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"Yamazakura
I like the leaves
That you've hidden"

I loved every single minute of this movie. It reminded me of why I like stories so much. I laughed, I cried, I cheered, and I had so much fun hanging out with this characters through this moments that in the end felt way too short. That's good storytelling.

You see, it is not always about the refined, complex writing, or the intense high stakes moments and deep psychological character work. Great stories often come from simple ideas, like a shy boy who likes to write haikus and a self conscious girl who's a digital influencer that accidentally meet after bumping ... on each other at the local mall and changing their phones by mistake. Such a simple premise, cliché even, but so well executed that it floods with creativity.

The movie is charming in every aspect and the passion for the craft is palpable. The animation is fluid, full of color and life. The music sets the tone masterfully. The characters are compelling, with engaging realistic personalities and the plot unfolds naturally, perfectly paced with no holes or unexplored themes. This movie doesn't try to be something that it isn't, the producers knew exactly what they were aiming for and they nailed it. It is honest with the audience and most importantly, honest with itself.

Also, can we acknowledge how beautifully poetical this title is? "Words bubble up like soda pop" is not only an amazing haiku written by the protagonist but also conveys so much of the vibe in this movie, full of smart parallels and poetry that enhance each moment happening on screen.

I loved it. It's amazing. Can't recommend it enough. It is wholesome, beautiful and friendly to all publics. Great piece of Japanese animation that explore it's potential to the fullest.

Now, inspired by Cherry poems sprayed across town, here's a haiku by me:

"Poetry is hard
But as the rain falls outside
it doesn't hurt to try"

I don't like music anime. I also don't usually like time travel plots in anime, and I don’t empathize with AI characters. Vivy Fluorite has all of this combined and yet managed to be one of the most enjoyable anime of 2021. So needless to say, it was a much appreciated surprise.

In 1950 Isaac Asimov posed an interesting question on the topic of AIs in his book “I, Robot”. In the last of Susan’s Calvin recollection of stories as a robotics psychologist, she ponders what would happen if the machines that run society paradoxically decided that the best for humankind's future was our extinction. What ... if the AIs were slowly directing humanity to a path of self destruction for them to become the next step on darwinian evolution?

Vivy answers this question quite elegantly. It would work. Humans would inevitably reach a point of such integration with technology that it would be easy for AIs to wipe us all off the globe. However, there’s one thing AIs can’t figure out that’s holding their decision on whether to eliminate humans or not: they can’t sing. Or rather, they can’t comprehend creativity and art from an emotional perspective, or “from the heart” as the protagonist says. This dilemma —which is quite Asimovish by the way— sets the conflict in which Vivy’s plot develops, as the future of humanity depends on the last thing that sets us apart from the machines: our incomprehensible love for art.

In this sense, the story in Vivy Fluorite is compelling for the general audience, while also providing food for thought to the sci-fi nerds (me) who enjoy overanalyzing every single detail in an anime. Production wise this show is beautiful, bringing all the potential studio WIT has to offer with great action sequels, epic soundtrack and fluid animation. The songs are mostly great and didn’t distract me from the story with boring montages as usually happens in the genre.

The plot is not perfect though. The time travel mechanics are confusing and convenient (hence why I usually dislike time travel plots), the AI personalities and conflicts are often clunky written or unrealistic (hence why I usually dislike AI characters) and the anime feels very episodic with each arc being decades apart from the next and almost no character participating in all episodes besides the protagonist.

But overall, the high quality production, fast pacing action and intriguing story makes for it’s flaws. This anime deserves praise all the more for executing such difficult ideas without making it messy, boring, confusing or inconsistent. I am really excited for the future projects of WIT studio.

I’m genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed this anime. After I watched the first episode I thought this was going to be a weird kinky ecchi-flooded romcom with bad characters that I would eventually drop. However, it ended up being very fun, and I liked it a lot.

Both the main characters annoyed me deeply in the first episode. Nagatoro seemed like a one sided bully who was only meant to be a fanservice source to a very specific audience, while Senpai was a beta male that went through it all passively, being a huge disservice to the people who actually suffers with bullying. The ... thought of romanticizing this dynamic and trying to build something out of it struck me as horrifying to say the least.

