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Premise: This middle aged, lonely taxi driver doing his job. One thing leads to another, and he gets involved with this infamous criminal. There isn't really much of a point saying more, as the more you see, the more things will fall into place.
This is a classic mystery crime story. There are no loose ends, everything has a place and everything is connected. If you want something more avant garde or unusual, try something else. It is a well made and directed story though.

No Spoilers.

What gets me most about his is how it grabs my attention with almost every picture. There's a lot to ... unpack under the childish looking exterior. The animation is perfect for what this is, the CGI isn't intrusive and the art in general is rich with detail. I particularly like the opening and ending in this regard.
The voice acting is something I yearn for every time I sit down and nervously start an anime that supposedtly has suspense as it's main selling point, only to find out they talk with huge gaps, like they individually read off the speech bubbles in the manga. This natural flow of speech is rare in anime that wants to wow an audience, and I take every opportunity to savor it.

Every character looks like some kind of animal. Due to the exaggerated features, their passive emotions shine through brighter, which goes well in a setting where most interactions are generally passive or passive-agressive. When it's time to be active, the higher level of active expressiveness also becomes apparent.

There's a lot of viewer-interaction, which is par for the course in a good crime story. Other than the regular things, like following visual detail, there's association between the characters' and the viewers' perspectives. I can't describe it better without getting into spoiler territory, but when you saw the thing, try to compare how you constructed the world in your head and how the characters did it. It's great.

[BEFORE FINDING OUT ABOUT THE AUDIO DRAMA:] The last bit of the ending was the only thing that didn't really resonate with me. It feels almost tacked on, even though there were hints from the start. The way it's executed feels almost like an editorial request put in out of spite or something like that. Again, I know this was supposed to happen one way or another, but it just kinda fell on it's face for me. Especially considering the half-and-half resolved/open execution for a show so neat and tidy up until that very point. I don't know, I feel there could've been a better way.
The whole last episode feels rushed, or rather squished, as well. The steam the series built up goes flat in record time to prepare for closure, but instead (or rather, after) there's that last bit. It could use one extra OVA episode at some point to round out some things.

EDIT: I found out about and listened to the audio drama that came each week with the episodes. This audio drama is the key to making the series feel whole after the last episode. The two should be experienced together and it really isn't just a recommendation. It also throws in another level of viewer interaction that I certainly haven't expected. It's unique, that's for sure. I still feel somewhat off about the last bit of the ending, but at the very least the audio drama helps making it not look like almost an afterthought.

Story: 7 Art: 9 Sound: 9 Character: 8 Enjoyment: 10 Overall: 9

I'm gonna be boring but here goes: if Berserk didn't exist, this would be my favourite manga by a longshot. Probably still is, but I have a hard time admitting to myself that I like this more than Berserk.

EDITED ON May 11th, 2022.

Ok, so I finished it, I mulled it over, reread parts and had a bit of a think. I came to the conclusion that I should redo my prelim "review", mostly from the ground up. Here goes nothing.

<text> indicates text i directly took from my preliminary review.

The Earth is fucked.

... - NO SPOILERS -

Premise: A flying saucer is floating above the Tokyo metro area. It's turned from a potential source of imminent danger to a part of the cityscape over the course of 3 years and is an ever present source of that itch in the back of the head. You know the one, we all know the one. A couple of soon-to-be college kids are the lenses through we get to see into this world, sometimes eerily similar to our own, especially considering current year and all that. Perspectives - thankfully - don't matter.

It's a bit hard to try to write about this work without spoiling everything to be honest. If you decide to read it, it should be as pure of an experience as possible, just like Punpun, in my opinion. I'm going to do my best, but it will be vague.

This manga is a "we live in a society" meme. It's somewhat structured as a slice-of-life thing at first, but you're always under suspense, like in a thriller. It's not comforting, and the climaxes are few and far between. But man, do they fucking hit like a truck. What it does to your instincts as someone who learned how to digest slice-of-life and/or thriller is nothing short of perverse.

