eileen19 - 2015-07-31 04:55:26

Tokyo Ravens is a unique experience in my taste. I don't think I've ever encounter an anime like this before. Now I don't hate the anime as a whole, I thought it was okay and passable. I wish though that the pacing could have been solved in some episodes where there was not really much story involved. Fight scenes needed a bit more work because there wasn't enough tension. A fight scene consists of two important things: drive and conflict. Drive is what makes people come together. What causes them to perform certain actions and their advancement in the story. Conflict is a clash of drives because one person wants to advance while the other one is trying to stop the advancing party. Conflict births tension because there's something at stake(maybe a character dying or a bad event starts to count down to becoming real). Here some of the fight scenes felt missing with two of the mentioned elements. There wasn't tension created that raised the stakes to create interest for it to continue. Don't get me wrong, the story takes place in a universe completely different from anything I've seen with it being eastern magic and there's a philosophy behind it. I admire that Tokyo Ravens tried to be different but I wish there could have been a bit of more work into their fight scenes. 

Other than that, it's your pretty typical anime adaption from a light novel series. 

fabbott - 2015-05-21 23:12:12

I ♥ this Anime.
I have watched so many and different Animes. So i can say, that this is definitly one of my favoutire ones *.*

tlesch - 2015-01-12 02:29:22

I enjoyed this anime. And always called this anime TokyoDravens :)

zulauf.callie - 2014-06-29 06:10:12

Tokyo Ravens started out really good, but it loses it's excitement after the first couple episodes. However, if you just pull through with it, the anime starts to get really good! 

ljohnson - 2014-05-11 02:38:50

The two main characters, Harutora Tsuchimikado (voiced by Ishikawa Kaito) and Natsume Tsuchimikado (voiced by Kana Hanazawa start out as childhood friends, we see an innocent and really well executed prologue before throwing us into the driving beats of the opening song...

Full Review Here: http://littlecloudcuriosity.com/category/anime-recaps-reviews/tokyo-ravens/

hammes.alana - 2014-04-02 14:31:47

Expectations are horrifying...They can greatly influence someone's opinion on a show! If going into it with really high expectations, it can end up being way more disappointing! If you go into it with really low expectations, you might even end up enjoying it! I personally always try to watch with an open mind and try to not get hyped for a show too much so I can still enjoy it! For this particular show though, it is the exact opposite of my example earlier! This show did not end up being way worse than I had expected but the other way around! Ladies and Gentlemen, today's topic shall be the Underdog of the Spring and Fall Season, Tokyo Ravens!

Story:
The story of Tokyo Ravens takes place in an alternate universe, that is rather similar to ours, except for the fact that there exist spirits and familiars. In this world there also exist Exorcists, who learn how to handle those spirits. They learn to summon them, exorcise them and even how to fight using them, for the sake of preventing a spiritual disaster. The main character is Tsuchimikado Harutora, a teenage boy that is part of the branch family of one of the most popular Onmiyou-Exorcist families in Japan. However, other than most others in his families, Harutora is not able to see Spiritual Power and thus can't become an Onmiyou-Exorcist like most others he knows. That's why he has lived a rather quite life up until now, simply hanging out with his friends Hokuto and Touji. That is, until he meets his old childhood friend from the main family, Tsuchimikado Natsume!

The Setting for Tokyo Ravens is rather interesting and even though this kind of supernatural thing is not really uncommon anymore, I do really enjoy those kind of shows! What Tokyo Ravens does really well is taking what it is given and turning it into something good! The show is really good at world building! Almost too good I would like to say...While the world is really well explained and it's potential is used really well, that has a certain price attached to it! The show takes way too much time fleshing out the world, that it could have spent on it's characters or bringing it's story forward. Of course this is not necessarily a bad thing, as this makes the second half even more enjoyable due to the really well explained world, but the first half falls flat due to this! The characters are uninteresting, the pacing is all over the place while it is still enjoyable, the first half of the show is mediocre at best. However the show does pick up quite nicely around half of the show! With the first really big fight starting, the show finally shows it's scale and just how badass it can be! From there on it seems as if I was watching a completely different show, as basically all the pacing problems get solved, the viewer is finally able to really get attached to the characters and the plot twists have a lot more impact that they used to have! Tokyo Ravens second half was one of the most surprising things that happened to me in this winter season and it even included one of the best episodes of this entire season! It got me surprisingly emotional, something that I wouldn't have expected from this show as well! However there is one thing that I am not completely content with and that would be the ending! The ending for Tokyo Ravens itself was rather good and did leave a lasting impression, however it did not quite end the way I wanted it to end! The ending doesn't really give any sense of closure and since there is only 10 Light Novels as of now, of which 9 got adapted in this TV Anime, there probably won't be any more too soon! However hope dies last and maybe we will end up having a second season at some point in time...

