Rewrite - Reviews

***THIS IS A SPOILER FREE REVIEW***

After watching Rewrite I am honestly wondering who the hell this anime was made for. Was it for the veteran VN readers or was it some sort of advertisement for the fresh anime watchers? Regardless of their target audience I think that 8-bit has failed miserably.

Story: 2/10

First, an introduction to the story. Kotarou is the main character of the show. The show literally follows him around as he tries to make the most of his high school life. He ends up reviving an old club in order to form memories with his closest friends. These friends include Akane (a snarky, devious, and rich female), Chihaya (a super strong, airhead idiot), Kotori (Kotarou's childhood friend that loves pocket change), Lucia (the typical loud class rep), and Shizuru (the best girl loli). The first half of the story follows the events regarding Kotarou and the club. What happens later on will be up to you to find out. No spoilers here.

Now if we can take a step back to talk about the quality of the story, I hope I can relay my thoughts. If we take away all connections and points from the VN and judge this show purely on what was presented in the anime, we still get a sloppy mess of a plot. The first 6 or so episodes of the anime somewhat features the common route of the VN. It was however really, really, really condensed down to fit inside the most minimalist of deadlines. The show does include the full cast from the VN which is a feat all on its own but rushes to all hell the introductions and initial character building. The characters somewhat feel like their VN counterparts (helped by the same voice actors and music from the VN) but they lack the punch that their VN counterparts have due to the rushed introductions and lightspeed route completions. What happens at the turning point of the story has very little impact due to this rushed character building.

Animation: 4.5/10

First bug-o-boo; I don't know what the hell is up with the character models in this show. They just look...off? Like the actual models look like the VN counterparts but they look really washed out. It might be just an A E S T H E T I C quality 8-bit tried to use to make up the show's visual style but it did not work. It ended up making the show look cheap and low quality. It however must be pointed out that the school dresses are really something to look at. Like holy mother of god they look like designer dresses.

The more actiony scenes in the show seemed animated pretty well but that is all ruined once they throw the CG monsters on screen. To be perfectly honest the CG monsters in this show are some of the worst quality CG things I have ever seen in an anime. They just look so out of place.

Sound: 9/10
Most of the voice lines are just poorly written but that does not take away from the actual performance and quality of what was presented in the show. From what I can tell they used the same voice actors from the VN which is great because all of them are excellent. They are literally the only reason each character actually feels like a character (due to the rushed pacing as explained earlier on). The real star though is the music in the show. They were smart and took most of the musical themes from the VN and placed them very well into the show. Seriously going to pick up the OST for this when it becomes available (although if the VN already has one get that).

Characters: 4/10
I want to make something perfectly clear before I dive into this category. In the VN the characters truly have a life of their own. They are fully fledged out, feel organic, and are some of the best well-knit casts. The anime retains in my honest opinion half of the feeling that the VN provided. The characters are there and the VAs bring out their feelings but it is just not enough. The characters presented in the show just do not seem to meld well enough with each other. In the VN a huge part of the game is laughing and enjoying the interactions of the whole cast as they do club activities. I really did not feel that same sort of organic feeling in the anime when the same scenes were presented.

Oddly enough the best part of the show was Kagari's personality. While I have played VN I don't really remember Kagari acting the way she does in the anime in the VN. This might be the new route that the new version of the game is going to include but regardless Kagari is the only character that I ended up liking in the anime. She feels fully fleshed out and honestly steals the screen when she is present.

Overall: 4.9/10

Again I want to make it abundantly clear that I absolutely love the VN this anime was based on. The VN tells a humorous and enjoyable story with a super well done cast that provide so many great scenes. The anime feels like a super watered down version of the VN. The lines are rushed, the character building/progression is rushed, the visuals look rushed, and the show in general is rushed. If this was a 24 episode show instead of 12 then maybe we would have gotten a worthy adaptation. We however got what we got; a rushed product that I still do not understand who the target audience is.

