sjaskolski - 2013-10-31 12:08:59

I was quite excited for Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi (shall be referred to as KnIN from now on). It had an interesting premise, good looking animation, and a leading loli. It maintained that interesting premise and good story for a few episodes in, and then just started to go stale and uninteresting after 3 or 4 episodes. It lost its whole "Post Apocalyptic" setting, and just stopped explaining most of what was happening.

I mean, why did the world go to ruin anyway? Since people made up that saying where God said "Heaven and Hell are overcrowded, I have failed, yada yada yada", what really happened? Why did everyone's wishes get accepted left right and centre? And why did their wishes stop getting accepted? A lot of things just stopped making sense.

By the look of it, there was a certain level of technology around by the time the apocalypse came, like cars and so forth, but why then, does it look like there is only older technology available, like old elevators and things like that? All these things are just totally unmentioned and unexplained, leaving a lot of things unexplained. This is why KnIN gets a lower score than it could've, and why it could've been a much better anime than it was.

Perhaps if there was a sequel announced, they would explain everything? But there is nothing in sight. In the end, you just feel bullshitted by this anime. It started off pretty good, but then it all just went to Hell to accommodate some side characters and elements it really could've done without.

Story

Its about this loli, who is half grave-digger and half human. She's on a quest to save the post apocalyptic world. How? She doesn't know. So the story keeps getting side tracked onto these "tear-jerking" encounters, and other unnecessary characters and elements it didn't need. While some of these side-stories weren't written too bad, they weren't the greatest thing around either, and most of the time had me yawning, bored. Sometime's I skipped a week, hoping that the the next episode or the episode after that had come onto the main plot. But nope, it never did. Car breaks down, they have to stop off at the city of the dead, whole 3-4 episodes dealing with problems and tear-jerking moments, Ai gets kidnapped, she meets some side characters, another 3-4 episodes. It all just stopped following the plot. You can see, however, some "clues" to assist in the major plot were revealed in these side stories, but for some reason they never capitalised on them and used them in the main story. So the main plot was pretty much never used, and instead the anime was based around side stories.

Animation

The animation was pretty good and beautiful, the colour palette used was pretty nice for the backgrounds for the post apocalyptic premise. The characters we're pretty well animated as well. The few action scenes were pretty smooth and flowed well, and the cinematography was good as well, though nothing major.

Sound

The music was quite good as well. The tracks used for each scene matched very well, and the voice acting wasn't hideous either, and actually fitted quite well with the characters themselves. The opening song was enjoyable, I actually downloaded it and listened to it for a period of time.

Character

If I was to say who the most interesting of all the characters were, it would be Humpnie Hambart. Even though he was the most interesting out of all, his hatred for the undead wasn't explained. Did he incapacitate them because he was jealous that they could die? Was it because he had lost someone dear to him because of them? Or was it that because his wife was a grave-digger that he wanted to hurry up and send them to the other side? Again, KnIN failed in explaining things. The main character in the anime is Ai Austin, [[SPOILER OF EPISODE 2-3]] Humpnie Hambart and his grave-digger wife's daughter. [[SPOILER END]] a half grave-digger and half human loli, who is on a quest to save the world. That story, however, like I've been raging about the whole time, is side tracked. The other 2 main characters are Yuri Dmitrievich, an old classmate of Humpnie Hambart who is now Ai's driver, and Scar, a beautiful grave-digger, who learns to be human. There are countless other side characters which later become more major, but I feel they are unnecessary to describe.

Enjoyment

In the first first 3-4 episodes, yes, it was enjoyable and had a few cliff hanger endings. However, the enjoyment and anxiety just diminished after that, when the side stories started. I stopped looking forward to each episode every week, and even skipped weeks at times. It just stopped being interesting. The only time's I was interested in the later episodes was when something concerning the main plot appeared, like maybe that witch, or the place where the grave-diggers are made. But other than that, it was pretty much boring.

Overall

All in all, Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi is an anime which could have gone a long way, but instead wasted all that potential and instead put all of its effort into the side stories which were simply uninteresting and boring. With the beautiful animation and great sound, it just rotted away thanks to the lack of attention to the story and the lack of explanation of the characters.

iwitting - 2013-10-03 04:03:46

The Sunday Without God Review Good points

1. One of the best premises I have seen all season. Very, very interesting.
2. Very good music that fit the series to the T.
3. Some good characters that are all very flawed and are developing in their own way.
4. The beginning and end were actually very good.
5. An utterly fantastic setting that made the premise of the show even better.

