s-CRY-ed

[Endesu]

Comments? Some spoilers follow.

The art style was wildly inconsistent, the music was good if not repetitive, the plot really took something of a dive past the 15th episode (ooh, amnesia!) and the writing, a lot of the time, was, well, weird. Not to mention Urizane, the watermelon alter man.

Beyond that, I thought the series was okay. Kazuma and Ryuho are likable enough as protagonists, and the rest of the major gang (Tachibana, Kimishima, et al) weren't majorly annoying. All of the villains, however, (beyond the "Major Pinch" alter man, with his Gundam ripoff alter) flatout sucked. If the leader of HOLY had turned out to be the villain, that would've been fine, but no, they brought in some random guy about halfway through and make him the villain. Let's not forget lacing him up with an incredibly lameassed motive.

If you don't know what I'm yapping about, feel free to discuss FMA, DiGi Charat, or some other, better Japanese cartoon. :D <p><hr />
</p>

[Deeum]

All I can say about s-CRY-ed is this:

Straight Courgar.

That is all. <p><div style="text-align:center"><hr />
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[Archmage144]

I liked the series as a whole, it's pretty solid, but I can definitely see what you mean about the lack of decent villains and I am not really all too big a fan of Mr. Mujo. Ryuho is a great character, but the amnesia thing was totally unnecessary and I personally wish they'd found a better way to handle that part of the plot arc. Oh well.

Straight Cougar > lots of people. Enough said there. Tachibana and Ryuho are still probably my favorite characters from the series, however.

Urizane is just weird. The best line in the series (dubbed, anyway) is quite possibly the response from Elian when Urizane offers him a watermelon in exchange for some information: "I...I don't want that."

The series is also very colorful. I kinda like that. The opening theme is awesome. I also think an RP of some sort based on the series (with Alters or whatever and a better storyline) could be potentially interesting, but I'm not gonna be the one to run it.

I'd give it a solid B or B- if I had to rate it. It was entertaining, but not the best anime series I've ever seen. <p><hr /><div style="text-align:center"></div>

</p>

[Nakibe]

I certainly liked teh feel of the series. Like I told Doug, something about it felt a small bit like oldschool noir films, which was helped by the choice in music in general.

Although Cougar teaches us several lessons. First, that he is a badass guy. And second, that you can't get a date if you can never get her name right. <p><span style="font-size:small;"><hr />
Currently idolizing - Roger Bacon, Shadow Hearts
Likes : Forbidden magics, Determined people, His teacher
Dislikes : Stupid people, Church officials, People that prey on the weak
Method of Destroying the World : Feh. God can do it for me. >:{
Becomes Super Powerful When : ... well F***. When ISN'T he?</span>

"Lunatic? The sages of EVERY age were called that! Let HISTORY decide whether my actions were good or bad. For now, we must forge ahead!"</p>

[Nick Shogun]

Actually, I didn't like Kazuma too much, but this would be because I couldn't relate to his metality--fighting constantly without any regards to anyone. He abandons the little girl constantly, and only when one of his friends actually dies does he feel any sort of grief.

Ryuho, despite being a jerk for the first half of the series, was more likeable.

Mujo sucked, indeed. I also felt that the episodes after Mujo's defeat were utterly unnecessary. Okay, okay, I just think there shouldn't have been so many. <p><div style="text-align:center">

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[BrainWalker]

I haven't seen a lot of the show. I've seen enough to get a general feel for it but not enough to actually know what's going on in the "big picture". I like a lot of what it has to offer, but some of the villians are so damned goofy that I really have a hard time taking it seriously. The whole "alter" thing is a pretty unique and interesting concept, and the plot behind the segregation of alter users, offlanders, and mainlanders was intriguing. Kazama has some amusing dialogue, and Ryuho had some great character development.

As has been mentioned several times, the show has a good overall "feel" to it. It doesn't drag, and it's usually jazzy and interesting enough to keep you entertained through an episode. Still, it suffers from some of those absolutely ridiculous villians.

I hate the dude that runs Holy, though. Not just because he's a douche, but becuase he looks fucking retarded. Someone get that man a haircut immediately. <p><div style="text-align:center"></div></p>

[Nick Shogun]

But you gotta admit, his Alter was pretty damn cool. It made up for his bad haircut.




