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So.

"Kemono Friends".

Can you say the most pleasant surprise ever?

Seriously though, this is by far one of the biggest shocks not only in this year of anime, but in probably the last decade. Who would've expected this no-budget, minuscule production, CG show to become the most popular anime this season as well as one of the most liked? I sure as hell didn't, no one did! But low and behold, here we are, me recommending one of the most enjoyable shows I have ever watched.

Now let's see why shall we?

... ~~

.: Story :.

"Kemono Friends" is set in the monolithic animal park known as Japari Park. Here in Japari Park, instead of regular ol' animals that you learned about in school, every creature here has been transformed into anthropomorphized girls, known as "Friends", due to a mysterious substance called "sandstar". One of these Friends is Serval, a serval cat who happens to stumble upon a girl with no memory of who she is or even what she is. Together with Serval's help, they set out to reach the Library, where hopefully they can learn what animal this mystery girl is.

Now on the outset, this seems like it's a very simple premise, and on the surface, it is. However, this adventure that our two leads take is nowhere near as simple as it comes across. Color me shocked when it turned out that there was a lot more depth to what was happened then I had been led to believe.

What's really incredible about this all is that the entire show is based on a canceled mobile game, one that had such a low playerbase that the company behind it shut the game down before the show even began airing. What this meant for the team was that they now had free reign to create whatever they wanted with it. The result of this is something that I feel is incredibly special; a show that despite so many odds against it, strove on in all its might because the team cared enough about it to want to make a quality product.

It kills me to not say anymore about it either, but I implore anyone to watch this, because it's a much deeper show then what it comes across as.

.: Art :.

Of course, story wasn't what this series originally became infamous for. If you've even heard of "Kemono Friends", it's likely because you've heard about its very poor animation. This show was panned heavily in the beginning almost solely because of the animation quality, which was incredibly floaty and stiff looking. Viewers were quick to write it off within a few minutes of watching because of this.

Now while it is fair to say that the animation is terrible on an objective level, I feel that its low quality is entirely understandable. As mention in the beginning, this show was made on pretty much no-budget, with a team of about ten people. Traditional hand-drawn animation was completely out of the question, so CG was their best bet here. And you know what, while it's certainly not very good animation, I'll be damned if they didn't try their hardest with what they had. You can see them getting better over time, the animation improving in subtle ways, and even trying some daring things with it, like dance sequences and even fight scenes. There's a charm to it all, and I even found myself enjoying the animation as it went on. And hey, if anything, they can only improve from here with it.

Now on the flipside of this is the art itself, which is actually quite good. Backgrounds are vast and colorful, and quite detailed. I also was very fond of the artstyle overall, finding it appealing on the eyes.

.: Sound :.

Overall, I found the music and voice acting to be pretty good. Now of course I don't know Japanese myself, but I feel that having watched enough anime at this point, I can at least distinguish good and bad sounding voice acting, and thankfully it's good here. All the characters sound like they're having fun in their roles, and each seems to fit their animal character about right.

As of this review, there is no dub, so no comment.

Music is quite enjoyable as well. The theme song "Youkoso Japari Park" is incredibly catchy, and I've even found myself humming it on occasion. The general background music is fairly unremarkable overall. The one piece of music I will comment on however is the song they use in fight scenes. Surprisingly, it's an EDM song of all things, and although jarring the first time you hear it, you get used to it. Finally, there's the ED song, "Boku no Friend". It's a beautiful piece that fits the show perfectly, and was pretty unexpected to me to have such a high quality song like this.

.: Characters :.

Besides the story, this was probably the biggest surprise of the show to me. For what may seem like a simple cash-grab on the moe market, these girls are actually very well developed for what they are.

For one, them being animals isn't just simple job of applying animal ears and tails to them. They all act like their animal counterparts to a T, with the traits that make each unique. Another interesting note is that they know that they aren't normal animals as well, and are completely aware of their transformations; the show even makes mention of how different their lives are now they have these new bodies and abilities. I really appreciated the effort that went into making sure that each Friend acted just like the animal it's designed after. We even get to learn lessons about the different animals as well, as instead of just a simple transition bumper, the halfway break actually has little interviews with various animal researchers who talk about the animals featured in the episode.

Beyond their animal aspects, the characters themselves are also very interesting as well. As we go on, we start to see the history behind their relationships, who our mystery girl is, and what connection she has with Serval. I became totally invested in what they were going through, and their is legitimate emotional moments as well.

