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The Full Metal Panic manga was actually quite light compared to Sigma... To be honest Sigma is a bit too serious when compared to its initial chapters.

Story:9
Basically revovles around the protection of Chidori, though Sigma focuses on less school and more of actual war. The story is pretty interesting though from time to time it gets pretty confusing and at times even disturbing.

It is confusing for some parts as there were quite a number of unexplained situations and some things are very technical. For the disturbing parts, there were quite a number of plot twists that really stray away from the more light-hearted storyline of ... its previous arc.

Art: 7
Not much to say about this, character designs and actions are pretty consistent but during intense battles the art can be so confusing due to the fighting being blur.

Enjoyment: 9
For a mecha series this is pretty good.

Overall: 8
Storyline and slapstick comedy could be better balanced to give this series a likeable view instead of being so dark.

I'm reviewing this from a mostly non-fan point of view (mostly cos I watched Gatchaman S1 but hardly remember it).

Story: 9
Kinda cliched in some areas, but overall quite interesting. There's some plot and mystery here and there, and I'm glad that there are not too much storyline cliches in there. Given that this is a kinda superhero kind of show, the villains are somewhat cliche but overall it is great.

Art:10
The animation is fluid and simply amazing. It's like watching Gantz: Osaka and the FF series movies, but for 12 episodes, which is pretty amazing. This is not to mention that the animation is really realistic.

Sound: ... 9

Character:8
To be honest, the characters are kinda 2 dimensional at times. It seems that the main differentiating factor between all the characters (including the villains) is their abilities, and more attention are drawn towards Ken and Emi rather than the others. More importantly, not much is touched on any character, thus all the characters seem rather shallow. One good point about the characters though, is that they all have some kind of background story that leads them to their actions (which is much better than seeming to be random).

Enjoyment:10
A definite 10, the animation and some plot lines are simply amazing.

Overall:10
Easily one of the best anime series I have watched based on animation, and with quite a good plot to back it up with. I would recommend anyone who like great 3D CGI shows to watch this.

This series is so great that it moved me to read the manga and light novel halfway through the anime. And I gotta say, for those who really like this series should try the light novel, it has much more detail than the anime.

Story:10
Just by the anime alone, the storyline deserves a 10. The basic premise of this series is that a professional gamer was forced out of this club, but he decided to start from scratch in the main game in a new server.

This storyline probably doesn't seem much, especially since he is a pro gamer going to a new server where most ... are newbies. Actually, this storyline is kinda refreshing, there are not many series that concentrate on the skill of a person making that much of a difference in success. There are a lot of series out there with overpowering success made by luck, skill and luck, unexplained power ups, power of friendship etc. but this series is undoubtedly quite rare since Ye Qiu is mainly relying on his skill (and even some newbie guiides) to make a success from scratch with not his previous game profession. This also explains why I like this series so much, the author executed Ye Qiu and his experience in the new server well, as well as the old and new people he knew.

Art: 10
Surprisingly, for a lot of action scenes, they were very fluid and smooth. Moreover, the characters were also well defined since it is very easy to differentiate between the character designs.

Upon re-watching, I realise that some CG were indeed top notch, much better than most japanese and it is the best among chinese animes I have watched, hands down.

Sound:8
This is also great, given how they have a few OSTs that are very suitable for different scenes. The voice acting skills were great too especially Ye Qiu and Huang Shao Tian.

Character:10 (to 12)
This is where the series mainly shines at. There are quite a few distinct and eye-catching characters, like Ye Qiu, Steamed Bun, Tang Rou and Huang Shao Tian. Through the various actions and words displayed by them and Ye qiu's in-depth analysis of some people he knows, character development is done exceptionally well. Even character background, such as his and Su Mucheng and Chen Guo's past were explored, and although it isn't divulged all in one go, it is gradually revealed. This seems to be especially the case for Tang Rou.

