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This Review Applies to Both Seasons of Akagami no Shirayuki-hime
It is rare that I stumble upon a genuinely light hearted but also entertaining romance story. Especially when the Romance story is set in medieval times, and it found itself to be one of the more enjoyable and interesting show even though, not much happened. (The video review is up on my channel, here is the written)

Story - 7/10

Once upon a time, there was girl with beautiful Red Hair, which is considered to be very rare and very special in this world. The girl, Shirayuki gets asked to become the prince’s concubine. Shirayuki of course uncomfortable ... with the idea and knowing will pursue her, she runs off looking for a new life. Along the way she meets Prince Zen from the Kingdom of Clarines. After a shaky a start with the Zen, the two hit off off and begin to respect each other. But neither one of them wants to feel like a burden or give off the wrong impression to each other. Shirayuki begins to live in Clarines and she becomes a Herbal Medicine Doctor in the Kingdom in order for her to stand on equal footing as Zen. While Zen on the other hand, makes sure he does his job responsibly, to make sure Shirayuki doesn’t get the wrong impression of him. And you can probably tell where the Romance in this story is already.

I really like the stories of Shirayuki and Zen and their friends, most are really entertaining and interesting to watch. I kind of wish I knew where the story was going at the start and was hoping for a little more focus on the actual relationship between Shirayuki and Zen, because at times you wouldn’t really know where they are in their relationship. This show is basically broken into a lot of arcs that is all about the characters building chemistry with each other. But with a lack of overall plot goal and ending, you really don’t get into the story that much. But that doesn’t mean that the setting of the show and the whole world building and the general story isn’t interesting, because it is. Even though it has little focus, it is still interesting, and that is because of the character dynamics.

Characters - 10/10

Speaking of characters, Shirayuki is the main protagonist and just some fun trivia, ‘Shira’ means ‘white’ and ‘yuki’ means ‘snow’ so you get the idea where the name Snow White comes from in this show. Shirayuki gets quite the development considering the show is involved around her. She learns about her new life and realises she needs to earn the respect in order to stand on equal footing with the prince. She doesn’t want be portrayed as a typical damsel spoilt princess, that doesn’t suit her. So she works hard to gain respect from everyone. Of course along the way she changes those around her especially when it came to Obi, her bodyguard and surprisingly Prince Raj, from Tabarun the country she ran away from. As the show progresses she starts developing feelings of Zen, and I would’ve love to see more in their lovers relationship.

Zen is other character in this relationship. Zen is a the Prince of Clarines. Zen on the other hand is considered to be a well-respected Prince, although he doesn’t show that much enthusiasm to his role, that doesn’t stop him from doing his job when needed. Due to him giving off the wrong impression on Shirayuki when they first met, he actually starts trying harder to gaining Shirayuki’s respect, so she doesn’t get the wrong impression on him, because he knew how she saw how up themselves royalty can be. Zen, like Shirayuki develops with others around him and starts learning more how he can become a good respected Prince, of course as well he himself starts developing feelings for Shirayuki.

Obi, is Shirayuki’s bodyguard and Zen’s messenger. Although Obi starts off completely on wrong foot trying with both them, with him being ordered to threaten Shirayuki and losing Zen’s trust at first, he probably gets the most development in the series. He starts learn about his friends and grows as a person who is trying to fix his old habits and genuinely shows concern to all the other characters. This while being the best third wheel, anyone can ask for.

What I think is the best aspect of the show is the characters in general, and even the supporting cast get enough time and development, so we genuinely show much more interest in them as well. Mitsuhide and Kiki, Zen’s bodyguards actually get backstories of how they all came to be, which is a really nice added to touch to make us care about these characters. And I wasn’t even expecting this, even, Prince Raj, who Shirayuki ran away from initially, gets amazing development during the second cour. All the supporting characters are interesting and get enough growth for you to genuinely take interest in them and they all play with each other so well. Their interactions are really well done.

Animation and Sound - 8/10 6/10

Being made by studio Bones, I usually would expect quite top notch animation. And it definitely shines in this anime. The scenery in this medieval fantasy world looks gorgeous and the colours are amazing to look at. Each character has unique designs, so it’s easy to tell each of them apart. What I love about the animation, is that even though its mostly light hearted, so you don’t see too much action, but when they do, it’s generally pretty subtle and good, which fits with the show. Except for one noticeable scene where Obi was fighting. If there is one thing they done perfectly is, get Shirayuki’s hair done right, because if having Red hair is special in their world, you better bet that the red hair is beautiful, which it is. It’s really refreshing to look at.

As for the soundtrack you get a pretty standard tracklist of classical music. Really mellow most of the time with nothing really standing out too much. It does feel like classical orchestra, but in honesty it kind of sounds all very similar. Even for the more intense scenes, it just feels like they’re playing it faster. The Opening songs are really nice to listen to. I like the light hearted upbeat vibe or the first opening, whereas the second opening really sounds like something for an adventure anime. Oh yeah and the voice actress of Shirayuki sing the opening. The ending songs, aren’t really that special, it’s ok, but rather forgettable.

Enjoyment - 8/10

For me this was one of the surprising shows I’ve watched. I genuinely wasn’t very interested in watching something like this, but as it went on, it caught my attention and I started loving it. Because the characters are all amazing and their interactions with each other a really well written. Add that with the fact every character is trying to achieve something of their own, makes it worth watching, because it’s interesting to see where they go from where they started. The show is a bit slow to start off with, as you don’t really see much focus during the first cour, however during the second cour, there is a lot more happening to leading to more exciting storylines to follow.

Verdict - 8/10

As near towards the end of the review, I give the story a 7. Even though the overall story seems a bit lacking with not much focus, the individual arcs are interesting enough to watch, while the world building is done very well, to keep us engaged.

For the animation and sound, I give it a 8 and 6. The art style looks wonderful, it’s beautiful to look at. It really showcases the fantasy world the characters are in. Some of the animation is inconsistent, and the action scenes aren’t really exciting. But they completely nailed Shirayuki’s hair colour. The soundtrack uses good classical music, although it can get repetitive. The openings are great though, they really bring out a nice adventure and light hearted vibe.

For the characters I give it a 10. I loved how every character was fleshed out and not many characters were left behind. Each character got surprisingly good development. And the chemistry among the characters are a joy to watch. Shirayuki and Zen’s relationship was done very well, and I loved how they played on each other perfectly.

As for my own personal enjoyment, I give it a 8. There wasn’t really too much exciting things happening in the anime, it was more of an interesting watch, due to seeing how the relationships grew among the characters. However the world building and character interactions are what made this anime very enjoyable to watch. It has a cute romance plot I can get behind as well.

So for the overall score after rounding it all up, I give Akagami no Shirayukihime a 8/10. It’s a really character focused anime, they really bring out the potential in all their characters. I recommend this anime to Shoujo fans, especially if you love Romance anime and maybe those who would love to watch medieval slice of life.

Once again we are presented with another anime where the characters a transported into a fantasy rpg world. With most titles taking the wish fulfilment path, of blazing through the game, this anime took the very long dramatic realistic approach. (The Video Review is up on my channel, here is the written)

Story - 7/10

Grimgar is the story about six characters who mysteriously wake up in a Fantasy RPG world, with no recollection of their past life. Now the six characters form a party to get by in the world, but the whole group starts off rather incompetent at first, due to the fact that they’re ... not really adventurers to begin with. So the overall main story is about the group of characters growing as a party together, learning to become stronger with each other. Later in the series the story focuses more on the characters helping one of their teammates, which leads to great character growth.

There is one huge trait that is really noticeable in Grimgar. Which is the overall plot pacing of this anime and the pacing in general. It is very purposely slow pace, so there is a lot of slow dialogues and exposition. The slow pacing also hinders the start of the story when you really don’t know where it’s going until later on. Pair that with the fact, the story is quite boring to begin with until, Mary shows up, the story has a focus around her. However, it does feel like most of the mystery of the world is left out, and you wouldn’t really know what is actually going on by watching the anime.

