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There's nothing happier in the anime world when you get a sequel of the very first TV anime series that you have finished, containing the no. 1 favorite anime character of all time, and the production team poured everything, every heart, every effort to ship out arguably the best season overall of a huge, long running series over a decade after its first anime adaptation, under some of the worst production environment one could face and a completely knocked out airing schedule with the most start-stops I have ever seen.

Allow me to paraphrase one review of a certain 10/10 rated game released in June this ... year:

"Railgun T is a masterpiece worthy of its predecessors. Taking strides forward in nearly every way, we have even more well-written characters like the seductive Misaki Shokuhou stepping into the spotlight and carries the long awaited, much required and hugely promising sequel in a manner that feels like the culmination of everything that’s made To Aru’s blockbuster storytelling so memorable since the original Index back in the good old golden days of 2008. It delivers a layered, emotionally shattering story in 2 big arcs as heart gripping as the famous Sisters Arc of Railgun S, on top of continuing excellent world building and surprisingly well done action animations that improves the last season’s setting consistency with eliminating half-baked original arcs while integrating a bit more of Index’s deeper story themes and yet still keeping Slice Of Life/comedy scenes as funny as they can. But while Railgun T is a thrilling adventure that long since have transpired friendship and evil scientists, it still makes time for a stunning, nuanced exploration of the strength and fragility of the human spirit. The Leader of all Light Novels has one of its best comebacks in one of the generation’s best anime produced."

Continuing the outstanding character development of Railgun S 7 years ago, both major arcs this season continues tons of growth for our main cast, new characters and even minor ones who didn't had much time to even tell their own stories. The plot continues to be as heart gripping as ever from start to finish, and while it's probably too much to ask for yet another landmark moving scene a la that one in Railgun S' Sisters arc, we saw quite a few poignant moments this time around that are just as emotional. And this season went away with one of the major problems in the last two seasons - anime original arcs that have weaker than usual plots/character development and even settings contradicting the main series (see Railgun S Silent Party arc for a big example).

Only major problem I can find of Railgun T is the animations which unfortunately suffered some drop in quality from Railgun S, however anyone who know about studio JC STAFF and the history of To Aru will know that it is a miracle that it's still *that* good with the all-star production team during Railgun S a one-off phenomenon. Indeed with JC STAFF overloaded in recent years, not to say 2020 pandemic production disruptions, I would never thought I can see still consistently quite good animations across all 25 episodes (considering the production schedule was in literal chaos early this year). Never mind that excellent animations popped up in the climax of both big arcs, that fight in episode 24 being one of the best I've seen this year!

I don't know if we will see a 4th Railgun season in the future, especially with the major crash of the latest season of its parent series and the lukewarm response to the other spin-off anime series of To Aru. There's also the problem that there's probably only enough source material to make another 12 or so episodes within a year or two. But with this season ending up as one of my favorite TV anime of all time (tied with Madoka Magica), I simply hope that this series will keep on delivering in the future. Maybe even help out A Certain Magical Index with a re-born in the anime world.

Railgun T is my Anime Of The Year of 2020, and I'm proud to say that.

What a ride this is for my first ever seasonal anime that I followed live throughout the weeks instead of binge watching!

Buried way under several major battle shounen anime series and other larger titles of Summer 2019 is an original work sadly completely overlooked by anime communities around the world. Granbelm, a story about magical girls driving mecha in a Battle Royale competition on nights of Full Moon, turns out to be a fantastic work from a lean yet experienced staff team that combines delicately written characters, excellent mecha animations and a thrilling roller coaster story plot.

Story abstract: On a night of the Full Moon, ... ordinary high school girl Mangetsu Kohinata accidentally entered straight into a Magical Girl Mecha Battle Royale competition named Granbelm. With the help of new transfer student Shingetsu, she managed to made it through that night and opened up a series of events that would affect every single competitor left in Granbelm, as well as the true nature of this centuries long fight between magician families.

The anime seems at first sight to be a mixture of the likes of Madoka Magica, Fate series and chibi Gundam, but notice the staff composition and you'll be convinced that there's much much more than just a rehash of such ideas. Directed by Masaharu Watanabe, the one director that set off the explosive anime phenomenon known as Re:Zero back in 2016, Granbelm proved to be a roller coaster of a ride from episode to episode, seeing emotional scenes across the whole 13 episodes meshed with interesting mecha fights.