We follow mainly two girls, best friends: Kadode and Ouran. Kadode is your typical snarky smartass and Ouran is one of those "odd" ones, the loud kind. We start the story shortly before their last high school winter break, three years after the appearence of the saucer. From the end of high school, through the first year of college and beyond, we follow them, their friends, family and some other oddballs live their lives <day-by-day, terrified of the absolute uncertainty of the future>, trying to find their <happiness in a world that will wring you out and toss your dried carcass aside like an empty can of red bull>. You know: Tuesday.

The characters are very well done. Every one of them has some kind of a personal agenda and I'm going to stop right there. Characterisation is off the charts good and it is absolutely essential for the work.

And that's pretty much all I can say about the story without spilling into spoiler territory. Let's just say that, if you like thriller, slice-of-life, Asano, themes of conflict, friendship, humanity, hope or any combination of the above, you'll love this. Oh and if you're a fan of Doraemon. If you in any shape or form grew up with or loved Doraemon, do not skip this.

The art is banger. It's Asano. If you don't know him, he's known for making panels that feel like they flow together like a movie or that his characters look like they really are alive in that world. He can make a stationary panel feel mobile and like, almost audible; it is beyond fucked. It sounds like I'm gloating and fanboying over him but it's true. If you've read Punpun, you already know what I mean. He is Pacing God.

All in all, I have enjoyed and am enjoing and will probably still enjoy this work far into the future. I can open a chapter and be sucked right back in, read and reread arcs or plot points and it doesn't get boring. You know, like Berserk, or Punpun to have a more grounded example. If you like the themes and genres I listed above, you'll likely feel similar. If you don't, I'd still recommend reading it, because it stands on it's own and is more than a sum of its parts. However, this work is definitely one of those that you should read only if you're emotionally mature enough. In general, I'd recommend 18+ or thereabouts (as this is around the age of the main bunch of characters). It gets better the "older" you get.

Score: Full.

Story: 10 Art: 10 Character: 10 Enjoyment: 10 Overall: 10

I can't wait for the anime, I hope h+ does it justice.



<You're unlucky and you're bound to do bad decisions. It's your fault, yet you're but a child. If you're not sharp, there will be people taking your place. You want to live, but they just want to eat. Your wisdom is unneeded, your numbers are unneeded, your life is nothing but meat in the grinder. There is no god, and your soul dies with you, unable to haunt the benefactors of your suffering. And yet you're the one told: you reap what you sow.>

If you had one wish, what would it be?

Very slow to start, but worthwile. I'm surprised at myself for liking this as much as I do.

Premise: Komi Shouko very pretty and popular; can't talk because crippling anxiety, self-loathing and social underdevelopment, and so unaware. Tadano Hitohito, ex chuuni, wannabe normal guy, talks to Shouko once, they become friends. They slowly start talking to people as Shouko starts on the path of learning about friendship. That really is all there is to it at first.

The meat of the story however, starts when the gang starts their second year and the class is restructured. Oda used this opportunity to build a second gang, ... way tighter and stronger as characters than the first. This new gang has some of the old blood and the popular characters do return occasionally of couse. Other than the two protags (and the slime, that is osana najimi) however, the 3 characters kept really do shine in the new setup alongside the new 3 that end up in the main gang. One of the new girls eventually becomes a highly important and pivotal character for several reasons.

It's kind of unbelievable, honestly. I'm writing this review after a pretty big breaking point in the story and I'm not sure how to express myself. I never expected a mainly gag focused highschool romcom manga to consistently deliver honest emotions and good characters and character development. I never thought that the characters will be allowed to have their time of day when I offhandedly started reading this series. I'm honestly in awe.

All that said, it's still a gag manga starring high school kids, with a teenage audience in mind, so these all pose challenges and hurdles that could be overcome, but are sometimes not worth to. Like the art. When it's good it's VERY good, but mostly it's just good enough for the gag at hand. The just-faces-without-backgrounds thing happens a lot, for example. While the main cast is solid, there are a lot of characters that have only one trait or sometimes two. I know I said "good characters", however that only applies to the main couple of guys (except the eternal black hole, that is osana najimi) and of those, only the main 3 are really exceptional. The story itself is also basic slice-of-life, except there are boys (as in more than one) around as part of the main cast, which is rare when it's not the focus.

