Gokukoku no Brynhildr

**UPDATE** Damn this anime is getting bad reviews xD I get that it's similar to Elfen Lied (that's one of my favs) But you should never heavily compare the two even if it is by the same person who wrote it. This isn't Elfen Lied. This is a completely different anime. Jeezz people. Harem & Sci-fi; weird combination, right? But this anime makes it work. I'm usually not a huge harem fan, but this one is a win in my book. Probably because it's not heavily focused on it. I didn't actually expect to like this anime so much. Whether it was the summary or justa feeling; I was wrong. This just blew my expectations! Story: 8/10- This anime. Wow. Brynhildr has a way of making you think a little. You don't know what's coming next, and when you do, it's twisted into something completely different. Suspense is a high factor in this anime, and it makes it great! There are so many parts you don't expect, but it happens. It could be a funny, perverted scene or a character death. The story never fails to keep you on the edge of your seat! Art: 8/10- The animation was great. The colors were the basic "Sci-fi" type of feel. Nothing is too colorful or bubbly, but more of a darker feel. Which is what you want in an anime like this. Overall fairly simple but pleasant. Sound: 9/10- I do admire the OPs very much. The first one was just mysterious music with interesting animation to follow. It really draws you in. the second one isn't probably for everyone since it is almost a metal type. But if you like that genre, than you'll like it too! And the ED is surprisingly cheerful. Which is nice if you have such a dramatic episode. Overall, the music ties everything together. Character: 10/10- In a mystery themed anime you never really know what to expect in development. But I thought each character had a decent background. Some of the supporting ones are left unchecked, but that's to be expected. The main characters on the other hand, have just enough development that you want to know more about them, but you already have knowledge of them. So it leaves you with more questions than answers, but that's all part of the game, right? >;3 Enjoyment: 9/10- I was about 4 episodes behind before I caught up last week, but woah. This anime hits a home run in everything you expect it to. It shows mystery, hell, the ending definitely does. It's about witches, and as childish as it sounds, the fantasy factor of this anime is anything but child's play. But of course, it is sci-fi themed! The drama will leave you wanting to continue watching to see what happens next. Though there are the perverted scenes, it doesn't seem to fail to make you smile or laugh! In all, this anime was great & probably will only grow in fam ^^ [But at this rate with all the terrible reviews, I'm not so sure] Overall: 9/10- Loved it and hope many others will agree :3 [they don't lol] But hey, there's over 100 chapters in the manga. So I can only assume another season is heading are way, don't you think? ;)

I thought overall this was a pretty good series and deserves a decent rating. Not a perfect one but a decent one. I think it suffers most from failing to meet peoples expectations than it does from the product itself. Yes it was rushed but that doesn't make it terrible. First off this isn't Elfen Lied. Yes it's by the same author and has various similarities but it's not meant to be a duplicate and doesn't necessarily appeal to the same crowd. This isn't even really a horror/gore series, Inuyasha had more gore and it isn't considered a gore series. Brynhildr is primarily a dark dramawith light comedy(despite not being tagged comedy). Second this series was admittedly rushed and if you read the manga you would have been disappointed that they skipped a significant amount of storyline and character development. Would this series have been better if it was 24 episodes and stuck to the manga? Absolutely, I'd probably be giving it a 10 if that were the case. From the writers perspective it's a toss-up if you were sure you weren't going to get a second season would it be better to make a developed series that stops halfway or a rushed series that's complete. Hard to say, but what I can say is that I've seen complete series that weren't nearly as well developed as this and they weren't getting ratings of 2. Now onto the storyline itself. The basic plot is fairly generic, MC protecting a group of girls from an evil organization of course it has it's own spin on this. Nothing really great or bad there. I do think the blending of comedy and drama was one of the strengths in this series, some may think it was a waste of time in an already rushed series, but that's part of character development. It's the light-hearted comedy moments that endear you to the characters so you actually give a crap when they're about to get killed later. I've seen people complain on other series that all the friends do is rescue each other when they're in danger and never actually have fun so why are they friends to begin with? That's why this series tries to show that they have happy times when they're not fighting to survive. They're lives aren't constant fighting and carnage. If you're looking for nonstop action and gore than your better of watching Deadman Wonderland. I will say the series had a bit more fanservice than was necessary though I find that to be the case in a lot of series. I thought Murakami was a good lead better than 80% of the MCs I see. He wasn't Lelouch but he was one of the intelligent strategist types and was fairly courageous and competent. Neko was pretty weak and generic overall unfortunately and didn't get much development. I did like Kana and Kazumi in particular both were fairly interesting and had some development. Kazumi in particular lost a lot of development from the manga but still ended up getting more than Neko. Hatsuna on the other hand was introduced at the end and got almost no development. Kotori was pretty annoying, even in the manga, I tend to think the writers didn't bother with her development (for reasons that would be apparent if you watched the series). The villains were pretty interesting a stoic mad-scientist trying to play god and a psychotic yandere. Not unprecedented but still intimidating enough to take seriously and a still a better motive than the standard world domination. I though the art was pretty good again nothing new and amazing but still better than a lot of series. The opening song was a favorite of mine and I thought it fit the series perfectly though the second seemed pretty random and didn't work as well. Overall if you ignore the manga this is still a good series worth watching, it won't necessarily make your top 10 but its a solid series and still better than most of the stuff out there. If you have seen the series I would highly recommend reading the manga because it does have much better pacing and development and very well may make your top 10

