Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Spider-Mate_MSA
Say Cheese And Then BOOM
This anime had quite a lot going for it, and it would've easily become one of my favorite animes of all time, but there were unfortunately one too many bumps that left me extremely disappointed with the execution of its ideas.
This anime takes a lot of inspiration from Cowboy Bebop for its aesthetic and story (to a degree) to the point that its finale can easily be compared to Bebop's. It's attempts at making an anime similar to Bebop don't really land for me personally, since it's not used for much more than homage, but I admire it a lot nonetheless. Plus its detective central themes obviously had me invested enough, I eat that up so easy.
What I don't admire too much about the anime is its story and characters. The story is not only narratively very interestin…
Read at the sourceArisu_02
It's funny to think I started watching this anime only because I saw a short clip of it (that was a gore one) without hearing about it before. And after watching it, I think it's a very underrated anime. Yet, only specific group of people would like it, as I did. First episode didn't encourage me at all, but I didn't give up and discovered a real treasure. So even if you're not sure about it at the very beginning, it doesn't mean it's not for you. But I totally understand why people might not like this anime, it has few disadvantages. However, I saw much more strong sides of the series. And fast, I immersed into it, not being able not to click next episode, especially looking at how many episodes ends.
What you'll find in this anime: the most dark and ugly side of society and especially go…
Read at the sourceSgtSalamander
What if Epstein Island was underneath Tokyo instead? That's this series summed up in a single sentence, and admittedly it's a fascinating core concept. It approaches a critique of capitalism from a unique perspective, driving at the fact that unfettered capitalism and monied politics invariably leads to moral decay and national enslavement to the degenerate interests of a corrupt and sociopathic elite. However, instead of doing more than a surface-level analysis of this problem, it goes the route of focusing on this other storyline of how certain people infected with a certain virus can gain certain fetish-related powers by kissing a certain 15 year old girl who has a certain genetic substance that "activates" the virus. This whole thing gets pretty off the rails, with the main character,…
Read at the sourcepetrichorbones
I saw some reviews praise the character development of this show and that plus that it has such a high overall score made me want to write what I thought about it.
I saw a review use "monster of the week" to insult the way the show uses the characters that shapeshift into basically monsters and honestly I think actually giving it a real monster of the week structure would have been a positive change. I don't hate monster of the week though, so thats definitely just my opinion.
Personally, I felt the so called character development other people are praising doesn't exist. I struggled to really care for any of the characters, I struggled to see what their motivations even were most of the time. The main "villain" who is supposed to actually be some sort of tragic hero has an understandab…
Read at the sourceMeanEYE
Didn't expect to like this one but I did. While story is somewhat predictable it's refreshing that we have adult themes and cast without screaming children and tournaments in school. Animation is a bit stiff at times but serviceable. Music leaves a lot to be desired but overall it was a good show. You will get occasionally upset at stupid decisions some characters make but overall it wasn't 24 episodes of tedium.
My only disappointment was that Ginza wasn't more present in the story. Romance between her and main character only started to develop before they abandoned the idea and just made them comrades. She is a well rounded character, a bit weird but true to herself and strong.
Well worth the watch.
Read at the sourceBlaziken_2018
What does Little St. James Island, Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes wide shut", the Bohemian Grove and this anime have in common?
To answer that question, you must watch this anime. It's more reality than you would imagine. It's as subtle as The Boondocks' Huey Freeman's comments about politics and world events, or as subtle as deceased Trevor Moore's "Help Me".
Human greed is also a topic that is widely touched. This anime is not appropriate for too young audiences.
Even Japanese foreign policy is exposed as what it is, but you will have to watch it all the way to the end to understand it.
Putting the relevance of politics aside, Speed Grapher story develops in an appropriate way, with enough revelations at the appropriate time.
This anime is a bag of surprises.
Read at the sourceKilmere
Would I suggest to people? Ehhh I wanna say yes because it is interesting and explores some interesting topics, bomb powers too but I honestly mainly remember the excessive sexploitation, blood and gore with hints of clever schemes.
Story
I could recite some wiki or something but I honestly watched this like in 2017 so don't remember a ton of details. Basically a photographer stumbles on the exploitation of a girl he falls for and from there gets caught up in the drama and greed that surrounds her. It's an interesting world, it's a world running with the idea that anything is yours for a price. Characters
Truly Kagura and Tatsumi are fun duo? I guess it mildly makes me uncomfortable that she's like half his age but it's also heart warming to see the sheltered Kagura experience the world.…
Read at the sourceweabooslayer69er
This anime is okay.