It really is these characters' dynamics and the mostly great and creative art (with the mentioned exceptions), that bring a story like this together. I'm really excited for what their third year will bring. Oda really nailed it with this one.

If you're looking for slice-of-life anything, youth romcoms, highschool setting, or just want a lighthearted read, then I highly recommend this one.

story: 6 art: 7 character: 7 enjoyment: 9 Overall: 7

it's on 50/? chapters bc i couldn't be bothered to check at what chapter i decided that it was enough. i read enough to know it's not worth it. it was when the headscarf girl is at the rented gf's familiy home and pretends she's a mental patient or something. idc.

Ok, so this is straight garbage. Save yourself the time and don't read it.

Premise: this guy is 20, just gone through a breakup with a girl, he never got laid during. Takes a rent-a-girlfriend out, chews her out for being fake, even though he literally paid for it, enabling the practice in the ... first place. Long story short, they are at a hospital, and end up faking a relationship to the girl's family. Guy goes home, finds out she lives next door and jerks off to the thought.

Aight, sure. This guy is a pathetic loser, and it's about how he gets better, right? He doesn't get better, not even a little bit. Ok, so it's a straight up gag manga? No, it's a harem rom-com. It's just that the guy is stupid and the girls are either ignoring reality, naive, or just straight up dumb to kick him out of their life. Even the ex is all about some kind of inane revenge instead of living her own life.

My breaking point came when the ribbonhead girl went to his apartment and she really, REALLY gone hard on him, and he STILL didn't score because of some dumb shit. I'm not even sure why i read more of it after. I guess i tried to train my patience.

Remember, the story is built as a rom-com, and supposedly not as the tragic tale of the eternal loser or the humorous antics of a dumbass who never learns. You expect the characters to grow, you expect the situations to blossom and not cut in half, you expect to be able to stand behind something, anything the characters do or stand for. There is none of that.

Watching them lie their way out of """"awkward"""" situations in the dumbest way possible is tiring; whenever there could be development, it's cut off by a gag or situational humor straight out of the 90's. I don't like to overuse the word, but this manga is the definition of cringe. Oh yeah, speaking of, this guy spends his money every month on the renting service so that he can go on dates with neighbor girl. Yeah...

I understand that people like this exist, I know people with this mentality in real life. They are never given the time of day by a woman, and especially this many times by this many girls. I guess it's kinda poetic, in a sense, that this manga is a bit like a rent-a-girlfriend service. You pay for it, give it your time and either realise you're an idiot, or keep dreaming about things that will never happen. Be the better person and just ignore the service altogether.

story: 1 art: 6 character: 1 enjoyment: 1 overall: 2

Fuck, man.



I..., yeah.


I am writing this segment in order to fill the space required of me to post this """"review"""". I was unreasonably well entertained by this show, so much so that i ended up wanting to read the manga. Even after spoiling the whole story for myself on the way, because i couldn't take it anymore.

It's Cockroach Callisthenics, Attack on Titan, Mars of Destruction, the Power Rangers and my 7th grade OCs all in one. What more would a growing boy need?
...
I could say, that Terra Formars has changed my life: even now, I'm listening to Amazing Break as I write this garbage.

The basic premise of Terra Formars is, that it's a collection of flashbacks of the many characters in it's story. This is sometimes interspliced with cockroachmen killing or being killed in surprisingly creative and horrifyingly satisfying ways. This is carried by the unironically great animation, music and sound design. At first, I laughed, but every time one of the fuckers shows up, I just want to cover my apartment in insect repellent more and more.

The offerings of the show are many: gore, suspense, revenge, hearwarming stuff, the sads, biology, history, really stupid anachronisms, philosophy, political intrigue, family, love, hate, netorare, cage fighting, boxing, baseball, bug eating, drugs, bugs on drugs, infiltration, religion, technology, the russians, anthopology or... katsaridology?

In short: it has everything and nothing. You could say Terra Formars is the meaning of life decrypted and summarised while simultaneously being the aimless hurry and pointless ponder that defines the human condition.

Overall it is probably the best japanese animated television series i've seen since the unfortunate end of plastic neesan. Highly recommended.

Story: 2 Art: 7 Sound: 8 Character: 2 Enjoyment: 10 Overall: 1

I logged into mal in ~6 months to end up writing this shit. Imagine that.

