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Time travel is a very mysterious and confusing subject we can all wonder. It is definitely not an easy concept to write a story on, for usually, there would be more than a few flaws that would have cause for eyebrows raised. This is what we call, a bootstrap paradox, where something or someone seems to exist only because of something from the future.. An easier way of describing it would be pulling yourself out of a pit with your own bootstrap, hence the name. If that is the case, where is this something or someone's origins and how did it come to be? Several ... blockbusters that comes to mind with the unintentional bootstrap paradox would be the Terminator film series or perhaps even Doctor Who in a sense. Now Steins;Gate presented the concept of multiple world-lines or "mirror universes" if you will, or a "Star Trek" analogy. Although this is not the first anime series to use the concept of multiple world-lines, it nevertheless, reduces its chances of encountering a paradox, which is great relief on my part, who questions the events occurrences chronologically.

The story of Steins;Gate 0 was very interesting, I find it quite entertaining to see another path Okabe could have taken if he had not save Kurisu in the original series, so that's a positive aspect of this series. I find it quite refreshing to try and remember the events of the original series so as to connect any small details of the alternate story and I have to say, it is definitely quite a thriller, as the story, like the first series, leaves the audience questioning the ultimate antagonist till the very end. However, unlike the first Steins;Gate series, which minimised the flaws by leaving a few aspects of the story ambiguous, the new series did place a few new revelations in the story that had my eyebrows raised and thinking: "Oh no.. It's a bootstrap paradox!" For one, while trying not to do too many spoilers, it's the time machine.. Suzuha loses her old one due to out of fuel and attempts to persuade Daru to create a new one by studying hers, which was designed by Daru in the future.. Ok.. So where did the time machine come originally? Without future Daru to design it, then the time machine couldn't have been introduced to the past Daru.. Thus my conclusion that time travel is such a mysterious and confusing subject to discuss about.

Despite the story's inevitable encounter with such a paradox, I very much enjoyed the characters' relationships with one another. The various archetypes they represent were intriguing and touching where the drama aspect of the story kicks in. I very much like Okabe's characteristics, where he once was a self-proclaimed mad-scientist, but due to unfortunate circumstances during his time travelling adventure, he gave up on that fantasy and spends his days grieving, knowing that he is alone with such experiences. It really drew me in and at times, I really could feel his frustrations!
However, as the story escalated to its height, I felt several aspects of it rather made it a little confusing. To refrain from spoiling, I can think of a character who appeared that I felt unnecessary or at least her involvement within Okabe and his friends' circle was not covered enough to make her worthy to have such a role as she did in the last several episodes.

To add to this, White Fox's art-style of this series and its close resemblance to the Visual Novel is great as usual, simple as that. That then concludes for now, with a rating overall of 8/10. The only factor that brings that down to 8 instead of 9 is perhaps the fact they allowed more flawed aspects into the story then they did in the original Steins;Gate, but otherwise, I still found it very enjoyable to watch.

Shokugeki no Souma, or in English, Food Wars!, is, obviously, about students working their way up the food chain in the cooking industry. Centred in Toutsuki Academy, a prestigious cooking school with only a small group left to graduate after the gruelling examinations throughout the three years in high school. The concept of the story’s premises are definitely fascinating, in my opinion. In fact, both the manga and the anime brought up many interesting facts about the culinary world, that I would say was an educational experience for me. Thinking about that makes me wonder how much research did the authors Tsukuda Yuuto and Morisaki ... Yuki went through to have the materials for the last 264 chapters of the story. So to cut to the chase, I really enjoyed this particular manga and hope to see the anime doing as good as well.

Let’s go a little further into this manga without spoilers. As is common, in my opinion, with all ecchi genre works done in the creator’s industry, it is there just for fan-service. Most of the time, adding playful sexual scenes or actions made no sense with the story, thus unnecessary, and if done too much, becomes an overkill. However, Shokugeki no Souma was a little different, for though the concept for the ecchi aspects of the story may be ridiculous, it did not feel like an overkill. It blended with the story, giving it a purpose, instead of other series like High School of the Dead or Maken-Ki!, which needed some panty shots whenever they could. So yes, the ecchi aspects of Shokugeki no Souma was agreeable, more so that it’s a relief it didn’t move to the rating of “Mild Nudity.”

The story arcs itself and the characters are interesting as well, I would go as far as to say pleasant to the viewers. Yukihira Souma has a very care-free style to others, but is serious about cooking to the heart, more so that losing to a shokugeki hurts him but he won’t let it show and continue encouraging his friends. The fact that the protagonist never give up; pushes on; perhaps a bit comedic here and there is one of the many great aspects of a hero, which is also common to other manga and anime. His relationships with the members of Kyokusei and his rivals, such as Aldini, Mito, Hisako and Nakiri Erina are comedic and moving to the opposing party. Even though they were rough towards Yukihira, he never appears to be hurt and either plays dumb or busy to hear, but in the end, Yukihira pushes everyone to their goals and to quote a line from Tadokoro Megumi: “He is the centre of the vortex of Toutsuki Academy.” That is drive of a hero I much enjoy watching. A talent to work his way to the top. Comedic and could be perceived as oblivious to things around when he is not.

Another great aspect to Shokugeki no Souma that really attracted me was the art done by Saeki Shun. I find it simple, but artistic in a sense, unlike some manga series, perhaps Ajin, where the characters may be a bit out of proportion but who am I to judge? My manga/anime artworks are also out of proportion. Saeki’s art style of the characters and even the food was something I much admire, so there’s that too.