Characters:
The Characters for Tokyo Ravens mostly suffer from the same problem that I mentioned in the story, the first half! The characters I would argue, while still being the best part of the first half, aren't really well fleshed out! While the interactions are quite well written and I have to say that the more quite Slice of Life moments of the show definitely were my favourite parts of the beginning episodes, the characters don't seem to develop at all! It kind of plays out like Index, just not as bad!
Harutora at first is your generic Light Novel Main protagonist, that stands up for his friends and doesn't have much of a personality except that, but just as the story, Harutora's character gets a lot better halfway through the series. While I can't really reveal too much about that, due to spoilers, all I can say is that his character got a lot more conflicted later on. The second character to talk about is Tsuchimikado Natsume. She is the daughter of the Tsuchimikado Main family and as such has to go to the Onmiyouji-Acadamy in Tokyo, meaning she lives far away from her home. She also happens to be Harutora's Childhood friend and also due to the family’s tradition has to go to school pretending to be male. She is a rather quite character at first, but soon turns out to be pretty strong herself as she is really good at judging a situation and acting in the appropriate way. If I were to go over the rest of the characters in detail now, this Review would probably just take way too long, so let me just say really quick, that most of the characters are rather interesting to watch. They may neither be the most original characters of all time, nor the most well written, but the show certainly has a good enough cast to be enjoyable! The only other thing that kind of bothers me, is that while the Slice of Life character interactions seem to be really interesting at first, they get a little more generic later on. That may be caused by the show not really having that many Slice of Life moments anymore, but it still is something that bothers me. The longer you watch the Anime the easier it is to get attached to everyone. The Anime also has a huge cast of Side characters, that are all somewhat interesting and that I would love to see more about. However the Size of the cast itself prohibits the Anime from digging deeper into them. All in all the characters are flawed but likeable. It doesn't make the show a lot worse, but they don't really do a lot to make it better either.

Sound:
With the OST being done by Maiko Iuchi, the same person that did the Soundtrack to shows like Railgun, the OST was sure to be somewhat good. While it was not a masterpiece and nothing I would listen to outside of the show, it perfectly fit the show it was attached to. It mostly consists of quiet Piano and Violin pieces, mixed with some rather intense fighting themes. My personal favourite at this point is the track "Dairenji Suzuka", which plays every time Suzuka gets on screen in the early stages of the show, as the music makes her entrance really badass and fits her attitude perfectly!

For the Openings, both are rather good. Same as with the OST, they are not absolutely amazing and unskippable, but they set the tone for the show quiet nicely. While most people like the first Opening better, I personally do enjoy the second one just as much and honestly couldn't decide which one of the two were better. However, the animation for Opening Number 1 is a lot more interesting and the Direction does look a lot better! That said, the second one by no means looks bad, the first one just looks better! For the endings it basically is the same, while I did not like the first ending as much, the second ending ended up being my favourite song of the show!

Animation:
Tokyo Ravens has been produced by 8bit, the same company that also did Infinite Stratos and Aquarion Evol and has been directed by Takaoki Kamasaki, the director of "Is this a Zombie?". The Animation for the show is average at best. It's not really fluent and doesn't really have anything eyecatching about it. It is not abysmal, but it certainly is not good! I feel like the bad animation kind of makes the show a little less badass than it should have been and it really does not do a good job at complimenting the show! Another huge fault with the Animation of this show, is the CGI. It looks really out of place and honestly is some of the worst I have seen in quite a while. It is mostly used for some of the familiars and it really is painfully obvious.

Tokyo Ravens has been the Underdog of the season and by far the most surprising one to me in a while! The show has a good amount of action, likeable characters and a well paced story. In the second half that is! The show has huge problems at the beginning, but does solve them halfway through it's run. It may start off as a rather boring show, but the later parts are definitely worth standing through the first episodes! I would definitely recommend it to basically anyone that is into Supernatural and Fantasy Anime.

parker.jamal - 2014-03-26 20:19:00

This is a story about a world where everything is pretty much the same as ours, except there are a bunch of magical monk-shaman people running around. It's kind of like Shaman King except the super-powered people are a lot more prolific, and there aren't as many environmental aesops.

This is an adaptation of an on-going light novel series, which could mean any number of things by itself. But I have to say, this is veers on the darker side of adaptations where many scenes and instances of exposition are cut out, leaving the audience who hadn't read the novels to wonder what is going on a lot of the time. And really that is the biggest problem.

There's a lot to like in the plot here. I found certain plotlines really intriguing and several characters executed really well, but for every step forward, there was two steps back as it were. The show is at its strongest when it focuses more on character interactions, character-specific plotlines and development in general. It is at its weakest when it delves into all manner of magical politics concerning the relations between multitudes of gangs, cults, organizations, etc.

This would be fine if executed well... but it isn't. I've been told they cut a large amount of exposition from this anime adaptation and it shows. Especially prevalent in the second half where a lot of the time, I honestly couldn't follow certain plotlines. I had no idea who certain people were or why they were so damn important, or how certain organizations tied together, etc. I kind of just went along with it with glazed-over eyes. And that isn't good, because it failed to engage me.

