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sergeantbob's Reviews
![Pumpkin Scissors [DVD]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/9780/9780078_sa.jpg)
Customer Rating
1
Terrible Anime Series
on May 12, 2010
Posted by: sergeantbob
This is a terrible anime series. I only wish I hadn't opened it, since now I can't return it for a refund. The only balm I have is that I paid the economy boxed set price instead of the more expensive price when it was first released. The comparisons to Fullmetal Alchemist are NOT DESERVED.
Firstly, I want to give a safety card to the American voice actors and ADR people. They are not at fault here. They did the best they could with the heaping pile of dung they were given.
STORY:
The premise, while sounding promising at first, is very poorly executed by Studio Gonzo. THE ACTION IS THE WORST PART OF THIS SHOW: nearly every action scene had me cringing. I realize I am watching anime, and that plausibility requires a particular kind of leeway. Even given that much latitude, though, the lazily written fight scenes in this disaster of a show are its greatest weakness. Basically they all boil down to, "Party encounters a tank/enemy Big Guy. Good Big Guy turns on Super Power Switch, walks at tank (whose crew considerately doesn't move the tank away, use small arms against the slow moving Big Guy, or anything that would remotely make sense), Big Guy kills tank with one shot." That's fine for a couple of episodes, but not for -every single battle scene-. Additionally, the "tactics" of the series' so-called Finest Imperial Army Division includes simply letting a Mini-Boss Guy simply walk out of a room without a fight, or really even moving once he KILLS two of their members with a hand gun ...I guess the tank they brought is just there for decoration. The fight scenes suffer from so much stupidity that I spent the entire 3d disc fast forwarding through the laziness. Finally, the willy-nilly misuse of military ranks (why the hell does a Sergeant Major, supposedly a long-serving senior enlisted servicemember, act like an ridiculous combination of a 16-year old gossiping teeniebopper and an office lady?) simply ruined this supposed "military" drama for me. Don't get me started on the nonsensical and gratuitous use of German.
The premise, while sounding promising at first, is very poorly executed by Studio Gonzo. THE ACTION IS THE WORST PART OF THIS SHOW: nearly every action scene had me cringing. I realize I am watching anime, and that plausibility requires a particular kind of leeway. Even given that much latitude, though, the lazily written fight scenes in this disaster of a show are its greatest weakness. Basically they all boil down to, "Party encounters a tank/enemy Big Guy. Good Big Guy turns on Super Power Switch, walks at tank (whose crew considerately doesn't move the tank away, use small arms against the slow moving Big Guy, or anything that would remotely make sense), Big Guy kills tank with one shot." That's fine for a couple of episodes, but not for -every single battle scene-. Additionally, the "tactics" of the series' so-called Finest Imperial Army Division includes simply letting a Mini-Boss Guy simply walk out of a room without a fight, or really even moving once he KILLS two of their members with a hand gun ...I guess the tank they brought is just there for decoration. The fight scenes suffer from so much stupidity that I spent the entire 3d disc fast forwarding through the laziness. Finally, the willy-nilly misuse of military ranks (why the hell does a Sergeant Major, supposedly a long-serving senior enlisted servicemember, act like an ridiculous combination of a 16-year old gossiping teeniebopper and an office lady?) simply ruined this supposed "military" drama for me. Don't get me started on the nonsensical and gratuitous use of German.
CHARACTERS:
The character types are fresh-from-the-mold tropes, so don't expect any depth or even sensible behavior from any of them. The main protragonist of LT Alice Malvin also suffers from the unwieldy trope combination of being a Tomboy Noble and Guilty Elite. I understand that naivete is a requirement for a nobleman archetype, but her dialogue seemed crafted with little regard for the situation the character was in at the moment. Her painfully flowery Noble Speeches seemed like they were simply dropped into the script, or that the rest of the episode's events were written around them. The expected running gags are done halfheartedly (Unwitting Pervert being one of them). A Young Princess is simply dropped into the series for one episode, and doesn't have enough moe to make even the most hardcore otaku remember her name. Finally, the Big Guy main fighter character is simply there because -somebody- needs to be The Ace In The Hole to fight the ubiquitous tanks and enemy Big Guys.
The character types are fresh-from-the-mold tropes, so don't expect any depth or even sensible behavior from any of them. The main protragonist of LT Alice Malvin also suffers from the unwieldy trope combination of being a Tomboy Noble and Guilty Elite. I understand that naivete is a requirement for a nobleman archetype, but her dialogue seemed crafted with little regard for the situation the character was in at the moment. Her painfully flowery Noble Speeches seemed like they were simply dropped into the script, or that the rest of the episode's events were written around them. The expected running gags are done halfheartedly (Unwitting Pervert being one of them). A Young Princess is simply dropped into the series for one episode, and doesn't have enough moe to make even the most hardcore otaku remember her name. Finally, the Big Guy main fighter character is simply there because -somebody- needs to be The Ace In The Hole to fight the ubiquitous tanks and enemy Big Guys.
DISC CONTENT AND PACKAGING
The 4 disc set is sparse, with no extras. The discs come two to a thin-book, with no inserts. The two thin-books are held inside a thin cardboard sleeve.
The 4 disc set is sparse, with no extras. The discs come two to a thin-book, with no inserts. The two thin-books are held inside a thin cardboard sleeve.
SUMMARY
Do yourself a favor and DO NOT BUY THIS PIECE OF JUNK. Stream it, rent it or borrow it if you must, but $20 is a lot of money to pay to be aggravated. I just hope I can get $5 out of it at GameStop or something. In all the script and the dialogue seem like they were written by a 12 year old that had access to an internet dictionary of military terminology. There is no real acknowledgment of the complex situations that the characters find themselves in, just the single-minded pursuit of the Noble Speech that the script writer seemed so eager to write.
Do yourself a favor and DO NOT BUY THIS PIECE OF JUNK. Stream it, rent it or borrow it if you must, but $20 is a lot of money to pay to be aggravated. I just hope I can get $5 out of it at GameStop or something. In all the script and the dialogue seem like they were written by a 12 year old that had access to an internet dictionary of military terminology. There is no real acknowledgment of the complex situations that the characters find themselves in, just the single-minded pursuit of the Noble Speech that the script writer seemed so eager to write.
What's great about it: Nothing
What's not so great: Plot, Action, Direction, Writing, No extras
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
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