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I feel like I gotta watch at least one of these trashy shows every year to remind myself where the floor is in terms of my score. Another harem collector revolved around an overpowered MC who is always morally right and never does wrong blah blah blah blah blah. You've seen one of them, you've seen all of them. Bland art and animation, bland music, nothing characters, and absolutely boring. This anime has nothing really bad but it has nothing in general. I will always stand by a boring piece of media being 10x worse than a bad piece of media. And I honestly feel ... like these nothing anime are just a way to launder money.

Yet another terribly written self-insert isekai anime. It teaches the viewer nothing except hope that you have a grandpa who leaves you an estate and magical shit after their passing. Magical shit that can suddenly make you the most attractive dude alive with all the chicks starting to swoon over you. It's nothing new in this genre but I found it hilarious how it literally happens overnight. The character arcs can barely be called arcs, hell, you can barely even call these things characters in the first place. The character's motives are so one-dimensional and cliche that it feels like they were written by an ... AI. The MC kinda just gains more and more stuff and of course, builds a harem of the most disgustingly boring chicks imaginable. But once again, nothing new for this type of show.

I fell asleep a few episodes in and woke up towards the end of the show only to feel like I missed nothing. Just more new "characters" that mean nothing and hold no value. The directing is extremely generic but at times it's even worse than that. And the production is even worse. The terrible use of CG on top of the poor directing makes the action scenes very hard to follow. Not that I'd care in the first place cus nothing in the narrative makes me remotely excited for any of the fights. All in all, a great cure for insomnia!

(I watched this after Vinland Saga S2 so imagine the kind of whiplash I had when I watched the best anime I'd seen in half a decade followed by something so terrible.)

Yu Yu Hakusho is the greatest battle shounen of all time. There are a ton of things about this show that I find amazing, but the way it handles mature themes is my favourite. The characters have actual depth and layers to them that get peeled over the course of the show. And it mixes more mature themes with lighter ones very well. As the story unfolds, we see the grim reality of the world these characters live in. It tackles topics related to morality, death, mental illness, existentialism, anger, revenge, and life. Many battle shounen's tackle similar topics, but they never fully develop and ... I always tend to get left disappointed. And part of me felt this would be like that when I rewatched it for the first time since 8th grade. But no, it was the opposite. I found so many things that I missed as a kid, cus, that's just how it is. I found myself loving Chapter Black much, much more than I remember. Sensui felt so real and possible. With his story, we start to get the full picture of what demons really are, what humans can be, and an understanding of the spirit world. He has goals that are cruel, yet understandable. We start to feel his depression. And we get to see the anger and hate that grows from it. And then we start to question the morals of Yu Yu Hakusho's world. It's so damn engaging. Togashi is great at writing morality in his works, Yu Yu Hakusho displays this. And Hunter x Hunter proves it. Another great thing is how well Togashi builds this world. We hear bits of lore from Koenma about stuff like world-ending shit that's gonna happen hundreds of years after Yusuke's time. And while yeah, that sounds logical, the future of any world will eventually have worse things happen, it isn't something you really consider. It made me actually think of these characters as people. All of which will most likely have to go through more struggles after the show. My opinion of the Three Kings saga also improved. While I still feel it's rushed, I found a lot to love about it on my rewatch. I found the politics to be pretty fun but I found the journey of self-discovery much more interesting. It feels like a natural progression from Chapter Black. That saga will always feel like the true climax of the show but we also need some time to see the characters grow up. Yusuke, Hiei, and Kurama all find themselves and realise what they really need. While Kuwabara does get shafted in the arc, he already had that moment of self-discovery in Chapter Black. It still would've been nice to see him do his own thing tho. One other thing, I love how Yusuke and Kuwabara actually feel like teenagers. While Hiei and Kurama feel more adult-like due to their life span. It's such a small thing but it really helps with their group chemistry.

Dark Tournament is great, ion even gotta talk about it.

Yea, good stuff.

Chainsaw Man is a different kind of bizarre, unlike any Shounen Jump manga I've read. From the author who brought us Fire Punch, an equally bizarre manga, comes a story about a dude who just wanted to get laid at first. While at first, I thought the author was just throwing random ideas at the wall and seeing what would stick, most of them come together by the end of Part I (chapter 97).

The story of this manga seems to revolve around Denji as he's our main protagonist but it mostly revolves around the entity inside Denji, Chainsaw Man. There aren't many exposition dumps ... in this manga so a lot of the world is learned through just experiencing the manga which I feel is much better than throwing endless words at the reader explaining everything. Things just happen in this manga, there are sometimes explanations on abilities and backstories, but even then it's minimal. The author wants you to learn more about this world with Denji instead of being spoon-fed. Although, I feel the world-building could have been better, which I hope is the case with the sequel manga. The main creatures/monsters in this story are devils and they are usually what our protagonists are fighting. They get stronger and stronger the more the population fears certain things. For example, if a lot of people fear rats, then the rat devil will be stronger than other devils. The rest of the story is a treat. It's filled with bizarre characters, visual storytelling, interesting ideas and moments, and uncomfortably hilarious when it wants to be.