1. The character designs and overall animation was very lackluster (although the background seemed beautiful).
2. The story was 50/50.
3. The middle of the series could not live up with the beginning (and to an extent, the end).

With a premise like this, and considering how amazing the first 3 episodes were, I thought we had a 10/10 as far as story was involved this year. Alas, the show couldn't keep up, but did rebound a bit at the end (bummer some asshole on CR spoiled the ending in the comments section. They actually went back to a previous episode after finishing it to spoil it for people, scumbag). Ortus was just lacking, as it was a bit anticlimactic and had a few holes (he never thought Ulla would catch on? It was obvious!). And adding a side plot about a baby and her mom? Talk about random! But nothing was a bad as the 2 academy episodes. Those were legitimately bad, and the biggest blemish on the show. Boring, uninteresting, anticlimactic, and everything else you dislike in an arc. It felt as if they only did that arc to introduce the 2 main characters for the next arc, and to make it easier for Scar to go missing. Thankfully, it was only 2 episodes, and the Scar arc was better, even if it was a bit unclear as to what actually happened to her. The last arc was actually pretty damn good, too bad it had more holes in it than all the rest. First off, 35,000 people? In 10 years? How is that even possible? That little fact just pissed me off a bit. Second off, the entire story was kept together by a misunderstanding, which is weird considering how the arc played out. Alis was sending all this info over and Dee never actually tried to read any of it? But none of that matters, as the ending was pretty good, until the last scene. Now, the last scene didn't ruin it, but it wasn't what I was expecting and kept this shows tradition at being unnecessarily vague at times.

None of the characters were bad per say (well, maybe the ones in the academy arc *shivers*), but most of them didn't stick out. Part of that is because the characters designs felt very bland to me. My favorite character had to Hambert; I'd explain why, but it would be easier if I told you to just watch the show. Julie was also fun, but Scar was a bit bland. Kiriko and Ulla weren't bad either, but they were both a bit too oblivious. As for Dee and Alis, I liked them a lot, too bad Dee was just a bit too stupid to not see what actually happened.

I found the animation to mostly be average, with the exception of a few scenes. It wasn't that it didn't look good, because a lot of it did (like the lightning bolts and the cool effect that kept happening in the last arc). It was just... bland. Nothing popped out, which was a shame since that would have boosted the score a bit. But I don't consider animation or music as important as plot or characters, so it doesn't effect it as much.

Talk about a great score! i wasn't expecting it from this show at all! Great opening, an excellent ending (I LOVED how they would start the ending during the last scene of the show, just added to it so much!). And the rest of the score was also above average and bettered every scene I heard them in. You couldn't ask for a more fitting score.

I enjoyed The Sunday Without God a lot, especially considering I wasn't expecting much from it. It seemed like one of those premises in anime that are just too good to be true, like danganronpa (the only way to leave the prison is to murder a classmate, then the class has to find out who did it? Sounds great! Except it isn't). Thankfully, I was wrong, and the show turned out to be much better than I could have imagined. Sure, some things about the plot annoyed the hell out of me, but it was also the deeply interesting setting that kept me hooked onto the show, so I can't say it was bad.

rasheed.farrell - 2013-09-29 11:16:21

I didn't know what to expect with Kamisama from such a vague synopsis. To my surprise it came out incredibly strong with the first arc. The animation is beautiful, the music is moving, and those first 3 episodes blew me away with their story.

Story

The story of Kamisama has 4 separate arcs that have almost nothing to do with each other. Arc 1 is the strongest by far, almost to the point where the show would have been better as a 3 episode OVA (almost). The animation and music came out incredibly strong, the characters were interesting (I didn't like Humpnie at first though), and the story of those first 3 episodes was powerful to the point of tears.

Arc 2 was still fairly strong, again having almost nothing to do with the first arc. The setting changed entirely, and the team showed they could work with the busy streets of a bustling city just as well as the forested mountains of Ai's village. The story in Ortus revolves around Ai's interactions with princess Ulla. Although not as moving as the first arc the story and how it was executed was still beautiful and fun to watch.

