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Notice: This show is labelled as "Mixed Feelings" due to its lack of a traditional plot, over-focus on dialogue, lack of action and missing narrative threats such as villains or world-ending events that must be dealt with.
These factors may turn off the average anime watcher, so you've been warned beforehand. That being said, let the review begin!

Atmosphere & Setting:
If I had to use one word to describe the feeling of the atmosphere and world, it would be sublime.
Haibane Renmei takes place in what looks to be a fantasy 19th-ish-century European-looking village surrounded by massive walls, where the main cast of Haibane (The angel-looking characters) ... exist alongside the humans. They live in an abandoned building called Old Home, take up charity work, and live without the use of money in a society that tolerates them and views them as good luck charms.
The rest of the world lore is a mystery, as even the village's residents don't know what is beyond their walls, nor are they permitted to attempt to scale them or leave the city through them, almost as if the village itself is a jail or purgatory of sorts.

Animation & Art:
This is where the series struggles the most. It's not well-animated most of the time, but that is understandable for an anime made in 2002. Despite that, the anime is beautiful, and the art style is unique as it was drawn by Yoshitoshi Abe, who also worked on Serial Experiments Lain and Texhnolyze. Basically, this means you're in for an artistic adventure with trippy visuals and breathtaking scenes, even if the animation isn't up to par with today's standards and looks dated.

Characters:
The show revolves around six main characters, whose names will be withheld for spoiler warnings.
The character writing is the peak of this series and what makes it so great. Each character is unique and feels human rather than anime archetypes/cliches. All of the main cast members have their own motivations, and some shift drastically as the story slowly unravels itself in terms of positive and negative developments.
Character progression is one of Haibane Renmei's biggest strengths. The story lives and dies based on how well-written its characters are—and man, they are written well!
You could argue that this anime more or less focuses on its characters rather than the external world, so it's very much an "introverted" anime, as it involves a lot of introspection and reflection rather than action.

Philosophy & Story (without spoilers):
Haibane Renmei is a profoundly symbolic anime that focuses on the meaning of life, suffering, and reaching atonement in a world with few to no answers with significant religious undertones.
It's an amalgamation of character case studies focused on their daily trials and tribulations, heavy injections of nihilistic depression, and existential crises regarding death/rebirth, with a significant focus on Arthur Schopenhauer's Hedgehog's Dilemma.
This is because many of the conflicts within the show stem from the inability to connect to other Haibane and Humans alike.
Additionally, Carl Jung's and Sigmund Freud's dream theories/concepts would be a good match for such a series, as dreams and dismantling their meanings play a large portion of the plot for various reasons.

Music:
The series' music is atmospheric and sometimes isn't present during conversations; however, this doesn't mean the soundtrack is terrible by any metrics, as many of the composed songs for this series are beautiful and play when appropriate. The intro and outro are pretty well done as they symbolically represent the show and what to expect from it without giving away too much.

Conclusion:
Haibane Renmei is a symbolic masterpiece and a worthwhile anime for anyone interested in philosophy, psychology and religion. However, it's not an anime for everyone and has its fair share of problems, such as slow pacing and a lack of external conflict, such as a main villain or bad people. So, with that being said, I'm going to list a few scores here that will differ depending on what you're looking for.

8/10 to 10/10 for anyone interested in philosophy, psychology, or religion, as the series is amazing in these areas.
6/10 to 7/10 for those of you who want an anime with an interesting story and well-written characters.
5/10 and under if you want an action-packed anime with a traditional story structure, following a narrative in which the main cast of characters defeats an evil or something threatening world.

This anime isn't for everyone, and it is divisive as it challenges the norms of the industry even for its time.

