Audience reviews
16 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Earthkwaku96
Simply ahead of it's time. I tried watching this as a teenager and immediately wrote it off. Plot inconsistencies, random time skips, came across as a poorly put together show. 9 years later, I see it in all it's glory.
Most anime is linear in it's story-telling. As much as it pretends not to be with flashbacks and strategic time skips. Concrete Revolution however immediately gives you the answers to what many writers would consider a scintillating plotline and then relies ENTIRELY on it's characters and worldbuilding to give a reason to tune in for the next episode. Who are these characters? Where did they come from? What do they want? How do they tie in to the major overarching plotline?
The world is a fantasy one in all respects, but retains an air of familiarity with a government a…
Read at the sourceTalha_R
Concrete revolutio is just the textbook example of a wasted potential.An anime that takes a deep dive into the superhero genre and constantly operates in a morally grey conscience like "The Boys" did, animated by Bones, should be a wet dream for everyone.The take was good and if they had taken care of the storyline properly,it could have been peak fiction rather than being the giant mess it is.
The anime is episodic and hardly you'd relate between the storyline.Although the stories for the episodes are pretty good,but the narrative is kinda disjointed.They did try to merge the previous stories for the grand finale,but that was too late by then.The whole anime is just pretty inconsistent.Presenting characters out of nowhere with one single story and making them a messiah, superfast pacing…
Read at the sourceAzeem_Shariff
Very good show that ties together several different tropes together. Mecha, kaiju, aliens, magic girls, ghosts, etc. These things are so well blended in the world of this anime that it kinda makes sense. However, because it fits in so well that means that the politics of the world are also included. So if you don't like politics or just don't really care for them it may hinder your enjoyment.
Now for the story itself. It is hard to keep up some times because of the amount of flash-forwards and backward. It is kinda like Memento in that sense, but it's used in a way that doesn't overcomplicate the story and in fact, makes the watcher more engrossed in the story. It highlights the character arches and the events that caused them to happen and promotes this sense of mystery that can only be…
Read at the sourceEingya
(This is a review for both seasons of the show, as they don’t really work as stand-alone pieces and it wouldn’t be useful to review them as such. That said, no spoilers for either series is in this review, so it is generally safe reading)
Setting up a premise for Concrete Revolutio is almost impossible. The plot threads of this series twist and articulate in almost imperscrutable webs, changing the narrative landscape of the series in almost every episode. As a narrative technique this is a double-edged sword, while on one hand, it makes for an almost mesmerizing viewing experience, as events unfold in front of our eyes in unpredictable ways, its borderline nonsensical twists reinforcing the fundamental powerlessness of the protagonists in the face of systems way bigger than them; on the…
Read at the sourceAzurealX
ConRevo came as one of the biggest surprises I've experienced since I've started watching anime. A show I severely underestimated solely because it looked silly at first glance.
The show was a massive critical success in Japan but it failed commercially, an overlooked gem so to speak.
I loved most of my time I spent on watching the first season of Concrete Revolutio: Superhuman Phantasmagoria and here's why :
The plot of ConRevo centers around society and Superhumans with themes of discrimination, different moral compasses and justice.
If Superhumans are the one protecting normal people, then who is protecting the superhumans? Enter the Superhuman Bureau, an organization that studies and oversees superhumans, consisting of 6 people in total. They're the primary figure dealing with everyt…
Read at the sourceBanjoTheBear
(This review has been adapted from my blog/reddit thread. Spoilers ahead!)
One of my father’s favorite superheroes is Superman. But, to me, Superman is always one of my least favorite.
He can lift cars. He can literally deflect bullets. He can regenerate by exposing himself to sunlight. But what kills him? A rock. He is boring and, ironically, weak. Lame.
You know what is not lame? Concrete Revolutio: Choujin Gensou. Kryptonite will not be taking down Concrete anytime soon.
STORY
The anime world coins Concrete as a split-cour anime. Its first half plays in one season. A season-long break is taken. And then the second, final half plays during the season following the break. It is basically a two-cour anime rather than two, independent seasons since the second half directly continues wh…
Read at the sourceghosts-forever
Concrete Revolutio is a story about justice, but not in the traditional sense. The story does not use justice as a means of black and white character motivation or to move forward a sequence of events. It does not involve someone seeking revenge for the murder of their family, or a magical little girl fighting for love and justice.
Concrete Revolutio instead gives a story about seeking out answers that no one can give you, specifically about justice and what seeking justice truly means. This means that the characters analyze justice for themselves, and in the end, come to a conclusion about whether or not justice is worth seeking out, if it exists or not, and who deserves it.
This means that justice is not a simple plot devise in Conrevo, but instead a theme, a question instead of an an…
Read at the sourceCorocis
Choujin Gensou is a show with a good concept with a lacklustre presentation, while questioning political and social aspect of superheroes.
This ain't your average super hero themed show, it tackles on rights of being, politics and social changes that occur when you have super human beings living among the norm.
The fight scenes are nice, but that isn't why this anime is attractive. Dealing with hard topics such as mentioned above is interesting, applying the same principles across all other superhero works and review what political and social backlash these superheroes should have brought.
