Suzuka

The story is fairly simple - a young man moves from the country to Tokyo to start a new life at highschool, and falls in love at first sight with a promising athletic student (the titular character of the show). In short it's a love story, and while the premise sounds bland, so do those of some of the very best animes. Suzuka, however, is not one of them. It's often described as "character driven" but this is a terrible thing because the majority of the characters (including the two main ones) are barely likable and have few redeeming qualities. Yamatoand Suzuka both play to archtypes almost to the letter and this is incredibly frustrating to watch. Although the entire series is based around their romance, you are left with an overwhelming idea that this romance only exists because the writers said it does. Yamato is ridiculous in his submissiveness, but there are certain points where you can at least feel some empathy and sympathy for him (those these are rare) - he also demonstrates a desire to try, which everybody likes to see. However, Suzuka is intolerable for basically the entire series, and since you as a viewer weren't written to love her like Yamato, you end up spending 26 episodes wondering why you're watching an anime that is literally about her. Quite a few of the side characters are far more likable, but they have almost no backstory and screentime, and can't carry the series. The art and animation is also fairly poor - I'm not sure when the series was adapted, but it is low quality and not very good. The music is also uninspiring and sometimes I felt it was extremely dissonant. Apparently the sound switches between mono and stereo inbetween certain episodes. I'm not sure if this causes any of it, but the soundtrack as a whole isn't a strong point. Through the entire show you are just left with a sense of pointlessness as the characters advance nowhere, widdling away screentime with obvious and drawn out internal monologues. It quickly becomes obvious how the show is going nowhere and how easily all of the development could have fit into a series half its length. From what I have read of the manga (which progresses far beyond the anime) things sound like they get quite interesting - but the anime adaptation is very stale. I honestly can't believe the scores this show is getting - but I know there are other people like me out there who are unable to drop a series once they start it. I hope that those people read this review - and instead of starting Suzuka they find something better to watch. That wouldn't be very hard to do.

One of the main problems of romantic anime is that you can always predict how it will end. Just look at the DVD-cover and read the title and you don’t need to watch it. So the plot itself is not what we watch romantic anime for, we watch it for interesting characters, their development and feelings. But “Suzuka” was rather unusual experience for me; it kind of reminded me of “Macross”, because of the complicated love-triangle. First, we have Asahina Suzuka. You may call her tsundere, but the way she acts, thinks, feels makes her very realistic. At the times she can be very cold (hername actually means “Cold wind”) and uneasy to handle with but her warm, caring side is very touching. Then you have Yamato Akitsuki. There is nothing special or unique about him, just your simple shounen hero. Luckily (for him, maybe) he manages to be not so stupid and irritating as other male heroes, like the ones from “Kimi ga Nozomu Eien”, “School Days” and “Elfen Lied” for example. Speaking of “Macross”, Yamato reminded me Hikaru, the way he couldn’t handle his own feelings was sort of the same. Honoka, the second main heroine of the “Suzuka” is a caring, kind and cute girl who had a crush on Yamato for a long time. I can’t say that she is unusual type of character, but I glad that they didn’t make her as clichéd as Suzumiya from the “Kimi ga Nozomu Eien” (yes, I’m talking ‘bout it again and, yes, I don’t like this anime). At first, I have to say one thing and don’t mention it again: sports theme plays no big role in “Suzuka” except the last 6-8 episodes. The show starts rather slow and weak because nothing really happens; it’s like a long introduction to the characters. There are some times when romance goes completely away and we watch a typical mediocre shounen slice of life. But the second of the anime is just brilliant. We get to know Suzuka much more and Yamato changes dramatically. What I liked the most about “Suzuka” is that every character behaves naturally. The way their feelings for each other were developing was almost life-like. Yes, it’s of course not perfect, but it definitely was great to not see in “Suzuka” any standard and over-used romantic clichés and exaggerating. And I must mention one more thing: usually, a main hero’s friend in this kind of show is an air-headed fool who thinks only about girls and tries to give stupid advices. But Yasunobu is nothing like that; he is calm and seems lot more mature than Yamato. In fact, in general all supporting characters were well-made. This all good, but one of the main flaws of the series is a lack of those things which make you “feel” the show more: good music, animation and graphic. The animation of the show is quite poor: sport sequences look rather bad due to low budget (not sure, but I got a feeling that it IS a low-budget anime) and the whole visual style of the show is simple. I took a look at the manga and I think that black and white pages look much better. And the soundtrack is uninspired and mediocre. There are some nice tunes (like the second ending), but that’s just not enough for me. I can’t say anything about the opening because I couldn’t bring myself to listen to it even for a single time. Still, all these flaws didn’t ruin the entertainment. The last 6-7 episodes of the show were very interesting and breathtaking; I was completely in to the story. I think that “Suzuka is a great example of how romantic anime should be made in terms of character development and depiction difficulties of their relationships.