Arc 3 was significantly weaker than the first 2, moving instead to a school setting filled with shallow characters and unresolved questions. It was almost like arc 3 was filler with a little bit of prep to move into arc 4, but it still felt very weak. Even the character development was incredibly weak for all the characters they introduced.

Arc 4 was better than arc 3 by a significant amount, but still not quite on the same level as 1 and 2. There were fewer characters in focus than in arc 3, but we still didn't get much character development. My biggest problem with it is Alis broke what my perceived personality of him was at the end. I suppose they did mention that he helps others just as much as he helps himself but if you had asked me whether Alis would do what he did at the end of Arc 4 beforehand, I would have said no. Otherwise Arc 4 was fairly strong in terms of plot, even though we didn't get much development of even the main characters like Ai and Yuri/Scar.

So beyond the second arc there really isn't much character development at all. The quality of the story takes a dip after Arc 1 and an even more significant dip after arc 2 as well. But something that really impressed me was how well the world was built. We're given a pretty succinct account of the past 15 years in history, and they do well describing the world and what kind of people live in it since god abandoned it 15 years ago.

In terms of story, Kamisama gets a massive boost for the strength of Arc 1, which is then slightly supported by arc 2 and 4, the weakest parts being arc 3 and the poor character development. But because of the power in arc 1, and arcs 2 and 4 being fairly entertaining I will give kamisama an 8 out of 10 for story.

Animation

Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi's strongest point is absolutely its animation. The show is incredibly beautiful, and has some very impressive lighting effects.

Various areas and settings of the world are all designed and animated excellently, from hills and mountains to wasteland to bustling cities. Each is given its time in the spotlight and proves how talented the animation team is for this show.

Above all else the lighting effects are the strongest aspect of the animation. Lens flares, the rising sun, the dark shadows and night, they all look absolutely stunning in this show. Sometimes scenes that normally have the plot enhanced through music were moreso enhanced by the beautiful animation.

Kamisama absolutely deserves a 10 out of 10 for animation.

Sound

The music in Kamisama definitely was stronger than the sound effects. Almost every sad moment in the show was toward the end of an episode and the ED playing in the back really help set the mood. Other than that the animation did a better job of setting the mood usually.

There were a couple times when the music wasn't fit to the scene excellently, and because of the dissonance would actually take me out of immersion. 9 times out of 10 it was fine, but it happened enough for me to mention it.

There were enough times when sound and music was used very well to earn kamisama an 8 out of 10 for sound.

Character

The biggest problem with Kamisama in terms of characters is how little development there is. There's hardly any development for any of the main characters, Ai is always a cute little girl with grandiose dreams, Yuri is always Yuri, Scar grows a little but more through external means than actual character development. The characters were just way too static.

The character who drove the story the best was easily Humpnie. Arc 1 was incredibly powerful emotionally and in terms of progression because of him and him alone.

In Arc 2, Ulla was easily the strongest character. She had more development than even Ai, and she didn't even have that much being present for only 3 episodes.

The characters themselves are at least really likable. Ai is probably the most adorable thing ever, and even characters who we dont see for long like Ulla can leave a lasting impression. Its just a shame the development is so shallow.

Kamisama gets a 6 out of 10 for characters from me.

Enjoyment

When I read the summary for kamisama before the season began I had no idea what to expect, or whether I'd enjoy it at all. Those first three episodes though were a marvel, if the entire show had been as good as those 3 episodes it would have been AOTS easily. The end of episode 3 had me in tears.

The problem was exactly that the entire show WASN'T as good as those 3 episodes. After arc 1 the quality definitely slipped. Arc 2 was still good and enjoyable, and arc 4 was also pretty strong, they just didn't stack up at all to what arc 1 accomplished.

The animation was gorgeous, and was one of the first things that surprised me about the show. The light and light effects especially were stunning throughout the entire show. The music as well was really enjoyable. Not to the same degree as the animation, but the OP and ED as well as the background music were memorable and typically very powerful feeling.

The unique world and story of a world god had abandoned definitely made the show very memorable and enjoyable. Which is why I'll give Kamisama a 9 out of 10 for enjoyment.

