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"The power of imagination is what can change everything." Shinsekai Yori ends on this sentence. And indeed, had the creator had proper imagination, things WOULD have been different for this anime.
Instead, it's a complete waste of time.


PRODUCTION VALUE
Let's start by the anime side of things. A1-Productions is one of those studios who clearly outsource the job. Because some of their shows are ground-breaking and gorgeous, like Swort Art Online or Love is War, while others are absolutely terrible, like Fairy Tail 2014.... and Shinsekai Yori.

This anime is absolutely horrendous. Despite being HD, it's mushy and blurry, and very low detailed. And no, it isn't an ... art style. I know because the visuals are very detailed from time to time, proving that the low amount of detail was not desired, it was a constraint.

The few music pieces are cool, but there are so little that the composer clearly wasn't paid a lot.


STORY
When I watched the first couple of episodes, I felt like discovering Harry Potter, the manga edition. I LOVE HP, and I'm ALL for an anime with a similar context.
And that's what Shinsekai Yori is. As they grow into preteens, humans awaken magic powers, called Cantus. They are then sent into a school of Wizards so adults can teach them how to handle these powers.

The first episodes show us the main characters in class, just like HP showed us Harry & cie taking lessons. And just like HP, the story gets darker pretty quickly, as the main characters learn of some truths that are best kept hidden.

That's where things diverge from Harry Potter. In the world of Shinsekai Yori, people who are too weak OR too strong are sent away. And many main characters happen to be either weak or strong.

Meanwhile, our group also tends to disobey orders. But in this society, orders are absolute. Disobeying is a severe crime, especially since the main characters try to uncover the truth behind the disappearances of their friends.

All of it is very interesting, especially since it's handled with maturity. But EVERYTHING takes a massive dip in quality, for two reasons:

1) After just four episodes, tthe context is almost thrown away completely, in favor of a plot surrounding a highly intelligent species called queerats (yes, the name isn't a joke, and it becomes important afterwards). After four or five episodes, this isn't about a Society of Wizards anymore. The story takes WAY TOO LONG developing the life of queerats, as the main characters meet some of them and end up having to fight alongside them.
It can feel as a secondary plot, as it isn't about wizards or magic anymore. However, it will become the SOLE story in the second half. Yes, what feels like a FILLER ends up being the MAIN STORY. This bait and switch is absolutely horrible, as what is captivating in the introduction (magic) barely has any importance afterwards.

2) The story, from here on out, misses A LOT of crucial detail. I heard it's an adaptation of a novel ; I haven't read it, but I assume the adaptation completely butchered the story. I will give several examples:

One example of such would be the first episode with Kiroumaru. The main characters end up running away FROM HIM. They take boats to flee, and are horrified to realize that Kiroumaru is now going after them, with much more boats, and much bigger. The main characters are HORRIFIED. The music is tense, the anime shows two characters holding each other's hands in fear.
... Then it cuts to black, and Kiroumaru is just helping the characters get across the water. Suddenly, they're all friends, the humans smile and laugh with Kiroumaru.
IT'S LITERALLY MISSING A SCENE. Not only that, their distrust was dumb to begin witth, as Kiroumaru never showed any reason to be feared, and they had no qualms trusting Squealer despite him constantly lying to them and betraying them. Besides, the characters have magic at this point so they can just blow him up whenever they want to (whereas Saki has her magic sealed and Satoru is tired, Shun just got his magic back so he could just destroy Kiroumaru if he wanted to).

The second example of a plot point that is clearly missing is the fate of Maria and Mamoru. Sure, they say they're dead. We discover they had a child together, and the queerats took it away from them.
.... But how did they live before that? How did they die? How did they get their baby stolen? Did they agree to Squealer's plan, or did they get tricked, but then if they did get tricked, how did they not fight back?
It just doesn't make any sense.

The third example is the main characters' fate after discovering a living library. After having their magic sealed for this crime, after running away from adults for three episodes, they come back to their village..... and don't get punished for two freakin years. The anime just skips years without explaining what happened to them after committing one of the greatest crimes in their society...

Another thing that makes absolutely no sense is Saki's visions. In this world, everyone is under hypnosis. Saki is no exception.... except when she isn't anymore, except when she is.... My point is, Saki suddenly remembers things just when the plot needs her to. There is no logic, there is no magic spell, she just happens to remember stuff (or eve have completely illusory visions that are, yet again, unexplained).
The worst is in the final episodes, when she suddenly remembers Shun and is even able to communicate with him. Again, WITHOUT ANY FREAKIN EXPLANATION!


This is one of the worst stories I have ever seen in the anime industry. The pace is all over the place, the plot is moving forward but is missing key explanations and elements, and jumps from one interesting story (an overly controlled society of Wizards) to the story of queerats trying to eliminate humans.

I will finally give it one positive note though : the twist in the final episode is interesting. We learn that queerats used to be humans. They are hetero-cephalus, whereas we are homo-sapiens. After analysing the genes, it is clear that homo sapiens used Cantus, their magic, to transform muggles into rats.

.... But even that ONE interesting plot point is screwed when you just think about it for five seconds. Since muggles were such a threat to Wizards, WHY didn't they just eradicate them all? Here is their explanation: because of the Death Penalty induced in every Wizard's mind, muggles can't be killed, because Death Penalty happens as soon as a Wizard kills another human being.
... And yet, this society DOES make humans disappear. Shun, for example.
Also, Death Penalty can very easily be worked around. Just throw the human into a wild area and watch the beasts eat them alive...

At no point can people without magic be a serious threat for people who do have powers. It's just stupid. I like how they TRIED to explain it, but it just doesn't work.

And the story, despite being so badly written.... isn't even the worst part.


CHARACTERS
The characters... my GOD, are they so freaking stupid. Saki and Satoru KNOW about Squealer's plan to overthrow Humanity, FROM THEIR VERY FIRST ENCOUNTER. When they become adults, they even create a commitee to CONTROL queerats.
.... But they stay so passive they LITERALLY LET SQUEALER BECOME A MENACE FOR MANKIND.
The entire last arc is due to the characters being so incredibly stupid.

Queerats overthrow their own queens? Let's hide it from the rest of the humans.
Queerats found a living library? Not a big deal.
Queerats armies reach hundreds of thousands? Meh.
Queerats attack us? Let's not retaliate.
Queerats got a hold of Cantus somehow... Oopsie! Too late.

Remember when I said the group wasn't punished after finding a living library, for two years? I was sure there was a reason for that, especially since Shun explicitly wonders about that. But it the end, the answer is more simple: the adults are just dumb too.


CONCLUSION
I don't know if it's faithful to the novel or if it's a slaughter of the source material, but regardless, this anime is just bad. Poor quality, dumb characters, and a horrifyingly stupid plot. All that, to end with a very vague morale that doesn't even fit the show : "imagination is the key for change".
I can only recommend you run away from this shit.

Neon Genesis Evangelion is an unfinished story. It makes no sense to view the show without taking this movie into the equation.
So, how is the End of Evangelion?


STORY
This movie isn't really a sequel to the show. It happens in PARALLEL to episodes 25 and 26. More exactly: episode 25' (he first half of the movie) happens BETWEEN episodes 24 and 25 (OR, at least, it explains how we get from episode 24 to episode 25), while the rest is pretty much parallel to the show.

