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This is one One Piece film that I would go out of my way to watch again.

The movie did its job of entertaining and providing a fulfilling plot, but more importantly, it can be appreciated in the lens of 2024. There are numerous connections between Uta and your typical social media influencer or user. Uta has this idealist vision for the world (like many people vocal figures on social media), but she comes to understand the importance of struggle and that there are more rational ways to bring people together than pushing your beliefs or perfect vision on them. Shanks is perceived ... as a bad guy to Uta in the same way that the younger generation has this disconnect between the seeming harshness of an older generation. While this idea of social media modernity reaching the One Piece world may seem like a stretch of an idea, we get information about how improved video-transponder-snail-technology and Uta's presence rush into the world like a wave and connect people; technology and communication changes grabbed the real world in a similar way. There are other allusions to this idea change as well. Rewatch the movie through that critical lens of social media (or vocal idealists) and the generational gap, and the film has a bit more sustenance. Luffy acts as this bridge between worlds, serving his recurring role as a promising hero who can help people see eye to eye.

One complaint from viewers is that the music occupies too much of the movie, but that's what this movie is; that is the direction it took. If you do not like that One Piece takes a very modern concept and uses it for the movie, that is a better argument, but the music fits the content of the plot. The music is great, visually pleasing, and is relevant to understanding the world and characters. The first few songs are so captivating and flashy that the viewer feels as if transported to another world; these moments foreshadow later plot elements. I wished there had been more music in the second half, if anything.

One root to the music complaint is that the musical scenes result in suffering of the plot later on. There are some details that may have been better drawn out or reimagined, like that of the demon king or Uta's childhood destruction. There could have been more to explore with The Sunny being personified or with rekindling of Uta and Luffy, the latter being jarring to me even after having seen the anime episodes several months ago that preceded the film. All that being said, I agree. There are some elements that could have been paced better or been given more explanation. Ultimately, a choice was made, and films do not always get the same depth of background that the series gets. Part of me had wished this film had been its own short-to-medium-sized arc in the series instead, but I accept that certain items in the film were lengthened or shortened in good reason.

This film was a bit jarring at first, but most items got resolved and became less jarring in time. For example, Uta's powers seemed almost too over-the-top in the way that One Piece films sometimes do for newly-revelaed villains, but some of that is resolved as the film progresses. Most cameos felt natural, and the selection of characters was good in that there were not too many, though there are still quite a lot; the same can be said when it came to general fanservice. There were a few moments that pulled me out of belief or out of the moment, such as Trafalgr Law being at the concert, unless Bepo (who seemed like an Uta fanboy) had roped him into it, but these moments did not ruin the entire experience for me. Another moment would be the hint of 5th Gear later in the film; one can make an argument for this and the fact that it happened in the world of false reality, but it still felt like a fanservice move at the wrong time.

There are some other wants and appreciations to throw in this review. It was a shame that Jimbei did not get more of a role, but that does not need to be the purpose of a film every time a new character enters the picture; Jimbei has also seemed to kind of blend in organically to the Straw Hats. It was neat to have some Big Mom tie-in as well.

The name of the film and its relevance to Shanks works here. I never expected to get a full background to Shanks; there is something special to his mystery and to the few interactions with Luffy in the series. The name of the film seems a bit dubious at first, but it works best as the film progresses, with the tittle having ties to Luffy's belief in Shanks, Luffy and Shank's shared vision of the world, and the synchronous battle at the end. The last few minutes worked well and made this film one of, if not the most, emotional One Piece films thus far.

The film is not perfect, with glossed plotlines and occasional moments of over-the-top fanservice, but the film showcases some of the best strengths of the series, it adds to the One Piece world, and it continues to spread messages that connect generations.

Migi and Dali is a textbook example of subverting viewer expectations. Be prepared for a roller coaster of laughs, suspense, surprise, and the sentimental.

I will avoid getting into the plot as it is something better to be experienced, but whatever expectations you have from even the third episode onward will be flipped upside down in the end. The writers clearly knew what they were doing, and this is shown in everything from the writing to the execution.

First, the comedic timing in the show is perfect and leads to unexpected bursts of laughter. You may think it is a show where seeming gags ... will become old, but there is always something new around the corner. I found myself laughing out loud during almost every episode because of some purposefully obscure dialogue, character action, or situation. And this was often at 5:00 AM when I was still half asleep.

Second, the plot changes throughout the series in unexpected ways. Sometimes, things go exactly as you would expect them. Other times, there is a complete 180 twist. Even other times, there is something that seems like an insignificant gag, but it is something that develops over multiple episodes and contributes to the development of the characters. This constant cleverness and inconsistency made some of the seemingly cliche moments or plot points still make me question if that is "really" what would happen. I would compare the writing to that of a mystery horror film; you never know if the killer will be the most obvious choice or if the director is playing with your head.

