So I'm here, because I need to save a POTENTIAL FILLED ANIME from a fate it does not deserve. There's a Shounen anime airing this season called Radiant, right? And Radiant has POSSIBLY the best opening ever, GREAT character designs (I thought so since episode 1 because of everyone in the opening), a cool world design, and GREAT animation (which is to be expected because Studio Lerche is making it, and they made things like Danganronpa and Assassination Classroom which both looked AMAZING). ALLLLL this potential, at a glance it could TOTALLY be one of the huge Shounens of today like My Hero Academia, and yet NO ONE FUCKING KNOWS ABOUT IT! NO ONE! And it boggles my mind, because things like Goblin Slayer blew up literally just because of controversy, yet this potential filled anime that is clearly having a LOT of work poured into it by Studio Lerche is COMPLETELY, UNKNOWN. I don't see it on ANY trending list, I don't see it on any big anime site's Most Popular list, and no anime YouTubers have covered it AT ALL pretty much. The only "most popular" section I've seen it on is Crunchyroll's, and it was never as high as I thought it should have been. And I've tried, I've TRIED to tell anime YouTubers to give it a hand and give it the attention it deserves, but obviously the chances of any YouTuber seeing anything you say on Twitter are slim to none. So since I don't have a massive YouTube channel of my own and can't do it myself, I have nowhere else to go. That's why I'm here anime reddit. I AM HERE, because -I- have to do what no one else will, and I ask that all of you help me. If you haven't watched Radiant, go check it out. If you HAVE watched Radiant and feel that it is just BRIMMING with potential like me, MAKE IT KNOWN! TALK about it, TELL your friends, tell your FRIENDS to talk about it, if you have a YouTube channel make a VIDEO about it, GET RADIANT'S NAME OUT THERE! Because NO ONE ELSE is, and it's just a crime man... :l And even if you aren't a fan of Shounen, do the same! Do the same so that it REACHES the shounen fans, which there are CLEARLY a billion of since shounen is the biggest genre of anime there is. In case you couldn't tell, I was FULLY on board with this show since episode 1, and I FULLY believe in it. I believe that with our help this show has the potential to, like I said, be one of the big Shounens of today alongside things like My Hero. But without it, I just KNOW that it is doomed to drown in obscurity and probably not continue after it's scheduled 21 episodes, and that is just not right... :l So I ask one last time watchers of anime everywhere. Whether you like Shounen or not, PLEASE HELP ME. HELP ME HELP THIS SHOW, HELP ME get Radiant to blow the fuck up, so that even if months down the line it doesn't live up to it's potential (even though I FIRMLY believe it will) it did so IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE WORLD, so that we all know it got the fair chance it deserved. Thank you, and I'd be forever grateful. ❤
EDIT on 11-6-18: Someone asked me for a review of the 5 episodes that are out in the comments to try to convince them to watch it, but when I tried to post it after writing it for hours it kept saying "Something went wrong". :l So I copied it, and am going to put it here even though I feel this post is already buried. I might make another post for it separately in the future. Keep in mind, this was my first time ever officially reviewing anything, and also my first time writing in a way where I separate what I say instead of just making a text wall since so many people got mad and shitted on me/bullied me for doing so in the original post. So please bear with me on both fronts... >_< And let me preface it by saying Shounen is my favorite genre even though my favorite anime itself (Re: Zero) is not Shounen, so I tried to put my Shounen love aside as much as possible. Anyways, here it is.
Alright so let's start this review at the very beggining... This show actually hooked me, with just the opening. No joke. Like that first episode could have JUST been the opening, and I would have been like "WHERE'S THAT EPISODE 2" xD. The characters they showed, the actual contents of the opening and how they flowed with the song, the HYPENESS of it, the SONG ITSELF (my favorite genre of music is already rock/metal though, keep that in mind) BEING FUCKING AMAZING, etc. Possibly the best opening ever and a PERFECT opening to get people hype and ready to watch the show, was already 100% on board.
So now let's move on to what I feel are all the positives after 5 episodes. :o This first one relates to me already being hooked after the opening, and that is the character designs, art style, and animation. I think the characters all look SO FUCKING cool in this show, from Seth (the MC) to allllllll the people they showed in the opening. And not just cool either, some of them look VERY unique I'd say, like Grimm who we see in the opening, Melie who is part of the main trio of Seth, her, and Doc so far, Hameline who we see in the opening, etc. Now granted, Grimm and Hameline look very edgy, so if you're one of those people that sees edgy as a negative you might not like their designs as much as I do, though that doesn't detract from their uniqueness at all. Because I LOVE edgy, it's my favorite kind of look actually. :o And while some may argue that Seth looks generic, I would argue that Seth looks shounen in the BEST of ways and not in a bad/ugly/generic kind of way, like the kid from Puzzle & Dragons X for example. Because his clothes are cool as fuck, his little horns are cool and give him that extra sense of uniqueness to his look, and his hair while it may look like nothing special at a glance, I believe tops off his design perfectly and also looks cool. :o To summarize, painfully shounen in a bad way = the kid from Puzzle & Dragons X, and painfully shounen in the best of ways = Seth from Radiant.
