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This anime confused me to the core. It confused from the first episode and just when I was getting the hang of it, it confused me at the end as well. I had all these questions that I didn't know where to get all the answers from. For everyone's interests, I will keep this review SPOILER FREE.

All right... Let's take it from the start:

You can read the anime description to get a feel of it from the anime page, but I will tell you how I understood the plot. The anime takes place in another land, in a city called Hellsalem Lot. Formerly known ... as New York City until a certain event transpired which made our world collide with another and now all sorts of creatures are trapped with humans within the borders of this city which is protected by a barrier of sorts. So for 3 years, they tried to get along and live with each other. Meanwhile, an organisation called 'Libra' is formed to punish evildoers [usually non-humans] and there is another organisation that caused evil. Think Justice and Injustice League kind of. Our main character, Leo, goes to this city to understand more his newly obtained ability "All-seeing Eyes of the Gods".

From the plot alone the show seemed promising to me and I watched the first episode. In very few words it was about Leo going to the city, meeting the Justice League... I mean... Libra, and because they liked his ability they recruited him; along with his monkey kind-of, sort-of sidekick. I think my explanation was fairly straight forward. Here is my problem though: the anime has a problem... Well, a few actually and they are big ones. The tone, narrative and pacing are all over the place. The narrative especially is very unfocused and left me scratching my head and scream 'Explain. For the love of GOD, explain." It stopped, then continued somewhere else and then went somewhere. Meanwhile, the events didn't really connect at all or had no purpose to them.
It would be like me trying to write this review and midway announcing I'm going for ice cream or something, only to come back five minutes later and changing my mind to wanting a waffle and then realising I had no money to begin with so I'll just stay here and write this review [university life in a nustshell]. But man, I wanted a waffle. Kind to think of it they should still be delivering.
...

...

What was I talking about?

Right...

'Kekkai Sensen'

It caused me a headache to understand it. In the next few episodes, the show relaxed a little bit and we start getting to know some of the characters and to be fair there are many cool characters. They have problems as well but I will explore that in the next paragraph. So episode 2 till 7 or so were more straightforward. Following the 'villain-of-the-week' plot while we established some characterisation and context. Not a lot, but some. I thoroughly enjoyed the episode with Leo and the mushroom that ate burgers. [That's a sentence I didn't think I would say today.] While the climax was approaching though we had more and more problems arising.

The characters as I said before, and trust me there are a lot of them for a 12 episode show, were there. But they weren't fully fledged and the show didn't give me time to understand their motivations or if they went through a character arc. Just when you are about to understand how a character thinks, talks etc they throw you another one and some times, they never even come back. Hell, the main character goes through stuff at the end and I can't for the life of me tell you if he has changed at all.

There's so much stuff that wasn't explained either. For example "What is the great collapse?", "What and who was the king of despair?" "What was the point of the organisation apart from seeing them 5 times when they did nothing of significance?". Just uuuugh...

The final episode was extremely confusing.

Good guy?
Check.

Villain?
Check.

A town ready to be destroyed?
Check.

A motivation for our main character and villain?
....

Oh, wait. There is none. Yes, the hero wants to stop the villain and that's motivation enough but... I never understood why the villain did what he did. What he hoped to accomplish? Was it just mayhem for the sake of mayhem? I'm okay with that but I need to know...


Maybe I didn't get it but I saw other reviews and other people were just as confused so I know I'm not the only one.

I'm going to leave this review now as I feel way too confused to continue. Before I stop I want to say there are some good things about the show. The art and soundtrack are extremely nice. When we have the time to get to know the characters they can be fun and I enjoy just chilling and watching them do... well the same. But I feel the anime needed to take a step back and breath and let us do the same as well. A fight between hero and villain can only be awesome if their motivations are clear and I can understand what drives them. Unfortunately, I didn't get that.

Final thoughts: The anime has a very good soundtrack [seriously loving the ending one]. The animation is pretty and fast paced but unfortunately so is the plot. It's a confusing one and unless I am assured that the second season takes a step back, I think I'm going to skip it.

Junketsu no Maria is a very confusing anime to rate. There were things that I greatly enjoyed watching and other that definitely needed improvement.
Theme is a huge issue in this particular anime as it addresses the fear of the witches in the dark ages. As most of you know, women with knowledge that exceeded those of men where named 'witches'. People that didn't agree with the church and went against it were called heretics and punished by the church.
That's a very dark part of history and I feel it's not being brought to full light. And that could be fine only the anime is not ... sure when it wants to be more light-hearted and when it wants to be darker.
The same goes for the ending. I felt it was rushed and too Disney like.

Another problem is the characters. Due to the anime being only 12 episodes you don't get a real feel of who the characters are and what their motivation is. Heck, the main heroine's ideals are barely explained. Maria hates wars.... OK...But why? It's never fully explained why or where that comes from especially since it's a huge thing in the series.

These two are my biggest problems with the series. However, I did enjoy the anime. I liked the characters and that's why I wanted to know more about them. Maria was very likeable and I loved her general attitude. She fought for what she believed in and refused to change for other people. That's very difficult to do even in our day and age.

I also loved the relationships between characters as they do have complicated relationships. Especially with Maria. By the end of the series their own will is being put to the test and they know that depending on their decision a lot will be at stake.

The art and sound are great. I loved the opening and have listened to the song in repeat many times.

