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It's entertainment for based people. No need to assume, the Manga is an allegory for anti-immigration : ). The first bit of information we get is that aliens "saved" Earth, and at least 17 gorillion aliens live in Japan. Our main character, Chadette Thundertits, hates aliens, even the ones that "did no wrong", and says that she wants them all dead(based). Her boss doesn't pay as much as she needs to live a decent life (why pay decent wages when a billion aliens are willing to do the same job for peanuts) and she gets physically ill working under his conditions (working with no A/C ... in hot weather, being denied cooling spray.) Later her boss accidentally kills himself because of unsafe working conditions and Tundertits gets canned because she 'didnt do enough to help.' She then correctly generalizes and hates all aliens because of their horrid treatment of her and the people around her.

Then comes, Chad Thundercawk, who also puts aliens in their place and ridicules an alien (the evil selfish boss) for not speaking the same language...(Why are they speaking alien on a foreign planet, rude asf smh)
Should be noted that the alien boss bumped Thunderkawk with his elbow, but even if it was clearly an accident, the boss still didn't really apologize and if you've had to deal with such rude 'people' your whole life an outburst is understandable. Thunderkawk's family was revealed to have been killed by an alien in a car accident (fent laced driving) so now he hates all aliens. The alien didn't even get prison time because pursuing a criminal case would be more trouble than justice is worth. Really makes you think huh. It's ok though, not like there are instances irl when migrants get away with crimes that would normally put you away for life.

Then Thundertits and Thunderkawk work together to cover up the evidence of a 'hate crime', where Thunderkawk beat an alien to death for assaulting him ('unclear' whether the alien hit him on accident or on purpose, but with observed and typical behavior you can put 2 and 2 together). Thunderkawk feels no remorse for the incident since he doesn't see them as people (because they're not.) The two then chop up the alien's corpse and Thundertits eats him as part of the cover up (more of a Chinese thing but you go girl). Since Thundertits finds out she likes the taste of cooked aliens, Thinderkawk suggests that he continues to murder random aliens while she eats their dead bodies to cover it up, in hopes that they can eventually 'genocide' (it isn't genocide, they have their own planet smh) the alien population within their city.

Now that we've got that info out of the way, let's talk about general aspects. First, off, the first chapter of this manga doesn't mean the manga is 'racist' (there are plenty of reasons to hate the aliens and ignoring them will only compound that hatred overtime), One could say both of the named characters in the chapter are just "I hate all of X because some of X did terrible things to me, " which is a dumb surface level liberal leaning analysis. Obviously, this is a parallel to the modern immigration situation that many first world countries face and it's disingenuous to ignore the aspects that go into fueling how Thunder tits and kawk feel. They happen to bump into each other leaving work and by the water and happen to share identical opinions, which is a cool parallel to irl when you find out your coworkers also like dashcam crash videos and peter griffin says the nword comps. Cool!

This is also a comedy manga (and it's pretty funny ngl). The peak comedy in this chapter is the severe alien death and violence which may or may not reflect how the author feels about irl immigrants : ). The aliens constantly causing nosebleeds probably serves some interesting parallel a 10th grader couldn't quite figure out on his own. The art is pretty good and accentuates the story by emphasizing the differences between humanity and the aliens through stylistic choice.

Aight the next section was so stupid I'm not even gonna parody it. The manga could go in almost any direction from this point here on, but the fact it is causing so much salt production already is making it stand out amongst everything else in production. It feels like literally every piece of media in a mainstream sense has nothing but positives to say about multiculturalism and it's effects on the world. Why is it a bad thing that it is criticized in such a manner. Even if it is one note in the sense the aliens are nothing but evil and contribute nothing but suffering to the protagonists, I'd argue it parallels reality effectively and forces that point to be acknowledged. The best argument people who hate this manga can come up with is wahh it's racist symbolism, but they never say it's inaccurate or wrong. Such widespread detractions are why this manga was even made in the first place.

So the plot starts off interesting, the character's are complex, the art is gripping, and the comedy doesn't hit if you live in a Seattle polycule. On top of all of this, the author still has room to make it even better.

tl;dr:

'''Racist'''' (correct) Bonnie & Clyde commit '''hate crimes'''(putting aliens in their place) with their final goal being '''genocide'' (making society better). I have my popcorn ready for however long this ride lasts.

