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This is an anime about loss/ disaster and the human experience as a natural disaster hits Tokyo.
The story follows two siblings as they are caught up in the midst of disaster and follows their journey to get back home... never knowing if home is ok and what actually waits for them. The animes strong points is building vibes and building up your connection with the central characters. And then plunges your emotions on a roller coaster.

I wasn't initially sure how they would make 11 episodes out of this as the initial disaster hits very early on. But thats the point. The main ... focus of this anime, is the human experience, the horrors those left alive have to deal with.

The low scores for this anime are fair, its an anime yes it doesn't capture the true horrors of what a real life earthquake would... and perhaps the characters reactions are not quite realistic. But this anime does a dam good job at telling us a heartfelt story. Where the main message is to cherish what you have in the moment, because life can be snuffed out in a blink of an eye.
The final two episodes of this anime had me in pieces. And the anime is very clever with its use of music or... should I say lack. There are times in this anime where its silence...the use of silence is deafening on a viewer where the anime has been really loud. The silence is used very cleverly to draw out the often speechless moments one may experience.

There is a particular scene which is very well done, where the use of color/composition and foreshadowing actually cleverly tells you all you need to know. But its subtle so the initial impact later hits harder.

The characters grow with their experiences and by the end, so much growth really feels real. The anime shows us the human element to disasters which some of us in countries, which are not on fault lines cannot begin to imagine. Simply hearing death tolls is all we get being so far away. But the scary thing with all natural disasters movies/ anime or works of fiction is... these things do happen. And can happen. I stand by my belief that horror doesn't scare me... the most scariest thing to me is this genre... because it can and does happen.

This anime must hit very differently in Japan in countries where earthquakes are very much real and part of expected daily life. So my view may be different from someone who has a more real experience upon the topic. But what can I say , I am so happy I picked up this anime and experienced the roller coaster of emotions. The lighting is beautiful, theres some really nice symbolic scenes tucked away. The way the big build up hits at the end is something I will not be forgetting any time soon. Honestly, go into this anime with a pinch of salt... but I really do think its worth your viewing time plus its only 11 episodes.

This anime has been a pleasure to breakdown weekly on my channel.
A hero is only as good as their Villian.

A retelling of the classic Sherlock Holmes. A Study in S features in two episodes and the anime does an amazing job at retelling it... whilst remaining faithful to the source material. You do not need to know any of the classics to watch and enjoy this.

The story is told from our antagonist William James Moriartys viewpoint and perspective. Ever wanted to venture over to the other side? to see what makes darker morality tick.... to see the world from a more warped perspective and ... to grasp a belief of what justice and reform the world needs...
Well here is the chance to see the Crime from both sides.
The story is told from both the perspectives of our Crime consultant and Detective... and both sides are truly fascinating to watch as they uncover or create the perfect crime.

Watch the tiny details slowly build up into a bigger picture. The story follows William on his mission to bring London down in flames and then reborn once more as the ideal world. Also dive into the backstory behind one of the more intellectual Antagonists.

Themes including class division/ rebirth/ justice and morality.

Set in Victorian England, the team behind this anime did an amazing job at recreating the smoggy/ grimey cityscapes... the industrial... the rich... the poor...the food.... Victorian Graveyards...the uniforms. There was so much research done and it shows. Yes there are some historical inaccuracies. But reviewing this weekly from a historical aspect and UK aspect. For an anime the level of detail is note worthy. It really is a series made with love.

The art is beautiful. The eyes <3 The details. Everything is a visual feast. The anime also uses a lot of nice techniques such as the color pop/ audio ques and color filters to aid in the visual look and feel of the anime. Settings feel real, light is also handled really nicely. The gloomy overcast skies, haunting candlelight, back allies, gas lighting in the streets, It is all handled really nicely and I am a sucker for good lighting.

Sound is nice, The OP and ED are great and both have some nice visual/ subtle story telling aspects within them. They both ended up growing on me. The main theme of the show is really nice and fits nicely with the anime. Cities feel busy and lively. Railway stations feel noisy. Voice actors do a nice job.

The characters are intriguing, from their flaws, warped perspectives and personalities. Having only 11 episodes so far there are so many questions and backstories i want to know more about. And thankfully Part 2 is on its way this coming April.

