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Cowboy Bebop might be one of the best anime that I can't wholeheartedly recommend, simply because of its imbalance in various structural elements. This lack of balance causes great elements to coexist simultaneously with visibly underwhelming ones, which look even worse when placed next to the former. I'm talking here about technical aspects. They'll be addressed the most in this review, so no worries. This review is spoiler-free.

Cowboy Bebop's greatest strength is definitely its audiovisual side and direction (both combined). Everything is refined to the smallest degree. Beautiful backgrounds, character designs, vehicle models, locations, attention to detail and exposure. To this day, it can easily ... be considered one of the best-looking TV anime that was ever released. Good visuals can not be enough in an animated series if they are not followed by decent direction and proper animation. Cowboy Bebop offers such elements in an impressing way. Superb direction allows viewers to immerse into various types of scenes, let them be slower or faster; and smooth animation makes each sequence, dynamic or static, feel extremely organic and natural, without losing that unique visual feeling and touch. In short, they were brilliantly harmonized. Not to forget the "show, don't tell", elements, which work extremely well and contribute to the overall experience. Their weaker usage, in my opinion, is during scenes related to the main plotline, but even then, they do their job really well.

When it comes to the soundtrack, I need to mention one thing beforehand. I'm not a fan of jazz music, so I did not like many tracks playing in the background during a decent amount of episodes. But putting my subjective music taste aside, again, it cannot be denied that the soundtrack itself is also a strong point. A diverse mix of various music genres (jazz, blues, rock), fitting the moments during which it played, at least for most of the part. Sure, some tunes could feel generic or repetitive at times, but it's not easy to make that well-done and consistent soundtrack. Be it to the anime or any other show.

Another thing worth noting that was absolutely fantastic about this show (even more than its audiovisual aspects) is the creativity in the implementation of popular culture's references, and addressing issues typical for futurology. This anime was made in the late 1990s, but managed to address a lot of things that are still contemporary, or are still debated as probable challenges in the future. Junk food, environment's devastation, gender roles, pollution, extreme consumptionism, and many more.

I could write a lot about the aforementioned elements, but it'd be too boring and without any substance to this review. "Substance" is a good word to use here. I saw some people referring to Cowboy Bebop as "anime that is style over substance", praising its value, but complaining about the show kind of ruining many opportunities to be way better than just "a beautifully animated action series on display". I agree that it is indeed "style over substance", but I don't consider it something negative. It's just the main concept for a show. One might like it, one might not, but it's still there and I don't think that the studio trying to execute said main concept as good as they can is anywhere close to a con.

No, that's not the biggest issue one can have with Cowboy Bebop. For me, its biggest problem is its episodic nature. With episodic storytelling, some episodes are great, and others are so boring it seems like they were made solely to meet the planned episode count. Such discrepancy is normal. Not all episodes need to be near perfection. Heck, many episodic anime are repetitive. I dislike that, but accept it as a pivotal element of episodic shows. That being said, Cowboy Bebop struggles with writing consistency. Messy and chaotic storytelling makes you worry whether the next episode will be as boring as the one you've just finished, or whether an extremely good one will be followed by something visibly inferior.

All of these cons could've been weakened to a certain degree if the main cast was decent enough to make viewers invested in tracking their adventures. The thing is... I found most crew members unlikable, bland, and annoying at times. "Most" is imprecise, so I'll just say: all but Jet. Getting episodes elaborating on their backgrounds in the second cour of the series was a nice touch, but didn't change my mind about them. You'd expect, if not better written, then at least characters with more dimensional personalities.

Speaking about the second cour, one more thing I'd like to note: I found it hard to get through the first part of this show. If it weren't for the high production quality, I would've dropped it for good, not just for several years until I randomly thought of giving this anime a second chance. Episodes in the second half are significantly better written, and their episodic structure isn't a problem by any means, since the writing quality is simply improved. The fact that those episodes are self-contained only makes them more intriguing to watch. Weird thing to hear from someone who complained about Cowboy Bebop's episodic nature, eh? Well, not quite. I'm aware that it could have felt different if, for example, the first cour had those episodes and the second cour had the first cour's weaker episodes. I'd have complained about the second half instead, though perhaps I wouldn't have dropped this show. Who knows?