Overview: Suzuka is a romantic comedy anime about a quirky doofus who moves into a girl's dormitory run by his aunt. He then develops a crush for an obnoxious and abusive bitch who constantly beats him. So...this is Love Hina right? WRONG! This is something far, FAR worse! Background: Romantic comedies have always followed a similar formula. In the Western world this formula was created during the Commedia dell'arte in 1500s Italy. In Act 1 the male and female lead both dislike each other and seem to be opposites. In Act 2 the male and female discover common ground and grow closer together. In Act 3 there isa conflict and the male and female break apart, generally this is due to a misunderstanding. Finally in Act 4 the male and female reconcile and end up together. This is basically the plot of EVERY Shakespeare comedy with the exception of Love's Labour's Lost. Suzuka decides to create a new formula. In Act 1 the male likes the female and she is an absolute bitch to him. In Act 2 the same thing happens. In Act 3 the same thing happens. In Act 4 they wind up together despite ZERO chemistry and it makes no sense. Suzuka is simply put one of the most frustrating and difficult to watch anime that I've ever sat through. It is just painful shit from beginning to end. Plot: In the first episode our hero Yamato sees Suzuka passed out in the sauna after the door jammed and she was locked in. He rips open the door and manages to save her life! She just hits him and yells at him for breaking the door instead of calling someone who could unjam the door and open it properly. This is despite the fact she would likely be dead by the time that person arrived! The next day, Yamato waits 5 hours after school in the freezing cold for Suzuka to finish her athletics practice and help her with her heavy bags. She is completely unappreciative of this help and treats him like a slave. Yamato catches a cold waiting for Suzuka and she completely neglects him during his time of illness. Yet she is jealous when another girl named Honoka takes care of him. Yamato tries to impress Suzuka during gym class, but she simply makes fun of him and insults him for not being the most athletic guy in school. Yamato trains hard and manages to break the school record for the 50 meter dash, but Suzuka is still dismissive and refuses to even give him a simple compliment! Some asshole tells Suzuka that Yamato likes her, so she does the logical thing and punches Yamato in the face! She then agrees to take Yamato on a date, leads him on, then suddenly rejects him hard! She then tries to convince the track team to not let Yamato join. He goes into a deep depression and she continues to act like a sociopath and do NOTHING to try cheer him up. This is all in the first 12 episodes! Yamato then decides to start dating the actually likeable Honoka, only to dump her and wind up with Suzuka for no reason! If you managed to read through that plot summary without cringing yourself to death, you will notice this is less Love Hina and more "The Sorrows of Young Werther" made into a shitty shonen anime! Characters: Yamato is the stupidest and most irritating doormat cuckhold to ever grace a shonen anime. Suzuka has managed to gain entry into my Top 10 most hateful anime characters of all time! She does this in a PG rated anime without ever killing or raping anyone. Seriously! Try to think of a character that reaches the very top tier of hatefulness while meeting all of the following criteria: 1. The show or movie is G or PG. 2. The character must never successfully kill anyone. 3. The character must be absolutely loathsome to ALL demographics and not just jaded older viewers that find a kids' character annoying. I thought about this for an hour and honestly had a hard time. Scar from Lion King and Frollo from Hunchback are hateful G villains, but both are murderers. Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest never kills anyone (directly) but that is an R rated movie. The Carebears and Jar Jar Binks are annoying as fuck, but children don't hate them like adults do. Biff Tannen from Back to the Future and Ace Merill from Stand By Me both have too many comedic moments to achieve true hatefulness. Even Akinator the character guessing genie would have a tough time finding another character in Suzuka's category. The only other I can conjure up off the top of my head would be...Gmork from Neverending Story?! Yeah, let's go with that! The art is decent, but never great. I love that the cover art on the DVD is Suzuka sweating profusely and spreading her legs wide. This is false advertisement because the smell of sweaty vagina in your face is still WAY more appealing than any moment of this anime! Overall: I watched this series on a dare from a buddy who takes a perverse pleasure in collecting the very worst anime. The thing is that Suzuka isn't an enjoyable "so bad it's good anime". Suzuka is like watching a burning bag of garbage roll down a hill while getting repeatedly punched in the throat!

Suzuka- the name suggests its gonna be all about the girl but actually we end up following and knowing more about Yamato's thoughts and feelings. I started watching the show randomly as the synopsis sounded interesting but whilst watching it it caught the attention and interest of two guys i know who aren't normally into this genre and they ended up watching the whole series with me too- we all really liked it! The story focuses on the trivial matters of liking someone and doing something about it- it deals with embarassment, confusion, confessions and heaps of other emotions when dealing with the matters of theheart- everything which is easy to understand, empathize and relate to. The setting being in a high school gives the anime an innocent, naive, full of wonder and dreams atmosphere- perfect and ideal for romantic crushes in the ever-so-dramatic teenage years! Each character has a unique, strong personality and although there are many cliched moments through-out the show where you can probably predict what will happen next, that doesn't prevent the show from being enjoyable though; as to see how the characters in question will deal with each situation keeps you the viewer going and wanting to see more- the show also has moments and reactions which are quiet surprising. The whole anime is topped with hilarious slap-stick humour and witty comments; scenes delivered exactly at the right time to give a well-balanced show between romance-drama and comedy. The show ends with a feel-good factor and take home message- try, try and try again- then you just might get it!

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