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Final verdict - average across the board, but not in a terrible way

A lot of the reviews here are quite dissenting so I'll offer an alternate perspective. From the fast food anime industry comes another mid banger 'Kami wa Game ni Ueteiru'. A story about how, in a futuristic world, humans must play games against Gods and win. If you win 11? games you get to make any wish you want!

Now if you compare this to classics like CoTE and NGNL you are bound to hate this show with a passion. This show, much like a $3.99 McDouble is meant to let you switch ... off your mind and satiate your appetite for low quality but somewhat filling content. Contrary to opinion there *is* some level of thought going into the challenges, just not a lot. The plot twists are predictable and the character development and interaction is pretty bland, however unlike other shows this season such as Banished Former Hero, this does art and animation much better.

Still not sure why this is tagged ecchi though, as I am yet to see a whole tiddy or pantsu and we are already 4 episodes in.

If you need to take a break from some of the better, more emotionally invested shows airing this season, sit down, switch off your brain, and put an episode of Kami wa Game ni Ueteiru on.

As someone who enjoyed season 1, I can safely say I am disappointed by how season 2 turned out.

I understand that the Saint's power is omnipotent but there was no substantial plot, no tension, no drama, and no cliffhangers to keep me waiting for the next episode.

I think my main driving factor for seeing this season thru to the end was my loyalty to the first season and the characters I had grown fond of. Sad to say, I did not see any sort of character growth this season, it almost felt like a massive filler, especially the middle episodes with the transfer student/prince.

The ... fights from the first season were better, and although the animation leaves little to be desired in terms of production quality, it does not make up for the lack of substance IMO. Fights were short and unsatisfactory, SNAFUs resolved in half an episode with no consequence or real tension (eg <minor spoiler> when Sei gets separated from her party which is supposed to be an "oh s*hit" moment but is resolved in 10 minutes like it never happened)

The ending was cliche but satisfying, but again I don't know if I can justify having gone thru the first 11 episodes to get there.

To summarize, Saint S2 is like a decadent cheesecake. Pleasant to look at and tastes great, but full of empty calories. If you enjoyed S1, I would tentatively recommend watching this for closure. If you did not enjoy S1, then skip to episode 10 and start from there. Your mileage may vary.

"I hate being alone. Being alone makes me feel empty. I want to sleep with someone."

DISCLAIMER #1: All opinions expressed in this review are mine alone, and you are not obligated to agree/disagree with them at all.

DISCLAIMER #2: Don't be deceived by the genres listed on the left. Proceed with caution if you see dislike any of the themes presented below:
* Forbidden love
* Netorare
* Sex and betrayal
* Yuri
* Lolis
...
TLDR; Overall rating: 2/10 OR 8/10

I will try and explain, as clearly as possible, the rationale behind the rating above, everything that this anime does right and wrong, and why you should or shouldn't watch it.

Story:
Kuzu no Honkai is a breath of fresh air, a new and unique romance-themed anime that will leave you speechless - just kidding. Kuzu no Honkai is a story about a group of kids playing house, featuring wishy-washy characters in that high school setting we all know and love. Apparently they're calling it seinen now.

The basic premise consists of an intricate love triangle featuring a perpetually depressed flake of a girl, an emo boy-toy, a standard issue onii-chan, a cougar, a lesbian, and a loli. In episode 1, Person-X decides to have sex with Person-Y. Repeat this for 12 episodes with different combinations of X and Y and congratulations, you've finished this amazing series.

Kuzu no Honkai is pretty much a hate-it-or-love-it kind of anime. The problem with this series is mainly how pretentious it appears to be. "I'm 17 and I'm deep" is the theme of the day. When I was in high school, the first and foremost thing on my mind was passing the university entrance exams. Relationships were important but I never forgot my priorities. Of course, that's only me, and you can't compare an anime to real life, but they wouldn't have made it a high school setting if they didn't want people to relate to it. I'll take the liberty to allude to Golden Time here: a similar romantic-themed anime placed in a university setting. For all its flaws, they at least they got that part right, and that made things a lot more real. Perhaps the setting is an unfair point of criticism, but the incredulity of it all was a dampening factor on my enjoyment of this series.