Afro Samurai is an interesting blend of Black and Japanese cultures combined into an action-packed short anime.
The story behind its inception is quite touching, and how it came to be is equally fascinating, considering Samuel L. Jackson played a significant role in the project.
However, the result and quality of the anime are mixed.
On one side, we can clearly see inspiration from Ninja Scroll's fixation on fast-paced action. On the other hand, we can see Samurai Champloo's inspiration when it comes to the "free flow" of battle, with hip-hop playing in the background to add to the coolness of the character's mindset.
These ... are great ingredients for a fast-paced battle anime; however, that's the issue, as Afro Samurai focuses only on action and less on story. The problem is that a lot of the action on screen doesn't feel like it matters because these battles mainly consist of expendable "villains" who challenge our thick plot armoured protagonist, Afro Samurai, because they just want to kill him for owning the #2 headband.
This isn't to say that Afro Samurai doesn't have a story because it does; the issue is that the story is a generic revenge story consisting of forgettable characters in a world that doesn't have a backstory explaining why it's so messed up. The women-only exist as sexual objects, while the men only exist to fight, minus the one hype man.

The gist of the story without spoilers is this: Afro Samurai is walking around and chilling > then gets attacked by some forgettable villain > wins the battle, and repeats ad nauseam until the final battle.

Conclusion:
Afro Samurai is good in action, music, and style, but its story is lacklustre and dull/predictable, so it loses many points. Most of the fights, minus two fights in the series, are meaningless. This is a shame because it could have been a lot better, considering the anime's foundation is solid, and Afro Samurai's backstory had some intrigue to it. It's a shame that the anime only focused on action and looking/feeling cool instead of capitalizing on the story and the meaning behind the absurd amount of fighting.

Yikes is the best word to sum up Appleseed Alpha.

This alternative story takes place in what looks to be the most cliché post-apocalyptic world with a cast that is equally cliché in every way possible, from the misunderstood pretentious villain who wants to "control" the world through destruction by justifying pseudo-philosophical beliefs that don't even apply; to the damsel in Distress troupe and most annoyingly the main cast have so much plot armour that it would make a Battle Shonen protagonist envious.

Most combat encounters are also ridiculously scripted, and nothing feels natural. No amount of battle tactics or thought matters because almost every ... combat scenario has some sort of "coincidence" that occurs to either get the main cast out safely or to further push the narrative with villains who apparently can teleport and kidnap characters off-screen.
Typically, animes attempt to hide where the narrative is going to keep viewers excited and on their toes; Appleseed Alpha, however, does the opposite but tries to play off story elements as if they're surprises. This is called bad writing.

Additionally, the main issue with the story and combat scenarios is that many events throughout this movie could easily have been avoided if the characters hadn't been intentionally made dumb, blind, or conveniently deaf to make the plot work.

Honestly, the only good part of Appleseed Alpha is that it is beautiful for its time. It looks like a video game, and its art style is quite unique, but sadly, that is not enough to save the anime from a low score as the music wasn't very good; as we know, music is vital to give scenes emotional weight. Instead, the selection of soundtracks often ruined the suspense of some of the darker scenes and made battle sequences feel dissonant to what was really happening on screen. Whoever thought it was a good idea to have dubstep play during serious and dialogue-heavy scenes needs to reconsider their creative career, as it made their movie a worse product and took away from those scenes; it's a shame.

Conclusion:
While the Appleseed series isn't the best in the story department and is often littered with a ridiculous amount of coincidences and clichés, this one takes the cake. In simple terms, Appleseed Alpha is a bad anime and is easily the worst movie in the Appleseed series. I wouldn't even recommend this anime movie to hardcore Appleseed fans, as it's that bad.

Yofukashi no Uta stands true by its name: Call of the Night, and I mean this not just in the literal sense but also in the metaphorical sense.

Synopsis:
Call of the Night represents an adventure into the unknown, filled with all sorts of excitements, escapisms and dangers on all fronts, whether we are aware of them or not.
To reinforce this concept, our main primary protagonist, Kou, embodies the willingness to blindly adventure into the night to distract himself from the mundane reality he's associated with, while our secondary protagonist-sometimes antagonist, depending on your perspective, represents the concept of the Call of the Night as ... she's a vampire who is looking for a good tasty meal and some entertainment because she's bored. Due to this, both realize that they can keep each other entertained, thus beginning a tale about what happens when you decide to go off the beaten path.
As a result, much of this anime is about breaking away from standardized norms and embracing the unknown to give purpose and meaning to our lives.

Aside from that core message, this anime also investigates what it means to fall in love with someone without understanding the context of love or romance.
It plays very heavily on the themes of Love vs Infatuation vs Lust from multiple perspectives.
This philosophical divide can be observed and felt by many characters who have their own ideas of what it means to "fall in love," which is a driving force to the plot, resulting in conflict when different ideologies inevitably begin to clash.

