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This show is a poor man's Shokugeki no Souma - with the added conceit of synthesizing cooking and DJ-ing. Call it Shokugeki no DJ. I must admit that was a fun idea. I liked some of those nutty reaction faces, and the c h i l l o u t moments were quite easily the highlight of the show. I liked the trusty friends' group and that weird background guy in traditional clothing who showed up everywhere to dance. You go, guy! Oh, and there were some puns, beware. I liked those too though. At some level, this show had potential to be something quite ... fun, but it dropped the ball across a lot of departments.

The art and animation is Sasuga DEEN™ level at barely functional, but watchable. There are ways to work around this by constantly stealing the viewer's attention away with absurdity (Inferno Cop and Cromartie High School manage to do that really well), but it didn't do that as often as it could have.

What bothered me most was that the music, the one department where the show really had to shine to do justice to its premise. But most of the tracks weren't great to begin with, and were beaten down to yawn-inducing with overuse and little variation.

I appreciate they tried to end it at a kind of decent place, but it's still a 'read the manga' ending because the plot has only progressed halfway at best. And given that the manga is languishing in obscurity, the anime clearly did not do its job of promoting the source material.

Overall Score: 4.5/10 rounded up to 5. I'd skip it.

All in all, if someone wants to get introduced to the basics of hip-hop, I'd rather suggest the more hands-on approach of the amazing '44th Anniversary of the birth of Hip-Hop' Google Doodle.

Note: The rating on the right is wrong. It's meant to be 11/10, but silly MAL doesn't allow things like that.

First things first: In spite of what the cover looks like, this is not a 'Cute Girls Doing Cute Things' (CGDCT) show. The main cast happens to be made of cute girls, but the show quite deliberately takes common character tropes from the genre and casually tosses them out the window - creating living, breathing high school girls who practically jump out of the screen, all with their unique and lovable quirks.

This is an adventure drama, and the staff from Madhouse (starring Director Ishizuka Atsuko, ... who has directed No Game No Life, and Scriptwriter Hanada Jukki, who has a long and impressive list of writing credits, including K-On!!) came together to churn out one of the most inspiring, well-written and beautifully packaged stories the medium has to offer. No matter who you are, I whole-heartedly recommend this absolute masterpiece.

The show looks gorgeous from start to finish, with fluid character animation being complemented with some beautiful background art modeled after real life locations - yes, including Antarctica. The staff left no stone unturned in properly researching the locations of the story, doing everything they could to breathe an atmosphere of realism into the show - and they passed with flying colours. There's an an attention to detail and tendency to tie everything into the story that I feel is unprecedented. Not a single frame, or a single story beat is extraneous. Everything has a purpose in adding little by little to the main theme of the story: that people should always keep moving, always changing, experiencing new things. Life is meant to be a journey.

I could waste more of your time raving about the adept direction, stellar cinematography and wonderfully written characters who complement each other and the story perfectly - but I won't. Just go watch this already and be prepared to experience a whole gamut of emotions. This is an 11/10, a truly memorable experience, and one I'm glad I could catch week by week over the course of January to March 2018.

Before watching:

Damn, this show has a really good OP! Hopefully the show lives up to it. And the PV makes it seem like it'll be a nice crime thriller.

After watching:

Okay, thanks for The Perfect World, which was apparently the ED, but I want my 5 hours back. No one told me this was Botched: The Beginning.

I wanted to like this show, I really did. I want the new shows coming out on Netflix to do justice to the medium, since they'll be available to a wide global audience who aren't exposed to anime. I wouldn't say it didn't keep me engaged throughout, but overall my ... impression is definitely negative, and I would recommend most people to give it a miss. I'll try and sum up why.

This show has a severe identity crisis. It doesn't know what it wants to be, and tries to be many things at once - throwing one idea after another, hoping that it sticks, but failing to execute even a single one of them well. It's what you get when you throw Psycho Pass, Tokyo Ghoul and Darker than Black in a grinder and try to shape resulting slop into a plot.

It was an utter mess in terms of writing. There was little cohesion between the two major plot threads and within them, not much sensibility, no semblance of an underlying message or theme, and it didn't sell any of the characters well enough to make me worry about them, except one spunky detective who reminded me a little of Akane from Psycho-Pass. Otherwise, the cast consists of:

1) Bad Sherlock rip-off who uses calculus to solve crimes somehow
2) Bargain-bin Serial Killer with standard mental issues
3) Emo teen with powers who wants to save (4)
4) Damsel in distress
5) Emo teen #2 who hates (3) and steals (4)
6) Hacker lady who likes to add pedals to her computer setups.. for the boost?

There were some more characters, all inconsequential.

5/10 overall, and it's not a 4 because of the good production values that were consistent throughout the show, and a genuinely great dub.

Needless to say I won't be tuning in for the sequel, unless it's somehow hailed as the saviour of anime. It's not possible to even retroactively fix this mess of a plot.

No spoilers, except just one: this show is a spectacular train-wreck. If you like good science fiction, beware: this show begins extremely well but manages to destroy everything it built up and trample on its viewer's expectations in every way imaginable in its final episodes.

