AnimeSuki Forums

Sanger · 2004-10-18, 17:21

anyone knows anything about this anime, because it interesting me

Soconfused · 2004-10-18, 21:00

It's crap, but thats just my opinion. I found it boring and cliche.

Kyuven · 2004-10-18, 23:35

it has some pretty serious plot holes and really would have done a lot better if they had just ditched half the cast from the very beginning (Betterman, Sakura, and Hinoki are really the only ones that belong in the series, everyone else sucks)

Sanger · 2004-10-19, 17:40

uhm about mecha design? is it good?

Kyuven · 2004-10-20, 18:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sanger

uhm about mecha design? is it good?

when i said "all the characters except hinoki, betterman, and sakura suck" that included the mechs, they're NOTHING special and, if you really think about it, don't really DO anything (Betterman does all of the major fighting)

IntrepidAKP · 2004-10-20, 19:07

I caught a few episodes on TechTv when I was first getting into anime. It's a good thing I saw Banner of the Stars first, because I would have kept on my assumption that anime is utter crap and should have stayed in Japan.

Xellos-_^ · 2004-10-20, 23:10

IMO Betterman is one of the better scifi horrors shows out there. The music is excellent and fits in with the mood of the show very well. while it had a few holes in the plot I wouldn't actually call it serious. Betterman had some funny momnets, some very scary moments and a couple of suprising plot twists. The only thing I really didn't like was that the show not really explian the origin of betterman very well. As for the mech it is nothing special but then again the mecha are not the focus of the story the characters are. If you like Evangalion, rahxephon, gasaraki, vampire princess miyu and petshop of horror. Then i would say betterman is defintely for you. But if you are mor eof the naruto/dbz/sailormoon crowd then you need should probably stay away form it.

Sayianianian · 2004-10-20, 23:39

The eppisodes of betterman i saw on tv were pretty lame. The mech design is too simplistic and I just didn't like much about it. I also didn't like lain.

Xellos-_^ · 2006-10-17, 23:27

The scifi/horror anime i have ever seen. Very glad i made time to re-watch this series. Episode one in the underground amusement park and the ep with the flesh eating worms were great. The series bogs down a bit in the middle but picks up near the end and have probably one of the best and bloodiest ending in anime.

Spoiler for Ending speculations:

Diaboso · 2006-10-19, 15:57

Iv watched it on anime unleashed years ago it was okkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk... but not great.

Kaioshin Sama · 2006-10-19, 17:49

I like Betterman actually. The one complaint I have is with the lighting in a lot of scenes being really dark, but its probably to create atmosphere. And Xellos I'm sorry but everytime I see that Sig I reflexively want to close the window even though I am in my basement. Sure its accurate, but at the same time its terrifiying.

roriconfan · 2011-02-22, 13:51

REVIEW TIME AND SUPER NECRO

PROLOGUE
To be honest, it took me several years to actually find the courage to write this review. This series has so many ups and downs that I had a hard time deciding what exactly to write about it. In fact, I gave up on the series twice before managing to see it all with a third try. Now that I finally found the mental strength (and I have no other titles to review for the time being) I finally get to make one about it.

ANIMATION SECTION: 8/10 [When something becomes scary without even seeing it.]

General Artwork 2/2 - Visual Effects 2/2: Being mostly dementia, the series needs to be grim and weird if it wants to be successful in this department. And yes, to the most part it is weird. Bizarre opening and ending songs, various uses of shadowing effects and a constant feeling of uneasiness is present throughout the series. As the previous reviewer mentioned, it really does have a Hitchcock feeling to it. It is not scary by showing deformed demons and guts splattering across the screen. In the contrary, it hardly shows what the hell is exactly going on. Remember that creepy fog effect in Silent Hill ? Well, think of something similar but with light, or the absence of it. You never see something as it really is because it is either hidden in the darkness, behind a wall or looks intentionally blurry. Dark colors and loss of details to the point of looking like plain caricatures may seem at first as if the animators were bored or trying to save money. But no, it is eerie as hell. The fear of the unknown! Something that you know it is there but don’t see it. Something that you think it is monstrous and it turns out it isn’t. I tell you, I was really scared without actually knowing what I was supposed to be scared of. Marvelous!

