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"But by that point, you will already have been torn to pieces." -Shichika Yasuri


Katanagatari starts off immediately letting the viewer know that it's heavily stylized with visuals, very unique character designs, and fitting music (as always with Taku Iwasaki, bless your musical talent) but also feels hard to get into due to the lore dumping in episode 1 to get it mostly out of the way while having episodic premises. This strategy of world building isn't the most pleasing, but it definitely gives it so we don't constantly have to get the gist of the main characters do what they do or why they do ... it. The first episode is the biggest exposition dump I've seen of any other series but when you find yourself not needing almost any exposition for the rest of the series, it definitely feels much more appreciated.
I do however, love that this series isn't about action. I came into it thinking it was, but after the first episode I realized that this was about character interactions, philosophy, and about dehumanization to personification. The dialogue was always incredibly engaging with purpose, characters bouncing off each other in every conversation felt fluid and organic. Most of the time the two main characters would create a majority of the comedy just in their conversations alone. It's really fun to just see characters interact rather than see cool over-the-top action.
This show gets you into the premise immediately, 12 episodes total, 12 different swords they need to collect. Despite this basic and predictable structure, Katanagatari throughout every episode changes the way the characters must approach collecting a sword. Whether its personal, a moral dilemma, a genuine challenge, weaknesses, character growth, etc. The show keeps the premise fresh and unpredictable at certain times to really make you wonder how the characters will end each episode. And while I do understand some gripes people have with the end of the series, I did agree with them at first, but over time I realized that it was really an organic and an ending that needed to happen the way it did.
I could continue to gush over the beautiful art style or the character designs or the music or any aspect really about the show but I want to get one thing across about Katanagatari; it's different. It really makes a unique identity for itself that lends it a massive hand in standing out compared to any other anime I've seen. Of course, that's a main feature of Taku Iwasaki's style of composing, but everything from the layout to the twists really make this feel like a special treat. Fantastic show, with a slow start but an extremely memorable cast of characters, writing, design, music, and everything else in between. I highly recommend watching Katanagatari.

The second half of the War of Underworld is slightly better than the first half, but suffers from feeling too repetitive in adding "layers" or variables to its fights. Especially nearing the end, we just start getting cameos that add no real value other than a time waster and "look its that character you know." While I did appreciate some aspects of adding layers to the battles, some of it felt extremely unnecessary like said cameos. And as this season has technically two different acts happening at the same time, the real world and Alicization, the real world plot feels interesting enough yet they do ... pull out bullshit sometimes, like with a certain robot. Nevertheless, both are typically engaging with realistic obstacles that effect both plots.
What I also appreciated was them actually giving a backstory to one of the villains ahead of time, unlike season 2 where we get an explanation of who they are at the very end. Finally getting a fight between two characters where we understand who they really are, why they have the intentions and motivations at this point. And because of those I feel like the fights are definitely much more entertaining and meaningful than before. Everything that has improved since the start of Alicization stays very much at the same level. Animation, sound design, and music being the most notable ones. However the pacing does get a bit sloppy as mentioned before with its add-on fights.
Another huge plus I have to give to this season is Kirito as a character. Finally do we see the build-up of everything he's gone through to really ask "would he be able to live with all this tragedy?" And so we see a kind of purgatory hell that he finds himself in, unable to forgive himself for all that he has caused or the lives he's taken. It's an interesting approach to giving the weight of his actions and mistakes front and center attention. However, this does not really elevate anything beforehand, because we don't really see it building up besides a failed attempt at exploring his PTSD in season 2. We know he's witnessed a lot of death in his life, some being his own fault but wasn't very well explored until now. But nevertheless, this segment was very well done and made Kirito engaging to watch.
And of course, we have the rape scene. It's never going away is it? This one is arguably one of the worst, tentacles are back and the scene in question is boring, gross, and completely out of left field. It really goes to show that not only does the author (I'm assuming its in the manga) like rape scenes as a kink, but uses them for the sole purpose of saying "bad person bad" and that's about it. Gross stuff, and really goes to show that these are used as mere sick "fan service."