No Spoilers TL;DR:

The first season of Dungeon Meshi is only about halfway through the overall story of the original manga. While it is only halfway through the content, I can confidently say that it stands tall as a series that delivers excellent character development, world building, and moral theming. Rare is the series that handles character development in such a well structured and realistic manner while also developing a wonderfully unique world filled to the brim with detail and intrigue. Food is as prevalent and important as the title implies, serving as the crux of the series' many poignant messages and morals. Many of ... the lessons the show has to tell about human nature and the important things in life are subtly expressed through the actions of the characters, the world around them, and the meals they share. What results is a show that you can think about and interpret across multiple factors; all of which provide a unique insight into the characters and the reality that they reflect.

Seeing several details established throughout the entire run of the series given a new life and dimension in the adaptation also makes for a fun watch as someone who has read through the manga prior to the start of the show.  The inevitable second half of the series will be some time off, but the foundations that the manga laid out for this adaptation have been given the visual fidelity required for these characters to shine in the public eye. Even with only half of their journey given color. As a massive fan of the original manga I am extremely happy with how this adaptation has turned out, (minor nitpicks aside), and I hope that as the series continues to unfold others can realize how wonderfully crafted the story and characters are. If you enjoy offbeat humor, a thoroughly fleshed out fantasy, and highly memorable characters I cannot recommend Dungeon Meshi/Delicious in Dungeon enough.

The following is a more detailed and slightly spoilery breakdown of my thoughts. (The source manga will be referenced, however there will be no manga spoilers for any events after the series ends)

Setting: 10/10

The world of Dungeon Meshi is built around the titular dungeon; The twisted remains of a lost kingdom ruled over by a mad mage. The sovereign of the kingdom was discovered alongside the ruins and proclaimed that 'the one who conquers the mad mage will inherit my kingdom's before crumbling to dust. This launched a craze to explore the grand dungeon on an undeveloped. From this then various motivations crop up, some want to make money off the dungeon by stripping gold off the walls and treasures, some want to research the magic that twisted the dungeon into what it is alongside allowing the revival of the dead. Some want to conquer the dungeon and defeat the mad mage so that they can take the kingdom for themselves. This then leads to the development of a town surrounding the dungeon, a governing body, places of business, even departments that specialize in the revival of adventurers. The vast and wide world surrounding this dungeon is in and of itself developed down to the finest detail. The people who strip gold, the magical researchers, and the vast array of unique characters adventuring in the dungeon all have stories built around them as individual characters and the story would not be complete without any of these factors missing. Despite all of this well thought out detail about the world being present and necessary, not a single one of these mentioned parties and factors is even remotely close to being a main focus of the story. All of what was just mentioned is but a small part of the story as a whole, merely the foundations upon which the main scenario and party of characters is built. A large part of what lets the main characters shine is the fact that the setting is so vast in scale and detail, and what I mentioned is just the detail that went into a relatively small portion of the first part of the season. What separates generic settings from good is magnitudes of thought, care, and detail; all of which Dungeon Meshi has in spades.

Characters: 10/10

Because of the massive scale of the world, each of the main four characters has a well developed backstory and character personality that all make for an endearing and unorthodox main cast. Design wise this is also reflected in the unique and distinct appearances of each character, you will not mistake any character from this series for anyone in any other series (no protagonists are black haired baby faced slabs of white bread). I could easily write about the many points of build up that make each character unique and a joy to think about, but for the sake of relative brevity I will focus on one aspect of one character.

The "main character," Laios Touden, is immediately characterized by his obsession with monsters and his unusual disposition towards their consumption. This obsession is played for comedy throughout most episodes and it works from a purely comedic standpoint to watch the eccentricities play out. However, further feeding into the well thought out nature of the work, the obsession itself is a reflection of the world around him.