What's even better is the contribution of Scriptwriter Jukki Hanada, one of the best writers in the whole industry today that has lent his hands on leading the writing of so many well admired creations of recent years (Steins;Gate, A Place Further Than The Universe, No Game No Life, Sound Euphonium, Nichijou, Chunibyo, Beyond The Boundary, Bloom Into You, Princess Jellyfish, Lovelive Series, Hitori Bocchi's ○○ Lifestyle etc.). The dialogues between the main characters - notably clashes between Mangetsu, Shingetsu, Anna, Suishou, Nene and Kuon - echoes some of his best writing in his previous works. As a writer well known for writing interactions between young people, he certainly have contributed to the most emotional scenes in this work - ones that have the power to make you cry.

The plot might be the weakest part of this work, yet even here the story is well structured and fairly well paced, switching between mecha fights, SOL scenes and dialogues between main characters evenly. While the show starts out slow and perhaps confusing to the casual watcher, this is done on purpose as the true identity behind the tournament and main characters are painstakingly pieced together towards the end. There are hints spilled over the whole series and the production team have managed fairly well in making use all of them by the end, leaving few loose ends.

The main cast of characters are probably as well developed as they can within a single season, IMHO even broadly comparable with the well-loved cast of Madoka Magica. Unlike Madoka Magica though, our main characters Mangetsu and Shingetsu are of less straight forward personalities as the famous Madoka/Homura pair, and do not be surprised that you feel disconnected with them initially, for there are good reasons with their seemingly weak and even aloof personalities that would be explained deep within the story. This may be controversial, however they feel even more "down to Earth" than many of the magical girls shows around.

The best character developments in this show goes to the veteran VAs voiced Anna and Suishou, who prove to be characters that one will approve and fill pity with as their importance within the story unfolds. Other characters - notably Nene and Kuon - also fill in the plot development with moving scenes.

VAs have done an excellent job in here too. One doesn't have to hear further than the magical voicing skills of famous Yoko Hikasa (Anna) and Aoi Yuuki (Suishou) to become magically attracted to this anime. Other potential future mainstay VAs of the anime world - the likes of Atsumi Tanezaki (Shingetsu) and Miyuri Shimabukuro (Mangetsu) - are also performing well here to round out the interactions between characters. Even the background music are set out well across all scenes, and one must not forget about the contribution of excellent OP and ED from well known Eir Aoi and Uru. There's even Yukari Tamura contributing to one of the inside songs in one episode!

And then there's the artwork and animations. While the mecha design by Jimmy Stone might seems strange, they are more than appropriate for models powered by magical girls. But the most important feature is that almost every single animation is made in 2D - a dying art especially for mecha anime. Yet in here we find mecha fight scenes that even long time fans of Gundam are approving of (and referenced by many of the fighting scenes in Granbelm) - from a lean team of well experienced artists and animators specializing in mecha designs.

Their work is so mind-numbing that one of the climax fighting episodes has ONE SINGLE key animator working on it - almost unheard of in recent years! Even in other episodes, the artwork and animation quality never dropped below decent for the whole duration of the anime, thanks to a production schedule that allows for the whole work to be completed early in the broadcasting season with a leaner than usual staff cast. To see this in a lesser known original source anime in 2019 speaks of true dedication and passion from the whole staff team.

It is so unfortunate that Granbelm has literally flew under the radar for the whole season, for it probably holds up as one of the best magical girl AND mecha themed anime in the turbulent recent years where these two genres are seeking for new identities. And I truly believe that it will be prove to be one of the keystone anime for their further development over the next decade and beyond.

If you feel like interested in this little gem of the Summer 2019 season - GO WATCH IT NOW. You will be treated for a surprise that you will probably come back to re-watch many times in the future.

[No spoilers included]



Makoto Shinkai has done it again.

Not only he keep his magic of giving feels to everyone, he even improved on his story writing and this is by far the most well-scripted one he has directed. It might not have the extraordinary hit-you-in-the-guts feel of 5 Centimeters Per Second, the poetic atmosphere of The Garden Of Words or the glamorous starry vibes of Your Name, but in their places lies a sweet story of first love, having someone that cares for you and how the skies reflect our emotions.

To put it bluntly, it has the smell of fresh air under sunny blue skies just ... after raining. With Shinkai and his team's signature artwork supporting the atmosphere.

There are some parts of the story that will probably surprise you as not quite something you would expect his stories' main characters would do, but it's definitely on the good side.

It's yet another of his 10/10 work for me. If you liked any of Shinkai's works, you will love this one. Even if you don't like Your Name or 5 Centimeters Per Second or felt The Garden Of Words boring, give this one a try when you can. This is Shinkai's most "easy going" work so far and there's every single chance that you will actually like it.

P.S. Hina Amano is Best Girl of Summer 2019. 😎