Character Figures 2/2: Nothing great to look at here. The characters look quite typical or weird enough to be considered stupid. So, we have plain people (the protagonist is just a normal geek with glasses), next to stupid-looking people (what’s with the multi-colored hairdo the heavy-dude and his sister share as inherited trait?). Then, we have the monsters and the villains in the story, who don’t show most of the time, and when they do… they are lame in appearance! Really, they are just silly looking creeps. Yet, I must warn you that having normal-looking people taking on silly-looking creeps under the pressure of dark colors and caricatures is actually even scarier. I mean, isn’t scary to have plain people (no superpowers or a secured way out) facing man-eating, mutated freaks that DON’T look scary? You usually expect the Diablo treatment in such cases. Something nightmarish in appearance pops up and you have this muscular guy full of super-guns blasting it to pieces. Well, no, here you have this insecure dork, piloting a rather crude mecha, taking on cartoonish monsters that LOOK easy to defeat and yet have committed in secret more murders than Hannibal Lecter . Freaky! It worked for me.

Backgrounds 1/2 - Motion Fluidity 1/2: Nah! They are ok for a television series but I have seen much better. The animators gave their best to the visual effects and the creepy atmosphere and left the details on objects and backgrounds to look and move in a typical manner. Of course, the above example with the character figures may apply here as well. But since objects are not alive and don’t show emotions, I don’t find it all that satisfactory.

SOUND SECTION: 8/10 [Did you heard that? … Neither did I. OHHH!]

Voice Acting 2/3: Very good for the most part, although I didn’t found it exceptional in the long run. There is emotion and spice given to it but some dried up talking here and there doesn’t leave you completely satisfied.

Music Themes 4/4: Shit man! They are great! Seriously, the intro and ending songs alone are so weird that you hardly know what to expect of the series. Part of the whole “What is going on in here?” business. Loved them!

Sound Effects 2/3: The music during those eerie moments is generally atmospheric, although the visual effects do a much better work that the sound effects. Pretty average in all.

STORY SECTION: 8/10 [But I thought… It isn’t? Then what is…? Oh man, this is deep…]

General Scenario 2/2 - Side Stories 2/2:

Spoiler:

Pace of Plot 1/2: Unlike 90% of anime, you actually MUST pay attention to what the characters say. All the talking is full of philosophical, psychological, mythological allusions and symbolisms that you must understand if you want to make heads or tails of the story. Even the daily routine dialogues are likable. Some episodes are scary, others are funny. Every episode adds something to the story and utilizes a nice idea to build upon an entire story ark. These are the good parts. Then again, most ideas don’t last more than a single episode. Here you are with a great bio-ultra-killing worm that can annihilate all life on Earth and you hardly see it more than two episodes. Seriously, a hundred awesome concepts for recurring villains and world threats will simply run by your eyes in less than 30 minutes. Major bummer!

Believability/Reasoning/Realism 1/2: There is a lot of explaining for all the weird stuff in the story and all the mysteries are eventually revealed. You will definitely not be left with question marks flashing above you head. Then again, most events end in a very convenient way for the protagonists. The heavy-dude will always pop-up and save them when they are about to lose. There is always a way to beat a monster in 5 minutes. The villains appear and disappear at will. All the stunts get killed in a flash but the main characters survive better than cockroaches could. Not that good at convincing us.

Conclusion 2/2: The ending is DEFINITELY SOLID. No reason for a sequel to pop up, as everything there was to be shown and said HAS being shown and said. It may leave you unsatisfied as you hardly know the fates of the surviving cast but the main conflict of the series is DEFINITELY RESOLVED.

CHARACTER SECTION: 8/10 [When a weak nerd is equal to a God.]

Presence 1/2: As said above, the characters look and act either simple or silly. None of them is as imposing as the ideas they implement.

Personality 2/2 - Backdrop 2/2 - Development 2/2: A great point. All the main and secondary characters have personalities, nice backdrop stories and all of them affect the story. Forget about useless NPCs that are there just for show. A great cast of all kinds is present. From the nerdy boy with glasses, to the butchy girl with a dramatic past, to the heavy-dude in a quest of revenge, to megalomaniac industrialists, to hateful ascended beings, there is one for all tastes present. Plus, all of them are colorized and each develops as character at least a little.

Catharsis 1/2: Although the conclusion of the story IS SOLID, you are left only to guess what happened to our heroes and remaining cast. Damn!

VALUE SECTION: 6/10 [Value your lives. They may end before you know it!]

Historical Value 1/3: A title forgotten by most. Anime fads come and go faster than sex partners.

Rewatchability 1/3: Well, the mystery is already known and most battles are predictable. Only the dialogues about those deep issues deserve a second watch.

Memorability 4/4: DEFINITELY! It is unlikely anything I have ever seen. It doesn’t directly remind me of any other title and the story rocks.