Moving on to the art style and animation, I think it is just PURE eye candy. Like it is so pleasing to the eye, it actually hurts. ._. It has very vibrant, saturated colors, sharp characters, etc. I would put it RIGHT next to My Hero in terms of how visually appealing it is, which is also highly regarded as eye candy due to it ALSO having very vibrant and saturated colors, sharp characters, etc. The animation itself goes hand in hand with that, Studio Lerche who just does not slack when it comes to animation (Danganronpa and Assassination Classroom for example) just NAILS it, and it feels like they're putting just as much effort into this show as Bones puts into My Hero.
Next I would say the world design. :o While we haven't seen TOO much of the world so far (really we've only seen the little hillside town of Pompo Hills where the story starts and the city of Artemis) what we HAVE seen so far just screams adventure and fantasy in the best of ways I feel. :o The architecture is really cool, and the world seems to have like a... like a Final Fantasy feel to it almost, you know like it's a fantasy world where there can still be things like little villages/towns but it also feels modernized in a way that a fantasy world would be modernized, and not like medieval fantasy with knights and horses and whatnot, like Elder Scrolls. The BEST example I can give of the world design at it's best so far, is when Seth, Melie, and Doc go to the city of Artemis in episode 5 and we see it from the inside, with a bunch of Sorcerers flying through the sky. I really thought it was a complete wow moment, it looked absolutely amazing. ._. So much so that I really wanted to go there just to hang out lmao. In fact, as Seth was wowing when he saw it for the first time, I was pretty much doing the same thing in my head. xD As an added bonus to how the world feels, the primary means of world travel for a Sorcerer is flight, be it on something small like a broom or something similar, or on a giant flying ship of sorts like the one Doc has which is the one they use. So the fact that that's the primary means of travel, flying through the cloudy blue sky, and the fact that confrontations happen up there because of it REALLY adds to the sense of wonder and adventure I think. :o I've always loved the idea of flying through the sky though. c:
Next I'd say is how the characters and side characters are being handled. :o For this I guess I have to give a basic premise of the show, which looking back I probably should have done earlier, but yeah. ._. The story of Radiant is a story of creatures that fall from the sky called Nemesis. No one knows where they come from, no one knows why they exist, but they do. And when they fall from the sky, usually in the form of a giant Nemesis egg, once they hatch (which doesn't take very long) they bring death and destruction to the world around them. Those that come into contact with them either instantly die, which is the majority, or they survive and are now marked with a Nemesis curse of sorts, which may or may not come with a physical alteration to their body, a harmful or beneficial side effect that differs from person to person, etc. The main thing it does though, is give that person the ability to use Fantasia (the magic-ish equivalent in the world of Radiant), turning them into a Sorcerer that now has the power to fight. And Sorcerers are the only ones that can fight off the Nemesis. But sadly, the normal people of the world discriminate against Sorcerers and think of them as monsters, even though they're the only ones who can keep the world safe. :/
Now, without spoilers, I think that the journey Seth goes on which starts at the end of episode 3 (a journey to destroy the fabled homeland of the Nemesis called Radiant, which may or may not exist because none have confirmed it's existence) has very good reasoning behind it. While lots of people want to call shounens generic, again I feel like they're just ready to call any kind of long journey generic, regardless of how much the world, characters, or reasons differ from anime to anime. Which is weird, because most other genres like Slice of Life or Seinen or anything really, don't seem to have this issue, even though in a lot of them there is a thing established early on that will unfold by the end similar to the rest of the shows in their genre, with different characters, reasons, worlds, and no one calls those generic. But when a Shounen differs in those same ways from other Shounens, people still rush to call it generic. ._. Anyways, I won't spoil the exact reasons for why Seth decides that enough is enough and starts his journey, but I will say that neither he nor his motherly figure Alma (who is also a Sorcerer and a strong one at that) are exempt from the discrimination against Sorcerers. And that's why, without spoilers, I feel like Seth's journey is one that should stand out (among people that think every Shounen journey is the same that is), he doesn't just want to be the strongest Sorcerer like some other anime characters just want to be the strongest for the sake of being the strongest or being number 1. He wants to be the strongest Sorcerer to go destroy Radiant as a result of the things he sees, the things he's experienced, and the world around him. In a way that, literally all of us would probably do the same thing in his shoes. :o You feel for his reasoning, because you would feel the same way if you were him, and you can see how it's kind of a metaphor for people rising up in the real world against things they believe are wrong, like real world discrimination and suffering, hate, and just all the other negative things in the world that make people scream for change, make people get up and BE the change themselves, you know? :o