Let me make this better for you in the long run; watch the OP of the anime and the OP for the VN. If it at all looks remotely interesting to you then go play the VN. I honestly think that watching the anime first then going to play the VN might ruined the experience you would have if you just played the VN without the anime's influence. You would miss out of experiencing the VN fresh without outside things hurting the plot twists. Do. Not. Watch. The. Anime.

Enjoyment: 2/10

Thanks for reading my review! If you liked my writing style, would like to see some other reviews, or just want to talk, please stop by my page!

Sincerely,
Awesome Drummer

Well that was a bit of a mess. Sure, the parts of the mess were alright, but looking back I really don't understand how the story progressesed. It just jumped from one thing to the next and hoped you could keep up. 

Initially, the story is about a high school boy who keeps getting attacked by monsters. And then, it's about an occult club. And then... I don't want to spoil too much but it pretty much changes the plot line every few episodes. So much so you'll forget what was actually happening before. Individually the parts are told pretty well, but how they joined the stories together just meant none of it worked. 

Character-wise, it's a stereotypical harem with pretty bland characters. They're fine, but not anything to get exited about. 

This series makes no sense to me, but I still enjoyed it. I think the week gap between episodes helped dull down the confusion, but watching this in one go would not be great. 

Okay, Rewrite is my favorite Visual Novel made by Key. It has multiple routes that branches out from the main story. Episode 1-3 has resemblance, but it lacks a certain charm than the main material. It's pretty decent, nothing else. Routes became rushed, because it only has 12 episodes.

Now, if I don't compare the main material and the anime, it is pretty confusing. Developments became too fast-paced that there wasn't any character development noticeable. Animation is faithful to Key character design. Different from the new trend of animation, it's a fresh air to see these Art.

Finally, if you're a Key fan like me, then you also played the VN. This is my warning. Don't expect too much from the anime. It's like a crunched version + new route.

This is a review of both seasons of Rewrite.

Positive

*Before I start my complaining about everything that was done wrong with this adaptation, I do have a few positive remarks to mention. The biggest positive point of this anime was the hidden message that was present in Rewrite. It’s not even so hidden but this anime delivers a message to us the viewers about climate change and taking care of the environment. Multiple times in this anime, the story talks about how humanity is ruining this planet and I have a lot of respect for Rewrite for that. 

I am also someone who looks at the world with worried eyes. And the way how the anime builds the character of Kagari, looking at the world from an external position and just thinking “WTF are they doing?” resonated really hard with me. So despite this anime being a true mess and terrible and plain bad, I still do have a large amount of respect for Rewrite and for the original VN for addressing this worldly problem.

For a video review, check out my Youtube channel. Link on my profile page.

*The other positive points of Rewrite can be found at the beginning of the second season. First of all I really liked that opening in the first episodes. It was so simple but I felt so much emotion resonating from that simple piano piece. Here you felt that Jun Maeda worked his magic again. To be clear Maeda, still my anime god, did not work on the script of this adaptation, he only worked on the music. And in this opening I felt Maeda’s magic once again.

*And those first episodes of the second season are my last positive point. These episodes were, by far, my favorite ones of the entire anime. Here I truly thought that Rewrite was picking itself up after a disappointing first season. I liked how these episodes were quite philosophical and here I felt the magic that I’m used to from Key adaptations. Unfortunately it was idle hope that Rewrite was picking itself up.

Negative

*Unfortunately this anime was beyond saving. Let's first day something about the animation. The normal animation was ok, nothing special but the 3D animation of the monsters was Berserk quality, I think that says enough. You all know that I'm not the biggest fan of 3D CGI animation and this animation was like a thorn in my eye. Not only was it the 3D CGI animation that I hate but the computer based physics behind them was so sloppy. The monsters couldn't look any more robotic than they did. 

*But the majority of this negative section has to go to the story of Rewrite. The first season was already weird, there were already times where I was asking myself "What the hell is happening here?". But I could still follow the story, I had a general idea of what direction the anime wanted to take. Then the second season started and my hope started to rise. The anime pulling out the multiverse card made a lot of things possible. It made it possible to completely turn over the story and basically start from scratch. 