SEELE suddenly attacks NERV. It's a full fledged war, and one NERV can't possibly hope to win. SEELE have true militaries ... (whereas NERV is mostly researchers), and SEELE even have their own EVAs now.
But still, NERV defends themselves. Gendou needs Rei for his plan, and Shinji is so depressed he literally doesn't move or speak anymore. After all, he killed a human being, he killed a friend.

So, only Asuka can truly fight.
And man, does she put up a FUCKING GOOD fight! I hated Asuka in the series, but by some miracle, she is PHENOMENAL in this movie. Her fights, her lines, even her story, suddenly she's not some angry selfish brat, she's the last hope of Mankind, a true hero, and a kind one.

I certainly didn't expect that!
Sadly, she's not enough, and she eventually gets roasted.

Meanwhile, Misato pulls Shinji the living corpse through the base, trying to get him to the EVA-01 so he can defend their group. After taking the entire first half doing nothing, Shinji is shocked when Misato gets shot by an enemy. Awaken, he now realizes he has to do something. Thanks to Misato being shot.... but also certainly thanks to her kissing him.

Anyway, Shinji goes into his EVA, and gets out to fight.
.... Only to fing EVA-02 being ripped apart, Asuka still inside. Then, the enemies take him and instantly beat him, thanks to brand new Lances of Longinus. These Lances allow SEELE to use the EVA-01, unleashing the Third Impact.

Meanwhile, we see Gendou try to unleashe the Third Impact too, thanks to Rei...
....
....
Wait.
So Gendou and SEELE had the exact same fucking goal.
....
So why did SEELE attack? Why did Gendou antagonize them so much during the show?
...
After some digging, apparently SEELE meant for the Human Instrumentality Project to work only for them. While Gendou wanted it to happen to everybody, or at least to him, so he can be one with his dead wife.
... But, again, that's not something explained anywhere in the movie, or the series. I don't even know if it's the official explanation.

Fact is, the premices of the movie are unexplained, and thus stupid. Still, the battle is incredible, and by far the best part of this whole story!


Anyway. SEELE caught Shinji in his EVA-01, and they unleash the Third Impact. That's the end of episode 25'. The middle of the movie...
.... and yet, they put a full ending into the movie. When I say full, I mean it takes 3 minutes or more.
.... For nothng.

Anyway, after this needlessly long credit scene, we end up in episode 26'. And I've gotta say, this one is not as memorable as the first half.

Just like the end of the show, we follow Shinji during the Human Instrumentality Project. We reach the depth of his depression, as he feels so bad he doesn't mind if everyone dies. Just like the end of the show, this part breaks the fourth wall, with live action shots, showing the real world as an alternative to the world of Evangelion.

We learn that the Human Instrumentality Project was the reunification of Mankind into a single entity, Lillith. As it was explained earlier, humans used to be united. The Third Impact breaks the boundaries between people, to reform Lillith.

That means, everybody dies. At least, the IDENTITIES die.
But as it was shown in the last episode of the show, Shinjin eventually overcomes his depression, realizes he DOESN'T want to be into a soup of human mind. Thus, he manages to cancel the Third Impact.

And we reach the final scene. The epilogue. The VERY END of Evangelion. Shinji came back into the real world. He finds a completely destroyed Earth. The sky is bloody, the buildings are into a red ocean, and there is only death around him.
Death... and Asuka.

Suddenly, Shinji gets on her and starts strangling her. Asuka barely reacts, until she does raise her eyes to him. Shinji then stops strangling her, gets off of her crying, and Asuka says "Kimochi Warui".
The End.

.... Er.... There's got to be some meaning behind all that, right?

Well.... Not really.
Basically, Third Impact happened. Just like Second Impact, this is a major catastrophe. The survivors will struggle to live as they have to rebuild the world around them. It's pretty straightforward.

So what about Shinji's strangling Asuka? There has to be something here, right?
After digging up a little, I found out that the VAs for these characters once had a terrible outbreak because they were struggling with the recording of a certain part. At some point, Shinji's VA literally tried to strangle Asuka's VA to death.

THAT'S where this scene comes from. Behind the scenes, at least.
Is there any explanation from WITHIN the movie? Well, the best I can find is... this is the end of the world. This gotta be severely traumatizing for survivors. I guess Shinji just had a quick mental breakdown.

As for Asuka's "Kimochi Warui" ("I feel sick"). Similarly, it could be because of all the traumatic events of the movie. I mean, Asuka got RIPPED APART, then became one with everybody temporarily, then suddenly reappeared. This has to be tough for her.



PRODUCTION VALUE
The first half is Evangelion on Steroids. Like, the animation is so incredible here! This is one of the best battles I've seen in anime History, simple as that.

I guess the second half does look like high-budget too, although I was personally less impressed.

Oh, there's just ONE thing, and it's something I forgot to bring up for my review of the series: whoever edited this show is a COMPLETE MANIAC. The opening, you'll notice, is quite epileptic. Well, this movie has a few moments that are EVEN MORE epileptic.
These moments are quite uncomfortable, and quite literally dangerous if you have epilepsy.



CONCLUSION
So, it it a good end? I don't know. I'm satisfied with it, but I don't know if it makes the whole show worth watching. In fact, overall, I'm only midly impressed with NGE. Too much felt boring, random or barely inconsistent for my taste. I don't regret watching it, it's just really not amonng my favourites.

The movie itself, I really enjoyed. I do wish there was a clear explanation about the war between SEELE and Gendou.

I'm almost 30 years late. I think it's my personal best, lol. Anyway, here is a review for the extremely famous name of Neon Genesis Evangel.... wait, that's not its real name???? I'll stick to Neon Genesis Evangelion since it's what I know.

NGE is known as one of the deepest anime shows of all time. Let's dive in it!


PRODUCTION VALUE
I'll start by this because it is important to understand the behind-the-scenes in order to truly get what Evangelion is.
This anime is extremely low-budget. In an interview back then, the creators admitted to their work being low-quality. They even went on a rant about anime as ... a whole, saying it was way better the decade before, and they even suggested this media could be over in the few years after they had released NGE.

As a result, it is a pretty still show. To the point that sometimes, the image freezes.... for 15, 20 secondes. These scenes aren't this long for shock value, nor is there any deep reason behind it. It was made for no other reason than the lack of budget.

Similarly, the last two episodes (we'll come back to them later) are not buiilt this way voluntarily. Constraints pushed the creators to cut a lot of corners (although they said it wasn't just because of the budget, they did admit that corners were cut).

NGE is a low-budget show. It is the absolute reality, admitted by its authors.

DESPITE this fact.... The visuals are pretty neat! It DOES look cheap, even for shows this old, and it was admitted that it was due to budget. But it actually looks pretty good.


Similarly, there is a problem with the OST. Composed by Shiro Sagisu, this music feels very repetitive from one episode to the other. On top of that, the pieces feel... empty, poor, unfinished. As if the musicians weren't paid a lot.
I haven't found anything online that talks about it specifically, but the OST does feel cheap to my ears. Again, it's not necessarily bad.... but it adds to the feeling of a cheap show.

So, I'll be blunt: you don't watch NGE for its production value.


STORY
The world is under attack, by an unknown race of creatures called Angels. Humans have no choice but develop high-end technology to fight against it. Otherwise, it is the end of humanity, period.

Shinji is the son of the leader of NERV, the leading company when it comes to military tech against angels. He is called to pilot an Evangelion, a giant robot that can fight angels.
So Shinji becomes the pilot, and fights angels. He's joined by Rei and Asuka, both being pilots too. They are named Children. Shinji is the First Children. Yes, the fault is included. Yes, it's the funniest Engrish piece of all time.