Overall

Kamisama is definitely a great anime overall, the problem is just that it has a few glaring weak points. The story quality varied wildly, from the marvelous first arc to the relatively dull 3rd arc. The animation was stunning throughout the entire show, always captivating almost like a fireworks display or an aurora its just not something you see all the time. The music worked well 9 times out of 10, but it was those last couple occasions where my immersion was broken because the music was forced and didn't match with the scene that left a bigger impression.

Easily kamisama's biggest weakness is its characters and their progression. Sure some of them are pretty likable, especially Ai herself, but they're just so shallow with almost no development at all.

I suppose its hardly fair to focus so much on the show's flaws though. The first arc of kamisama blew the rest of the show, and many other shows, out of the water. The animation was beautiful to watch, and the world was built and written better than many other created worlds from other stories. Overall it was a great show, with just a couple flaws.

Some of you may decide after reading this review to watch ONLY the first 3 episodes, and that choice isn't necessarily a bad one. You will miss out on the rest of a good show, but at the same time your impression of Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi will likely be better than if you watch the rest of the show where the flaws become more apparent. Its up to you how you want to watch it.

story: 8

Animation: 10

Sound: 8

Character: 6

Enjoyment: 9

Overall: 8.2

kimberly38 - 2013-09-27 17:20:33

The Sunday Without God is a fantasy type anime that follows Ai Astin, a grave keeper tasked to putting the dead to rest. However, her world is changed when she meets a man named Hampnie.

The anime is set in a world where God has abandoned the world and as such no one can reproduce or fully die. That is, unless a grave keeper puts them to rest. To be clear, people die but become... undead. As they lose their humanity they change into what could be seen more as zombies. However, the undead can live normal lives. If you are wondering, yes it does sound much like Dark Souls.

Probably the most impressive thing the show does is world building. Almost every reveal or aspect of the world that is being built is interesting and adds extra layers to the characters and themes.

One thing I will say is that the first half of the show is much more compelling than second. While a lot of the strengths of the world building and such are still there, the story archs are just not as interesting as the more philosophical elements are not as present later on. It might have to do also that the later episodes seem a lot more cliche and just toss a ton of characters at us instead of focusing on a couple.

It's interesting that Ai is really the only character I would call a main. She is extremely naive and self-righteous about things. To the point where she can become annoying. Each anime arch she meets characters that not only reveal aspects of the world to her but also new ideas that she has not thought about before.

The story is Ai's journey, and as such she has to move on from place to place. This causes some things to feel incomplete. The ending itself feels like a cop out, but is understandable. Surprisingly, some of the characters specific to each arch get more development than the more permanent side characters. There are also some instances where important plot points are not explained (mostly for sake of time.)

The art is stunning. Everything is well detailed and the use of shading and lighting are especially well done. The show is dark when it has to be dark and bright when it needs to be bright. The sound is also pretty good. While not as noticeable as the lighting the bgms are usually well placed and well chosen. Personally I think the OP and ED are good, but nothing to write home about.

The Sunday Without God has some amazing world building and the art quality to represent that. However, it seems like someone abandoned the show half way through as it turns into a bit of a mess of characters and unexplained plot.

6/10

loyce54 - 2013-09-26 07:25:38

Original post at http://www.bakatachi.com/2013/09/sunday-without-god-summer-2013-series-review/

“God created the world on Monday, from a place of nothing into something.

God separated order and chaos on Tuesday, defining freedom and oppression.

God sorted each and every number on Wednesday, giving rise to wonderful and varied things.

God allowed time to flow on Thursday.

God looked at every corner of the world on Friday.

God rested on Saturday.

And God abandoned the world on Sunday.

Since that day fifteen years ago, no more men can bear children nor able to die.”

Sunday Without God is truly a beautiful and controversial post-apocalyptic story where wishes come true to those who really desire it. However, this is probably the furthest from being a happy fairy tale that most would expect from a world where wishes come true. In fact, I would probably label this as one of the most interesting stories to fall under the zombie apocalypse genre but I will get to that a bit later. Many elements of the plot include tear jerking scenes and many moments where I would feel a chill up my spine. The themes challenge the way we see mortality and the main protagonist, Ai Astin, is faced with a responsibility of saving the living where the true definition of “being alive” is challenged. Ai dives head first into an unknown world to chase her beliefs, making new discoveries as our views on ethics are broken. There are a few twists thrown in and a flurry of plot holes that can easily be disregarded due to the gravity of the plot as a whole. Without having read the light novel nor manga, I am satisfied with the pace and overall story. Being too objective with trying to understand the physics and mechanics of this new world will take away from the developments of the characters as they are trying to progress.

