Rewrite

As someone who has played the Visual Novel, this adaptation is disappointing. It is not impossible to create a perfect depiction or adaptation of a VN, a fine example would be Clannad which just happens to be another Key VN. I am not saying it has to follow through the VN's story completely, I am fine with many new plot twists because new content actually excites me. However it is obvious that 13 episodes is not long enough to condense the story of a VN no matter how much you twist and turn the storyline. I wouldn't hold my breathe for the announced 2nd season either. Myadvise to whoever is interested in picking up Rewrite is, play the VN first then watch the anime. For me, my experience with Rewrite the video game has been truly astounding. The animated adaption has only served me as fanservice.

Since Rewrite is a visual novel by Key, a lot of people will compare it to the likes of Clannad, Angel Beats, Air Cannons, etc. But, I propose some new comparisons. 1. Shitcom, because both are pretty shit comedies. 2. The sensation of hitting your head against a brick wall for six hours. If you enjoy either of these, then Rewrite might be the perfect show for you. Otherwise, I consider it one of the worst anime of 2016: a fucky jambalaya of overdesigned characters, dumb memes, and a plot that was probably written by someone putting a bunch of sticky notes on a dartboard and writing inwhatever they threw at. Before I go on, let me just say that I don’t give a flying fuck about how good the visual novel is or isn’t. I don’t care what purpose this anime serves to it, whether to be some sort of adaptation, if you can even call it that, or just a teaser meant to advertise it, whatever. I’m just reviewing the anime the same way I review any other anime: like a little dickbag who isn’t good at anything els--I mean, independent of any other source material. I did not at all write a Shokugeki review comparing it to the manga to contradict myself and then delete it out of embarrassment. So if you’re not very familiar with Key’s works, here’s how they generally go: The MC is an everyday normal guy with just enough wit to keep him from being 100% beta, but not enough substance to put him above the level of a general self-insert. He goes to a weird school filled with even weirder people (mostly overly-designed cutesy girls) with some maddeningly strange characteristics. Various shenanigans occur for a few episodes until the plot finally comes in, or maybe there’s one to begin with but doesn’t have much of a focus yet. If you can’t tell, I’m not a fan of these Key guys who think it’s funny to put their logo on every coffee can in every episode of every show. The way they tell their stories is very jarring because of their spontaneous, bombastic sense of humor. Half the time, I can’t tell if they’re trying to make a teenage melodrama, or if they’re trying to make a dinnertime cartoon sitcom for dummies. It's an uncomfortable mixture of both, like ketchup and mac and cheese. Since they like to dick around with their storytelling, things can get rushed and/or confusing in the end. These things are increased thousandfold in Rewrite. There is no plot in Rewrite. None. It pretends to have one in the second half, but the “twist” being that something is actually happening comes out so half-heartedly that the writers seem disappointed in themselves that they can’t write in as many dank maymays into their show. Instead… eh. There are monsters, eh. People are fighting, eh. The world is gonna die, eh. FEECOF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whoops, there goes Rewrite being funny again xDDDD! Don’t believe me? Here’s part of MAL’s synopsis, albeit fanmade by MAL Rewrite (that joke is funnier than anything else in this show): "Equipped with the superhuman ability to permanently rewrite any part of his body to multiply his strength or speed, Kotarou is naturally drawn to the supernatural." You know when this Rewrite ability is shown for the first time? Episode fucking four. Not one. Four. And, as usual, the story just reveals it as if it’s the most normal thing in the world. No prior hints for him having this power, no explanation as to how or why he has it, nothing. And that synopsis isn’t even accurate, because it's not just about increasing strength. At one point, he “rewrites” his body to resist poison. What else can he do? Resist age? Resist death? Become invisible? Triple the size of his dick? You know, that would be a good power to have in a massive waifu war such as Rewrite. I think there was a hugely missed opportunity here. Other people have powers too. Just because. And there are shitty CG monsters sometimes. Just because. Eh. It’s all part of the hilariously goofy fun that is the Whatever Club at Whatever High School! The real plot towards the end turns out to be some environmental awareness campaign. People are assholes and don’t take care of the planet, so other people need to out-asshole them and activate a thing that will kill everyone