NERV is a branch of a wider group called SEELE, and the leaders of SEELE, along with Shinji's father, secretly plan to make the Human Instrumentality Project happen.
In terms of lore, that's pretty much it. What are the angels? Why are they attacking? Who are the SEELE leaders? All those questions have theoretical answers.... OUTSIDE the anime. I'll be blunt: that depth people talk about, it doesn't come from the lore.


For the first 13 episodes (half the show), Evangelion uses the classic episodic structure: characters live their life, until suddenly, an angel appears and the Children have to fight it. They defeat the angel, they go back to their daily lives, the end.
I have nothing against it... usually. I did find that first half extremely boring though. Evangelion failed to keep me captivated, and I often caught myself yawning.

In terms of story, the red herring in this first half is Shinji becomes more social, more happy, more open to others. And his development is, indeed, interesting to follow.

The second half keeps its episodic approach, although it kind of shakes it up. It focuses on events bringing Shinji's morale down, more and more.
Things get more dramatic, more tragic.

Then comes the Fifth Children, Kaworu. It's a human sent by SEELE. He meets Shinji, who is very attracted to him.... for some unexplained reason. I mean, all they do is take a bath together and boom, they're BFFs.
Except Kaworu turns out to be an angel. And he managed to infiltrate the main HQ for NERV. So SEELE literally, willingly, brought an angel in the one place they've spent the whole show defending.

Shinji eventually kills him, because he has no choice. But killing a friend is traumatic. This is the last straw that breaks down Shinji's morale.
It's an interesting plot.... that happens in the span of a SINGLE episode. How am I supposed to feel that loss when I literally don't know Kaworu? How am I supposed to buy their friendship when the two of them literally haven't spent time together?

Anyway, after Kaworu's episode, comes the last two. And these are an absolute MINDFUCK. It isn't explained how we go from episode 24 to episode 25, and the episodes are filled with white text explaining stuff: the Human Instrumentality Project is underway. This is the major event that the whole series has been leading us to.
... But instead of seeing it, we get a psychedelic journey following Shinji, in his depressed state.

Don't get me wrong: the last episode is PHENOMENAL!
So what's the problem?
The problem is it's literally unifinished. Yep, the final episode of the show IS NOT the end. That's why it's so incomprehensible. It's just not over yet! There is a movie after it.

Will the movie conclude this well enough? We'll find out, but for now, let's focus on the show. The plot is.... quite boring, let's be honest. The second half does bring up some cool elements, especially the story of the Fourth Children, and the Human Instrumentality Project (although it's not yet explained what it is). It's honestly not the strong point of this show.


So, you don't watch EVA for the lore, you don't watch it for the plot, and you don't watch it for the production value. What do you watch it for, then?
The sensorial experience. Especially the dive into the characters' psyche.


CHARACTERS
The three main characters are all socially awkward in their own way. Shinji closed himself from everybody, Asuka is angry at everyone and only thinks of herself, and Rei is literally inhumane, completely devoid of any emotion (...almost).

NGE is a journey into these teens' minds. Shinji's depression is the center of the whole show.

One problem though....
These three kids....
Are fucking cringe.

They're so cringe I just wanted to punch them in the face. There are a lot of characters like that in the anime culture, but NGE manages to get its three main characters be like that.

Asuka is the worst. She's a completely selfish bitch. Never does anything for anyone else. Even fighting is something she does for herself.

Rei is boring to the EXTREME. Even the mystery of her feelings for Shinji's father doesn't make her character appealing. She's literally just a moving doll. I know, that's the point. It's still not interesting.

And Shinji.... Although I enjoy what the show does with him, there's been numerous times when I was internally screaming "STAND UP FOR YOURSELF, FFS!". I know, again, it's the point of the character. But to me, he got really interesting only in the second half, especially during the last episode.


Luckily, there aren't solely three characters in this show. There is the womanizer who everyone loves (...apparently). Frankly not an interesting character, especially the number of times he runs away smiling...

There's Misato. And she is the light among all this mess. Her character is deep, stands out, stands UP for her perspective and values, and she is overall a very cool woman.
.... up until she literally kisses a 14 years old (spoiler alert for the movie). I know, it's just fiction ; it was still weird enough that I want to call it out.

There's her friend, the blonde doctor whose I keep forgetting the name of. She has a great story too. I liked her dynamic with Misato, and I loved the episode where she explains Magi, the super-computer her mother built.

Gendou, Shinji's father, is also quite an interesting figure. He has a cool story, he's always in control, he's always awesome.


Overall, the secondary characters are the one I liked the most.



PHILOSOPHY
Let's go back to the root question: is Evangelion deep? Let's see.

First, let's talk about the religious side. It has Genesis and Evangelion in its title. Every explosion has the shape of a cross. The enemies are called angels. It literally has Dead Sea Scrolls and Longinus' Lance in its plot. Religion has to be important, right?
Well... no. Not at all. From the author's own admittance in an interview, the religion is here ONLY FOR AESTHETICS.

And it works! Really, the religious side gives a certain style to the show. But that's all. There is no message about religion, no development of the fundamental questions like "does God exist?", there is no depth here because that was literally not the point. Some say online that the apocalyptic story is a religious one, but er.... are Zombie stories religious too, then? I don't see apocalypse as something religious. THe BIRTH of a world, yes, that is a very religious topic. But its death? Not so much.


Then, there is the theme of identity. The show explains that Humans used to be a single entity (in their lore), an angel called Lillith. And yet, here they are, all different. The AT Fields represent boundaries between people. Thus, the question of "what is a person?" is brought up.
Thing is, this is mostly developed in the last two episodes. The rest of the show doesn't really focus on this theme. BUT, this introspection in the last episode is VERY interesting, and it ties to Shinji's morale as his main problem is his relations with others.

There is some sort of "mother complex" in here too! Indeed, most technologies in NGE are literally made of a mother. Why does Shinji need to pilot the EVA-01? Because that EVA is literally made from his mom. Similarly, MAGI, the super computer, is made of the doctor's mom.
I'm not sure of what the author intended to tell with that though. But there is something here.

In order to make sense of all that, there is an important piece of information, once again coming from the author's own words. Whenever he wrote an episode, he was pouring into it his current mood.

Thus, this entire show is a dive into its author's psyche.



CONCLUSION
NGE is.... a quite boring show. It doesn't stand out as much as I was hoping for. I don't believe it deserves the praises for originality. The characters aren't original (weren't back then either), the mecha genre was already a trend.

BUT, it's a deep show. Maybe not as deep as one can imagine, since the lore doesn't have much to tell us. But it's still interesting to explore. If you do explore it though, make sure to stick to facts (i.e: the creators' own words in the many many interviews they conducted for NGE).

Now the question is, does the movie, End of Evangelion, raise the level of this story? I'll make a review for it too.

The n°1 ranked anime currently. I read the synopsis. OH WOW! Very interesting concept! So I watch it. INCREDIBLE first episodes. Then it drags on, and on, and on.
Yes, you get it, I won't be soft on this one.

STORY
I'll start with the most exception point imo: the lyrics of the first opening PERFECTLY sum up the plot. So I'll just quote them here:
"We only took the same path... or so it was supposed to be."

Frieren is an elf. As such, she lives for thousands of years. She once defeated the Demon King with a party. This anime is NOT about the adventure. It's about what ... comes AFTER.
And honestly? I dig it! I LOVE the idea, it's a simple twist on a very classic setting, and it's enough to make it compelling!