This is a show that I am surprised did not get more traction. I highly would recommend to anyone wanting to create a show that rivals some of the predictable entertainment out there. It has a little bit of everything for everyone.

"Darling in the FranXX" is one of the most conflicting anime I have ever seen; I really hoped it would shine with its ever-radiant intensity until the end, but in the last few episodes, it drifted light years away.

The first segment of the show (eps 1-6) is a cinematic masterpiece that could stand alone as its own perfect story; there is a lot of emotion, excitement, and wonder all wrapped inside of a disturbing futuristic world of which one only scrapes the surface in the first few episodes. One does not need to know a lot to enjoy this basic story, and ... it is easy to become engrossed with the world and characters. This part of the show is easily a 10/10.

In the second segment (~eps 6-14), there is a bit of a surprising shift that pays off well in the end. Throughout the exploration of characters and their daily lives, the viewer more clearly understands exactly what the characters know and their role as an experimental group. There is also an amazing exploration of the the main characters and their backgrounds. The emotional stakes are high, and there is a lot of back-and-forth between the main characters; this is the segment that truly had me invested in the main characters for the rest of the show.

The complaints on episode 14 seem unfounded; based on other reviews, viewers seem to have unrealistic expectations of how the characters should act and of how events should occur. The second segment does leave the viewer a bit too in the dark and confused as to how the characters all seem to have hormonal teenage instincts in the beach episode; it gets explained later, but it seemed just a bit inconsistent in some regards at the time, whether it was or not. There are also a few judgment calls from higher ranking officers that seemed to just happen for plot convenience; this is harder to justify in a show all about teams, leaders, and orders. This segment of the show is about a 9/10.

In the third segment (~eps 14-19), there are some really astounding developments. "Darling in the FranXX" does what anime and manga often do best: provide a complete tonal and narrative change partway through the story. The change in direction paid off, as the characters developed more fully, and revolutionary changes sprouted in this dystopian world. The story really felt beautiful and wonderous, while offering more insight into the world. Events do start occurring a tad quickly, such as more information provided on klaxosaurs, though it does not necessarily feel rushed while watching. This section is still at about a 9/10.

And finally, the final segment (eps 20-24). This is where the show went south. Too many plot elements are thrown in at once, and not enough of the world is explained. Mechanics are not explained well either, and many unexplained occurrences are vital to the story and final conflict. While a story can be great without heavy mechanic explanations, this part of the story needed it. As a huge fan of the "Flip Flappers" anime, and even the begining of "Darling in the FranXX," I understand how emotion and character can carry a story beyond fine details. In previous fights, this worked well: characters experience emotion and triumph after waging conflict. The issue with the ending is that there are constant new conflicts that are unexplained, but focused on enough that an explanation is needed. It was just a poor balance. Some conflicts are intangible, such as with Hiro drifting, but lack substance; it reminded me a bit of some other shows that seem to drag a concept out for a internal battle ending, such as "Soul Eater." The last segment goes a bit too far out there without enough detail, or at least symbolism, to hold the integrity of the story up. The last segment was still mostly interesting and was still very emotinally grabbing, but it fell apart. This segment gets a 4/10 or 5/10 and holds back the rest of this extraordinary show.

Overall, I still give "Darling in the FranXX" a 7/10. I will never forget it, and I am hooked on Zero Two. The world is intriguing, the tone is strong and ever-changing, and the characters are well-established. I would gladly rewatch, and hope to in the future, though I might skip out on the ending. The difficult part about this show is that there is no satisfying ending where the last few episodes can be forgotten; at best, one could stop after the first 6 episodes or after episode 14, but doing so leaves some of the greatest moments and arcs unfinished or untouched.

"Clannad: After Story" takes an endearing twist on the orginal series, but this second season falls short in making the most out of what it has to offer.

First, let my preface this with saying that I forced myself to watch all of "Clannad" so that I could watch "Clannad: After Story." I was told that this would be the best choice as it would lay down the foundation of the characters, etc. It was, of course, my intent to watch it anyways. The first season was very slow and boring, but it managed to pull through an entire story. The first ... season manages to tie in most of what it dishes out and makes Tomoya and Nagisa sustainable characters. I gave "Clannad" a 4/10 for still being able to pay off in its goals, and for the last episodes with the full cast of characters being more eventful. There is also this "beyond Earthly" quality to it with melancholy music, a strange world that seems to link to the real world, and many female characters having a mysterious side to them.