The art of this manga is probably the best part of this experience. The art style is rough and almost sketch-like, adding to the atmosphere of this gritty world. The imagery is something to behold in this manga, they're detailed, unrelenting, and flows extremely well. The imagery, especially in the second half of the manga, is unfathomable but beautiful. There isn't much else to say except that it has some of the best art out of its contemporaries at Shounen Jump.

The characters are weird, in a good way of course. It's kinda hard to talk about them without spoiling but I'll try my best. Denji is a pretty plain main character at first but as you continue this journey with him you understand him more. He matures and you, as the reader, understand how unfortunate his life has been. By the end of Part I, I respected Denji and how he lives life. However, I find the other characters to be far more interesting. Power is a very happy go lucky character that just does whatever she wants, but is an entertaining character nonetheless. You see her start to care more about Denji as the story progresses. Kobeni is probably my favourite character out of the bunch just due to how her character is used. She became this tool that uses her plot armour to create dark humour (which I created a video about, https://youtu.be/lfeGF4I9P9Q). She's just a very entertaining character. Aki is the character we learn the most about aside from Denji. He has a tragic backstory that forged him into the kind of guy he is in the manga. And lest not we forget Makima. Probably the most intriguing character in the manga. Her twisted personality and way of doing things make her a great character to analyse. She's probably the character that stuck with me the most throughout the manga because of her psyche. Overall the characters in this manga are great even the ones that have little screen time.

This manga is a real treat overall. The story is interesting and filled with great characters, visual storytelling, and ideas. While the world-building could've been better, the announcement of a sequel has me hoping this is the case. The art is some of the best out of its contemporaries at Shounen Jump. It has a rough texture to it, fitting the atmosphere of this gritty world. And the imagery is fantastic. The characters are for the most part great and have entertaining motives. Some characters like Makima are complex enough to warrant an entire analysis alone. And overall I think this manga is great and can't wait for the anime adaptation and sequel.

Final Score: 8.3/10

Sangatsu no Lion is filled with important life lessons that is taught to us in style. It has great music, quality animation and a fantastic art style. All of this added with the writing makes for an experience to say the least. I want to also mention that the first episode of this show made my heart ache pretty hard and it didn’t take long to understand why. I felt like I understood Rei’s character quickly because I was Rei at one point. I did everything not because I enjoyed it but because it was necessary, I was unsure of what I really ... wanted to do and how I wanted to live. I felt like I could disappear at any moment and no one would notice. Communicating with others was a chore and all I could really do is sit there and stare blankly at the person I was supposed to be communicating to. Looking back, it honestly felt awful.

Story/Characters/Writing (9/10):

The story of Sangatsu no Lion can be simplified to it being a story about life, but it is much more intricate than that. Like shogi there are many different pieces involved each with different roles to play. The author used shogi as a tool to give the viewer more insight on the characters and on life, this is done very well. Rei is the character who rightfully gets most of the character development. Other characters like the Kawamoto family is also focused on but nowhere near as much. I was completely fine with this as I was much more interested in Rei than others. The side characters are well used to further develop Rei’s character while they themselves get developed little amounts at a time. My biggest problem with this show was its comedy. Although it may not be tagged as a comedy, there was still a considerable amount of comedy in it, and it was very hit or miss. Sometimes it got a chuckle out of me, other times it just felt forced.

Art/Animation (9.5/10):

Each episode is presented to us with unique visuals that reflects what is being said perfectly, this all thanks to studio Shaft’s creative way of adapting works. Each time they switch styles it doesn’t throw me out of the experience, in fact it makes me feel more involved with the characters. They somehow made each style perfectly embody what the characters were trying to convey. Although I’m usually not into the more bright, bubbly type of art akin to shoujo works, I felt this was done extremely well.

Sound (8.5/10):

The voice actors did a wonderful job portraying their individual characters. Almost all lines I felt were delivered very well and held the emotion they were supposed to. The soundtrack was also very good. It was done by Yukari Hashimoto the same composer as Penguindrum, once again she delivers a wonderful soundtrack. I feel this one was even better though because of what Sangatsu no Lion is. I especially love the delicate piano pieces.

Overall (9.1/10):

This is very good, more than that even. I think this first season of Sangatsu no Lion was a considerable amount better than the second season. I could relate to it much more than the second season making it much more emotional than the second season. It has fantastic writing, its art and animation is too good, the voice cast is great, and the soundtrack is also very great. The only thing that held this show back from getting a higher score was its comedy.