Questionable elements which can be perceived as negatives:
That being said, the anime does have a lot of filler and fan service moments in between, which can take away from the experience for some watchers who may find it too immature or distracting, especially when it interferes with the developing plot.
Yofukashi no Uta is also incomplete and painfully short; much more could have been added to flush out the story and character motivations instead of what we have here.
Lastly, some watchers may have a hard time empathizing with a 14-year-old boy's logic and tendency to be naive to the point where you wonder if he's even using his brain.

This anime is not for you if you want an action-packed, high-stakes show; a lot of it is just characters talking about their feelings.
It's also important to note that Yofukashi no Uta is categorized as Shounen, but keep in mind it's more of a Romanic slice of life with a dash of Ecchi. So, make sure you set your expectations correctly before committing.

Conclusion:
If you can see past the show's character & story flaws, then you'll have a good time as it's also well-animated, and the music is intoxicatingly catchy.
Yofukashi no Uta may not be for everyone, but I believe the average Joe & Jane would enjoy what it offers.
8/10

Highschool of the Dead should have just been a hentai; it would have been much more enjoyable.
I say this because the show isn't very consistent in its themes as it jumps through many genres that contradict each other within moments of each other. For example, there's a heartfelt moment of witnessing someone's beloved father sacrifice themselves, which is quickly interrupted by a collage of butt & boob shots not related to the moment.

Characters: 4/10
The characters in Highschool of the Dead are all based on stereotypical tropes such as the "Good Guy" mc, the chubby gamer nerd, the obvious blond, the annoyingly angry tsundere, ... a childhood ex with an inferiority complex and the not-so-secretly horny for-murder waifu <-- who might be one of the best characters in the series, despite how inconsistent her character writing starts becoming towards the end of the series.

Music: 5/10
The music is what you'd expect for an action/horror flick. It's not bad, but it's also not good either. However, I will give credit when credit is due, and those ending themes are straight-fire.
You can tell they really tried with those ending themes and the quality shows; it's a shame that the rest of the anime was okay music-wise.

Story: 2/10
The main gist of the story progression is this; zombies eating someone, butt shot, killing zombies or about to be eaten, boob shot but with blood on it, serious conversation after the battle, more butt and boob shots, but now it's of other characters unrelated to the moment/scene.
Most of the show is fan service, and it constantly interrupts moments when the story begins to get interesting, which is frustrating to watch.
The story heavily relies on "coincidences" and character stupidity to drive the plot.
For example, there's a scene where the not-so-secretly horny for-murder waifu is wearing a maid outfit that completely exposes her butt and almost nude body in front of the MC and doesn't care that he's looking. Two episodes later, she's embarrassed because water splashed onto her white shirt, revealing her bra/boobs and the MC turned around and looked at her, asking if she was okay.
These types of consistencies are present throughout the story; if you think too much when watching them, you will have a bad time. However, if you can turn off your brain and enjoy what's in front of you, the questionable story won't matter.

Visuals: 8/10
Even today, this anime looks great. Madhouse did a really good job with all the visuals and action scenes. One thing is for certain: the combat set pieces are the strength of this anime.


Conclusion:
If you're looking for a horny anime about teenage girls with F-cup breasts who defy gravity and like to watch for the "plot," then yeah, this anime is for you. If you don't fall into that camp, then I'd look at a trailer or opening to see if it piques your interest; lastly, if you like animes with complex or deeper stories, then steer clear, as this anime is mainly superficial in its depth and predictable with its cliche/stereotypical characters.
4/10

Higurashi n Naku Koro ni Kai Specials is a love letter to Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai.
It takes little snips from those animes and changes the context into blooper scenes. It's basically Higurashi's outtakes and silly ideas on full display.

It consists of 24 episodes lasting from 20 seconds to 1 minute per episode.
It's not that long, and it will take roughly 12 to 20 minutes to watch it all.

The best part is that it's surprisingly pretty funny sometimes, especially if you understand Japanese humour well.
Additionally, you can tell the animators had fun creating this, and ... I enjoyed watching it; you probably will too.