Again, this show surprises me.

.: Enjoyment :.

You know what's really amazing to me? The fact that I had heard about how good this show turned out to be, and yet it still blew away all my expectations.

This show. This show that started with literally nothing and became a beloved classic. I'm serious when I say this, "Kemono Friends" is brilliant, absolutely brilliant, and I hold no irony in saying that. It has become one of the best anime I have ever seen.

.: Overall :.

There are certain reasons why my review scores will often differ from my personal score on my profile page. On my reviews, I have to hold to some objective scoring, one that sorts of takes all the ratings into account to equal out a score for it. My personal score however, that's entirely subjective, and based totally on my personal attachment to an anime.

And on that personal level, "Kemono Friends" is a definitive 10. That is all.

"Girls und Panzer" is one of those really fun anime that let's you know exactly what you're getting into right out the gate. Hell, the title alone tells you all you need to know, "Girls and Tanks". If that premise doesn't sound awesome to you, well than you have no sense of fun. Or you just a bit skeptical on how a show combining cute moe girls and WWII tanks, could ever work.

Well, maybe I can help to pique your interest.

--

Story: 8

The story of GuP centered around a form of tank practice combat known as "sensha-do", in order to teach young women how to prim ... and proper caretakers and wives. One of these young girls is Miho Nishizumi, who had previously quit sensha-do and moved to a new school in order to find a new hobby to replace it. However, for reasons out of her control, she is forced to join her schools newly re-established sensha-do club. Now with the help of some friends she'll meet, she must attempt to help the school win the annual sensha-do tournament against various other academies.

Clearly, this is not your typical tournament series. The premise is what ultimately sells it here, and are what make the battles fun to watch. At the very start, the main characters are clumsily just trying to figure out how to even drive their tanks, but by the end they become masters of the craft. It's enjoyable to see what bigger and badder tanks our leads will have to fight against as the story unfolds

Unfortunately, while the main arc gets plenty of focus, the sub arcs never really wrap up cleanly. They are presented, but never really resolved fully. It's one of those cases where you end up asking yourself, "Well what was the point?".

--

Art: 9

The general art style of GuP is pretty standard among anime. It doesn't really deviate from what you've come to expect. The animation itself though is an entirely different beast though.

Something you'll immediately take notice of when watching GuP is the extensive use of CG. Now before you say what I know you're thinking, which is "Oh god no, not anime CG.", don't fret. The CG in GuP is incredibly well executed. It's used to give the battles a consistency that would be a massive undertaking for 2D animation, and it helps to give the tanks real weight to them. When you see a tank fire a shell, it really feels like they fired a large explosive round; the tanks rock and bounce as they move and fire in realistic ways you'd expect them too (until they decide to take some creative licence with physics, but it's anime, what did you expect).

The CG doesn't overtake the 2D animation though. On the contrary, the two seemingly match together perfectly, in a way you'd never expect. The result is battles that are incredibly fun to watch, and are never jarring.

--

Sound: 10

The sound of this show is definitely an area where GuP really gets to shine. The music is fantastic, with all of it catchy and fun to listen to, and to really add a cherry on top, its all orchestral military pieces, flutes and all. It really gets you excited for the battles that lay ahead.

Speaking of battles, these are great too. The sound effects used for tanks is pitch-perfect. When their treads roll, they sound heavy and lumbering, and each tank has a unique sound to it, and when they fire a shell, you feel just how loud it must be.

As far as voice acting is concerned, it sounds great. All the Japanese VA's sound fantastic and really natural in their roles, and characters each have a distinctive voice to them. However, I must advise to stick to the Japanese. I've tried to listen to the English dub multiple times, and everytime I quit; it's just bad, with voice actors that are clearly amateurs and don't sound natural in their roles.

--

Character: 9

The characters are what will keep you coming back to this show time and time again (besides the tanks of course). All the characters are uniquely distinct from one-another, and you'll definitely remember who each is, especially the various academy leaders.

However, you'll also come to grow attached to, surprisingly, the tanks themselves. Like the girls themselves, the tanks feel like characters on their own as well, and each fights in its own unique way, making them all distinct not only in design but also in battle.

The one major downside on the character side of things is just how many their are. You'll get plenty of time to spend with our main girls, and even many of the academy leaders, but most of the side characters feel almost like minor's with little screen time devoted to many of them. Still, with what little screen time they do get will get you to remember them in one way or another.

