Anime: Boku no Chikyuu o Mamotte

Why you should watch Boku no Chikyuu wo Mamotte (Please Save My Earth) anime? / Zašto pogledati Boku no Chikyuu wo Mamotte (Please Save My Earth) anime?

English language: This is one of the best anime I’ve watched. Personally, I didn’t expect anything special when I read the summary. Since it had 6 episodes I decided to watch it because I have another anime more that I watched. The story is initially about Alice Sakaguchi who, due to a misunderstanding, accidentally finds out that her classmates Jinpachi and Issei constantly have common dreams that are recurring dreams about a group of lunar-based scientists observing the Earth. When Alice has one of the "moon dreams", she will try to find other scientists together with Jinpachi and Issei because they are all reincarnations of those scientists who died of a mysterious disease on the moon. While that idea of theirs sounds great, things will get a little complicated. Namely, a character who is also one of the reincarnated scientists will hide his identity and negatively influence some events in his favor. That character is also a villain and he will manage to fool everyone. Supernatural powers will help him realize his plans. The powers of this character are so strong that even some people who have the same powers cannot defeat him so easily. Towards the end, we will find out the story of his past life, which is so tragic. Another problem that will be created is that the characters can’t cope with what happened in their past. They will begin to mix their present and past lives. There will be jealousy and revenge. Let’s just say it’s their personal struggle. All in all, this anime is about the characters and how they will interact after the events that led to their deaths come to light. The story is very intense and includes very tragic and touching events. This anime also has very interesting characters. What I liked most about this anime was that it was so interesting that I watched it without a break. I would recommend it to anyone to watch it.

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Hrvatski jezik: Ovo je jedan od najboljih animea koje sam pogledala. Osobno nisam ništa posebno očekivala kad sam pročitala sažetak. Pošto je imao 6 epizoda odlučila sam ga pogledat jer imat ću još jedan anime više koji sam pogledala.Priča se u početku radi o Alice Sakaguchi koja će zbog jednog nesporazuma slučajno saznati da njene kolege iz razreda Jinpachi i Issei stalno imaju zajedničke snove koji su ponavljajući snovi o skupini znanstvenika na mjesečevoj bazi koji promatraju Zemlju. Kada Alice bude imala jedan od “mjesečevih snova”, zajedno će sa Jinpachijem i Isseijem pokušati naći ostale znanstvenike jer su oni svi reinkarnacije od tih znanstvenika koji su umrli od misteriozne bolesti na Mjesecu. Iako ta njihova ideja zvuči super, stvari će se malo zakomplicirati. Naime, jedan lik koji je isto jedan od znanstvenika koji je reinkarniran, će skrivati svoj identitet i negativno utjecati na neke događaje u svoju korist. Taj lik je i negativac i sve će uspjeti zavarati. Nadnaravne moći će mu pomoći za ostvarenje svojih planova. Moći od toga lika su toliko snažne da čak i neki ljudi koji imaju iste moći ne mogu ga tako lako poraziti. Pred kraj ćemo saznati i priču o njegovom prošlom životu koja je tako tragična.Još jedan od problema koji će se stvoriti je da se likovi ne mogu nositi s onim što se dogodilo u njihovoj prošlosti. Počet će miješati svoje sadašnje i prošle živote. Doći će do ljubomore i osvete. Recimo samo da je to njihova osobna borba.Sve u svemu ovaj anime je o likovima i kako će oni međusobno djelovati nakon što događaji koji su doveli do njihove smrti izađu na vidjelo. Priča je vrlo intenzivna i uključuje vrlo tragične i dirljive događaje. Ovaj anime isto ima jako zanimljive likove. Kod ovoga animea mi se najviše svidjelo što je bio toliko zanimljiv da sam ga pogledala bez pauze. Preporučila bih ga svakom da ga pogleda.

Please Save My Earth as well as ISIB (Ima Sokoni...) can awake a reviewer in everyone - which can easily be seen by length and style of reviews I have seen on it. After seeing this anime again I can say - it is no wonder.

PSME has a story so captivating it really puzzles me. I can hardly say why it is so great, because it leaves behind plethora of threads that could be woven for much longer than mere six episodes. Some of them, to my disappointment, in the end are let loose. Intelligent and carefully folded story is ridiculously crammed up and episode one already far surpassed what I expected to get from whole series, when I started watching PSME.

I often heard that 13 episodes is too little to do anything in anime. That is proven very wrong here, where six episodes are enough to tell a story of love and betrayal so great that it awakens madness just at a reminder of it.
It is a story about leading normal life, all while remembering those past ones. We are shown so interesting characters, that it is a shame we get to see so little of them. I want to see more. I'm craving for more!

This anime is very mature. Very unique. Very original. I cannot say it is the best. But I deem it one of the best ever seen. It evokes my feelings just when I am remembering it, when I see it - it is even better!

Enjoyment is immense, and surely You do not need me to say that You will not regret watching this. PSME is done amazingly well, and I am bound to name it one of those few anime that really are CHARACTER-driven.


Animation

It is done very well, but nothing more, really. There is no great fighting, no superb effects and such. It fits the story and it has a good style but I found ESP, cosmic stuff and Kyaa are... just decent.

On the other hand, all those factors (possibly excluding Kyaa) are done in a VERY fitting way, and all enables You to be pulled in the world very shortly.

Prime job here is done by characters design. Characters are drawn in an astonishing way. Firstly, everyone has unique features, just like people do.
Secondly, while anime in general are quite good in conveying heroes' feelings, PSME took it to entirely new level.

