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Gosick was an anime that had been begging for my attention almost ever since I joined MAL a month and a half ago. But like a stubborn child I kept finding reasons to ignore it. They started off extremely lame: "That cover photo looks stupid. It's just a little girl in a bad mood. And it looks all dark. Why would I want to watch that?" They eventually got better as I started running out of excuses: "It's a historical anime. I bet I would find it boring." "It's a drama. It's well documented that I can't handle dramas." Among others... but I finally gave ... in to this pleading little anime, partially because along the way I had picked up rumors about this being one of the better animes on MAL. So I had to eventually check it out. It turned out to indeed be quite a solid anime. There's just one issue with this anime that keeps it from being considered, at least in my opinion, a true legend. As my review unfolds, I'm sure you will eventually figure out what it is.

STORY: 7/10
You could tell as soon as the first episode was over that there would not really be any long lasting story in this entire series. Instead, they chose to operate with mini-plots, you could say. Every time a (major) mystery began, it would lead into a new plot, impacting Victorique and Kazuya differently each time. Always putting them in peril, but in different ways. And they would have different goals, different obstacles, so on and so forth. The mysteries were the stories. Not the series as a whole. So there was really no need for a major plot-line that ran throughout. There was a "B story" that ran most of the series that was the only story-line that transcended across multiple mysteries. It was the fascinating story-line that followed Victorique's mother, Cordelia. There are so many layers to that one story alone it is remarkable. It is both tragic and beautiful. For those who feel it is just a bunch of mysteries, the story of Cordelia will prove you wrong. Sadly, though, outside of the story of Cordelia, it IS pretty much just a bunch of mysteries. They do a great job of making a few of them look difficult, trying to make them as unique as possible, and then when Victorique solves it they have her walk it through step-by-step to prove how it could have been done and how this wasn't just some dark version of a Scooby-Doo trick. Where I draw the line is with the mysteries themselves. Gosick went for uniqueness and I feel like they overshot it and ended up with unrealistic. Fortune tellers deciding who wins World War 1 based on what kids survive murdering each other on a boat? An African alchemist who's after a substance created in Harry Potter? A beheading means an Average Jane gets to pretend to be Queen? Yeah, I don't buy those as mysteries that would happen in the "real world". And I felt like this series was trying to sell us on two high-school aged kids trying to solve mysteries that could also happen in the "real world". Well, they failed there. They did an EXCELLENT job of spelling it out and making the crime sound like a realistic crime, but in reality, it never was. And I consider that a turn-off. The story was decent, but it clearly needed some work too.

ART: 9/10
The art in Gosick looked magnificent. They're number one challenge was not just to simply look good, but to also look realistic according to the time in which this anime took place. This is not your regular anime that takes place in the present day. This anime takes place WAY back in 1924!!! So I'm sure they did some quick research to make sure they were up-to-date on what people wore back in the 1920's, as well as common modes of transportation, how buildings were decorated, what currency might look like, etc. They had to focus on EVERY LITTLE DETAIL if they wanted us to truly believe that Kazuya and Victorique were in 1924 Western Europe. And sure enough, Gosick focused on every little detail. Victorique only wore long flowing dresses to the point where you could only see her feet, Kazuya was always dressed properly as well everywhere he went, the main modes of transportation seen in the series are horse and carriage, trolley, and train, and there is no evidence of paper currency (among other things I could point out that scream "1920's") that in itself should just be enough to give the art department its due credit. But the work they did on the credits sequences was just as good, if not better! I've seen just as impressive credits sequences in other animes for other reasons, the three credits sequences that I saw for Gosick might have been the three most BEAUTIFUL credits sequences I have ever seen in any anime. HOWEVER, with all of that considered, I do think that Gosick's art department did make one minor mistake. Kazuya is Japanese. Pretty much every other character in the series is from the fictional country of Sauville, where the anime takes place, or from somewhere else in Western Europe. However, other than his obviously much darker hair, I can't tell much of a difference between Kazuya and, for this conversation, his male classmates. And to be more specific, I can't tell any difference in the DESIGN of Kazuya and the others. Now I know what you're thinking: "Why change design for one character?" Here's why: Kazuya is the only character from the Far East in this anime. Everyone else is supposed to be from Western Europe. People from those two locations are supposed to look distinctly different. So they should have made some obvious change to Kazuya's physical appearance (slanted eyes, change the shape of his head, change his skin tone, give him a different nose, give him freckles... SOMETHING) to make it abundantly clear that Kazuya was not from Western Europe. I feel they did not put enough effort into that.