I also feel the need to address the end of the season, the aftermath portion. Typically I appreciate when a story does this, giving more closure than simply ending it right after the final climax if the story has reason to. In Sword Art Online's case, I do think it is necessary to have but I won't act like its anything engaging or interesting. It makes Alice a real world person, somewhat like Yui but in full human form which is a bit unnerving. It also sets up a potential next season with the consequences of this season which I am a fan of. Actions and consequences from the past having effects on the future is always much more impactful than throwing in the towel and setting up something completely new.
With all of that in turn, we have a pretty good season with worse things that stick out compared to the first half but have interesting and well executed ideas that have been building throughout both parts in a satisfying way.

Being a continuation of the previous season, the beginning of the story felt well paced after the very action packed second half of the last season. And gives other characters time to shine since our protagonist is taking a backseat. Which I greatly appreciate giving weight to Kirito's actions at the end of Alicization. The world is forever changed, and seemingly he's doomed them while not being able to help himself. It's a great concept that actually felt like it was followed through, him getting the backseat while the world moves without him. My main issue with this lies in the fact that we don't ... really advance any already existing character that get screen time and instead (mild spoiler ahead) we get a small episode dedicated to a general who's very unlikeable due to him being afraid to go to war, despite the fact that even normal soldiers are willing to die, and many die because of his cowardice. That starts him off great to be at fault for losing lives but nothing comes of it other than "I'm not afraid now" and then we don't really see him at all for the rest of the show. This is a reoccurring issue with supporting characters.
Like characters on the other side of the war, when we get to see their perspective its not that I feel malice, but its the fact I don't care about any of them other than a surface level connection. When bad things happen to people around them, I don't feel too terrible outside "oh no that's bad." It feels as though the progression of characters is more time wasted than anything. The certain character that meets my description here isn't seen almost at all past the first half.
Another issue I had was Alice as a character in this season, yes I'm happy she got the spotlight to build her up. I do like her relationship with Bercouli, I like that we see the payoff of her living again with her sister. But I don't like that they made her fall for Kirito. It feels disingenuous when apparently the author has stated that her appreciation for him lies in loyalty and admiration, not love. Her knowing later that he is in a relationship with Asuna yet still seems to insist her own feelings for him makes her less likeable. All for the audience to have one more girl to ship with Kirito. I liked it in the last season where they had just a companion relationship with the same goal in mind. But, (from my knowledge) this is the fault of the adaptation rather than the source material. So I won't fault the author for this change.
Besides these two issues, I didn't have many more issues on this season. Small things like Gabriel being a seemingly flat villain, or that the battles start to feel unnecessarily drawn out. Everything else is more nit-picky than anything, like the same animation given to soldiers on the battlefield. Overall enjoyable but still not as good as the last season and doesn't offer much other than story progression. Unfortunately characters don't grow outside new introduction characters whom we don't care for much.

The Gun Gale Arc was semi entertaining and had a decent amount of fun action with some character building for Sinon. Sword Art Online again presents a very unique world for us to immerse ourselves into. As someone who played the Fatal Bullet game, I do believe this is a contender behind Aincrad for the best world this series gives us. As for the substance of the season itself, the GGO part was by far the only real part that felt anything worth watching. Again, the second half is taken up by a filler segment and an uninteresting character story. So the review will be ... about what's worth mentioning.
What they attempted to do with both Kirito and Sinon sharing getting over their PTSD is interesting to explore, but at the end of the day it's nothing more than the surface level plot point. Kirito in particular suffers from them trying to explore his PTSD in the fact that he mercilessly slaughtered Laughing Coffin's guild in the first season, something we see nothing of. We have no attachment to this plot point by extension, and it feels like it was fabricated for this season and wasn't planned beforehand. There was plenty we could have delved into that was already there, but instead we focus on an event we didn't know prior to this season.
Sinon though does get some depth to her trauma, using exposure therapy to attempt to get over her fear. As someone who has tried exposure therapy, it is incredibly difficult, and I feel as though it isn't really given enough attention as Sinon usually has zero issues with using guns. Only the exact model that she shot is what triggers it which begs the question why she's playing in the first place despite not using the gun she has trauma with. The explanation of how the villain worked was also dumb and even though it was supposed to make me feel the tension more, I felt less tension for the illogical approach to the "die in the game die in real life." The villain himself doesn't make much sense as well, and a spoiler warning for this plot point, especially with their ties to the characters and how (one) of their motives doesn't seem to make much sense.