Facial expressions, big eyes, how they widen, mouth twists, blushes all that is usually made good.
In PSME it tops 'the usual' drawing. Faces have big eyes, but not freaking huge, they are not triangular, nor they are surrounded by wire-like hairs of unearthly colors. I found the way those faces moved very realistic. When Alice made 'gulp' in first episode I felt shivers, at the quality that underlined that move. PSME animation in facial expressions is close to being perfect.




Sound

Main strength of PSME lies in its harmony, and the way all the parts put together become something much better, much greater. Sound is perfect choice here - while as a standalone it is done well, and musical compositions definitely can set the mood on their own, they never really (with few notable exceptions) get to 'play the first violin' metaphorically speaking.

As with the animation, music comes in hand with the mood, making it really great.
It is there, as soundtrack for anime, where sound really begins to shine, and shine it does. It fits the mood greatly and enhances it convincingly, to the point I still associate particular scores with appropriate scenes.

For example, I especially liked the theme which was when Rin was 'scheming'. The low tone of instrument there was sending shivers down my spine. When we see the balcony fall the music straightened me up, when S-kun was fulfilling his plans, the music made me cast nervous glances to the sides, and when the final ending song was sung, I felt very teary-eyed (especially with first few tones, when the singer so greatly sung vibraccio!). Those few themes were aforementioned noteworthy exceptions. And while I cannot say that PSME has a worthy soundtrack - I have yet to come across it - thanks to scores like those I had the thrills just by listening to the music.

Opening was good, ending as well, but nothing really more than good, except for last ending, which was sung and was nothing less than fabulous.

Setting the mood is fine, but to do it with such care, like they do it in PSME is incomparable to almost any other anime I can think of.

I will try to get the soundtrack, if I do then perhaps rating here will change.



Story

Sadly the story is the weakest part here, which coming from a person that values story the highest is quite a statement.

Cannot really blame the makers... well, actually... I can and I do. After all, who is to blame, that great story which could go on for MUCH longer was so crammed up! It is almost ridiculous!! Such intricate, complex story with so much potential should be drawn out at least twice as much! I wanted to know more about in fact EVERYTHING.

We have here ESP and it is not limited to aliens, in fact one of the better ESPers out there turns out to be human (which I found particularly pleasant). Yet we are rarely told anything about it, aside from snippets and general idea.

We have the story of students, who live their daily life while struggling with weird repeating dreams in which they are remembering lives of other selfs.

Issei and Jinpachi's story is quite fresh, and it gets a fair amount of time, so we can learn how it does grow and what will it turn to.

Also we have plot revolving around Alice and Rin, moon base and its story, the search for others and last episodes are introducing Shion's background.

That is the greatest flaw here - there is way too much told in way too short time. Only first episode (meet Alice and Rin) gave me so much to watch and ponder on that usually I get from first thirteen episodes in (half of!) 26 eps anime!

On the other hand, there are great characters, and they alone are making it worthwhile to watch, and pacing is superb, we never get bored, even for a short while. One after another, plots are revealed and unfolded perhaps even too fast!

I cannot also praise enough the way they have done the humour. Well done, in a mature way, it can makes You laugh few times, with normal daily situations, nothing crappy and no toilet humour. Not in here. There is no fan-service, or stretched situations so that You can laugh at stupid faces hero makes, or see how funny he is after he gets slapped for nothing.

Taking all that into account I will add that I have heard just compliments and praises about PSME manga, which elaborates more on here crammed up story, and that watching anime made me certain in my decision about looking for it. I want to see more. I'm craving for more!



Character

Since I was raised in a family, where dessert comes in the end, I left characters till now.

One of the strongest points in my overall anime rating are always characters and plot.

And I must say, that while story is rushed from times to times in PSME and leaves many things unanswered, (enough I suspect, to knit a sweater out of loose threads) the overall impression is so big that one may easily not notice those things.

And why? Because of splendid character creation. Such great characters are shown here that one cannot stop wondering, where the ideas came from.

We have actually no villain here, because when You get to know the supposed villain of the story You are actually terrified at what was done to him, and his actions are showing that he is a very good and honest person, that was terribly betrayed. My God, no wonder he had such nightmares! Nine years!! The way it was pulled in makes one shiver.

Conflict caused by this was portrayed greatly and for me - convincingly. Neither could I say "guilty as hell" for the one who started it, nor "that does not excuse his actions" for the other side. Here viewer is caught in a dilemma.

Characters are made out of whole shades of grey, instead of hackneyed many times before black and white.

Supportive cast is also played very well - how the past mingles with the present is shown for all, with exception of Hiragi, who could be nonexistent character - it would not have changed a thing.
Does it lower the score? No, he is not given any background, nor does he have impact on the story - he just is there. Nothing to blame, nothing to praise for either.

Alice-Mokuren was also very interesting, she was supposedly a sissy, yet she was not. She had this strong responsibility in her, and was very strict with herself - I found also adorable the way her family was portrayed.

I will say this - character-driven anime are rare. I can name a few, so far. That would be Crest/Banner of the Stars series, 12 Kingdoms, Rose of Versailles.
Please Save My Eearth definitely falls under this cathegory.

Perfect 10 for characters, and give me more such pearls, like this one.



Value

I will say that:
- my personal favorite
- amazing anime
- classic (for me)
- I own it, I will own it
- I watched it, I rewatched it
- I will watch it many times again
- POLACY!! napisy SWAT to Wasi przyjaciele!! Ekstra robota, SWATowcy!!
SWAT = SouthWestern Anime Team :D

(PS. DevillDoll, invitation for discussion stands)