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With no prior knowledge of the series, I only picked this anime up because I was seeing fairly glowing reviews and an impressively high score on this site. Unfortunately, I'm in the undesirable position of being one of the bearers of bad news: This show is dreadful.

Classroom of the elite starts off fairly weak, presenting some vapid quotes like, "Are humans really equal?" and an opening sequence that displays a general lack of care. It only took me a few minutes to decide to check if I was watching was yet another light novel adaptation (I was). The premise is almost entirely unoriginal, but I've ... always thought that it's not so much about originality of concept, but rather how one uses the ideas and inspiration they take from other stories to craft something unique or memorable of their own.

The problem, though, is that there is nothing of quality to speak of in this show. Not even remotely, and I'm really trying. The story is derived from countless battle school anime where kids in a given school fight for ranking and prestige. In this case, they prove their worth through academic standings. Ok, nothing groundbreaking but I'll go with it. To "spice things up" more, the kids have to live on campus and receive an allotted amount of funds each month that fluctuates depending on their performance. The class we follow starts out at the bottom rung of the hierarchy, class D, and we are to see their journey to class A. The execution of this concept is poorly handled, though, in part due to a simple lack of imagination and a pacing structure that would give Charlotte a run for its money. At this rate, I have my doubts the kids'll make it to Class C, as the show has quickly devolved into a sort of "adventures with Ayanokouji-kun and friends..."

Yes, everything about this is hacky, even down to the details of the kids having to live on campus, but again this wasn't even the upsetting part. The unfortunate truth is anyone looking for any sort of unique or inspired take on the already super saturated "highschool battle school" subgenre is going to be severely let down here.

All that's left worth talking about is our characters... I was hoping they could really carry the show, but they are all walking tropes. No attention to detail or complexity. no substance, no layers, just barebones cliche here.. You've got the hot-headed jock, apathetic student, the overly friendly chick, the perfect girl, the mysterious loli, the uninterested main character. And thats about as much depth you'll find. As I was watching I couldn't help but think, "Are these guys serious?" I'm failing to think of a show as egregious in its display of its cast, showing us, in earnest, how completely void of personality each and every one of them are. I was frankly embarrassed.

And let's talk about this terrible main character for a second. If one ever needed to know what not to do when creating a main character for a story, they'd need look no further than this. You may be inclined to believe he is a breathe of fresh air from the "whiny, spineless" main characters that we so often get from these adaptations. But it's just another variation of the same garbage, really. First off, to pull off the "uninterested main character" archetype to any degree of success, you have to be at least a competent writer (see oregairu). It's extremely difficult. The reason is because when you have a main character who doesn't give a damn about anything and has no goals whatsoever (or at least doesn't present them for the audience to know), you run the risk of the audience saying things like, "Why should I even care?" That's the one thing you don't want. Ever. Because if your audience doesn't care, they will stop watching.

Ayanokouji is bored in every scenario. Even in high tension situations where the mood of the scene calls for him to actually care about what's going on, he doesn't. And this is detrimental to the experience of the viewer. We're conflicted. What are we supposed to feel in situations where the scene is telling us we should be worried, anxious, mad etc. but our main character is looking into the distance with eyes half open, spacing out thinking about fuck all? This is what bad writing looks like. It's simply unbearable to watch if you've not turned off your brain.

There was one scene in the 4th episode that cemented to me the notion that this show, similar to Ayanokouji, just doesn't care at all. Our main character and a girl we had previously seen him personally interact with *zero* times had asked him to pretend to be her boyfriend so that she could let down her crush without them feeling as bad. The problem of this scene is blatantly apparent to anyone who made it to this episode. These two characters have built no prior relationship that merits her making this request of Ayanokouji. To our knowledge, they barely know each other. It was constructed solely to meet the demands of the plot, with no regard to upholding any standards of storytelling. It was kind of insulting to watch; I could picture the guys making this anime on their lunch break having a laugh going, "How unambiguously dumb can we make this show, and still get people eating out of the palm of our hands?"