Enjoyment:10
This series is very enjoyable, especially for those who do not like that much of unexplained or luck in defining success. It can be clearly seen that Ye Qiu grasped his opportunities, put in hard work as well as his 10 years of experience in achieving his success.

Overall:10
The King's Avatar is about the professional gaming arena, or E sports, and thus would allow the viewer to understand some of the intricacies of the professional gaming world. I would recommend it for people who like overpowered characters with logical reasoning and excellent execution.

[Addition after watching the series for the 3rd time, reading all the available eng subbed ln and manga]:
After watching the anime for the 3rd time, I realised that the sound in the anime is incredibly good. There are a lot of details that can be understood through the voice-acting, background music etc., for example the closeness between Ye Qiu and Su Mucheng, and the tense mood in battles.

I'm really impressed, sure a lot of details were cut out from the anime that have actual plot, but then it very well captures the main story. This is especially with the help of the animation and sound.

But once again, I would recommend anyone who loves this series to try the light novel. Like other light novels, it expresses well the inner thoughts of the players that are hard to put into the manga and anime, but more importantly, there are some backstories likely excluded due to time/space constraints.

Initially, I enjoyed this series since it portrayed a "godly" character and there was undoubtedly a lot of potential, but the last 2 episodes were, if anything, reversing its potential in the earlier episodes.

Story:4
Well, the story had a few twists along the way, but it's along the way of an adventure and trying to resolve a conflict. Basically it's about a war going on between sorcerors and non-sorcerors and how Zero wishes to find her book, but really, it's kinda cliched and predictable at times.

Art:8
Kinda standard but smooth animation.

Sound:8
Kinda standard as well.
...
Character:3
This is the category that is really subpar. Apart from really scant character development and background along the way, some of the characters seem to be inconsistent in their behaviour, thus making the whole storyline hard to understand at times. Especially Thirteen.

Enjoyment:8

Overall:6
Generally below average especially near the end of the series. The resolution is kinda anti-climatic and strange. Gotta say this is one of the more anti-climatic endings out there. Great potential but poor execution.

To begin, I am going to write this review after knowing that Black Clover is deemed one of the worst manga for anyone, any age (posted on animenewnetwork).

And... I don't think it feels like Naruto... nope... almost zero.

Story:8
To be honest, the story has too much similarity to Fairy Tail and Nanatsu na Taizai (no Naruto here, sorry). For example, the beginning of Black Clover is quite similar to Fairy Tail, and all the friendship and combo stuff. Meanwhile, the main character's destiny and main storyline feels similar to Nanatsu na Taizai (since I do not want to put spoilers, I'll just leave it at ... here.

Anyways, the plot is pretty straightforward, and like most shounens, this manga has a lot of comedy and action. One part that really made me read through to the latest chapter at one go was the way the story was presented. In particularly, it has the One Piece feel thanks to the main character's personality and his "nakama". Another interesting thing about this manga is that while it has a lot of focus on "things you can't do alone without comrades", it does not overly exploit the theme of "friendship can beat everything, even when initially you lost terribly and when you are injured you still can win", like Fairy Tail. This is where it is interesting, as it is less predictable than a lot of shounen manga (which is one reason why I like One Piece so much too).

Art:9
The art is kinda similar to Nanatsu na Taizai but better, 2 of the more obvious similarities is Asta->Meliodas, and Noelle->Diane.

Kudos to the art especially, since a lot of work seem to have been put into the details seeing how much spells they used. At this I can simply say that the Comic Con voters cannot be trusted to value quality work, since when you say some manga is the worst, it includes all aspects, and it is simply ridiculous.

Character:9
Well, since the characters seem familiar to other manga, why did I give it a 9?
The MCs Asta and Junos are kinda similar to Natsu and Gray in Fairy Tai and more similarly to Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei (The irregular at magic high school), which is the despised strong vs the popular strong concept, and the despised MC gets slowly recognised to be popular concept.