From the writers of the famous anime, Elfen Lied, they present you "Gokukoku no Brynhildr", in my opinion, a failure of an anime for the ages. Have you ever seen an anime that tries to encompass romance, ecchi, psychological, horror, magic action, schi-fi, drama, mystery, and fantasy all in one and fails miserably? Well, look no further, Gokukoku no Brynhildr is certainly one of those anime. One of Gokukoku's many problems was that it couldn't decide which direction they wanted to go with the anime: was it going to be a mystery with love? Or an anime filled with psychological traumas/problems? Or an anime filledwith magic action? Or just a pure ecchi series? The plot revolves around a simple boy named Ryouta Murakami, who has a photographic memory. As a child, he was in love with his friend, Neko Kuroha who believed in aliens, and claimed to have met them. But Kuroha dies in an accident trying to save Murakami. Filled with guilty, Murakami promises himself not to fall in love with anyone other than his first love and also to find proof of the existence of aliens because of a promise he had made with Kuroneko prior to her death. Then fast forward to the present, and one day, a new transfer student comes to his class, who not only looks a lot like Kuroha Neko, but is named Kuroha Neko and to add onto that, she saves Murakami with magical powers. It turns out that Kuroha along with Kuroha's alliance witches are run-a-way witches who were created by a mysterious organization. These witches need strange pills (that only the organization has) in order to survive, or else their skin melts/spews out blood and they die. Oh, did I mention that the organization is sending other more powerful witches to hunt down the run-a-way witches? Therefore Murakami, who wants to protect Kuroha Neko (and also the other run-a-way witches) in order to find out of Kuroha Neko really is the Kuroha Neko he knew as a child, gets entangled into a witch hunt down death chase. Although this type of anime not my favorite to begin with, Gokukoku no Brynhildr really made me cringe. First off, so many unanswered questions. Why did the organization create these witches? No idea. Why did the organization want to hunt them down then? No idea. Okay... Then what was the point of the anime? Um, there was none? I mean it's basically another story that has a few glimpses of terrible, boring magic battle scenes, that shows 2-3 witches swinging their arms around, creating huge explosions, with the addition of Murakami being hit on by all sorts of different girls (witches). I absolutely despise ecchi, and Gokukoku no Brynhildr, a supposedly horror, mysterious anime had tons of it. I don't even want to talk about the ending, because there was no climax, the ending made absolutely no sense, and most importantly, it was unsatisfying to say the least. Overall, the plot jumped around too much, without having a focus point leading to it's messy demise. I didn't dislike the characters as much as the plot because there was 1 or 2 interesting side characters. But the anime sort of threw out random characters out of nowhere, and then got rid of them just as fast. There was no depth to any characters, except maybe Murakami and Kuroha (but not really). The characters were your average ecchi anime characters. There was the main male character who is an perverted boy that is kind towards other female characters, no matter who they are, therefore causing the other girls to fall in love with him. The main female character who is beautiful, yet reluctant to admit her feelings of the main character. The short, funny, flat-chested female character who messes around the main character (Kazumi, the one character I liked). And, obviously the big-boobed dumb, high pitched voice character that the main character is tempted to "touch". The villain and the mysterious organization were nothing really; there was no explanation of them. The entire anime gives us perhaps a 1 minute flashback of the antagonists past that explains absolutely nothing of his intentions or reasons. What happened to the organization in the end? No idea, they just suddenly were dropped at the end of the story, when they were the whole "mysterious" focus. And.. in conclusion, I really dislike anime where they make the characters all have different hair color to distinguish upon them; it usually shows the art team's lack of effort to drawing up diversely looking characters. The art is okay, but it didn't fit the mood of the anime. The anime was supposed to be a horror, mystery anime that maybe had a glimpse of romance between the 2 main characters, yet the art was so colorful, bright, and "romantic". I know that some people like the Gokukoku no Brynhildr openings, but I personally did not like the openings, because of it's VERY high pitched dub-step kind of music (1st opening was okay). There is no other worth mentioning soundtrack in the anime. The voicing cast did a decent job, hence giving sound a 5 rating, despite it's lack of any good music. In a simple conclusion: I wouldn't recommend this anime to really anyone.