One last thing before we end this review. Make sure you've seen Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai before watching this, or the jokes won't make any sense.

7.5/10 for the funnies

Before we start this review, I'd like to let you know I have not played the Visual Novel and have only consumed Higurashi content in anime form, so my perspective will differ from those who have read the Visual Novel.
It's also important to understand that both Gou and Sotsu are regarded as blasphemy by many Higurashi fans. I definitely can see why, but that doesn't mean the anime outside of a Higurashi perspective is bad or deserves to be rated a one, as the anime itself isn't that bad; it's heavily flawed and poorly executed, and its premise is quite interesting.

Requirements before watching:
Please watch ... the Original Higurashi series for context because it's absurdly good. Additionally, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gou, despite being a hot dumpster fire for 18 episodes, will also need to be watched to understand the characters and the situation they find themselves in, as Sotsu takes place after Gou and, from my understanding, is a ''sequel'' to the original series.

Story:
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Sotsu is fundamentally a Machiavellian story. It mainly revolves around the trials and tribulations of Hōjō Satoko and her desire to stop Furude Rika from leaving her side by moving away to the academy we saw in Gou.
The story mostly takes perspectives from the original Higurashi series and flips them on their head, allowing us to see the story from a new angle, which sounds good in concept but is poorly executed, which is a huge shame.
Mainly because it felt like a poorly done repetition of the main series with some slight deviations; naturally, this led to a poor reception from long-time Higurashi fans for multiple reasons, and one of those biggest reasons is that the mystery behind the story and its twists feel considerably more absent, which differs from what Higurarshi as a series is generally about. It's not bad per se, but it doesn't feel like Higurashi, and that doesn't sit well with many viewers. However, it gets more interesting towards the end of the anime around episode 11, where things get spicy really fast, so I'd hold out until then.
This is something to note and take to heart before you watch this anime.

Characters/Cast:
If you're expecting significant character development from the main cast of Maebara Keiichi, Ryūgū Rena, Sonozaki Mion and Sonozaki Shion like the original Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, then I wouldn't recommend this anime to you.
As it's mainly about Hōjō Satoko and Furude Rika's battle of wills. As a result, both of them have a considerable amount of screen time but understand that the focus is primarily on Hōjō Satoko, who goes through a lot of character development for better and worse, depending on the individual watching this. I, for one, enjoyed her story and found it quite fascinating despite its predictable nature.

Animation:
I'm going to be extremely blunt. Passione's animation and design do not look good and still look just as bad as they did in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gou. If you disliked how it looked before, you wouldn't like it now either, although I can't be too negative as they did fix Rika's hair; that gets a few points in my books. Everyone else, though, minus Hōjō Satoko, looks pretty awful.
Aside from the design, despite looking rough, the animations did improve from Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gou and got better towards the end of the series. The last two episodes are the exception to the rule and look very good.

Music:
The opening theme is a banger! As is the closing theme, but other than that, the rest of the soundtrack is entirely forgettable.

Closing Statement:
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Sotsu is a lousy anime for classic Higurashi fans, and I can understand why it has such a low score.
However, that isn't to say all those low votes are justifiable because they're not. The anime does have some bite, and there are some genuinely shocking moments and revelations toward the end.
I do absolutely think this anime is worth it despite all its faults.
It's very entertaining and has a good core philosophy regarding friendship and how we should let each other grow instead of suffocating each other with our own selfish desires. Also, Hōjō Satoko is very well written, so much so that people hate her. That should say a lot.

Final Scores:
If you're an original Higurashi fan and want a story full of mystery, intrigue and twists, it's a 3/10.

However, if you can look past the differences between both stories and enjoy the anime for what it is instead of what it can be, I'd rate it as a 6/10.

Argento Soma: Hitori to Hitori is an episode featuring Sue as the main character and dives into her backstory and motivation for why she became a pilot. I think it's worth watching for anyone invested in Argento Soma as it would add a better understanding of Sue's character, despite it being only one episode. The most fascinating part about this episode is seeing how Sue reacts to her situation and how all her insecurities are projected onto the alien who is also part of this episode.

The ending credit featuring Dan Simmons is also hilarious!