And yea, no Naruto feels here, cos if every rivalry makes people think of Naruto, then most shounen manga would be rip-offs (E.g. Meliodas/Ban in Nanatsu, Allen/Kanda in D.Grayman etc.) In fact, Naruto seems like it went for the Talented bad kid/Weak kid gets stronger concept, but in Black Clover, Junos was always on the good side, and Asta was never weak except in the one most treasured area, magic (Shiba Tatsuya anyone?).

Well, aside from all the comparisons, just by itself, the characters are great as most of them complement each other, and there is quite some development not only with Asta, but with other side characters (especially in terms of family background and rivalries). One lacking part though, is regarding Junos. Up to chapter 78, he is still not as developed in terms of character or background as the others, so he is kinda like a side character at this point. Which is a shame, and makes this clearly different from the Natsu/Gray rivalry.

Enjoyment:10
Well, this is one of my favourite shounen thus far, it does not drag out a lot of chapters via one versus one fights, though at some points it reminds me of Zatch Bell and Bleach in fighting scenes. The comedy is mostly funny as well.

Overall:9
Although there are quite a lot of cliched settings here and there, I can't say this is a rip-off of any one manga since I see a lot of references from several manga I mentioned (but not really Naruto). However, the lack of many one versus one battles and the inclusion of some unique concepts made this an excellent shounen manga for me.

First of all, I'm not a basketball player so my opinions on this would be from a more non-basketball accuracy manga reader. However, most if not all of the content look really accurate, especially with the manga reader being a long time basketball player.

Let's begin.

[Story:9/10]
As much as the story is realistic, with amazing detail and art, sometimes going frame by frame of how the basketball players play, as well as the story focusing on Sakuragi Hanamichi and the Sohoku team of how they progress, there is still some "too remarkable moments", especially early on.

This is pretty amazing already, given how most sports mangas like to ... perform "Giant Killing" using underdogs using a lot of willpower and/or strategy to blow away the rest of the teams/competitors. It's quite amazing how the story flows smoothly as well, given that there are multiple complications, climaxes and comedy. There is hardly one part of the manga that seems out of place, and from start to end as reality is, there are good times and bad times.

[Art: 10/10]
I would give 12 if I could, the art is just amazing, especially at various points of the last chapters, where there were a lot of different tones and styles used to highlight certain areas, and detailed skillful drawing of various basketball moves, facial expressions, background and so on.

[Character: 10/10]
This is another selection I would like to point out, the character characteristics and backstories of some characters are incredibly explored. However, for the few main characters (5 + 1 actually), a few of them were only touched on surface and there is still little understanding of how the "incredible rookie" could possibly be so incredible, aside from talent, a term which I believe every sports manga tries to exploit.

Still, the amazing portion of the characters might be character development, as we watch how the various characters grow through their toughest periods inside games, as well as what we can learn from their "experiences".

[Enjoyment:10/10]
I would give a 11 if I could. The emotional rollercoaster and growing potential of both the home team and competitor team alike gives great pleasure to the reader, very much like how I enjoyed reading "Zatch Bell". It is where you will not be able to predict much of what will happen next and the suspense hangs thick in the end due to improvements during battles/matches on both sides.

[Overall:10/10]
All in all, this manga is amazing, furthermore I had read that Slam Dunk was a manga that popularised basketball in Japan. This is amazing, since this meant that when it was starting, basketball is actually not a hot topic, but the manga managed to catch on to several volumes and even influenced culture.

^^

Story: 7

This anime is quite brilliant, especially in the middle part. The story is intriguing with lots of twists, but the first few episodes are quite episodic, and relying a lot on "boobs" jokes, heck, even when there are no large boobs in the episode, Sunabozu would apologise for it.

The middle part, especially those episodes with no "boob" woman, are really good and shows the various aspects of the big picture of the Kanto Desert, though still episodic.

The ending part, particularly ep 18 onwards, is really deep, but the conclusion was quite disappointing and confusing, thus I would only give the story a 7.

