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Psycho-pass explores a world where technology has advanced far enough that humans are now able to cybernetically scan minds to analyse one's intent. Each person carries a 'Psycho-Pass': a device which displays a hue based on how violent their urges are. The cloudier the pass, the more of a criminal they are considered. In charge of justice is the Sibyl system: a manifestation of a hyper-devout Christian's wet dream whom decides who lives and who dies. Carry an unholy enough thought and it's off to isolation where you must clear your hue before being discharged. Carry even more devilish thoughts and you're marked for execution. ... This world's police force help to perform these divine acts of God. No one is spared from the system, no matter if you are a child or a hostage influenced by their captor.

The main character, Akane, is an honour student who chooses to join the police force. She is assigned a group of detectives who have previously been placed in isolation by the system but were allowed to leave under the condition that they work in catching 'latent criminals' such as themselves. They are treated as hounds who live secluded from the rest of society and must obey all of Akane's instructions. However, their relationship is more akin to that of a child tasked at babysitting its parents as Akane is new to this world of crime: scared, innocent, and naïve. Understandably, she starts off about as passive and useless as Sakura from Naruto. But have faith as after facing brutality after brutality, her character does begin to grow over time. Initially, I was afraid it would turn into one of those shows where the power of kindness and friendship puts an end to everything. However, I am happy to say that this is not the case as the anime remains grim and cold-hearted throughout.

You'll have to be patient as although Psycho-pass has a rather slow start to get you used to the world, the pace will ramp up towards the second half of the season. The anime feels similar to Detroit: Become Human in the way it tackles themes of society and morality. Rather than gory action, much of the evil in Psycho-pass is slow, calculated, and invisible. It does a really good job of conveying the feeling of how there is always a threat looming in the background through the use of its dark cinematic and atmospheric soundtracks. I've especially enjoyed how the show uses motifs, both in its soundtrack to show how danger is approaching and in its dialogue to demonstrate character development. The characters in Psycho-pass are genuinely intelligent and knowledgeable as they think logically and plan well before they act. Their dialogue often borrows quotes from philosophers and sociologists, so I can imagine that bookworms would have a feast with this anime.

Speaking of philosophy, I've really enjoyed how in-depth Psycho-pass goes during the later stages where it reveals its true nature: it's not about who is the hero and who is the villain; it's about who decides what is good and what is evil. The turning point was this morbid scene where a woman was getting beat the shit out of by a hammer in the middle of a busy street. No one in the crowd was batting a single eyelid because none of the scanners were flagging the assailant as a threat. This was a wake-up call for society as the validity of the Sibyl system is brought into question. I got really invested in how the show explores the ramifications of society's over-reliance on the system, how it naturally develops into riots, and the predicament that our detectives are placed in as they defend a system that they are now beginning to realise is corrupt. I loved how these detectives began asking more meta-questions, such as what exactly this world defines as crime in the first place, and I enjoyed watching their characters develop as they begin to apply personal judgements to situations they would have previously just followed orders from the system. This is also perhaps the first time where we can truly call them detectives. I like how Psycho-pass portrays things not as black-and-white, but as full of grey areas. This quote by the antagonist really stuck with me: "Who isn't alone in this society? The time when our connection to others was the basis of our selves is long gone. There's no place for communities in this world where everyone is watched over by the system and lives within the system's standards. Everyone stays in their own little cell and the system tames them by giving them each their own personal serenity."

9/10

A gripping and intellectually stimulating show. On to Season 2!

Ahh the good ol' days of late-night television. I remember how I used to coddle myself under a blanket watching TV in the dark with the aircon set full blast to 16 degrees. However, instead of innocently squirming around as if I were about to be part of some grand adventure, I know the kid-me watching this show would've been jackhammering it HARD underneath the covers.

Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt features two of the most potty-mouthed fallen angel sisters. These two are tasked in saving the world through missions given by Garter, their afro-ballsack priest boss, to exorcise yet another invader demon with past regrets. ... However, it's not like any of the storyline really matters because no one in the show really gives a shit - Panty loves having sex with random men, Stocking loves consuming copius amounts of sugar, Garter's out for little boys, and their Pokémon of a sidekick, Chuck, well...just Chucks. The show is so ridiculously imaginative and unapologetically crude that I can't help but have great admiration for the creators who most likely shat out the ideas of the whole show during a drunken night out.

The anime opens amazingly strong with its over-the-top non-stop turbocharged IM ON FUCKING SPEED-paced action paired with equally powerful OSTs and even filthier voice lines. This show hides nothing as I've witnessed Panty have sex within the first 5 minutes followed by her making all sorts of noises and facial expressions as she literally takes a shit. Each episode is heavily inspired by bodily excretions and is divided into two parts to give your mind enough time in the middle to process the masterpiece you've just witnessed. Just like your typical episode of The Powerpuff Girls, there are villains whose asses get kicked. Eventually though, the show decides that this formula is too normie for them and they move on to doing some even wackier shit - I'm talking throwing in some of the most random references including Ace Attorney, COCKTIMUS PRIME and MINGE-ATRON, and the entirety of the UK Punk Rock subculture because why not. For maximum levels of freedom, I watched the entire anime dubbed and it was glorious - the dialogue is more AMERICAN and Garter's just SO MUCH BLACKER.