It was at that moment that I truly realized this anime has gone nowhere and that it will never go anywhere. There is no passion anywhere to be found here. No feeling. No excitement. A grade schooler could tell just how little original thought and care went into the making of this story, its world, or characters. It's just another poor ripoff of something that is already dreadful. I could make this review much longer, criticizing everything in excruciating detail, but similarly to Ayanokouji, I just can't be bothered.

When Attack on Titan originally aired, the anime community was thrust into disarray as we experienced something that rarely happens: Everyone was watching. The show had managed to permeate the mainstream, and the hype was nearly immeasurable. Four years later, it's safe to say its sequel isn't garnering nearly as much attention. Thus it may come as a surprise to hear that AoT season 2 addresses nearly all of the flaws of the first season, and in only half the length of its predecessor, managed to entirely outdo itself.

The season starts out with a fundamental shift in tone from what we had become accustomed ... to. Instead of the high octane, action packed nature of the show which had become its primary driving force, season 2 sets the stage by introducing a mysterious new threat into the fray. In addition, it reinstates the primal threat of the titans that the first season started to lose sight of. Titans are terrifying creatures, beasts that indiscriminately dismember and devour humans; it's important that the viewer fears them as well, or else what we're watching is oddly deformed giant humanoids flailing about the walls. Thankfully, It accomplishes this through its delivery of one of the most gruesomely horrific opening scenes I've seen in Attack on Titan's history. And after that, it doesn't shy away from that instilled fear, or back off to give us a break.

As I alluded to, this season slows down a lot. But, it's better off for it. AoT S2 explores and expands upon its more mysterious and somewhat overlooked cast of characters, unraveling their underlying motivations, vulnerabilities, desires, conflicts, and secrets in intimate detail. In half the length, S2 manages to develop its cast much more impressively than its prequel. The first season had some issues with balancing high-paced action with substance. These problems have been rectified. Moreover, it capitalizes on this fine writing by granting the characters the opportunity to make significant decisions that affect the plot. Needless to say, the various revelations and developments that occur within this season would not have had nearly the same weight had the characters remained underdeveloped.

As far as the story goes, I was pleasantly surprised by its compactness. In my less optimistic moments, I expected the short 12 episode season to be marred by a rushed, incoherent, plot-hole filled mess of a plot. However, the slower-paced and more grounded approach of this season played to the advantages of its single cour run. It is unrealistic to expect real "closure" as there is too much left in the story to be told, so the key takeaway for me was seeing how season 2 could wrap all the ideas it presented into 12 episodes in a satisfactory way. I have to commend the studio for this point. You don't get this level of refinement without a hell of a lot of prep work.

One of the most impressive aspects of AoT, for me, is how well crafted the scenes typically are. Sometimes a specific anime, for whatever reason, brings out the absolute best a studio can deliver. We saw it happen with Shaft and the Monogatari series. The same thing seems to be happening here. And season 2 somehow manages to raise the bar on this point as well. As a frame of reference, one scene in particular simply has a group of people riding on the backs of slowly moving horses at night. Initial interpretations of this synopsis would probably read as follows: "Boring." Yet my hands were sweating as I watched. The show seems to be able to craft scenes that hit all of the right notes in all of the right spots, and I believe this largely comes down to the studio's intense passion for this series and a keen attention to detail. Even the most subtle of cues, such as the precise moment of when to play a specific track in the background, or none at all, is not overlooked. As such, it comes as no surprise that AoT S2 presents one of the most beautifully sculpted fight scenes I've had the pleasure of watching (upon viewing I trust you'll be able to tell which scene this is).

Attack on Titan was special. It amassed a level of popularity that transcended it atop all other competition in its medium. After four years, I had forgotten much about it. Attack on Titan season 2 reminded me of its quality, and taught me that it is indeed more special than I originally surmised.