Characters - 7/10

The show originally starts off with six main characters before adding more character to the mix. But before I get to the protagonist, I would rather get the rest of the party off the list first. First off we have Ranta, who is a hot headed jerk at first who gets a bit of development in his character as he learns to work with them more efficiently, but because of his rude attitude at the start, you really tend to hate him, because of him, the story doesn’t progress as much when he refuses to work with others. Yume is the upbeat friendly party member of the group, due to her personality, she usually clashes with Ranta, she kind of plays the big sister role to everyone. Mogzo is the strong, yet quiet tank of the party, how he is more on the soft side when it comes to his personality. Shihoru is the mage of party, however her character is quite boring. She rarely says a word is quite forgettable in the anime, as she probably does the least compared to everyone else. And lastly we have the party leader, Manato who is the most skilled competent member of the party, he is usually calm and compassionate when it comes to his teammates and a knack for bringing them together.

Now we gotten past those characters, it’s time to talk about the more interesting characters of the show. Haruhiro is the main protagonist of the series and the one who gives out all the narrations. I like Haruhiro as a protagonist as he is starts off just like any other member of the party but grows to learn more about himself and his comrades. He probably is the closest to Manato, and therefore his relationship with Manato helps him grow with him as a leader in his own right. But if there is a complaint I have with Haruhiro, is that he talks really slow and drags out his sentences.

Another character that gets quite a bit of development while also being the most interesting character of the series, is Mary. Mary is introduced later in the series as a girl show joins the party and is initially shown as a cool and cold character at first. She has the most experience when compared to the rest of the party, and only does things which she deems necessary. Her character is fleshed out very well, given a full backstory and development to go with it. Mary is the most interesting character in the series, and the show really picked up when she was introduced.

Animation and Sound - 8/10, 9/10

The animation and art style is one of the aspects this anime shines. The anime has a pretty unique look, I especially love the designs of the watercolour backgrounds. It looks gorgeous and it’s something different from most anime, while also making great use for wallpaper material. But because the backgrounds look very beautiful, the character art style is rather standard for A-1 Pictures, I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, but compared to the background, it just feels very different in general. The animation during the action scenes are quite good, they really know how to drag out fast pace action scenes though.

The soundtrack is actually really good. It becomes really noticeable during the montage scenes and really adds to the overall atmosphere of the action and scenes. There is a quite the variety of tracks in the ost, so they have quite a the library to fill out the whole show. The opening is pretty good, I really enjoyed it and thought the animation for it was pretty good, until they changed it a bit later on. They changed it from animations to stills of the characters which I found kind of odd later on. The ED is a really nice piece to listen to, the vocals is very beautiful and pair that up with the watercolour image that it goes with, it fits very well. However both ED and the OP later on, are just really stills, and you’re only watching it to listen to the music.

Enjoyment - 7/10

It’s really hard trying to enjoy this anime. Although I do enjoy the overall story and seeing the growth of the party. It is extremely slow. The anime’s pacing can put any casual fans off. There are many times when characters will either just stare at each other for a few seconds, talk very slowly and a lot of dragged out monologues. Not to mention there a montages in there as well, that can take up so much screen time. Despite that, the anime is still enjoyable because of the mystery of world the characters are in and the things they have to face in order to progress. This become more relevant in the second when Mary is introduce and when the attention was on her, it got interesting. The dungeon raid scenes are quite enjoyable to watch. They feel like a fast pace action scene half the time, but before you know it, they drag out the action scenes as well, and I didn’t even realised this until I looked at the time remaining in the episode. If you can get pass the slow pace scenes it can be an enjoyable anime.

Verdict - 7.5/10

As we draw closer to the end of the review, I give the story a 7. The story really starts off quite boring the and slow pacing doesn’t really help it either. However after a couple of episodes, the show gets more focused and finds a direction on where the story actually wants to a go.

For the animation and sound I give it a 8 and 9. The watercolour backgrounds looks gorgeous and it’s stunningly beautiful as well. The action scenes are well animated and look very good. I wish the character designs were a bit more special to compliment the backgrounds. The soundtrack is amazing, it’s really diverse and adds to the scenes very well. The OP and ED are really good with beautiful vocals.

For the characters I give it a 7. Although it’s a really character driven story, the majority of the characters aren’t really all that interesting. It was only really the development of Haruhiro and the introduction of Mary later on that made the show much more interesting. I do like how the story is about the party learning to grow with each other.

For my own personal enjoyment, I give it a 7. It was really hard getting pass the slow pacing of this anime, which can throw many people off. It starts of slow and ends really slowly. There is a quite a few scenes that drag on. But seeing the party grow together in this mystery world is actually quite interesting to watch.

So for the overall score of Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash, I give it a 7.5/10. If you can look pass the slow pacing of this anime, it is a rather interesting anime, especially when it’s a really character driven story. And it helps with the introduction of Mary. I recommend this show to fans of the rpg and fantasy genre, as it’s quite different to most of the similar genre.

The stuck in an rpg world has pretty much been done to the point where, it’s gotten very generic. But sometimes using that generic concept they can create a show that hit really close to home, because we all know it too well. (Video review is up on my channel, here is the written)

Story - 7/10

Konosuba starts off quite normal at first, when a otaku is just trying to get home to play his new game. Unfortunately he dies on the way back home after suffering heart attack of thinking a truck hit him but in actuality it was a tractor that didn’t even ... hit him. After this he given the option to be reincarnated back to his original world completely or be reincarnated into a fantasy world with MMORPG elements. He is also given the option to take one thing with him into the fantasy world, normally this would mean some special power or item, but instead he chooses the Goddess who mocked him for his death and so begins the miss-adventures of Kazuma and Aqua as they try to get through this fantasy world.

The overall story in general is not really all that interesting. It’s setup to be really basic, go an defeat the Devil King. Unfortunately that’s where the story starts and doesn’t progress. By the end of the show, it felt like the character never really progressed on their journey to defeat the Devil King. But each scenario the characters face hits really close to home. They are able to come up with funny and relatable situation that us gamers have at least experienced before, and the accuracy is quite funny. They do a really good job of parodying the video game genre in general. I like how they were able to take a common genre and concept and make something interesting out of it, by really focusing on the comedy rather than the serious stuff. I like how they are able to make something seem so serious at times, but completely destroy your expectations and surprises you in a good way. That being said, with the lack of proper story progression, the show doesn’t really go anywhere, and there is a small time skip min the middle of the series and can you leave you wondering a bit, because they don’t build the world that much.

Characters - 9/10

The protagonist of Konosuba is Kazuma Satou. Kazuma initially is just shut in neet, but then is forced to live in the fantasy world and get by it. So seeing as he knows all the rpg tropes, he thinks he can live an easy life in the fantasy world. Throughout show, Kazuma sort of develops, but not in the way you would think. He kind of gets to the point where he sees how incompetent his party mates are and strives for a different goal. What makes Kazuma such a likeable character is that, he is really relatable. During the anime I felt so much connection to Kazuma, because I’ve experienced what he has, always complaining about his team and he deserves to complain about his team, because he has to put up with them a lot. But another reason, he is such a likeable character is because, he is different from most rpg protagonist, as he is a complete douche himself.

Aqua is the other protagonist of the show. She is a goddess who reincarnates other people into the rpg world. However, she is a bit of a bitch. If things don’t go her way, she will always make a complaint about it. She always let others know of her status. And if it wasn’t for her overpowered stats, she would just be an annoying useless character. However she does spend all her points on useless abilities, but that doesn’t stop her actually doing work in battle because of her stats. Throughout the show, she doesn’t really change all that much, she pretty much stays as a trash character for the entire show.

The third member of the party is Megumin. The chunibyo mage who can only use one magic skill and that is the all-powerful explosion, but after using it once she literally cannot move anymore making her a literal glass canon. As for development wise, she probably gets the most, but that’s not saying too much because not a lot of the characters get development. She does grow in a way where she starts getting along with her teammates. Her personality and actions brings out a lot of the enjoyment into the show. Also my pick for best girl of the season.

And the last member of the party is Darkness, a Crusader tank class sort of here. Although she possess great strength and defence, she possess zero accuracy meaning although she can take a hit, she cannot give one back. And also she’s a masochist, so getting hit for her is actually a good thing in her book. She is a bit of a confusing character, although she has this side of her, she does have a serious side, where she reveals her chivalry. She probably gets the least attention in the show compared to the others.