The show has episodic nature yet it has consistent build up to a grander story. The show's presentation was one of the most confusing piece of work I've seen lately. It presents with different timelin…
Read at the sourceFlawfinder
I'm not going to deny that there was once a time when I liked Baccano and Durarara. After all, I watched them during a time in my life when the only anime I was familiar with were harem romance shit and I still thought Guy Ritchie and the first Iron Man movie was cool. Over time though, I've fallen out with them harder than people who once thought Clannad was a masterpiece of making you cry now see the show. There's only so long you can enjoy anime and other visual mediums for its quirkiness and being "better than the pack" before you start craving something that's actually good on its own terms, and Narita (along with the rest of the light novel author pack) lack that entirely what with his inability to write anything but energy that isn't being applied to anything useful. It's like watch…
Read at the sourcesomaisbatman
Concrete Revolutio is not the kind of show that you can find to be totally average. Nope, since episode 1, this show's been incredibly polarizing, leading to many people dropping the show because it didn't immediately fulfill their expectations. But after finishing the season and reflecting on it as a whole, Concrete Revolutio is something very exceptional.
Story: 9/10
Concrete Revolutio's unconventional narrative style is probably what initially scared many people away from the show. You see, the storyline is not linear. The date that episodes take place in will be shown at the start of the episode, but at first episodes do not seem to be connected at all. But the further you get, the more you begin to understand that all of these seemingly unconnected episodes are actually very tied in.…
Read at the sourceZephSilver
The 2015 seasonal lineup have given rise to several shows surrounding superheroes and their antics. From the well-known juggernauts like One Punch Man, to the more paradoxical ones like Punch Line; superhero stories seem to be on an all time rise, which can be a direct respondent to the recent boom for superhero films surging in the west. With the success of The Avengers, currently one of the highest-grossing movies of all time, and Marvel's ever-expanding cinematic universe, as well as DC Comics, who has also thrown their hats into the ring to follow the trend, this phase isn't expected to die down anytime soon. Japan has always been influenced by the actions of big brother, and this is now being reflected in the world of anime, with the introduction of shows like 2013's Gatchaman Crowds…
Read at the sourcem-i-c-h-a-e-l
Concrete Revolutio was the one show this season I wasn’t expecting to be as good as it was. This series was a pleasant surprise of Fall 2015. And as it has already been stated, the MAL average here is far underrated. This is definitely not a show you should judge based on first looks.
The artwork is fitting for the superhero theme of the show. In fact, the backgrounds are colored in by tiny dots, almost as if it were printed out from an actual superhero comic book. Other background elements are drawn with very basic shapes and colored solid, also as if it came from a comic book. Also, the first thing that hits you when you watch this anime is the color. The colors are very bold, and pop, and are flamboyant, if not *fabulous.* Where else are you going to find a main male MC with hot pink h…
Read at the sourcesachi_shimazu
Phantasmagoria: an optical illusion produced by a magic lantern or the like in which figures increase or diminish in size, pass into each other, dissolve, etc.
This series' name is a perfect illusion to what it tries to create. It is a series of seemingly disconnected stories that at first try to just show what most stories within a superhero saga don't do, the consequences of an action. We see superheroes as beings who can do no wrong, but what happens when what we think is right, what we think we're protecting, turns out o be the wrong thing. That's what Concrete Revolution: Superhuman Phantasmagoria attempts to tackle.
The Story is something that takes a while to piece together. At first it seems like completely disconnected events that have some weird tone shift further down the line…
Read at the sourceparabolloyd
Please give this anime a chance to develop. It will reward you big time in the end. Just like the other viewers, I was confused at first with the constant switching of time frames but you will soon appreciate how story was told as you reach the end. It is a unique experience where in the question "Why Jiro left the Superhuman Bureau?" is introduced in the beginning and you go back to the past to search for clues to answer that question. The constant flashbacks will give you hints on how the protagonist end up with his stand on the anime's main theme (justice, peace, and freedom), and also help you decide whether or not the protagonist made the right decision.
This season gives the viewers an opportunity to choose a side. Across all the episodes, you will see the flaws and strong points o…
Read at the sourcePyraXadon
Original anime is quite a rarity these days. Most of the shows that you encounter on a normal seasonal basis are adaptations of manga, LN, or VN, as things really only get an anime when it's really popular. And then you have original anime, where there is no source material and only itself in order to tell the story it wants to tell. So, thanks to Bones, we have Concrete Revolutio. A show that...you know what, fuck it, a single word cannot describe this mess.
Story: In a fantasy version of the world, there are beings that live among humans known as Superhumans. What are superhumans? Well, they don't just include humans with superpowers, they, according to the show's logic, involve things like aliens, witches, yokai, time travelers, cyborgs, androids, what have you. It is here where we fol…
Read at the sourceStark700
Looking for a show about heroes fighting bad guys to save the world? Or maybe something really flamboyant with all type of gags? Perhaps interested in a series with all kinds of supernatural beings thrown into a big chunk of story all packaged ready to open? Concrete Revolutio might be your answer. At its core, the series is a wild ride with everything it tries. And given what it delivered, this show is quite a bit of fun.
A few things to know. Concrete Revolutio is an original series and not based on any work. The show is produced by Bones and directed by Seiji Mizushima, who is known for directing Full Metal Alchemist. Furthermore, we got Shou Aikawa who’ve worked on other Bones’ shows like Rahxephon. That alone should spark some interest. For an original show, the series is inspired by…
Read at the source