THIS REVIEW HAS SOME SPOILERS
(This is my first anime review, please try and bare with it.)

“If you’re not remembered, then you never existed.” Serial Experiments Lain is a psychological horror, sci fi, mystery anime about Lain and her ties with the WIRED and her existential crisis. The show delves into the psychological aspect of teenagers making connections through technology and the effect it has them. Connections pop up very frequently throughout the show and leads to what could happen if we take them for granted. There are two core themes that make up Serial Experiments Lain, existence and connections. Chiaki J. Konaka the writer for ... the show explores these themes to its utmost potential through the character Lain.

“No matter where you go, everyone’s connected.” Connections are shown in many ways throughout the course of the show, physical, online, mind and even the connection of wires. If a single wire fails, the whole system will gradually fall apart one by one. The questioning of when a person exists is probably my favourite aspect of the show, the aforementioned quote gives us a something easy to go off, Lain herself says this. This quote foreshadows the fate of Lain and the antagonist and gets linked back to at the end of the show. I’m going to get into some spoilers now so be warned. Eiri the main antagonist of the show tells Lain in episode 10 that what makes him a God is that his followers believe in him, he is later shot down by Lain telling him the he is a false God because he forced his followers to believe in him. Memories tie in with the theme of existence because it is how Lain practically commits suicide at the end making everyone forget about her. So yeah, this show is deep, it is also very perplexing, even now I’m thinking about a lot of the aspects of the show like if this and that are linked and so on. Luckily, I feel as though its perplexing in a good way, if you think long enough and hard enough everything starts linking together, but the best part about this is that most people will link those same things differently to how you did, this leads to massive amounts of discussion and keeps the fans engaged for years. The quote I had mentioned at the beginning links to even this, if everything is given to you then there isn’t much to discuss, so then the show would eventually become forgotten.

“There was no reason for me to stay in the real world any longer. In the real world, it didn’t matter if I was there or not. When I realized that, I was no longer afraid of losing my body.” Now let’s get into the place that is mentioned the most in this show, the wired. The wired is basically Lain’s version of the internet but becomes even more advanced, some people even give up their bodies to reside in the wired as the quote above suggests. Lain first starts getting into the wired because her dead schoolmate sent her an email after she died. She tells Lain that she should follow suite and get into the wired as soon as possible. Lain both frightened and curious at the same time asks her father for a new “Navi” this worlds computer system. Soon enough Lain becomes hooked and so the true horrors of the show begin. I feel as though watching this show now was the greatest time to watch it as online connectivity has become the norm, this show was ahead of it’s time by quite a bit and that’s what makes it truly frightening. Although things like becoming one with the online world and Gods of the internet don’t exist in our world they still relate to our world in some way. If you become too absorbed with the online world it can lead to destroying both your mind and body. As there is in this show there are false Gods of the internet in our world as well, people who claim to be powerful and knowledgeable don’t need to show themselves completely since they can be anonymous. In reality they are the weakest ones in the room, they are too insecure about themselves, so they decide to harm others and get pleasure out of it. This can be seen in some characters in the show as well (Knights, Eiri).

“The truth has power because it’s the truth. And because it is the truth, that makes it just. It’s persuasive, isn’t it? Don’t you want truth like that?” Looking for the truth is one of the key ideas of Serial Lain and is also something that can be related back to pretty much every human on earth. Everyone has some sort of truth they are looking for whether it changes every day or stays the same their whole life there is always something. The truth behind the extinction of the dinosaurs, the truth behind God, the truth behind why she rejected me that one time, the truth behind who ate my cookie. It could be the dumbest thing ever, but humans always strive for the truth, its in our nature. This all relates to the characters of Serial Lain, while Lain is looking for multiple truths I feel as though it all connects to one singular question, “Do I really exist?”. Lain wants to know the truth behind whether she really exists and whether it matters or not, it’s a frustrating, confusing, saddening and scary question. Questioning one’s own existence is not something most people feel comfortable thinking about, and it makes sense, if they start questioning their existence their truth starts to waver and they break. Sometimes what we think is the truth may just be a lie and that’s where this quote comes into full play. It makes fun of us humans for wanting something to be the truth when it might not even be the truth, God, the Bible, the Quran, religion in general.

Who knows whether these are fake or real, regardless of that some people choose to believe it to be the truth, whether it be because it’s what they were taught, fear, signs, etc, they think it’s the truth and that’s all the matters to them. The idea of truth is one of the most overused ones in modern entertainment, but if you tie it together with interesting themes and other interesting ideas it can morph into something spectacular like it does in this show. Other characters that a strong desire of truth manifests is Arisu and Taro.