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 7/10 [Evolution is not a thing to laugh about.]
The atmosphere and the main songs are great. The story unfolds smoothly but refuses to hold on to its great ideas for long. The battles are not that great for the most part and many events are forced. Still, it was a generally great series, even if it took me three times to actually finish it.

VERDICT: 7.50 / 10
This series will make you better men … As long as you manage to finish it and understand what the hell all is about.

SUGGESTION LIST
Successful mix of Mecha with Religion and Metaphysics series: Neon Genesis Evagelion, Ghost in the Shell, Zegapain, Ergo Proxy, Argento Soma, Soul Taker and Rahxephon.

NoLongerSane · 2011-02-22, 19:07

A very underated series in my humble opinion. I remember watching this series on Tech TV and enjoyed the premise of the story. The ending of the series still causes me to do a double take.

NoLongerSane · 2011-03-07, 13:25

Just adding this. Someone posted the trailer for the now defunct Project Z. It's more like a picture drama but it makes one wonder what could have been had this series continued.

Spoiler for Project Z:

2004-10-18, 17:21	Link #1
Sanger Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2004	Betterman - Scifi/Horror/Drama anyone knows anything about this anime, because it interesting me

2004-10-18, 21:00	Link #2
Soconfused Old God Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: you....don't wanna know Age: 37	It's crap, but thats just my opinion. I found it boring and cliche. __________________ What exactly is the point of becoming powerful if one cannot indulge the hedonistic opportunities that come with it?

2004-10-20, 23:39	Link #8
Sayianianian Gunslinger Guy Join Date: May 2004 Location: Eastcoast Age: 40	Betterman The eppisodes of betterman i saw on tv were pretty lame. The mech design is too simplistic and I just didn't like much about it. I also didn't like lain.

2006-10-17, 23:27	Link #9
Xellos-_^ Not Enough Sleep Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: R'lyeh Age: 48	Betterman - Scifi/Horror/Drama The scifi/horror anime i have ever seen. Very glad i made time to re-watch this series. Episode one in the underground amusement park and the ep with the flesh eating worms were great. The series bogs down a bit in the middle but picks up near the end and have probably one of the best and bloodiest ending in anime. Spoiler for Ending speculations: The baby in the bubble that chandy pick up. Who was he baby suppose to be? i know a lot speculation said that was Lamia but I think that could have been either Yakusugibeing reborn or Kaede and Shou's unborn child. Reason why I don't think it is Betterman. both Keita and Hinoki survive and woke up on a beach. Considering both were trap underwater somebody had to have save them and left them on the beach. Since Chandy was swimming off with her new playmate that leaves Betterman. Reason why the baby could have been Yakusugi. We didn't really see him die. just a bright flash as he and betterman went at it. Chandy ask if the baby was the one that teach her stuff all along. Reason why the baby is Kaede and SHou's unborn child: When the Tyran exploded we see some round thingy floating away. it was never explain what that was except it was roundishg shape. Miyako explain that since both Kaede and Shou were espers thier child would most likely be a esper as well and would be able to talk to Chandy using the lampid channel. kaede was 4 months pregnant by the end of the series. The 4 months would be enough to encompass the Adjant caves where chandy first appear. Too bad about Sakura though, another series that killed of a Loli __________________

