skankfish

Well.... first of all I have only watched the series, not the spin-off OAVs. If I am bored enough one day I might take the plunge and then update this review as they seem to be listed as part of the series.

This anime is set in 1930s gangster America, and makes that blatantly obvious throughout. Painfully so: shitty, repetitive jazz music; uniformly dressy gangster costumes (and chimney sweep outfits for the little 'uns); cobbled streets and inadequate mood lighting; endless fights on the roof of a train. It was just all too much for me.

Story 4/10

The story itself is some kind of self absorbed multi-character orgy involving some really lame personalities and possibly the two most annoying douchebags ever dolloped into an anime. Izaak and Miria don't fit the style of the show, the other characters, or the plot. While the majority of the series carries itself at least with some pride, whenever these two popped up I was forced to question why I had gotten so many episodes in and just what exactly the writers were thinking.

The way the plot flails around riffing on a shitty and simple idea really gets on my tits. And then with all the distracting and confusing flashbacks, forwards, or whatever they actually were I felt completely lost throughout what was in hindsight a very simple plot. I was left frustrated, annoyed and maybe even less of an anime fan than I was before. In fact I hated it so much, yet wanted to finish it so badly, that I got so drunk I fell asleep on an electric fan, alone, in my living room. Which was awful because I just had to watch all those episodes again as I'd predictably forgotten the content.

Animation 7/10

Yes, very good, well done. Now work on the more important bits and you have a good show. Character designs were a bit shit though. Those tattoo things looked rubbish for a start.

Sound 3/10

Give me a break from that goddamn jazz! The music was tiresome. Overall the Japanese VAs were fine, but again Izaak and Miria took everything down a notch to complete idiocy and WASTED MY TIME!

Characters BOLLOCKS/10

.... too many, not enough development or originality, and really fucking annoying.

And one thing I forgot to mention - the ridiculous attempt at American names is neither funny nor convincing. Jacuzzi Splott? Give me a break.

Overall 3.9/10

I work out 5 or 6 days a week. I push my body to the absolute limit. I'm used to feeling like I'm on the verge or self-destruction, and have developed a mental toughness to rival the Greek Gods. But this show.. this show.... why? WHAT THE HELL IS THE POINT?

For God sake it's like Goodnight Sweetheart crossed with bad X Files with elements of Quantum Leap. It's shit!