What does this anime do right with the story? For starters, I find its openmindedness towards love quite commendable. Love knows no bounds in this anime: (low-key) incest, lesbianism, lolicon, student-teacher love. Phew! Raunchy stuff.



Art:
Average 2017 animu art. However, one interesting thing about the art is how closely it resembles that of a shoujo anime - the suffocating close-ups, the excessive blushing, the simplistic nature of the backgrounds, fluidity with transitions, etcetera. Unassuming at times, allowing the viewer to focus completely on the trainwreck unfolding in front of them.



Sound:
One redeeming quality of the anime is definitely its music. The one thing you'd expect from the music would be to compliment what you see on screen, as opposed to jarr/seem out of place, and that's what the music did here.



Characters: (Minor revelations/spoilers, proceed with caution.)
With the exception of Ecchan, pretty much everyone is a flake.

Let's start with Hanabi. Supposed "honour student", has a thing for her onii-chan. Is fooling around with three different people at the same time in order to numb the pain of unrequitted love. Enjoys playing the victim card, is easily hussled into sex, and doesn't know how she feels 99% of the time about anything.

Next, the emo boy-toy, who has such a bland personality that you wonder what women see in him at all.

Third, we have a piano teacher who loves sleeping with underrage boys. And yet, Mugi the boy-toy enjoys perpetually jerking his little ding-dong to her, despite knowing what a tramp she is. Attraction to someone's looks is apparently called "true love" and entitles you to mope around 24/7 and wonder at how deep your life is.

Fourth, we have a loli who is actually just a stuck up little bitch. Also an osananijimi who you know will lose just based the trope she represents.

As you can see, there really is nothing likable about any of these characters and you can't really relate to any of them, owing to how bland and pretentious they are. There is no real character development either, apart from little revelations about each ones' true colours, which I don't really consider development.

I can, however, appreciate that this anime has some stellar relationship development. The true strength of Kuzu no Honkai, for me, lies in its character interactions. I keep harping on this, but the roller-coster relationships that characters experience with each other is actually quite realistic, and would have felt a lot more relatable in a university/work life setting.



Enjoyment:
This anime does not provide an iota of feel-good enjoyability at all. You will feel discomfort, jealousy, cringe, and at times, even disgust. But you'll probably want to keep watching with a grotesque interest that you'd have watching a butcher cutting up a piece of meat.

Overall:
In the end, Kuzu no Honkai has its good points, but is a painful pill to swallow. Vaguely resembling a B-rate drama, if you derive any more enjoyment out of this than what you'd get from a cheap soap opera, I commend you.

Depending on what parts of this anime you love or hate, you might end up calling this a 2/10 OR an 8/10. I recommend you watch and find out.

Little Busters: Refrain is the second instalment of the Little Busters series, a series based on a visual novel of the same name.

I did have misgivings about LB considering JC Staff was handling it. There are some pros and cons to LB, which I will address throughout the course of this review. I'll try my best to keep my opinion out of this review, and free of spoilers.

Story (8/10):
The main theme of LB was the theme of friendship. However, with LB: Refrain, there is an abrupt shift, with the plot now consisting of romantic and supernatural elements. The story now focuses on Riki and ... Rin, who must face and overcome the ghosts of their past in order to save their friends and secure a future where they can be together.
The second season starts off well, with the plot getting more convoluted as you progress. Towards the end, there is a LOT happening which may be a lot to digest. The plot execution isn't the best, and a lot of things happen with little to no foreshadowing.
The supporting characters of LB around whom the arcs of the first season were centred around play little to no part here, which is consistent with the theme shift.
One thing I found disappointing was the lack of explanation given for a lot of things that I will not list as they are potential spoilers (watch episode 9, 10, and 11).
The romance between Riki and Rin also felt somewhat forced.

Art (8/10):
The art measures up to 21st century standards.

Sound (7/10):
The soundtrack has been recycled from the first season, but is fitting for their scenes, more or less.