so that the planet can live. I don’t know how this is supposed to tie into the main character having the ability to theoretically give himself the neck of Alolan Exeggutor. Maybe there’s a reason somewhere that I missed, but it’s a little hard to follow along when the show tries to adapt every possible waifu route in the game while playing catch-up with the plot because that took forever to come in and now it needs to do 3,000 things at once if it wants to wrap up in time. Except the plot took so long to come in that I lost interest before it even happened. Maybe this show should’ve had a rewrite, eh? Ehhhhhhhhhhhhh??? And at the end of the day, what did this amount to? A dead end. Literally. The ending is not satisfying, as it’s apparently just one route of many, leading me to wonder what the point of all of this even was. Was it to introduce the characters? Anything could’ve done that within a couple episodes; to say an entire thirteen-episode season can be dedicated to that would be an outright lie. Is it to introduce the setting? Kazamatsuri has basically no focus at all. I know that it’s a big place and kinda environmental-friendly. My fucking bedroom could've been a more interesting setting, because at least I have Big Order posters. Is it to explain the conflict of the show? Well, it only took them until at least six episodes for them to reveal that there was any conflict in the first place, so… no. It’s all a bunch of mush, and I’m not quoting whatever that pink sheep dog thing was. It tries to please both visual novel readers and newcomers by adapting the visual novel with an anime-original route that tells a complete story while also introducing a story. I don't even know what the fuck that means, but it failed at all of it. Key should just make their own Nichijou. A show where nothing happens, everything is stupid, and it’s funny as hell. Make something like that to satisfy their own sense of humor, so that maybe they can tell a compelling story and find a way for someone to get attached to its characters beyond humorous interactions. Ha ha, Kagari likes coffee and calls it "feecof"!! What a deep character!!! As everyone will write in every review for every comedy anime in the world: comedy is subjective. Not everyone is going to love it or get it, so making the characters more like a bunch of running jokes in the midst of a deep melodrama might not be the best idea. When they fed me a character's sob story, my reaction wasn't "Oh no, how sad! I'm emotionally invested now!", it was "Wait, I was supposed to take this seriously?" The usual nonsense that follows a sad moment leads me to believe that I had the right idea. I can admit that the show was a little funny at times. It was. There was about… one gag per episode that got a laugh out of me. For about four episodes. Because within those first few episodes, I was still somewhat invested in the show. I thought everything would make sense in the end, that something was gonna happen at any moment that would tie everything together and make me believe the show was actually a work of genius. But then it never happened, and even still I was trapped, because I was at a point where I was in too far to pull out and cut my losses. I needed to see it to the end, so I could at least splash more salt than Arataka Reigen. Perhaps that was the point, just to lure everyone in and keep them thinking that, someday, it’ll all come together and make sense, only for them to post a note at the end saying “lol fuk u idiot”. If so, congrats Rewrite, Key, Studio 8bit, you totally PRANK’D me bro!! XDDDDDdddeDdDdrefzdfxff Ah, it’s like someone probably once said, a good piece of entertainment is one that leaves the viewer thinking. Rewrite leaves me thinking that I should’ve died in that car wreck I had last year. I don’t know who the fuck this 8bit studio is, and given the art of this show and that their most popular work is Infinite Stratos, it seems I haven’t missed out on anything. Rewrite looks terrible. Not even because of the mediocre studio, but even designs imported from the visual novel. Who in the name of Lady Gaga designed the school uniforms in this show? What kind of cruel monster would subjugate these poor girls to this kind of torture? They all have to wear these extremely overdesigned, uncomfortable-looking dresses with skirts and sleeves that you could drive a truck into despite the torso clinging to their tits like a wet washcloth. Isn’t that nice? No, they don’t look cute in the slightest, they look like they take a half-hour to actually put on. And I’m sorry to disappoint everyone, but I’m not really into fucking the wrappers of strawberry-and-creme hard candies. But, whatever fetish you relish. The animation is mediocre, which for the most part isn’t a problem, but for some reason the anime becomes an action series with a bunch of fights, and then it’s a problem. Even worse is that there are a bunch of weird supernatural beasts in the second half of the show, and while they have