Then, we get to "Clannad: After Story." The first glaring issue with show is that it is not quite at the "After Story," or rather after graduation, side of things yet. It takes almost 11 episodes for the wheels to move. The arc with Youhei and his sister ended up being my favorite in the series as far as the school day arcs go; the only problem was that it felt out of place. And so did the other arcs. Given how slow the pacing was in season one, especially with the wedding arc that could have been condensed, I don't understand why the first half of "After Story" wasn't just pushed to season one. One might argue that the arcs in "After Story" are more about the characters growing up, but Youhei is the only character it really happens for, and the connection with growing up in preparation for adulthood isn't made all that strongly. He is also a character that we see again in limitation for the rest of the season.

Then, we get to the "After After Story.” There are two episodes that do nothing for the series toward the end of the show. And the last episode is a recap, which is the biggest mockery of a recap I have seen in all of anime history. There is no need for a recap at the end of a short series like this. In fact, the best place for a recap would have been at the beginning of this season, so viewers could at least catch up to speed. Well, nope, because the last episode recaps the entire series, with events that viewers had just seen and understood without the need for a recap. Not only that, but the recap is between father and daughter; this means that right from the beginning of the recap, there is a spoiler. Basically, the recap is a waste for fans who completed to the series and are new to the series.

With the beginning and end of the season being unnecessary, we only really need about 10-12 episodes of this series. This would be a true “After Story.” But okay, let’s say we want a full 24 still. There is room to develop on many issues unresolved. We could get more of Tomoya opening to his father. We could get a longer trip that lets the father and daughter wander to the field without basically just going directly there. We could have gotten more hints at the orbs of light. We could have seen more changes in the town aside from a hospital and a restaurant. We could have gotten a better story about Fuko or Kotomi, and their seeming connections to the supernatural that are never fully realized. We could get more screen time with all of the other characters that got pushed to the side; even if it may be more realistic for people to move and do their own thing, there still had to be something better to do with the characters or a way to give the side characters a better send off. We could get glimpses of what a working life or starting a family does to other characters, for example. In a series where people tell you that you need to watch the full first season to grasp the characters, I would have liked to see the characters in the second season.

Okay, so let’s say we only keep the important arc in this story. It’s near-flawless, right? Near-flawless is correct, but then the ending hits. Viewers go on this journey of valuing family, loss, forgiveness, acceptance, and almost every human emotion known to man. But then, instead of just Ushio being saved, as one might expect with the hints of balls of light and all the good deeds Tomoya and Nagisa completed throughout the entire series – a small miracle that alleviates Ushio’s illness seems reasonable – everyone is instead saved; not only are they saved, which I could have accepted, but everything you just learned and felt is completely wiped away. One might then resort to thinking, “well, maybe it was a sort of symbolic restoration, or different timelines are at play.” Fine, I can buy that with the different worlds, but it feels just as cheap as a dream cop-out. In the last episode with the recap, Tomoya explains that all the turmoil he experienced was only what he could describe as a dream; that’s all it feels like to the viewers as well.

There were almost two seasons of stringing pieces together, but those pieces do not fully connect in the end, which is what was most disappointing. The balls of light only appear in the Illusionary World in the first season. In the second season, we only see the balls of light twice, without much explanation or repetition. Almost all the eeriness and mystery from the first season is dropped with Nagisa. I don’t agree that there is a lot of melodrama in the series as people say, aside from the events revolving around Nagisa’s graduation. But what does bug me is that the main characters have issues that become so terribly ordinary without the intrigue. I thought Fuko might retain memories or might be the one who grants a wish to living an out-of-body experience to Ushio upon dying or something; instead, we don’t see her until the near-end of the series in what almost seems like her replacement of Nagisa, until she doesn’t do that. I thought Kotomi might be the one who helps lay the clues out for making sense of the Illusionary World given her father’s theory. Nope. All those weird occurrences from season one were just that: separate occurrences. Despite this whole series being about alternate paths and connected worlds, things just drop off and are forgotten.

In the end, there are some things I admire about “Clannad: After Story.” The characters are interesting when the plot can keep up; I could watch Tomoya and Akio all day long. There is a masterful use of emotion, symbols, real-life themes, etc. Season two definitely improves season one in term of pacing, plot, etc. Yes, I cried like a baby. Yes, my perspective on life was changed by this series.
There are also a lot of downfalls to the series, however. Half of the second season could be canned. Many characters just vanish. Many plot and tone items change direction or fall short. The story takes a cheap escape with the revival route.

And the thing is, if I wanted a story about the bizarre or about going off the deep end, I would watch “Charlotte.” If I wanted a story about timelines and choices, I would watch “Steins;Gate” or “Fireworks.” If I wanted a story about the intrigue of mysterious balls of light from doing good deeds, I would watch the first season of “The World God Only Knows.” If I wanted a story about memories and loss, I would watch “Anohana.” And these series are only from the top of my head; there are probably better ones that I have seen. The point is this show offers little outside of a handful of very strong episodes; many series have similar stories to those in Clannad, but can actually pull them off right in the scope of their world and grander story.