Plus there's still that one very uncomfortable rape scene which is extremely gross but fortunately we don't see much as the previous season. But it starts to beg the question why this is a reoccurring thing the author includes in his works. Seriously, what is wrong with you?
The idea of Kirito having PTSD from SAO was an interesting concept but it wasn't properly explored until the next season. And this is without mentioning again, the second half of the season which is both a filler arc and an uninteresting laid out story for a new character. Sword Art Online proving again that it has no idea what it wants to devote its time to explore. It was meh, and I wouldn't really recommend this to anyone who values their time.

(THIS INCLUDES BOTH THE FIRST AND SECOND SPECIAL AS I THINK MY THOUGHTS SHOULD BE COLLECTED IN THE SAME PLACE)

Before I dive into everything I had questions about, I would like to highlight the beginning of the first special, being an incredible mirror of the first episode with the colossal titan peering over the wall but instead the people don't even have the protection of the walls to guard them, and we see the destruction of everything and everyone. A very real and raw depiction of the end of the world from the perspective of the civilians. Seeing the kid that Eren breaks down to ... about the end of the world die alongside his brother in an extremely gruesome fashion was handled nigh to perfection, the tone, the perspective, music, direction, voice work, all of it was amazing. So I would like to give props to this one scene that I did enjoy. And unfortunately I feel as though I don't have enough room to talk much about the first one as much as the second part. (So to give some closure with that, I like some of the first part and most of my real issues come from the second part, yet a lot of these setups start in the first part so I felt it appropriate to batch the two together.) Anyways, onto the real review.
I went into this with zero knowledge of what to expect, I've avoided spoilers for the whole time this show has been up, besides a few small details like the first opening and the female titan's existence, but still this ending has left me conflicted whether I like it or I dislike it. Of course, every scene after the final battle made me like the ending less and less. I didn't like that the Jeagerists controlled Paradis Island despite the fact that most, if not a huge chunk of them died via the main characters at the end of the Final Season Part 2, a recontrol of the government would have been more than possible since Historia was still well and fine. Maybe there would be complications over the way the common folk had reacted to the Jeagerists but let it be known that the talk of peace talks comes up, means that there would have been an easy peaceful end to the conflict, but we can't do that because of the theme that the story is trying to tell. But that theme now feels incredibly forced and artificial than organic as with a majority of the plot points the ending presents in its rushed conclusion.
The fact that they also turned into a militaristic society that planned to go to war made no sense, they have nothing up their sleeves, sure they had the same population but nowhere near the same level of technology as the rest of the world, plus with the insider information readily available via the main characters it all doesn't make sense. The so called "peace talks" in the post ending was just unnecessary and weird, and the whole thing just makes me confused and angry. And once the credits start rolling it just gets weirder and more unnecessary by the second, especially once you learn that again the cycle of violence continues in the far future meaning the entire story meant nothing. But even this is not confirmed. The parasite Ymir had disappeared without a trace, seemingly releasing everyone of the titan curse, but with the end credit scene, mirroring the tree Ymir fell into, it's still hinting at another cycle repeating. So really, it's just another thing to say "make it up yourself." If the anime full stopped after the two sides came to a full understanding with each other I would rate this an 80-something just out of finishing off semi strong. Instead it chose to try to "tie up loose ends" by giving us an open-ended interpretation of the main characters going to peace talks. Open-ended endings can really work and make a strong final scene, a good example would be Red vs. Blue Season 13, but Attack on Titan makes it less satisfying and more troubling. There is no proper closure to this and I'm properly disappointed.