Fortunately, I was wrong. I still think the anime doesn't do a great job at establishing limits and consequences to how cruel Nagatoro can be. Her actions could easily cause severe trauma to people who actually are socially anxious in real life. But both these characters ended up being much more nuanced than I thought. Nagatoro grew a lot in my opinion once we saw that she cares deeply for Senpai, standing up for him in many situations. The fact that she doesn't mess around with guys she's not interested in, treating them with utter cold indifference made me appreciate her a lot more as well. Senpai also gets a slight development though the show, being gradually less nervous around Nagatoro and her friends, also speaking out against them whenever they cross the limits eventually. These nuances enriched their dynamic to the point where I was 100% invested in their romance once we got to the final arc of the season.

The unnecessary ecchi and cleavage was a low point for me in this anime. Sometimes the author used it pretty well, building embarrassing moments that actually felt real and funny. But in other moments the sexual teasing felt repetitive and cringy, being just an excuse for lame fanservice. I think we saw three different scenes where Senpai blushes after seeing Nagatoro’s bra through her wet shirt.

In short, I embraced the wholesomeness of the series, having a great time seeing our main couple’s romance develop in their own weird way (not trying to kink shame anybody). It was for the most part a light-hearted, cute and very fun experience. I’m going to continue the story in the manga looking forward to seeing more development for these two characters, and eventually, who knows… maybe a kiss? Kimoi!

Tokyo Revengers is basically Erased but with much less focus on mystery and replaces all the kids for biker gang’s delinquents with the most eccentric hairstyles in anime since Yu-Gi-Oh.

The story follows Hanagaki Takemichi, a 26 year old loser who receives the power to travel back in time after learning his middle school ex girlfriend was murdered in an accident involving a street gang that he used to be part of. Takemichi then returns 12 years into the past to his days of being a delinquent teenager in order to save not only Hina, but also himself.

This anime was a complete surprise to me in ... the summer season of 2021, among other hyped titles like the award winning novel 86 and the return of WIT studios with Vivy Fluorite. I did not expect that an anime I have never heard of before would be one of my favorites of the season. The premise is interestly unique, matching underground Tokyo gang culture with a time travel plot, something I didn’t think would work, but surprisingly it did.

Probably one of the greatest things about this anime is the aesthetic appearance of the characters and their dynamics. I am a sucker for teams that fight together and trust each other, so having the Tokyo Manji Gang full of eccentric characters and being led by two absolute badasses like Draken and Mickey won me over immediately. Mickey’s mission to turn a group of outsiders and misfits into a family that can rely on each other is actually really interesting and it makes me want to support this even when these characters take morally questionable actions. Besides that, their visuals are just so cool, it almost makes me want to dye my hair and ride around on a bike punching people for no reason.

However, this anime is far from perfect. The protagonist falls into the category of characters who never asks the right questions and could have easily prevented many conflicts just by having more than two brain cells. Despite the series being about his redemption story we see very little of his development as a person. Even though he gathers courage to take some right actions here and there, he still lacks any resolve or audacity to be seen as the hero the show wants him to be, which can be a little annoying sometimes. The plot also lacks depth in many parts, the time travel mechanic is poorly explained and the set ups are not very well established, making some emotional climaxes feeling a little bit cheap and dumb.

The production is not entirely bad, but could have been much better. The action sequels are not fluid enough to be super exciting, there’s almost no remarkably beautiful scenes, and even though the Touman Gang characters design look awesome, other characters like Naoto are just weird. For some reason Takemichi looks much younger when he is 26 compared to when he is 14, and especially compared to Mickey, his design is just boring. The soundtrack is great overall, but I don't think the opening and ending fit very well with the show aesthetic.

Final Thoughts: Tokyo Revengers is below average in many points, but the premise is captivating by its originality and the Touman characters are great, which makes the anime quite fun in general. If biker gangs and street fights are appealing to you, consider giving it a chance.