SOUND: 10/10
This is where Gosick came up with their best work. First, Like the art department had to do, the sound effects department had to mimic sounds from the 1920's. Not an easy task, but they did it flawlessly. Thanks to the work these two did hand-in-hand, you would swear this was a REAL period piece (at least for a moment). As awestruck as I was by how well they were able to match up the 1920's sound effects, however, what TRULY moved me was the music. When I began watching Gosick, I expected it to have rather harsh music that I probably would not enjoy. Instead, both its Intro number and Closing Credits #1 sounded more like moving, emotion-filled melodies that touched every layer of your soul. Not to mention how fantastic the music was. Closing Credits #2 sounded a bit closer to an opera ballad and was the closest Sound ever came to making a mistake. I still say it was great. Whenever a truly important or emotional moment came up in Gosick, they would play Closing Credits #1. It would make that moment all that much more wonderful. I can truly say this series has the most ironically beautiful music I've ever heard.

CHARACTER: 8/10
When you first start watching Gosick, some people can get confused at first because it may very well seem like there will be only two noteworthy characters in this entire 24 episode series. Those are, of course, Victorique and Kazuya. But as you continue to watch Gosick, you will realize that there are plenty of other character other than just those two that play a role in this series. All things considered, it may still be a pretty slim cast, but there are a lot more characters than I initially expected. First off there's Cordelia, Victorique's mother. She's never more than a side character, and she's only in like half the episodes, but when she appears, she's fascinating. She is one of the few characters in this series that can advance the story based on their actions. I would say only Victorique, Kazuya, and Cordelia have that kind of power. Victorique's older brother Grevil I think was also an interesting character. He seemed eccentric, egotistical, someone who loved being the center of attention, and a bit of a flirt. Despite all of that, however, Grevil did have a "big brother" side to him, which I liked. It was nice to see a nice, protective, caring side to Grevil to counteract the side he typically shows the public. He does do something late in the series that does cause me to lose a lot of respect for him, however. To avoid spoilers, I won't mention what happens. Avril Bradley I thought was probably the most interesting student at the academy outside of Victorique and Kazuya. Avril herself was initially a victim of identity theft. But she got it back, and became Kazuya's go-to pal for when Kazuya wasn't hanging out with Victorique. I always found it uplifting how, even when things were going rough for Avril, she always remained bright and positive and happy.While I do like all these characters, I should mention that my favorite character from this series is, of course, Victorique. She was just a fantastic little angel (if you could call her that). There's only one other anime character that I felt so connected with while watching the anime. Victorique's subtle sarcasm just spoke to me because it sounded just like how I would talk. Victorique is my favorite character I have ever watched and I think a lot of that is because I feel like I see a lot of me in her. Her quick wit, her love of sweets, her annoyance with stupidity, her dry sense of humor, all remind me of me. Characters probably would've done a little better if they were a little deeper to be honest. They had only two main characters and up to six supporting characters that helped play a role in the story in one way or another. That's just not quite enough characters impacting the story. The characters that WERE involved were good characters; there just weren't enough of them.

ENTERTAINMENT: 9/10
The last time I tried watching a drama anime, I almost fell asleep at times. With Gosick, that was never a worry. I was keyed in very quickly. All the different mysteries had me hooked. Ironically, I was never really concerned with "Whodunit?" as I was with "How did they pull it off?" The "How?" always fascinated me. I think they organized this series very well, never making it too much of a chore to keep up with the story. I hope I meet characters like Victorique and Cordelia in my future animes because I literally cannot get enough of either character!!! Victorique in particular made this anime. This anime wouldn't be anywhere near as good without Victorique. I enjoyed just about everything this anime had to offer. However, I simply just didn't love every episode. Almost every episode was solid, but some were "decent", "ok", "pretty good"... things along those lines. And I just didn't feel "perfectly entertained" at those moments. Therefore, I couldn't give Gosick a 10 rating in Entertainment. It was VERY good. Just not perfect.