This show was enjoyable, but weird. Not weird in the sense of story, characters, premise, but weird because of it's production. There's definitely a lot to talk about.

Great Teacher Onizuka is one of the highest rated shows here on MAL, and has been for, well, as long as I've been on the site if I remember correctly. So naturally I, and some of my closer friends were interested in GTO for quite a while now, but that interest remained only that, an interest. It wasn't localised where we live and didn't become popular even when the internet became more widely used. And thus we didn't ... actually bother watching it, only sometimes talk about it.

Until now.

For some reason I was compelled to watch this show out of the blue since I was getting nowhere with the original Gundam (which I was supposed to be finished with by the end of 2016) and I was craving a late '90s show.

STORY: Some minor spoilers ahead in this section.

The story follows the ex-gang menber, delinquent, virgin, highschool dropout, fresh college graduate Eikichi Onizuka, 22 years old. He wants to become a teacher to look up high-school girls skirts. Once he actually gets hired, he gets hired by pure luck, by a eccentric principal of a private Junior High School. So no skirt hunting for him. The class he gets is a class of teacher-hating kids, who actively try to drive away any homeroom teacher that they end up getting. The story is basically about how he makes his students warm up to him and how -in his own words- he's "trying to make school fun".

The series is divided into character arcs, where we get to know Onizuka, a few teachers and not much more students. The students and one teacher constantly try to get Onizuka fired, the principal and another teacher are always on his side, the students eventually warm up to him after some of his "tough love" and that's basically it. It sounds very basic and bare, and it is to a degree, but the focus is largely on the characters in this show.

The last arc and the conclusion is an anime-only ending(since the manga wasn't finished in 2000 yet) and thus is a bit half-cooked. It's decent, but the ending of the last episode is just silly and is very clear that it was only done this way for convenience.

CHARACTERS:

There is a couple, and most of them are pretty tightly done. Not complicated or convoluted but simple, easy to understand (kind of), relatable, but still relevant tropes.

Onizuka is a mix of a Shounen and a Seinen protagonist. He's older than the average Shounen hero, but acts the part. He is someone that just started a full-time, honest job, but still has the brain of a teenager. He's openly perverted, very physical and a man of whim. He isn't a good role model, even though his job is teaching young teens. He, though acts (and is) more like a father figure to his students. He wants them to have fun in school, while they're still in middle school and vows never to talk down to or insult them, lest they end up like him when he was a teen. He grows with them. He sometimes dances on the edge of becoming a "Gary Stu" though, which sometimes bothered me, but his antics always managed to drag him back. Oh yeah, about that. He's stupid. His stupidity and naiveté often brings him and his students trouble, and sometimes halts the flow of 'plot progression', which he has to then remedy (or has to rely on somebody else to remedy it for him). This is a point in many of the arcs this series is made of.
In the book "Manga: The Complete Guide", the author Jason Thompson says this about him: "The rule of the manga is that every time Onizuka does something incredibly cool and heartwarming, he must immediately do something unbelievably retarded". Which is entirely true in the anime as well.

If Onizuka is the bread of the story, then the other main cast is the butter. This being almost an entirely character-focused show, it's really, really hard not to talk about specific characters in-depth.

The writing is not complicated, as I said before. The kids usually have to deal with a major issue in their life, and Onizuka, being the "Teacher of Life", helps them (directly or indirectly) and in turn they help him. Most of them have development, some of them don't. Some of them go through major life-changes, some of them make it a point to change only on the surface or not at all. Most of them feel incomplete too, since the manga wasn't out completely. Many ends were left loose. Some characters get a lot of screentime, while others get barely any. Even still, it's the characters that keep the series moving.

I have more to say on this matter, but it will be under the "Production" section.

ART:

It's a mixed bag. It has a style reminiscent of the '90s, but the low framerate and "choppy" movement reminds me of the 2000s. The backgrounds are nice, and the facial expressions are detailed, but it still feels cheap. It's that kind of "eh, it's fine" kind of cheap. Can't say I'm the biggest fan.