Overall for ... the story, it was mostly interesting, but there were a lot of inconsistencies regarding how some characters disappear and reappear, how they manage to stay alive and so on. Sometimes, there is just so much inconsistency in the storyline and unexplained events (e.g. surviving explosions) that I was left wondering more and enjoying less of this anime.

Art: 9
The art was basically very good given how old this series is, so no complains about it, sometimes 3D seems to be involved too. Only issue is sometimes the animation is not so smooth.

Sound: 9
Great VA, distinctive voices for most characters, good OP and ED.

Character: 5
The character portion of this anime is probably the most confusing and inferior out of all the other grading categories. Aside from strange disappearances and reappearances of some characters, there were several inconsistencies in personalities with little or no explanation. And somehow the characters seem to laugh off some of the more important character mysteries, or simply act as if they were never a problem.

Moreover, some of the main characters, esp Sunabouzu and Junko, seem to carrying several character traits that sometimes contradict each other, and especially the character of Sunabouzu seems to be very inconsistent between the first and middle, and the last part of the anime.

Enjoyment: 7
Overall it's enjoyable, since the series focuses on lightening dark topics with jokes and "laugh it off situations". However, the last part of the storyline really killed a lot of enjoyment from the first and middle parts ( score 9).

Overall: 7
It is a great show overall, but try not to think too much about the topics covered since some of it is very dark but due to the poor presentation it is neither appropriately serious nor funny. And some things simply do not make sense.

This is a review till chapter 415 (somewhat very near the end of the Tartaros arc.

Honestly, I would give the manga a 8 or 9 until chapter 253. Cos after that, the arcs reallly succcck.....

Up until chapter 253, at least the story was more reasonable, and touching, unlike a lot of senseless actions, power-ups, plotholes and missing characters here and there later.

Story:6
Honestly, Fairy Tail is severely lacking in story. It's not that there's no story. Like Bleach, there is a main villain that keeps popping up, indirectly or directly. But in Fairy Tail's case, there are 2, and incredibly, the way they show up ... and disappear is absurd. The 2 strongest villains in the manga, causing overall less damage than the "regular" cliched "I want to gain power/destroy the world/resurrect the strongest evil power" villains? Yeah, this is the first time I've seen a manga featuring such villains lacking in willpower. Honestly, it is just vexing... at least in One Piece during those circumstances, there would be an explanation behind why some villains just left after completely defeating the protagonists. In Fairy Tail? Nope no way. It's like it is logical for the strongest villains to leave the protagonists after just "defeating" them. Which is rather vague, since the protagonists seem to be stronger after begin injured, more than when they were at the start (in EVERY difficult battle).

Another thing is the MIA and illogical appearances of some characters. Like for example, after chapter 253, some character appears out of no reason, and later disappear as well without reason.

I think one of the most absurd things about the story is how the guilds and dark guilds are associated with each other. For example, 3 guilds in an alliance fight the light guild(s) one by one, out of which, 1 of them fought against a TEMPORARY alliance of light guilds. Interesting right? What the hell is an alliance for if you guys just fight one by one?

Art:9
The art is really good, and the saving grace of this manga. Consistent, clear and the character designs are mostly unique.

Character:5
The quality of the characters is largely debatable. On one hand, most of the characters' personalities are relatively consistent. On the other hand, there are a lot of weird inconsistencies in the appearances and disappearances of minor characters.
And especially with the power-ups of the main characters, and some villains, it is actually quite painful to read all chapters up to 415 in one go. It's like the author forgot what did some minor characters behave like, or even it seems like he forgot they existed.

Another flaw is that some characters which become main characters changed a bit too much. Pretty much like the spell which turns villains goody-goody, but without the spell.

Enjoyment:8
Till 253 it is a 10, then till 415 it is a 6. I think this pretty much sums up the enjoyment level for the manga. It has much to do with the direction of the comedy and fanservice before and after 253.