Second chances are not to be wasted, and this is no exception to the anime industry. VAP, Inc. and Arms Corporation took another shot at bringing one of Lynn Okamoto’s works to the big screen and blew its potential once again. Gokukoku no Brynhildr introduces an intriguing mystery and new concept of witches that have a promising start but resulted in something unforgivable with ridiculous plot devices. Because of the eerie OP and attractive plot, it is easy to expect a well-done mystery with proper supernatural aspects. Instead, there are incompetent characters, sorry excuses for villains, and poor pacing that leads to plotholes and alack of character development. Gokukoku’s initial mystery escalates into the supernatural, appearing as something to look forward to. The plot seems suspenseful with a unique concept for witches, who have different powers and live in fear of melting. Unforeseen circumstances brought interest. The characters had their own distinct personalities and unfortunate histories to give high hopes for the story. It was those elements that made me fall for Gokukoku in the beginning, but the show took a turn for the worst. The story became heavily predictable with the same pattern as expected from a harem that consists of a gullible and overly caring male protagonist (Murakami). A so-called powerful witch appears, and Murakami feels the need to persuade her to join the group 90% of the time. This eliminates the potential for suspense and becomes disinteresting. The ending is so rushed and vague that it ruins the outcome of the mysteries. New info about the MCs is revealed near the end, leaving little time for the viewer to take it all in. A character is supposed to have indestructible powers, but the power is either never shown or is unimpressive with no terrifying element. New characters appear out of nowhere before the current characters have any time to develop. Despite the sudden and distressful situations, there’s no chance to feel sympathy for characters. The finale is extremely disappointing, especially for someone looking forward to a solved mystery. There are several questions left unanswered. The pacing distracts itself with fanservice, resulting in making Murakami a typical love interest. A love triangle develops and creates a silly jealousy game. Virgin talk and awkward erotic moments make the show irresistibly a sight for sore eyes. This withdraws any hope for possible romance within the mystery between Murakami and Neko. The harem aspect is understandable considering the witches' sob stories and dreams of living life as normal human beings instead of experiments. Their interactions with each other and teamwork were enjoyable, especially during drastic moments. However, this progresses into awful characterization. The cast made this sci-fi production a complete failure. Villains do not fit the description of someone evil. When they can easily defeat the MCs, they make illogical choices as an excuse to work out in the favor of the protagonist. The majority of the witches introduced as formidable turns out to be harmless. The other characters’ emotions are ridiculous for a serious plot. Either they’re trying too hard to react to a situation or they just don’t care. They sometimes act so calm, cool, and collected that the story doesn’t make sense anymore. They go as far as faking a death with the evidence right beside them. Also, Murakami apparently has such solid gold talents and abilities that he’s invincible to various attacks. One witch became nothing but a dues ex machina character, giving Murakami outside info to further the objective. At that point, the show appears silly and tiring to watch. The art is decent but doesn't help in terms of the story. Character design is fine, and it's good for distinguishing the witches' special features. Some things don’t follow up in the artwork, including the witches standing out as the only students without uniforms. Thanks to a scene with characters using red paint as fake blood, there’s no differentiation between the color of blood and red paint. What’s worse for a series that tries to be all bloody and mysterious? Censorship. So if you want to see a witch melt to the fullest degree, just watch the Wizard of Oz. The animation and action scenes are good, but it becomes pointless to enjoy with the rushed pacing. The OST and sound effects are good, but the poor story and characters cause it be plain. Apart from being misleading with the bloody scenes and action, the first OP song is good and a personal favorite. The background music occurred during fighting scenes that ended with characters making stupid moves, so it’s not so memorable. They changed the OP song into a rock song by the 10th episode with the same suspense and action as the first one. By that time, the show is predictable enough to lose any hope of improvement. Characters’ phony reactions disappoint long-awaited moments for mysteries. This is noticeable for scenes that should be highly emotional. Technically, there’s nothing else to say about the seiyuu. Since it becomes normal for wicked witches to develop into sensitive little girls, the changes in their tones fit the script. Gokukoku no Brynhildr has countless problems that makes it forgettable. The characters don’t act realistically to situations. The villains make irresponsible decisions that lessens the suspense within the show. More time spent on fanservice than the mysteries results in quick pacing, lack of character development, and a horrible ending. It is a huge disappointment for an interesting mystery. Despite how much VAP and Arms ruined Gokukoku's potential, Lynn Okamoto created an excellent story. Therefore, I recommend reading the manga for better characterization and outcomes.

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