I will say that the premise of this anime is quite unique. In a society of near complete corruption, our protagonist (Saiga) has to work to protect the life of the person he saves from bondage (Kagura). Kagura is known as a goddess who grants powers unknowingly to those she comes in contact with. This makes her a prime target for Japan's elites who desire her abilities in order to give them superhuman gifts.
The setting of the show provides a baseline for which the plot progresses and we can see the main characters interact. A lot of the characters are fairly one dimensional (at least on the villain spectrum). The exception to this is the series main antagonist Suitengu. When finishing the series, I found that I really sympathized with Suitengu and even wanted him to…
Read at the sourceEntityXIII
The first time I saw this series, I was in college and thought the whole thing was good, because back then I had a harder time breaking things down in a case by case, or episode by episode, basis. Fast forward to a couple years ago, and I gave it another watch.
The characters are still mostly good, though I found myself liking one of them significantly less the second time around. The soundtrack sounds good, but is short and repeats itself. The overall plot starts good and starts going downhill with the marriage arc in the middle; however it retains some dignity and quality until the last five or six episodes when it just plummets and made me feel, my second time through, as though I've wasted my time, somehow thrice the length of the whole series.
I have no problem with the mature conte…
Read at the sourcePigtailed
I have been going back to re-watch shows that I saw bits and pieces of years ago because I have so much free time during quarantine. Speed Grapher was the first show on my rewatch radar as I remember the 2nd ending theme really sticking with me!
Overall I enjoyed this show. I am a sucker for the damsel in distress trope, and fatherly/daughterly relationships in anime. The atmosphere of the show is very tense. The two main protagonist don't have very many characters they can trust and it makes for a very exciting ride. Speed Grapher can get very explicit, and sometimes the sexual scenes and themes are a little over the top. That would be my only criticism.
If you're looking for a high-stakes adventure with a dynamic cast of lead characters, then this show is for you. I recommend it.
Read at the sourceLampington
What if you had a gun? The entire premise and synopsis of this series is about a photographer who anything he takes a picture of dies... but this isn't quite accurate. Garnering several comparisons to Death Note regarding "supernatural object that kills people efficiently and powerfully from a distance" one may think they are in for another analytical thriller where the protagonist can carry out undetectable assassinations, or perhaps some sort of monkey paw-esque cursed object scenario where a photo is taken of a large group of people and they all start dropping dead 1 by 1 and he has to find a way to undo the curse before it reaches his loved one who was in the picture. This series is nothing like those scenarios that may have been brought to mind.
The titular camera upon interacting wi…
Read at the sourceDoodlebugFour
Speed Grapher, An anime series I 1st caught on IFC Channel Late at Night over a decade ago, along with Witchblade and Hell Girl. I am compelled to write my own review of it, so hop on board everyone! Series Composition done by Shin Yoshida, who has involved himself in some of the Yugioh series.
Story:
Speed Grapher is about a Former War Photographer turned Photojournalist with an odd photography fetish named Tatsumi Saiga, who gets involved in investigating an underground fetish club where he witness all the lewd and illegal activities going on, eventually stumbling upon a ritual where he ends up gaining to power to blow people up through a Camera, the show is then about him trying to free the Club's "Goddess" Kagura from the Club. It's follow a monster of the week style format in the ear…
Read at the sourcehexashadow13
This anime was, for lack of a better word, weird. There are a lot of anime that are strange, but they're usually trying to be deeply philosophical or artistic, touch some weird topics, or forcing themselves to be weird. This doesn't really fall into any of these categories. While in some sense it does try to make some philosophical points, these are pretty superficial, and pretty simplistic. While it certainly does have some scenes that have a good amount of artistic flair, that still isn't at the core of why this show is strange. It also does have some strange topics, mostly how degenerate people can be, but that just feels like a part of why it's strange. Furthermore, the strangeness never feels forced, and that's why how weird it is is so striking, because there's no specific thing that…
Read at the sourcePharuanUndearth
In the beginning the story is pretty slow paced but relatively easy to follow and not bad, but after episode 4 or 5 it just starts to fall apart. We go from hating the main Antagonists (Suitengu & Tennouzu) to feeling bad for them back to hating them again, all in the same episode. The end was too abrupt and unsatisfying with no real conclusion. There were too many back-stories interwoven into this series and felt to disjointed to be of any relevance to the here and now of the series.
Pros: Great animation and intriguing and funny characters.