"Episodic this, episodic that", but what about the main story? Cowboy Bebop has one. Cowboy Bebop has one. It's scattered throughout the whole series in the form of present action, flashbacks, and exposition, but it's there. It's mediocre, and I'm not just talking about it being clichéd. Not only that. It's just an average story that's more like a break from "your weekly episode", with a dull, generic villain and underwhelming writing. Mind you, I'm saying this with the understanding that this anime was released in the 1990s. Even then, its writing left much to be desired. But hey, it's extremely solid-looking, beautifully directed, and emanating a grand atmosphere. Kind of like "style over substance", no?

That's pretty much it. Did I enjoy this anime? In general, yes. It was a fun ride, despite many boring episodes that were hard to go through. Do I recommend it? It's complicated. That's why my final verdict, despite relatively good score, is "Mixed Feelings". I mean, it's worth checking out and it's great, but if you don't feel any nostalgia towards it, hate episodic anime, or dislike space stuff no matter how well it looks, then I think it'd be better to just pass on it. It's good, but not as good as some of its hardcore fans try to make it look. It is a classic and will be remembered in the future, that's for sure. But is it essential to watch? Is it a life-changing experience (if watching an anime can be one, lol)? I don't think so.

Thank you for reading. ;-)

Dragon Ball Daima is truly a love letter not only for all Dragon Ball fans, but also for all fans of the works created by the late Akira Toriyama. You can feel the original author's touch throughout the anime. He had a huge influence on it, after all. It is full of references and fanservice from various manga created by Toriyama-sensei's, but all of those elements blend so well with Daima's setting that it should not be an issue for viewers less familiar with either non-Dragon Ball or Dragon Ball works.

As for the story, Dragon Ball Daima offers a fine mix of adventure and gag ... humor (known from the original Dragon Ball anime), and epic action with flashy transformations (that are characteristic to Dragon Ball Z). By that, Daima balances well-known tropes and themes, mixes them, and offers an experience previously present only in the decades-old Dragon Ball GT. What's more, it allows viewers to discover more details about the Demon Realm - a part of the Dragon Ball universe that many fans wanted to see more of in an original storyline. With its cast of interesting brand-new characters (whether they are friends, foes, or neutral) and new, unseen-before lore details being revealed in many episodes, we get a fine example of nostalgia meeting innovation.

The awesome visuals and fluid animation, especially (though not exclusively) during action sequences, make Dragon Ball Daima a pleasure to watch. The good soundtrack, especially the "banger" songs from the opening and ending themes, further elevates the viewing experience. I won't mention voice acting, because it is superb, as it has always been in Dragon Ball (or, more specifically, in the anime industry). Masako Nozawa's performance as Goku in Daima might be one of the best out of all Dragon Ball anime.

I had a lot of fun watching this show. It had its cons here and there. Yeah, it was not perfect, and surely there will be fans who would not be happy with the new stuff or rich, sometimes over the top fanservice, which this series is abundant in. But you know what? I loved this show despite its flaws or shortcomings. Dragon Ball Daima works extremely well both as a Dragon Ball anime and as a fun animated series telling a cool story.

Rest in peace, Toriyama-sensei. Thank you for Daima, Dragon Ball, and all the other works you have ever worked on.

B'T X Neo is a great sequel to the original TV series. It not only has better writing but also offers an upgrade in the technical side of this animated series as a whole.

About the writing, B'T X Neo is darker, grittier, with a more dramatic atmosphere, compared to the regular B'T X. I totally liked that change. It fits the overall tone of the later arcs and the climax itself. It also allows for a better portrayal of things that, sadly, were not present in the TV series, I mean many significant characters' backgrounds or motivations.

The soundtrack has improved over the TV series. The ... greater variety of songs and their matching to the scenes they accompany makes the whole thing more comfortable and immersive to watch. Just like in B'T X's opening theme's case, Neo's opening theme is a total banger of a song. Not better than the previous one, but still awesome.

When it comes to art style and animation, the OVA series is also an improvement. Art style remains pretty much the same. It doesn't have drastic changes, but that's good. What felt underwhelming when watching the TV series was the animation. It was not bad, but not good either. Just average. Luckily, B'T X Neo has better animation in general. That also includes the direction and dynamism of both action scenes and more timid ones.

I thoroughly enjoyed this sequel. A brilliant conclusion to the show and a visible upgrade in many aspects of the prequel series. Sure, it is not without any cons and some things could've been done better, but for 14 episodes, I think B'T X Neo is packed with very decent content coated with well-done audiovisuals. In short, different types of shortcomings are covered by elements that are polished and simply properly made.