Preliminary thoughts on Grimoire of Zero:
I really want to like this show. I want to be able to sing its praises to all who'll listen, letting everyone know how worth their time it is to sit down and enjoy it. But I can't do that right now. I hope by the end of its run, I can at least say it was a memorable experience.

Part of this desire probably stems from Grimoire's resemblance to one of my favorite anime of all time, Spice and Wolf. With a similar atmosphere and general vibe, setting (medieval, Europe), and the same dynamic of two travelling companions (which becomes ... three in this case, infuriating but I'll touch on that in the next segment), on a mutual journey, its first episode left me extremely hopeful for its future. Unfortunately, the crossovers end there.

These types of shows rely almost entirely on the two main characters and the interplay between them. Spice and Wolf's Holo and Lawrence were such a witty and naturally compatible duo, and played off of one another so well, that entire minutes-long sequences of dialogue felt as ensnaring to watch as any expertly choreographed and explosive fight scene. That level of crisp writing and dialogue is simply not apparent in Grimoire of Zero. Most of our character's interactions are trivial in nature and execution, yet the progress in their relationship, and in turn the things they're willing to do for one another, speeds up at a disorienting and bizarre pace. All in order to meet the demands of the plot. Strike 1.

To make matters worse, Grimoire introduces a practically irrelevant third character into the equation. This addition only serves to cripple the pair's ambiance generally, and to this point I simply cannot deduce the value of the decision. One could argue this character brings to us important information about the world of Zero, but I argue that that isn't reason enough to introduce him as a mainstay which completely derails any and all flow of the main duo. At most, he should have been a character that departed in the span of an episode after giving us the info we needed. Perhaps if this character was at all interesting, I would let this point go without much contention, but alas. Strike 2.

My main gripe with this show, though, is the way in which it handled its very first *real* conflict. Without spoiling, Grimoire set itself up with, intentionally or not, a grand opportunity to introduce some amazing drama in the second half of its cour. We simply didn't know enough about our characters true motivations and desires at the time of this conflict, which would have given us as the viewer the awesome experience of sharing the main lead's (who is as left in the dark as us) suspicions and doubts as they uncovered the truth. I was extremely excited, thinking back to my excitement after finishing the first episode, "This is what I've been waiting for!" Gears turning in my mind, thinking of all the possible permutations available, all leading us to an epic climax. Unfortunately though, Grimoire sinks the ship that hasn't even had the opportunity to set sail, by telling us, within 2 minutes of introducing the conflict and in no uncertain terms, who exactly the villain is and who we should be rooting for. This is simply a failure of good writing, especially egregious when the set pieces have fallen into place so nicely. Strike 3.

Grimoire has potential. It seems to have all the ingredients needed to make a memorable anime, if only its execution were more refined. In fact, even with all of its downfalls, this is still an enjoyable show. I'm determined to see it through, not just in hopes of it proving me wrong, but also because I'm simply having fun watching. And there is something to be said for that.

Disclaimer: I'm treating this as a review of both Tokyo Ghoul and Tokyo Ghoul:re, since :re is not so much a sequel, but rather a direct continuation of where TG left off. Also, I normally don't write reviews, but for TG, I feel as if it's one of those series where I'd be doing a disservice if I didn't tell people why its worth their time to read.

I don't want to go into detail about the actual story, rather I want to touch upon a few things that make a story great, and why TG succeeds generally. In terms of the concept, TG may lose ... points by more dour readers due to its adherence to convention, but makes up for it tenfold in its brilliant execution. Mangas are unique in the sense that they are released by chapter, at fixed intervals, rather than all at once. Thus it is rare, especially for such a long on-going and complex series with so many moving parts, to display such a tight control over the narrative. Astonishingly, almost as if every scene has been meticulously forged in his mind before beginning, with no need for improvisation, Sui Ishida wastes hardly any moments and preserves the continuity of the plot throughout; a true artisan. There is no fat here.

