S A FUCKING JOKE**! If they were gonna end the show like this, it should've just been a 24/25 episode release. I know S2 is already in the works, but **this season simply felt incomplete**. > > Well, *the show does a lot of things right, and a few things wrong*. If more time was spent developing the characters and advancing the plot this would've been way more satisfying. For that reason, I'm still looking forward to the second season. > *** > Rating: 3/5 > > [Watch on Crunchyroll](https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GJ0H7Q5ZJ/hells-paradise)! > [Arr 🏴‍☠️](https://9anime.to/watch/jigokuraku.kqk9)!!