If the show took a few moments to reel it all back in, and just explain these connections, it would've made all the difference in the world. But as it stands, the story gets exponentially more difficult to follow the further you go. And while the last few episodes introduce some fantastic twists and turns that change the entire nature of the show... it just abruptly ends. Like, "hey here's this really awesome interesting development....aaaaand that's all you get. Go buy the light novels suckers!".

Maybe if they get another season, it won't seem like such a big deal, but at the moment so much is left unresolved and so many characters just kind of popped up and did their thing without any real explanation of where they fit into the grand scheme of things. It has all the tell-tale signs of an adaptation made more to promote the original work than to be a great product on its own merit.

The animation is a mixed bag. I like the art style, but the animation can veer into lazy territory at times and an abundance of out-of-place CGI doesn't help matters. The battles are pretty cool, if a bit random since the rules of this magic system are so poorly defined. I think it basically boils down to, "throw some talismans around and spout of bunch of random Japanese words and magical stuff will happen!". But still, it looks pretty cool when the shit hits the fan.

The music is actually a standout feature. It's really good, a lot of techno-vibes with an eastern flair. The first OP is one of the best OPs I've heard in ages and the second ED is fantastic as well. Though the music doesn't stand out much outside of fight sequences.

Lazy directorial decisions regarding this adaptation make it an average watching experience, with some high points. But I am genuinely interested to see where it goes so I hope another season is eventually made. It's hard to recommend because it is a bit generic and it does drag itself down at times but all in all, I don't regret following it through to the end.

Rewatch Value: Maybe (Out of a Yes/Maybe/No scale)

lilian58 - 2014-03-26 18:24:51

Okay, I might be being a little bit harsh when it comes to this story but I had a couple of problems with the character personalities. When it comes to the people from the Onmyo Agency, mostly everyone is cool and collected or to some extent mature but then we look at Harutora's gang and I noticed people were tearing and crying quite a lot. Suzuka, Kon, Kyouko, Natsume are four characters who are strong female characters in terms of power and abilities but they are the ones most moe and sensitive. It made me question Suzuka's abilities as one of the divine generals: how did she become a divine general if she does not have the emotional capability to asses the situation and be officially allowed to use her powers? Compared to Harutora, Touji or even Tenma (who for the most part did not cry and was shy), the female characters were comparably emotionally unstable. Which is why for me, the serious tone of the anime was thrown off a bit. However, it wasn't a bad show, the concept of the anime was cool (though I did have some issues with CG--awkward 3D materialization in the art).

king.trevor - 2014-03-26 08:17:37

Compare to other Light Novel adaptation, this one is actually acceptable

shields.royce - 2014-03-23 16:22:26

Tokyo Ravens is a fun show, and is totally not bleach /s. With that out of the way, Tokyo Ravens is based off of the light novel by the same name, and follows Tsuchimikado Harutora, his relative from the main family Tsuchmikado Natusme (who happens to be the reincarnation of a super mage of some kind), as well as some side characters such as Kon, Harutora's fox girl familiar, and a collection of Tsunderes, because what would a shounen show be without a group of those. Now these characters that are, herm... *unique*, in their own ways seems large as a main cast, it gets bigger with 20-30 main players in any arc, and some random episode of the week villains that were actually introduced episodes ago, but were forgotten due to the large cast. The show could have used a slightly smaller cast per arc, but that is just a personal gripe.

Story : 7/10.

The story is strong-ish, with impact and character deaths mattering (although most the arcs covered in the show have to do with the implications of the revival ritual, so there is that). It follows Tsuchimikado Harutora as he grows as a mage, makes friends with some Tsundere, a kid who is about as useful as Shinki Ikari, and pretty much every enemy that he defeats, in some way shape or form. while the story seems like it is trying to be deep, it stumbles with enemy introductions, and plot twists do not have as large of an impact as you can barely remember the characters that are being affected. The plot does show a good progression of power (accompanied by the hero always getting stronger, and someone somewhere saying something about will power). The teacher character is actually one of the strongest and most mysterious, but it isn't showed how strong he is until after the hero failed in some battle or other.

Sound : 8/10.

The sound design works fine for the show, It is never annoying, although it is not memorable. The opening and ending themes are catchy, but the transition from the first set to the second set may be strange.

Character : 8/10.

It is a shounen that is trying as hard as it can to not be a bleach clone. But it does have character. This is where the large cast that I hate is useful, because everyone has there own type of magic or magic spells that they use. And magic in this show isn't just *say two words and magic*, it is chanting, drawing, creating talismans, and more, all actively being done while fire, water, and other elements are raging around them in combat. The familiar system could use some work, but it is always fun seeing demon spiders fighting little anti-magic birds and a fox girl.

Enjoyment : 8/10

Unlike other shows in the fall-winter 2013-2014 season, I would not rush to my computer when a new episode was out, instead just watching it when I got the chance. however, the show always was fun, because it had a masterly crafted magic system to back it up. It was annoying finding out that that one character in the background that never did anything was actually very important multiple times in the show, but still entertaining over all.

Overall : 8/10

Worth a try, worst thing that happens is you skip over another shounen.

Indidual elements could have used some work, but for the most part, the show is satisfying, albeit with a cast too large to take in at one time.