OVERALL: 9/10
I mentioned in the opening that I thought Gosick had one issue that kept it from being a true legend. If you have not figured it out by now, allow me to tell you what it is: Gosick's "issue" or "weakness" or whatever it should be called is the fact that Gosick did its best work where it matters the least and did its worst work where it matters the most. The one thing EVERY drama anime needs? A good story. Gosick's worst category? Story. The first thing an anime could live without? Sound. Gosick's best category? Sound. In reality Gosick is still solid in every category, it's just that where there are narrow advantages to be found, Gosick's more meaningless categories took them and the meaningful categories fell behind. Overall, definitely worth a watch. But before watching they would have to understand to expect a unique story layout and few characters but very well developed characters. Outside of Kazuya the Art is brilliant and matches the 1920's perfectly. You can barely find a mistake at all by anyone who worked on any of the sound. It was that flawless. The mysteries could've been more realistic. That would've been nice. With all these things in mind, Gosick still manages to be one of the better animes available to watch. The amazing thing is, if Gosick worked on a couple key pieces of the anime, it could actually be a lot better.

[ALERT]: Throughout this review you will see references to the show that get EXTREMELY vague. This is done on purpose to avoid as many spoilers as possible, even the small ones. I hope it doesn't inconvenience you.

When I began the first episode of Nagi no Asukara, I started it believing I had stumbled across the next anime gem. The product I was treated to, was very good, with lots of exquisite details- IF you can keep up with it. There were so many twists and turns, all coming without warning, some seemingly thrown in at random, that I practically felt sick by the end ... of the series just trying to keep up. In these following paragraphs I'll explain how Nagi no Asukara may not have always been the smoothest ride, but it still was the furthest thing from boring.

STORY: 6/10
I consider the story the most crucial element of this anime. This anime is only three genres: Romance, Fantasy, and Drama. Drama relies heavily on story and plot. So, therefore, story was extra crucial to this anime. In my opinion, based on how they wrote the story, you're either going to LOVE it because of its incredible depth and attention to detail and curveballs and whatnot... OR you're going to find it annoying at the very least because of all the massive plot changes that come without warning or the major plot events that just don't... make... sense... and the unanswered questions and I could go on. Personally, I see a little bit of both, but I tend to lean more torwards that second group. The fact that they never really explained that time jump really bothered me. It takes little effort to put in a simple flash forward but apparently everyone putting together Nagi no Asukara was too lazy. Due to this time jump as well, it breaks up the anime into multiple parts. Once again, depending on your point of view, this can be good or bad. There are essentially three parts to this series: Part 1 (Episodes 1-13) center around the unexpected weather calamity and the tension between the sea people and the land dwellers. Part 2 (Episodes 14-19) center around recovering from the weather calamity and preparing for people awakening from their hibernation. Part 3 (Episodes 20-26) is essentially all about Manaka, rather directly or indirectly. Even for a drama anime, that's probably too many plot twists. If the plot was hard to follow, the romance was even harder to follow!!! A had such a hard time trying to keep track of who was crushing on who because it seemed like they kept changing it. Every time I was sure I had it straightened out, they would change things up. And it was annoying. I'm STILL not sure if anyone likes anyone at the end or not.

ART: 6/10
The look of this anime kind of frustrated me at times. The most obvious example is with the two lead male characters, Hikari and Kaname. Other than hair color, I found them to look identical. So much so, in fact, that I could not remember who was who. It took until Episode 13 before I was able to start getting them straight, and NUMEROUS things happened to help fix that. This gets annoying as it's one reason why I had issues keeping crushes straight. When Kaname would confess, I would think "wait a minute... I SWORE Hikari was hitting on her??? Why is he confessing to this girl???" It would take half the episode for me to realize that "Hikari" had been Kaname that whole time. It wasn't the only time I confused them, but it was the most notable. Another piece of art I wondered about was the salt-snow, or salt-ice. Was it supposed to resemble more snow, or salt??? Depending on the answer to that question, determines how good of a job they did animating it. The ONE THING that truly stuck out as looking absolutely amazing from this series was the ena. They way they got it to shine just right when the light reflects, and when it does... it's BEAUTIFUL. They nailed the ena. For what it matters, they did a great job with the first opening credits visual as well. As for the rest... let's just say the end credits always felt lifeless and with the second opening credits... don't fix what ain't broke. They had no need adding in Manaka that late in the series. It just made things feel awkward.