Ishida's masterful usages of symbolism, allusions, parallels, and foreshadowing seamlessly integrated into the plot also adds deeper layers of storytelling. Moreover, TG holds its cards tight enough to its chest to build up real drama through meaningful suspense and mystery, yet not tight enough to drown the possibility of more keen readers sifting through the panels to uncover future developments.

Tokyo Ghoul is a character-driven story, and as such the characters themselves make or break the actual product. Thankfully, rather than cartoonish, archetypal interpretations of individuals through heavy use of tropes, Ishida's understanding of human psychology goes a long way in his construction of characters that feel distinctly human. Quite possibly, the most enjoyable moments of this manga derive from pondering over and watching play out the character's internal conflicts, changes, motivations, desires, and growth, if for no other reason than because they are portrayed brilliantly and with class, especially in the case of our main character.

However, I don't want to make it sound as if TG has no intellectual worth beyond this. In its most basic form, this is a story about humans dealing with predators living amongst them, and conversely, predators dealing with the changing tides of society that are driving them into hiding more so than ever before. Thanks to Ishida's expert writing, seeing this interplay through the eyes of our cast of character's is a true treat. I could say much more on this point, but I think it's best to experience all Ishida has to say about society and the world generally by actually reading the story.

Tokyo Ghoul is a true breath of fresh air in a sea of mass-produced, low quality, generally unimpressive manga. If you're looking to read an adult themed, dark, supernatural story with a strong plot and as impressively grounded and real characters, you'd be hard pressed to find a better one to sink your teeth into.

Charlotte is an anime that I was relatively excited for going in. I had heard some good things from people whose opinions I respect. Unfortunately, I walked away regretting the fact that I sat through the entire 13 episodes.

Most of the show's first half is not even dedicated to anything resembling a story that knows where it wants to go. Instead, we spend the majority of our time accompanying our characters on side quests that mean basically nothing and accomplish little in terms of bringing depth to our cast of characters. Unfortunately, this simply leaves the viewer wondering what the point of it all is. ... Most conflicts are resolved in the space of a single episode. Even a major conflict that our MC struggles with that could easily be explored for a few episodes is somehow resolved in a few minutes. The final episode was exceedingly tragic. A conflict that could have comprised the premise of an entire show condensed into 20 bumbling minutes.

As far as our characters, there is not much to like. For an anime in which the plot is an utter disaster, the characters must pick up the slack in order to retain some level of an enjoyable experience. Unfortunately, Charlotte didn't get the memo, or just threw it in the trash. Bland, flat, uninteresting, indistinguishable, archetype, these are just some words that can sum up practically everyone in Charlotte. Each character fits squarely into one of the many abhorrent, overused tropes used in anime today. There is also a major problem when our two leads (in this case Yuu and Nao) are practically as one-dimensional as our list of supporting characters. It's quite a feat too, considering Yuu actually started out as a pretty interesting character, yet somehow managed to completely lose all of those qualities by the end of the first episode and never recovered.

The story itself is, as mentioned, a mess. Not only does it fumble over itslf for about 7 episodes, when it finally gets going the result is nothing to write home about. If you've read other reviews, you'll probably already know that Charlotte is filled to the brim with plotholes and deus ex machinas, well most of these come in the second half so if you somehow make it that far, be prepared to get even more frustrated.

Maybe the worst part is that Charlotte never succeeded in making me care at all, and when you fail to make the viewer care, you've essentially failed. The show makes several attempts to deliver emotional moments, for example, but they fall short of eliciting any of the emotional response they were aiming for. Not only were there clear problems with how the scenes themselves were delivered (e.g. emotional build up is nonexistent) the show utterly failed at developing any of the characters; a necessary component to successful storytelling.

On paper, Charlotte is interesting. The actual result though is an underwhelming, uninspiring, mess of a story with even worse characters.