Customer Reviews

This Ugly Yet Beautiful World: Complete Collection

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

During the climax of "This Ugly Yet Beautiful World", a scientist bearing witness to a "typical" anime apocalypse scenario muses that she could be the first on record to put forth a complete account of the cause of Earth's mass extinctions. Then she looks at the madness around her and despairs, "But how do I explain THIS!?", That's kind of how I feel trying to write a review that does this show justice without handing out major spoilers like candy. I'll tread lightly, but since the twist becomes fairly obvious early on, I've got some room to work. While the first 8 episodes of this series languish in every cliche-yet-comfortable anime standard possible, the last disc really starts to elevate the show to a higher level, but then it kind of stalls just as it finally begins to reach the level of it's predecessors, "Neon Genesis Evangelion" and "FLCL". Too bad; the ambition was there, but in the end this series, while certainly worth a look, just doesn't live up to it's pedigree.

The story begins as your standard shy boy meets perfect girl from outer space yarn. There's love at first sight, a giant monster attack, protagonist Takeru tranforming into a Devilman-esque protector and all that jazz; but we also get the first clue that maybe cute alien girl -dubbed Hikari (meaning "light")- isn't what she appears to be. Then here come Takeru's childhood friend/unrequited love, jealous sex-crazed hangers-on, coy awkward romance, rampant fan service and now we're back in cliche town. When Hikari's "sister" -named Akari (also meaning "light")- is discovered by one of Takeru's friends living in the woods, the story deepens some, but also deviates from the characters we were just getting to know for multiple episodes. Turns out that most of the characters are simply there to be comic relief stereotypes, expositionists, or both so there's not much to explore. Take Jennifer, an American living in the same apartments as Takeru. As a scientist, she is often pondering aloud the plot as it unfolds before us, even if you are unaware of it at the time, and when she isn't, she is getting drunk, making lewd comments, and getting naked. Fun, but boorish.

Like I said, the first 2/3 of this show are pretty pedestrian, but as evidence of Hikari's true nature begins to mount, the tension really starts to build. You will see it coming from a mile away, but I still got goose pimples when the cloyingly sweet anime girl I'd known awakened to her true nature and coldly announced her purpose to shocked friends and family. This is an ugly world, one where even the best people you know only help others for selfish reasons and are often incapable of loving themselves or, therefore, anyone else. To obtain a new start, one must discard the old, useless past both physically, psychologically, and evolutionarily. Hikari is the harbinger of that new beginning. Brilliant ideas and a whole new awareness sweep through the series and it's main characters at this point as the world is engulfed in a somehow menacing swarm of crimson butterflies. This is more than a little bit reminiscent of some of Eva's finest moments, but the brilliance doesn't last long. The final episodes, while epic, slow down to a crawl and deliver a bittersweet, reflectuive, but somewhat anticlimactic ending that just makes you wish the show had been paced a little better and the ideas presented within explored more completely and expanded upon.

"This Ugly Yet Beautiful World" may not quite live up to it's ambitious title or it's anime forerunners, but it is still a decent little series. It even has the good sense to poke fun at itself from time to time (referencing "Please Teacher" certainly earned some points with me). For anime newbies, the show is ideal since it's biggest flaw is it's reliance on tried-and-true anime standards that every otaku has seen hundreds of times over. The characters -one dimensional as they are- are likeable and the climax is quite an impressive spectacle. As it's title implies there is both good and bad within this series but, like life itself, it is worth the trip if only to see what is around the next bend. But I wonder if this and other shows' increasing reliance on tried-and-true conventions may signal that the art form has reached it's peak and is about to crash itself. Is "This Ugly Yet Beautiful World" to anime what Hikari-chan is to Earth's lifeforms, a sign that it is time for a change? Something to think about.

My final verdict: three and a half stars rounded down for failed expectations.

I generally agree that this "class of anime" is pretty cliche'. I do feel however, that this was done very well. It is comparable to Chobits or Elven Lied at its core. (And I loved both, so did my girl.)

Innocent boy finds uber-hot babe who turns out to be MUCH more than meets the eye... cliche' but again done well...

I believe that these belong on your shelf if you enjoy the following:

1) Innocents coming into sexuality (with a little bit of fan service, but not gratuitous).

2) Boy meets girl, boy is a weak, boy learns to be strong for girl and himself.

3) Solid and distinct supporting characters. Each with their own character/disfunction.

4) If you enjoy feeling like "your saying goodbye to friends" when the last episode is concluding. (I think Azu Manga Daio hit this on the head.)

Over all I believe this was done really well and could hardly be nocked for being the "boy meets girl" story that it is.

Very good and completely worth throwing the cash down for.

I won't go into the plot line in depth. The story is an interesting idea that creates an anthropomorphic personification of the mass extinction effect. I guess you'd have to call it action-romance to give it a genre. The series is done pretty well, but never really stands out as exceptional in any area. Nothing is "bad" either though. I'd have to call it an average series. Perhaps the artwork is a bit better than average. This is a series that didn't live up to it's potential, but managed to be fairly entertaining anyway. I'd recommend it if you're really into anime, but not if you're new to it.

