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Cesare is a great example of the saying "Don't judge a book by it's cover" I have come across in manga. The word "underrated" is thrown around so often that it loses its meaning at times, but various aspects considered, I can definitely say that Cesare is a truly underrated manga. Hidden behind that seemingly bland cover page is one of the most detailed artworks in manga I've ever seen that brings 15th century Italy to life. But it's not just good artwork without any substance either, as it conveys a highly intricate storyline.

This manga is well researched and quasi-fictional in nature which tells a ... story about the struggle for power among various houses and factions of Italy in the 15th century with the struggle for popedom being the ultimate one. The story primarily takes place in the city of Pisa, with Milan, Florence and Rome being secondary focuses. This manga is heavy on dialogue as is expected from a storyline so complex. It takes it's time to give a thorough understanding of the political situation of Italy during the early chapters, so one doesn't have to be well versed in history to be able to enjoy the manga. But on the other hand, if one isn't fond of history, then completing this manga will prove to be a task. There are historical references dotting the entire manga and multiple chapters solely dedicated to explaining history. Action is not the primary focus of the manga and it's almost completely void of it, with the exception of a brief arc which focuses on the military aspects.

The two main characters of the story are Cesare de Borgia, a Spaniard from the aristocratic family of Borgia, and Angelo de Canossa, a plebian. The bright-minded students from across Europe get enrolled in the La Sapienza University of Pisa, which is where the focus of the story lies early on. Angelo's character in a way represents the readers themselves, as he's naive and ignorant of worldly affairs in the beginning, as are most of the readers, and through him, we get to know more about the political situation of Italy during the time. In addition to these two and the supporting characters, we also get to see a lot of historical figures of the Italian Renaissance. 

The artwork is absolutely beautiful. The characters have a slight shoujo-ish look to them and look really good. The detailing of the background as well as the Italian architecture is absolutely magnificent right from the beginning of the manga. 

However, there are a few gripes I have with the manga. First of all, certain parts of the manga felt really slow paced even for a historical manga fan like me, so I can see some fans not being able to be comfortable with it. Secondly, the representation of the French in the manga, as these stupid warmongers, is kind of one-sided. So if you're a French, it's most likely that you're not gonna enjoy it very much. Thirdly, although the ending was a good stopping point and really well executed, we know from history about how dramatic the situation in Italy became after the events in the manga, so I really wish the manga had continued the storyline.

TLDR; Cesare is a really good read for historical manga fans out there who want to see a purely political side of the power struggle during the Renaissance period rather than the usual military one.

As a manga reader, I already knew how awesome this season was going to be. The only underlying worry with the change in studios was MAPPA giving it a proper adaptation. Needless to say, they have done a pretty decent job at it.

What is it that first comes to our minds when we think of the Golden Age of the Vikings? Surely it is Norse Gods, bloody raids across Europe, pagan rituals, voyages in longships and so on. The daily lives of slaves and farmers or the effect of raids on the lives of the victims are hardly among those, since the former appears more ... appealing compared to the latter. But regardless of the entertainment value, both of them were integral parts of society then. If the first season explored the former, the second season explores the latter. Surely there is a shift in tone accompanied by this change, but rather than treating them as two completely different things, we should see them as the two sides of the same coin.

The first season of Vinland Saga, although a wonderful season in terms of both narrative and technical aspects, lacked something huge. The portrayal of what should have been the very heart of the show, Thorfinn, left a large portion of the viewers annoyed, detached and not being able to like the character. But this was largely due to the constraints of adapting an anime from the source material, rather than being a flaw of the storyline itself. Regardless, everything changed for the better in this season as Thorfinn undergoes one of the greatest character developments to become the most lovable character of the show, perhaps even more than the show stealer Askeladd himself. The mass introduction of new characters is something that I'm not really a huge fan of. There are several shows that does this that has left a bad taste in my mouth. But sometimes the storyline demands it and it's very hard to pull off successfully. Needless to say, Yukimura has done a great job at introducing the new characters for they are all very likeable and interesting, even though some of them being absolute pieces of shit. There have also been several instances of anime original scenes in the show. Even the very first scene of this season was an original scene, but all of them have only enhanced the source material even more.