--

Enjoyment: 10

For me, this is one of the most fun and badass I've ever seen. The characters are fun, the animation and great to watch, the music and voice acting is fantastic, and of course the tank battles are absolutely incredibly to watch

--

Overall: 9

Girls und Panzer is a fun and enjoyable anime to watch. If not for some story issues, and if the side characters had been further expanded, this would be an easy 10 from me. However, these issues do not deter me from having a good time watching.

If you're looking for a show with a unique premise and lives up to that premise, then I definitely recommend GuP.

The high school slice-of-life has become incredibly popular within the last decade. The easily digestible stories and simple character archetypes are easy works for companies to do, since less has to be invested monetarily for SoL shows. I often attribute the explosion in popularity with "Azumanga Daioh", which is considered by many to be the gold standard for SoL, myself included. It paved the way for other popular shows of its ilk like "Lucky Star", "Hidamari Sketch", and of course the ever beloved "K-On!".

Because of just how common the genre is these days, very few shows get to stick out from the crowd, and are ... often forgotten, no matter what their quality. And "A Channel" is unfortunately one of those shows, often being overlooked and overshadowed by other SoL anime. And that's a shame really, because I think that "A Channel" is a real gem that should be given the attention I feel it deserves.

--

Story: 6

"A Channel" story is your bog standard high school SoL. You follow the adventures of four (as always) girls as they spend their days in high school, having silly escapades as they interact with each other on a day to day basis.

The story is nothing different from any others like it that you've seen. There no real overarching plot to speak of, just smaller stories that happen each episode. One point though that I'll mention is that it's similar in a way to "Azumanga Daioh" in that the story is not frozen in time as it were. What I mean is that the characters aren't permanently in high school over the shows run, like many other SoL. Instead, the show goes over the course of one year. It's a nice little change of pace that I appreciate.

Overall, I'd say that the story, while nice and simple, is nothing all to special in the end.

--

Art: 9

The art style of this show reminds me quite a bit of "K-On!". Not because the styles are the same, in fact the art style itself is much different from "K-On!"'s. More-so, it reminds me of it because of how the animation moves. It's very smooth and detailed, but no distractedly so. It's very clear to me that "A Channel" had a little more to its budget than other shows like it, allowing to get this good animation.

As for the character designs, I actually like them quite a bit. They feel distinct from other character designs in other shows, with unique hair styles for all our mains, and even different eye designs, that give you an idea of the type of character they are. For instance, Yuuko has long straight black hair and tall sharp eyes, giving the air of being prim and proper; Run on the other hand has shorter blond hair with an ahoge, and large round eyes, showing that she's the more innocent and naive one. These designs are very nice and easy on the eyes, and help the make the show stick out more.

--

Sound: 8

Overall, music for this is enjoyable. There aren't any standout songs with the exception of the theme, Morning Arch, which is a beautiful little peaceful melody. Otherwise, the background music is fairly standard stuff.

The voice acting for the show is very good, enjoyably easy on the ears and sounding very natural. The show is only in Japanese, no English dub.

--

Character: 8

Where I think "A Channel" really shines is in its characters. Each of the mains has a unique personality that makes them stick out from each other; Run is the clumsy and naive but sweet one, Yuuko is proper and classy but can be hopelessly scared silly, Nagi is the studious and smartest one, and Tooru is the best friend of Run and is incredibly overprotective of her. Each of their interactions with each other are fun to watch and feel like how real teenage girls would interact with each other.

When it comes to the side characters, they also have unique personalities, at least for the different teachers. They provide humorous comic relief moments in-between the stories that our mains find themselves in.

--

Enjoyment: 9

I very much enjoyed my time with "A Channel". Following these four girls through their year in high school was fun to watch, as each of them play off of each other so well. It was a joy to watch as well.

--

Overall: 8

"A Channel" is a show that just wants you to sit back and have a good time with the characters. It's a shame that it's been so overlooked, because I feel that it's one of those shows that you can enjoy no matter who you are.

Is it unique compared to any other SoL? Of course not, but its not attempting to be. Instead, it takes those standard stories and plays with them through fun characters and a beautiful art style. Because of this, I definitely say give it a shot. Its worth giving the series a little more attention.

(THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS. LIKE MAJOR SPOILERS. SPOILERS THAT WILL RUIN YOUR WATCHING EXPERIENCE IF YOU KNEW THEM AHEAD OF TIME. So yeah, just be warned.)