SOUND: 7/10
This is where Nagi no Asukara did its best work (although admittedly not by much) I'll briefly touch on the sound effects (mostly because I'll butcher the breakdown) and then I'll get to the music. So first... the sound effects. When the characters were underwater, or having a scene that was somehow impacted by water, the effects seemed so much better. There's a night and day difference between the land and water sound effects. It's odd, in a way. Just about every unusual or interesting noise or effect happened underwater. The best and most creative of them all, the sound that eventually led to the discovery of Manaka during Part 2 of the series, was heard underwater. I know the main characters came from underwater, but still... they could have cooked up cool sound effects for above ground as well. As for the music... during most of the series, they would feature music that happened to be also used for the opening or closing credits (which I'm pretty sure is common) The original opening credits song was borderline FLAWLESS. Really got me thinking positive about the series. Both closing credits #1 and opening credits #2 were very solid as well, just not quite that great. I have no recollection of closing credits #2 and when you have no recollection... you know there is a problem. A couple times, albeit rarely, Nagi no Asukara would break into a song during the show. Those songs were decent, but once again, I've heard better.

CHARACTERS: 6/10
Nagi no Asukara could've done so much better here. I've already brought up the issue about how characters look too much like each other. Another issue that got under my skin was three of the most central characters all had major issues with their personalities. That is fine if you look at it this way: "These characters each have a unique weakness. Will they be able to conquer their weakness by the end of the series? Tune in to find out." But if you instead look at it more matter-of-factly: "Each one of these three characters has a weakness. And NONE of them did ANYTHING to work on improving themselves AT ALL during the ENTIRE SERIES." No, I don't expect perfect characters. I just don't like characters who don't work on improving themselves. ESPECIALLY where they're weakest. The examples are: Hikari always would let his emotions get the best of him. He would get carried away, overly critical, too harsh when it's unneeded, he would even get in fights with friends. If he was truly trying to work on controlling his emotions (and he needed to) he wouldn't end up storming off every single time things get the slightest bit tense. But he fly's off the handle more than I do. Next is Manaka and how weak and unstable she was emotionally and mentally. But mostly emotionally. She was TOO nice. So much so to the extant that she couldn't handle ANY negativity. Too much stress, pressure, confusion, worry, too much to think about, something too important eating her alive on the inside... any of these could get her to break down in tears uncontrollably. The fact that she kneed Hikari in the crotch and immediately broke down in tears because Hikari was hugging her shows you what kind of girl she is and how much she can handle. She was just as flighty and paranoid in Episode #26 as she was any other episode too. So, like I said... she doesn't improve. she remains without a backbone for the whole series. Finally we have Chisaki, the one who's always sacrificing for her friends. ALWAYS. She's always afraid that if she does something to try to make herself happy it'll get in the way of one of her friends becoming happy. She could potentially ruin their life because she got impatient and selfish. So she constantly bottles EVERYTHING up until EVERYONE else has their happily ever after. Throughout the series there have been NUMEROUS chances for Chisaki to break free of her own chains and enjoy something, but she always stubbornly refused. And that is unhealthy. And also shows zero character progress. A character I did like, however, was Uroko. Sassy, egotistical, a flirt with all the young ladies, yet still wise and helpful... most of those traits remind me of me.

ENJOYMENT: 5/10
There were some episodes that were just way too plot-driven and I struggled to get through them. I truly did enjoy the more entertaining episodes, with action involved, but those were too few and far between. There were way too many dialogue-driven episodes in this series. It made things slow and dull. Considering, on top of that, you always had trouble keeping up with the story and knowing exactly what was going on now, That only made it worse.

OVERALL: 6/10
All things considered, Nagi no Asukara is a decent, balanced anime. The writers must have worked hard putting that story together because they came up with some incredible twists and U-Turns. And they also went to incredible lengths to put great detail in the story. Too bad they didn't leave a road map for others, because plenty will sadly be getting lost!!! The art could've been improved with the characters looking more unique. The sound was actually good. A couple improvements here and there to the music and it could've been great!!! I forgot to even mention how thin the cast was. I mention that here, in passing. So, clearly Nagi no Asukara could've been better. But that doesn't mean I consider it a poor anime.

When I began watching School Rumble, I didn't know what to expect. I hadn't heard much about it previously, and at the time I was looking for something "different" to watch. What I found... was the ultimate Rom-Com. Other than one little Achilles Heel, this series could very well be one of the best, and also one of the most underrated, in all anime.

