Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
iShambles
Some tracks used in this anime are decent. you wouldn't mind listening to them.
End of the review.
.. what? you still need to know more about the main plot? Ah, well that's a fair point.
Let me elaborate..
Some tracks used in this anime are decent. you wouldn't mind listening to them.
.. what about the art you might ask? Well, I wouldn't recommend looking at the abysmal nonsense that were happening on the screen. Look at the wall instead, I am sure your imagination will come up with better AMV good moments you will never edit while listening to some decent tracks that were used in this anime.
.. As for the sound, well.. you guessed it right
Some tracks used in this anime are decent. you wouldn't mind listening to them.
In the end life is journey, it shall be lived through good and bad, but…
Read at the sourceGf2002
This is a prime example of a piece of media that is best admired for its audacity of existing (like, at all) as opposed to being good in any critical sense. Seeing a classic 80s Anime ooze so much Americana is just a head-trip, and for the fun (FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN) it invokes I have to recommend this to anyone who is interested. Additionally for all the fans of overanalyzing media, this is an excellent catalyst for interesting tangents, which is my bread and butter so I must doubly endorse this OVA to all that are interested in it.
For those don't care to overthink a good thing, you don't have to bother reading any more of this review. Just watch this and have a blast.
On a technical level there's nothing remarkable, if not softly crude, but that is undoubtedly part of the charm; the E…
Read at the sourceSuzukipot
"Hello Japanese people we plucked off the streets, can you speak English?"
"Yeah!"
"OK, great, you're hired!"
If I were a gambling woman, I'd place money on that being the way they found the VA's for what is essentially a 30-minute long AMV intercut now and then with dialogue. I can't say I wasn't entertained, though, oddly enough. Maybe it was the music, or the way they hype up American culture and the film making process, but this just left me nostalgic and longing for a decade I wasn't even born in.
It's definitely something I would recommend if you want decent animation set to catchy pop songs and don't care too much about story or characters.
Read at the sourcePandaUwU
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
Ah yes, Cipher. Cipher is a classic 25 minute, 80s anime about the life of Roy Rang. It is well-known around the anime community as a legendary mess of a show, but was it really that bad? It was made by the same studio that made the critically acclaimed Legend of the Galactic Heroes after all.
So the story is about the life of Roy Rang and who he is. Most of these 25 minutes are not about the story though. Most of it was music playing while the characters were dancing, walking, or just showcasing the city. There were a few moments when the music stopped and they focused on the story. What was that story? Talking about how much of a fucking legend Roy Rang is of course. They talk about how good of a person he is and that people love him. There is also a girl who’s here fo…
Read at the sourceOmelettesb
Cipher The Video is like if you took the prompt to make an anime based off of MTV but you just did a recording of MTV and made it anime with a few Manga characters recurring and i love it. It just slaps no question. If you know the manga premise then you can kinda know whats going on but you don't need to because it doesn't have a plot and is basically a 40 minute OP, the dialogue is in english as its set in New York but it can be a bit shaky cos its a bit old (this doesn't at all matter as the yogurt scene it fucking hilarious). 10/10 the guys are hot, they should probably stop kissing each other cos they are brothers tho.
二ャ－、
mnmnnnn nnnnmnn
ahhhhhh
...
...
...
yeh
yah
💕 kiss kiss 💕
gmorning Jay
gmorning
so whaddya wanna eat?
yogurt, top it with vanila ice cream, raisins
okay okay,…
Read at the source1avenderB0y
As an immediate disclaimer, I made the mistake of watching Cipher after getting only four hours of sleep. That said, I really don't think it makes a difference how much sleep you get, nothing can truly prepare you for this experience. I was warned that this OVA made no sense. I knew that the voice acting was... A Choice. People said it was a confusing, hilarious mess, and they were right. I thought I was ready. I wasn't.
The plot pretty much doesn't exist, or at the very least, if there was meant to be a plot buried within the 80s music and cake mix advertisements, I couldn't find it. There's nothing much to say about the art. It's exactly what you'd expect from an anime of its time. The character design from a visual point is fine, nothing too special, but they look alright. The only thi…
Read at the sourcePingPongYa
Cipher is definitely one of the cringiest and worse animes I have ever seen.
Story: 1/10
There is no story. Half of it is a montage of random scenes that have no connections in any way. And the other half is some terrible 'interview' of these people being cast into a movie. Completely plotless.
Art: 1/10
The art is very ugly and terrible quality even for the 80s. A lot of the animation gets reused as well.