“Clannad: After Story” still gets a 4/10 from me, much like its predecessor. While this series did not bore me and make me want to pull my hair out while watching, the jumbled story really plagued this one for me; season two fell weak where season one was strong and was strong where season one was weak. I could sift through the entire series just to get my joy out of the Youhei and main post-graduation “After Story” arc, but I think the only me that would be willing to do that lives in an Illusionary World of his own.

After years of watching rom-com anime, I had wondered if that initial element of wonder and excitement a rom-com series can bring had run dry. I was wondering whether anime was starting to go a completely different direction, with love stories that felt more shallow and fast-paced. I was wrong.

Recent seasons of rom-com anime like "Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!" season 2 and "Skilled Teaser Takagi" season 3 have left me disappointed, the former being a complete shell of the first season and the latter just being mildly underwhelming. As such, I did not have high hopes for an anime with an ... iconic long title like "More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers." I was pleasantly surprised, however.

To start, this show has an immediacy to it. The main characters are instantly revealed, and the context for the events of the show are explained. In minutes, we know which characters are going to be placed together, and the writer(s) are aware of this; I appreciated some of the immediate teasing they did with this when it came to the video games. My only disappointment was maybe that there was not a more specific or just longer explanation given to the mechanics (such as the fingerprint doors), grading, etc.; it felt like I blinked and it was over. In the end, the rom-com aspects take center stage, so I was not entirely disappointed with the immediacy; I do think a certain sense of belief is lost and curiosities arise without thorough mechanical explanations, however. Thinking about it now, I understand the privacy aspect with the fingerprint door, but initially I had expected it to be more of a precaution of deterring intimacy between husband and wife; a bit more explanation or mention of the mechanic would have helped in solidifying practical use.

The first half of the show is where everything shines, quite literally. The colors and style of this show are bright and exciting. Similarly, the facial expressions of the main male character have a certain playful style to them, reminding me of Charlie Brown in some regards; re-watch the intro where his mouth is open as his head is tilted back to see what I mean. The emotions in the first half are also very strong, with moments of comfort, relief, excitement, nervousness, and others that are a bit too complex to describe. Some of my favorite moments were when the art played into emotion. When something smells good and is comforting, transparent flowers fill the room; when someone says something sharp or jarring, animated streaks fill the empty space. Seeing animation play into the scenes really made them feel alive; I would imagine this was something that appealed well to manga readers and was used to create more tangible feeling in the panels.

Despite having many similar tropes as other rom-com anime, the first half of the show never felt boring and somehow always managed to keep an edge. Some interesting touches to this couple included the casual use of the word "dude," the ideas of marriage and partnership mixed in, etc. I really thought the show might make a 9/10 or even a 10/10 at this point in the series, but that changed quickly.

The second half of the show is where things where thing went a bit south for me. I had trouble believing elements of the show and found myself craving more time with the two "main characters." The biggest issue with believability for me was the “arc” that occurs. I enjoyed the original setting of the show and changing location for so long felt a bit jarring; another show that did something like this and changed direction was “Classroom of the Elite” season 1, so I already had worries at the hints for an “arc.” It ended up not being terrible, but there were three main issues for me. The first was that not only do all of the characters wind up in the same place, which I could tolerate on its own, but not a single other person outside of the group is depicted or even alluded to. The second complaint is that there is this cool job aspect to the “arc,” an aspect that could have shown how well the love interests work together as partners or how characters handle stress, but it is very short-lived. Instead, the second half manages to feel a bit ragged and just combines a handful of common tropes, like beach time, food-making, dark woods, etc. I did not even understand why the part in the woods was happening, but I knew immediately that it was going to be the same story I had seen before in several other anime.

The more minor, but still serious, toll on the show was the dynamic with the characters in the second arc. I had fallen in love with the primary couple in this story, but in the second half, the main female love interest is pushed to the side quite a bit. Some of the interactions that were so great were no longer there. While this was played into a bit, with the main female love interest recognizing the lack of time with the main character, it continued too long; I actually found myself a bit frustrated. More frustrating was the fact that the main characters seem to have bonded so well in the first half of the show, but then the connection seems weakened in the second half. The main character’s moves were very questionable to me in the next to last episode, but may also be realistic (sometimes guys are dummies); in the last episode there is a sort of silent peaceful moment between the male lead and secondary love interest that seems to support his indecisiveness, until he seems to have actually made a decision. And then, just when it seems like things are clear, there is the final scene which made me want to toss my laptop out the window.