an interestingly jaded color scheme, they’re done in really poor CG. At other times, it’s inconsistent, such as the way they animate Kagari. Do her ribbons move around with a mind of their own, or don’t they? I dunno, I guess whatever key animator 8bit hired for that episode gets to decide that. No particular positives about the art can make up for the big negatives; the only things possibly worth mentioning are that the OP’s and ED’s look surprisingly good, and that maybe the character designs are okay, but as you can expect from a visual novel full of girls, some of them are gonna look strange, like Shizuru and Kotori. I guess I should also mention some of the voice acting, because Hana Kanasamanawamallama voiced the main loli girl. Apparently that means it’s good. Not really, because her role didn’t have anything impressive about it, but at least her voice is nice to hear. Otherwise, the soundtrack was decent; it never felt spectacular and most of the time it was pretty average, but there were some good, emotional or light-hearted tracks here and there, especially when (and this is weird to say) Kotaro was about to grope Akane, they played the VN's OP. Nice. The OP’s and ED’s were all pretty decent as well, though not impressive either. Do I need to say anything else? Don't watch this anime, no matter what sort of relationship you have with the source material. This anime sucks. The story sucks. The idea of it sucks. The way it’s told sucks. The people who are in it suck. Hell, the people that made it probably suck too. Maybe I’ll join Gaia. Not because I care about the planet, but because, sometimes, I just feel that a lot of people dying would fix things. Kefka did nothing wrong. Get well soon, Maeda-san. Story - 1/10 Art - 3/10 Sound - 6/10 Character - 2/10 Enjoyment - 1/10 Memes - Aboutaslifelessasharambe/10 Overall - 1.25/10 (Range - 1-2) Favorite episodes - 0 Favorite characters - Akane’s Boobs Recommendation level - no

Rewrite, one of Key’s most prominent visual novels getting an anime adaptations? This almost feels surreal, right? I’ll get straight to the point. While the idea of Rewrite finally getting an anime has been a dream for Key fans for many years, it may also be somewhat a tarnished reality as we realize what we’re really getting. After finishing the show, it’s more than just tarnished. Much more. On paper, Rewrite follows a lot of standard Key formulas you’ll recognize easily if you’re already familiar with their work. The slow paced story from the beginning, generic character personalities, and supernatural phenomenon are just a few toname. However, one thing this adaptation didn’t fully embrace is its ability to move the audience. What that literally means is its inability to make the viewers feel tearful unlike some other series. (ex. Clannad After Story) Some may question that it would be unfair to compare Rewrite to other Key’s works but in reality, the adaptation really has more humor than it should. From the first few episodes, we meet Kotarou Tennouji, the male protagonist. He gets involved with his school’s Occult Club where we meet the other female characters. They range with different personalities and all more or less oddball characters at first. The real catch though is that they are also involved in some kind of darker plot that unfolds as the series progresses. But on paper, the first few episodes doesn’t reveal much of itself as it tries to get viewers to familiarize with the franchise. In essence, the main female characters will likely be a hit or miss to get attached to. Most of them are stereotypes like the school council representative type or the redheaded tsundere. Meanwhile, the series does also introduce a mysterious character from Tennouji’s dream, a young girl with ribbons that seemingly kills him. Perhaps this is where viewers will get intrigued by the show. From a standard viewpoint, the storytelling of the series bounces between acceptable and awful. There are some episodes that nails the coffin when it comes to creativity while others makes you feel like it’s a forced chore to finish. As an anime original viewer, I confess that the show itself is underwhelming particular with characters such as Lucia. The way their own story is set up not only feels rushed but lacks concrete feelings. It’s hard to feel what they are going through with the pacing especially from the buildup and ultimately doesn’t really satisfy what its intentions were. On the other hand, some other background storytelling such as with Shizuru (the eye patch girl) feels it’s done right because of the more tragic mood. Still, with the show being just 1-cour, you really shouldn’t expect a full adaptation of each girl’s story. In fact, this particular anime actually develops into a more mysterious plot that unfolds with connecting events. Unfortunately, the insert episodes of the girls’ routes doesn’t do much justice and weighs down the show overall. As Rewrite retains a lot of comedy, there’s also the mysteries that carries