It seems Japanese writers are not afraid to dive right into creating controversial stories revolving around religion that receives much more heat in western countries. The premise and main conflict of Sunday Without God is that on a certain Sunday fifteen years ago, God abandoned the world leaving no human able to die nor bear children. With God’s announcement of abandoning the world, there became a loss of balance as strong human desires in the form of wishes are granted at certain limitations but still defying physics and most logic. Though, before God’s leave, he placed unto the world the Gravediggers who are artificial beings with the sole purpose of putting souls to rest who would in normal conditions be considered dead (again I will clarify this shortly). Unlike other anime and manga revolving around personifications of a God figure or any character receiving divine powers, the God in this series is based on Roman Christian beliefs with scattered sci-fi elements thrown in.

We are introduced to the main protagonist of the story, 12 year old Ai Astin, who is living a peaceful life in a small remote European village. Seeing as humans have become unable to bear children 15 years prior to the setting, Ai is a mystery in herself but has kept innocently ignorant as she had been announced the town’s Gravekeeper since the age of 7. Right at the start of the show, she is thrown into conflict as she witnesses the mass murder of her entire town. She is left with the weight of her situation on her shoulders and is left to make an immediate choice to ensure her survival. The introduction of characters is well paced throughout the series and watching Ai’s discovery to the unknown world around her is compelling and had my curiosity peaked at every turn she made. In the end, with all the friends she meets along the way, and understanding how much of an anomaly she has become, she decides that she wants to save the world.

As I mentioned earlier, I felt this show can easily fall into the zombie apocalypse genre. Now let me explain the plot a bit before I get into details of why I think this is so. As God had abandoned the world to it’s own demise, he created the Gravekeepers as shepherds who would put restless souls to peace. It is explained early on that when a person’s body would normally find death, their normal bodily functions would cease but they would remain animated as their soul would still be attached to their bodies. In addition, as the now “dead” person still remains cognizant, they gradually become (as the anime explains) greedy and fall into insanity as they still attempt to remain alive. You might be asking, “How does this relate to zombies?” Well, excluding that the concept of zombies is that zombies are controlled by a parasite or some sort of disease in general, as the person falls into their insanity, they become aggressive and aim to kill the living, spreading death and the greed that brings around insanity. In other words, zombies. Though, in the anime so far, we have not witnessed a person who has become crazed but it is apparent as we are introduced to Gravekeepers on several occasions who can “sense” the walking dead.

The artwork is astonishing. Beautiful sceneries and characters bring this show to life. Along with the background music, it does not fail to complement the emotional tension.

Story: 8

This is strongly original. Though it has its share of scattered cliches and tropes, you shouldn’t be worn out by any generic situations. Of course, this is a very strong example of a fantasy genre title, some viewers will feel overwhelmed by the amount of emotional scenes that may cause lots of viewers to drop the series early on. Personally, I enjoyed it and was very refreshing to watch right until the end.

Sound/Music: 10

The soundtrack including the OP and ED tracks are outstanding! There are many moments in the anime where a song will start to play during a scene and I start to get crazy goosebumps.

Voice Acting: 8

I really enjoyed the voice acting, however, I felt that Ai’s voice was a bit straining. Similar to Ilya’s voice from Fate/Kaleid, some of the dialogue in strong emotional scenes felt forced and a bit awkward. Still done great!

Art Style: 10

The characters feel unique and Ai is the cutest little thing ever! Well.. besides having an enormous head. The settings in the show are colorful and always beautiful. There is a lot of ambient lighting/effects that really adds to the impact of the scenes. Beautiful.

Animations/Effects: 7

Seemed to be budget(?). There were never any moments where the animation wowed me but the effects added were just to add to the scenery. This isn’t an action genre series so increasing character frames probably wasn’t the focus.