Before coming to a close, there are a few important side notes I’d like to bring up. The first is that the side characters of this story are great. They really stood out and held their weight without simply being some kind of cheap gag. The male protagonist’s best friend made me laugh quite a lot and actually showed some serious sides as well, with seeming development as the show continued. Some interesting info was revealed about another character in the next-to-last episode. I am very eager to see if these characters get some more screen time should the anime continue. A few side characters may have gotten the short end of the stick, but it felt moderately balanced, given the small investment into them and the seeming continuation of the show. My only other note is about gags in the series. While kiss breaks or anime falls were not bad, some of the long-running jokes specific to this show, such as the video game gags, got to be a bit stale toward the end; I wondered if the video game gags could either be left out (though I appreciated the consistency), or just a bit more innovative.

OVERALL (8/10):

The show had built so well in the first half that I was a bit disappointed to see where it ended. This was one of those shows where I wish a definitive ending would have just happened, mostly because it could have, even if it didn’t cover all the manga. The writing, characters, and progression were so strong in the beginning that I really think this could have been one of the most satisfying twelve episode series out there. Another part of me just wishes that this show had been halted until it could be a fuller twenty-four episode series or something similar; if it had been halted, the last few episodes may have been less jarring.

To end on a more positive note, I hope this show comes in strong for a season two. I want this show to defy rom-com anime trends as of late. I do not want this to become a less emotional story. I do not want this to become a faster-paced story. I do not want this show to become fan-serviced; not fan-serviced in the dirty way (that’s fine), but I do not want the series to focus on characters or gags that fans seemed to like the most and drop elements that were less popular. Basically, I just want the series to feel like an extension of season one and not like it was created by an entirely different studio. All that being said, I really do want the story to come to a more stable conclusion, and I would love more time with Akari and our male lead. Fingers crossed to another season of marriage. Are you with me?

I really enjoyed the 2003 series of "Kino's Journey," but this little short took away from multiple elements of what I loved about the series.

The first issue is the whole idea of gender that is presented in the story. In the 2003 series, Kino took on more of a gender-less role. Kino just liked the idea of being referred to as Kino. This fit well into the fact that Kino traveled between places and wanted to remain as more of an outsider, not really fitting into cultural standards or anything of the sort. There was not even a real preference shown ... by Kino. In "Life Goes On," we get more of a direct switch with the use of "I" variants, which just felt unnecessary, lacking in execution, and even damaging to the original story.

The second issue was the lack of philosophy, satire, and metaphor. We don't really get to learn much about Kino's development and the desire for journeying. Yes, some events happen, but there is a lack of character understanding for the viewer in Kino's decisions. There is also a lack of expressing Kino's beliefs about the world. The viewer does not even get any satire or metaphors from any of the events that happen; even the "mother" incident felt really lacking at the end as there was not much of a lesson or observation on the world made from the incident.

The last issue simply boils down to the lack of details. "Kino's Journey" (series, 2003) did an excellent job of using discretion. The viewer was provided with very little information, but was able to make strong inferences about Kino and Kino's beliefs. Story elements were simple and explained, but there was always enough not explained to make the viewer question what true intents, judgement flaws, etc were present in towns and characters. The original series always just gave enough; it did an excellent job of presenting adult themes and sophisticated ideas in a simplistic way.

What "Life Goes On" does wrong is that it is discreet in the wrong places, while being too direct in others. We get to know too much about Kino's past and it creates a less compelling story for the character. What is left discreet is why Kino stopped at Master's house before travelling after meeting the original Kino. The viewer is not really given an idea of what will cause Kino to leave Master either. It is these points that would have been great to share or at least imply through the short, but instead the story is focused on something almost completely irrelevant to the actual adventures and desire to travel that Kino harbors.

The most compelling aspects of the 2003 series are left completely behind and some story elements are even tainted because of the information that the short provides. While I gave the original series a 9/10, I felt that this short only really deserved a 6/10. Normally I reserve a 6/10 for shows that just barely manage to keep my attention or have really bad development, but this is one of the few exceptions where it was fairly entertaining but did collateral damage in the process.

A BRIEF LOOK AT ALL THE PARTS:

STORY (5/10): I explained this all above. 5/10 for really missing the mark here.

ART (7/10): About as good as the original series. Would have liked to see something interesting presented in the special - even if just a little twist or a little extra effort.

SOUND (6/10): Really didn't stand out at all. The song at the beginning, "All the Way," was great as usual, but the opening itself was lacking. This would have been a great time to show how Kino arrives and settles at Master's house now that I think about it.

CHARACTER (5/10): I explained this all above as well. Again - really missed the mark.

ENJOYMENT (7/10): Was still okay to watch. I never felt bored and the story progressed -- I was just upset with choices made.

OVERALL (6/10): I would not watch this again - I will pretend it does not exist as I continue watching the series/shorts/movies that follow. Again, not painful to watch - just disappointing in quality when compared to the 2003 series and what was presented.