Having been raised with his younger sister in a stifling household with only dogs as friends, Laios is socially awkward and his lack of social aptitude is a frequent point made. His entire stifling relationship with Shuro is born of his lack of ability to read social situations. Chilchuck constantly berates him for his inability to gracefully handle social situations. As a result of how he was raised leading into his current lack of social ability, he falls into an obsession. This obsession manifests in the form of monsters, creatures that can easily be understood from a biological standpoint, ones that require no second guessing or reading through the lines.
Laios and his monster fixation are born from the branching effect of his early life and the people around him.

The social ecosystem of Dungeon Meshi is just as fleshed out as the setting and what results is characters with multiple layers to their actions that are fun to think about even after watching it all. Everything affects everyone to some extent and because there are so many contributing factors what results is a story you can look at through different lenses and ideals. The insight one can gain from different perspectives on why characters like Laios act the way they do is one of my favorite parts of interacting with other fans. My interpretation above is just my own, there are other things you could say about the character that are equally valid such as the possibility of him having autism as a legitimate disability that affects his worldviews.

With every character mattering to some extent, all of whom are unique and with multiple layers of thought put into their actions and identities, Dungeon Meshi cements itself as an excellent example of character writing.

Sound 7

The Opening for the first part of the series is a nice and grand setting motif that leans into the more grand and melancholic side of the series. The first ending is the complete opposite, being an upbeat party song. The Opening for the second act is a strangely upbeat and jovial sequence followed by a rather somber piece. Each sets out to encompass a different mood that the series has, however I personally think both the first ending and the second opening are too jovial. Especially the first opening, which gives some serious whiplash after some episodes. The second opening has some spoilery connotations with the later half of the series, however those events do not happen in this season which leaves some strange questions as to why it was chosen for its aesthetic. While not bad songs, tonally I think that these two songs do not encompass the show anywhere near as well as the first OP and second ED. The soundtrack played for the episodes themselves are perfectly fine at setting the mood, with some notable repetition. Overall I would say the soundtrack as a whole is fine, with the major detractors being the tones of the second OP and first ED.  As an aside, I am of the personal opinion that the English dub is an excellent way to watch the show and both sub and dub are well done.

Animation 9

Animation is not my forte, but visually, Studio Trigger replicates the general style of the manga and adds good looking dynamic action. I personally have noticed a lot of still frames and pan shots when in non action he ay sequences, but the action all looks very good and fluid. There are also some minor animation flairs and details scattered throughout that serve as neat things to look for such as the paintings in Marcilles nightmare and how the dungeon crawlers crawl on the Kensuke.

Minor Complaints

As is with anime adaptations, there are many minor details about character backstories that have been cut for time. A notable nitpick is the fact that this medium simply cannot showcase all elements of what define and build up each of these characters down to minute detail. Extra chapters and supplementary material are not a feature of every manga, however, in the case of Dungeon Meshi, the existence of such material adds a vibrance to the world that the anime can't replicate due to the nature of the medium. This alongside some general cuts and pacing choices are my primary complaints. These complaints are only minor in the grand scheme of the series as a whole however.

Overall 9/10

A series does not need to be perfect to receive a 10/10, but, in the case of Dungeon Meshi, I would argue that it is close to that point as far as manga goes. As a show I think that they did an excellent job adapting the material. Minor nitpicks aside, I think that it stands tall as a vibrant series with strong characters and an interesting world and the anime went out of its way to highlight and expand upon some of those details in a way the manga couldn't. At the same time, I do not think the adaptation was perfect and the cuts and music choice make my personal score a bit lower than the source material. It is still worth watching and an excellent series to jump into if you don't feel like reading. I personally cannot wait for season 2!

9/10 overall, one of the best series of the past few years.

TL;DR Ranking of Kings had several amazing first few episodes and if the rest of the series followed it could have easily been a 9. There were legitimate stakes, the mystery surrounding the characters was intriguing, and the struggles of the protagonists were well handled. The middle half of the show is not as gripping as the first handful of episodes. Character motivations get spelled out for the most part and they do not live up to the mystery and intrigue shown at the beginning of the show. There are also issues with pacing, an overuse of tropes, and some characters getting completely shafted in ... terms of development and screen time. What follows is a resolution that does not fix the previous issues and instead makes weirdly questionable decisions morally.

There are also some badly injected takes on real world events concerning Japan and Korea that paint Korea as one-sidedly evil. The politics do not apply to most viewers; however, they are concerning when viewed in a vacuum.