Overall:7
If shounen, adventure, action and friendship is what you dig for, look no further. Oh yeah, it's rather of a fantasy genre as well, so make sure you enjoy over-the-top power-ups when reading this manga!

P.S. This would be a fantastic example of power creep in games.

This is one of the most perfect animes I have seen to date.

There are discrepancies and unexplained matters, including the main characters, but still the whiole series is golden. Honestly, at times the storyline and images are gross and gory, but if you can watch through all that, you will be able to enjoy all this series has got to offer.

Story:9
The story is amazing and full of surprises, though at times it is kinda sick and inconsistent. But honestly, there is a lot of logic and emotions filled throughout this series so I would say that this is one of the best storylines I have ... seen. There's a lot of sacrifices, love and a general outlook of our modern world. But it is filled too with hope, especially with the Elric Brothers, and the possibilities of what humans can do.

For real life reference, we can refer to what happened to the SARS outbreak, when people all over the world united to fight the airborne deadly diesease. But on a sadder note, when the issue only affects a certain part of people's lives, like how the Ishbalan conflict didn't impact most of the Asmetris' people lives, they did not really care about what happened. This could be referenced to the Ebola virus crisis happening now or other proxy wars fought during the Cold War and so on.

Despite the realistic references, there were also quite a lot of logical theories like the law of equivalent exchange for alchemy, though it involved a lot of fantasy as well. I felt that the fantasy in this series is what makes things interesting. Just when you think that all hope is lost, there could be another way of looking at things, and to use alchemy. I love how the producers and mangaka streatch the imagination with new possibilities.

Art:10
The studio producing this anime is Bones, so it is quite obvious that most of the action is fluid and good, though there were some blur parts. But the colour is good, not faded out or watery-looking but solid, and animation is really good. The characters' art were also well done and consistent.

Sound:10
Although I did not enjoy some OPs and EDs, (the first and last OPs and EDs were my favs), most if not of them fit the current storylines at that time. Plus the OSTs and sound effects enhanced the scenes they were played on too.

Character:10
I think that most of the characters were well-developed and some of the side characters even were part of the main storyline even if they initially were small roles. I like how the small characters influence the Elric Brothers and how the 2 of them changed as they encounted new people and events. The other characters, especially the main characters also had some develiopment, whether through past or actions, and fully showed that a good cast of characters can make a series shine.

Enjoyment:10
Well, I didn't enjoy the sad or gory parts a lot, but this series is unbelievably touching and thought-provoking, even inspiring. However, there was also funny moments and lots of scenes to laugh.

Overall:10
This is a masterpiece, definitely one of the best action and shounen anime series these few years, what with all the fanservice and filler animes recently. In these 64 episodes, it is hard to believe how much real and good content has been shown. The other anime that gave me this feeling is Sword Art Online, but mainly the first 12 or so episodes for the first arc.

First of all, let me start by saying this is quite an underrated anime.

Yes, this anime is actually quite slow-paced, and has quite some cliched episodes and moments that you would find in a slice-of-life and romance series, but what really caught on to me, especially in the later episodes, is how compatible the op and ed are with the scenarios in the episodes. It is actually quite interesting to see the many sides of the main 2 characters and see how their relationship progressed.

Story- wise, it's not amazing, and quite cliched at times, but the presentation was well-delivered.

Art-wise, normal.

Sound-wise, I really love and op ... and ed, and some osts.

Character-wise, it's great to see the main characters get developed, with bits and pieces of some characters' pasts and what each character's personalities are like. Characters' personalities are mostly quite consistent, especially Rurumo's,even through all the character developments they do not seem out of place.

Enjoyment-wise, I would give it a 10 out of 10. It definitely has enough for me to keep watching to the finish, since I do not really like cliched settings. However, it is quite surprising cos at times I cannot even predict what will happen next. It's quite hard to find an anime that's cliched yet not predictable nowadays.

Overall:9/10
If you like slow-paced, touching, romantic with some slapstick humour, you should try this anime.