Sound: 1/10
The songs that were played were TERRIBLE and didn't fit the video at all. The voice actors were so monotone and cringy, awfully recorded too. Character: 1/10
There is nothing to the characters, they do not get developed in the slightest. All there is to go on is a terrible interview that reveals absolutely nothing.
Enjoyment: 1/10
Not fun at all to watch. I played it on d…
Read at the sourceWheedies
A touching love letter to American pop culture of the time, not much more. That's what this adaptation is, it's not too entertaining or special with no real plot beyond showcasing the only real character in it, whos a movie star. Comments on the video I watched mentioned it was intentionally dubbed in English when it was made, resulting in a bad dub. But that only contributes to its feel of American Culture, and does not detract from the show due to it being so American. The only real thing the show addresses is how many pop and movie stars become estranged from their families over time and the toll it can take.
To wrap up the music in it is English pop music, and with the lack of plot making the show feel like a music video. The music itself is pretty tinny. Visuals are pretty classic sh…
Read at the sourceThedude3445
This thing's wild. It's a jumbled up montage of music videos stripped of context, and then an MTV-style "real bro interviews" thing where the main actor has a very noticeable accent, completely breaking the illusion of the character, along with a few real bad voice actors to go along with it.
Yep, this is a Japanese anime movie where it's voiced entirely in English. It's not much better than you'd expect.
It's wild and barely comprehensible, but it's also pretty short. 15 minutes of the 40 minute runtime are actually a making-of featurette after the fact; that's pretty nice and I appreciate it.
Read at the sourceBurntFlower
You will never see another anime quite like Cipher.
It is a music video, a love sonnet to New York City, a tribute to Phil Collins, a movie within a movie, a commercial for cake mix, an interview, a psychoanalysis of its characters, a surreal mind trip... Cipher is all those things and so much more.
As I watched, I felt a full range of emotions: confusion, delight, disgust, joy, outrage, hilarity. Although based on a shoujo manga, director Tsuneo Tominaga decided to throw the source material away, including a linear narrative, character arcs, and discernible dialogue, for a bizarre trip through his subconscious. Lacking any semblance of plot, music videos are strung together to form a tapestry of idiosyncratic moments in the life of twins Siva and Cipher. Then a Pillsbury Doughboy parody…
Read at the sourceJunelovesanime
Okay, this is my first review and I just need to write about this awful anime. I guess I now know why it is on the MAL badges for unique anime.
I couldn't find a good storyline in this anime, to me it was as if ingredients were thrown together to make a delicious cocktail only the ingredients consist out of rotting meat and milk that has been spoiled for three months.
The art for it's year of making was okayish, I just couldn't enjoy it and it eventually became a thorn in my eye in combination with the voice acting.
The only thing I enjoyed about it was the music in between the dialogue, catchy and brings back memories.
Read at the sourceScarletCelestial
OK. This is somehow the cringiest anime I have ever seen, and that includes many of the worst listed on MAL.
Story: 0
I was forced to give this a 1, but if it was up to me it would be 0. There is literally no story. One third of this is a montage of disconnected moments and the worst dancing ever in anime. The rest of it apart from the final scene is about a guy who's filming a movie: it doesn't do much. Then the last scene is him meeting his brother. That is it. That is all. It is a plotless mess that is laughable. The worst thing is that there are four minutes of credits at the end against a static image.
Art: 2
Average to bad. An 80s shoujo style that is not as good as the manga in anyway, and I feel as if some of the footage gets re-used quite a bit.
Sound: 2
I watched the Englis…
Read at the sourcematthigh
Ah, the much-maligned "Cipher". Notoriously rated one of the worst anime OVAs of the decade. Also considered one of the weirdest anime shows to be made, leaving many to scratch their heads thinking, 'why does this even exist?' (However, it does not take the cake for the strangest ever -- that honor goes to Chocolate Panic Show).
And yet, if viewed from a certain perspective, it has a certain...charm. I would certainly be more willing to watch more like this, than about half of the current,modern crop of regular anime series that are dredged up and vomited on the screen each year.
If you read any online description for 'Cipher', it will invariably mention twins Shiva (alternately called Shiver/Shiba/Siba) and Cipher, and even though 'they' become semi-famous actors, no one seems to know…
Read at the sourceSageModeTice
I just watched the 1989 ONA Cipher and I have no idea what to say, this anime is unexplainable, sure it has a plot and a somewhat cohesive story, but there is something about this that I truly can't wrap my head around, whether it's good or bad I can honestly say I've never watched anything like this anime.