However, two of the biggest drawbacks of this season seemed to be related to the animation quality and shift in tone compared to the first season. There certainly has been a slight dip in the animation quality compared to the first season. There are instances of choppy animation, not big enough to ruin your experience but enough to notice them. Instances where facial features are not completely visible upon viewing from afar and moments with juxtaposition of characters with backgrounds are also present. The lack of action compared to the first season might also be underwhelming for many fans who have been following this anime just because it's bloody aspects and cannot find the themes explored by this season interesting, adding salt to the wound, the slow pace of the storyline.

In conclusion, as a huge fan of Vinland Saga, the Farmland Saga was everything I could have ever hoped for. Of course, there are certain aspects which could have been improved, but overall, it has been a satisfying journey. And don't forget, You Don't Have Any Enemies!

The lack of popularity surrounding Ad Astra has always surprised me. Even after 11 years, the community for this great manga is almost non-existent, which is a pity to be honest. Revolving around the Punic Wars (264-146 BC) fought between the two ancient Mediterranean powers, Rome and Carthage (present day Tunisia), Ad Astra specifically tells us the magnificent story of the 2nd Punic War of all the three wars fought between them, the first being ended with The Treaty of Lutatius and Rome's victory. Since the source of historical information for this manga is Polybius's "The Histories", the general flow of events and fate of ... characters can be considered to be completely true.

The story is facile to follow through even without having prior knowledge about anything related to the Punic wars. In the case of a historical manga, the lack of information regarding events often leads to the mangaka to rely on complete asspulls for the story to move on, but thankfully there are no such issues with Ad Astra and almost every event and decisions made by the characters makes complete sense. The manga covers both the political and military sides of the warfare really well. Due to the same complexity, the time taken for completing a chapter takes longer than reading an average manga chapter. Plus points for the adequate usage of maps to get a better understanding of the events.

The Punic wars introduced us to two of the greatest military tacticians of all time, Scipio of Rome and Hannibal of Carthage, and as the main characters of this manga, the author does justice to both of them, even though the focus largely lies with Scipio. The manga really well demonstrates the monster that Hannibal is, who racked up victory after victory through cunning tactics and left the Romans shaking in their boots. It is estimated that during the battle of Cannae, Rome lost 20% of its entire adult male population to Hannibal. One of the few issues I have with this manga is the lack of focus on Hannibal's personal life. Unlike Scipio, Hannibal is presented to us mostly during the battles only and his value as a character comes from his wisdom and strategies. There is almost nothing presented on his personal life and I wish the author had given some focus to it. This could have been brought about through flashbacks of his past or even mentioning events through other characters. This manga is one of those rare ones where I prefer its side characters over its main ones. Each of them has their own unique traits, flaws, motivations and backgrounds that perfectly fit into the puzzle, making this manga truly a diamond in the rough.

The art is good and stays consistent throughout the manga with occasional screenshotable great panels that portray the full scope of battles or the battles itself. It does have its fair share of comedic relief and nudity, neither being too focused or completely absent. Overall, I really enjoyed this manga and my issues with it are very minimal. The chemistry between Hannibal and Scipio was fantastic and I wish that it had been a little slower paced. Nevertheless, this manga is a must read and I will highly recommend this to every historical manga fans out there.

Granted, the opening was phenomenal but does the show overall stand up to it? Well... I would say NO. This anime is probably the biggest scam happened to me in 2021.

"Expectations were like fine pottery. The harder you held them, the more likely they were to crack." ~ Brandon Sanderson.

Expectations are a huge factor when it comes to entertainment which may or may not move in the direction one expects it to and sometimes severely affect the experience of a viewer. It is an attribute of humans and not something we can just switch on and off whenever we wish to. The difference in a ... person's judgement between a mediocre show with high acclamation and a well-written show with poor popularity can be quite large. That being said, Da Wang Rao Ming is the donghua (similar to anime but made in China) adaptation of the novel "Spare me, great lord" that got negatively hit due to the factor of expectations rooted from it's eye candy opening.

STORY

You may find difficulty in following the story if you are not a Mandarin speaker since the English subtitles provided were hard to follow. The story revolves around an orphan named Lu Shu who only retains a walnut shaped pendant from his parent. When he gets into a truck accident, his pendant manages to save him, while bestowing him the distress point system in the process. He has an adoptive sister, Lu Xiaoyu who ran away from the orphanage to live with Lu Shu, when he turned 16. Lu Shu has attempted to send her back multiple times, so she could have a better chance at life, yet she always escapes and returns to his home. The basic premise of the story is quite simple, a brother and sister trying their best to live their lives their best up until many people start to awaken abilities which became a turning point in their lives. An organisation called Heavenly Network starts to recruit students who awakened these abilities and trains them to enhance their super powers and one of them being Lu Shu. The power system was confusing and they did not provide a proper explanation on the star systems.