“People only have substance within the memories of other people.” Memory is an integral part of humans, its usually one of the things we rely on the most, which is funny because sometimes we warp our own memories to see things we never really saw. This makes memories very fragile, easily made and broken, they could be real, or they could be fake. For something we rely on so much it’s funny how easily falsified it can become, you may have memories you may have of your friends but they may have never happened, it could have been a dream or just made up then and there. This is where the quote from Serial Lain kicks in, just as the quote suggests, we are what other people perceive us as in their memories. This once again ties in with the other ideas of the show like truth and the themes of connection and existence. What they perceive you as could be a false truth, a false connection and this can lead to a false existence. This is shown when Lain starts hearing about things that she has done and said that she never really did or say, this makes Lain more insecure and starts beginning to start her existential crisis. This is due to the wired Lain going around doing things and saying things she wouldn’t normally do or say. This makes her connections waver and distrust starts forming between her and her friends at school. This goes to show that memories of people you might have had may not always be the truth. To counter this, she tries to find out why people remember her this way and who is causing her to go through so much pain and suffering. The way the idea of memories fuses together with the other core ideas and themes is so brilliantly done that everything else that tries to pull of these ideas and themes pale in comparison.

Now onto the characters, the only real character in this show is Lain almost everyone else in the show is there to develop Lain but are still very interesting. Lain is probably the most complex and well written characters I have ever seen and experienced in fiction. There is so much going on with her character that I could go on for hours on end, but I’ll try to keep it as short as possible. Lain is the embodiment of most of the shows core themes and ideas. (Somewhat of a spoiler upcoming) Since Lain has a split personality disorder this makes her able to become more fleshed out and toyed with as a character. There are three personalities that she has, her real-world version of herself who is introverted and doesn’t have too many friends. Her wired self which is the complete opposite of her real-world self, cheeky, playful, extroverted, and there is her more sinister personality who has malicious intent toward Lain and the people who are close to her. Her personalities are like people who do things they wouldn’t do online furthering the idea of truth. These other personalities make Lain feel more vulnerable, even more so than she already is. Over the course of the show we get to see her personalities fusing little by little making real world Lain do things she normally wouldn’t do. Other notable characters are Arisu, Lain’s sister’s, Eiri and Taro, although like I said before these characters are mostly used to further develop Lain’s character but are still very interesting.

Finally, I have finished talking about the narrative and writing (although there is so much more I want to touch on I feel as though this will become way too long), now onto animation, art and tone. The animation and art are kind of dated, and it shows, but I feel as though this is an advantage. The dark, dull colour palate sets the tone very nicely. It fits the overarching narrative as well as the characters very well, it being dull make the characters feel like normal people, just like most of us are. This makes it a little more relatable, although at the same time the characters designs are weird as are most anime’s character designs. This however sets the atmosphere of the show very quickly and communicated to the viewer very well. The animation at times stale becomes expressive at times making for some brilliant scenes. Making the characters facial expressions more animated and surreal scares me at times. There is also one scene near the end of the show where the animation becomes very good. This becomes even greater with the fantastic directorial work. Although the production may not be great you need to remember that this show came out in 1998 and is nowhere near as flashy as the stuff we have now.

Last but not least, sound. Sound is integral for any sort of entertainment I watch, whether it’s for excitement or setting the atmosphere and tone, it needs to be great or I’ll be uninterested. Luckily the sound of Serial Lain is fantastic, the use of music or rather lack of music is used very well in this show. At times ambient tracks play in the back and sometimes it’s a grueling guitar, and then most times there is just the sounds of static. This not only fits the core elements of the show but also adds to the psychological horror aspect of it. Sometimes when I was watching the show, I felt like I heard something when the static was playing, I thought I really was hearing something but in reality, my mind was just playing tricks on me. This elevated the eerie dread I felt throughout the show tenfold. Also the opening is one of the best I’ve seen and heard in all of anime, a folk tune that embodies the nature of the show and the visuals of the opening are so well suited to the song that it makes me wonder “what went wrong with this era of anime openings?” .

Serial Experiments Lain has a narrative so complex and deep that it makes you wonder about every little detail, the core ideas and themes are so well done that it puts others who try the same to shame. Connection, Existence, truth and memories are all excellent concepts that were so well tied together in this show. The characters of the show are brilliantly done especially Lain, one of the most complex and deep characters I’ve had the pleasure of viewing. Making Lain the embodiment of the core ideas and themes was so well executed that makes me yearn for more. The animation and art although dated is used as an advantage to set tone and atmosphere extremely well. At times stale it becomes expressive and makes for some brilliant scenes. The sound of the show is excellent with a great soundtrack and a great use of static noises to create unease and eeriness. Overall this the prefect show for someone like me and is the best anime I have seen thus far.