The art style invokes that of a clean looking storybook fantasy and holds up for the most part. The opening and ending songs and visuals are stellar throughout the run of the show as well.

I don't normally watch shows as they air, but Ousama Ranking's first half had me gripped to the point where I wanted to see everything that followed as it unfolded. What I got was disappointment. Below is a much more in depth look at why I feel this way. Spoilers are present to fully explain why I gave this show a 5.

------------Story and Characters - 5------------

What initially drew me to Ranking of Kings, the story, starts out with immense promise. Two competing sons for the right to the throne; Bojji, the designated successor yet crippled from birth as well as kindhearted and talented in his own right. The other Daida, a younger stronger and much more arrogant prince. The first few episodes of the show revolve around who supports which prince, with each character having various stated and unstated reasons for doing so. Characters with development at this point were multilayered and had compelling individual struggles.

The protagonist Bojji struggles to fit in because he is weak, small, gullibly kind, deaf, and mute. He finds a friend in Kage who recognizes his will and talent in combination with his kindness as something great. The sword master in charge of Bojji struggles between loyalty to his master and the potential he saw in another. Queen Hilling was shown at first to be harsh towards Bojji for his gullible demeanor and fully supported Daida over him, yet it is also shown how much she truly cares for him as her son. The mysterious Spear Master and Snake Charmer had their own reasons for being loyal to Bojji and Daida respectfully with each showing potential for further development. Daida himself is power hungry and craves to be as strong and as great as his father. Together with a magic mirror giving advice, Daida was willing to do anything to cement his rule. When first watching the show, I was not sure what to expect from any of the characters and I found myself pleasantly surprised at the quality of writing despite the simplicity of the premise. Eventually, the contention between the two princes is put on hold and the rest of the show starts to slowly falter.

There are many debates as to whether or not the second half of the show is worse or not. Some say the quality is the same, some say it is not. I'd say the second 2/3rds of the show start to show significant problems and do not hold up overall. There are a handful of reasons for this being the character developments, the plot as a whole, pacing, the political allegory, and the tropes used.


-----SPOILERS------

Starting with minor complaints, some segments of the show focused one-sidedly on either Bojji and Kage or people living in the kingdom. Some episode plots were paced weirdly and going up to two episodes with barely any development for Bojji's plot thread felt weird after seeing him every episode. Similarly, suddenly cutting to the kingdom which had been irrelevant for several episodes was also jarring at times. There are also multiple unresolved plot threads and characters introduced that go nowhere or are irrelevant. The source material is a web manga currently being published so I hope they eventually go somewhere meaningful.

As far as characters go, everyone from the underworld remains fine as a character, the spearman is the most compelling of the four knights and Hilling is fine aside from one aspect. The rest of the cast did not fare well in terms of development. The biggest aggressor to this is Kage, who started out as gruff yet supportive and ultimately ended up as nothing but a mouthpiece for Bojji. His troubled past led to a sour demeanor that eventually changed when he decided to support Bojji, which he did by protecting his life and paying for his training. After this, Kage does not do anything of note except talk for Bojji because he is mute, give play by play commentary during fights and altercations, and cry. Kage hardly ever shows off his once gruff personality, instead it feels as if he was created to serve as a way for the viewer to understand Bojji's every mumbled word. In particular, his emotional crying is overused to a ridiculous degree.

The swordsman tries to kill Bojji in episode 5 and then spends the next 18 episodes wallowing in pity over the fact that he betrayed his master. He went from driven and experienced to being lectured by every character in the show and being treated like a child. His student, a supporter of Bojji from the beginning, is portrayed as inexperienced and naive yet he is shown in a more mature and knowledgeable light than the swordsman on multiple occasions. In addition to this, the swordsman resorts to comical levels of self harm and pity on multiple occasions. Even after swearing newfound loyalty to Bojji, he constantly looks for ways to get himself killed in atonement even after multiple characters tell him he is wrong for doing so. What started out as an experienced tutor who questioned loyalty over potential was reduced to a bumbling sob story who can't decide between loyally serving, killing himself for redemption, or crying on the floor for forgiveness. In particular, his crying is overused to a ridiculous degree.