What I like a lot about Konosuba is the characters. Each character brings something unique to the table. They all have their main talent but also their main faults which colide with each other giving memorable moments. Each character is very entertaining in their own way and the interactions are some of the more funny interactions I’ve seen.

Animation and Sound - 7/10, 6/10

At first, I wasn’t interested in watching this show, because it’s Studio Deen and when I saw the art work, I thought it looked horrible. Well the art style and animation is really nothing special, but they seem to know that they have a pretty bad messy art style. The characters don’t feel in proportion ever and there is not a lot of details put into them. Where the animation does shine is when magic is being used. Obvious that’s where all their focus in animation goes to. Because the magic scenes look gorgeous, making it look like they’re not from the same show. Especially Megumin’s explosion magic.

The soundtrack is really not that special. They tend to reuse some of the same tracks over and over again, and none the tracks really stood out too much. The opening is rather forgettable, but I do love the ending song performed by the 3 main girls give off such a calm vibe to the show. I always want to not that the voice acting for the main characters are really good. Each one brings a lot of personality to the characters.

Enjoyment - 10/10

Konosuba at first wasn’t on my list to watch because it didn’t look that good from the art work. But I checked it out and by god, it was awesome. It’s a very funny comedy about a really relatable character I can get around. The jokes hit straight at home with me and I loved every moment of it. The character personalities were all really nice to see, add they with the situations they got themselves caught in, really entertains you throughout the show. It’s just really the character interactions paired up with clever jokes, that make this anime very entertaining.

Verdict - 8/10

As we draw closer to the end of the review, I give the story a 7. The story is rather basic and the concept is nothing new, it has been done before. But I like how they take the comedic approach and make it fun story with very funny scenarios for the characters to be in.

For the animation and sound I give it a 7 and 6. The art style looks rather basic and messy at times, but it seems to be well aware at that. But the animation is amazing when they really try especially when they use magic. The soundtrack is nothing too special and the OP is rather skip able. Personally I loved the ED, because it’s so calm and relaxing. But what stood out the most for the sound was the voice acting was really good, as they were able to bring out a lot of the characters.

For the characters, I give it a 9. Sure there wasn’t much development from the characters, but they were the best part of the show. Their each individual personality brought so many dynamics to the show, and their interactions are quite fun to watch. Plus they are all such likeable characters.

For my own personal enjoyment, I give it a 10. The anime hit really close to home for me and a lot of the jokes they used were very clever as they were very relatable. I didn’t ever feel bored watching this, as the characters and their actions were very fun to watch. It was nice to see expectations killed with a funny joke. The different personalities were really enjoyable to see.

So for the overall score of Konosuba, I give it a 8/10 after rounding it all up. Even though it has rather basic concept, the comedic approach to it hits really close to home, especially for gamers. I recommend to Konosuba to fans of the RPG genre while also to those who love comedy, because this legit very funny.

Going into the anime season, there was a bit of hype for this particular series, but for what reason. The hype was for the characters and especially how they are designed. (Video review is up on my channel, here is the written)

Story - 6/10

Dagashi Kashi is set in a quiet rural village, where the occupants spend their time just chilling around, finding some fun things to do. The story is about Hotaru, who works as snacks company recruit, trying to convince the owner of a local dagashi shop to be an employer. However, Yo Shikada, who is the owner of the shop won’t simply agree ... to Hotaru’s term, unless she is able to convince his son, Kokonotsu to take up reigns as the head of the shop, but Kokonotsu has no intention of becoming the next head, as he has his own dreams. And so begins the wonderful attempts and stories on how Hotaru tries to convince Kokonotsu to take over the shop, through Dagashi.

The way the story is presented is that it’s all sketch based, so even though there is a overarching story, you hardly see it progress. There is not really if any progression at all. It’s all about the characters eating Dagashi in different ways. And if you don’t know what Dagashi is, it’s basically Japanese sweets. And that is there really is talk about the story. What I find annoying about the show is, how at times it does feel like was progressing, especially the few times they showed backstories and having characters ponder about the future, but in the end none of that ever really comes in to play, most of them feel like they don’t mean anything. And from there, the story gets kind of stale.

Characters - 7/10

The characters are probably the best part of the show, not for their developments but just for the fact they are fun characters to like.

Kokonotsu Shikada is the main protagonist, and he is setup to becoming the successor of the Dagashi shop, however he dreams to be a manga artist. Of course his dad and Hotaru want him to be next owner of the store. Even he has no intentions of becoming the next store owner, he is somewhat a control freak. As he will always criticise on how his dad runs the store, add that with the fact he has a really decent dagashi knowledge, so him becoming the next owner is not just for the sake of Hotaru, but he has the ability and potential to become one as well. The only development we really get from him at the very end is when he questions whether he wants to pursue his dreams or accept his fate and take over the dagashi shop. Outside of that I wouldn’t see say he’s greatly interesting.

Hotaru Shidare is one of the main girls of the show. She is a very weird character, a very eccentric individual having a completely profound love for dagashi. Literally all she ever eats is dagashi and she lives on dagashi. She is very knowledgeable when it comes to dagashi, and hences uses her knowledge to test Kokonotsu on his knowledge and the two usually end up butting heads with each other on even ground with their knowledge. Throughout the show, she doesn’t really show any sign of change, as if anything involving her, it’s about dagashi. We never really learn much of her backstory or motives.

Saya Endo is one of Kokonotsu’s childhood friends bearing crush on him as well. She is kind of the character to have around as the more straight level headed character, basically she a way for the characters who know a lot about dagashi to explain how to eat dagashi. Saya is not really enthusiastic about dagshi, but she does bear a hidden talent for playing different type of games. She probably shows the most character development, actually deciding what she wants, and she likes the fact she gets the hang around everyone, although sort of selfish of her, she wants everyone to stay together.

To Endo and Yo Shikada are other supporting characters that are kind of just around to provide more comedy to the table. What I like about the characters is their interactions with each other. The characters have good chemistry with each other and they complement each other’s unique personalities as well.

Animation and Sound - 6/10, 6/10

What somewhat made this anime pretty hype was the character designs of Hotaru and I think Saya. Hotaru is kind of out there, with her most distinguish feature being her big eyes, which to be honest looks like a Rinnegan. And Saya being sort of the opposite of her in almost every way has the tiniest eyes. The background and scenery is rather basic as there is not really much going on ever in the quiet town. What they do pretty well is get the dagashi designs right, as when they show it at the end of the episode, it looks very accurate. There are some nice subtle animation during the times when they start eating dagashi.I really like that all the characters have unique designs and very noticeable at the same time. For a slice of life show though, not a lot happens, so you wouldn’t get really complex animation.

What I can say about the OST, is that it’s really bouncy. Like the music suits the comedy genre and although it doesn’t add to the scenes all that much, it is somewhat enjoyable to listen to. You can some classical fancy triumph music in there as well. The opening is pretty catchy and has a nice rhythm to it, until it gets the chorus, which I don’t like it all that much. The ED, sung by Hotaru’s seiyu, is nice but, I’m not a huge fan of it, it sounds simple and kind of annoying.

Enjoyment - 7/10

I really appreciated that the anime tried to do something very different, making a show about Japanese sweets. But the way it was executed can get a little boring. For first few times when eat dagashi and all the creative ways of explaining how to eat can be entertaining, but it gets really repetitive and stale. Same with the comedy, the jokes get old over time. But what I do like about the show is character interactions, their conversations with each other, seeing their personalities collide. And to be honest, I liked the parts when they weren’t eating dagashi more than the parts when they were, because it got really repetitive in the way they presented it. But also the fact, I don’t know what dagashi is and if you don’t have any idea what dagashi is you’re probably not going to care as much, because you don’t know what it is, you don’t know if it’s good or not. The majority of the show is product placement.