MUSIC:

The openings are great. They emphasise what Onizuka is all about, especially the first one: "Driver's High". The endigs are good too. They're more somber and slow, but fit the show well. The last one is, I think too slow for the kind of things, that part of the series focuses on. They fit the last two episodes, but not before I think. I've largely forgotten the rest of the OST, except one track.

PRODUCTION:

This is the origin of most of the problems. The GTO manga won the 1998 Kodansha Manga Award in the "Shounen" category. What this meant is that companies scurried to license the comics to make money fast. In 1998, a live-action series was already produced and the anime wasn't far away. Who got the licence? Studio Pierrot. The integrity of the source they adapt is usually not of primary importance to them. Their goal is to cash in on someting big as soon as it gets some recognition and churning out an adaptation as fast and as cheaply as possible. They're very transparent in this department. They can make good stuff, but most of their work feels rushed and/or overconfident. They don't have to fear any significant loss either, because the things they adapt are usually "hip" and "cool with the kids" kind of manga series or long-running shounen. Naruto, Bleach, Tokyo Ghoul, Beelzebub. I'm sure you've heard of them. They use a lot of fillers if the manga is not caught up or is on hiatus. Usually they have no problem just inserting unrelated happenings between two related episodes. Sometimes they just finish the story with their own endings, sometimes contrasting with the story up to that point. They also don't care for the quality of filler-arcs or in-manga filler chapters. They just animate them with half the effort and, to get back to the review, in GTO for example: One episode is about this P.E. Teacher dude, and he's very detailed and all that. Next episode he has a one-liner and he suddenly looks like he had his skin run over with skin-color paint and his features polished to a few ovals. This is exceptionally jarring considering this is a 43 episode show and charaters like this regularly return.

GTO has this weird duality as result of this. I call it "fake and real episodes". While this isn't a very accurate description, I feel it captures the feeling well. The episodes that detail the main story are much more cleanly animated and is clear that more effort went into them than the other half. The not-important, mainly comedic episodes look like they were animated as time-efficiently as possible. Only the character which is talking in the scene is even remotely detailed and some of the backdrop people look like carton billboard-men.

My favorite was how they handled product placement. In one of the first episodes, Onizuka is playing Ape Escape on the PS1. No, really. Actual footage of the game is in the show. The PS1 looks like a PS1 and the SONY logo is always visible. A couple of episodes later, one of the characters takes out some electronic device (I don't remember, but I think it was the same game console), and the logo reads SOMY this time. Was the advertisement only allowed for a week or what happened here? Best thing is that the real Sony stuff comes back later too.

The greater half of the problem here is the way the adaptation.. is. It was adapted because of the Kodansha Award and not because it was an actual good manga. The ratings would've been lower if they waited until it was completed. It definitely has a potential to become an actual great anime (FMA: Brotherhood, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, just to name a few similar cases), but for now this half-done adaptation is all we have.

And the weird part is:

ENJOYMENT:
It's not bad. The source material keeps it afloat no problem, despite it being adpted by cynical old businessmen. I definitely want to read the manga now, so I guess that goal was reached. The characters are charming, and well done and the story isn't as scatterbrained as it could have been.

I definitely think this should be readapted, because the lessons Onizuka teaches are valuable to the target audience of teens and young adults alike.

Well uh.. That is a thing. That was sold in stores. For real cash.

To clear a few things up, I actually found this MV (I guess) pretty relaxing and entertaining, so with that, why a 3? The biggest reason is because it was sold for real life money. You could purchase a 30 minute Manga Music Video in 1988 on VHS. At the time, sure It might have had some material value, but since free and common video sharing websites exist now (and since the Internet became a thing), it's value became basically zero for the normal consumer. Only collectors would find any value ... in the physical release.

With that said, it is pretty well made for 1988/87(sources differ) and for being a MMV but even so it feels cheap in the grand scheme. It has fluid animated parts as well, so I don't know why they wouldn't just animate one short chapter in 30 minutes. This feels more like a university club fan project or a modern day Niconico MMV than -you know- a retail release OVA meant to advertise and sell the manga itself. I would definitely feel cheated out of my money if I had bought this in the late 80s/early 90s with the 'Toei Animaton' logo on it, expecting a nice, actual OVA made by the company behind Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon.