Characters (7/10):
When speaking about the characters, I also speak with reference to season 1. The character designs are, O.K. at best, with traces of the hair/eye colour swap syndrome. A lot of the characters feel very one-dimensional (very trope-y personalities) with past traumatic experiences tacked on to compensate for the lack of dimensionality.
I don't blame JC Staff for these shortcomings since they have faultlessly adapted the visual novel with the original character designs intact.
On the bright side, the second season sees some really great character development. Since the second season focuses on fewer characters, it has more room to work with. Riki in particular, receives the most attention. Rin's development on the other hand, felt very deus-ex-machina like (watch the last episode to understand).

Enjoyment (8/10):
Little Busters is a feel good anime. The series has a happy ending. Even if you consider what it took to get there, it's alright, because that's what a feel good anime is about.
I liked the theme shift, since it gave the whole series some sense of a greater purpose.
The episodes are engineered to evoke your emotions, though the producers may have jumped a couple of hoops to do so.

Overall (8/10):
The LB series, like any other series, is not free of issues. But it does a lot of things right and on the whole, comes off as a nice, feel good series that anyone can enjoy.

Reviewing a special... I've always wanted to do this. XD

So this episode is a little 10 minute extra to the main series which chronicles the first encounter between Karasuma and Korosensei, as told from Korosensei's point of view.

This is pretty much comic relief for followers of this series since season 1 ended in a somewhat abrupt manner. It starts off on a serious note with Karasuma locking horns with Korosensei for the first time in a dank jail cell as the slimy octopus states his various demands and what not, and then the episode ends in a somewhat unexpected manner. The art and soundtrack ... are all consistent with that from the main series.

If you are wondering whether this episode is important, then wonder no more: it does not contribute to the plot in any way, so you may choose not to watch it. There are no teasers, no foreshadowing whatsoever. However... if you have seen season 1, then I do recommend you watch this just for the sake of closure.

Hey all. Tis' my first review so bear with me... This'll be short and sweet but I hope it encourages you to watch this. Because if you haven't, then damn, have you been missing out.

Time. It's a tricky subject. Any story that deeply ties in with the concept of time is either going to be a raging success or an unfortunate flop. In this case, it's without a shade of doubt, the former.
Science fiction is the main genre, yes... But oh, it's so much more than that. It's the complete package. It's got everything.

Story: 10/10. This is the main selling point of the ... anime. It is a story that prays on the unsuspecting of a viewer (did I get it right..?) (In which case you may find its rematch value a little low. You MAY.).
It starts off as something of a plot straight out of science fiction novels. Time travel, blah blah. But the story and the premise that tie in with the time travelling is what really hits home. It ends up becoming so much more than a boring old cliche sci-fi anime. There's no obscure jargon. Everything is clear and sensible, and based on real theories put forth by celebrated scientists.
You have action, thrills, comedy. There's romance. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and it'll leave you wanting more. Even after the OVA, even after the movie. You'll still want more. Because that's what this gem of an anime will do to you.
Stick with the anime for the first few episodes, because you may not follow initially, and Okabe's idiosyncrasies will take some getting used to but everything will become clear, and it WILL be worth the wait. Trust me (and everyone else who voted Steins;Gate to #2 on MAL :p).

Art: 8/10. It is sorta unique, it does follow the animation style of the Visual Novel (which came out first). But it is pretty easy on the eyes. Nice and fluid. No complaints.

Sound: 8/10. No issues here. Right tracks at the right time. Brought out the story perfectly.

Character: 10/10. This is another strong point of the anime. The characters may initially appear shallow and silly but as the anime progresses you start to notice the depth brought out by the events occurring. Certain characters may seem unnecessary and it may have that unlikable harem feel about it, but every character does play their part and contribute to the story in their own important way.

Enjoyment: 7/10. I may be a little harsh, but I cannot deny the fact that the first 3-5 episodes were totally confusing and somewhat boring (Steins;Gate fans, please don't hate, I speak the truth). Watching it a second time, and a third time I didn't have that problem of initial confusion since I KNEW the plot beforehand, but your first time may hurt a little. ;( Like I said, give it a chance and stick with it, and you'll find it worth your time and then some.

Overall: 10/10. Nothing more to say.
If you're a first time viewer, I'd die to be in your shoes, having no knowledge of the plot. ;-; Don't keep it waiting! Do yourself a favour and watch this! It's pretty much the Holy Grail of anime.