Verdict - 6.5/10

As we draw closer to the end of the review, I give the story a 6, because it doesn’t really go anywhere when there a times when I thought it will progress, but it doesn’t. And it’s not much of a great story overall. But I do like the different sketches they can come up with, and appreciate the fact they try to do something very unique,

For the animation and sound, I give it a 6 and 6. The animation is not bad, it does good things here and there, but doesn’t blow me away. The art style is pretty good a unique, I like how they have very unique designs for the characters and make it very noticeable. The ost fits the comedy genre very well, but the OP and ED is rather skip able.

For the characters I give them a 7. Even though there is not really much development by any of the characters, I love the interactions and banter between the characters. Despite the contradicting personalities, they all have really good chemistry with each other.

As for my own personal enjoyment, I give it a 7. Yes the first few episodes were enjoyable, but the formula got old and boring. And the fact I don’t have a great knowledge and sense of dagashi, I couldn’t really care too much for what they were trying to promote. Basically it was product placement.

So for the overall score after rounding it all up, I give Dagashi Kashi a 6.5/10. If you don’t get bored and mind the repetitiveness it is an enjoyable show. I recommend this show to slice of life fans, and those with knowledge of dagashi, as this is mostly likely aimed towards you.

This Review Applies to Both Seasons
Although this anime has an interesting concept, and a pretty well done realistic storyline, it does feel too much like propaganda. (The video review is up on my channel, here is the written)

Story - 7/10

The premise of this anime, is that there is GATE which appeared out of nowhere and opened in Japan. Now invaders from the other side of the Gate started attacking Japan, little do they know, they have invaded a world that is far beyond them, and they get destroyed by the Japan Self-Defence Forces. Yes it is the modern technology of world vs. a fantasy medieval ... world, so in short its Guns vs Swords, and that’s not going to turn out well for one side, at least. And so follows the story of Itami Youji of the JSDF and Japan trying to form a peace treaty with the world beyond the Gate.

The pacing of this anime feels kind of weird. At times it will feel fast, on flowing fine, but there are also times when the pacing just feels slow and drags on. GATE feels likes a war drama, as even though we do follow one of the main characters, there are multiple stories within the anime that play different parts in the whole entire plot. And when there is too many stories, there is quite a few that few rush and incomplete, in fact that is what happened to some of the stories in GATE. Some of the side story is completely forgotten and left out leaving you wondering, what actually happened. And the problem comes in during the second half, when it was a really long drag to the finale and they didn’t really completed it properly, there was so many things left undone, because they focused too much time on one thing, the other is swept to the side. The storyline in general, starts out as an adventure, but soon becomes a political story involving the government of both factions.

Characters - 7/10

Itami Youji is the main character of the show, and he is the one we follow the most. On the surface he is just an otaku just trying to read doujinishi. But in actuality he is a First Lieutenant of the JSDF, and a really highly regarded one at that. However he does imply he is only in the military because it pays well, and he can use that pay check to fund his otaku life, which he would preferably prioritize. Over the course of the show, we get to know a little more about his character, but unfortunately we don’t see a lot of development from him, for the reason being, he always seems to know what to do. There is a slight development around the middle, when he decides to do what’s right than just follow orders, but even that was kind of really done very quickly. Itami pretty just follows orders half the time and is there to represent a soldier, who is caught in everything, including his own harem.

Speaking of his Harem, there are 3 main girls who are part of it; Lelei, Tuka and Rory. Rory who is best girl probably gets the least amount of attention during the show, but she makes up for it for her badassery. Lelei gets some subtle development, as she learns more about the human world she applies her knowledge to help Itami, and is sort of a translator for the JSDF. Tuka probably gets the most attention out of the main girls of the harem, being very fragile at first, not accepting her reality, comes around later to see reality. These characters are pretty much around to fill out Itami’s fantasy harem, which he gains.

Another character that needs some mention is Pina co Lada, yes she sounds like a cocktail. She plays a major part of the peace treaty, as she saw the difference in strength between her army and Japan’s and rather than having a pointless conflict, she is searching for peace between the two countries for the good of her own country. And she would probably get the most development in the show as she learns about Japan, but also learning about her own country and learning how to be a leader.
There is a lot of characters in GATE, because there is a lot of stories. There are few characters that get quite a bit of attention and some that don’t as much. Which really bugs me because some characters’ stories get forgotten, when they felt like they were going somewhere. Especially at the end when some stories just concluded very abruptly and conveniently. What I do like about the characters are their interactions with each other. Seeing the two worlds connect can lead to entertaining and interesting conversations. And I like how all the characters are rather likeable, and the ones you hate, you really hate.

Animation and Sound - 7/10, 8/10

I expected decent standard A-1 animation for this show, and it delivers in that aspect. The art style is rather standard, most the animation is smooth, and they look fine. If you look closely, it does look like the art style was pencil drawn and coloured, because you see slight pencil line marks in the backgrounds and characters. What did bother me were the dragon scenes in the show, when a far the dragon would not look right, it doesn’t look part of that world. The shooting effects is fine, it can be really flashy of course. What impressed me the most was some the magic used in the world, and when a spell or a field starting lightning up, it would like amazing.

The OST is fine for what it is. It is a nice mixture of fantasy and military music. You get quite a few strings here and there. The OP has a nice rock vibe track to, which gives you a conflict and adventure vibe. However the ED is completely different, it’s a more pop track featuring the main 3 girls singing the tracks. It’s a nice catchy dance track and I love it, but there are times during the anime when it would end of a gritty or tense cliff-hanger, and suddenly some happy pop music starts playing, which completely kills the vibe. The sound effects in the show is quite good, the sounds of bullets vs swords really shows us that these are two different worlds conflicting with each other.

Enjoyment - 8/10

I much rather enjoyed the concept of GATE. It was an interesting idea, mixing the two worlds together and putting it in a realistic setting, by getting the politics and military involved. However I wish the story was a bit faster, because at times it will drag and you just want to see how the 2 worlds interact with each other more, which was the most thing I enjoyed about the show. Seeing the 2 worlds react to each other’s culture. But there is one major problem I find with this anime, and that is, it’s TOO one sided. Everything is completely in favour of the JSDF. They can literally do no wrong, in the show, they never feel like they are in trouble at any given time in the show. Except when they were facing a dragon, but that was short lived. And it kind of annoys me because its propaganda, they want to show how great the military is, but it doesn’t lead to great story telling, because there is false suspense. Like I said the most enjoyment of this show is seeing the 2 worlds interact with each other.

Verdict - 7.5/10

As we draw closer to the end of the review, I give the story a 7. It has an really interesting concept and executes in main plot rather well with its realistic story. But the pacing can be off at times and there were a lot of different stories, which feel forgotten.

For the animation and sound, I give it a 7 and 8. The animation and art style is standard for A-1, and the pencil style sort of works, but I was never really wowed by many things except the magic. The dragon looked like it didn’t belong in the world. The soundtrack is fine and does a good job of mixing the 2 genres together. The OP is pretty good and the ED is really nice catchy, but it can kill the vibe sometimes at the end of a tense episode.

For the characters I give it a 7. There is a lot of likeable characters in the show, with slight development for every character. And that is still impressive, for such a huge cast. But some of them are left forgotten, unfinished and rushed. I do like the character interactions, but I felt like there could’ve been more.

For my own personal enjoyment, I give it a 8. I was really interested in the concept and hooked into the world. I enjoyed watching the two worlds interact and learn about one another. However, it felt too one sided for me to really be suspense of anything during the time this anime was aired, it’s kind of predictable.

So for the overall score of GATE, I give it a 7.5.10 after round it all up. I recommend this show to people who love military genre or those who love fantasy, or people who like watching alternative dimensions, because this is probably for you.

Here is an anime with an incredible well thought out story and ending, it is easily and should be considered in the running for anime of year of 2016, and the year has just really started. (The video review is on my channel, here is the written)

Story - 9/10

Erased tells the story about a struggling manga author, Satoru Fujinuma. But that’s that’s not the important part of the story. Satoru has this supernatural ability called a ‘Revival’ which he goes back in time a few moments before an incident happens, therefor giving him the opportunity to correct his actions and prevent the incident from ... happening. Now here is the meat of the story, a bit of spoiler for the first episode, his mother is killed, by the way who is the best mum in the world. And this causes a ‘Revival,’ but instead of going back moments before his mother is killed, he is sent back 18 years in the past, back to his 11 year old self. Now he is given not only the opportunity to save his mum, but also to all the victims around him when he was 11.