In summary, haha poopoo peepee funny. Needless to say, don't watch if you're easily offended. Looking forward for season 2!

Flip Flappers is basically a lighter version of Puella Madoka Magica with a generous pinch of magic mushrooms. It follows the duo, Cocona and Papika, as they flip-flap their way between dimensions, adventuring as magical girls in an LSD-infused world. Each episode is a journey into a different dimension, which comes its own landscapes, physics, and artstyle. The genre-bender nature of this anime is reflected in its storyline, which jumps around as much as the imagination of a child with ADHD as they sample through various TV channels by chewing on the remote. You've got everything: magical girl transformation scenes with loli fanservice, villains practically ... dressed up as the KKK, characters super saiyaning a Gundam, a green bunny with a mouth between its eyes named Uexküll like wtf is this Elon Musk naming scheme (Edit: Apparently it's named after an animal behavioural scientist. Maybe this whole anime was a psychological experiment). This Alice in Wonderland, Spongebob imagination box of a show perfectly captures the feeling of sinking deeper and deeper into insanity - the more I watched, the less I could help but question, "WHAT THE FUCK AM I WATCHING??".

And yet, I'm not a fan of this anime. For starters, you get thrown into it with absolutely no explanation whatsoever. Cocona is just a random student who was basically conscripted into the mahou shoujo army by some little twerp on her flying surfboard who thinks it's all fun and games. The show might as well be tagged as NTR as Cocona somehow eventually enjoys this thrill of nearly dying all the time. The relationship between Cocona and Papika is about as consistent as teenage drama: at times it feels like that of a mother and a peanut-brained runt, and at other times, it's like watching two of the gayest lesbians known to womankind. Papika also has to be one of the most strangle-able characters in existence because good lord, the number of times they scream each others' names is like a fight scene between Naruto and Sasuke. I swear I will go crazy if I hear 'COCONA' one more time because I've already heard it 238 FUCKING TIMES (proof: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B-tsxruIcs). Because of how wildly disconnected each episode is, I found it difficult to get invested into the 'story'. I think the producers wanted to provide some mystery by having you figure things out along the way, but because of how random everything was, any possible explanation for anything in this show would just feel entirely unconvincing. There were many occasions where I wished it would just stick to one thing. To its credit, however, I did begin to enjoy the show halfway through, but only when my brain gave up and finally decided to just accept what I'm seeing.

As much as I love stuff that makes me go WTF, the lack of any substantial sense of consistency in the storyline to firmly latch onto means that it's a bit too difficult for me to recommend.

As the title suggests, this anime's pretty chill. Dariel, the MC, isn't some typical shouty protagonist who wants to desperately build a harem or to take over the world - he's just a 30-year-old man doing his best after being fired from his job. It helps that he's quite OP, but he doesn't make a show out of that at all. Even in the face of Marika, who I'm sure the great Satou Kazuma would describe as just being boobs, Dariel remains respectful. Not even Tits McGee bodyslamming her mountains into Dariel's face practically every episode is enough to squeeze a single drip of nosebleed ... out of the guy - Dariel's just some guy, and there's just something so refreshing about that.

Works from SHAFT, such as their beloved monogatari series, often make me question how to even watch the damn thing. This absolute fever dream of an anime is like watching multiple shows, commercial breaks, fitness shows, drama/sitcom openings (no seriously, the anime contains all of these), or whatever other ADHD-fueled madness they have in store all at the same time. Its constantly changing art style which feature real-life imagery crudely slapped on top of the animation. The quick-paced cuts which force you to hover over the spacebar if you want to catch all of the little texts and gags the show has to offer. Their ... philosophical commentaries which dance between the lines of reason and absolute nonsense. It's all so jarring and yet, much like a fever dream, it all strangely makes sense.

Absolutely no one in this show is normal. The main character, Zetsubou (despair) sensei, is an extreme pessimist who uses every moment of despair as an opportunity to teach hopelessness, what he believes to be the true way of life, to his students. This is countered by one of his students who is so overly optimistic that she somehow manages to twist her teacher's 'wisdom' into something either like that of a sage/cult-leader ("NEETs are just hibernating, preparing for their glorious awakening after a long winter") or something that is just downright delusional ("There's no such thing as a coma. He's surely previewing the afterlife"). These two are probably the most sane out of the rest of the nutcases and it is hugely entertaining to watch how all of the extreme personalities interact with one another.

However, all of this started to grow stale around episode 8 as none of the characters had really developed. In fact, I felt that their unique quirks were slowly being forgotten, which made them feel more like soundboards than characters. None of them were particularly loveable either (well, maybe except for that one pure-hearted illegal immigrant child). To the show's defense, it does pick itself back up with more of its absurdist mayhem on the last two episodes, but I definitely feel that it would have been better suited as a movie, for example, than as a full-on series.

Overall, I have really enjoyed watching Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei and would highly recommend it to anyone who loves a bit of "wtf" in their lives. If you're an absolute weeb, you'll appreciate how the sheer number of references the show contains validates the countless of hours you've spent consuming anime. If you're learning Japanese, or already know the language, you'll appreciate the obsure punny Japanese literred throughout the show. You'll never know what to expect so just sit back and enjoy the ride. Be warned, however, that this is not something you should casually binge watch. To fully enjoy the experience, I'd advise taking your time and allowing yourself to process what on earth just happened; I'm gonna need some time off myself.