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One of the sweetest and heartbreaking one shots I've ever read. It's surprising how hard of a punch the author could incorporate in such a short story. But I'd say she pulled it off beautifully.

The story follows a girl called Sagisawa, who addresses herself as Mii. We follow her daily life withstanding bullying and an abusive household. But one day whilst drying her clothes on the rooftop of the school, she meets a boy named Mike. Who starts to help her in subtle ways.

With a one-shot like this there can't exactly be major character progression, but despite that there is still a clear evolution trough ... out the story. The characters are generally very well written. And the author did a good job making me feel bad for the main heroine.

On top of that the art is smooth and pretty to look at.

All in all I'd definitely recommend this for people looking for something short and heartfelt.

This anime is a complete disappointment.

The main character is your typical brooding over powered mc. There're barely any stakes, because you know that the mc will swoop in and save the day again. Overpowered mc's do not necessarily make stories uninteresting. But in this context it's only detrimental to the plot.

The side cast is completely forgettable. The only other character besides the mc that I remember is his sister. Who he has a pseudo-incesteous relationship with for no apparent reason. Once again, this would not necessarily be a bad thing if they did something interesting with it. But from the few episodes I've watched, ... this is treated as entirely normal.

And finally, it presents its political opinion so badly that it made me drop the anime. The school that the mc goes to is segregated. The "lesser" students are constantly discriminated against. But a terrorist group is trying to bring change in that. The story takes a very liberal stance in this conflict. The terrorists are portrayed as idiotic mass murderers. They aren't taken seriously, but at the same time they commit murder and terrorism? It's easy to win an argument if you get to write your opponent. A story with a political message isn't necessarily bad, even if I disagree with said message. All I ask for is some nuance and subtlety.

Astro note is a fairly average show that relies too much on absurdity for comedy. With this, it tries to imitate anime from the 90's, but lacks that charm that made those shows special. Pair that with somewhat mediocre side characters, and you get a fairly forgettable anime. In this review I will be mainly talking about the characters, since this is a clear character driven show. The main plot is pretty irrelevant until the last 4ish episodes.

If you are looking for romance, I would also stay clear of this show. The development happens at a snails pace, until suddenly one scene where the two ... main characters confess the supposed love they have for each other. Especially for Mira - the female lead - this came across as jarring and out of nowhere.

Takumi - the main character - was completely forgettable, and didn't stand out at all. Aside from him and Mina you also have Tomihiro and Ren, the father son duo that annoyed me to no end, both for different reasons. You have Teruko, an idol singer who's actually a fairly interesting character, but that gets pushed to the side until the very end. Then you have Shoukichi, the oldest living at Astro note. He's fairly forgettable as a whole. Then you also have Aoi, who only joins a few episodes into the show. She ends up as the typical rejected second heroine. And at last, you have Naosuke, a dog-like guardian that came with Mira to earth. He's probably my favourite character. He's the only one to really go trough some sort of arc, even if it it's a minor one.

Astro note isn't completely horrible. The animation was surprisingly smooth, and the female lead was fairly entertaining with her entourage of aliens when separated from the male lead. But the anime suffers from otherwise uninteresting or underutilized characters. Ultimately, there are better shows to watch. But if you're looking for something to watch without thinking too much and with some faint comedic moments, then this anime is as good as any.

5/10