Originality: 9

It strays from having generic cliches. I considered it a zombie genre by just how the plot was explained. God abandoning the world? That’s pretty intense!

Overall Enjoyability: 10

When the ED started playing, I was on the edge of my seat! Despite popular reviews of the series, I felt this show was pleasantly paced and I was very satisfied! With all the elements I enjoyed (music, characters, relationships, etc.), I really wished it wouldn’t end so soon. I was hooked on episode 3 when Ai buries her own father.

gaetano.rempel - 2013-09-25 04:47:44

"All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on."

- Havelock Ellis

There is something really special about this show, unfortunately its not quite long enough for us to acutally find out what that special thing was. This 12 episode light novel adaptation just gave us bare bones of 4 story arcs that all concluded in a bittersweet tempo (or so it may seem). Might fall into that "adaptation for the sake of sellout" category but it does redeem itself in more ways than one to keep things at bay and not fall apart.

The premise is somewhat bold yet mysterious and is not to be taken lightly. God, or whatever creator it is that this lore has procure, has abandoned mankind and now no one cannot die in peace without the help of individuals known as gravekeepers, the ones who bring the dead to their rest. The story revolves around a preteen girl named Ai, a gravekeeper, or so she claimed. Her once peaceful life is shaken and stirred by the time she met a man named Humpnie Hampbert who showed her that this world is nothing that meets the eye. What follows is an adventure that is both melancholic and hearthbreaking. Frankly this is a brave way of putting the burden of this post apocalyptic world on the shoulders of a young girl and make it look like child's play. Its not all butterflies and rainbows, though, for this show can get brutal and depressing at times. The overall flow of events that lead to...well, nowhere, really, has been great but it sometimes leave more questions than answers. We see random characters in the show gets attached to our feelings as they show us their plight in this ever obscure world devoid of hope. By random, I really say random. Some of them just come and go as they please and play with our feelings, sometimes to the point of annoyance. The different arcs in the show somehow shows some connection, but only to the point of view of Ai, who by all mean, is just an observer for most of the series. And that cannot always be a bad thing.

As for the characters there is nothing much to say yet I'm glad they are not totally cookie cutter tropes either. I could elaborate on them, but their overall personality is not that noteworthy so now its up to the viewers to decide if they are likable or not in general.

Overall production is amazing ranging from animation quality, effects, and soundtrack. It really makes you feel that you are in a surreal world despite it having a rather cliche location and setting for a demi fantasy setting we have seen hundreds of times before. Not much figthing scenes here but basing on the early episodes, its a shame that we barely see action scenes for they are well crafted and executed. Its not an action anime in general, but imagine how much more amazing this show would be if it were. Its a big loss for this show, actually. The main focus was still the journey that, although adequate, leaves us a bland taste due to how static things went most of the time that it almost put the great production value to waste.

In a sense I could say I did enjoy this series but it left me a blank statement that it could have been more, much more.

matteo.rolfson - 2013-09-24 21:49:10

Ahhhh what to say, this anime was one of the one's that really attracted me this season.

-Spoiler Alert?-

First time i'm reviewing an anime so I thought it would be fun.

I'm not so sure myself why I was so hooked to this, maybe because the plot was appealing since the first few episodes had this unknown man called Humpnie Humbert who came into this girl, Ai Aistin's town and kills all the villagers except her. Wow that's one hell of a twist. What's even more weird is that this man is supposedly her father. In this anime, there exists a group of people called gravekeepers which god sends to help the dead in the world reach heaven. This is around the time when people stopped giving birth and the day where GOD ABANDONED THE WORLD!!!!!!!!! Oh yeah Humpany being immortal and ending up dying feels very off to me but oh well. At least Ai gave his father a proper burial. Oh yeah I forgot to mention Ai is half gravekeeper half human and is a very stubborn girl. She wants to save the world but through her travels she meets many new people and has many adventurers. In the end she ends up saving a whole classroom filled with people and even Alis(Alice) who supposedly died long before the current date.The ending had such a plot twist and there were so much feels to it. One of the best anime's I watched this summer. I would definitely reccommend this anime.

ystiedemann - 2013-09-23 05:49:46

It's truly a beautiful series, about life and death. It has moments that will make you cry from happiness, but mostly from pain. Following Ai Austin's story was extremely enjoyable. All the characters were well thought out. Some all with heartbreaking back stories that really made you care about the character each in different ways.