Now that chapter 264 brought the Regiment de Cuisine to a close, it is easy to see the ultimate arc of the story. However, I’m a bit curious as to how Tsukuda and Morisaki will continue from here on out. With this, I’d rate this manga with an overall of 9/10, the only thing that perhaps left me desiring about is perhaps Erina and Yukihira’s relationship. They’ve placed so many implications throughout the series, it kind of made me hope for a romance aspect to their relationship.

As this show is about 7 years old, I apologise for reviewing such an old anime series. To begin with, I merely decided to watch this series because it was recommended under High School DxD and the concept of the series was interesting. Naturally, me being me, I wanted to give the series a chance even though its beginning was questionable. So here’s my thoughts of Maken-Ki!

For starters, story wise, the anime series made no sense whatsoever. Though the animation graphics and art style was impressive for a show that old, it left me with a lot of raised eyebrows. Literally, the series is just ... fan service for perverts (although I might have to admit I slightly go under that category). The constant use of showing the female students’ underwear was very cringy. Albeit, once in awhile I wouldn’t mind, but the series rather overdid it. Discrimination is probably the main theme of the story, for unlike High School DxD, the students are frequently fighting the opposite sex, which was not very pleasant. The male students are literally all perverts and the females’ are all man-haters. All of the students being like this made it quite morbid.

Going back to the story aspects of Maken-Ki, the first question that came to rise after watching the series was the settings of the story. In the beginning, Haruko the main female protagonist narrated that the Academy had only recently gone coed and that it was an all girl’s school before. If that is the case, the story in both Maken-Ki and Maken-Ki 2 implied that there were male students before, in regards with the current principal, nurse and homeroom teacher, for they had recruited three different male students when they formed their little security club. Therefore, the settings of the story are inconsistent to begin with, making the series’ story rather problematic. AIC had introduced the idea of a power in the centre protagonist, Takeru, to have something like a “dark-side,” much like the main protagonist in Trinity Seven, which is an aspect in anime series I very much liked. However, this problem was never solved in the anime, both this series and its sequel. In fact, the sequel did not have any form of ultimatum in the story, so it gave me the feeling that the sequel was just a series of 10 OVAs, mini stories if you will. With that, I’d have to say it was a bitter disappointment.

In terms of the characters, I found the relationships the protagonist shares with his friends rather decent. But it left a bitter aftertaste nevertheless due to the discrimination experienced by many of the characters throughout the series, as aforementioned.

So for an overall rating, I’d rate this 2/10, just for the nice animation graphics, which was good for its time. I would not actually recommend this series, but if everything I mentioned is something you like, by all means, go ahead.

Toji no Miko has a very interesting concept, I'll grant that. The characters are fascinating, if not new. The story pace was a bit slow throughout the first 12 episodes, so it rather kept me from jumping at newly released episodes immediately. Despite the aforementioned issues; the poor art styles and constant use of CGI animation, I still thought it was fair at best. Some parts of the story caught onto my attention and the author(s) at least answered more questions than many other anime I've seen that ends with many conflicts unresolved (albeit it was meant for another season, but perhaps never came through), ... forcing me to go through the original works to find my answer (which I'll grant if it's for the best).

All in all, I have enjoyed the series as of yet, for why then would I be still watching? Others may perceive this show to be another typical "school" genre anime (though if you check MyAnimeList's details on the anime, "school" is not listed there), which I would not be surprised, but it is not the case. Yes, the main protagonists are young high school students, but the settings of the story is mainly outside of any school grounds, although the school setting would recur every now and then. So I would have to say that this anime should be worth checking out, although with caution, for one's time is precious and if this type of style is not your type, I would recommend then dropping out.

But other than that, I'm not one to trash this series just yet, for the second arc has picked up the pace a little and I'm a bit curious to see what will happen next. So overall, I'd rate this series 6/10. Pretty good.

As this is my first review on MyAnimeList, I'll keep this brief. First off, I'd like to say that overall, the series so far has been pretty good. I must admit I am not particularly familiar with the manga, although I have read maybe a few volumes, so I can't really compare between the adaptations, so bear that in mind.

Despite the poor art style and animation graphics, the characters and the various situations the story presented to us pretty made up for that. The comedy aspects of the story brought several smiles to my face and there were even times I would be shaking my ... head and wondering: "what is he doing?" This is what I thought was pretty enjoyable about the story, it does have its own charms, although I would perhaps question its pace per episode.

The various main(s) and supporting characters' personalities can be quite invigorating. Which I believe is quite a valuable asset to the anime series. It rather lifts the comedy aspects of the story. Character relationships are quite amusing as well, such as Yuno and Asta's strange brotherly/rivalry friendship they have. On top of that, the story presented us a few female characters taking an interest in Asta, which may sound like a harem genre, but is not at all, for Asta is completely oblivious and the girls won't so much as hint like in our usual harem genre anime. All these added onto the story's amusing aspects, which contributed to its little charm.

The openings and credit sequences contributed to my continuation of the series. Most series would either stick to one opening or have two or three depending on the story arc. Usually, after seeing it once, it would bore me and I would walk away for a minute or so. However, although Black Clover is not the only one having several different openings and credit sequences, this is the first series that I've seen (which is not a lot) that has this much. It's a refreshing pace for me, for the progression in each arc may become a drag every now and then.

With that, I would recommend this series to others and give Studio Pierrot a chance, for though it may be mediocre at best, it still has its own unique charm to it. But... I do have one question that was brought up during the series. The latest arc's credit sequence (starting at episode 28) presented a much finer art style and animation graphics. The eyes and body frame were more in proportion and it still roughly presented the original art style from the manga. So I wondered why it could not have been the art style for the anime series entirely? It would have attracted perhaps more viewers if they were looking for good animation graphics and art styles (which I'm sure there are quite a lot of them out there).

Overall, considering the various aspects of the series, I'd rate this an 8/10. Very good.