I love how this story is set up. From the very first episode, we get a glimpse of his powers and how they work, then we get sent into the main story, where everything gets interesting. And how does this show keep itself interesting, by having a mystery in it with a lot of cliff hangers. The way the plot is structured is a way Satoru is trying to save different victims that are all connected to the one killer. The story is played out very well, except I would say during the last few episodes it does feel a little bit rushed. The mystery itself, to be honest it’s not really that hard to solve, they weren’t really giving much thought of hiding the killer, so the reveal was too surprising. However this is what I loved, the ending. Not going to spoil anything, but it just explains everything, including the themes and motivations that happened in the story very well, it wasn’t simply a case of ‘who the mystery person was’, the story is more about Satoru and people he saves, and I loved that, because it just completely changed my outlook on the whole anime.

Characters - 9/10

Satoru Fujinuma is the main protagonist of the Erased. Originally was a 29 year old struggling in life until he had a ‘Revival’ and was sent back to his original 11 year old self. Now with a head filled with many regrets of the things he couldn’t do in the past, he hopes to change that by preventing a chain of murders from happening again. And this is what I love about his character, his development. Initially having really no motivation to improve himself in life, he decides to try and help the people around him, and this helps mature his character as the story progress. He learns more about the people around him and learns how to deal with things, and is able to improve on it, and his resolution in the end, freaking genius.

Kayo Hinazuki is one of the other main characters in the story, while also a major plot device. She was one of the original victims in the chain of murders, and so Satoru is trying to prevent her murder by simply hanging out with her more and getting to know her. Now I like her character development from an isolated closed individual, to someone who starts opening up more to the people around her due to the actions of Satoru. Her relationship with Satoru is a nice and innocent one to follow as well.

I’m not going to get into the other characters because pretty much everyone else is a suspect, and I don’t want to get into those characters, because I’ll let you check it out for yourselves. But I like pretty much all the other characters, their developments and their motivations, as the story progress it’s nice to see where the characters end up. Their interactions are nice and they are such likeable thought out characters as well.

Animation and Sound - 8/10, 9/10

The animation and art style is pretty standard for A-1 Pictures, so basically its look good and smooth. Not a lot of bright colours, its rather dull because of the dramatic mystery setting. Only a few times around the mid-points you can see a bit drop in animation quality, but at least it’s not like that for the rest of the show. There is also a really nice use of colours though, especially when indicating blood lust, how certain things would turn red and draw some suspicions another way. Something I loved about this anime was whenever Satoru was in he’s 11 year old self, there will be black bars on top and bottom of the screen giving it a really nice cinematic presentation. And this works really well, because whenever anything to do with memory comes up, they’ll show Satoru’s memories through film reels which look really cool and add a nice touch to the themes. And if you look closely at some scenes, you may get some hints on the killer. And there is some nice beautiful scenes as well.

The music in this anime, starts off pretty normal just doing its job of fitting in with the scene. However some of the tracks in this show is amazing, especially during the more tense scenes and emotional scenes. The OST for the more tense scenes does such a good job at building tension and can get your heart racing. The more emotional scenes, it’s just beautiful to listen to. Not only is the OST a pretty good OST, with some good tracks, but the OP and ED are amazingly great as well. In fact the OP is so good, they just basically re-used an old Asian Kung Fu Generation because it works well, and it’s a good song. The ED is good as well, but I think when pairing it up with the artistic visuals in it in, it’s amazing to watch. Also note, the voice acting is pretty good, even though the main cast are basically newcomers. I love hearing Satoru’s adult voice in his mind when he’s a kid, but also love how they also flipped it later, so when he was an adult we heard he’s kid’s voice in his head, and I think it’s so clever how they did it.

Enjoyment - 10/10

From the very first episode of Erased, I was hooked onto the show. I was already invested in the characters and into the mystery and story. In fact, I thought it was worth it, watching this anime weekly. And the reason for this, is because the cliff-hangers. They use cliff-hangers very well, it keeps you engaged and wanting more. I enjoyed seeing the characters grow, and develop as the cleverly thought out written story progress. I was really interested on how the characters will deal with the killer and mystery. Even though I thought the mystery wasn’t that hard, I was more interested in the motivation behind the killer and how things are done, to prevent the murders from happening. I think the show is very engaging and has really interesting concept that gets you hooked on episode one. And also I think the ending explaining the themes and true story was such a good payoff.


Verdict - 9/10

As we reach closer the end of the review, I give the Story of Erase a 9. It’s a wonderful pace well thought story. It was cleverly done, even though the mystery was rather weak and some plot holes as well, paired up with the fact they never really explained the powers properly. However I thought it was an interest concept and the final themes of the show was brilliant.

For the animation and sound I give it a 8 and 9. The animation and art style quality is pretty standard for A-1 which pretty good. The nice use of the cinematic bars was a nice touch to fit with the themes of film reels. Some inconsistent animation around the middle can be a bit weird but they are not too bad. The OST does a really great job of building tension, that keeps your heart racing. While also providing us with some nice emotional tracks. The OP and ED is just freaking awesome.

As for the characters I give them a 9. I thought each character’s story and development was well thought out. They are all really likeable characters. I like how Satoru’s development helps everyone else’s development, he’s story from being a loner to hero is nice. Hinazuki’s change was very nice to see as well, while being also very touching.

For my own personal enjoyment, I give it a 10. Episode 1 hooked me with its concept, characters and setup. Everything cliff-hanger had engaged and pumped up to watch the next episode, that honestly made me thought it was better waiting the week rather than watching it all in one sitting. I like seeing how the characters deal with the situations at hand and how the mystery was going to be solve.

So for the overall score after rounding it all up, I give Erased, a 9/10. People may say it’s another overhype anime. But it’s still a really good watch, with an incredible start and a thought provoking ending. I recommend this anime to those who love mystery, slice of life, psychological, but really this is a must watch for almost anyone.

This is one of those more guilty pleasure shows, it’s got a ridiculous concept, but the genre is nothing new. It’s another harem comedy genre, yet I found this to be quite entertaining, as it’s one of those anime that is just fun to watch. (The Video Review is up on my Channel, here is the written)

Story - 6/10

Shomin Sample story begins as our protagonist, Kimito Kagurazaka, an ordinary high school student, is kidnapped by man service and is brought and force to enrol in an all prestigious girl boarding school. But why do all this in the first place. The reason is because the ... school is completely isolated from the outside world, in order to protect the innocence of the girls, however there is a problem in that, as the moment a student graduates from the school, they are unable to cope with the outside world, as they have been isolated from that. So Kimito is the ‘Shomin Sample’, Shomin meaning common. They chose him because they believe having a male commoner, will provide a gentle way to introduce the girls to the realities of the outside world. Also for the fact they chose him, because they thought he was gay, therefor didn’t feel he was a threat to the girls.

Shomin Sample episode structures are more broken into skit segments. There not really an overarching story, except for the first half when Kimito was trying to help one of the girls get popular, but after that, the cast of characters just go off and do various things with Kimito. However do find these skits to be rathe entertaining and a bit interesting at the same time. It’s like a mixture of the slice of life activities that you see in other anime, but with the twist as Kimito, is the one teaching the girls how common things work, and this can sometimes lead to him trolling these girls. It’s what you expect into typical moe show, it’s not really that deep or all that special.

Characters - 7/10

Kimito Kagurazka is the main protagonist of the show and also the victim of the lucky harem situation he’s been put in. Unfortunately for him, he has to play the gay guy, otherwise they snip something off of him. What sets him slightly apart from other harem protagonist, is that he is aware of the situation his in, and sometimes use it to his advantage to play pranks on the girls, by trolling them about the common outside world. But that doesn’t stop him from being oblivious at times. Un fortunately as he just plays the role of a helper and observer to everyone else, he doesn’t really have much development compared to the others.

Aika Tenkuubashi is one of the 4 main female protagonist part of the harem. Her aim to get popular, and she believes by being the most commoner out of all the girls in the school, she believes she can achieve that. And it’s a really nice development we see from her, as she was outcast at first, but grows to hang out with the other girls soon after.