It's a generally alright anime. Watch the first episode to get a feel for it and see if it's your cup of tea.

I’m please to say that going into ‘Akagami no Shirayuki-Hime’ I had expectations and they were fulfilled to say the least. I loved this anime. So what can you expect if you decided to give it a chance?

First of all –and very crucial- it is a Fairy Tale. Which means it is very romanticized and cutesy. Not that there isn’t some action! Like regular fairy tales there are parts with swordfights, damsels in distress and evil people that want to harm said damsels.

The Characters are good! And Shirayuki is not a damsel really. But due to her hair colour and connections to the prince does ... get herself involved in all sorts of situations. She’s a bit blunt at points but the anime is a shoujo fairy tale, so I can’t really complain knowing that. Would I preferred her being a bit more kickass? Yes. And is she a little too perfect? Yes, again. I will admit that. But, it never reached a point where she made me sigh in exasperation and say ‘ok, now you’re just messing with me!’ She does talk back and runs into action when she needs to.

Zen is also a fairy tale prince. For anyone who has seen ‘Kaichou wa Maid Sama’ reminds me a lot of Usui. He is a bit too perfect as well. But, like Shirayuki, that character aspect never really did annoy me. He can get carried away and has a tragic past –as all Shoujo manga/anime boys should have apparently- but I never hated him for that. On the contrary he is sweet and caring and that is totally fine in my book.

Something that really pleased and I will sound immature for saying so but, I’m an otaku woman and I appreciate that in anime, were the rich palette of guys. Good, evil, sweet, mischievous; there are types for all kinds of preferences.

From the first episode I understood the feeling of this anime. It’s very relaxing in general. Even if there’s conflict throughout the episode it never tires the viewer. At the same time, whatever conflicts are taking place, they are resolved by the end of the episode. By the end of the anime –and I don’t really think I’m spoiling anything here- everything is resolved and we get our happy fairy tale ending. Well, not really ending, as there is a sequel.
An anime I immediately compared it too is ‘The World is still Beautiful’ a.k.a. ‘Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii’ If you like that Anime I recommend watching ‘Akagame no Shirayuki-Hime’ and vice versa.

In conclusion, it’s a beautifully drawn anime, with interesting ( a bit too perfect sometimes) characters and good plot that never tired me. If you are into hardcore action, this anime is not really for you. If you want a light adventure, that contains a bit of humor and romance with cutesy moments then ‘Akagami no Shirayuki’ just might be for you.

I general dislike reviews which are biased against or towards something so I will try to be fair without putting anything on a pedestal or undermining it. Let me just say in advance: I actually like this anime but I'll be fair towards it so you can have a more clear view on what to expect.

Let's start with the stuff that I didn't enjoy as much.
The two main leads have a few problems. Kyoya for some episodes is quite a jerk and made me -and the main heroine- quite upset. With his evil side showing -especially on the firsts episodes- and some ... really mean things he can say he made me wonder how could Erica stay with him. (For his good Qualities see the next paragraph.) Erika on the other hand annoyed me a lot in the first episode. She's willing to lie to be part of the group and as a resutl gets herself in a mess. When it comes to characters however, I personally really disliked her two new 'best friends', Aki and Marin. I found no redeeming qualities to them and
*mild spoiler?* I was suprised that Erika didn't ditch them.
However, they were the only characters that I did not stand. Everyone else had some redeeming qualities. These two didn't do anything good throughtout the anime.

Having said that however, let's dive into the GOOD STUFF!
As much as I disliked Kyouya for being a jerk, he does have some cute moments that did make me squeal. The first redeeming one was at the end of the 2nd Episode. I won't give any spoilers, but if you intend to watch this anime, I 'd suggest you watch at least until Episode 2 to make a decision. I believe it foreshadows well his character and the anime itself. Kyouya though, does become better as the series progresses, as he has some baggage he needs to deal with. Any fans of the Shoujo Genre will know this type of Character Arc, especially if the character has many bad characteristics in the beginning.

Let's show some love to Erika as well. As much as I disliked her in the first Episode, I had a bit of sympathy towards her. I won't say 'all' as I hate generalisations, but most people want to fit in and I can identify with her situation. She becomes better though! I must say that! By the end of the series she's more complete and I had more respect for her.

The other characters (apart from Marin and Aki) are very likeable and interesting. I especially adored Kyouya's friend, Takeru. He is so charming I just want to hug him...

Anyway...

The animations is good and the Sound is alright. It didn't sweep me away with an unforgatable opening, but it was visually interesting and the song was pleasing.

There were uncomfortable moments between the two leads, I will admit that, but I believe they balance out as both leads try to resolve them by the end of each episode. That though ,made the anime more real to me. There are no 'perfect' guys and girls in the real world. We are all people that have our problems, baggage and quirks and I respect the anime for not being that 'fairy tale' kind of story. I also admire it for one of the morals it showed. That you can't really change a person and you shouldn't expect them to. You should be true to yourself and love them for who they are. That's how I saw it at least.

The Anime had an impact on me. I'll admit, I'm generally an emotional person, so romance really gets me. I generally like watching at least one Episode of an anime before diceding how I feel about it. I generally don't trust the opinions of others as they tend to be biased. I say that and yet I write a review. I tried to be as impartial as I could be and hopefully that gave you a good image of what to expect.