over the course of the show. I already mentioned about the strange ribbon girl from Tennouji’s dreams. However, we also get the main setting that itself is a mystery. The series takes place Kazamatsuri and has quite a lot of hidden secrets, some that ventures into the supernatural realm. Being the curious guy that he is, Tennouji is drawn to these mysteries as he has a supernatural ability of his own. A major turning point revolves about the utopia-like environment and where all sorts of strange occurrences takes place. When one of the students at Tennouji’s school goes missing, that’s where we realize Rewrite can be darker than it seems. We are also introduced to factions that have conflicts with each other and some of the girls from the Occult Club are involved. Tennouji himself also begins to display inhuman talent with his own Rewrite ability. And finally, we also learn a lot more about the mysterious ribbon girl that appears in Tennouji’s dream. It’ll take patience for viewers to eventually get to the main meat of the plot and if you’re the type that sees Key as an insufferable product, then this will be a hard show to follow. Perhaps storytelling isn’t just what Rewrite emphasizes on though. There’s also relationships, connections that tries to be meaningful. Tennouji develops several important relationships with others including Lucia, Kotori, Kagari (the ribbon girl), among others. However, the show itself seems to focus on that mostly on the surface level. Because of time restraints, they aren’t concretely developed as you’ll anticipate. Oh and it’s easy to forget about characters like Haruhiko when his role in the show seems to be mainly comic relief. And romance? That part is mostly teased at and hard to really appreciate if it’s even there. At best, character relationships are subtly memorable but because of the mediocre buildup, they aren’t very memorable. Adapted by studio 8-bit, the show itself is underwhelming when it comes to visual quality. The characters look blend while it does retain Key style features such as the moe-eyes, feminine parts, and surreal-like atmosphere. However, the action is more of a disappointment. Well to be honest, the action was never a main attraction in the show anyway and the brief segments where we see that isn’t so appealing either. There’s not much fan service in the show except with the blushing and that one episode where Lucia puts on a maid outfit. Oh yes, a maid outfit. On the other hand, soundtrack for Rewrite is impressive. Well, not in the impressive that it’s a masterpiece but definitely hits the key points. The theme songs offers choreography that fits the show quite right while the OST is mysterious as it should be. Even during comedic moments, the music seems to fall in place naturally. Furthermore, character voice expressions are well delivered if you compare to their characters from the VN. So in the end, what should you really take for granted from Rewrite? It’s pretty much a popcorn entertainment that’s perhaps only easy to watch if you come with an open mind. For those with high expectations, it’s probably a good idea to drop the show as it seems to appeal to a broader audience, beyond the visual novel fans. I think Rewrite tried to take a risk and although it partially succeeds, there’s more failure. In the end, it’s a nice show to pass time with for fun but not something to talk about for years to come. Oh and season 2 has been announced for the love of God, let’s pray for a better sequel.

Have a great story and long stories like Key usually get them done, are priceless to see in animation, this one, even with its own factors, it's one of them... The characters are the basis in all stories, and in this one the characters have a great color because each one tell its own story and with that, the story change itself to its true colors. The sound and art are nostalgic to the novel, even the 3D sprites, and the usual BGM, so you gonna have a great environment with the luxury of a visual novel material in animation. The story, good this animated route, it explaincharacters, environments, plot, etc... but for the popular opinion, this is only at the start, when the real problem enter in the play, the anime take a speed of explanation and change of scenes that can make you say: "What I am seeing?! How? What?", so that was the very weak point with this animation, maybe because the length of the visual novel, this story have so much to say, so transfer this to the animation was unsuccessful at certain grade. Even that it's a story that can be valuated well if you see it with calm, maybe if you get very confused and intrigued, you can awake the feeling to play the visual novel (like me). I think this is all, so be patient and play the VN, that a solution, if you reach this point and feel this review useful or only time lost, anyway thanks for read it all, happy anime and happy VNs, remember the other routes will be animated in 2017!!

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