*Now the anime did turn over the story but what, in God's name, did they do with it? What was the deal with that whole wannabe James Bond story? Suzuki Bondo? Seriously? You didn't even make the effort to hide that you're imitating James Bond. And the story itself was so completely random and confusing. There was no link anymore with the first season, all the female characters became useless and it was so rushed and without explanations. At times, I had absolutely no freaking idea what was going on in Rewrite. 

*And all of this culminated in the final episode. That finale has to be one of the most confusing and unexplaining endings that I have seen in a long time. I have no clue, not a single idea what happened in that ending. Not a single one and it was the cherry on the top of the confusing cake that the whole storyline of Rewrite was. 

Conclusion

So as a conclusion, when I say that Rewrite didn’t fulfill my expectations, than that is a small understatement. This has to be one of the biggest disappointments in the now almost 3 years that I’ve been watching anime. I was so excited, I was so ready to be amazed again by Key just like they did with Angel Beats!, Clannad and Little Busters. But it was such a mess. So overall I’m going to rate Rewrite at an utterly disappointing 1,5 stars. Now I don’t blame Key themselves for this atrocity, I heard that the original VN is really good. I blame the studio 8Bit for screwing up this adaptation. Also I think that it would have been a much better idea to just animate the original storylines from the VN rather than creating a whole new one which was complete shit and lacked the magic of Maeda.

I basically watched Rewrite so I could better recognize some of the characters in Kaginado.  Talk about Stupid Reason #1!  Yep, that was Kagari and Shizuru, and it does explain some of the antics that happened on those short episodes.  Beyond that ...

What was it that I just watched?  I can now understand Fullmetaldragon’s point about the advantage of seeing Rewrite at an episode a week pace over against binge watching the series.

I know that Rewrite refers to the unique ability for the MC Kotarou Tennouji to reconfigure his specific powers that he could perform to meet specific occult situations (as long as he doesn’t overdo it … talk about foreshadowing).  I'd almost wager that this was also the bizarre facet of the plot to radically redraft itself to better usher in the chaos that the setting, the ecologically friendly town of Kazamatsuri, was going to endure by season's end.  And to think that there is a second season!  Kazamatsuri on the comeback trail ... might be nice to see, once you get by that cynical question, 'How?'

The story starts out simply enough.  Kotarou joins the occult research club at his school, an organization that is staffed with babes.  Harem fanservice runs most of the show as Kotarou blunders through all the customary embarrassing moments with any and all the girls of his harem.  Little does Kotarou know that the club is divided between two conflicting entities out to save the world, Gaia and Guardians.  One group believes that the ultimate ecological answer to all the world's ills is the eradication of humanity.

One reason for the insane plot line is that the origin of Rewrite is that of a visual novel by Key.  Complexity is a Key trademark.  And, speaking of keys, the character of Kagari is an enigma.  As the most human-looking non-human in the cast, both Gaia and Guardians have a mutual interest in Kagari, for if one side benefits by the exploitation of the enigma's 'special gift,' it is the tactic of the other side to eliminate Kagari.  The fate of humanity falls into Kotarou's hands as he could save the world from Gaia's version of Salvation by killing her, a horrid thing Kotarou cannot countenance.

Thus, season two will offer a real mess for somebody (Kotarou perhaps?) to clean up.  Except Kotarou isn’t his old self.

If nothing else, the animation's FX of a world collapsing upon itself as flora, fauna, and forces of nature run amok was nothing short of spectacular.  Both Gaia and Guardians prove to be unscrupulous, and the anime offers the dark tones of a world going mad as bloodlust and mayhem create a war zone.  And all Kotarou wishes is to have the fun days of youth.  No character is consistent or stable, and even Kagari cannot maintain her stoicism as she suffers terribly as destruction sweeps everywhere.  Dull shades explode to brilliant colors as the theme of nothing being constant is demonstrated through the final episodes.

And the most inconsistent thing of Rewrite is the calm, reserved melodies of the opening and closing themes.  It's like Armageddon sung to the tune of "Sweet Caroline."  Real strong emphasis on the "Ba-ba-ba!"

With a world totally melted away, one wonders what season two has to offer.