Writing a review on an anime like Sword Art Online is difficult. It's difficult because no matter what you say, there will be someone who will disagree with you, especially if you say something positive about it. SAO is one of the most polarizing anime of all time, where you either love it to death, or you despise its very existence, with no real in-between. As you can tell by my score, I'm in the former category. However, even ... as a huge fan of the series, I know that it's not perfect, as no anime is. Even still, though, I personally feel that people are far too harsh on the series, and I'll go over that in my review.

--

Story: 8

The plotline of being trapped in a video game is not a new one at this point, to be fair. Quite a few in the last few years have done this story before and after SAO, such as ".hack" and "Log Horizon". However SAO is without a doubt the one that popularized it, and for that I have to give it credit for that.

What engaged me in the story of SAO wasn't the overarching story though, it was the smaller arcs. The ones that looked at the different people that were trapped in the game, and how they got by to the very end. Watching Kirito and Asuna's relationship develop as the show went forward made me feel so giddy inside, like no anime couple has before, and the fact that they get together early on instead of dragging it out to the end was so awesome to watch. Seeing each side character grow through their interactions with Kirito was enjoyable to watch as well, and I ended up liking each character we met. And I enjoyed the villains as well; Kayaba was so fascinating to me, seeing him try to create this world where he's in total control, despite so many suffering for it, all so he can fulfill that dream. And of course with Sugou, they created the perfect guy to hate. You aren't supposed to feel any sympathy towards him, and they make that perfectly clear early on, so that when Kirito whoops his ass, it's all the more satisfying.

Of course that reminds me, I have to bring up the the second half of the season, the "Fairy Dance" arc. Let me just say this to everyone who constantly bitches and moans about how this arc was so terrible and it should be skipped:

You're all full of shit.

You bring up how the arc ruins Asuna's character and makes her a damsel in distress. Fuck that. Asuna is still the incredibly strong willed fighter that she was back in Aincrad. Strength is more than just physical power, but psychological as well, and Asuna is a total champ in that regard. Having to put up with the Hell that Sugou put her through would break most people, especially considering he could force her at any time to like him experiment with mind control. Speaking of which, if she's such a damsel in distress, then what was that whole scene where she attempts to free the 299 other trapped players? Awesome it what it was.

Then of course there's the sub-arc with Kirito's cousin Suguha. People are so quick to judge this as being creepy incest, and yet completely miss out on how it developed her character. You have to understand her perspective; your cousin, who you thought was brother for most of your life, and has ignored you for so many years, is trapped and unable to be reached. Then while all this happening, you find out you two aren't even blood-related. Then after two years, he comes back, and out of the blue starts being nice and paying attention to you again. It's all so confusing to you, and to make it worse, your a teenager who in the most hormonally intensive period of your life. You try to escape these feelings that you know are wrong by playing video games, and in turn you meet this really cool guy. Finally someone you move on to, develop new feelings for, someone who... turns out to be the cousin you loved anyway.

Would that not fuck you up mentally on some level? And yet, in the end, they work things out, and Sugu is able to move on from these feelings because she knows how much Kirito loves Asuna. I'd say that makes for an interesting character.

So no, "Fairy Dance" is not as bad an arc as you claim it to be. It's not meant to be test of survival, but a race against time. The pace is meant to be different here than Aincrad.

If I did have to bring up any complaints regarding story, it would be the pacing. Not that its terrible or anything, but there are many points in the story that jump ahead in time, often months at a time. This can make the story feel a little rushed at times, and make you wish you saw what happened during that period of time. Perhaps if the "Progressive" novels get animated, we'll see what happened, but for now, that is a legitimate complaint I have.

--

Art: 10

While there are many aspects to anime that can be seen as subjective, technical aspects are not one of them. Be that I mean, technical related aspects to a show are purely objective since animation and sound is either good or bad, with very little in-between. Keep in mind though, I'm not talking specifically about art itself; art is definitely subjective since it's meant to come across in different ways and moods, and the style changing depending on who's in charge. So with keeping all that in mind, it's hard to think of how one can find fault in the art aspect of SAO.

There's really not much you can criticize here. The animation itself is incredibly well done, which is to be expected from A-1. The fight scenes are constantly moving and flowing seamlessly into the next. Yet when the animation is much calmer, it's pleasant to watch, with natural movements you'd expect to see. Characters never go off-model, which is quite the impressive feat considering how many action scenes there actually are. The art itself is also well done, with gorgeous detailed backdrops to see that are highly detailed in every scene.