So what is this show about exactly? Well, despite the relatively short time of that adventure (it lasted 10 years, which is nothing for an elf), Frieren feels torn up by the fact that her comrades, decades later, die one by one. She wants to understand why she feels that way, so she leaves on a sort of pilgrimage. She goes through the same path as she once did with her party, reminiscing of her "short" time with Himmel and the others.
During this "after-journey", she meets her friends while they're still alive, along with their apprentices.

During the first episodes, I was SO into it! I understood why it was so popular. It transpires humanity, it shows interesting characters, and the concept is just so refreshing!

But then.... the story loses its way. It starts dragging its feet as slow as possible. And worst of all, it abandons the concept of "after-journey", and becomes a full-fledged new adventure for Frieren.

Let me explain, with the characters. First Frieren is trapped into taking Heiter's apprentice for her journey, named Fern. Heiter being one of her party members, it is related to the original adventure. Then she meets her dwarf friend, who asks her to take in his best apprentice too, Stark. Again, it's a new character TIED to the original party.
And then.... they meet Sein, whose link to the party is literally nothing. Suddenly, this isn't about reminiscing anymore. How does the author try to depict it as related? Sein is a corrupt priest, just like Heiter, and.... that's all. That's way too thin.

Despite that, the "after-journey" still continues. Up until Frieren's new party has to come across a door to the northern continent. There, a guard forbids them to go through because they have no first-class mage in their group and thus, it's too dangerous for them.

Now, Frieren is the most powerful mage in the world. She just isn't legally recognized as such. How does she handle this situation? Does she show her power to persuade the guard that they'll be fine? Does she sneak around despite the guard's orders?

Nope. She decides to take a NEVER-ENDING detour to a town where she gets to pass an exam to become a legal first-rank mage.
When I say never-ending, I mean it. The second half of the show is ENTIRELY about the journey to this exam, and then the exam itself happens. Suddenly, the story isn't an after-journey, it's a full-fledge adventure.... and a pointless one since we KNOW Frieren and Fern are both extremeley gifted mages anyway.

And thus the anime lost its originality. The one thing that made it stand out against the hundreds of fantasy mangas out there.
Oh, there are still flashbacks about the original party. But in the second half, they are shoehorned, and are mostly secondary. Reminiscing isn't the center of the show anymore.
And worst of all, the anime isn't the end. It's an adaptation of an on-going manga. Nothing unusual with that, but it's really frustrating to have watched 28 episodes and feel like nothing worthwhile happened. Maybe the next seasons will change that... but it will be without me.


CHARACTERS
The characters are great. Some have awesome designs, and most of them are either fun or epic (often both). I love Heiter's slow laugh, I love Frieren's dumb moments, I love Fern's relationship with the other characters....


VISUALS
Madhouse fans will tear me apart. I've never been fan of this studio, its work is way too irregular. Sure, they made Death Note. But that was 17 years ago. After that they made Chaos Head, which was horrendous. Then there was One Punch Man, somehow everyone loves the visuals in that one, but not me.

Frieren seems to be from the same animators as OPM. I have the same complaints as I had for this one:
- drawings are sometimes very bad, it took me back to the 2000's.
- animation is very still. And when it's not, it doesn't last more than 20 seconds. And when it does, it's extremely low detail.

Don't get me wrong, some fights are cool. But they range in the category of "battles where characters talk a lot and where dynamic scenes are kept short and low-detailed".


SOUND
What the anime loses in visuals, it completely makes up with audio! AWESOME OST, magnificent opening, and as usual, great seiyuus.


CONCLUSION
I don't recommend Frieren, neither for the production value nor for the story. HOWEVER, I do advise to try it out! I know, it feels paradoxical.... But I really, thoroughly enjoyed the first episodes. The first opening is a MUST-SEE (and pay attention to the lyrics!), and the OST overall is gorrgeous.
Personally though.... I'm not sold. The show lost me after 9 or 10 episodes.

Folllowing a couple of mates from this site, I will also give my review of this season despite it not being over yet. I just feel like the last two episodes won't change much. Note: last time I said this was about SAO War of Underworld, and er.... the last two episodes did change a lot in this case, lol. Because the last two episodes were weird. Oopsie! But hey, I'll take that risk again.

STORY
I don't think I need to introduce the whole show, but since it's quicck: Hibike Euphonium tells the normal story of a high school girl playing in the orchestra of her ... school. This season develops Kumiko's third high-school year. Just like the previous years, she plays in the band in order to get to the Nationals and win the Gold. Only this time, she is the President of the band!

Thus, she has to manage the people on top of playing an instrument. And that is an absolute delight! If you've had to manage people (for a school project, or for a business, or even just family matters), you'll heavily relate to Kumiko's struggles with her classmates. She often gets called to solve dramas within the band, and it's often childish or unconsequential matters, but she still has to do it, because that's her role now. Her doubts about her leading skills are also very relatable and interesting.

On top of that, she still has her kohais! All the characters introduced in the movie are here, and we get the follow-up of their stories. We finally get Motomu's full story. Kanade is still here, still cute but as stinging as ever.
Since it's a new year, there are brand new freshmen. But also... a transferred student! Mayu, a euphonium player, transfers and is recommended to play in the band. That makes her Kumiko's first true rival.

And it's the red herring of this season: Kumiko struggles because Mayu is just as talented as her. Mayu, being an absolute cream of a girl, asks several times if she should just drop out. She doesn't want to make enemies. But Kumiko, being kind herself and also the President, must think of the best scenario for the band... even if it includes losing her place as the euphonium player. This ties in with a major theme in the previous stories: "should we select the best players even if it means pushing away people who are already well rooted in the band?"

And, of course, since it's Kumiko's last year of high-school, she has to think about her future. This is relatable and could be interesting.... but frankly, it didn't work for me here. The dialogues about that are very repetitive, and Kumiko doesn't seem to really find her path, despite the season being almost finished. We only know what she DOESN'T want to do because she has said it multiple times.

For the rest, it's the same as ever: we see those teens spend time together, have fun but also shed tears or get mad at one another. All that, in a very realistic mood. I said it before, but Hibike Euphonium is the anime with the most realistic vibes imo. It just really feels like normal days!

There is one thing to note though: despite being as short as the previous seasons, it tells an entire year (whereas it used to be one semester per season). As a result, the year goes by quickly. It doesn't mean it's rushed though. The pace is basically the same, it's just that the year is a bit more empty compared to the others.
Note that there is much more dialogues than before. Even when a character is playing an instrument somewhere, other characters talk over it whereas, in the previous seasons, we used to see and hear them play a full piece.

They also decided to skip the major yearly events, namely: the march and the regionals. We literally don't see them. They happen, but they are skipped. I believe the author felt it could be a tad repetitive.



VISUALS
KyoAni is AT ITS TOP LEVEL! The pandemic? The arsonist? They overcame all of this! This season is MAGNIFICENT. Hibike Euphonium has always looked very good, but this one.... there's literally HUNDREDS of shots that I wanted to capture and save because it's just this good. I might go through the episodes just to find a bunch of them because, really, it's just that good.

One thing is weird though, and it's the lack of complete performance (although we likely will hear the Nationals in the last episodes). There is much less shots focused on characters playing instruments, which is a shame. One can wonder if it's a matter of budget, or if they weren't confident in animating something this hard again.


SOUNDS
Orchestral OST, beautiful voices, soothing audio mood. Nothing to complain about here.