Have you ever imagined yourself staring at a freshly painted wall, watching the paint slowly dry, and occasionally getting disturbed by the interesting world outside? If not, then you can just watch MF Ghost Season 2. It offers a similarly tedious experience.

The race itself was promising, but in the end it turned out badly. The long racing sequences effectively reduce the enjoyment of watching all the participants' actions. Sure, they are interrupted from time to time by a good-looking moment with eurobeat playing in the background, but one or two brief epic moments are definitely not enough to save the whole episode.

Speaking of the participants' ... actions, one important problem with the characters in this anime is their colorless personalities and monotonous dialogue. The repetition of the same sentiment, expressed in slightly different ways by numerous competitors at similar points in the race, became increasingly irritating over several episodes, especially when spoken by characters who lacked distinct personalities. The dialogue became so irritating that I eventually lost interest in the race itself. Expert commentary on the cars, driving techniques, and technical aspects offered a glimmer of hope, but, as with the race presentation, these moments were insufficient to offset the annoying dialogue. Combined with a boring race, this gives a rather negative mix. It's puzzling, because the race itself had potential, and similar dialogue issues weren't as bothersome in the first season.

The plot follows the typical MF Ghost formula: races, bizarre moments involving "angels," and even stranger slice-of-life scenes that feel completely detached from reality. While some might say it's similar to MF Ghost S1, the first season at least delivered more engaging races. Ironically, while these bizarre moments were annoying in Season 1, they almost felt like a relief in Season 2, given the tedium of the racing sequences.

Visually, Season 2 is on par with Season 1, perhaps with slightly more complex effects due to the weather changes during the races. The music is also consistent, with the same level of eurobeat intensity and a great selection of tracks.

I consider MF Ghost Season 2 a definite downgrade from the first season. While it might offer some entertainment if you can overlook its flaws, I personally can't recommend it. It has completely dampened my interest in future seasons. This is disappointing, because the Lake Ashinoko GT arc initially seemed promising and had the potential for a strong season.

Interesting and unique premise that mixes two different cultures, and totally awesome visuals with stunning animation encoated with a good-looking art style. One would think that a show with these two elements couldn't be bad. Well, Afro Samurai is a model example that they're not enough to make an anime good or even mediocre. Not when all other elements are significantly underwhelming.

All characters, no matter whether we are talking about the main character, Afro, or any other side-characater, were one-dimensional and dull. Those who weren't dull were annoying enough to make a regular viewer cringe and wish they'd just shut up. Going back to the ... characters in general, they felt more like background noise in a pretty much empty story. Their designs were good, but everything else felt shallow and usually was, aside from a few characters with more prominent roles. But even then, they seemed to serve no purpose beyond being another obstacle in Afro's journey of revenge, without offering any real substance.

Here's another issue with Afro Samurai: revenge stories usually follow a well-known model scenario that's pretty basic. This makes them generic and simple, but also safe, as it's hard to make such a story terribly bad. Sadly, this anime falls into the category of badly told revenge stories. Was it even a revenge story to begin with? To avoid spoilers, I will just say that I'm not a fan of messy writing that can't decide on what kind of core element should be pivotal for the story, even if one can find something that can be called as a dominant storytelling element of a plot.

The music is catchy and pleasant at first, but later on, the soundtrack becomes a boring, repetitive symphony of similar beats. I wanted to like it; it wasn't a bad soundtrack by any means. However, it couldn't elevate the other underwhelming elements, despite the marvelous animation and generally decent soundtrack.

Are there any other positives? Apart from what I mentioned in the first paragraph, no, I can't think of any. Are these positive elements enough to watch the show? I don't think so. Even when I tried to just enjoy the setting and brilliant sakuga animation, I still felt bored and unamused. Unfortunately, scenes full of gore and magnificent swordsmanship, as good as they were, weren't enough to elevate the overall enjoyment. Yes, I tried to "turn off my brain and just enjoy the action scenes", but regardless, it still was not enough.

You can't expect much from a short five-episode series, but that doesn't excuse the completely hollow cast of characters and shallow direction that make the whole show a chore to watch at times. So, while this short series offers a visually striking experience with fantastic-looking action sequences, pretty much everything else ultimately leaves much to be desired. Too bad. I really tried my best to enjoy it.