The spearman is the most compelling of the initially introduced knight cast, struggling between two factions of loyalty. This isn't particularly groundbreaking and his hypocrisy and wishy washy nature is even frustrating at times, but, comparing him to other cast members he oddly stands as one of the few mildly decently handled characters. Like others, he still breaks down and cries but not to the point of significant overuse.

The snake charmer does not get any character development aside from a handful of lines and scenes that show he is kind but pretends to be mean as a facade. He doesn't cry which makes him alright.

Last of the knights is the big muscleman in charge of protecting Hilling, he does just that and is one of the few characters to actually suffer consequences from being attacked. You could easily argue that this makes him the best character between the four knights which I find sad considering he barely has any nuance in his personality.

Overall, each of the knights showed promise at the beginning and by the end two were barely developed. One was bastardized from a multilayered man with ambition and drive into a devout Bojji afficionado who can't control his suicidal impulses or his waterworks, and only one of them ended up being passable as a character. An additional small gripe I have with all of them is that they decide to support Bojji over their king in the end. Even the Snake Charmer who was entirely in support of Daida and Bosse decides to support Bojji.

Speaking of Bojji, some find issue with the fact he went from essentially powerless to potently strong in a 4-episode training arc. Personally, I don't have issue with it because the logic behind why it worked flowed well. Bojji was initially already very swift, he was just taught how to take advantage of that. I don't have many issues with Bojji as a protagonist, but he does cry too much for emotional scenes to feel effective.

I do take issue with the fact that nearly every single one of his doubters form the beginning changes their tune with ease. Bojji went from misunderstood as stupid and naive to being seen as a driven saint compared to everyone else. I wish that other characters were not as quick to immediately fall head over heels for the newly strong Bojji.

Daida is betrayed by the mirror and locked away and his consciousness in his body is replaced by Bosse. During this confinement Daida has a complete change of heart from entirely ruthless to sobbing over the misfortune of the brother he ordered executed. The Mirror, a woman named Miranjo. becomes the primary antagonist. Bosse is left ambiguous for most of the show, all that was known about him was that he was a strong king. Through flashbacks, we find out that Bosse one dimensionally cared about strength and the relationships he developed aside from Miranjo were all superficial. There isn't anything inherently wrong with this development, however the writing concerning the events and how Bosse developed as a character leave much to be desired. All the loyalty and trust he inspired as well as the loving relationships he had feel hollow and pointless in the grand scheme of things. He claims to love Hilling and his sons yet could care less about their deaths. Bosse cried at least 4 times about Miranjo, yet he did not have a single emotional crying scene for either of his sons or wives. More meaningful content happened in flashbacks and past events than anything that Bosse did in real time during the story.

We also find out that Miranjo basically caused every single bad thing to happen in the entirety of the story. I wont go into specifics but Miranjo made Bosse a king because he made her happy. Then she wanted to spend more time with Bosse which involves stripping him of his kingdom so she tries to get everyone in his family killed. Bosse just sits back and agrees with this because all of his relationships are superficial. The ultimate resolution to this is Bosse rightfully dies and Miranjo is completely forgiven and Daida decides he wants to marry her. Daida decides to do this because he spent 17 episodes in a mental prison watching her past unfold. After watching the 3 to 4 year old and cradling her, he watches her grow up and develop feelings for his father. After all of this, he decides to marry her. This single development brought down the score of the show from a 7 to a 6 for me, it completely comes out of nowhere, is morally questionable, and the resolution for the cause of all their suffering is given a '''''happy''''' end. We are then left with the horrendous quote 'hate the sin not the sinner,' which is horribly ill fitting considering a particular aspect of the flashbacks shown.

Some argue that the author wanted each character to get a happy end and that is the purpose for why he wrote this story. There is nothing wrong with that, but the way he did it was horribly executed. In multiple flashbacks throughout the show, characters die, are disfigured, tortured, and have lasting consequences. During the real time events of the show not a single major character dies. There are multiple fake out deaths of which include multiple characters getting stabbed through the chest, given poison, ripped in half, mauled by beasts, and bonked on the head really hard. Every single one of these mortal injuries was cured by Queen Hilling's healing powers. By the third or fourth complete reversal of death on hilling's behalf it became apparent that there were literally no stakes in the second half of the show. Even towards the end when her healing abilities were spent and everyone was essentially dead everyone was miraculously brought back to life. The way in which this story was written established death and stakes before immediately backing out and taking away the possibility entirely.