CONCLUSION
This season is worth the others in my opinion. I was just as invested in this as I was before. The only disappointment is the lack of performance. But it makes up for it with even more stunning visuals than before!
I wonder if it will end the story altogether. If it does, I'll really miss it. Hibike Euphonium is a very soothing show. And it's a treat for anyone who loves music too!
I feel so thankful to Kyoto Animation for their splendid works throughout the years, and I can't wait to see what their next projects will be.

Before we start, let me give you two theories I've had about story quality:
1) Romcom mangas tend to start with an original and interesting plot that the author gives up progressively during second half of the manga.
2) Stories have drastically decreased in quality in 2015.

There is nothing better to try those theories than to read romcom mangas that started released before 2015 but ended after. So Yamada-kun and the 7 witches is a perfect case for that, as it's a romcom released from 2012 to 2017.


STORY
This manga has a very cliche romcom concept: problem student Yamada suddenly learns he has powers, and is pulled in ... a fantasy story filled with magic and fights. Note that I have nothing against it ; I do believe mangas are way too codified (too many of them copy one another), but that's not the point here, I can still appreciate a cliché story.

Anyway, Yamada meets a girl, Shiraishi, and they both discover the story of Witches together. It turns out the Studen Council of their school is aware of powers and has the secret job of regulating them. Yamada and Shiraishi end up "competing" with the Student Council, as they try to find out the secrets of their school, and they join forces with Mayamura, who tries to become the next Council President.

Thus, the manga becomes a Slice of Life with romance and a lot of comedy. But what makes it stand out is, of course, the mysteries around its concept of Witches. And the first arc, completely adapted by the anime, does a fair job at focusing on that! This arc is fun, interesting, and filled with mysteries.... among which a lot aren't resolved.

Then, there is the second arc. And frankly, this part alone makes it worth reading this manga! After solving the mystery of Witches, Yamada and his group end up in a new "Witch War", but this time, there is TWO groups of Witches. While they try to uncover the mystery behind the new powers and the reason there are two groups, the story also ends up solving a lot of mysteries from the first arc.

And at this point, I was completely lost. Was the author a genius? Or a complete moron with the genius ability of rebounding? Let me explain : a lot of moments, during the first and the second arc, will make you frown. "Wait... that doesn't make sense! That's not consistent!" is something you'll end up thinking a lot.
But somehow, the author manages to turn inconsistencies into genius plot twists! Let me give a few examples:

1) In the first arc, we discover that Yamada got expelled after SAVING a girl from bullies. Even that girl he saved denounced him for being violent! Yamada rightfully feels it's unfair. But.... at this point, the manga doesn't explain WHY the girl even betrayed him! And it's good, THAT'S how mysteries are done!
Enters second arc, and Yamada ends up with the power to go back to the past. He eventually sees his own story.... except it differs from his version completely! What he sees does not fit with his own memories! Again, this was BRILLANT. I was speechless at this point, and was very captivated as I wanted to get the truth. I won't reveal the end of that mystery, the point is, the first arc showed a very weird thing, that the second arc turned into a mystery to solve.

2) During the first arc, we learn that a person can only be under a single spell. That means as long as ONE Witch got to you, other witches cannot. Therefore, during the second arc, the main characters decide to find a Witch and turn her into an ally, in order to use her spell on everyone, to protect them from OTHER witches. Again: BRILLANT PLOT.
But at some point, a girl from the main group ends up under someone else's spell. INCONSISTENT! Except... The author quickly explains that inconsistency. In this example, it turns out the "shield" got lifted because the Witch had lost her powers (a possibility that was explained in the first arc).

See what I mean? The author manages to solve ANY inconsistency in his manga. To the point I still don't know if it was planned, OR if he just has the ability to bounce off of inconsistencies.

So far, so good. A great author who tells an original story filled with mysteries and solves them.
But then, comes... the third arc.

The main characters end up in third year and have to focus on studies. Suddenly, Witches.... do not matter. At all. The manga, from this point on, introduces new characters without any relevance to the main plot. Even the Witches! Since the main story is set aside, the manga becomes dull, boring, and frankly, unoriginal. Like, I fast-read the last chapters and didn't get lost because the events and conversations are just completely cliché.

And worse than that, remember how I said the author solved every mystery? Somehow, he lost that ability during the third arc. For example, the last chapters introduce the concept of the Original Witch.
What is its goal? How was it created? What's the difference with the other Witches? No one knows. Not even the author. Hell, a charaacter is introduced JUST FOR THAT PLOT, but since it's not developed, she's completely useless.

Even some of the longest-lasting mysteries are left unsolved! One of the most compelling ones is in the anime (the first arc) : Yamada wonders why he has the Copy Power. If you enjoyed the show, you are wondering too.
Well... don't bother reading the manga to find out. Because there is no answer. Hell, the last time this mystery is brought up, the answer is "Witches might not even exist". Yes. The manga, in the end, suddenly starts claiming all the plot surrounding magic is.... IMAGINATION. So, if it's true, there is no reason Yamada got the Copy Power. He never had it to begin with.

Similarly, during the second arc, a new character is introduced: the [Thingy]-Recorder. She is the one who wrote down the archives surrounding Witches. For some reason, she is immune to memory manipulation. It's even one of the big mysteries of the second plot : who IS the [Thingy]-Recorder?
Well.... that's unanswered. Hell, that girl ends up having her memory erased, despite the manga clearly stating she can't have her memories changed! That's a combination of a plothole AND an inconsistency.

Another unsolved plot (alhthough it's not really a mystery) is about a new condition introduced in the second arc. It is shown that powers, if abused, end up consuming the user. So, it is dangerous to use them too much.
.... Except, after the chapters introducing that concept are done, the characters keep abusing them, and never ever have any problem.

And at this point, I was convinced. Yep, that author isn't a genius, he's a moron who randomly managed to turn inconsistencies into great plot twists. He juggled pretty well, and I respect him for that, but ultimately, he dropped the balls very hard. I'll be blunt: the third arc renders the ENTIRE MANGA mediocre. To be fair, things starting going downhill during the second arc. But since there was still a lot of chapters left, you would think the problematic stuff would be sorted out later.

Another problem is the overuse of the memory manipulation trope. This was ONE of the powers in the first arc. ONE. Among seven. And the second arc introduces seven NEW powers. So memory manipulation is just ONE among FOURTEEN powers. And yet, it becomes the main plot, and is almost exclusively the only power that matters during the second half of the manga.
Honestly, I like what the author did with characters' memory. But at some point, things keep repeating themselves. The second arc ends in the exact same way as the first arc: Yamada ends up forgotten, he has to earn back his friends' trust and his lover's heart. JUST like the first arc. And repeating this once is already a problem, but the third arc KEEPS going with memory stuff! Like, enough ,it was cool once, already boring twice, three times is too much, move on!



CHARACTERS
Enough with the bashing now. The one thing that makes this manga good to read (at least up to a certain point) is the characters. Despite being very cliché at first, the characters are pretty funny. Especially since the magic rev olves around kisses. The reactions the characters have about this are vvery fun, sometimes even hilarious.
In the end, a lot of characters are likable. Nancy, the first Council President, Noa... There are great characters with simple but nice stories.
I also like how the "main support cast" changes depending on the plot. At some point Yamada works only with Noa and another one. Shiraishi can barely be seen during this period. It's cool as it makes other characters stand out.

VISUALS
The manga is neither ugly nor beautiful. Average, tolerable.