CHARACTERS

Majority of the characters in this donghua lack any sort of depth, no backstories, painful struggles or clear goals, in short they are bland/boring and easily forgettable. The protagonist Lu Shu gains points for his gacha system through negative emotions by annoying/angering people. While the way in which he annoys and collects points from people is pretty entertaining to watch, Lu Shu's growth feels so sudden, without any struggles that this can also be called lazy writing. Even after 12 episodes Lu Shu remains as the same person, the same annoying brat who don't give a fuck about anyone else other than his sister in the first episode, that is zero character development. The chemistry between Lu Shu and Lu Xiaoyu, two poor orphan siblings unrelated by blood supporting each other as they move on was a nice touch. All the side characters lack depth and are just present as tools for Lu Shu to accumulate his points and provide an explanation for his sudden growth. How come Lu Shu is able to master in martial arts so quickly? The answer is the old man Li Xianyi. A scapegoat for his ability awakening? The answer is Liu Li who also serves as the stereotypical bully of the class. Jiang Shuyi is the big brain of the class who provides answer to various questions that arises as the story moves forward but no explanation is given or hinted whatsoever on his source for this immense knowledge on highly secret affairs. Then we have the two teachers, the serious Xifei and the funny Li Yixiao, both just exist in the world with others as tools of interaction with Lu Shu but lacks depth and any sort of personal characteristics. This donghua would have been a lot better if they focused more into the side character's lives, show their daily struggles, their pasts, motivations and goals clearly rather than almost always showing it from Lu Shu's perspective.

COMEDY AND ANIMATION

Comedy is by far the greatest aspect of this donghua aside from it's opening. Comedy is just too dominant that sometimes it even undermines potential dramatic moments. Even though there were a lot of comedic moments, I couldn't enjoy it at it's finest the main culprit being the incompetent subtitles provided and I don't think Tencent would release an official english subs anytime soon. Due to failure of the subtitles to present the dialogues in a comprehendible manner, many potential jokes just went over my head. The opening and ending were both top-notch and successful from a marketing point of view but the difference in animation quality between the opening and the show itself is quite large. The motion is disjointed and unfluent as most of the typical donghua.

CONCLUSION

This anime was not enjoyable for me mainly due to my high expectations for it rooted from it's opening and the confusing subtitles. The comedy was great at times and the animation is tolerable if you are familiar with Chinese donghua animations.

An expanse which stretches as far as the eye can see which is filled with meaningless, repugnant, stinky garbage of every kind, a grim atmosphere. And in the midst of all the senseless trash is a single small patch of beautiful flowers, whose area is utterly insignificant to that of the expanse and among those flowers, one of them, the one which puts a smile even on the most hopeless person's face have a name, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. This is the best description I could think of for this benison of an entertainment. This anime is widely regarded as one of the greatest anime of ... all time and this will make sense once you experience it.

STORY

The story is one the main pillars of this show. It commences with Edward and Alphonse chasing the wanted Isaac McDougal aka The Freezing Alchemist. Isaac learns about the secrets of Amestris' government and endeavours to solve everything solely by himself. While he dies in the process the statements made by him leaves the viewers in a state if intense curiousness which is the perfect initiation for any show. The story is facile to follow but at the same time too complex that once you begin to dwelve deeper into it you will realise that you've only touched the tip of the iceberg. While Brotherhood skips past the early manga chapters assuming people have already watched the 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist series, the adaptation was so good that we do not feel it's fast pacing at all. The plot unravels it's mysteries slowly at the right time and the last 15 episodes (The promised day arc) have the best buildup in any anime.

CHARACTERS

The great cast of characters is probably the strongest aspect of this anime. FMAB did something in a short amount time that many shounen anime could not do even with hundreds of episodes. Edward and Alphonse are not your typical "I have a dream" main characters. Like many in the show, both of them are products of tragedy and you will easily sympathise with them. Edward Elric's character starts off as a selfish, irate character full of pride, like when we see him getting enraged whenever someone calls him short. As the story moves forward he learns to rely on others rather than shouldering everything on himself and begins to trust and form strong bonds with others. By the end of the show Ed have become a self-accepting, trusting and a placid character. Alphonse Elric starts off as a kind, peaceful and very much dependant on Ed. Even after everything they've gone through, he trusts Ed and deeply cares for him. The literal name of this anime "Brotherhood", the profound relation between Elric brothers is explored during a plethora of instances like the entire aftermath of the events at laboratory 5, when Scar attacks them the first time, when Al gets “posessed” by Pride, when Greed abducts Al in Dublith and much more that it does not leave the viewer questioning about the deep connection between the Elric brothers.