So overall it definitely is nice to see/listen to if you're a fan of relaxing music, but don't actually buy it unless you're a crazy VHS collector or something like that.

One could argue that the 'Very Bad/Poor' in 3 references a 'Very Bad/Poor' business practice.
At least it got me mildly interested in the manga so that's good I guess?

I've watched this... delight.. with my dear friend Ennetsu as part of our hobby (don't ask). Which is watching art films that - in our opinion - don't have a place on MAL.

The score I give is usually meaningless, since these films/animation projects are very different in structure to the more conventional anime on the site. Their intent, distribution, origin is also not comparable. In themselves, these films have nothing going for them, only that they're art films for the sake of being an art film. This is why a more objective score is nigh impossible to give.

Nothing's stopping me to give impressions though, ... so here they are.
We watched this movie as a part of the "L'Animation Indépendante Japonaise" art film compilation which contains 15 films from various directors. This one was the last movie of the compilation. The contrast this movie gave to the rest of the other (usually incomprehensible and some disturbing) pieces is surprising. It is considerably more lighthearted and considering our mental state which we were in after watching most of the films in one sitting, we had the best time with this one.

Make no mistake, this is still a "make of it what you will" sort of art film and as such is more suited for those who like that sort of thing, but after about 12 of 14 shorts that try to actively make you whince and recoil, this one was certainly fun. The animation and sound are comparable to any other half decent art film. They work, but nothing special. If you ever have more than two beers in you or you're into art films, then watch this, preferably with a friend. It'll probably put a smile on your face. Probably.

Well... I'm glad that's over.
This is my first "review" on MAL, and I will be blunt here. Take some of my thoughts with grain of salt, because the review is less organized, than I'd like it to be.

Before you leave, I won't bash Savers, because it "ruined my childhood anime". I went in hopeful for a change of setting.

There will be some spoilers.

Digimon Savers is the first full length Digimon series since Digimon Frontier in 2002-3. I've seen quite a few people praise it for "saving Digimon" and being more "mature", than it's predecessors. For starters, it has more aggression and main cast aging from ... mid teens to early twenties (with some variables), so it must be more mature. Right? Well.. no. It's not. I dare say it's even more childish than Frontier was.

But would that be a bad thing on it's own? No. Definitely not. Seeing the first few episodes, I actually thought it would become a silly shounen adventure by the end.
It didn't.
It was actually aimed at a more "mature" audience, unlike the series prior and for that reason, after the initial few episodes went down, it turned into a "serious business" show.
It didn't hit the mark.

(I won't give points. Since everyone rates differently, I find them generally less useful than they're shown to be. What a 5 means to one person can be very different to what it means for another. I will give impressions instead.)

Story:
The story is about a cardboard cutout shounen manga protagonist saving the world with his fists. (Take this at face value.) Everything else is just a semi-bland mesh of spices.
I don't dislike simple stories. Simple stories can be great. However even the simplest of stories need something entertaining going for them. This story you can experience by reading almost any shounen manga or by watching almost any shounen anime in a much more entertaining manner. The only thing different here are the Digimon as a choice for Monster of the Week monsters. You can predict most of it by looking at the first 15 episodes. Or watching every 4th one. Doesn't make a lick of difference. Considering all this, the story could have been charming if it was somewhat played for laughs. It wasn't. The plot takes itself extremely seriously and given it's subject matter it's completely laughable. Except I cried.

What if it had a nice set of characters?
About that...

Characters:
The main cast is a mess, but there are some unpolished gems. Too bad next to nothing is expanded on any of the characters except the main four and 1 or 2 others.

The main four are:

Masaru doesn't grow even a little bit as a character. He is depicted and is supposed to be accepted as an idealistic view on a "MAN". This is demonstrated though him beating up others (including Digimon) and through this they start to respect him, because he "talked to them with his fists" and "that's the way a man does things". He is like this until literally the last frame and is presented extremely seriously. I hoped that he would grow out of this personality or do something productive with it, like all other digimon protags, but he didn't. The other saving option would have been that the story and he himself turns purposely corny. This doesn't happen either. He is a worthless character in every sense of the word.