Its been a very long time since I had an anime like this to dig my teeth into and analyse. And it does its job really well, I was really surprised when the first episode hit at how engaging the story was. It uses all of the above techniques to build up its mysteries and atmospheres. I really had fun with it and being from the UK and close to some of the locations it just added another little element whilst watching.
I am a huge Sherlock fan and seeing a new retelling, which actually uses a lot of aspects from the books is nice. William James Moriarty was always created to be the perfect Counterpart to Sherlock and is equally as brilliant. So he makes for a fascinating darker lead. I really cannot recommend this one enough.
And look forward to part 2!

After reviewing this weekly on my channel I figured I would try summarizing my thoughts on Elaina.

This anime is pretty first of, the worlds/towns created look stunning. The characters look nice the lighting is brilliant. The way its bounces of surfaces, highlights/lowlights all down really nicely. Each town has its own feel/ vibe, I noted a few of the towns really hold European feels to them and in 2020 where travelling is not a thing. This anime really helped kick up that nostalgia or a time where we could explore.

The anime is an episodic adventure following Elaina as she journeys through her world, it ... introduces us to people/ places and scenarios on her journey. It is very similar to Kinos journey so if that anime was interesting to you, you will find some value in this series to.

The anime sadly suffers because it tries to crush too much into an episode, there are some episodes where two stories are crammed into one episode. It suffers as making itself episodic episodes are sometimes oversimplified or too fast paced for anything to really stick. The anime did try a 2 part episode where the story flowed much better, they were able to dive a little deeper.
But that aside the anime does reasonably well, most viewers were not expecting the darker tonal shifts that hit later in the series.

The anime tries to tackle darker aspects and themes. With the famous warning that flashed up and caused the community to go nuts. But its a darker story and theres hints of that very early on.

Most peoples issues lie with the mc and her apparent coldness and unreliability. She is not your typical lead and she does come of as cold and selfish many times. However there are explanations behind her behavior and we do follow slow .. very slow character development for her.

Overall the anime is worth picking up in your free time between the season change. But bare in mind the fast paced nature and Elainas abnormal personality for an mc.... but this is the season of the darker mc... and we have seen many more darker characters this season stepping onto the stage. The anime does offer some nice visual treats. Just dont expect anything ground breaking.

Biggest regret - Watching this nearly a year later
This anime is something special.... but its meta. Christopher Nolan would be proud.

Story
What if crimes could be solved by jumping into the criminals mind? * its very similar to Detroit become humans recreate ability that Connor can perform*
In the world of Id:Invaded the desire to kill leaves behind a trace. And specific people * detectives* can jump into these traces and try piecing together who dunnit. Its Sherlock Holmes in the future. Our story revolves around trying to piece together a murder mystery involving serial killers...who seemingly have no link... until our Brilliant Detectives start ... to uncover the truth. That theres a deeper connecting mystery behind everything.
The story dives * pun intended* Into philosophical questions and take a peak at the ideas of morality and mind.

Art
The art is great no complaints. The well worlds really have a distinctive atmosphere, theres a nice level of gloom/ edge and anxiety.

Sound
The ED is fantastic!!! The sound for the anime is nice and the atmosphere is built and suspended nicely with the sound board.
Big hats of to Kenjiro Tsuda who performs outstandingly in the role of our MC ... his voice is often linked to villain characters. But this role proves theres more. He pulls of the troubled complex MC perfectly... to the point where the punch comes I found myself emotional for him. The character is another wonderful example of a flawed MC but that makes them fascinating to watch. His tones are perfect and its nice to hear him in the non villain role for once.

Character
The collection of flawed intriguing characters makes for a change from the usual anime cast. The main Akihito is a flawed character whose development and backstory is very interesting to see unfold. Following him the viewer is treated to a slightly darker moral and perspective. Our second MC Koharu is not your typical anime girl lead... shes warped. And this adds to the intrigue of seeing her reasoning logic and actions. A strong female lead who can back up the talk.
A side character I want to pin point for growing on me is Tamotsu. The character is our genius/criminal but the personalty, the charm and the later sequences really found myself warming to the character.
Overall there are some really interesting characters within this world.