Reiko Arisugawa is the most prestigious role model girl in the school. She is one of the perfect examples of a girl who is completely adopted to the life style of a pure girl. And hence she is incompetent when trying to understand the commoners life. But she does try her best and probably gives the most effort trying to retain her most popular girl status at the school still. She does have a nice arc towards the end of the show, but other than that, not too much development.

Another one of the main girls is Hakua Shiodome. The loli of the group and quiet one, rarely showing any emotion. She is considered a genius, and actually isolated not only from commoners, but also the pure girls in the school, so she doesn’t know any almost common sense, and she doesn’t really show any signs of development, being the emotionless doll she is.

And we finally get to best girl Karen Jinryou, who is a katana wielding awkward beautiful girl. Other than playing the awkward girl who just does entertaining things and taking things too seriously, she doesn’t really have much character development, other than respecting Kimito over time, although she doesn’t really do too much.

Although I love the characters and their interactions with one another. I can’t really say that any of them get really that much development. Sure Aika and Reiko get some, but that’s only during their respective character arcs, and they are kind of back seated during the other episodes. But it is the interactions between all these different personalities is what I love about the characters in general, even though they’re not very deep, they do provide a good chemistry.

Animation and Sound 6/10, 5/10

Being a very moe show, the art style is rather cutesy. The character designs make every character look much smaller than their ages, even they’re not really lolis. It’s rather standard and simple for the most part even during the more intense scenes. The animation in general repeats itself a few times, but I guess that sort of understandable consider Silver Link did put out 3 anime during the season, and you can clearly see which one did put more effort in. Even the art style does look innocent, that doesn’t stop it from giving us fan service, for both guys and girls.

The soundtrack is not that great in general. Nothing at all really stands out, as they are just there to be put in the scenes. It fits the theme of being at prestigious school, so there is quite a bit of classical music to fill up the scenes. The opening theme is a really catchy song, and it has a nice tune and ring to it. The ending song is fine as well, although it doesn’t have the most memorable tune to it.

Enjoyment - 8/10

I found this to be a rather enjoyable show, despite its simplicity. I liked the character and their interactions with each other. I like how Kimito trolls the other girls and I like how the girls react to situation they never been in. I also like the fact Kimito, goes along with most situations and can make some cliché scenes even funnier. There is quite a few references in this show, if you are able to pick up on it. It is more one of those guilty pleasure shows, that just makes you laugh for a bit.

Verdict - 6.5/10

As we draw closer to end of the review, I give the story a 6. Even though there may not be much of an overall arching story, I do like how they take the concept and try to create situations for the characters to react differently in normal circumstances.

For the animation and sound I give it a 6 and 5. The animation is not really that special in general, the cute art style fits the moe genre of the show, and I do like how they use bright colours a lot to make it slightly innocent. The sound even it fits, the scenes, it is very subtle, as you would not notice or hear it. The opening is nice and catchy and the ending, is alright for what it is.

The characters, I give them a 7. I like the different personalities of each character and their interactions with one another. I like how Kimito is a bit different to other protagonist and trolls the girls. They bring out most of the enjoyment into the show. There is not a lot of development in them, except for maybe Aika and Reiko.

For my own personal enjoyment, I give it 8. I love some of the skits that were pulled off, I like how the girls react differently to a common situation, I thought it was smart with the comedy. I like how the main protagonist was not a complete dense idiot, but more like the situation he was forced in. The laughed quite a bit during this show, and it became one of my guilty pleasure shows, but there was some drama in the show, that I really felt nothing for.

So for the overall score of Shomin Sample, after rounding it all up, I give it a 6.5/10. It’s a harem show that uses its concept smartly for comedy. I recommend this show to those looking to kill time, or who like the harem comedy genre. It’s not really a deep show, but it can make you laugh.

Most magical knight anime are very similar, this particular one takes a slightly different step, by adding a romance plot that goes somewhere, an interesting main character with a harsh past and having some of the best action scenes of 2015. (The video review is up on my channel, but here is the written)

Story - 7/10

Chivalry of a Failed Knight story line and setup is rather generic. There is a magical knight tournament for high schools known as the Seven Star Battle Festival. Those who fight in this tournament are known as Blazers, people who materialise weapons to fight in battle. Now the main character ... Ikki makes a promise with a princess, that he and her together, will make through the selection matches and have one final battle in the last round. Pretty standard story so far.

Even though the overall story is pretty standard, it’s the sub stories in between that what makes this an interesting show. Ikki is dubbed the ‘Worst One’ all because his magic power isn’t all that great, so a lot of people look down on him and so he has to work his way up to the top, through his own ability rather than relying on the magical power everyone else has. It’s really a character driven story, as we learn about different characters along the way and find out their reasoning for wanting to win the festival. It’s interesting because the build up to each fight felt very meaningful as we get a good insight on to both sides of the fight, and seeing the trials and tribulations each character has to go through. On top of that, there is a romance story as well, between the two main characters that actually go somewhere, and it’s nice to see their relationship build up from there, even though it may be subtle.

Characters - 8/10

Ikki Kurogane is the main protagonist of this anime. His personality is rather generic of a normal hero, he’s got a caring personality and obvious about the girls around him. What I found interesting about his character is his past, on how wasn’t allowed to learn anything from professionals because of the way he was born, so everyone neglected him, and we see how hard the struggles were for him to reach the top after being dubbed the ‘Worst One.’ And I like how he changes the other characters around him, he gets people to respect him and in return he teaches them how to be stronger themselves. Because since he had to learn himself, he has become a very knowledgeable person, while also putting it into practice. Obviously his biggest character development comes in with Stella.

Stella Vermillion is the A-Rank knight of the academy. She is considered the strongest knight, because of her abilities. At first she does come across as another tsundere. However after some time, she is actually shown to be someone who is trying to earn respect the right way through hard work, rather than a title. And her interactions with Ikki helps her character develop into a strong character by the end, as she is able to trust herself more and Ikki, as they go out and understand each other more.

Shizuku Kurogane is another character that gets quite of time in the show. She is Ikki’s sister with a brother complex. She was the only one to understand Ikki’s situation growing up, she hated the family for mistreating him, and therefor does everything she can for Ikki. Her character shows quite a bit of development as she pretty much stays as she learns what it really means to be a loving sister for Ikki, because her naivety at first puts everyone off.

What Rakudai does very well is give us a lot of different characters and actually give them rather interesting backstories, and it’s not like all the characters are the same, some characters are completely arrogant, some actually are fighting for family, and some fighting for pride. It’s with all these characters, each story arc gets interesting, we see the initial build up to the fight and the resolve. I especially did like Ikki’s build up to his last fight, as we really learn a lot about his character and what he has gone through. The interactions he has with each character felt very meaningful. However, what kind of bugged me was, after the character for each arc was done, we don’t see them that much outside of it, so that may leave some people annoyed.

Animation and Sound - 10/10, 7/10

The art and the animation is probably the best thing about Rakudai. The world and character designs itself is rather standard compared to most anime, and that’s a good thing, because it looks good and smooth. Being an ecchi genre as well, you’re going to get fan service, and I would say at least they separate the fan service from the action scenes, but it seems some scenes they were trying to make it emotional, but the fan service kind of was distracting. And also the when do show fan service, it’s pretty revealing, but not nudity. Now to the best part of this anime, the animation for the fight scenes. These were probably one of the most gorgeous action scenes I’ve seen in 2015. Yes it I think it’s up there with Unlimited Blade Works. The special effects for each fight is gorgeous, you really see the fluidity of each element. My favourite use of the art is when Ikki is using his abilities which changes the art style completely, into a monochrome world, and the stronger it is, the more awesome it looks. Also I like how every fight scene the quality never really drops, it just gets better as the series progress, and it’s not simply just sword fights, as there are many other ways to fight as well, so there is quite the variety, and the animation quality never really drops. Probably one of my favourite fights of the year was Shizuku vs Tohka, the strategy behind that fight and the execution by the one character made it really enjoyable. Oh yeah, and the last 2 episode, when they used the monochrome art style, it worked so well at building the hype surrounding the final fight, while really adding to atmosphere of the story.