CONCLUSIONS
I can't recommend this manga. I do recommend watching the anime, and read the second arc if you really are into it. In the end, I personally feel like I wasted my time reading it. At least, there was Lelouch Vi Britannia's seiyuu in the anime show....

And it's not all bad, really. I did have a lot of good laughs. Sadly, the author really drops the balls, and ends up proving both of my theories from earlier: romcom authors do tend to throw away their original plot, and stories did take a huge quality hit after 2015. I'm always sad to observe that I'm right about these. I DON'T want to be right about these... but Yamada-kun and the 7 Witches is yet another reminder that it's true.

Gundam Seed is one of my favourite Gundam series. It was long enough to tell a lot (50 episodes per season), and was so engaging! When a movie was announced, I was hyped, especially since it was already planned back in 2006 and the main writer of this movie is the husband of the original writer, so you can be sure it's a project written with passion.
Now, was it worth it? Well.... I have pretty mixed feelings.


STORY
Starting from where Destiny Episode + stopped. Lacus is now the leader of a "Peacemaker group" called Compass. Her army comprises of Kira, Shin, Luna, Asran.... All the big ... bosses from this universe, of course.
Despite their best intentions, they fail to create peace. Which enrages Kira. Despite what he told Durendal (that he would keep fighting again and again), he is starting to break, morally. His only pillar is Lacus.
But in the mean time, Lacus meets with the leader of Fondation, another group that also intends to create peace. That leader, called, Orphee, literally hits on Lacus, swearing to create peace for her, with her. This affects Kira deeply, who feels like he is not good enough for Lacus, and that she would dump him for Orphee.

And.... this is where things get weird. It turns out Orphee and his champions are all a new kind of Coordinators, called Accords. The accords have the ability to control Coordinators' minds. Orphee uses it to persuade Lacus to join him. Then, during a joined operation between Compass and Fondation, he orders his champions to manipulate Kira's mind to make him cross the frontier with Eurasia ; something Eurasia had strictly forbidden. During the same operation, Fondation betrays Compass, trying to kill Kira and the rest, while Orphee keeps manipulating Lacus and flees with her, back to Requiem. It turns out Requiem

And that's where the true story starts. From here on out, Kira and his buddies must prepare to attack Requiem, in order to retrieve Lacus, and defeat the Accords.

I'm saying all this because.... it's so weird I had to write it down for it to make sense.
Don't get me wrong, it's not inconsistent at all. In fact, this movie ties up very well with Seed and Destiny! It's a major plus for the movie.
But.... this plot would have worked WITHOUT the weird mind control. I swear, this shit becomes weirder and weirder as the movie goes on. At some point Asran gives an enemy an erotic thought of Cagalli willingly. During a battle...
Remove all that, and instead just write it so Kira makes the mistake of crossing the border of Eurasia WILLINGLY. And boom, there is no more weird shit in the story.

Aside from that, the movie is full on about love. I have nothing against this... when the dialogues surrounding it aren't extremely repetitive. You could make a drinking game out of this movie. Or two.
But it's not a major problem. It doesn't change the fact that the story is very well thought, albeit it's a bit superficial compared to the original series.



CHARACTERS
This movie introduces a brand new character, Agnes. And... she sucks. Like, she's REALLY lame. Agnes is madly in love with Kira. She makes a move on him, and of course, Kira turns her down. She is so sad... and therefore, she joins the opposite army. No no, really. Who cares about morality, philosophy and politics, turns out all you need to betray your army is get rejected by your crush....

The villains, all new characters too, are all tied to Durendal. So the story of the group is quite interesting. The characters themselves though.... They're quite pathetic. They're supposed to be strong, but honestly.... they get beaten the crap out of the characters using their OLD Gundams. Like, the ones from Seed. Hell, Asran uses a SGOG and can still face these clowns.

And the mother, oh my god.... All these Accords are joined with their Queen, which they often call their mother. But that woman acts like a fuckin kid. Even during the final battle (hell, ESPECIALLY during the final battle). This is a really annoying character.

You got it, the new characters are so stupid and lame. But luckily, the original cast is here... and they are AWESOME!
Kira being wounded morally was so sweet and clever. It's not enough to say "I'll keep fighting", you have to have the strength to do it!
Asran is a GIGACHAD. He barely appears at first. Then he comes in a battle and saves the day, with a freakin badass attitude. Then he hears about the enemies mind control, and he mocks it ALL THE TIME, until he has to face them.... and he kicks their asses because he had an easy counter to this superpower, lol.
Lacus was at the center of the plot, so her character was interesting. Cagalli is, sadly, on the side. But she's cool.
Shinn was awesome. He let go of his anger, and now he tries to prove his worth to Kira, but Kira doesn't let him fight alongside him, so he keeps fighting to prove himself worthy.

Overall, the way the original cast was treated made this movie enjoyable. The main villains are the huge problem of this movie.



VISUALS AND ANIMATION
The lips. There's nothing more to say. Those female lips are so weird, lol. Aside from that, the movie is beautiful and the animation is cool. I don't feel like the battles are memorable, except for the scene where METEOR is playing. But it wasn't bad visuals, it just didn't catch my attention.



MUSIC, SOUNC, VOICE ACTORS:
The OST is faithful to the original, it's pretty great. I do feel like sometimes the music doesn't fit the scene. Sometimes too heroic during a tragic scene, sometimes too happy during a sad one... But the OST itself is pretty great.
Nothing to say against the rest, it's perfect.


CONCLUSION
This is a movie to watch if you miss Gundam Seed. It's as simple as that. It's not a bad film, and not a bad story. It does have big downsides, mainly the villains and the fact that it's a 2 hour story (it pales, in comparison to the original series). But it was a pleasure to watch these characters again. I'm not sure I'd want to watch it again, I do have mixed feelings about it overall.... but if you enjoyed Gundam Seed, I can recommend it!

I have had a theory for a while now: "the writing quality, in all industries, has suffered a massive drop between 2015 and 2020." Nothing shows that better than stories released during this period, because many of them start off brilliant and end up incredibly stupid. Sadly, this is true for Btooom! This is partly a rant, but rest assured, I'll make it as objective and informative as I can.


STORY
Btoooom! is yet another survival game. Except characters can only use bomb. I was skeptical, honestly. It's like making a martial arts tournament but one can only use a punch.... I mean, bomb fights are boring, ... you can see it for yourself by playing any FPS and use only bombs. It's just not varied enough to make fights interesting!
And it shows with the very first episode of the anime (which I assume is Chapter 1 or 2 of the manga?). Sakamoto takes so long to realize that the number on the bomb is its countdown, it felt like the author was trying way too hard to make bombs look complicated, when they're not.

So I was worried... at first. But the fights actually get incredible! The players have several types of bombs, although they all start with a single type each. The powers sometimes become unrealistic, but it didn't bother me. The variety in power keeps the fights entertaining, especially since the characters play strategically (using vacuum bombs to aspire gas from a zone, pulling the enemy near a zone with a previously set trap bomb, ...).

So, there is nothing wrong with most fights. The manga is really epic, the battles are spectacular.