After hearing that this was an anime that had heavy parallels to Arrival, and watching the first five episodes, the sci-fi buff in me was ecstatic. Here was a mature, well-written and absolutely gorgeous looking and sounding sci-fi anime that was headed in a direction that didn't seem hackneyed. It was thought-provoking and sparked a lot of discussion among the viewership. ... It was a potential masterpiece, I thought.

But as the series progressed, anime tropes that had no business appearing in a mature narrative such as this started popping up left and right for no good reason like some rash, creating a very jarring experience, and culminating in an ending that left many wondering how something with so much potential had ended up like this. It became incoherent to the point where one has to wonder whether the author's original vision was altered by others in the creative team to appeal to a larger crowd - one that wouldn't be watching this series in the first place.

Story (3/10): The first half was a solid take on first contact, and the plot was genuinely creative and gripping at the same time. The last quarter was an unmitigated disaster for the most part. I don't think any other show with such a promising beginning has bombed so hard.

Art (8.5/10): Ah, this is something that the plot couldn't touch, and does deserve a favourable mention: the characters and several other parts are in 3DCG, and it pretty much sets an industry standard to how 3DCG should look. At no point did it look awkward or badly animated - on the contrary, some CG-heavy scenes ranged from beautiful to downright jaw-dropping.

Sound (8.5/10): Another thing the story could not completely spoil was the soundtrack, which was great. If there is one good thing that came from this show, it's that.

Character (3/10): Just like the plot, the main characters start out with great promise, but end up getting development that is frankly appalling.

Enjoyment (4/10): This reflects the effect of the ending more than anything - it leaves a very bad taste, especially because the first half was so enjoyable.

Overall - 4/10. Tl;dr: You are probably better off pretending this doesn't exist. That, unfortunately, is the right answer.

Brief review as an anime-only watcher, no spoilers:

As commander Erwin would put it, if you haven't watched this season yet - SUSUME! What are you waiting for?

While season 1 of Shingeki no Kyojin (aka Attack on Titan or AoT) was quite prone to melodrama, and was a little too punctuated by the MC trying to push his vocal cords to the limit while simultaneously trying to pop his eyes out, S2 feels like a much more mature show - with heavy elements of mystery and world-building taking the forefront. The action from the first season is still there, better than ever before. Wit Studio delivers ... on every front.

Story (9/10): There are no brakes on this crazy train. As mentioned before, this season gives a major emphasis on the mystery surrounding this bizarre Titan infested world. Where did they come from? Why do they kill humans? With this season, we finally get to step a little bit closer to the truth. The story is gripping, even depressing at times, almost reminiscent of the hopelessness in parts of A Song of Ice and Fire.

Art (10/10): Wit Studio did a fantastic job bringing the manga to life. Some CGI has been used, but it does not look out of place at all. Be prepared for some outstanding action sakuga as well as outright gorgeous-looking scenes.

Sound (9/10): The background music isn't outstanding, but nor is it bad - it's unassuming, and lets the plot take the forefront. The OP and ED are excellent, and the visuals are quite memorable - the ED especially, with a bizarre representation of the history of the AoT world.

Character (8/10): A lot of 'minor' characters from S1 get a lot of limelight here, to great effect - Eren isn't a very likable MC, and getting some time off from his antics allows the show to flourish.

Enjoyment (10/10): It's a wild ride from start to finish. There's mystery, horror, depression, death, crazy twists - even unintentional humour packed into this season.

Overall (9/10): Significantly better than the first season - to the point where it pulls the entire franchise up in my eyes. I'm eagerly looking forward to S3 to see more of the world of AoT being revealed. If you even mildly like season 1, watch this!

Even though just a fifth of the season has aired and it's far too soon to mete out judgement on anything, I'm writing this because I noticed a dearth of previews - I hope this can offer some insight on those who are wondering whether to pick this show up or not.

As one can judge by the cover, this show features an all-female main cast with designs very reminiscent of Shirobako, which is arguably P. A. Works' best title; they might be trying to re-create that magic, albeit in a wildly different setting. If you liked that show, and want more of Cute Adults Doing ... Responsible Things (with Pink Miyamori this time!), you should definitely give this a go.

Elaborating on the setting: The MC ends up being appointed as the 'Queen' of a rural town which had once styled itself as the Kingdom of Chupakabura, in an ill-fated attempt to re-invigorate its dying tourism industry. We follow her as she attempts to bring it back to life with the help of her newly-made friends and some peculiar townsfolk. It presents a fine puzzle to the viewers, which serves as a vehicle to introduce themes like rural depopulation, urban vs. rural life, the quiet decay of traditional art, tradition vs. avant-garde, and something as universal as finding a purpose in life.

If you like slow-burning Slice of Life shows with less drama, more natural conversation, lots of interspersed comedy and characters who are interesting because they feel real, this is for you. You can find your weekly dose of wholesomeness here. Tentatively 8/10 overall.

P.S.: The only fanservice you will find here is that the main cast gets a rich and varied wardrobe. Hey, just like in real life!