What a shame. After all those years of waiting for a good adaptation of one of the most famous manga created by Junji Ito, we got a show that is, at best, strongly mediocre.

It's a shame, really. Episode 1 was brilliant, after all. Simply beautiful artsy art, smooth animation, great direction that suceeded in building up the atmosphere of uncanyness and mysteriousness... Everything was polished; everything felt top-notch. And then episode 2 was released. A huge quality drop in every aspect, mostly when it comes to animation and direction. I'm tolerant and used to quality drops in long-running series, but come on - Uzumaki anime ... consists only of four episodes, not four hundred. And yet, its second episode was not only painful to watch, but also upsetting, given how good its predecessor looked like. Heck, even the overall tone of this adaptation seemed to change for the worse. Like I said before, I'm pretty tolerant when it comes to that kind of things in anime, so me finding such radical change simply unacceptable and pathetic really makes one think about the intensity of the lack of quality that the discussed thing has.

This anime is faithful to the source material, even if it has some modifications or omissions here and there, which is normal for an animated adaptation of an illustrated series. Too bad that at the same time most of the episodes are simply badly animated. They leave a bad impression, make the whole experience rather unpleasant, and if mixed with rather mediocre direction (too chaotic at times, mostly on the aforementioned ep. 2, but appearing also on episodes 3 and 4).

The only elements that I can't tell anything negative about are those related to the audio side of this series, I mean voice acting and music. The latter is something you'd expect from watching an anime. The voice acting industry in Japan has a lot of very talented and skilled voice actors, after all. As for the latter element, while the soundtrack isn't groundbreaking, it i well-executed and, along with the strong voice acting, helps to mitigate the impact of the poor animation in some scenes, making them slightly more bearable to watch.

Uzumaki anime will surely not be forgotten in the future, after the season during which Uzumaki anime had its premiere ends (Fall 2024). Though, in this case, it's not a compliment. It's better to be forgotten than to be mentioned as an example of one of the biggest anime disappointments of the 2020s decade.

I remember that after seeing the first trailer for this movie, I was genuinely worried about its visuals. The CGI didn't impress me. The next clip, released some time later, looked better, but I was still unsure if CGI was the right choice for a movie belonging to the Dragon Ball franchise, especially after such marvelous spectacle that the Broly movie was. It was quite intriguing and worrysome to hear that the next Dragon Ball movie wouldn't be made in a 2D technique, but would be a CGI movie instead.

Well, it appears that, at least for the Super Hero movie, CGI turned out better than ... good. It looked simply awesome and offered detailed models, smooth animation, a good color palette, and stunning special effects (including those you can see when characters are powering up). I can understand that it might take a while to get used to it (longer or shorter, depending on a viewer's tolerance towards CGI), but at least in my case, it didn't take long to get used to it and stop noticing it, as if the movie was done in the same way as all the previous Dragon Ball movies.

The story focuses on Gohan and Piccolo, offering a refreshing change from the usual Goku and Vegeta-centric narratives. It was a pleasure to see a movie dedicated to other beloved characters, especially those that many fans (including me) have wished to see in the spotlight.
Super Hero's first half might feel a bit slow at times, but such pacing is understandable, given the need to introduce new characters and establish their motivations or goals. While a more dynamic approach wouldn't have hurt, of course, the slower pace was appropriate for setting up the main plotline.

While in general I don't consider this movie superior to the one about Broly, I admit that in terms of soundtrack it's on a slightly higher level. Not that much better, but I could memorize more tracks from it than from the Broly movie, including the main theme. They also felt more fitting to the general vibe offered by Super Hero. Hearing all the effects amplified by speakers at the cinema was simply a fantastic experience.

In terms of fighting choreography, the element that's very important when talking about anything related to this franchise, Super Hero might be the best Dragon Ball movie ever created. The action scenes were filled with intricate details and complexity, whether it was hand-to-hand combat or ki attacks. The well-directed fights, set against beautiful landscapes, were surely a visual treat for one's eyes.

Definitely, Super Hero is worth watching, and I'm saying it as a person who was not initially hyped. With its blend of humor, action, stunning visuals, and a great soundtrack, it's sure to entertain Dragon Ball fans of all kinds. I had fun both while watching it for the first time in the theater and re-watching it at home some months later.