Another aspect I love about FMAB is no matter how insignificant or lame you are, you have a significance to the story. It shows that every person plays a role and has a consequentiality. It makes us feel Ed and Al to be a part of the world rather than stars of the show.

Arakawa(the writer of FMA) is not the type of writer to make a character who has lived for hundreds of years a flat one. The lack of discussion about Van Hohenheim on MAL deeply pertubs me. You could even say that FMAB is Hohenheim's story said through the eyes of his sons. He's incredibly nuanced for a character to be properly introduced so far into the story. He loves his family and devotes himself to them, while also being full of culpability about Xerxes. He talks to everyone and gets to know them. He also brought his knowledge to Xing, implying he travelled, helped people and taught them. He has troubles showing his emotions, and he's self aware enough to know he's no genius. He isn't incredibly brilliant or talented but rather everything he is is the fruit of years of work and study. He's a flawed, nuanced character with a lot of growth and without a doubt a great character. When he wanted to die, he lived and when he wanted to live, he died, the irony of it. Scar is a great antihero who was initially an antagonist who uses religion to justify his sins. He’s discriminated against for what race he is, where he came from and that’s something a lot of people can relate too. His chemistry with Winry, a person who would have been completely justified seeking revenge for the deaths of her parents but, instead, chooses to forgive is done very well. The Military major driving force of this anime and has many major players from it. The death of Hughes establishes that no one is safe and takes a deep emotional turn from then. Mustang's character arc is also very well done. FMAB excels in creating many well-developed and interesting female characters. Rather than fanservicing the hell out of them, Arakawa gave them depth in terms of writing. Winry, Riza, Olivier, Izumi, Maria, Mei, all are individuals (not just a "woman" archetype) with their own interesting personalities, goals, and skills.