"Fireworks" is the BEST animated film that I have ever seen and it remains one of my favorite movies.

While I am a sucker for any story with elements of time travel, there is A LOT more to the story that meets the eye. Time travel, while it definitely plays a part in the plot, is almost entirely insignificant to the overall plot and theme of the story. I think the real disconnect between the viewers who did not enjoy the film and the film itself, is the expectation of metaphor. You need to walk into this film expecting symbolism and metaphors - ... you need to think with a writer's mind. I suspect that the expectation of critical analysis is what pushed a lot of viewers away from the film almost immediately - decisions in the film likely did not make sense to such people and the plot seemed to go on complete tangents to those individuals as well.

If I had to pin down the overarching theme of this film, it is about how far one is willing to go to accept love. The viewer is exposed to boys who are naive, childish, etc. The viewer sees that in a normal world (the first reality we see by the pool), there is no chance between Norimichi and Nazuna. We see reality shift however, and that if a leap of extra effort is made, the relationship is able to progress. Eventually love calls for a complete leap for the main character, delving farther and farther into the fantasy. Nazuna wants this leap of faith - this full embrace of her - and we see this during the "colorful" fantasy scene that turned a lot of viewers off. Eventually the love grows to the point, where the main characters are lost in the fantasy and reality is just a thing of the past for them. The story actually covers a lot and it really is one of those productions where you could write thousands of papers on all of the details and decisions made by the creators; ambiguity and depth is not something that is appreciated by most viewers at such an intensive level, unfortunately.

While I would have liked to see some other characters get more screen time, such as the golfing doctor or the other boys in the film, I am also glad that these characters did not get more screen time. Most viewers have likely heard about multiple timelines and so forth, so having the doctor elaborate would have not only been a waste of time and overly upfront explanation for events, but it also would have put the wrong focus on the story. I feel like the boys would get too much screen time and possibly lose symbolic purpose if given more screen time. One complaint from viewers is that the boys just keep repeating the same message and are overly perverted, but I think the actions of the boys calls to the audience to think in the metaphorical and have fun with the idea of the film. The perverted nature of the boys also makes the audience see them as a symbol and not take them as seriously as the actions of the main character, which is a great contrast.

STORY (9/10): The story is complex and requires an analytic eye. As I said, there are many fine details and decisions made that really make the story something else. One of my biggest qualms with the story were the drawn out flashbacks through scenes during the time travel. I just felt like it was wasted screen time and even though it was only a few seconds of wasted time, I still found myself wanting more with the extra time or with the sequence itself. I only had one other issue. Towards the end of the film we see this full acceptance of fantasy and the main character go from dipping his feet into the water of fantasy to jumping straight in. Unfortunately the last bit of the movie happens a little to quickly; it felt almost as if the final level of fantasy and even the fantasy world were a bit underplayed in the end of things. I think the last segment in the fantasy world could have dragged on a bit longer and been a bit more dramatic.

ART (9/10): I am not someone with much of an eye for art (or rather one who has complaints), but the film was very pleasing visually. There was some 3D animation at the beginning of the film that did look a bit out of place, however, and I actually noticed it. Most of the time I am fine with 3D animation, such as in "Pokemon 4Ever" or in "Parasyte the Maxim," but I was really pulled out of the film for a brief second in the case of "Fireworks."

SOUND (10/10): The music in the film is amazing. In particular the song in the tunnel scene is ASTOUNDING. I knew the film would be a favorite right after this scene. The song plays with the plot, while the scene itself is extremely symbolic and creative. The lights on the side of the tunnel resemble the searching light of a lighthouse while Nazuna sings, after having recently talked about her lost father. This song alone really made the film for me. The song in the credits of the film is also really good. Overall there is a nice blend of playful and serious movie throughout the film.

CHARACTER (9/10): As mentioned before when discussing the story, there are a few characters that I would have liked to see pulled off with more detail if at all possible without jeopardizing the story. While much of the character information is to be interpreted by the viewer, there may be some details that could have been given in a more upfront manner. Viewers probably thought that the main characters did not have enough detail, but I would argue that they were given the perfect amount. We do not need to know a lot about Nazuna and even the viewer needs to be willing to take the leap of faith in regards to her and her intentions. Whether she is a "good" or "bad" character is largely insignificant. Likewise, Norimichi travels when he does to go further into the fantasy and to mature into the love - a motive that likely confused or was overlooked by viewers.

ENJOYMENT (10/10): Despite a few minor flaws, I REALLY enjoyed the film. I was constantly thinking and trying to decide the parallels being made in the movie. The film was also compelling and pulled me in. I think that I might even become accepting of some of the "flaws" upon watching the film again - better understanding some of the decisions made upon watching again with new insights.