Note: I originally reviewed this movie on September 13, 2022. However, after re-reading it two years later, I decided to make several improvements. As a result, I deleted the old review and submitted this revised version. I consider the new version way better than the old one.

A short but really well-written story that is about grief and acceptance of loss. It presents them in a realistic way, even if, not to spoil anything, one supernatural element is being used as a storytelling tool.

The art is rather alright. Good enough to tell the story properly and entertain the viewer. It would be great if it was actually better, more detailed, with even more expressive facial expressions, but like I mentioned before, it's okay as it is.

I liked how, despite featuring just two characters in such a short story, the readers can easily get a glimpse of their distinct personalities and basic desires. ... All of that blends well with the main storyline.

This manga is surely a quick read due to its length. But I think it's worth recommending for its unique main theme and handling such a mature topic very well.

Writing a review for this anime can be quite challenging, so I will keep it brief. For most of the time, it's a style over substance festival. Very good-looking style, but still the substance feels lacking something.

Beautiful visuals throughout the series, smooth animation with well-executed experimental elements, creative gimmicks, rather likeable characters with various personalities... All is there, accompanied by a good-sounding soundtrack (albeit I can see people who are not into electric guitars simply not enjoying it), even if those guitar riffs might sound tiring to one's ear after a while.

What's the big deal, then? Well, where style shines, it outshines the substance. Likeable ... characters are rather bland and dull. Some of them, like Haruko Haruhara, can totally feel annoying, as if they weren't meant to add anything else to the story but just their own presence and maybe artificially move the whole plot onward in the weirdest way possible. Crazy action sequences might look good, but so what, if they are dominated by wacky sequences, reminding of fever dreams shortly after? Same goes with symbolism. I won't spoil anything, so I will just say that I got what this show wanted to convey. It conveyed it poorly, I need to say. Not because it was unclear, but because it was, just like action sequences I mentioned earlier, dominated by a huge dose of pretentiousness and various other distractors.

It's one of those shows that most will either love or hate. There are also people like me who had fun while watching it, even if they noticed a lot of elements that weren't that good or that felt overwhelming for one reason or another. Hence, "Mixed Feelings" should be one of the best ways of summing up this show. It's certainly worth checking out, even if out of curiosity, but is it essential for every type of anime enthusiast to watch? I don't think so.

"Shin Yaranai ka" OVA is a wonderful tribute to Junichi Yamakawa's works and one of the finest examples of crowdfunded official anime. It offers all the elements that one may call characteristic when talking about Yamakawa-sensei's manga. There's a lot of masculine energy mixed with humor, drama, and bizarre scenes. Everything is enriched by quite unique techniques, such as including real-life footages in the show, using CGI models here and there that look wacky on purpose, or really nice way of censoring things that had to be censored (yes, this anime is censored, but it doesn't take away even for a bit the joy coming ... from watching it). Keep in mind, please, that it has a lot of suggestive moments, so I wouldn't call it a completely SFW anime.

When it comes to visuals, the strongest point of this anime are the close-ups of handsome male characters starring in it, and the overall very faithful depiction of character designs and scenes known from the source material. While it shines the most with static frames, the animation itself is far from something that many would refer to as "sakugafest". To be fair, "Shin Yaranai ka" doesn't need that much complex animation. If we add to it the fact that it's kind of an indie project, then the animation quality is proper, at least in my opinion. Not great, but also not that much terrible to be called a slideshow.

Audio effects are alright. They fit all the scenes they are used in. The soundtrack is good, making this whole OVA even funnier to watch. "Kuso♂Miso Carnival" by Kaito is truly a banger.

Just one word of advice that is definitely worth noting in a review. This anime is a genuine, classic bara experience. That's why it might not click with yaoi fans. Even though I recommend checking it out regardless of whether you are a fan of bara or yaoi, it is recommended to keep in mind that this show prioritizes classic bara over yaoi.

The studio, Anime Tokyo, did a wonderful job in making an anime adaptation that mixes the old stories that are several decades old with fresh ideas. It resulted in creating a new story that is heavily influenced by the other works by Yamakawa-sensei (with the legendary "Kuso Miso Technique" having a priviledged position, making it somewhat a core of the whole story told in this OVA).

I had fun while watching "Shin Yaranai ka". It's definitely an anime I recommend for everyone interested in watching a fine bara full of humor and fancyness.