Emotional fight scenes are undermined by the fact that they probably have no real stakes when the only shown stake can easily be fixed with healing magic. Emotional scenes in general rely far too much on characters crying, realizing the error of their ways and then resolving to change or just keep crying. It is easier to name members of the cast that do not break down and cry than it is to name each one that does. I have brought the subject of crying up multiple times because I personally believe that its overuse to a ridiculous degree was that detrimental to the quality of the show.


My final large complaint concerns the flashbacks to a conflict between two cultures. One culture is fighting for freedom and helps out a poor culture while the poor culture turns out to be entirely evil and sadistic and willing to betray the kind culture at the drop of the hat. What we are given is a thinly veiled allegory for Japanese and Korean conflict, with the Japanese depicted as the benefactors to an ungrateful and 'evil' Korean culture. I am in no position to lecture anyone on the morality behind the political allegory used in this show, however, from an outsider's perspective, the author let his politics get in the way of conveying a story. That awful quote from before 'hate the sin not the sinner' loses all meaning when you look at how the author portrays the Korean people. They are literally irredeemably evil and torture an innocent girl for the sake of doing so. The audience is not meant to sympathize them, but we are meant to sympathize with the girl they tortured who ended up doing just as many horrific actions because she wanted to make someone else happy. There is no moral ambiguity for the Koreans in the flashbacks, the audience is fully meant to hate the sinner in this case. Again, supposedly the author wanted a fairytale everyone is happy ending, yet he decided to make one sided ethnic racism a key component to his happy feel good story. I am in no position to lecture anyone on their politics but I found this incredibly distasteful and immensely detracting from the show.


------------ Overall 5 ----------

I really wish the rest of the series was as good as the first few episodes. The author wanted a happy fairytale where everyone got a good ending yet set the scene for a completely different story. Emotional development is reliant on crying, there are no real stakes, and characters are a mess by the end. The best part of the show is that the art style is clean aside from a few minor animation issues and the opening and ending songs and animation are good. If you can overlook those aspects, then maybe you'd enjoy Ranking of Kings. I did not end up enjoying anything past maybe episode 8, but those first few episodes were good enough to not bring this show down even lower.

tl;dr No reason to really watch this if you aren't a Persona fan, and even if you are it is very underwhelming. Not outright awful or bad, bust long and boring.

Persona Trinity Soul is weird because the only reason anyone would care about it and the only reason it is even remembered is because it is a weird spin off of Persona 3 that was eventually de canonized. This show isn't awful but at the same time it isn't necessarily great or even that good at times. Here's a mostly spoiler free summation of my thoughts.

Story and Characters 6 - The main plot of the ... series is about the mc and his little brother moving back to live with his older brother, hence the trinity. The older brother is a cop with special powers and is investigating murders and whatnot about their town. Meanwhile the mc attends school, makes friends, and ultimately gets involved with his brother's work. The overall focus of the show is on the relationship between the three brothers, and this is a mix of occasional good and mostly bland.

The older brother is a very typical cold-hearted individual who doesn't want his family involved with his work and the mc is also typical in his sense of right and curiosity. The most interesting character is the little brother, who has a bit more going on with his personality later on in the series. Aside from the main three the side characters are fairly simple with a few decent episodes dedicated to fleshing them out. Some episodes serve no purpose and are pretty much just filler which holds the show back significantly. The only real connection this show has with the Persona series aside from the titular powers is Akihiko. His presence is fairly minor though, the emphasis is placed on the cast original to the show.

Overall the show itself doesn't have any necessarily bad story elements or character moments, however they aren't particularly noteworthy, and the presentation is relatively bland.

Art 5 - This show is very dated to its time and the animation style isn't particularly noteworthy or impressive. The personas themselves also are foggy and don't look good in general.