I watched this on Netflix streaming because it seemed like it was going to be somewhat interesting.

The Good

I liked the friend of the main guy and his development with the red haired girl he found in the woods, I enjoyed how slow and steady the writers went with him, the red haired girl, and his little sister. I honestly wished that the entire anime was about those three.

The Bad

Cliche and borrowed way too much from other animes like Elfen Lied yet they decided to use all the boring parts instead. This show is honestly what Elfen Lied would have become if it was written by lazy incompetent writers who just wanted an excuse to draw boobs. The story is pretty much about a high school boy who has no parents yet live in a large boarding type house with no adult supervision who finds a naked girl floating out of a tree thing and decides he's going to protect her forever, then some tentacle beast comes out of nowhere and the boy transforms into sonic the Hedgehog and fights it off, then he takes the girl home and tells all his friends/boarding people about how he met her and they all instantly believe him. They even sew up a cosplay dress outfit for the girl to wear (because for some reason no one could find this girl a regular shirt and a pair of pants). And of course just like Elfen Lied the female cousin of the main guy is in love with him and harbors jealousy of the main alien girl but it like the plot it goes no where.

Anyway, although the main girl is from another planet or whatever she speaks perfect Japanese, has Japanese manners and even cooks like a professional Japanese chef. Of course she shows her boobs and butt while she does it. *Sigh* in other words shes cute, dumb, sweet, has a nice body, can cook like a professional chef, and clings to the main guy.

The entire anime (all but the stand alone scenes between the friend, the red haired alien girl and his sister)focuses on eechi fan service (Can you say random breast shots in every episode?), a drunk tactless American "scientist" Who gets drunk naked, and just decides to run off at the mouth giving out "Hypothesis" aka Exposition about the girls and the story because heaven forbid if they show us by actually developing the story when they can just just randomly have characters sit around naked and literally explain everything to us. They try to pull more from Elfen Lied by giving the main girl some sort of split personality that seems evil. Yet unlike Elfen Lied they use it as a cop out to keep the girl good. Like I said it's Elfen Lied written by lazy horny writers.

Honestly, I didn't care for the main guy and the main alien girl, the scientist, or their friends (minus the three I mentioned before. After the headache of watching them interact nearly every episode you would wish the girls would just decide to cleanse the whole world and be done with it.

I started watching this as one of the first anime I watched by choice rather than being coerced into it by my wife. I had heard the name somewhere before, and as I watched the series I think I recall it being mentioned as having similarities to Final Fantasy 13.

In truth, the story is a bit misleading. As others have mentioned, it started out as your typical "strange beautiful girl(Hakari) shows up, monsters attack her, guy(Takeru) becomes super powered and rescues her, defeating the monster in the process". However, the series then quickly changes into a strange kind of love story until the last couple of episodes. For two episodes it ignores the title characters to bring in another mysterious girl (Akiri) before tossing her into the background for almost half the series. In reality, her entire presence seemed unnecessary for the story, which could have existed just as easily without the "split in two" subplot.

The story continues with an awkward love triangle between Takeru, Hakari, and Takeru's cousin who is apparently in love with him. Furthermore, Takeru seems to be dealing with some serious personality problems as he continually pushes off the interests of Hakari. You then have the second mysterious girl Akari and her love interest, Ryou, who seem to parallel Taleru and Hakari's romance, yet seem to do it better. The side characters consists of a slutty american scientist who remains drunk for almost the entire show, two horny boys who only think and talk about getting a girl, two conceded girls who can only think and talk about fashion and hunky boys, a set of bewildering parents, and a very bossy sister.

The show shows tons of nudity. The nudity is neither needed nor expected in many cases. In one case, the slutty american Jennifer decides to take a shower with one of the other girls. Why? Noone knows. You could argue that nudity is art, but as they conveniently always cover up the guys and over expose every part of the girls, it is clear the kind of fanservice they are trying to offer. It's not that I am complaining about fanservice, but nudity for the sake of nudity just seems pretty shallow.

Anyway, the entire story feels like a bunch of filler. The story wasn't long enough or complex enough to justify the amount of filler and the filler wasn't enough to be satisfying in and of itself. As others have mentioned, the story only actually progress in maybe 5 of the 12 episodes. And Hakiri and Takeru's relationship felt underdeveloped to justify the end, just as their relationship started going somewhere it kind of stopped until the climax of the series.

I feel the series would have done much better as a 2 hour movie and probably could have cut out alot of the filler. However, it was a very fun show, not too long as to feel tedious to watch, you can knock it out of your way in a single afternoon if you have all the disks. I teared up in the end so it did manage to trigger an emotional response from me.