--

Sound: 9

As mentioned before, sound being technical aspect isn't something that generally can be judged subjectively, with one exception of course, being the dubs.

As far as music is concerned, it's quite excellent stuff. It can range from peaceful melodies in town to epic choirs during fights, with each instrument playing off each other perfectly. And of course that theme song man. Even people who hate SAO can't seem to ignore the fact that Crossing Field is one of the badass anime theme songs ever. Although I will admit that the second opening theme, Innocence isn't quite as memorable, though catchy in its own right.

Now of course, I have to talk about the dubs. This is a battle that never ends well, so I'll just say this. The Japanese is of course fantastic, as to be expected. However the English dub is also surprising excellent too. Each character sound about how you'd expect them to, and the conversations sound very natural. The only point I'll bring up is on the lead of Kirito. Though I generally think that Bryce Papenbrook does a great job overall, he does tend to exposition scenes. Not a huge deal for me personally, but it's something I felt should be brought up.

--

Character: 8

Another very divisive area of the show is the characters. People either love the characters of this show, or hate them with every fiber of their being. I happened to like them.

I guess the best place to start is with the mains. Kirito sure does get a lot of shit from the anime community. People are constantly calling him a Gary-stu, OP, etc., so I'll touch on a few of those points. As far as Gary-stu is concerned, that's just bullshit. Kirito is not a perfect individual, far from it. He's bull-headed, rushing into situations without thinking often, especially in regards to Asuna. He's also a bit of a loner, at least for much of the first half, and this only becomes exacerbated after the death of the Moonlight Black Cats and Sachi. But you know something? He moves foward, he develops. Yeah, that thing that many of you claim Kirito never does happens right in front of your eyes. When he builds a relationship with Asuna, it helps him to become a better person, to open up more. Also, in regards to the whole Gary-stu accusation, I didn't know that being a nice person meant being a Gary-stu. So he's nice to the people, and in turn they become friends. HOLY SHIT WHAT A SHOCKER. And yes, this applies to his female friends too; god-forbid girls like him because he was nice to them right?

As for the OP argument, in a sense, I could agree with that. He does have his OP moments, but it actually makes sense in a way. Kirito is a power-gamer. He would spend hours a day growing up playing video games, probably a lot MMO's. Is it so hard to imagine that he'd be really freaking good at them? And the funny thing is, he admits this in the show itself, during episode 4, where he points out that the way MMO's are designed makes it so that some people are naturally better than other players.

Now when it comes to Asuna, I'll freely admit I'm a bit biased here, since she's one of my favorite anime characters of all time. She's kind and sweet to the people she cares about, but when push comes to shove, she can be badass herself. And I love how she develops as a person going from feeling hopelessly alone and having to force her way to survive, to finding hope and a reason for being though her relationship with Kirito. And I mentioned before about her role in Fairy Dance, so I won't bring up why she's great there here.

There are many side characters that develop throughout the series that would take up too much time to mention. However, if there is one complaint I do have when it comes to characters, it would be that many of them don't get much screen time. Many will stay relegated to side characters most of the time, which to be fare they are, but characters like Lisbeth and Silica got their own episode, but not Klein or Agil, who are the two other male characters besides Kirito that have any significant presence.

--

Enjoyment: 10

Enjoyment is something that is entirely subjective. You can find something terrible but enjoy it in a "so bad it's good" kind of way. Or you can see the brilliance in a piece of work but not enjoy it yourself. For me though, SAO is something I enjoyed from episode 1 to the very end. I found myself becoming so emotionally invested in the story that the show had built, seeing these characters develop their relationships that I came to care for them like real people. I loved watching the badass fights and relax to the quieter more subtle moments. I laughed at moments of humor, and felt shocked by the twists. It was a roller coaster ride that I loved every second of.

--

Overall: 9

Like I said in the beginning, SAO is not a perfect series. Even as a huge fan, I get that, and I totally get that some people just don't enjoy it. But I really feel that it's a disservice to say that it's "WORST ANIMU EVA 0/10". That feels like you letting it get you riled up and not looking at it from a more clear minded point of view, one that doesn't let bias get to them.

SAO is not something you should just ignore because it has a massive bandwagon of people against it. Clearly it's found an audience of people who enjoy it, such as myself, especially for it score so highly here on MAL. So please, if you've never seen the show, give it a shot. You may find that you enjoy it yourself.