Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ Series Review: Nowhere Near As Impressive As The Amount Of Punctuation in the Title Suggests

Posted on by Karandi
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Overview:

Set in the Victorian era, Cardia is alone in a tower when the military come for her. She’s then kidnapped by a thief. Turns out she has some weird poison in her that burns pretty much everything and there’s some terrorist plot to destroy London and then the world. However this is based on a game and at times that probably shows.

Review:

There’s a lot about Code: Realize that makes you think this anime feels it should be more epic in nature than it actually is. Firstly, the overly grandiose and punctuation filled title. Secondly, the scale of the conflict. Finally, the large and mostly under-realised cast of characters. Basically this story has a lot going for it but ultimately ends up pretty mediocre as it plods through introduction episodes of the cast of pretty-boys who seem to exist only in reference to source material before we finally get around to a fairly run-of-the-mill defeat the bad-guy kind of conclusion with a bit of romance thrown in.

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That isn’t to say there is a single thing wrong with any of that. It actually works fairly well and as a story and an anime it remains highly functional. It is visually fairly appealing and while the sound track is forgettable it isn’t bad and even the characters work well enough even if none of them are particularly exceptional. And that’s where reviewing this show is challenge. Everything is there and works well enough and yet nothing stands out or makes you want to take note.

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I would have liked more of Van and Drac’s story. Learning more about Fran rather than one episode of focus and then fade into the background would have been great too. Less of Nemo (and there wasn’t much) would have been fantastic. A narrative more focused just on Cardia and Lupin could have been amazing. Yet, what we get instead is superficial skimming over a range of characters’ and a plot that will get us from A to B but not make you want to remember the how or why of it.

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I could continue but basically the end result is everything about this story was pretty average. The one complaint I will level at it is a personal one and that is Cardia’s personality. She starts almost completely blank and it takes about four episodes before she’s really exhibiting anything close to a personality and then she essentially stalls for the remainder of the series wavering between damsel in distress and tragic heroine. Neither is particularly appealing though her interactions with Lupin remained fairly entertaining.

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All and all, if you really like this style of story with the girl who is loved by all the guys and you happen to be a fan of kind-of Victorian settings, than you will have some fun with this. If you are after a deep and meaningful story line or characters with some depth and substance, look elsewhere.

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Episode Reviews:

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Karandi James

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Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ Episode 12: A Neat Package

Posted on by Karandi
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Review:

I know I complain when things don’t resolve, but this was a very neat conclusion. Finis, father, Cardia’s poison, her relationship with Lupin, everything tied up in a pretty little bow. I guess that’s kind of been this show from start to finish though. It just kind of did its thing never particularly well but not making many mis-steps either.

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The end result has been a fairly sterile viewing experience. Nothing really to complain about but nothing to be excited about and this final is no different from anything else in the series so far. All in all, not a terrible watch but nothing amazing. I’ll do a full series review soon.

And be sure to have your say in the reader’s poll for best and worst anime of the season. If you haven’t voted click here.

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Code Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ Episode 11: Save Cardia, Save the World

Posted on by Karandi
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Review:

The race is on for Lupin and co to rush off and save Cardia off of Nemo’s Nautilus. That sounds a lot more dramatic than this episode actually is, but it kind of speaks for this show. It remains very careful as it steps through all the necessary parts of a story including this build to a climactic finish and yet there remains something lacking from this show.

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Part of me wishes the harem didn’t exist and the story had maintained a tighter focus on Lupin and Cardia, or maybe more was done to build up Finis as some kind of threat and not a giggling maniac who ultimately just serves as a vessel for the actual and yet unseen villain of the story. Of course, the story is functional as is, it just isn’t terribly exciting.

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Next week I guess we’ll see how Lupin didn’t die at the end of this episode and how he saves the girl. I just can’t really imagine any other ending at this point.

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Autumn 2017 Week 11

Posted on by Karandi
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Welcome to week 11 and we are nearing the final episodes of most shows (or the halfway point of a couple). Autumn has been an excellent season for anime watching and I’m almost sad to see it end but I’m also really excited to see how some of these shows wrap up. As always, I’d love to know what you have been watching this season so please leave your comments below. Remember also to have your say in the reader’s poll for best and worst anime of the Autumn season. If you haven’t voted click here.

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Must Watch

March Comes in Like a Lion Season 2 (Episode 31)

Another wonderful episode and this one shows us the culmination of all of the things Rei has been hearing and processing over the season and a half of this show as he manages to self-reflect and to learn from a previous mistake. It is a great moment and is followed by another brillian Rei/Hina moment. This season of the show is truly fantastic.

Land of the Lustrous (Episode 10)

This show continues to deliver some fantastic character development while upping the tension beautifully as we approach the end of the season. With two episodes to go, it seems unikely that we’ll ever learn everything we want to know about how the world got to where it is or the relationship between the different races, but it still seems like this show is preparing for a fairly dramatic climax which should hopefully be satisfying. Fingers crossed as this has been a great watch this season and I’d love it to end on a high note.

