Metro 2033 -------
like the sequel, but worse
I really don't have much to say, everything that applies to last light applies to this one, games are almost the same both in gameplay and graphically, the only thing that changes is the story, which is worse than in last light, mainly I just found very annoying all the times artyom was about to die only to be saved by something
morality system is still bad
Placed in B rank
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3-gatsu no lionalready had read the manga but I was requested to watch the anime
3-gatsu no lion is a anime about this child prodigy shogi trying to navigate life, having to manage school, family, friends, shogi, etc. It's a really beautiful and melancholic anime.
Whenever we hear about a child prodigy or whatever IRL we always make the (incorrect) assumption that they're going to have it easy in life, that they will only continue to improve, this anime argues that it's not true, that they may be smart at shogi but that doesn't mean life is any less complicated, that his position in lie is actively alienating and borderline detrimental in certain aspects. However the protagonist is never ungrateful for their life, they realize all of this, yet they don't reject is as they can see that every path in life will have it's own complications, it's just that theirs is a little bit more unique.
The anime has a strong focus on personal growth and realization. Every character in this anime is at a crossroads in life, they are at critical ages, they are leading with problems with deep ramifications, and how everyone leads with it and express their frustrations in different ways.
You are not meant to agree with every action taken by every character, in fact that is nearly impossible to do given that there are many conflicting viewpoints, but they make sure that you understand their thought process. The protagonist not only has very intense narration, but their thoughts are displayed in shogi. Shogi is a slow sport and extremely mental, so it fits really well with the tone of the anime. Add a little bit of storytelling magic and now you got very poetic matches that tie in with what every character is going through
This is not a new concept, 3-gatsu no lion isn't breaking new ground with this, sport anime has already been doing this for decades, I'm just pointing it works really well on 3-gatsu no lion
this anime doesn't really have a single message on what you should in life or what lessons it's trying to teach, but it's more inviting you to reflect and just think about things. How you interpret the situation and what lessons you take from everything is left up to the viewer.
now, a small complaint that I know it's just a me thing.
In S2 there is a bullying arc, I feel it's meant to be very emotional and stuff but it just didn't hit for me. The anime up to that point hadn't been exactly emotional, the characters were going through emotional things yes, but me as the viewer, was looking at it thinking about the situation, trying to interpret it and learn from it, my emotions were not 1:1 the ones with the characters on screen. In that arc they pump the emotion up to 11, but I just couldn't get into it. This wasn't a anime I was watching with my guard down, the pacing was not there either, and whenever you see something that you know it's meant to be emotional but you don't really feel it just feels really badnow as I said at the beginning, I have read the manga (it's still ongoing but i've read more than what is adapted so far), so how does it hold with the original material? In general it has a very different tone, the manga is very, very, very text heavy. It's in fact overwhelming, just having this complete avalanche of thoughts, having 3 different ongoing conversations in a single episode mixing narration, thought process and actual conversation. The anime is A LOT easier to watch than the manga is to read. This is neither positive or negative, it's just a different experience. Personally I enjoyed the manga more as I think it aligned more with the way I was reading it.
here are two manga pages to show what i'm taling about
it's a lot at first glance, it's in many ways borderline scary whenever you turn the page and see that
now for the animation, I think it was quite good, it has this more traditional japanese artstyle that I think really feets well with the central theme of shogi. The manga has really good paneling as well but that as we know can't be translated into anime.
I think it was quite good even if I enjoyed it a little bit less than the manga, A rank.
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next: metro exodus and baby invasion
however, there is a problem with metro exodus. I need to do some testing but I think my PC can't run the game, I will try now but if it's true I can't run the game I will be forced to drop it