Almost. <p><div style="text-align:center">

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[BrainWalker]

I actually never got to see his alter. I figured it must be something special if they let him run things despite his incredibly lame hair. <p><div style="text-align:center"></div></p>

[Ganonfro]

His alter was a vacuum cleaner. :(

[Archmage144]

He has MULLET POWERS. <p><hr /><div style="text-align:center"></div>

</p>

[Ganonfro]

His mullet scared me. And he was a crappy boss. He never hinted at anything anyone could have guessed to what it really was, no, you had to watch to find out what the crap he said meant... Stupid jerk...

[Nick Shogun]

Foreshadowing is overused these days. People come to expect it. Maybe Mullet Man was smart enough to realize that giving your opponent intimate knowledge of your powers isn't a good idea. <p><div style="text-align:center">

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[Ganonfro]

...He never talked to anyone. It was just him brooding in his room over something, perhaps pondering a hair cut, and just kind of staring at non-existent video cameras

[Endesu]

While Zigmarl certainly wasn't a solid character, he would've made more sense as a villain than Mujo.

Also, yes, Cougar was a neat character (I loved his philosophy most of all) but he didn't get enough screen-time. That, and his final scene was somewhat confusing.
(Spoiler!)
Does he die in that chair, or what? I almost would've preferred him to die by Mujo's hands then suffer that weak-assed conclusion. <p><hr />
</p>

[Choark]

Spoiler:


He dies.

And the series teaches us what being a Real Man is all about (hell it was this series that started me off all that time ago - admittedly it was a fansub so what I know maybe a little different to what everyone else knows these days).

I likes it.


The Manga's ending is more Bizarre.

English Navy type Aliens! Honestly. Lets not forget dinosaurs either!

[Endesu]

"A man who plays with dolls can't really be considered a man at all." <p><hr />
</p>

[Kai]

Quote:

---

It was just him brooding in his room over something, perhaps pondering a hair cut, and just kind of staring at non-existent video cameras

---

He's like Gendou Ikari's decade-challenged younger brother. "Every time the Commander or Ikari does something vague and sinister, take a drink." <p>-------------------------
"It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes. But the half-wit remains a half-wit and the emperor remains an emperor." -- Sandman "The Kindly Ones" </p>

[Ganonfro]

Sounds like an interesting drinking game, where you're likely to get drunk constantly at the end of both series!

[bunnygirle78]

I thought it was pretty good, for some reason I really really hated the girl with short blue hair. . .she just bugged the crap out of me <p><hr />

Just one thing, don't make me go Chibi on your ass.</p>

[Ganonfro]

Sheriece, or what ever her name is, they never really decide how it's spelt in fan subs, was the wimpiest character in the entire series. She was a walking plot device. Even the guy with the pink afro was more useful, and better for plot, than she was.

[Nick Shogun]

I think it was her American voice-actor that did it. Her voice made me think of cotton candy, not some hardened member of an elite alter-eliminating squadron. <p><div style="text-align:center">

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[Endesu]

Her voice was really out of place (making me think of Sandy Cheeks from Spongebob, really) and she didn't do much, but... uh, she was cute. And she had a really great *SPOILER* scene.

Also, one thing that's neat about the series: the title sequence changes, depending upon central characters and their statuses! When *SPOILER* and *SPOILER* *SPOILER*, their scenes in the title are changed or greyed out. And when *SPOILER*, *SPOILER*, and *SPOILER* *SPOILER*, they no longer appear in the title sequence. Don't know what I'm talking about? Tough. <p><hr />
</p>

[NamagomiMk0]

Eh. Scheris doesn't have much plot use in either the anime or manga. Though the sub does her voice better, I think.

Then again, in the manga, she seems to exist for the sake of fanservice, from what Cho's told me. <p>"DO YOU THINK YOU CAN DEFEAT US? OUR TREASURE MAY BE HEAVY, BUT WE ARE LIGHT AS WIND. ONLY MAGICS MAY HURT US, BUT ONLY WE KNOW WHICH ONES." --Omoikane, Digital Devil Saga 2</p>

[Ganonfro]

End, I would like to thank you for noticing that as well. It's an awesome thing that they did with that intro, which they also did in Vandread, but this was horribly more subtle.

[Nick Shogun]

Wow, I never noticed that before. Now I'm gonna have to watch for it. <p><div style="text-align:center">

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[Endesu]

Yes, yes, watch all 21 (?) episodes for the slight variations in the opening sequence! Then, and only then, will Zetsuei be a real boy. <p><hr />
So I smile and pray upon a star...</p>