Overall
I would kill for a season 2.... haha that would make me a brilliant detective.
My only grip is the biggest mystery is too easy to figure out as the anime gives you all the pieces at the start. However they are forgiven as the twists and turns made me doubt if I had figured it out ... I had but ... kudos for making me suspects others and even try leading me down a rabbit hole.

If your bored during the season switch over snuggle up with snacks and have your mind blown :)

Golden Kamuy truly is an underrated gem. It is perhaps one of best anime's this season for story.

I binged two seasons in a week before season 3 aired, so I could do some breakdowns on the series for Youtube... and I found myself in a world so detailed... that I hate myself for not finding it sooner. And with season 3 I am very close to putting it into my top 10 anime of all time. Its a historical fiction / Comedy gold/ Tear jerker 101 and mystery extraordinaire.

The story is lovingly developed and very well written. I like to describe it ... as a master of the 180 ... One minute you are laughing your head of at the literal madness that descends. Their will be just that one episode, where you feel like theres something in your drink ! This season its the Banya/Stenka madness. But the next minute you are being kicked in the face by feels and dropped into very heavy situation. It is an anime which does both perfectly. It is the Grandfather of things like Jojo the comedy is on point if not perfect. It also handles darker heavy topics like war/ PTSD and morally gray characters very maturely. It also acts to teach and inform us about the minority groups of Japan. And explores aspects of their cultures, presenting us with very interesting folklore/ food and perspectives on the world.
It is detail perfect with things like guns being actual models from the time period. Did you know there is a page dedicated to naming firearms in film/animation and Golden Kamuy is on there? The level of detail is beyond insane/ knifes/ grenades etc everything has a real life counter part in which the anime perfectly captures. Costume also being bang on down to small details. The battles/ events of the anime are all based upon real life equivalents.

This is a continuation from the explosive cliff hangar that saw season 2 out two years ago. This season we follow our characters in new groups as we continue into the mystery of the gold. We experience new relationships between characters and new chemistry's. I was worried the comic aspect would be lost now Sugimoto isn't with the Escape King...but the chemistry with Tsukishima/ Tangaki/ Koito and Sugimoto is fantastic. We follow our groups North into Russia as the story progresses with both parties hitting interesting plot points along the way. And the anime continues to show us the harsh cold elements such as the Russian winters famous for being deadly.

The anime continues one of its strongest points character and world building. More backstories/ more history to our boys.

The anime balances having its many groups very nicely. And I do like the fact they held of the Asirpa reveal right up till the end of episode two. It knows how to maintain the hype.

One of perhaps the most thrilling episodes this season is Snipe v Sniper which is literally electric to watch. A high level pursuit where both parties are as clever as the other. Ogatas character really is being dug into this season... hes so well written/ so mysterious so intriguing to watch that you can forget that he is one of the most hated characters. Its the season of morally grey. With other titles following darker characters... the Ogata focus felt really relevant alongside other airing titles.

Golden Kamuy is an anime with many Morally Grey even darker characters... many of them lining the main cast. Its an anime which does characters right. To the point you are intrigued by every character! Whenever a morally grey character is on screen you cannot help but keep watching. Because this anime knows how to write 'bad guys'. Every character is 3d with motives/ regrets and backstory.

The sound is fantastic. The anime uses sound to build effects and uses silence to help drive home the more emotional moments. The sound helps us feel emerged in the front lines...or out in a blizzard. The ED grew on me. XD OP will never be as good as Winding Road by MWAM .... >.> bias. But its still a great way to open weekly.

Art is as always on point top notch, Details everywhere. New characters feel as developed as old and the more emotional stories of the season are lovingly drawn out. This season employs the use of the color pop to show us a characters unstable reality. Making for a very clever and interesting episode to view.

Kudos to the VA work as always. This season we hail Kenta Miyaki aka All Might into a small but unforgettable role that was perfect for him. Kenjiro Tsuda being one of my all time favorite voice actors really shining this season as Ogatas character comes to the forefront of the plot.