Alright, the actual final 10 minutes aside, the rest of the 2 hours and 20 minutes are good or fine. They aren't amazing or incredible, it's just good. There is no mystery or unexpected outcomes that the show usually tries pulling. The start of the problems was, for me, Hange's death. It felt like it was simply to say, hey we need action and tension for the Rumbling so someone needs to die and there needs to be the urgency of time. So everything the Scouts fought for, all comes down to this moment that has almost no build up or felt personal. Falco's transformation was also pretty plot convenient towards the way the final fight was staged and what position the characters were in. (Although I can let that one pass, as its too small a thing to really diminish a score.) With the position the characters were in, Armin being abducted by one of the War Hammer clones makes no sense because all Armin had to do was injure himself, meaning turning his head in any direction where his mouth breaks, activating the Colossal Titan and freeing himself. Not to mention that Armin is supposed to be the Erwin of the group, being the team leader and strategist but ends up doing just about nothing in terms of strategy for the entire end. And the end bit where the characters become titans was a fake out for shock value that lasted for only a few minutes to add to a "hopeless" situation while we get a giga battle between two piloted mechas. And then there's the discussion of Mikasa, whom apparently is the key to everything. Seeing as she was obsessed with someone who was evil like herself, which yes I can believe that. But I find it hard to believe that in just that broad definition. In 2,000 years, Ymir could not find anyone that fit this pretty broad description? I find that unlikely. Needless to say, there's a lot of small or noticeable issues with characters and the plot, leaving the end unsatisfying with so many loose ends. And I'm not done yet.
The rules of the Rumbling. It's established that the founder Ymir has chosen Eren as her host and follows his command, so why is it that when Zeke dies suddenly the Rumbling stops. That makes zero sense, and if the explanation is that Eren does not have royal blood that doesn't explain why the rumbling was activated by Eren's command and not Zeke. And especially when Ymir is still around even after Zeke dies to see to the end of the battle. At the end of the day, even if you could explain it somehow, it still stays apparent that we don't get to know anything, nothing is really answered or explained we just have to watch what's on screen. Maybe I'm being unfair, maybe there was no way of giving a satisfying conclusion but still I can't help but feel disappointed in the way it finished.
(Take this paragraph with a grain of salt) Eren's thought process and character at this point, doesn't make much sense or at least raises some eyebrows. The reason for why Eren is the way he is, all stems from his mother being eaten by a titan, where he swears to kill them all. Pretty good motivation, however, it's revealed that he is responsible for killing his mother, the stem of why his one solution to everything is violence. So, that means that if he wanted to, he could have directed the titan that killed his mother, and had let her live. MEANING, the entire series, Eren's motivation and ideology would change, and none of this would have happened. The issue now is clear, that Eren could have chosen another path, even when he mumbles about how the past, present, and future are in his head, he can still change that past, as he clearly already does by letting the titan target his mother instead of Bertholdt. He does insist that his actions are already set in stone, but this action makes no sense to be set in stone, everything inside Eren would reject this decision to kill his own mother. The entire series now has a plot hole that can easily undo everything, and this theme of no other choice is now untrue.
At least that's my interpretation of it upon my first watch. I am open to the idea that was presented to me later, how Eren becomes a slave to Ymir and his actions aren't really his own but Ymir's instead which would explain just about all his actions. But everything has become your own head canon, so much to the point of nullifying anything. All in all, so so many issues and problems that made this finale worse. And from a non biased side, as someone who watched this show in the span of a year with no spoilers, this ending was heavily mixed. This finale felt more like forced themes rather than a realistic ending.

Gun x Sword presents a story of revenge wrapped up in something much bigger. While the story has a linear path, every bump on the road or interaction had adds to the character's themselves, their relationships, addresses characters' philosophy, or furthers the plot with new information gained and usually more questions to answer. For the first half of the show, I have zero complaints and nothing to really criticize besides small nitpicks that aren't worth discussing. Van and Wendy's dynamic is always enjoyable to watch, especially since its handled in a way that feels realistic given what Van has been through. Our supporting characters for ... the first half, Carmen, Joshua, and Ray, are decent characters to add more motivations as to joining the journey. Carmen being money, Joshua being his brother, and Ray essentially being a rival to Van's dark deed by having the same goal. I appreciated the fact that seemingly the story was heavily playing into motivations and rivaling philosophies. What I believed the story was going to tell was both a story of revenge but also if revenge is the right path or not.
With such an interesting first half, I highly anticipated what came next, what philosophy was the story trying to push towards as the correct path? What was the true intentions and nature of the main villain? What will become of Ray and Van? Why did the Claw do the things he did in the past? Unfortunately half of these questions aren't really answered and none are explored to their fullest potential. It's strange when almost all the time given doesn't feel misused, besides the one episode dedicated to pretty egregious fan-service. That being said, the questions that do get answered I have to give props to the story trying its best to give the impression that this story isn't about good guys getting revenge on just an evil man.