I love Ai as a character for so many reasons. Mainly because she's strong. Often, in anime with a young female lead whose life is constantly thrown out of balance, they do a fair bit of crying and while it's understandable, it can start to become fairly repetitive however, in this series, on the rare occasion that Ai cried, I found myself crying too.

Another commonly poorly executed trait that Ai has, that was actually done right, was her curiosity. In most instances, when a young character goes off wondering (this can be in anime, cartoons or even live action works) the more often than not get in the way when they want to find something out. Even when they do discover something of importance, they end up in some kind of danger and then the other characters have to go save them which then leaves the audience extremely annoyed. But in Ai's case whenever she went off to do something she helped and worked things out that others might of missed for instance the entire plot revolving around Ulla.

I could go on for days about my love for Ai, as she is an excellently done character. But there were a lot of unique characters in this series apart from her, like Julie and Scar. The growth that Scar showed was phenomenal from her first appearance. I thought she would be a side character at best, but she really surprised me and I found myself really caring about her. Without spoiling too much what happened to her in Ortus, was quite an interesting twist and really piqued my interest. As for Julie, he started out as the bad guy but ended up becoming the second father figure for Ai (The first being Youki). Instead of seeing Ai as a replacement for his deceased daughter, he saw her as her own person and ended up caring about her. (As most people in this show do.)

The music for this anime was extremely fitting and beautiful. The ending credits (Owaranai Melody wo Utaidashimashita -Mikako Omatsu) gave the right feeling of melancholy and peace. In my opinion it always seemed to fit the last scene perfectly, leaving us in this more often than not in an extremely sad almost in a stoic state. The opening credits also well chosen (Birth -Eri Kitamura) always put me in the mood to watch the show, which is the openings purpose so well done.

The animation style is really one I can get behind. It has this mystical feel about it. It was well tailored to the show. Giving off the correct atmosphere through animation can be a hard thing to do, but they got it to a tee. Another part about the animation I must compliment is the eyes. It's hard to explain my feeling for it, but I just simply found them beautiful. Hampnie Hambert's in particular just had so much expression in them.

One thing I can be a little critical about is the pacing. Especially when you're watching it week by week. The first episode just kind of leaves you confused. I happen to know some people who dropped it after the first episode because of that fact.

All in all this is a great series and one I highly recommend. It's definitely my favourite anime from Summer 2013.

miller.giovanna - 2013-09-09 13:41:55

What will you do if the god we know abandon us. No one will be able to die and no one can give birth a world where you'll be immortal never knowing what death is like but still there are still hope before god abandon us completely he left something who can save those who are suffering from longing for their death and they are the grave keeper. The job of a grave keeper is to buried those who have died but still living or insist to live. If your dead already your body will rot unlike the body of the living.

If you have lolita complex this is a must watch anime for you because Ai Astin really cute.

The story revolve around Ai whose dream is to save the world from total dilemma now she travel along with her companion around the world to aid those who are in need.

peggie.glover - 2013-09-06 11:13:01

I usually get some ideas on Mal reviews on how to review some anime but now I'm on my own i think i have enough experience to review without any ideas :D

this review is base on the first 8 episodes that i watched hope you like it :D

lets get started i myself really likes Mysteries and fantasies.

at the very beginning i was a little disappointed of this anime because i didn't really understand what really is the plot of this anime and if what it really tries to tell us but as i go further i kind a understand this anime and kind a feel like i want to watch more

Story: the story is about the future where God abandon the planet and people don't die anymore but there is this Human like creatures that are called Grave-keeper and only from the burial of the grave-keeper may people rest in peace,
(6) i dint really like the story but i dint hate it. :D

Animation: they look kind a normal not bad and not good so I'll give it a
(6) I'm not really a fan of Madhouse. :D
Sound: the music is kind a good and i love the opening, and they sound Clear and awesome
(8)

Characters: i dint really get touch to some characters but i find Hampnie Hambart quite cool and awesome
(5)

Enjoyment: i dint really enjoy much but i find this quite mysterious
(5)I sometimes force my self on watching this. :D

Overall: 6+6+8+5+5=30 30/5=6
(6)