Sound 8 - Easily the best part of the show; Persona 3 has a good soundtrack and the show remixes many good songs from the game. Some of the arrangements are on par with or better than the vanilla mixes from the game imo. Aside from the fact they are from the game and therefore catchy, sometimes the music choice doesn't match the scene and aside from the game compositions the rest of the soundtrack isn't particularly memorable.

Enjoyment 5 - Again, the only reason you would ever watch this is if you are a fan of Persona and want to see this obscure show. Even then it is very generic and also boring for most of its duration. Many episodes feel like filler and the end result is underwhelming. At least Akihiko shows up to say hi halfway in.

Overall 6 - Trinity Soul will always be remembered as a piece of Persona history that no one remembers or acknowledges often because it is not that great. Rating this as a show and nothing else it would probably get a 5. The extra point comes from bias and the soundtrack.

tl;dr stick to the games if you like Ace Attorney, but the basic story lines just aren't believable or compelling.

My thoughts on Pheonix Wright,

Fictional lawyers that act like justice driven detectives when in reality lawyers are blood sucking parasites that care about their salaries over justice and principles. The most believable parts of the show are when the lawyers are defending scumbags and asking irrelevant questions. If I close my eyes and pretend that Mr. Ace attorney is not an attorney and more like a detective solving a case, I still find myself unimpressed with the show. I can't take anything seriously, so when 'serious' ... moments occur or characters preach about justice I just think " You interviewed a damn parrot, the dead ghost of a 34-year-old woman possessed the 6-year-old again and gave her uncomfortable assets, the prosecution whips people when she is unhappy, and every fucking case has some last-minute-no-way-in-hell-it-would-ever-fly-in-real-court evidence that shows up." In regard to the technical aspects of the show, animation is very basic and not impressive. Sometimes a rack of cleavage will just be a block of cleavage.

On the bright side, the music is good, the dub is pretty good, and that's about it. I derived more enjoyment out of this show than SVU at least.

I only gave this a 1 so it would be at my bottom and so that I wouldn't get mech shows recommended to me anymore, actual rating is more like a 4 from what I saw.

Gurren Lagan is probably the second best mech show I have seen, of which this list includes Evangelion, Code Geass, and Big O.

Here's a brief summation of my thoughts

Art 8 - The best part of the show is visually it is appealing and has flair. I especially liked the commercial break images.

Story 5 - Very basic underdog story of humans vs. stronger force, not much to it that ... impressed me from what I saw. The recap episodes were awful and singlehandedly brought down the score from a 6 to a 5 and probably a 4.

Characters 4 - Aside from Kamina and Simon, who I think were well written characters, I thought none of the cast was well handled. Yoko's character gimmick of being dressed like a stripper and then getting embarrassed when given other slightly less immodest outfits was definitely something that would have made me laugh 10 years ago

Sound 5 - I have no nostalgia for this show so the opening and ending, characters and whatnot were not memorable to me. None of the scores from any of the episodes stood out to me.

Enjoyment 2 - I think that it might just be mech shows overall, for some reason once giant robots get involved the same sort of people write the same sort of stories and it just doesn't appeal to me.

Overall 1 - Can't wait for the emails I'm going to get for this review.

This isn't a review; this is just a summation of my personal thoughts.

I watched about 14ish minutes of Darling in the FranXX when it came out and every trope that came before me made me not want to watch more. I realize that as a fan of works like Monogatari my opinion regarding sexual topics in shows moot and pointless, but I was immediately turned off by what I saw. The robots being an allegory for sex is fucking stupid and the fact the guys dry hump the girls to pilot their mechs is gross. The scientist guy sexually harassing the nurse was funny to ... the point I paused the video and debated continuing. The rest is a blur but then you've got pink hair horn girl eating a raw fish out of the lake naked. Very quirky way to introduce a character. She sees Mc who is sulking or whatever and then her boobs jiggle and she says oh you're a pervert. This is where I deleted the torrent file I got off nyaa and decided to not watch more.

At the very least it's trigger so it looks good but like everything else they do that's it. Not that I would know anything else about it having seen only 14 minutes. The boob physics were fluid at least.

tl;dr this show is weird, and most people wouldn't like it or derive anything out of it. I still don't know why I gave it an 8.