It's spun into the question of "When can someone be forgiven for their past actions?" The man with the Claw is not someone who is seen to be a man of hatred but instead someone who has seemingly good intentions. This introduction to our apparent main antagonist definitely throws the morality of what the heroes are doing. Of course their goals of revenge still are justifiable due to the Claw's past, but what if they were trying to get revenge on a man who is both trying to better the future but also gives purpose to a lot of people's lives. It's a great setup to cast aside the "good guys" facade that our protagonist has. However, this great introduction to our villain doesn't develop much further. The idea and some execution was pulled off at the climax of the first half of the show but doesn't exactly move the concept anymore for the rest of the show. In fact, the concept is backpaddled with the main villain seemingly crazy on the surface. Of course, you could dig and head canon an explanation where the Claw is supposed to represent forgiveness and pacifism (albeit the pacifist part is shaky at best), while Van is unforgiving vengeance. Those two on paper sort of switch the two roles without any context, but with what we know the Claw has done to Van, and the Claw's goal seemingly making him an antagonistic force once again, we've, again, backpaddled the concept to become a "good reason to get revenge and save the present" making any of the morality of vengeance all but forgotten.
You could make an argument for the Claw's vision and how its conceptually not bad, but its nothing more than a fantasy. For everyone to be the same, which means no conflict, no unequal status, all down to having the same dream. It's once you look into it more than a second that it really is horrible. But from characters like Fasalina its clear that this cult-like group may have preyed on vulnerable people, it makes sense why they wish for eternal peace at the cost of their own identities.
But not all concepts and messages are lost or lose meaning in the show. It still does a great job of showing that revenge can rip the person seeking it to a shadow of their former selves, the different kinds of paths people take to get revenge, what paths are truly right or wrong, and dreams. Ray and Van both suffer physical and mental damage in their pursuit of the Claw, either from each other or due to their enemies. Van believes that killing everyone in his path is unnecessary, trying to keep some moral compass despite his ultimate goal. He only wishes for the man who essentially ruined his life and killed him to die, but in situations where its them or him, he's ready to do the deed. While Ray is the embodiment of "the end justifies the means," killing anyone that stands in his way, refusing to hold anything back no matter who they are. Ray suffers from essentially losing his sight and depth perception and Van loses his satellite which puts him on a death sentence (he loses the other satellite and its unexplained why he's fine in the epilogue after his lifeline is destroyed again). But despite Ray and Van being rivals with the same goal, they both achieve what they want in a way. Ray dies and believes that he kills the Claw after he sees his shocked expression, not from being shot but from his plan seemingly being stopped. Ray then rests in peace and dies. It's a very fitting end to such a bloodthirsty and sad person who had his dream stolen from him.
Many others find their peace by the end, Wendy metaphorically finds her closure with her brother and matures, and Van accomplishes his goal. My one nitpick from Van's fate is that I believe he also should have died after killing the Claw. Due to being the literal embodiment of the past and vengeance, wearing his tuxedo from the day he "died" and his only real thought being to kill the Claw. We do in a way see that by his hat falling off as soon as he kills the Claw but I also believe that the idea of him being a spirit of vengeance is a lot more fitting than the "perfect all ends well" ending he got. Although I can see the appeal of him moving on now and maybe finding the emotion of love again. But on the side of unsatisfying conclusions, we have Fasalina and Michael who both supposedly survive but you aren't told this very vital information in the show, you are told in an epilogue audio drama (as the wiki tells me). In the show you just kind of see them finally return to their senses, realizing they have real feelings for each other that they were essentially forced to ignore, and then get crushed by a boulder. It's one of the many things at the end you scratch your head at and go "wait what? Why did that happen?" Another big headscratcher comes from the fact that everyone joins up with Van in his pursuit to kill the Claw. No one really objects to it, and in some cases like Joshua, he gives up on stopping his brother from killing. It's a bit off from what seemingly was a group of people who would never consider killing or helping someone kill. While the threat becomes global, then it makes sense but from the start all they believed it was was a grudge that had to be fulfilled.