Girls’ Last Tour (Episode 10)

Another very solid episode from Girls’ Last Tour. Continuing to build a very interesting world while exploring interesting questions, the story remains interesting and fun to watch even without a lot of direction behind the girls’ journey.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride (Episode 10)

Well, I wanted to know more about Elias and we’re finally getting a glimpse of his backstory. While this show isn’t in a rush, there is an ongoing sense that we are moving toward something. We also continue to learn more and more details about mages and magic creating a fairly rich lore for the setting of the Chise and Elias’ stories.

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Usually Entertaining

Recovery of an MMO Junkie (Finished)

Just Because (Episode 9)

Definitely more movement going on in this episode with all of the girls stirred into action. It will be really interesting to see what the overall outcome of this is because I can’t see everyone getting a happy ending but I kind of want them to at this point.

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Okay, I Guess

Our Love Has Always Been 10 Centimeters Apart (Episode 4)

Episode 4 felt like it was stretching content for the sake of it as this communication issue with Haruki and Miou reaches silly proportions. While Miou’s actions kind of make sense to a point, it just drags out too long and by the end of this episode I really wanted them to be getting on with things.

King’s Game (Episode 10)

Things are getting fairly tense as the kids are ordered to run for the day with the person furtherest from the goal getting punished at eight hour intervals. I’m actually amazed only one character decided to take out the competition and the rest are just running along. This show remains pretty terrible but entertaining enough for fans of bad horror.

Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ (Episode 10)

Another functional but not particularly exciting episode. The show is trying and yet I think it is all a little bit too late to really engage me. Probably the best thing I can say about this show is it has played it pretty safe the whole way through so fans of the genre or people who haven’t seen a lot of these types of shows will probably enjoy it.

Anime-Gataris (Episode 10)

Episode 10 wasn’t bad, but it doesn’t undo all the poor episodes of the mid-season. This show might yet pull off a reasonable ending but that’s about as much as we can hope for at this point.

UQ Holder (Episode 11)

My thoughts last week that we weren’t given any reason to care about the villain continue. While some history was given this week, it still didn’t tell us the all important reason to actually want to stop the villain or reveal anything of actual significance. It felt like wasted air time to be honest and the fight in the stadium continues into next week.

Kino’s Journey (Episode 10)

Yep, the pointlessness of this show continues without any kind of message or theme being constructed, it just rambles on with its episodic nature with very little to tie it all together or any real purpose given it doesn’t even stand up as just entertaining.

Black Clover (Episode 11)

And episode 11 killed the tiny little bit of hope that episode 10 gave me that this show might be improving. But at least they didn’t let me get my hopes up too high before dashing them on the rocks of mediocrity and repeated punch lines.

Juni Taisen: Zodiac War (Episode 11)

So the match is over and the victor decided and we still don’t really know what was at stake or what it means for the world. Maybe they’ll bother to tell us in the final episode. I’m mostly just waiting for this one to be done as it has been more than a little bit disappointing.

Sengoku Night Blood (Episode 10)

This show continues to be pretty dull and mostly pointless as we go through the motions of character interactions but none of it has any real feeling behind it or given me any reason to care. The main plot line, if there was one, seems lost in amongst these smaller exchanges so there’s no real sense of anticipation about what is to come. While there are certainly worse shows out there, this one commits the worst crime of being boring.

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They Made This?

Dies Irae (Episode 9)

I have no hopes for this show at this point and time. I’m watching until the end of Autumn and then the show will either be done (if one episode count is true) or I will drop it (if it turns out this is going for more episodes). There’s just nothing to recommend this show and it seems to take delight in being dreadful at this point in time. It isn’t even a so-bad-it’s-good kind of thing. It is just bad.

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Tried and Dropped

Evil or Live (Episode 4)

My Girlfriend is Shobitch (Episode 2)

TWOCAR (Episode 1)

Taisho Mebiusline Chicchaisan (Episode 1)

Love is Like A Cocktail (Episode 1)

Konohana Kitan (Episode 1)

A Sister’s All You Need (Episode 1)

Urahara (Episode 1)

 

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Code Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ Episode 10: I Guess We’re Building to a Climax

Posted on by Karandi
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Review:

I guess this is what happens when your story has everything it needs and yet still falls pretty flat. While some people might really be enjoying this I just found this episode (much like most of the series so far) incredibly paint by numbers and just kind of soulless. We have the heroes doing that thing as they run toward the final battle where lesser members of the crew keep peeling off to hold back the enemy.

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Maybe if I’d cared about Drac’s character or, well, anything this could be touching and dramatic but mostly it was pretty much just a matter of side character E now stops to…

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Van get’s a few moments this episode mostly just to remind us that he’s never really been on board with the rest of the crew because he has his own revenge thing going on. Still, even he realises how pathetic that is mid-way through the episode and I wonder if we’ll hear about it again or whether that’s kind of been given its token screen time and done.