The music is in anime, I’ll get to what I love the most soon, so let’s start with the ost. Nothing really stands out too much to make it a great ost, maybe only the second last episode when Ikki was going through a hard time, when the music really added to the atmosphere, but that was probably the help of the art style. The ending song is ok, it’s nothing great in my opinion, it’s a slow pace song with a gothic feel to it. I said I was going to get to my favourite part of the music, which is the opening of hype and epicness. I don’t even care about some of bad grammar in lyrics, but the instrumental, the rock with blues like feel, really is amazing to listen to. Pair that up with the awesome black and white art style opening, and you have yourself such a hype opening with amazing animation at that.

Enjoyment - 9/10

At first, despite Rakudai really showing nothing new to the genre, it did had a certain appeal I was very entertain by. The comedy in this show is what I think separates it from other genres, as the first episode showed us that it was very aware of itself, and used that to its advantage and had good timing with their jokes. In the second episode it does become more generic, but after that it’s completely a fun anime to watch from there, and the comedy is quite funny. Watching the relationship between Ikki and Stella grow over the course is amusing to watch, because it’s a relationship that actually goes somewhere, albeit not completely deep, but still pretty good. And the best thing about watching this show is the action and fight scenes. Each fight scene is unique and brings out a lot of each character. It’s gorgeous to watch and the strategies that each character goes into each fight, is entertaining to watch. And every time Ikki uses ‘Itto Shura’ I always get hype, because there is ass kicking coming. Especially the last battle, that was hyped.

Verdict - 8/10

So for the story of Rakudai, I give it a 7, the concept is really not all that special and setup is rather basic. But I do like the story of aiming to the top, when you’re the bottom and gaining that respect Ikki deserves. Although the overall story is nothing to write home about, the arcs that make up the whole show individually is really remarkable to watch, and they got better as the plot progresses.

For the animation and sound I give it a 10 and 7. The animation is amazing to watch, the fights and the special effects for each magic being used looks really good. Each fight is unique and the animation never really drops during the duration of the show. And I love the art style when Ikki goes into ‘Itto Shura,’ that Black and White art style just gives more hype. The ost, is nothing special at all, if anything almost forgettable except for some tracks towards the end. However the Opening is amazing, it was my favourite opening of 2015, animation and song wise.

For the characters I give it a 8. I love the development and interactions between Ikki and Stella. It’s a relationship that goes somewhere and they build on it, rather than sticking to the generic harem route. The other characters during their arcs are quite interesting and well developed as well. However I just wished we saw more of them after their respective arcs have finished.

For my own personal enjoyment I give it a 9. I loved watching this show, the comedy is fun and the character interactions were great. I couldn’t wait for every fight scene, because they all look amazing to watch. Some fan-service may throw you off the mood, but it’s really not that bad. And even though, I loved the last fight, and hype that was built towards it, I still just expected slightly more.

So for overall score of Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry, I give it a 8/10 after rounding it all up. It may not have the most unique concept, but the smart use of the comedy and romance story that goes along with it, makes it an entertaining watch and the action are great. I recommend this anime to fan of the action and romance genre, or if you want a decent magical knight style anime, this is a pretty good choice.

If there was an anime they came during the Spring Season that was hyped, it was this one. This anime had an amazing start, with an interesting setting, characters and story, but where did it just go wrong. (The Video Review is up on my channel, here is the written)

Story - 5/10

Now even though the show is called Gangsta. It is not about boys in the hood type of gangsters, it is closer to the mafia. There a different gangs in the world of Ergastulum, each one with a pretty gritty background. It actually a city built as a quarantine zone. The main story is ... about 2 ‘Handymen’ mercenaries, Nicholas and Worick, who take on odd jobs that the mobs and cops don’t want to handle. Apart from Mobs and Cops, there is a Mercenary group known as Twilights, also known as ‘Tags.’ What Tags are, are basically people, trained to be Mercenaries with drugs known as Celebrer. These drugs are used to enhance the body, making the consumer almost super human.

Over the course of the story, especially for the first half, we are given a setting and a plot to follow. Basically as the ‘handymen’ do more jobs, flashbacks of their past are shown more, on how they came to be. Which was really interesting, the history between Nicholas and Worick is the best part of the show. The first half does a fine job of setting up the world, and explains it well. However, the second half is a train wreck. They introduced this interesting world, with many characters and too much story for it to handle. By the end of the series, there was so many stories that were told, and none of them came to a conclusion. I’m am dead serious. There was stories, which didn’t make sense, there were ones that was supposed to link to together, and there were some that was completely boring and did given the shaft. This is disappointing, because it had a really great first half, but then completely lost focus and tried to do too much, and basically made a pointless second half.

Characters - 6/10

There 2 main characters that make up the ‘Handymen’ the third I would hardly call a main, considering the treatment she got.

Nicholas Brown apart from being a Handymen, he is also a twilight, wielding a katana as he’s weapon of choice. At first he plays the role of a badass gangster wielding a blade in a suit, however as the series progress, he is revealed to be what you not expect. His backstory along with Worick is really interesting on how they met. However his motivation feels lacking, we see who motivates him to do what he does, but we don’t know why. And this a big major negative theme throughout the show. What makes him unique as a protagonist, is that he is deaf, but here has exceptionally strong vision and lip read skills. In a way he is sort of a silent protagonist, because he can’t communicate properly.

Worrick Acangelo is other Handymen, a laid-back member of society, who is just trying to do his job. Unlike most other characters in the show, Worrick doesn’t possess any special abilities. The only thing he does possess that is unique to him is his ability to memorise anything given to him. Worrick has an interesting background, he started from a wealthy background to the a normal into the slums of Ergastulum. Along with Nick,their backgrounds are the most interesting. Unfortunately for him and Nick, they get less screen time during the second half, and almost become secondary characters.

And the final supposed main character is Alex Benedetto, a former prostitute turned into secretary of the Handymen. As the story progress she tries to learn more about her new employers and given some development and a backstory, which felt like they were leading somewhere. And she does feel like a character that was just around for some fan-service, there is no other female character in the show that is as sexualised as her. Unfortunately she falls along the lines with many other characters, story and development got a cut short. There is so many characters that have interesting backgrounds and stories, but because there is so many of them, not did none of them get proper development, none of them of them had a concluding story to follow. So all the added characters felt like unnecessary extras.

Animation and Sound - 8/10, 8/10

If there is one thing Gangsta. did right it’s in its presentation. The art style suits the themes perfectly, making it look like everything you want in a crime drama. It’s nitty and gritty and looks awesome. It does a great job at setting up the world, it lets us know that this is nowhere near a peaceful city, it is a city filled with corruption. The animation for the fight scenes are pretty good in my opinion, it is animated well. Unfortunately there is very few of them, and they pass by pretty quick. And most of the character designs look pretty similar, as in their faces look pretty close to each other.

The ost is really good, especially if its setting up for the atmosphere or complimenting it very well. It’s a great mixture or Hip Hop and Jazz music to suit the modern day criminal underworld setting. There is some electronica in there as well, giving us a good variety to listen to. There is one particular scene in show, where Alex starts singing some blues, and it’s a really beautiful thing to listen to and it does a great job at setting up for what’s going to happen in the future, because for that moment everything is peaceful. The opening song is pretty epic, the animation is stylish and it’s a really cool song to listen to. The ending song is much slower, even though the art style is the same in the ending as in for the opening, the song is rather forgettable.

Enjoyment - 7/10

At the start of the summer season, this was one of my favourite anime of the season. It had such high hopes and it started off well. I was very interested in the story and the invested in the world that they setup, but the slow pacing kind of threw me off a bit, and adding a lot more stories into the mix made it even more confusing. Learning about Nicholas and Worrick’s past are the most enjoyable moments in the show, although its slow, it gives us a good idea on how unfair the real world is and this is the reality of world of Gangsta. Nothing is ever a happy ending. The fight scenes are enjoyable to watch, but there was far too little of them, because dialogue
took so much time.

Verdict - 7/10

For the story of Gangsta. I give it a 5. Although the first half was interesting, it was the second half that really let this series down. They added way too many stories, into such as short amount of time, but what really was the kicker was none of the extra stories were ever completed. Which left to a unsatisfying incomplete ending, with many answers left out.