I'm a pretty solid standalone, 6.5 out of 10. It ... would have been much better if we had a few episodes tied to everyone's backstory to flesh out the characters further, but this will do.

Argento Soma is a "diamond in the rough" with many flaws. Such has slow and tedious pacing, dated animation and an uninspired soundtrack, minus the series's introduction opening, credits and final song.

While the flaws can be overwhelming at times, they don't undo what is in store for you, and OH BOY, this anime has a lot of twists and realizations. This makes it worthwhile to watch and is suggested for individuals that prefer a more realistic approach to storytelling that doesn't rely too heavily on action or cliches to push forward character development at the cost of feeling dull at times. It's the type ... of anime you need to be patient for and not try to control. It will reveal itself to you slowly and peel back all the layers exposing Argento Soma for what it truly is; A story about flawed humans consumed by ideals of revenge, justice, survival and trauma/loss. Mystery, curiosity and philosophy are also part of this anime and become a lot more prominent towards the end of the series, passed episode 18, where the series quality improves considerably.

Speaking of the story, it's slow-paced and methodical. A heavy focus is on the main cast, who aren't cardboard copy-and-paste type cliche characters. A good example is the protagonist, who's a mixture of overly emotional and hyper-intelligent/philosophical being who yo-yos through phases of villainy, being heroic and troubleshooting problems, making him a contradicting character who's easy to both love and hate due to how unstable he is. Another example would be another main character the cast calls "Frank," who's an alien that no one understands and forces to fight for them against other aliens who all look the same; which may appear as boring or lazy to many, but there is a reason why they follow that format of appearance.

Lastly, to end this brief review, Argento Soma is nothing like Neon Genesis Evangelion; it only appears so from a superficial standpoint, as there are aliens and secret organizations with symbolic names such as Morgue and Funeral. However, the similarities end here; it has more in common with "The Iron Giant" and "Interstellar" than anything seen in Evangelion. Even the story plots and motivations are entirely different in both series. Evangelion focuses on the internal conflicts of many characters, employing many of Arthur Schopenhauer's, Sigmund Freud's and Carl Jung's theories. In contrast, Argento Soma is concerned with external conflicts which cause internal tensions, with a nod to Carl Jung's theory regarding the Anima and Animus and the concept of consciousness.

I give it a 7.5 out of 10 and suggest it to patient viewers interested in psychology and philosophy, as those will be the most fascinating aspects of the story. On the other hand, if you're looking for action or watching something for the thrill of it, then Argento Soma won't be a fun experience.

Boogiepop Phantom is an enigma.
It's the type of anime you need to watch multiple times to gain somewhat of an understanding of all its deep unlaying concepts.
It's nothing like a traditional anime and tells its story through a non-linear lens, which seems designed to confuse, disorientate and scare the viewer purposely.
As a result, the cuts, the music and even the artistic scenes look like they were made terribly on purpose; however, this is far from the truth, as Boogiepop Phantom is a masterpiece in its medium, a "Dementia Anime."

Words alone can't describe the experience that is Boogiepop Phantom; it's better seen. ... Still, if I were to attempt to summarize, it's an anime about our perspectives of ourselves, which often leads us down to existential dread.
This anime focuses very heavily on what it means to be alive and our purpose in a world without purpose.
It tackles the question of what it means to be and finding our purpose despite being an illusion.
Questions like this are brought up:
Do we simply consume without a second thought?
Should we sacrifice ourselves for others and get lost on the path to doing so?
Is it okay to remove the memories of those who suffer to ensure they feel better?
If you had the power to change the lives of others, would you do it?
Does the world need to be understood, and do we exist or are we just holograms created by light fragments?

See what I mean?
Many of these questions require a lot of interpretation, and the anime will not give you the answers you seek but will nudge you towards thinking about them yourself because that's the point.

But here's the problem. Many watchers will be turned off by such complex thoughts, as most individuals watch anime to escape overthinking, while Boogiepop Phantom tells them to think and not distract themselves. Due to this, my anime score, which is already high, has been dropped to an 8/10.

I'd only suggest individuals who are okay with being uncomfortable or into philosophy watch this anime.
If you are looking for a good time, avoid this anime because it won't be a fun ride!
This anime is the type of anime that watches you as you watch it, if you get what I mean ;)