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Lastly, we get the over the top revelation of Code Realize and accompanied by Finis’ best impression of a villain’s cackling laughter and the end result just left me shrugging my shoulders. There’s not one thing inherently wrong with this episode and not a single thing to actually get me to care about what happens next.

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Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ Episode 8: The Enemy of My Enemy

Posted on by Karandi
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Review:

For an episode that actually had a pretty dramatic ending (predictable but still dramatic) the rest of this episode just kind of felt like it was going through the motions. London is burning, soldiers are rebelling, and Cardia and Lupin return, reunite with the others and decide to save the Queen.

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I don’t know why Cardia and Lupin had to return and reunite with everyone before that could happen but I guess it worked out better than what the other guys were doing before they reunited which seemed to be nothing except staring around and terrifying already terrified deserters from the army.

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Finis remained a cackling cliché of an unthreatening villain spouting various threats and declarations in between cackles but still accomplishing almost nothing as the group slip through his fingers yet again.

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All and all, pretty ordinary. And yet, Saint finally gets a little bit of a story in this episode and while it wasn’t unexpected, it turned out to be more interesting than anticipated. More importantly, it set up that fairly dramatic ending. Now I don’t doubt that this show will squander most of that drama with an overly simplified conclusion to the scenario in the next episode, but at least it let the episode end on a high note.

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Code Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ Episode 7: Is Finis Relevant?

Posted on by Karandi
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Review:

This episode begins with a recap of Finis tormenting Cardia in his own internal monologue and ends with him laughing maniacally, but I have to wonder what purpose he actually serves. It is Cardia and Finis’ father who actually has the terrorist plot that we are slowly closing in on. Finis at this point seems more like a side-show. The child who didn’t get enough attention and is blowing things up with a ‘look at me’ mentality. Maybe he’ll prove to be more than a distraction but I just don’t see how at this point.

Code7bThis episode instead focussed first on Cardia returning to a place from her past and being confronted by a mob of villagers stirred up by a priest who act exactly how you would expect them to in this kind of setting. This is where we do actually get a step closer to the plot which is a welcome relief at this point. Then we move on to Lupin’s tragic back story because despite being fairly prominent thus far, he was a character we knew very little about.

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Anyway, Lupin is bringing Cardia back to London and that’s where we see that Finis has made his move. Not sure what burning London down accomplishes but he seems pretty pleased with himself. All and all, this episode is about what you would expect if you’ve watched up to this point. Neither particularly good or bad to be honest.

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Code Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ Episode 6: What Did They Do To Nemo?

Posted on by Karandi
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Review:

Well, this is kind of Impey’s episode, but unsurprisingly he’s pretty boring as a character so instead of really delving into who he is (other than a dreamer who wants to go to the moon) we’ll spend the episode preparing for and then participating in an air-race with a stolen airship. This will go well, I’m sure.

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In case you are wondering, this episode is pretty much entirely skippable save for the after credits reveal which I won’t say anything about, where they finally seem to want to actually advance the main plot line.

So unless you have some burning desire to see Nemo cackling away for some completely unknown reason…

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I’d ask what this is supposed to be but I’m afraid someone might answer.

Anyway, this show has a bad habit of having characters saying what I’m thinking and Van get’s the prize for that this week.

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All and all, not much to see here.

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Karandi James.

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Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ Episode 1: Back in Victorian London

Posted on by Karandi
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Overview:

I want you to touch me. I want to feel your warmth. Cardia is a girl who possesses a toxin that melts everything she touches. Feared as a monster, she spent her days in isolation. One night, just as she is about to be captured by the British army, she meets a man who calls himself the gentleman thief, Arsène Lupin. She arrives at London, where she meets many people and experiences many things. In her adventures with Lupin, she comes close to discovering the truth about her body and her missing memories. What is the truth that this so-called “monster” of a girl finds?’

– From Crunchyroll

Review:

I’m kind of thinking more time was spent on punctuating the title than writing this episode. I agree with the argument that generic doesn’t mean bad, and yet this is just incredibly dull to watch because it is almost as if we’re just copying and pasting the same characters and dialogue from another story into Victorian London.

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This isn’t aided by the show throwing in Lupin and Frankenstein as characters and the endless humming renditions of London Bridge is Falling Down in creepy fashion.

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Actually, my main issue with this first episode, as with so many of these types of stories, is Cardia the female protagonist. Spacey, completely lacking in agency, parroting random words of dialogue back at people in a vapid tone… I do not get the appeal of this kind of female lead at all and yet they are pretty prolific in these types of stories. Not even remotely surprised that she went back with the guy who kidnapped her from the army (who were also kidnapping her) after he said one nice thing to her. That’s pretty much expected from this type of show.

I’m going to give this another episode (two at most) to find its own feet and story but I don’t hold high hopes of following this one through to the end.

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Karandi James.

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