For the animation and sound, I give a 8. The animation and art style is really good at setting up a nitty gritty, crime world of an anime. The animation for the fight scenes look good, but there were too few of them. The ost is great, it has many variety of tracks, filled with Hip-Hop, Jazz and Electronica. The op was great, whereas the ending felt underwhelming.

For the characters I give it a 6. Only Nick and Worrick get some proper development and loads of screen time for their backgrounds. They have a really interesting background, which make up the best part of the show. However there were way too many characters with backgrounds left out.

For my personal enjoyment I give it a 7. The first half is what got me hooked onto this anime, just learning about the characters past and enjoying the more mature gritty setting of the anime. After the midway point, it lost focus and my personal enjoyment declined. I legit thought this could’ve been a strong contender for anime of the year.

For the overall score after rounding it all up, I give Gangsta. a 7/10. Gangsta. is an example of show that started really strong, but then drops heavily around the half way mark. If you’re going to watch this anime I recommend at least the first until episode 7, when we learn about the characters past. I recommend this anime to people are looking for a crime drama and those who are into mobs, and those type of settings. Be wary of the halfway point, know that this not a complete anime. And it doesn’t look like second season will be coming, because Manglobe has shutdown.

The best way to describe this anime, is that the music and soundtrack is bloody awesome. Mixed that in with such an interesting world and concept, and you get a really unique anime. (The Video Review is up on my channel, here is the written)

Story - 8/10

Kekkai Sensen is set in an alternative reality of New York. There was a huge explosion between Earth and the Netherworld with New York caught in the middle. This explosion brought beings from the netherworld to Earth. Now normally with these type of storylines, they tend to follow the path as a alien invasion, however that is not the ... case in this. Instead of that the visitors and earthlings live with each other in harmony, for most cases. Because like Earth, the Netherworld has it’s criminals as well. The story follows mostly Leonardo Watch, who is a member of a crime fighting organization known as Libra, are group of people trying to bring balance to the two worlds, by fighting against whatever crime that involves both worlds.

With such a unique and interesting concept, there is one thing that the writers must do. And that is the world building. For such a unique world, I guess they explained as best as they can. Because they explain how most the powers, the characters have and their backstories are explained fairly well. However the world building in general, explaining the lores and how things work, could’ve been done better, as there a times where you will have no idea what is going on. And this comes in with the pacing, the pacing jumps around, sometimes it’s quite fast and feels rushed, and sometimes it just really slows down and when that happens it’s hard to keep track of what’s going, because the constant changes in pace. One minute they’re discussing something, the next they are all suddenly in a rush to save the world. However despite these problems, the story is very nice and touching, with some thrills here and there, and it has a pretty good ending. It’s just that it’s confusing and hard to follow.

Characters - 8/10

There is a lot of characters in Kekkai Sensen, and like a lot of shows with a lot of characters, a lot of them don’t get development and are kind of there for a unique character to be introduce each episode. The main protagonist is Leonardo Watch who has the power of the ‘All Seeing Eyes of God’ Which is just as it sounds, it’s the ability to let him see anything, but at the cost of his sister’s eyes. And this brings me to another plot point, Leonardo’s sister is his motivation to gain more courage and find out more about his power and use them for his sister’s sake. Now there is quite a bit of character development from him, as he starts out not trusting the people around, but learns they need him and he needs them to move forward. And you can see the courage he gains by the end of show. However one thing that does bug is, he talks about his sister so much, yet we know nothing about her, and what happened to her afterwards. She sacrificed her sight, and is receiving letters from Leonardo, but we don’t know how much of a role she plays besides an outside motivation for Leonardo.

Like I said previously there is a lot of characters in Kekkai Sensen, too much to go through them all. But there are some they need some attention, especially from Libra Klaus von Reinherz. At first, Klaus just fills the void for badass cool personality, but as we learn more about him. We see why he fights and where does his morals lie. We see him protecting those in his organization and trying to understand the enemy which I love about his character. There are two other characters they play an important role in the story and they are the twins White and Black. Now these characters are a key mystery to the overall plot, so I’m not going to spoil anything, but their story just hits you in the feels and they have such good interactions with the main characters.

Animation and Sound - 9/10, 10/10

The art style its feels very mature and gritty. There is not a lot of colours, and it really highlights the urban city of this alternative New York, which really works for this type of setting. It makes you feel right there, at the moment, and pair that up with the soundtrack which I will get into later. The designs of each character feels really refreshing and unique and I like how they were able to blend it the netherworld inhabitants with the humans and not making it completely stand out with one another, as they all share this world. The action scenes and the way they use their blood powers is really nice to look at, although it can be a bit simple at times, as in they’ll use their blood powers but then a big text words come up, and it’s suddenly explosions, not really that impressive sometimes. The action scenes are good, but not all them have the same quality of high animation. And this comes in with a problem with some of the pacing changes when scenes changes, it’s hard to follow at times, and some scenes look simpler than the others.

I can’t finish this review without talking about the soundtrack. Because as I said in my top 25 anime of 2015, it hands down has the best soundtrack of the year. The combination of jazz and blues music really add to Broadway atmosphere of this alternative reality of New York. It’s amazing, the vocals and the instrumentals are just beautiful to listen to, and it adds so much to the scene and you can listen to it on its own, without needing the world that it was made for. Also the soundtrack isn’t the only thing great about the sound in general. The opening song is wonderful to listen to and the animation is nice, I kind of regret not putting it higher on my top openings of the year list. But maybe because the ending song was just on a league of its own. I was always looking forward to when the get to the ending song, because it’s an upbeat catchy tune of a song with awesome animation which made it feel like a Broadway spectacle, with the cast of characters dancing to the beat, and it was probably my favourite song of the year. Hands best soundtrack of the year.

Enjoyment - 8/10

The concept and world of Kekkai Sensen, had me really interested in this anime. I really enjoyed the characters and the way they interact in this alternative reality, but my enjoyment can only go so far as when I’m trying understand on what they’re trying to pull off. Because some things aren’t explained all that clearly and the way story jumps around, it’s confusing. Oh yeah, I haven’t mention the comedy in this show, I think it’s pretty good well timed comedy, has good timing and doesn’t really distract away from some of the scenes too much, that being said it’s not laugh out loud funny, but still pretty good for a quick giggle. And you will be surprised by the amount of comedy in the anime. But I just love listening to the music, and the ending song just got him hyped up for more episodes just to watch the ending song.

Verdict - 8.5/10

As we draw closer to the end of the review, I give the story an 8. Because despite its pacing problems and some confusion in the story once in a while. The whole entire premise and concept kept me interested for the whole time it was running. And the overall story was touching and an epic thrill ride.

For the animation and sound, I give it a 8 and 10. The animation and art style is fine. They did a really good job recreating the alternative New York. The action scenes were great only they kept a good quality for all of them rather than having some of them be pretty simple. The soundtrack like, is by far the best soundtrack of the year. The Jazz and Blues really add to the Broadway atmosphere of the whole show and its wonderfully composed. The opening and ending songs are great, especially the ending, which is my favourite song of the year.

For the characters I give them an 8. I love the characters Leonardo, Klaus, and the twins. And I love their character development. Zapp was an entertaining character as well. Because of the huge cast, I wished we had more time the learn about them, and wish there was more development. And it was disappointing, we didn’t learn too much about Leonardo’s sister.

For my own personal enjoyment I give it an 8. With some confusing and hard to follow story points in the anime, it was hard trying to enjoy those moments, when you don’t understand what is going on. But for the most part the show is really enjoyable, just with the concept alone. The comedy is surprisingly clever and it’s funny how they use it quite often, I did not expect a show called Blood Blockade Battlefront to be quite funny. But the music was just perfect and I loved listening to it, which made the show.

So for the overall of score of Kekkai Sensen after rounding it up, I give it a 8.5/10. It in anime with a very interesting concept and world backed up its wonderful soundtrack, that really just shows how much music can do for an anime. I recommend Kekkai Sensen to those who love to watch Supernatural, Action and those who love to watch Crime Thrillers.