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Chaos;Child is the spinoff/sequel to the psychological thriller, Chaos;Head. I watched these two series after learning they are in the Steins;Gate universe, and I watched them fully expecting them to be terrible. Ultimately, I was blown away by Chaos;Child.

Chaos;Child is one of the smarter psychological thrillers out there. It has a likable cast of characters, a disturbing mystery, and a well-conceived resolution. It fundamentally improves on the anime Chaos;Head in almost every way (except maybe being a little more narratively straightforward). If I had to compare the tone to anything, I would probably compare it to Persona 3. While ... Chaos;Head was a little bit of a slog to push through, Chaos;Child often ended in cliffhangers or twists that kept making me want to watch 'just one more episode'.

I would definitely recommend giving this show a chance and being open-minded. There is one fatal flaw with the show, and that is that it is best watched after Chaos;Head, which isn't the most enjoyable series. There is also a Chaos;Child Episode 0 that summarizes Chaos;Head, but I think it cuts too much out, unless you tried Chaos;Head and really couldn't tough it out. Chaos;Head is not a 'bad' show, but it is a slog, and I wrote a review on it if you want my take on that too.

Also, one last thing to note. I've heard Chaos;Child has an amazing Visual Novel. I have not played it, so I am viewing this anime in a vacuum and not comparing it to its source material. I know adaptations often suffer from not being able to live up to the original work. I cannot comment on that with Chaos;Child. I really enjoyed it for what it is.

So, I decided to watch Chaos;Head after finishing Steins;Gate and learning they were in the same universe. I started with Chaos;Head because I saw the MAL-Rating and thought I'd 'save the worst for first'. However, Chaos;Head is a far more interesting anime than my score may suggest, and I do recommend watching it if you can overlook some of the challenges with it.

So, firstly, the biggest strength of the show is that it has an interesting concept with philosophical themes, and at times has a great tone. In many ways, I think the tone of Chaos;Head (at least early on) is most ... comparable to Higurashi: When They Cry, with an extremely disoriented main character trying to piece together what is happening, and the audience being left struggling with the protagonist. The first half of the series uses this feeling very effectively. I felt that the show lost some of its interest as the pieces started making sense, but overall, Chaos;Head has a great concept behind it.

The ultimate fatal flaw of the show is that the protagonist is the most unlikable protagonist I've ever seen. He is selfish, pathetic, weak, whiny, extremely mentally ill, and ultimately doesn't really grow. The reason why this show is complicated is, his personality is clearly a very intentional decision, and fits perfectly with the themes of the story. It also makes a lot of the show not very enjoyable to watch. This is also coupled with the fact that most of the secondary characters are shallow and boring, but that also fits into the themes of the protagonists personality and how he views the world.

So, the show is a really interesting watch with some smart writing, but not a particularly enjoyable watch. If you were a fan of the psychological horror elements of Higurashi, I would definitely recommend this, especially because not a ton of shows make you as effectively disoriented as this one. The themes of mental illness are explored very well.

The main reason I recommend this show, however, is it sets up the sequel/spinoff series Chaos;Child, which I think is a far better series than the MAL-Rating may suggest. There is an Episode 0 of Chaos;Child that summarizes the events in this, but I think it misses a lot of the plot, tone and themes that wind up setting up that series. Chaos;Child is not as disorienting as Chaos;Head, but it also is a far more enjoyable watch with a much more likable cast of characters.

Also, as a side-note, I have not played any of the visual novels in the Science;Adventure series, so I am looking at this anime in and of itself, and not in comparison to the original work.

This review is for both the first and second season of 3-Gatsu no Lion. 3-Gatsu no Lion is an absolute masterpiece in character writing, and as the show progresses, I keep finding myself getting blown away. I have never seen a show (or really any media) with a cast of such unfolding, believable, multi-dimensional, human characters.

3-Gatsu no Lion centers itself on a high-school Shogi player who suffers from overwhelming depression, and lives in relative isolation. The depression is visualized in absolutely beautiful ways through the animation, the metaphors and the protagonists inner monologue. And ultimately you find yourself rooting for a ... character who fails to see his value and assumes he is burdening all of those around him, while also seeing the outside perspective of how he is touching and shaping the lives of those around him and bettering the world, even though he cannot recognize it. In spite of the inherently dark themes in the show, it always remains believable and never feels contrived or melodramatic. And somehow, the show threads the needle and feels really uplifting instead of depressing.

And while I think that the story of the protagonist earns this series a 10/10 rating by itself, I find myself getting blown away by how the show handles the side characters. Every character in this world is incredibly human, and has their own motivations and struggles. This show constantly subverts expectations by making you root for characters that lesser shows would have left as cliched antagonists or undeveloped background characters. But 3-Gatsu no Lion lets these 'background characters' step into the foreground, sometimes even drifting away from following the protagonist for a while. The reality is, the show introduces characters for you to hate, and then you wind up understanding them and sympathizing with them. Or it sets up characters for you to overlook and then pulls the rug out from under you when you realize that they are just as complex people as the main character and have their own equal struggles.

The power of the show is that it is one of the few shows where the main character isn't the center of the universe, but is struggling inside a living breathing world. And in most shows, the main character is 'special'. In 3-Gatsu no Lion, he is definitely special, but so is everyone. This is a show that is filled with characters that all could have been the main character, and that is an impressive feat. And it also makes the main character's struggles more real and meaningful.

I may be biased in that 3-Gatsu no Lion perfectly fits within my stylistic preference for shows (along with shows like Oregairu and Natsume Yuujincho). But 3-Gatsu no Lion is the most 'human' show I've ever seen, and I think is a must-watch for anyone who likes Slice-of-Life shows, or emotional/uplifting shows. This one is really special.

Classroom of the Elite feels like a show you've seen many times before, but reveals itself to be something fresh. Because of this, it is actually one of the hardest shows for me to assign a score to. The show takes place in a boarding school where classes are pitted against each other for rankings and rewards. The story features a protagonist that feels very similar to Hachiman from Oregairu crossed with L from Death Note (which was probably the main reason why I watched the show). The rest of the cast feels very cliche trope-y with your classic harem stereotypes. ... So, the reason this is a challenging show to review is because most of the show feels decent, but ultimately somewhat forgettable. But it winds up having potentially the best ending I've ever seen to any season of anything and completely 180's what you've watched up to that point. It fundamentally sets up anime cliches for the whole series only to turn them on their head. It left me wishing for a second season more than any other show I've ever seen. I would say it is a 6.5-7/10 series with a 10/10 ending. So, if you can see yourself sitting through a 12 episode series for a moment's payoff, this is likely a show for you.

Funny Pets is potentially the most bizarre show I've ever seen. It presents itself like a children's cartoon on the surface, but is actually an incredibly dark, morbid, surreal show. The juxtaposition of super childish content with extremely adult content (both violent and sexual) makes it a very weird, sometimes uncomfortable watch. This is definitely a "you'll either love it or hate it" type of show. I can understand why people would dislike it, but I would also look into what the show is before you write it off. I think there are two types of people who will enjoy ... this show. Some people will view it as a 'so-bad-it's-good' situation and enjoy it ironically. Others will sincerely enjoy it because it is completely unique, trying something new, and in my opinion, self-aware and succeeding. Definitely watch the first episode (it's only 6 minutes long). By the end, you'll know what the show is about, and you'll know if it's for you.