Cons: Poor story structure, sub-par but sometimes ok music, lacking a punch like most other attention grabbing animes.
If some the background stories weren't introduced they would not detract from the main story at all, the pace and overall feeling…
Read at the sourceM3Cyberpunk
So,stumbled upon a very uncommon yet a fairly decent anime.
An unusual & cool storyline,It starts of as a once famous journalist Named 'Saiga' investigates a secret club supposedly run by a Powerfull men & It's members are the high officials,celebrities of the country & so on,But Saiga gets caught in the process...Saiga who is granted a unique power by around a so called goddess who is actually a Exploited 15 year old girl..& thus the story begins as Saiga promises to free the girl from her dark fate.
The story develops further as the city is run by corrupted politicians,celebrities & so on who are all members of that Secret club..Also shows us how money can control the whole society.This is a Adult/Mature anime,so It contains some sexually explicit scenes,blood & gore,sexploitation fuelle…
Read at the sourceDarkRavie
The story follows the exploits of former war photographer Tatsumi Saiga, who is on the trail a secret fetish club for the ultra-wealthy called the Roppongi Club where politicians, media moguls and industry CEOs meet to indulge in primal and deprived fantasies and everything from sexual fulfillment to torturing someone to death is possible. He tries to photograph the club's "goddess," a 15-year-old exploited girl named Kagura, but is discovered. But instead of killing him, she kisses him, and the photographer gains a strange new power from that kiss: everything he takes a photo of explodes…
My thoughts:
This is an interesting series that contains a lot of nudity and sexual references so I don’t recommend it for those under the age of 16. It depicts the greed in human nature; what people w…
Read at the sourcethemegamancave
Oh the 2000’s… It was a growing period for anime, but produced some of the most gripping series in the history of the medium (Monster, Full Metal Alchemist, Ergo Proxy etc.). It was also a period of time when directors tried new things, for better or for worse and major risks were taken to produce that next “big” original series. Produced by the once giant Gonzo studios (Kaze no Stigma, Welcome to the NHK), Speed Grapher tries to push the envelope of an adult anime while making every effort to establish itself as a standalone success. Unfortunately, lofty expectations mixed with inconsistent animation and a sporadic use of themes cause the anime to meander to the point where it loses itself. Simply put, Speed Grapher is what happens when an anime tries to do “too” much.
For story’s sake,…
Read at the sourceT3hSource
Want a taste of 80s inspired action, that also manages to hold itself together and have earnest character drama and development? Well, look no further, for this wild ride of a series will satisfy your entertainment needs in every aspect you can ask for. As a Gonzo show, it has sexual themes, romantic themes, revenge, justice, tragedy, conviction, conspiracy, thrill, adventure, sci-fi and all the like. It's a lot for a show to handle but the way it weaves its narrative, along with episodic villains to spice things up, it comes out with some very good pacing, making for an enjoyable binge experience, once you get past its exploitation film aspirations that is. Thus, a true action series with an earnest heart of gold underneath! Oh, and WATCH THE DUB, it's very good and takes great advantage…
Read at the sourceBowlingJD
Studio Gonzo has developed a reputation for making some questionable anime. The anime ranges from a rare hit to some of the worst rated anime ever. However, Gonzo tends to make average anime at best usually. Does Speed Grapher fit the mold though? More notable then the main director is the guy who was involved in many aspects of the show: Co-director, episode- and animation- director, key animation, and even character design; Masashi Ishihama was clearly determined to make his mark on making Speed Grapher a success.
Our main character is Saiga Tatsumi. He is an ex-war photographer and his current case is following the trail of a secret club in high end Japanese society. As a freelancer, he uses his old war skills and his determination to get into this secret club. There he discovers this…
Read at the sourceXaronAngel
As 22 yr old uni student, its a core anime to watch in my top ten list. This show is mean for adult audience with action, blood, nudity and truely great to sit back and enjoy. Nowadays, there is no more fine piece like this and monster, Steingate anime anymore. Truely recommand for mature audience, not for kids. Suitengu starts up this society, then the photographer guy, Saiga, crashes the party, gets kissed by the girl with the power-giving powers, Kagura, gets his powers to kill/explode things through his camera lens, and then kidnaps the girl and kills a bunch of richies as he makes his break for freedom. Then the chase begins. This is a multi-angled chase too. Suitengu's boys are after Saiga and Kagara; Saiga and Kagara are after relics of both their pasts; and Saiga's domineering S&M…
Read at the source