2011-02-22, 13:51	Link #12
roriconfan Banned Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Thessaloniki - Greece	REVIEW TIME AND SUPER NECRO PROLOGUE To be honest, it took me several years to actually find the courage to write this review. This series has so many ups and downs that I had a hard time deciding what exactly to write about it. In fact, I gave up on the series twice before managing to see it all with a third try. Now that I finally found the mental strength (and I have no other titles to review for the time being) I finally get to make one about it. ANIMATION SECTION: 8/10 [When something becomes scary without even seeing it.] General Artwork 2/2 - Visual Effects 2/2: Being mostly dementia, the series needs to be grim and weird if it wants to be successful in this department. And yes, to the most part it is weird. Bizarre opening and ending songs, various uses of shadowing effects and a constant feeling of uneasiness is present throughout the series. As the previous reviewer mentioned, it really does have a Hitchcock feeling to it. It is not scary by showing deformed demons and guts splattering across the screen. In the contrary, it hardly shows what the hell is exactly going on. Remember that creepy fog effect in Silent Hill ? Well, think of something similar but with light, or the absence of it. You never see something as it really is because it is either hidden in the darkness, behind a wall or looks intentionally blurry. Dark colors and loss of details to the point of looking like plain caricatures may seem at first as if the animators were bored or trying to save money. But no, it is eerie as hell. The fear of the unknown! Something that you know it is there but don’t see it. Something that you think it is monstrous and it turns out it isn’t. I tell you, I was really scared without actually knowing what I was supposed to be scared of. Marvelous! Character Figures 2/2: Nothing great to look at here. The characters look quite typical or weird enough to be considered stupid. So, we have plain people (the protagonist is just a normal geek with glasses), next to stupid-looking people (what’s with the multi-colored hairdo the heavy-dude and his sister share as inherited trait?). Then, we have the monsters and the villains in the story, who don’t show most of the time, and when they do… they are lame in appearance! Really, they are just silly looking creeps. Yet, I must warn you that having normal-looking people taking on silly-looking creeps under the pressure of dark colors and caricatures is actually even scarier. I mean, isn’t scary to have plain people (no superpowers or a secured way out) facing man-eating, mutated freaks that DON’T look scary? You usually expect the Diablo treatment in such cases. Something nightmarish in appearance pops up and you have this muscular guy full of super-guns blasting it to pieces. Well, no, here you have this insecure dork, piloting a rather crude mecha, taking on cartoonish monsters that LOOK easy to defeat and yet have committed in secret more murders than Hannibal Lecter . Freaky! It worked for me. Backgrounds 1/2 - Motion Fluidity 1/2: Nah! They are ok for a television series but I have seen much better. The animators gave their best to the visual effects and the creepy atmosphere and left the details on objects and backgrounds to look and move in a typical manner. Of course, the above example with the character figures may apply here as well. But since objects are not alive and don’t show emotions, I don’t find it all that satisfactory. SOUND SECTION: 8/10 [Did you heard that? … Neither did I. OHHH!] Voice Acting 2/3: Very good for the most part, although I didn’t found it exceptional in the long run. There is emotion and spice given to it but some dried up talking here and there doesn’t leave you completely satisfied. Music Themes 4/4: Shit man! They are great! Seriously, the intro and ending songs alone are so weird that you hardly know what to expect of the series. Part of the whole “What is going on in here?” business. Loved them! Sound Effects 2/3: The music during those eerie moments is generally atmospheric, although the visual effects do a much better work that the sound effects. Pretty average in all. STORY SECTION: 8/10 [But I thought… It isn’t? Then what is…? Oh man, this is deep…] General Scenario 2/2 - Side Stories 2/2: Spoiler: Hell, it is so perplex and reveals so smoothly most the time that you can’t do anything else other than liking it. It is generally about the evolution of life but spawns left and right into so many other fields that you end up with a huge pile of various religions, sciences, philosophical movements and emotional situations. The story begins in a rather typical manner. Teenagers with sexual awkwardness and a dramatic past, become part of a secret organization that fights genetic freaks with a mecka. And there is also the heavy-dude in the story that always pops up and saves the good guys when they are in trouble. Nothing much to like in all this mediocrity of mecha clichés. Soon, other issues become apparent. What can make a man better than he already is? The initial approach is genetics. Which is a nice excuse for gruesome biological experiments to pop up. Then there is the state of mind. You can’t have a great body without an appropriate mind to come along. Revelations and master plans come up. And then we have the perfection of the soul, so expect concepts like enlightment, shedding of the physical boundaries and disgust for inferior beings by ascended beings to come along. Really, the story gives a loot of food for the mind to build upon. Pace of Plot 1/2: Unlike 90% of anime, you actually MUST pay attention to what the characters say. All the talking is full of philosophical, psychological, mythological allusions and symbolisms that you must understand if you want to make heads or tails of the story. Even the daily routine dialogues are likable. Some episodes are scary, others are funny. Every episode adds something to the story and utilizes a nice idea to build upon an entire story ark. These are the good parts. Then again, most ideas don’t last more than a single episode. Here you are with a great bio-ultra-killing worm that can annihilate all life on Earth and you hardly see it more than two episodes. Seriously, a hundred awesome concepts for recurring villains and world threats will simply run by your eyes in less than 30 minutes. Major bummer! Believability/Reasoning/Realism 1/2: There is a lot of explaining for all the weird stuff in the story and all the mysteries are eventually revealed. You will definitely not be left with question marks flashing above you head. Then again, most events end in a very convenient way for the protagonists. The heavy-dude will always pop-up and save them when they are about to lose. There is always a way to beat a monster in 5 minutes. The villains appear and disappear at will. All the stunts get killed in a flash but the main characters survive better than cockroaches could. Not that good at convincing us. Conclusion 2/2: The ending is DEFINITELY SOLID. No reason for a sequel to pop up, as everything there was to be shown and said HAS being shown and said. It may leave you unsatisfied as you hardly know the fates of the surviving cast but the main conflict of the series is DEFINITELY RESOLVED. CHARACTER SECTION: 8/10 [When a weak nerd is equal to a God.] Presence 1/2: As said above, the characters look and act either simple or silly. None of them is as imposing as the ideas they implement. Personality 2/2 - Backdrop 2/2 - Development 2/2: A great point. All the main and secondary characters have personalities, nice backdrop stories and all of them affect the story. Forget about useless NPCs that are there just for show. A great cast of all kinds is present. From the nerdy boy with glasses, to the butchy girl with a dramatic past, to the heavy-dude in a quest of revenge, to megalomaniac industrialists, to hateful ascended beings, there is one for all tastes present. Plus, all of them are colorized and each develops as character at least a little. Catharsis 1/2: Although the conclusion of the story IS SOLID, you are left only to guess what happened to our heroes and remaining cast. Damn! VALUE SECTION: 6/10 [Value your lives. They may end before you know it!] Historical Value 1/3: A title forgotten by most. Anime fads come and go faster than sex partners. Rewatchability 1/3: Well, the mystery is already known and most battles are predictable. Only the dialogues about those deep issues deserve a second watch. Memorability 4/4: DEFINITELY! It is unlikely anything I have ever seen. It doesn’t directly remind me of any other title and the story rocks. ENJOYMENT SECTION: 7/10 [Evolution is not a thing to laugh about.] The atmosphere and the main songs are great. The story unfolds smoothly but refuses to hold on to its great ideas for long. The battles are not that great for the most part and many events are forced. Still, it was a generally great series, even if it took me three times to actually finish it. VERDICT: 7.50 / 10 This series will make you better men … As long as you manage to finish it and understand what the hell all is about. SUGGESTION LIST Successful mix of Mecha with Religion and Metaphysics series: Neon Genesis Evagelion, Ghost in the Shell, Zegapain, Ergo Proxy, Argento Soma, Soul Taker and Rahxephon.