OVERALL (9/10): Really, I want to give this movie a 10/10 so badly. The creators attempt a VERY challenging film and do it exceptionally well. There is a clear intention of audience, great visuals, great music, a unique premise, and unforgettable scenes. I will never forget the scene in train with the singing and moving lights - the scene really took the movie above and beyond what I would have ever expected from a film. I enjoyed the film so much that I hold high expectations for it, however, and I just cannot give it a 10/10. I would probably give it a 96/100 or 98/100, but I cannot say t is perfect - I seek just a slight push more for that completeness the film approaches so closely.

If you did not enjoy the film or have not yet seen the film, I challenge you to approach it one more time with a critical mindset and an expectation of the symbolic.

Promare is a movie that had some really great potential, but succumbed to mediocrity at the expense of fans.

First of all, Promare has great animation. Everything looks visually stunning, interesting, and particularly polygonal in design. Studio Trigger fans or fans that enjoy vibrancy could really enjoy the animation.

Where the film falls apart is - well, everywhere else. The story is very weak, with the illusion of being strong. The story is nothing new and felt heavily recycled in terms of concepts and plot functionality. There are a few plot twists in the movie, but the viewer can identify what is ... going to happen from the very beginning in many cases. I personally knew what two of the major turning points of the story would be within the first ten minutes of the story which made the rest of the story really dull as a viewer. There is also a large amount of hand-holding through the plot where characters blatantly and awkwardly describes things that users could easily piece together.

The characters are highly underdeveloped with most of the characters only being propelled by their circumstances. The only character that may be an exception is the main character, Galo, who does seem to show some different sides at times. Other than Galo, the character who struck most with me was the pizza guy, who gets very short screen-time, but at least had an internal drive. There were multiple characters introduced that were completely pushed aside. Having a unused set of characters was fine for the fact that the producers likely wanted to distract the user from what direction the plot would take, but the decision was made at the cost of time, cliche characters, and underdeveloped characters.

The music was good - nothing great. Some of the music had a good beat, but the music did not compliment the scenes very well. The music choice seemed like some kind of fan outreach by having some music with high bass and a solid beat just for the sake of having it.

The fan service, while purposefully included by the studio, was simply overbearing and jeopardized the potential for an interesting movie. Some of the action scenes were dragged out too long to show off animation. Some of the characters were meant to reflect other characters created by the studio. I might even argue that Lio's design and characteristics served as some form of pleasing fans and masking the fact that the character is the cliche misunderstood character (I think of Scar from FMA). While none of the above is completely bad, there was no meaning, no symbolism, and no spark for me that justified any of the choices made. There are easy ways of pleasing fans and making something meaningful and symbolic, but Studio Trigger purposefully avoided doing so.

While the fan service hindered the film on many accounts, Studio Trigger acknowledges the use of fan service in the film - that is to say the Studio knew what they were doing. Scenes and character intros are purposefully flashy in the film (sometimes to a humorous extent). Characters over-exaggerate and repeatedly use cliche lines to further emphasize that the film is for fan service. The underlying plot of the film even creates a metaphor in which the viewer serves as Promare who crave a certain "combustion" from the studio; this parallel was one of the few things I actually enjoyed about the story but it really only presented itself in the last few minutes of the film.

Overall the film was okay. There was nothing that repulsed me about it, but there was nothing that really made me want to keep watching or that made me feel any kind of emotional impact during the film. I could not overlook the fact that the movie catered to its fans and failed to have significance aside from the small metaphor between the film and its fans. I would like to see more from the studio - I would just like to see something where the fan-base is pushed aside and the creators just tap into their own potential.

While I did enjoy the final season of Fairy Tail, I was disappointed in many regards and would have been much happier if the show had stopped after the Fairy Tail Zero arc.

The final season manages to pull a poorly crafted version of what Fullmetal Alchemist (FMA) Brotherhood does. My one problem with FMA Brotherhood when compared to the original FMA series was the sense of completeness that the viewer is stuck with. Almost every single element of the plot is resolved or answered, including events that link to time way back in the past. What is left in the ... future? What else is there to be unraveled historically? Unfortunately the viewer is given details of the significant events, so there is little room left for exploration. In the final episode of Fairy Tail, it is shown that members continue with quests and so forth, but the effort is almost futile, considering that two major "God" characters have been defeated by the guild after over 400 years of struggle. Defeating the main (and presumably strongest enemies over generations of time) suggests that there is really little left to encounter that the guild would even struggle to fight.

I think the show would have been better left off after the Fairy Tail Zero arc (Zero). Zero introduced snip-its of history that excite the viewer with backstory, without providing information out about the whole world and all the characters - instead just a select few locations and people are shown. The arc ends with a present-time disbanded Fairy Tail taking steps to reuniting again, which was a great ending in my opinion. There is a promise of hope and more adventures to come; it appears that Zeref has been taken down for the time being and that Fairy Tail will one day take down Acnologia. While there are some other unsolved plot elements such as Gray seeking out END, the outcome can be left to the viewer for interpretation.