Arakawa did a great job in representing the Homunculus as The Seven Deadly Sins while also perfectly connecting them to Father's desire to become God and hence to the story, giving meaning to their names. The names used also gives a psychological advantage as the viewer automatically assumes the existence of other Homunculus when Lust and Gluttony are introduced early in the show. Lust and Sloth had greater characterisation in 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist anime but they clearly manages to leave a mark of their presence in the Brotherhood too.
Lust and Gluttony make a great duo and made a wonderful job as antagonists in the early episodes. Pride was the first Homunculus to be created by Father. Introduced as the adopted son of King Bradley, his real appearance is based on Father's original form, the Dwarf in the Flask during the time of Xerxes. Sloth is the most uninteresting of all the Homunculi but his importance in digging a gigantic transmutation circle beneath Amestris to be used in turning the country into a Philosopher's Stone is immense. Greed is an extremely well executed anti-hero. As his name literally suggests, he is introduced as a greedy character who will do anything to accomplish his selfish needs. By taking over Ling Yao, Ling helps him to make him understand that what he truly craves for is not money, women or power but simply friendship. His turning of antagonist into an anti hero is truly marvellous and he is a character that everyone can easily root for despite being evil in nature. Envy is probably the most hated antagonist along with Pride in FMAB. He is a selfish and sadistic character who does not have any high ideals. He manipulates those weaker than himself and is constantly trying to play power games with those around him. Envy will constantly use dirty tactics to deceive and gloat all in the attempt to reach his goal that goal being self-affirmation. The feeling of unfairness and foul play, it is a feeling that is what makes this villain so hateable. Envy is jealous of the camaraderie and unity of people when it's temptation to get the others to turn against each other's fails, he is confused and unable to understand why these people would work together despite their backgrounds and history with each other. Envy needs attention, Envy means affirmation but there's no one to give that to envy. When Envy one last time tries to manipulate others as it always does, there's no response no change in emotion no rebuttals no anger in anyone, it is this the enemy seems to fear most, the fear being ignored, a sign of being unworthy, something that is worthless, this realization of jealousy is humiliating to the point where is better to die than to live on. In the end, Envy ends up being a tragic and a great antagonist. King Bradley is not a great personification of the deadly sin that he was named after. He is much less of the classic temperamental anger that may have been expected and much more of a man depicting a cold unrelenting fury dictated by his hatred of humanity and his idea of how people should live their lives. Despite going through life following a path that had been laid out for him from the start, Bradley's Philosophy is one predicated on self-Reliance. He has a true respect for those that rely only on themselves to strive forward towards their ambitions because he can relate and knows how difficult and admirable this is. He has a huge amount of disdain for the concept of a God and he is very anti religious chastising the Ishvalans for over alliance on deism and scorning Scar for his beliefs. He hates that these ideas tend to regress mankind and make them meek and unwilling to act for themselves if God exists. Bradley believes that living for others should not be a concern for a true King. He finds the idea of altruistic sacrifice to be abhorrent and an insult to life itself this is likely why he displays such a respect for exceptional fighters like Mustang, Lan Fan, Fu, and Scar. He has lived a life completely lacking in freedom except for one thing his wife and so he'd used her as a representation of his freedom to choose even if he was just limited to one choice. Humanity gave him a chance to fight with his all against Fierce opponents humanity gave him some fun and entertainment, and most of all humanity gave him choice this is why Bradley considers his life to have been one worth living he died satisfied.
Another interesting aspect of FMAB is that every Homunculus dies in an ironic way.
> Lust, the embodiment of the sin that makes men kneel, dies kneeling to a man.
> Gluttony, the embodiment of greed in food dies getting eaten by Pride.
> Pride gets defeated by a lifeform he considered to be inferior to him.
> Sloth, the symbol of laziness dies due to over exerting himself.
> Greed dies satisfied.
> Envy commits suicide after discovering that he has been envious of the humans.
> Wrath is killed by Scar who has overcome his own wrath.
It is not surprising that a mere human cannot understand Father or to be more accurate, to feel Father as a rather bland character. He strips himself off his seven sins or his human side because of his aspiration to become a literal GOD. This and his appearance being similar to Hohenheim somewhat makes Father an uninteresting/boring character. While at the surface this may seem to be underwhelming considering the big bad of a great show who orders around other more interesting antagonists is boring, there is a lot more to it than seems. One of the philosophical message this story delivers is that one gains stature not by directly removing the sins but by overcoming it, Father took the former, the easier way and becomes bland in the process. The Homunculi Father created is a part of him and Father is a part of them. So while considering the character of Father or more accurately The Dwarf in the Flask, he is all of the homonculi combined. His relationship with the Homunculi is being overshadowed by the blandness of Father which makes people to assume him as a bad antagonist while when you look from a greater perspective, he is not.

ART AND SOUND

The source material and it's adaptation are hardly related to each other than being a plot source. A great source material does not necessarily mean it's adaptation will be as phenomenal, Berserk 2016 for example and vice versa. Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood will go down in history as one of the best adaptations in anime history, thanks to great work of Studio Bones. The artstyle is nothing phenomenal but perfectly fine. The art becomes simpler in random comedic moments which does not feel off at all. The top notch voice acting makes us feel than view the show and the music by Akira Senju beautifully fits the anime. Trisha's Lullaby, Lapis Philosophorum, Xing Symphony, Homage to the Alchemist, you name it there were are a lot of memorable soundtracks from this anime that I was listening to even after completing it. All of the 5 openings and endings were nothing short of great.

CONCLUSION

While there does not exist a literally "perfect" anime, FMAB is one of the closest ones with very few issues. Like I mentioned earlier Brotherhood skips a few of the early chapters, while this may not affect a person whose first Fullmetal Alchemist experience is FMAB, there is a slight chance this may affect the manga readers or FMA 2003 viewer's experience. There is also a problem of tonal shifts, random comedic moments with lesser animation quality pops up in the midst of a serious situation and there is a slight chance that this may affect the viewer's experience. But the quantity of this shift gets reduced as the show progresses forward. Personally though, these two issues did not affect my experience.
There are a lot of themes that this anime explores and develops overtime. Tragedy, Loss, hatred, pointlessness of revenge, value of a human soul, embracement of one's humanity, equivalent exchange and much more. I do not believe Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood was about it's beautiful story, it's phenomenal characters or astounding music but instead about it's philosophical messages and it's application into real life. The difference in Isaac McDougal and Edward Elric is that the former did not trust anyone, was reckless and tried to solve everything by himself and failed but the latter made good relationship with people, formulated a plan and succeeded in achieving the common goal. The conclusion of Father teaches us an important lesson that one must not aspire to become someone else but stay true to themselves. Science and religion are two clashing subjects of utmost importance to humanity. While the preference depends on individuals, FMAB manages to excellently display the light and dark faces of both sides, signifying that none is superior to the other. For example in the case of Rose, the pathetic side of religion is shown, she is blinded by faith and believes that Father Cornello can successfully bring back her loved one. While in the case of Shou Tucker, the cruel side of science and importance of morality is demonstrated. Equivalent exchange, the very core of this anime have a lot of analogies in real world. In order to gain something we have to sacrifice something of equal value first, this can be money, time, health anything. The value that we place on these things differs, but each is extremely important and can have adverse effects on our lives. If you try to achieve something you may make mistakes. Rather than failures you should view them as lessons, or painful lessons. If you manage to do that and not be afraid to make mistakes and learn from them, than you will reach your goal eventually.