It gets 3 stars for being full of filler. Every 24 minute episode includes a 2-3 minute recap and also manages to include recap scenes in almost every episode. Cutting out the repeats and the title sequence and credits, your looking at less than 4 hours of material, with much of that being filler episodes. It's fun and easy to watch, but I would say it's a rental. If you see it and decide you love it, then by all means buy, but I hope to think there are some better anime's out there.

In my never-ending search for something different I recently began to read manga and view anime genre stories. This Ugly Yet Beautiful World was the second or third complete series I purchased. This is a facinating and complex story. Rated TV-MA it's not for younger audiences but older teens and even adults like myself will enjoy a well balanced story developement. Then character and scenary art are attention grabbers and very entertaining. Not a "must see" but a fine choice nonetheless for anyone looking for something different. Thanx!

Wonderful little series. A sweet love story with a twist of intelligent science fiction. I didn't expect it to be as deep as it was. It is worth watching and buying. But this isn't a mainstream show, so the price won't change much. Is it worth $45... you be the judge. As for me, I'll shop around and if I don't find it cheaper I will buy it here. I also recommend Elfen Lied. An AMAZING short series along the same lines as this. Enjoy.

This series is about an alien girl who comes to Earth to technically destroy it. Though due to a complication she has no real memory on how to do so. Along the way she falls in love and makes some friends. In the end however she does gain her knowledge on how to destroy our world...will she destroy our planet? Will the bonds she has made with humans cause her to think differently? Watch to find out <:3

It's a graphic series full of fan service and nudity, only in the first few episodes however... and it's relatively confusing to follow unless you pay attention. It's title comes from the back and forth feelings of how our world is both beautiful and ugly, both full of hate and love, both cruel and kind.

It has spectacular animation and effects, the voice actors don't sound that convincing half the time though...and the ending *spoiler* is pretty sad.

Like the title says, as far as my list of favorites goes, this one is up there. Let me start off by saying the reason I gave it 4 stars is because of my opinion of the ending, it just seems to go a little extra nuts in the last episode and then left me slightly disappointed with the way it all ended so for that it lost a star. However, that being said aside from the feeling of disappointment at the ending the rest of the show is great. It is one of those that is drawn well enough that I do find myself thinking "Gee she is cute." rather then "My that's nicely drawn" So yeah good animation. The story while lacking an original plot(as most anime and tv shows in general all follow the same basic plots these days) was a generally good story with a definite intuitive twist on a relatively staple anime plot. So all in all as you might guess by this point. Yes I do recommend that you at least give this one a shot because you might like it.

From studio Gainax, the creators of Neon Genesis Evangelion comes a 12 episode, romantic comedy with a hint of philosophy behind it.

On one strange night, a young teenager named Takeru and his friend Ryo come across a beautiful naked girl who has apparently fallen from the sky. This girl, Hikari has no memory of who she is and why she has suddenly appeared on Earth. Their chance encounter causes Takeru to undergo a horrific transormation and obtain some tremendous powers, and he is soo locked in battle with a gigantic monster. After dispatching the monster Takeru quickly realises that Hikari is no ordinary girl and soon takes her into his care. This action packed and epic opening is a brilliant starter to the anime, however, oddly enough, the series makes a dramatic change in tone after this.

In fact, this beginning episode and some episodes towards the end of the series are the only real action we get to see throughout. What we get is a kind of romantic, erotic, comedy. This absolutely baffled me! Upon watching the first episode I was led to believe that this was going to be an action packed anime with a rich story, but instead it turned out to be an easygoing comedy full of fanservice. Don't get me wrong, the series is enjoyable and in some parts absolutlely hilarious but for an anime that was studio Gainax's 20th anniversary showpiece, it seems a bit strange the way it turned out.

The series spends a fair amount of time focusing on the variety of characters and portraying their different emotions and feelings for one another. This serves for some entertaining viewing and is definetly a must for people who like romantic stuff. Also, the comedy is really good fun, making the series seem quite lighthearted and easy to watch.

This Ugly Yet Beautiful World is an enjoyable and entertaining anime but at times it seems as if the creators have just thrown together a paper thin plot to go with the mass amounts of fanservice and comedy. Nonetheless, it is fun to watch while it lasts and some of the characters are unforgettable, like the crazy American, scientist Jennifer Portman. Seriously, some of the things she gets up to are just priceless!

This DVD collection is 3 discs long with 4 episodes on each disc. All of the discs contain both the English and Japanese languages along with english subtitles. I must say that both voiceovers are really good, especially the English dub which has some voice actors that anime fans may recognise from other ADV releases. Such as Luci Christian who plays Kaname Chidori in the Full Metal Panic series and Hilary Haag who played child prodigy teacher Becky Miyamoto in Pani Poni Dash. As can be expected from studio Gainax, this anime looks simply gorgeous with some spectacular and captivating lighting effects and some truly memorable character designs. The music in this anime is fairly average but the opening theme song is pretty catchy.

If you are looking for an easy to watch anime that is fun and accessible, then This Ugly Yet Beautiful World may be for you. It is a great romantic comedy but it's a shame that it has to try and be more than that.