... So what IS wrong? Well, several things took me off the hook:

1) Oversexualizing. Now I hate to be that guy. I see nothing wrong with sexuality in a story, especially when it is targeted at adults anyway. But authors easily fall in the trap of fueling their story with their personal fetishes, and honestly, Btooom often felt like a fetish dump. Why's that?
Because rape is a prominent theme all throughout the manga… even after it stops becoming relevant to the story. Now to be honest, I actually enjoyed that part, at first. Because the characters were truly affected, traumatized. It was interesting to see Himiko suffer from her trauma and how she was learning to live with it.
But if the point was just to tell the story of a rape victim, there was really no need to have her almost raped FOUR FREAKING TIMES! And I don't count all the sexual assaults, just the ones that objectively count as rape attempts.
Himiko gets raped every 25 chapters. And she’s not the only character to be sexualized. One of the support characters later on in the manga is a porn star. And it’s not to tell an interesting story about how porn stars are psychologically affected by their industry; no no, that character is only here for sex. She “offers her services” to Oda (her words literally), she makes sex jokes in front of a kid, her flashback shows how she enjoyed the attention thanks to her job… and her very first scene is her putting her butt on that kid’s face.
Even at the very end, this needless proportion of sex is still here! In one of the final chapters, a brand new character sends a phone call. Once the panels switch to his side of the call, we realize he’s having an orgy. That was uncalled for, especially in the tense context of that chapter. Imagine you watch a character in a zombie apocalypse, and suddenly they receive a call from a clown who tells him his pizza is ready. It’s THAT kind of out-of-context level.
And even in the very last chapter, once everything is said and done, what do we end with? A full picture of a naked 8 years-old girl. Yeah, no kidding.
“Ew, but there is nothing sexual in a kid’s body!”. Yes, I agree. Explain to me why the author felt the need to have her naked. In that scene, Kaguya is being treated by doctors for a wound on her belly. You don’t NEED to remove all clothes for an operation here. So, the author did not NEED to have a kid naked in that scene. But he still felt the need to do so. Therefore, I WILL count that as a fetish, whether that’s his own or whether he fought that was his readers’.
And all of that, how do they justify it? “Men all become pigs when pushed in a corner.” For real? So, err… here’s a quick reality check: MOST TRAGIC SITUATIONS IRL DO NOT TURN INTO RAPE. In this manga, men try to rape girls AS SOON as they’re in a bad spot. If that were true in real-life, every plane crash would turn into orgy rape, and guess what? That’s not the case. But the problem isn’t about respecting real-life: my real problem with that is it truly feels like an apology of perversion.


2) The center of the plot makes no sense.
To put it simply, a bunch of rich guys work in the shadows to control the world by controlling the Internet. To be fair, I loved the idea of “whoever controls the net controls the world.” The plurality of media has always been what has prevented mass propaganda (check out the story of radio piracy for example), and the internet is the paroxysm of media plurality, so it makes sense for hidden governments to try and control that world.
The major issue is their main plan. They make their death game PUBLIC entertainment, have it diffused publicly IN LIVE, and intend to control medias and politics to make the public opinion ACCEPT THAT as a good thing.
The problem is the manga makes absolutely no effort to show HOW people could just accept that. There is a reason real-life isn’t Hunger Games: even the most corrupt politicians today wouldn’t view “massacre for entertainment” as a viable plan. Because most people would objectively be against that idea. Even those who secretly like it would still act like it was a terrible idea.
Now the author had one good idea: to present this death game as a death penalty. The players are supposed to be scums, criminals. That’s why there is so many rapists/killers among them. So it COULD have been a very interesting way to bring up the topic of death penalty. There COULD have had dialogues where characters state that this is an efficient way to deal with crime.
But the manga DOES NOT do that. It never shows the characters ponder about death penalty, and never makes the readers think about it. And worse than that, it exclusively shows characters AGAINST that idea (outside the perpetrators of that plan). There is not a single character outside Themis who even says “maybe that’s a good idea to have criminals execute each other.”
There is no rationale behind that point, and the reason is it’s not possible to have one! No one would say it’s ok to show gory shows and rapes publicly on television. And yet, that’s the center of the plot! As a result, all of this feels meaningless.

3) The endings…
Speaking of meaningless. I have often met endings that make me feel like the entire journey wasn’t worth it. Never had I met a story with TWO endings where BOTH are simply lackluster. None of them resolve anything whatsoever, and none of the chapters bring anything meaningful to the messages the story apparently tried to tell. It’s just “we reach the end, Period.” It isn’t rushed, but it lacks anything meaningful to make it feel like the end. We don’t know how the world reacted to everything revealed publicly, we don’t know how the characters manage to survive in the shadows, we don’t know in which direction this world is going.
And, final nail in the coffin, the author ends with a note denouncing the “fanservice” side of the manga industry. Despite his manga being FILLED TO THE BRIM with fanservice!

… Wow, that’s a lot to take in. You get my point, the scenario is the major (and only?) problem with this manga. But even that isn’t a 0/10! Most characters have interesting stories… until they’re ruined in one way or another.


CHARACTERS
What have we got here? Rapists, hotties and religious people. That’s what I remember the most, and it’s not my fault so I won’t apologize.
The author decided it was a good idea to have half the main cast be rapists. Now, this is a horror story, so I didn’t have any problem with that. But… what the hell? Why is he trying so hard to have Kira and Uesugi look like good guys????? During the final arc, they are both treated like good characters, fighting for their friends and evil corporation. Even the first rapist of the story has a moment where he acts like a victim (“you’re the one that ruined my life!”, he says…). Ok, I get why the rapist would try to view HIMSELF in a good light, but why are Kira and Uesugi treated like friends???
Then, there is Oda. Ohhh, Oda… How come a character so cool get so dull and stupid? He even disappears for something like 40 chapters, right after the flashback about him. During this time, he doesn’t do anything meaningful the few times we see him, and once he comes back… suddenly, he is the final bad guy. And worse than that, what’s the reason for that? Why is he antagonizing Sakamoto this much?
Because Sakamoto was more popular than him WHEN THEY WERE IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL!!!! Yes, no joke. The reason for him being so antagonizing towards Sakamoto is a girl asked him to deliver a love letter to Sakamoto back then. How much more pitiful, pathetic and stupid can it get?
Well, we could have all the characters worship a girl that supposedly can see ghosts. And… that’s what happens!!! Then, we can have a lot of dialogues implying that spirits are real and mediums aren’t rip-offs. Then we can have that cult leader be the Deus Ex Machina in every situation. For real, the final arc is filled with situations where Kaguya somehow has the solution.
I get that Japan has a lot of religious people. But never had I seen one of their stories feel like religion propaganda. It tries too hard to make a point out of that.
Now I actually loved the Sanctuary arc. Because Kaguya’s story was interesting to follow. I was just disappointed that the existence of ghosts didn’t have a bigger impact on the whole manga, if they truly exist in that world. If ghosts have so much power, why don’t they play a bigger role against Themis? Why don’t they haunt them, their system, outside the island? That’s what I meant when I said “religion propaganda”. If the ghosts had a relevance to the plot, I wouldn’t call it that. But the fact is, Kaguya’s powers come into play just to make the characters (and the viewers) want to join Kaguya’s cult. And that’s what the characters do…

Again, it’s not a 0/10 in that department. The characters are all awesome aside from their stories. I loved Kira because he reminded me of Shouko’s little sister in Koe no Katachi, and he was actually a great villain (before he turned into a hero…). Himiko was annoying sometimes, but touching. Sakamoto was awesome, although a bit stereotypical.

ART
I’ll end on a very positive note. Btooom is a great manga, visually. I see absolutely nothing to complain about. The mangaka knows how to make epic scenes through drawings, the chara-design is clean, it’s honestly among the best mangas visually, in my opinion.


