(REVIEW BY ROOPAYAN GHOSH)Anime:- Hamatora, the animation and Re: HamatoraNo of episodes:-13+13Genre:- Action/Comedy/Mystery/Shounen/SuperpowerRating:- Animation-9, Music-8.5, Story-8.5, Characters- 8, Enjoyment-10 (44/50)This is a decent action anime, no doubt about it. But does it transcend the cliches and go on to become a great anime? May be not. But thats my opinion. Read on to know more.
The animation of Hamatora is very good in both the seasons. The screen freezes of the second season was to add a new dimension to the art. It greatly enhanced the appeal of the show. The fight scenes were well choreographed and pretty smooth. However as more and more anime are bringing in smooth animation, even a bit of flaw has to be penalized.(For. eg. These have to compete with the likes of Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works 2014, Shigatsu kimi wa uso in terms of animation. I can’t give this 10 then I have to give those an 11). The music is also just above par for action anime. It has just about the right music for the right scene. However none of the OSTs really have stuck with me after this long, the opening of second season has though, so I rate it a bit above my par score. The story was interesting, it was mysterious. The ending of season 1 was a total cliffhanger. I remember asking people will there be a second season, when they told me, it was already ongoing(I watched this around July) and I started to follow it. But does it live up to its own expectations. Probably not, the resolution was good, no doubt, maybe I was expecting too much hence wasnt satisfied. But the fact that I was expecting too much and wasnt satisfied denotes that this show was better in parts. Same goes for the characterization. They were a brilliant assortment of characters, like a brilliantly assorted ice-cream, but what can happen is then the some individual flavours lose out. This is what happened here. However all said and done it was a very enjoyable ride. The penultimate episode was almost like a rip off from the last episode Code Geass, I am glad they resolved the stuff differently than CG. Otherwise this would have been “just another action anime”.
Verdict:- A very good action anime which merits a watch for the action lovers. However you might/will find plotholes, but if you can overlook them you are in for a hell of a ride