"A lesson without pain is meaningless. For you cannot gain anything without sacrificing something else in return, but once you have overcome it and made it your own...you will gain an irreplaceable Fullmetal Heart"
- Edward Elric/Hiromu Arakawa

I have always been a huge fan of post-apocalyptic shows and when I read the synopsis of Takt op Destiny, it facilely peaked my interest with high expectations. With the collaboration of MAPPA×Madhouse what else could possibly go wrong? Well ostensibly a lot.

STORY

The synopsis was very intriguing for me and that is what led me to watch this show and I was expecting a serious anime with a dark and gritty atmosphere but it was a disappointment. There seems to be no seriousness of any sort and no dystopian feel of post-apocalyptic shows. D2s appear out of nowhere, the Conductors and musicarts eradicate them and ... it goes on a reiterate. Still are the D2s really a menace? People seem to be chilling out in the suburbs just fine. The pacing was abominable and the worldbuilding was awful. How did all the mysterious D2 birthing crystals magically disappeared? Also seems like D2 are still present but now with Sagan not calling them with that tuning fork so what was the point of it anyway? Even after the show, there were a lot of answered questions.

CHARACTERS

This anime is a conspicuous waifu-bait which is composed of uninteresting characters with easily predictable one-dimensional traits. First of all we have a cold protagonist who is just horny for music and doesn't seem to care about anything else. Then we have two waifus, first a sweet loving emotionless musicart who doesn't seem to be aware of the fact that doors and windows exist and second a fappable hottie who seems to take care of the other two.
The fact that both Anna and Takt got over Cosette's death so facilely alone just make them two apalling characters. Takt wasn't confused upon losing his arm, gaining the power of Conductor, his friend being turned into a fancy dressed musicart and acts as if he is thoroughly cognizant of what he is doing which is just underwhelming and illogical. The common people are either cretins or people who value music over their lives as upon hearing music panicking or taking shelter should have been the most logical option but that doesn't seem to happen here.
What was the point of a Conductor anyway, aside from acting as energy batteries? It's said that they control the Musikarts but in the final battle like many before, we can see that Destiny was able to defeat Hell/Heaven even without Takt waving his stick around. This brings to my next point, how in the fucking world was Destiny able to defeat Hell/Heaven? Destiny stood no chance against Hell or Heaven separately, defeating their combined form while herself being heavily injured signifies the massive Plot Armour in this anime. The character development was also trash with Takt being the only characters who developed while Lenny and Titan being well written. I would say Lenny's death was the peak of this show. Sagan was nonsensical character, his goal made no sense at all. It really felt like they made some bullshit up on the spot so we would have a big bad to defeat in the final episode.

SOUND

Music is a highly subjective opinion and personally for me, it wasn't that great. Music is what should have been the heart and soul of this anime but it doesn't feel like it has any relevance to the character motivations, fighting and overall atmosphere of the show. I usually Shazam a score that peaks my interest and nothing of that sort has been happened with this anime. The opening song was a banger and the ending song was average.

ART

The animation seems to carry the anime and it is probably the biggest pros as expected from a MAPPA×Madhouse collaboration. If you are someone probing for visually stunning art and doesn't really care about other aspects of the show then this is the exact eye candy you're looking for.
The action is visually gorgeous but repetitive and doesn't seem to crave for ingeniousness.

CONCLUSION

Takt op Destiny was not copacetic for me. Still the only way for you to enjoy it is if you turn off your brain and wholeheartedly accept whatever the shit is going to be shoved down your throat.
Thank you for reading :)