Tohma has a little bit more growth as a person than Masaru, but it's still filled with overdone clichés and exaggerated, meaningless drama. He is mostly only there to be the rival trope for the self-insert protag.

Yoshino is there, because "cool older sister" trope. That's it. She has no character arc. No, that one episode doesn't count.

Ikuto has by far the most well made character arc, but sadly, as many a reviewer said before me: No matter how much you polish a turd, it won't become a piece of gold. He is a little shithead through the first ~20 episodes he's featured in. After that he becomes completely docile until the end. He has two agendas. The first one: HUMAN=EVIL, next one HUMAN+DIGIMON=GOOD. He's supposed to represent the "humans' potential to live alongside digimon peacefully" and "HUMAN EVOLUTION" ((within the context of the Digimon shows: growing up)). (In contrast, in all other Digimon series before this, all characters had this happen to them very naturally and mostly without being constantly hammered through the "retarded viewer's" skull.)

Some of the others:

The partner digimon are cute but that's it. They have basic personalities. Agumon is always hungry and is the same as Masaru. Gaomon is a butler. Lalamon is... well.. sometimes a straight man to Yoshino I guess? Falcomon is mostly a mirror to Ikuto. Kamemon had some potential, but he is mostly just there, saying and doing nothing. Sometimes he fights alongside Yushima. The two PawnChessmon are purely for support, same for their tamers. Kudamon and Satsuma combo is fun to listen to sometimes, but they're filling the bare minimum roles of "a father to his men"-type boss characters.

There is one supporting character who's constantly mentioned through the entire series. He's Masaru's dad. He is the same as Masaru and nothing is really done with him other than constant praise by everyone. He's basically a "means to an end" character. He's mainly used to justify happenings in the story.

The enemy characters were explained with:
"He's a cackling evil scientist, kill him." and "He's an emotionless algorithm, kill him."
The first one has a long and drawn-out buildup, basically shoving a shitton of "kick the dog" moments to show how he's evil because he's evil. The other antagonist on the other hand comes out of nowhere and blames the entire humanity for one man's actions and decides in his infinite wisdom to kill everyone. His followers obey him without any questions or showing any character until the last two episodes.

The characters I enjoyed seeing were few and far between, but here they are in no particular order: Mercurimon, Craniummon, Satsuma, Kudamon, Yushima.
I also love hearing that voice actor from the mouth of Dukemon (even though at first it was a bit jarring to hear Tamers Guilmon's voice back from Savers Dukemon).

Art:
Mediocre, but I won't fault Toei. Making Saturday morning stuff with limited time (and lack of direction and probably a lack of faith from the higher-ups) is definitely not easy. Especially in the mid 2000s, making a promo, monster of the week show for Digimon. At least the battles were spectacular and a lot better than the first two and the fourth series' battles and most CGI wasn't bad. (Except for the MachGaogamon evolution. Every time the frame-rate drops form 24 to 3, a little bit of my soul evaporates.)

Sound:
One of the better points. The openings are nice and energetic, the endings are calming (though not sure how fitting they are for this kind of presentation). The Evolution song is one that I really like. It's the perfect song to just shout loud. I love it. The other OST is not bad, but I can't hum any of it after watching the whole series. It's just there. Sometimes I remember it fitting the atmosphere, but most of the time I can't recall any of it. The voice acting cast is good enough, though Yoshino's voice actress sounds extremely uninterested half the time.

Enjoyment:
Poor. I enjoyed how they showed us the characters in the first couple of episodes and I remember thinking "Huh, this is vastly different from before, but so far I like it! I wonder how they'll make them likeable or what story will go around them!"
If you've read this far, you already know the answer to those questions.

Overall:
I did not enjoy Digimon Savers. It was a copy-paste of the first volume of any shounen manga story about school gang-fighting and how that's honorable. Add some Digimon and that's it. The characters don't change, which was one of the cornerstones of the previous four Digimon series. The story is by the numbers and even like this, it's taken bloody seriously. Last but not least, the show treats the viewers like morons.

I can't find a single reason to watch this anime over basically any other shounen of similar length or indeed any Digimon series that aired before it. If you honestly enjoyed it or can take the piss out of it, I'm happy for you. Sadly I couldn't.