The Final Season fails to pull in the audience much at all. There are so many characters introduced that they appear quickly and die quickly. The same trend can be seen in several elements of the plot. The fight between Natsu and Gray is lackluster in the sense that is happens abruptly, the death of Erza's mother is brief and quick, Acnologia's take-down is somewhat uninspired, and the list goes on. Fairy Tail is known for its emotional fight scenes - where did they go? While I criticize the fight between Natsu and Gray, the "death" of Makarov and the fight that Erza intervenes was probably the highlight of the entire season for me. After seeing Fairy Tail drag on elements like these so well for 300+ episodes, I feel like it could have been pulled better.

One big problem I had was the lingering plot of Natsu's fate. When Natsu came to the conclusion that he only wanted to be himself and suppressed the two seeds growing inside of him, I thought the plot was case-closed. Natsu was still bound to the book, however, and Lucy and Happy continue to dread Natsu's fate until almost the end of the season. I think that plot could have ended with Natsu's realization, thus saving room to expand on the more pressing issues of Zeref and Acnologia.

Characters seemed not to grow much, with some of them actually reverting. Gray seems lifeless when Lucy is trying to rewrite Natsu's END book and the English dub really makes Gray seem like a robot; I hadn't seen Gray this bad since the time he seemingly betrayed Natsu and befriended Daphne in earlier seasons. Natsu does not power up in any bizarre way like in previous seasons. I really thought Natsu would become a hybrid dragon demon or gain an insane pure-Natsu form, but the closest thing we get is his ally-assisted rainbow form towards the end of the season. Zeref and Mavis come to some kind of realization, but it seems unclear and like both characters just had a quick change of heart instead of undergoing any kind of events to propel the changes. Let's also just point out all of the characters that do not really have room to develop also, including the Spriggan 12 - who I really expected to see more of that from, especially considering how much they were shown towards the beginning of the season. There are also a lot of elements that repeat themselves in no particularly new way, such as Gray trying to use the forbidden freeze spell once again. While it was a neat tactic to scare Zeref, the scene where Gray attempts to use the same exact spell could have been handled better to not make it seem like previous events - even if the spell was an upgraded version of some sort - just something.

The music of the final season is okay. I feel like there was one fighting track that was just played too often and then the music lost its impact. The opening songs were great as always, but other than the first of the season, "The Power of the Dream," none of the openings were mentally memorable for me. The animation of the show is clean, but not very stylistic like the original series, which was kind of disappointing considering that there were no neat locations to take advantage of the higher quality animation.

The final season of Fairy Tail was good and I wanted to see the plot unfold, but I just didn't get the same feels as other seasons, causing the season to drag a bit amidst all the action. There is a lot that happen, but there just is not enough time to let everything receive attention. The magic counsel, the fates of the Spriggan 12, and so forth are barely given any attention at the end. Finally, the end was just bad. Why Zeref and Mavis are shown again with different names/identities is beyond me and I did not like that there was a party - it just felt boring and less sentimental than I was hoping for the conclusion of a show that is founded on the idea of emotional sentiment. While I haven't read the manga, I hope the manga does the story more justice than the anime, because I really like Fairy Tail and hope for more in the future from the franchise.

"Gamers" has a unique curve of quality. The beginning of the show is amazing and it seems to only get better until the viewer nears a midpoint where all of the characters have met each other and the love pentangle begins. The show surprisingly picks back up and closes in an elegant finish in the last two episodes, supporting the potentiality of the show had it not focused on the heavy love story.

I loved the show for all of the gaming references and vivid characters. There is no denying that the writers had a great understanding of what it is like to ... be a gamer. The only, and I do mean only, bad thing about the show was the middle where the love pile is overly focused on. If characters could proceed through regular actions and the love story was a side gig, the show would have been excellent; the potential of the show is especially evidenced in the last episode where the characters just interact and talk about video games during a regular trip. The writers even wrapped up the drama in an excellent way, where all of the characters seem to look past paranoia or pressures of love and enjoy themselves. The parade scene that wraps up the main story arc was especially written with a lot of care and detail that some people may not have caught - I felt like this scene resolved any conflict in the show and opened up gateways to possible future outcomes.

I do not know who decided to put so much focus on the love story, but if it had not been piled on so thick, the show had the potential of earning a 10/10. I would be very interested to see the creators make a slice-of-life show based on the last episode's ability to bring up interesting arguments, use clever word plays, and write in a way such that the characters are self-aware they are part of a television show. The music, art, sound, characters, and enjoyment were all held back merely by the love story and I would love to see the creators' next big projects.