CONCLUSION
Btooom is, like its name… weird. The idea of having fights with only bombs was weird, but that bet is actually a success. The rest though… is just a shame. The author oversexualizes its story, and while it WAS serving a purpose in the beginning, it somehow became a fetish dump. The characters are all interesting at least at first, but the author decided to take more time making an apology for rape than to develop the other characters. And the ending is so lackluster than even two of them don’t fill the plot enough for it to feel worthwhile.
That said, I’d still recommend you check it out for the fights.

Sakurada Reset is the very definition of a "hidden gem". Literally no one talked about it when i aired, and six years later it's still not known. And it's a shame, because it is a unique anime, in terms of ambiance. Are you sick of the over-the-top reactions and surreal battles with the world at stake? Good! Because SR has none of that. It's a very grounded story, with down-to-earth characters like we rarely see in the anime industry.

STORY
This is a world with magical powers. A girl has the ability to reset time, but she can't alter anything because she loses her memory when she ... uses it. A boy has the ability to keep his memory no matter what, even if Time is reset. A common friend of them puts them in relation so they can work together and save people from tragedies before they even happen.
But they are all young, and they are all human. So even though they have a perfect combination that can save a lot of lives, things don't go so smoothly.
And while they live through these conflicts, they may be tangled with an even bigger one involving the Bureau, the organization that tries to manage superpowers.

Sakurada Reset could be described as a "Sherlock Holmes with magic and drama". Although there is no genius like Holmes, the anime shows several investigations surrounding characters with superpowers. The stories are clever, the way they use the powers to move the plot is brillant. This is by far the best story involving time travel I've ever seen. On par with Stein's Gate.
Another thing that is worth praises is the fact that each power has its limitations. Like Code Geass or Death Note, Sakurada Reset describes its supernatural side with rules that serve the scenario as the characters must acknowledge those limitations and work despite them. The perfect power doesn’t exist, but every power has a perfect use case!

And it’s not just the scenario and the powers that is clever. The dialogues are brilliant too! They’re very philosophical: the show aims to make you ponder. About a lot of things. It brings up a lot of typical philosophy themes, like the Swampman (similar to the Ship of Theseus), or the matter of self-preservation, or the Trolley Problem, and so on.

One problem I noticed: many things are explained much later in the series. For example, why does Time act exactly the same after a Reset? That question isn't even asked before it is answered during the second part. Or, at some point I was wondering why Kei didn't realize that someone was resetting Time even though it is said Haruki had been doing it for a while; well it turns out he did notice it, it's just never brought up until much later.
My point is you will find inconsistencies from time to time, but in fact the author did think about it, they just bring up the explanation later!

RHYTHM
Sakurada Reset moves at a very slow pace. You have been warned. Even though I loved it, I did find a few episodes boring. But it’s all worth it!

CHARACTERS
Although all characters are likeable and relatively complex, I do have one complaint here: most secondary characters are useless most of the time. I still don't understand why Michiru got so much screentime. I also wish we had seen more of Minami and Nakano.
So my only complaint with the characters is we don't see them enough! Let that sink in.


MUSIC AND SOUNDS
The OST is pure. I just can't describe it otherwise. This is one of the highest points of this show. While the composer doesn't have any special musical identity (I mean, you can recognize Kajiura or Takahashi because they have definite styles ; not this one), the music doesn't need it to be beautiful!


VISUALS
While SR is nothing ground-breaking, it also doesn't have any major flaws. It's gorgeous overall, my only minus point will be for Haruki's short hair, they look pretty bad from face, lol.


CONCLUSION
Sakurada Reset is a unique anime show, and one I much needed to see. There’s so many anime with overacting and battles, and I like that, but I need something else too, and that is what Sakurada Reset brings! Characters are civilized humans despite their superpowers and their grand goals. They solve their issues through investigation and discussion, not through punches and fire. How many anime shows do that!
Although it can feel boring at times, if you think you can handle it, I highly recommend it!

A major disappointment. I loved half of SAO (hated the other), but since I am a fan of Aincrad, I figured a retelling with a better rythm would work.
Well... this really doesn't work that well.

STORY
This first movie retells the first two episodes, but Asuna is the main character. Just to be clear, this is a REBOOT. It's not consistent with what they had shown in the series. For example, the relationship between Kirito and Asuna starts much sooner.

But that's not really a problem... as long as it does tell new things. Basically, the movie has 3 major events:

- the first day of Aincrad.
- the Boss ... battle.
- Mito's leaving the forest.

While the latter is very interesting, the other two are literally what we'd already seen in the series, except they clumsily showhorn Mito into them. For example, she participates in the final stand against the Boss. But since that battle was written as the first combo between Kirito and Asuna, Mito feels utterly out of place!

So, if it only has 3 major events, what else does this movie tell? Slice. Of. Life. You see Asuna going to school and chatting with girl friends. You see her take a bath. You see her eat.
Absolutely nothing interesting in terms of plot...

So we get a Slice of Life movie, where 2 of the 3 major events are things we already know, without any relevant changes.
Now, there's still hope. After all, this is just the first movie, and it basically adapts only the first novel (which covers only 2 episodes). The next movies will have much more new content.

But this one? It's just a boring retell of a story that DID need a longer version...
And in fact, it's a bad retellinng. Many major scenes in this movie don't have the same impact they had in the series. Kayaba's chilling announcement isn't chilling anymore, the epic Boss fight isn't epic anymore...


ART
Progressive is beautiful. But no battle truly stands out. The fights are short, and the animated scenes in those fights are even shorter. Sometimes you get 10 seconds of wonderful skills, but then it's over and it's just... bland.

SAO had a wonderful animation in its first season. Ordinal Scale and War of Underworld had incredible fights too. But sadly, in this movie, the fights just aren't really worth watching.


SOUND
Great seiyuus as usual. The music is very good... but there's few new tracks. I'm a bit disappointed in Kajiura, who is my favourite composer ever.


CHARACTER
Mito is an interesting new member of the cast. She's relevant to the story, as she's a beta-tester. But her story is basically over at the end of this movie, since the distinction between beta-testers and other players is non-existent afterwards. I fear she might become irrelevant like most SAO characters...

Asuna is a bit deeper than usual. Having her as a main character is definitely cool. One thing that really annoyed me is the fact that she's shown as a gamer BEFORE getting into SAO. And the fact that she was trained by a beta-tester is a bit disturbing too.
I mean, it's not inconsistent, but Asuna felt like a noob in the series, she didn't even know how to see an ally's HP. The movie did tackle this point, but again : it was clumsy. Mito and Asuna spent 3 weeks together, and yet Mito never told Asuna how to see her HP bar??? Not possible, but the movie still treats it like that. "Look, I included that fact in the story, so it's not inconsistent, ok?"

Kirito doesn't appear much, but I enjoyed the portrayal of his social anxiety. He's clumsy, timid, not very charismatic, but it works for this character! Sadly, his interest towards the story is low, as the major plot points surrounding him are cut: we don't hear Diabel's words towards him, we don't see his first days...
He's definitely a support character instead of a MC.


ENJOYMENT
I knew what to expect, but I'm still disappointed. The point of Progressive is to fill the Aincrad arc. That's what this movie does, but I don't think filling the plot with constant slice of life was that great of an idea.
The author needed to expand on the important matters. Like the relationships between beta-testers and others. That's what it could have done with Mito, but it didn't really do it.

Even visually, this isn't extraordinary. Really, this movie doesn't fix Aincrad ; it only made it worse. Now who knows, maybe the next movies will be more interesting.