2004-10-18, 23:35	Link #3
Kyuven Bishoujo Goodness Galore! Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Stuck Between Reality and Fantasy	it has some pretty serious plot holes and really would have done a lot better if they had just ditched half the cast from the very beginning (Betterman, Sakura, and Hinoki are really the only ones that belong in the series, everyone else sucks)

2004-10-19, 17:40	Link #4
Sanger Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2004	uhm about mecha design? is it good?

2004-10-20, 19:07	Link #6
IntrepidAKP ...Woah! Join Date: Apr 2004	I caught a few episodes on TechTv when I was first getting into anime. It's a good thing I saw Banner of the Stars first, because I would have kept on my assumption that anime is utter crap and should have stayed in Japan.

2004-10-20, 23:10	Link #7
Xellos-_^ Not Enough Sleep Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: R'lyeh Age: 48	IMO Betterman is one of the better scifi horrors shows out there. The music is excellent and fits in with the mood of the show very well. while it had a few holes in the plot I wouldn't actually call it serious. Betterman had some funny momnets, some very scary moments and a couple of suprising plot twists. The only thing I really didn't like was that the show not really explian the origin of betterman very well. As for the mech it is nothing special but then again the mecha are not the focus of the story the characters are. If you like Evangalion, rahxephon, gasaraki, vampire princess miyu and petshop of horror. Then i would say betterman is defintely for you. But if you are mor eof the naruto/dbz/sailormoon crowd then you need should probably stay away form it.

2006-10-19, 15:57	Link #10
Diaboso we girls arnt safe! Artist Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: In the space between your walls Age: 36	Iv watched it on anime unleashed years ago it was okkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk... but not great.

2006-10-19, 17:49	Link #11
Kaioshin Sama Banned Join Date: May 2004 Location: Neither Here nor There Age: 39	I like Betterman actually. The one complaint I have is with the lighting in a lot of scenes being really dark, but its probably to create atmosphere. And Xellos I'm sorry but everytime I see that Sig I reflexively want to close the window even though I am in my basement. Sure its accurate, but at the same time its terrifiying.

2011-02-22, 19:07	Link #13
NoLongerSane Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Texas	A very underated series in my humble opinion. I remember watching this series on Tech TV and enjoyed the premise of the story. The ending of the series still causes me to do a double take.

2011-03-07, 13:25	Link #14
NoLongerSane Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Texas	Just adding this. Someone posted the trailer for the now defunct Project Z. It's more like a picture drama but it makes one wonder what could have been had this series continued. Spoiler for Project Z: <p>No iframe support, please <a href="http://youtu.be/IzkdLJiSOfE">watch on YouTube</a>.</p>