But with all these specific thoughts out of the way, overall Gun x Sword was a fun show to watch for the majority of its run, and while it doesn't explore concepts fully, and struggles to finish in the satisfying way it sets up, I can't lie that most of this show was well written fun. The voice work is phenomenal, the imagery and metaphors in episodes were amazing, the direction and voice work never failed to impress, and most apparent, the music was incredible start to finish. It easily is on par with the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack with its ethereal, fun-spirited, and cinematic tones with an unforgettable opening and ending thanks to Kotaro Nakagawa and Shuntaro Okino.

Angels of Death is a series I have revisited over the years to varying degrees of enjoyment, catching things I didn't before, and even understanding things better as I've grown older. It has always been a comfort series for me to rewatch and just enjoy. But as of the fourth time watching this, and after playing the RPG Maker game it was based on, I do believe that it does not utilize its medium of anime rather than video game to the fullest potential it could have had. Nonetheless, it still improves vastly in all sorts of other ways, having its own memorable soundtrack, stellar ... voice acting, and good direction.
The story and characters are extremely unique to anything else anime has to offer. A cast of entirely killers, psychopaths, and lunatics in a world where the worst sides of humans are highlighted to the extreme. A death game in a sense, but with such a varied cast of characters all with fantastic designs and floors that makes it seem less like a death game and more like a set of completely independent obstacles. I also appreciate the very spared use of any backstory or flashback, only being shown when a character themselves are seeing it, and with this approach, many of the characters don't get one, shrouding their origin in mystery and we're left with only the assumption of what their life was like that led them to seeing the world and people the way they do (please go play Angels of Death: Episode Eddie, I swear its very good).
I also believe that the anime suffers from not being able to explain things properly sometimes. I understand that the way they explain most of the character's mental states changing from an analogy of red and blue and always revolving around the moon, but what do the colors and moon represent? What's their significance? I'm not too sure myself, and in doing so, specifically Rachel becomes a mess of contradictions that the show acknowledges that she doesn't make any logical sense, and Rachel herself agrees to this sentiment. In most cases, this is a huge red flag for me to say, "saying you know it makes no sense doesn't alleviate you of the problem." However, Angels of Death is aware that the characters are genuinely mentally not there. Being obsessive to the point of lunacy and completely shifting their world views to something most people would find alien. Zack makes the perfect example of why the contradictions exist, "Unlike you and Danny, I don't waste time running and thinking about pointless shit!" While everyone in the show has something that they obsess over, Zack is, funnily enough, the insight we have as an audience as he is "simple and pure." To us as well as him, the things the others say and do, he finds both completely insane but downright stupid. With this, my point is that I don't have too much of an issue with how Angels of Death uses its character motivations in a way that seems unconventional due to the fact that every character is openly blind to their own very flawed and self-serving motivations.
And to conclude the review, I'd like to discuss the ending very in depth and on a personal level. So if you haven't watched it already or played the game, spoilers ahead. The ending of Angels of Death this fourth go around felt a lot more powerful towards the overall feel that this series and world has, and that falls in the fact that Rachel is the most severe case of someone who needs mental support, so of course she's sent to one of those mental hospitals where she spends months there. As someone who's been in one before, the melancholy and false sense of normalcy is clear as day. Towering walls with barbed fencing, the counseling sessions where they ask basic and by-the-book questions that have no real meaning to them, all while the issue of having to deal with other patients. Not being able to do anything, obeying everything someone says because you have no choice, as there is zero trust between the two parties. It felt very realistic, and I didn't give this segment of the show enough credit for how the setting of a mental hospital doesn't feel much better than any other kind of prison.
Then there's the last scene. Originally, I was contempt with the fact that Zack came back and they finish their promise. Then the interpretation changed to Rachel was either hallucinating or dreaming, ending her own life by cutting through the bars with the knife Zack gave her. But there's a huge problem with both of these interpretations. In the first, Zack comes back with his scythe, but in the second to last episode, he discards of it after it breaks, and it most certainly wouldn't have survived the wreckage, let alone had stayed there. Meaning Zack is probably not actually there. Plus, he wouldn't have known where she was all this time in the first place. And in the second, how would Rachel had kept the knife is close to impossible, especially when she was there for months on end (we see the seasons change from fall to winter). Therefore, both of these interpretations have very clear flaws to them. Yet, I still push myself to lean towards the latter, as the way Zack is shown, is more like a angel than a human, floating and with his death scythe. With that, I do believe is that Rachel hallucinates Zack after learning he was sentenced to death, where the only way he's avoided death up to this point was because he had someone else there to save him or patch him up. And in doing so, she ironically does what she never wanted to in the first place, commit suicide.