STORY: 10/10
Here is a quick synopsis of the main story-line: it all centers around three students at high school. There is Tenma Tsukamoto, Karasuma Ooji, and Kenji Harima. Tenma has fallen in love with Karasuma, Kenji has fallen in love with Tenma, ... and Karasuma... is just kind of existing. That's the whole plot, short version. Obviously, "long version" wouldn't be much longer. So how can a show with a plot that is shallower than a kiddie pool get a 10/10 rating? Simple: it doesn't NEED a complex plot. What this show does an EXCELLENT job of doing is recognizing its identity. It knows it's a comedy. It knows it's supposed to be a simple, relaxed, laid-back show meant primarily for laughs. Therefore it doesn't really take itself seriously by overworking itself on a complicated plot but it DOES deliver the best comedy I've ever seen in an anime! Also don't think this show is ONLY laughs. School Rumble will occasionally throw you a curve ball with a serious moment every once in a while. It's just uncommon enough that you will most likely be unprepared for it when it comes for a majority of the series. Not that it is a bad thing. It's a welcome change-of-pace. Just another thing School Rumble does right.

ART: 10/10
Everything was on point here as well, every character looked magnificent. They all had their own unique look, only time there was similarities in how two characters looked was if they were related. That kind of variety I thought really brought a lot to School Rumble. I loved how whenever we were in a Kenji manga scene or a Tenma dream sequence, they kept the animation the same (or at least very similar) so as to keep the viewers as unaware as possible. A big thing to me in anime is opening/closing credit sequences. Are they able to please my eyes and ears? Or do I quickly become bored and desperately wait for it to end? In this case, when it comes to the visual aspect of both credits sequences, I was very happy with them. Very pleasing to the eyes and they suited the anime very well as well. School Rumble's art department didn't really miss a detail. From opening credits to Tenma's cute little pigtails getting active when she gets excited to closing credits, they made sure to cover every tiny little thing.

SOUND: 8/10
This is probably School Rumble's one weakness. The sound itself during the show is, of course, solid. You don't expect perfect sound out of a comedy show but all things considered the sounds they did end up delivering ended up pretty dang solid and realistic, especially for what you would expect. Kenji's motorcycle made me feel like I was riding a Harley, for example. Other sound effects I think were purposely exaggerated. Nothing wrong with that in a comedy. The sound effects were solid, and held their weight, just like the rest of the show, but it's about time I tackle the REAL one weakness of this entire show- the music. Now first understand, when I say "weakness", I use that term lightly. The music in School Rumble isn't really all that bad. It's just the only thing with flaws. Anyways... first, the music in the opening credits: this is evidence to how lightly I use the term "weakness". The opening credits music is SUPERB. It's catchy, upbeat, has a REALLY positive vibe, it just fits this anime PERFECTLY!!! As for the closing credits music... it's a different story. The music isn't BAD, it just... doesn't fit School Rumble. It seemed a little quieter, I didn't really get the point as much, and the writing seemed lazy. You don't end ANY song with 15+ seconds of "lalalalala". As for music during the show, I saved this for last for a reason. I usually have a hard time noticing the music during the show because I'm so plugged into the show. I did catch some bits and pieces during School Rumble. The pieces I caught seemed pretty well done but not perfect; with a little more practice it could've been better. I implore you to not ask for further details.

CHARACTER: 10/10
This is probably where School Rumble shines brightest. School Rumble does a BRILLIANT job of bringing in COUNTLESS meaningful characters into the story. Because there is little to no story, School Rumble has the flexibility to do so. So what starts off as Tenma, Karasuma, and Harima in the first episode slowly becomes this complex network of characters that all have different personalities, interests, crushes, enemies... you get the idea. Personally, my favorite character was Harima. He was trying to confess to Tenma the entire series and it always led to hilariously sticky results. Whenever Harima tried to do something to better his relationship with Tenma (if not confessing) it always somehow made things worse. The way he could screw up the simplest of things is comedy gold. He may be my favorite, but every character on the screen looks amazing, sounds amazing, is unique, is truly hilarious... the only character I MIGHT have a complaint about is Karasuma. It's not really a complaint though... he's just weird.

ENJOYMENT: 10/10
I was laughing my butt off practically from the moment I started watching this series. I never really stopped except for the rare serious moments and when the series ended. There were moments when I needed to pause the show because I was laughing so hard and I just couldn't stop and I didn't want to miss anything. There is an extremely high likelihood that this will be the first anime that I will watch for a second time. I could go on, but at this point, I don't think I need to...

OVERALL: 10/10
Other than a couple minor errors in the Sound category, I consider School Rumble to be literally flawless. The plot is thin but not much plot is needed. It's replaced with the best comedy I have ever seen. From beginning to end it was very much a visual marvel. This is the best AND deepest cast of characters I have ever seen in an anime. And I can truthfully say... I've never had more fun watching a TV show than I did watching School Rumble. As I said before, this will probably be the first anime I ever re-watch, and I desperately urge you to watch it as well.