So the story is basically this, there are two twin brothers who pretend to be the same person, and a girl at their school I think finds out about it and wants to be their friend or something... Shiver the one brother is a famous actor currently shooting a football movie called "Winning Tough" and the other brother Cipher is a musician. Well this movie is an absolute disaster, I honestly don't think Einstein could wrap his head around this movie and I don't think that it is in a good…
Read at the sourceVoivodian
An Avant Garde Masterpiece
A surreal fragmented narrative told through nothing but mock interviews, fake advertisements and animated music videos sequences set to 80s pop hits. In fact, the whole thing is book ended by Phil Collin's music!
Despite wielding only this pastiche of 80s pop culture, a compelling example of 'show not tell' storytelling is expertly achieved within just 20 minutes. The remainder 15 minutes? Dedicated to the promotional material and the 'making of'. A fitting metafiction for this story within a story.
Notable:
-The Twin Towers as an allegory for our twin protagonists -Silent film dialogue
-Phil Collins
-Awesomely atmospheric montage of NYC nightlife set to an obscure new wave song
-Totally not gay brotherly kiss
-"Yeah"
-Even more Phil Collins
So watch t…
Read at the sourceisahbellah
I'm so confused???? But apparently, that's expected, since this is pretty much an (official) AMV for a manga.
To be fair, the music is good. It's very american (i mean, phil collins is in the intro! just an example), but it's good. The dub is horrible, it's like they COULDN'T pay for actual voice-actors so they just asked around the street for random people to come over and say some lines in front of a microphone.
BUT... it's so hilarious that you just roll with it and accept the awkwardness. It kind of gives a certain "charm" to this OVA.
The art is pretty and I actually want to read the manga, so yay for that.
What really made me give it a "low" rating is the story. What the FUCK is the story??? I have no idea! That's one of the reasons why I plan to read the manga: to figure out wha…
Read at the sourceCynthesizer
Up until lately, I have been out of anime to watch. Much to my surprise, being a very big fan of this medium, I thought to myself that, maybe, it was time to quit. With my national exams coming, it would have been easier for me to focus on them. Few days later, I found out that I still needed my daily dose of anniemays and mangoes and manhwuoes and whatever, had it become a habit to watch much coming from this medium. Much to my serendipity, I was able to find a masterpiece that was able to bring me back to this medium. That being a masterpiece in both directorial and emotional prowess, Cipher.
This ineffable experience managed to bring many fortunities about. On the one hand, a music video of only 40 minutes, on another one that managed to utilize airing time to its fullest. The directin…
Read at the sourcevigorousjammer
Gosh, Cipher is such a strange work.
There's a guy named Cipher, and a guy named Siva, and they're both... twins or something? Nothing is really explained about their relationship to each other or what is even going on in the film. One of them is a movie star making a football film, that's about all I got out of it.
None of the characters are introduced very well (or in some cases at all), as there's very little dialogue in the film, and the dialogue that is there is done through an interview-like style that doesn't actually say much about them or the story at hand.
The film literally just ends up being a few different music videos that feature the same characters, strung together by these interview segments. These music videos have a certain amount of charm to them, featuring 80's music…
Read at the sourceliteraturenerd
Overview:
I have seen a LOT of really weird anime, but I have never seen anything like Cipher. This anime comes completely out of left field and just leaves you speechless. It is basically a 40 minute music video that tells the story of a famous teen actor and his twin brother, who often attends school in his place. It was made in the 1980s, so the soundtrack is mostly Kenny Loggins and Phil Collins. It is PURE 80s cheese! I guess you have to consider that "AMVs" didn't exist in the 1980s, so the very concept of watching anime mixed with popular music was brand new and exciting. However, the first isn't usually the best. Just like the Wright Brothers' plane isn't exactly a high quality airplane by modern standards, Cipher isn't a very good AMV...or a good anime in general.
Every once in…
Read at the sourcegeroshabu
Having finished "CIPHER THE VIDEO" after 40 minutes’ worth of confusion, bewilderment, laughter, and tears, I feel it necessary to gather my thoughts on it in some fashion. Recently released in a new rip/encode by ARR, “Cipher” is truly one of the more puzzling works I have ever seen from any era, in any medium. Its intentions seem wholly unknown to me, buried under the purest of incompetency, laziness/budget constraints, and seeming indifference.
The provided summary is as follows:
"Annis Marfie is a boyish-looking girl, who is studying art in New York. One day, she discovers that her schoolmate, an extraordinarily beautiful semi-pro model, Shiver is actually impersonated by two people. They are twins, Shiver and Cipher, but for the world, they act like they were just Shiver. Annis gets…
Read at the source