Those are my thoughts on the end, I find these open-ended endings fun, as it leaves the viewer to make up their own interpretation while still being a complete package of a story. Angels of Death is a series that I hold in high regard despite its flaws due to its colorful and engaging cast, the fantastic soundtrack, the original story, and the legacy of an RPG Maker game.

A beautiful story about love, memory, identity, passion, and classical music. Animation is wonderful, and The characters and story take their time to develop. Whole episodes dedicated to one performance may sound daunting to some but I have no shame in admitting that it was perfectly paced. Seeing the goals, tribulations, inspiration, and every inner-working of a character felt very well done. But this is only part of what this anime has to offer. It has a great outlook on someone who's dealing with trauma, as well as the complicated feelings of love and inspiration. The first half of the show is damn near perfect ... in my eyes, but that's not to say the second half is awful either. The only reason I don't like the second half as much as the first half is:
1, I learned to dislike a character for being very selfish.
2, I found the change in direction to be a bit less powerful for what this story was initially about.
With that said though, Your Lie in April is a solid package for lovers of music, people with trauma, love's complications, being inspired, and so much more. A very heartfelt and sad story, this anime is a great choice to at least look into.

Trigun Badlands Rumble is best enjoyed, in my opinion, following episode 10 of Trigun. It sits very comfortably in terms of tone and where the story is. With this in mind, the movie is completely stand alone, it is not necessary in the slightest to watch this while watching Trigun. That doesn't take away from the fact that this movie was incredibly enjoyable and fun. From hilarity, to high tension, to badass-ery, this movie cements itself as one hell of a good time. The characters exclusive to this movie were very compelling, and I genuinely was invested in where the story would lead them. I ... did see the twist coming a mile away, but I still nonetheless enjoyed the story they were trying to tell. This movie also completely sold me on the cast of Trigun which makes this a very important piece in Trigun for me personally. I believe it elevates specifically Wolfwood and Vash as true companions and sells their dynamic flawlessly. Super fun movie, highly recommend to Trigun watchers.

Surprisingly, Trigun Stampede ends up being just as on par with the original Trigun. What Trigun lacked, Trigun Stampede elevates to a whole new level of spectacle, emotion, and even more iconic designs and landscapes. However, with these positives Trigun Stampede also lacks some core concepts of what made Trigun great. The main culprit is the mystery of not knowing much about the world and Vash for a prolonged period of time. The reason this is an issue, even though I'm well aware its due to time constraints on how many episodes this first season has, we're immediately fed the origin of where we are ... as well as how we got there. Vash's identity is immediately fully explored and we get the general gist of who Vash is as a character in episode 1 alone. It makes Trigun Stampede feel like it needs to be experienced after finishing the original show to fully appreciate it for cutting to the chase, otherwise, there's not many personal ties to people like Rem. (There's also some "fanservice" for Trigun fans which was very welcome since it's done not only respectively but also makes it its own identity.) With the main elephant gone though, Stampede is much more dramatic than its alternative, and to me I appreciate this change greatly. Through just the music alone, the weight of scenes is elevated to such a level that it can hit home with ease. This is without including the stellar visuals and immaculate voice acting from the entire cast of this show. The raw emotions given from the entire cast bleeds through their characters in such a desperate and gripping way. The animation was incredible to watch, every action scene or emote given from the characters are so lovingly applied to fit that character's personality, mastering the art of understanding a character through just how they walk or talk. The action was always really fun to watch, given the high quality 3D animation done by Studio Orange. The artistic choices in certain episodes like one of the character's backstories was really well directed and made for some of the best episodes I've seen in awhile. I loved Stampede just as much as the original Trigun and I hope it keeps this quality up in its next season.
With that being said, watch the original before watching Stampede. Payoffs, characters, story, world, and just about everything else is elevated if you know the gist of everything already. Which sounds counterintuitive but in the case of Stampede still being different enough to be its own show, I highly recommend this approach.