Continuing about the characters, I think the show does a great job of making you care and feel for them. Specifically, in episode 3, where the majority of the episode is part of the backstory of Seth and Alma, how they met, how it all started, etc, while still leaving some things to reveal for later on. Culminating in the end of the episode where Seth leaves to start his journey and a very emotional, very touching, very sad goodbye takes place between him and Alma, who again has basically been his mother all these years. :/ And some of the backstory was already sad enough... I also like that Seth is introduced to different views of the world very early on, episode 2 in specific, by a certain someone which again I won't spoil. And it's not a very nice view, but it is a VERY logical, realistic one that makes a lot of good points. The side characters are already being handled very well just 5 episodes in as well. :o Like Dragunov for example, who is introduced in episode 4 and by episode 5 already feels like another entity with purpose and character that operates in addition to the main group of Seth, Melie, and Doc instead of a throwaway side character. Which is a good sign, since judging by the opening there are still MANY more characters to come. I also forgot to mention that Seth is just really likeable, along with the rest of the characters that have been introduced so far tbh. :o I think my final point on the characters is that, while I personally believe the show has been good since episode 1 and only gets better with each episode, it's definitely been at it's finest ever since the main group of Seth, Melie, and Doc was formed in episode 4. xD They are SO ENTERTAINING as a group, omg. And a dynamic they have which I personally haven't seen in pretty much any of the Shounens I've watched which I think is just GREAT, is that Doc isn't a Sorcerer. He's a researcher and he's like a middle aged/close to middle aged man, so he's basically like the fucking chaperone who can't fight to the young duo of Seth and Melie, and their interactions are just fucking hilarious and have killed me MULTIPLE times. Seth and Melie have already driven this guy fucking nuts in LITERALLY one episode, but he does kind of deserve it since he's kind of a dick atm albeit still a cool guy. xD Dragunov is also really cool, and has a cool name which I forgot to mention is another thing I really like about this show, the fucking names are really cool. ._. Grimm, Dragunov, Hameline, Melie, Liselotte, LOVE the names.
Alright so I'm PRETTY sure that wraps up all the positives... As for the negatives, hmm... The main thing I can think of is that the first episode might not be exciting enough BESIDES THE OPENING to grab people's attention, but I think that's subjective as a negative. Because it's a setup episode, and I'm very generous with animes needing a couple episodes to setup, especially Shounens since those usually always need to do so. So an episode or two of setup for a show I already think I'm gonna like a lot doesn't bother me at all, but I've seen a lot of people on the internet drop shows after one episode literally because the first episode wasn't exciting enough, like not even giving it the chance to setup which is obviously what it was trying to do. :o Basically saying that even if something is trying to setup, if it's not exciting it's bad. It's like the people that call the episodes of MHA where it's mostly world building and dialogue bad episodes just because they aren't exciting, when they are literally adding to the plot and moving it forward. ._. And I think that's pretty dumb. Just the first episode though, things already start happening in the second one. Including a nice, healthy dose of that good ol' SHOUNEN HYPE that makes Shounen what it is near the middle/end. Aside from that, nothing else about this show so far has really bothered me to the point where I'd bring it up as a negative. :o
And I think that concludes my first ever review of anything. xD If I were to score it based on the first 5 episodes, I'd say the Shounen lover side of me would give it a 9, and the side of me trying to keep my Shounen love in check and remain as unbiased as possible would give it an 8. Overall LOVE the show, easily my number one show of the season and I'm really looking forward to what's to come. And I really want it to blow the fuck up enough to stand right by My Hero. Though that's pretty obvious since I made that pretty clear in my original post. :o Hopefully this wasn't too bad of a first review or a first time trying to separate what I say instead of text walling, I tried my very best. :D ON A FINAL NOTE, THE SECOND I saw Hameline in the opening, I thought "THAT'S GONNA BE NEW BEST ANIME GIRL", but right now without her around MELIE is new best anime girl. ❤❤❤❤ LISELOTTE is a best anime girl contender also, Radiant came out here fucking SWINGING to take over the new best anime girl spot with THREE SEPARATE PEOPLE, FUCKING hell man. xD
EDIT right after the previous edit: I hit multiple spaces writing that, but for whatever reason it's not as spaced out in the actual post than it is in the writing box. :l I dunno why. But that was my first time trying to do that, so if someone else knows please let me know. Tyvm. :o
Submitted November 05, 2018 at 02:37AM by I_Love_Anime_Women https://ift.tt/2QhZPyY
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