If you boil down all the fat and reduce the show to its core components, it's a harem show with wordplay entirely based around straight man deadpan humor. The concepts are so farfetched, and the humor is so clearly targeted towards Japanese audiences I am amazed this show has a following as large as it does (not that a majority of people would know anything about this show but 100k members on here is a decent number.) Visually it ... looks better than most things released in 2007. I still enjoyed myself though, so in the end I suppose I am nothing but a statistic fueling the decent rating for this show. I am in despair!

tl;dr Play Persona 5 the Royal don't watch this.

Short summation of my thoughts, Overall section has a longer tl;dr for Persona fans of various types

Story and Characters 4, 8 - vanilla Persona 5's story is a mixed bag and condensing 100 hours of game into 30ish episodes counting the specials causes it to suffer. The most common complaint with all Persona adaptations is that the pacing is bad, and the length of the game story does not adapt well. Persona 4 and the Persona 3 movies are like Steins;Gate compared to whatever this is supposed to be. (Steins;Gate is widely regarded as a great adaptation ... of a visual novel) Events and main story beats that shouldn't be rushed are and slice of life and confidant events that should not have episodes dedicated to them have episodes dedicated to them for some reason. At this point I would suggest watching a lets paly without commentary over the show. There is one saving grace to this show, the mc speaks. You also get some extra voice lines for other characters. The fact this show got a dub is the only reason I watched it and hearing Xander Mobus speak like 40 lines wasn't really worth it in the end.

Art 4 - there is cg and it looks terrible. Art is often shoddy, mis-proportioned, and choppy. Ironic considering Persona 5 is known for its style but the show is just watered down and sad.

Sound 7 - At the very least Persona 5 still has its music to its name. Some great songs are in the track, not that the fit with the scenes well at all. If anything, the game tracks are jarring and don't flow well with the show, almost as if they were made in mind for a completely different medium. They are catchy though, so it balances out slightly.

Enjoyment 5 - my enjoyment is tied to hearing the dub and seeing a few original scenes here and there. Score would be higher if the rest of the show didn't exist.

Overall 4 - If you want to larp as a Persona 5 fan online then put a YouTube let's play on 2x speed. If you want to actually experience Persona 5 play the Royal. Royal fixes many gameplay annoyances with Persona 5 and adds the best story arc in the game and debatably the series (IS and EP are mid fight me). If you have beaten the Royal and want to watch the show for the sake of watching, go on YouTube and watch a highlight reel. There are probably many good ones, and it will save you several hours. If you're a loser and want to watch the first-person Valentine's episode, then play an eroge or get an actual girlfriend instead.

tl;dr The Persona 3 movies are a mixed bag of ok to good and the last movie is mostly good.

Short spoiler free summation of my thoughts.

Story and Characters 9 - Persona 3 as a game has a good story and still remains emotionally impactful despite its dated nature. The movies do a great job of expanding character motivations and fleshing them out while preserving the theming and impact of the original games. Many of the improvements actually make the story better overall, especially the changes made in the alst movie. The way the anime staff decided to direct the protagonist's personality has positives and negatives ... in regard to the theming of Persona and it impacts the quality of the movies. The protagonist gets shaky development throughout the second and third movies, but it all comes together in the fourth. One particular character moment towards the very end of the movie doesn't make much sense unless you have already played the game or at least know what happens.

Art 8 - There is cg and it does not look good. Better than the likes of Overlord or Goblin Slayer but it isn't stellar. What is animated by hand looks excellent.

Sound 9 - "Persona has good music" - people who get shoved into high school lockers. The movies use several remixes of in game songs and also have several original songs that fit well with the world. My only complaint is that the final mix of Burn My Bread did not play at the right moment.

Enjoyment 9 - In order to get the most out of this movie you need to have either played Persona 3, be a fan of Persona games, or roleplay as one online. These movies have problems with pacing; however, I don't think they are terribly paced or do a bad job with character development.

Overall 9 - As a fan of Persona 3 myself I think the movie is a net good overall and on par with the original Persona 4 animation in terms of matching the quality of the game. Yes, the game is better, but not everyone has the time to play a 60-hour jrpg from 2008. If anything, the show makes noticeable improvements on aspects of the game that felt underwhelming while only sacrificing pacing elements.