I really am glad to be a part of the Golden Kamuy hype train, it really has been one of my top 3 animes this season. And every Tuesday I was just as hyped as the one before to see where the story would go next. I really cannnot wait to see where the season ends and hope that we get a season 4 greenlit soon <3 I really cannot recommend the series enough its well worth the time to sit down with. I also could write pages and pages on this anime XD there is just so much good stuff here.

First things - You will need to watch the two prequels for this to make any sense.

I have been breaking this anime down weekly on Youtube and I finally feel like I can give an overall score. I am an anime only. So will be scoring anime only.. the bottom line is - read the source material ... because there is no way this adaption has done any justice to one of the giants in the Manhwa world. I hate to say it because I wanted to like it so much, but it was boring and I don't often say that about a series.

The ... plot meanders... when something cool or important does actually happen...its over so quickly... Note I love slice of life... so even if we give it a pass for being a quite arc that is light on action... it still fails as a slice of life, because it doesn't focus in on things long enough.

The plot itself is something I can understand why the Manhwa is one of the giants... You have humans/ A race of Nobles who have some pretty unique powers/ weapons and very interesting clan systems. These guys have long life spans. There is the union which perform underhanded experiments...man made humans... theres huge guns...hackers... monsters... It gave me Underworld vibes initially... the plot is full of potential

So why does it not hit the mark... because its adapted poorly . Those interesting factors/ deep plot that the author has taken time to create.. isn't present. As with the other two adaptions this year... my money is on the fact they cut a lot of content. All 3 Manhwa adaptions have suffered from cut content/ poor pacing and rushing. It shows... the plot feels thin, characters feel static, art is poor, focus shifts too much and it doesn't spend enough time building anything.

This anime is ok ... Its mediocre I cant call it bad or good its neither ... every episode - I just felt underwhelmed and frustrated because I could see the potential they skipped or didn't spent enough time on. The few fights we do get should have been more.
It suffers with very slow pacing. The opening episode could have been more thrilling... if they had just changed pacing. We open with a lone survivor in a jungle at night...pacing could of been slowed to really build up the moment he was hunted down. Really build it up to show the Union group of more. Show of talents, build their characters right of the bat. Instead it was rushed to jump ahead.The rest of the episode is spent on a very cliche setting in school. Showing us swooning girls over any male character... not even delving into aspects that could make the school setting entertaining to watch. School anime isn't my usual preference.... but this anime just makes it boring... the school doesn't feel lively/real the rest of the class often serves as stills... they are nameless.. I cant even recall if they have a teacher haha.

Yuu and Manabu were given the main focus for a bit and the anime did an ok job developing them both. But then they shelved them to rush ahead.

My biggest problem with the anime is the characters... Fair play the anime wants to do a slow reveal on the mains. But everything comes across as flat...Characters don't feel deep or well written... they feel 2 dimensional.The anime hasn't taken time to develop characters bar the basics. They did a fair job at developing M-21... and slowly the relationships between some of the characters ... but it was done in a snail paced manner. And then rushed ahead when they were doing the character building. M-21's character is full of potential to be interesting... a created human who has to find a meaning for his life now he has been dis guarded by the union who made him. Plenty of room to bring in a philosophical angle. And really push what it means to be human.

The main character is very reserved and this can be fine, but you dont see him do anything until episode 5... He may as well not be in the anime up until then because the character is drained of anything that makes him interesting. We spend more time following from Yuus point of view in some episodes that it felt like he was more the main.

The group who serve as antagonists for the first half of the season are watered down and rushed. The members they want to be evil...are just simple evil bad for the sake of it. Shark likes killing people because. Hammer is gluttony from FMA. He clearly has a well written backstory with powers and a really interesting weapon.. but we see him wiped out so fast it doesn't matter. There is a point where he breaks logic and manifests characters out of thin air. Which I blame cut content on.
The anime really wants to build Krantz up to be our big bad for the first half .... but it fails to hit the mark. By the time we hit a face off with Raz and him .,..which is over in about a minute. Krantz barely has screen time. So when it came down to the fight between yes two characters who had barely any screen time... it wasn't impactful. I don't hate Krantz enough to care ... and Raz has barely been present that I don't actively cheer him on or worry about his safety.

The art in the Manhwa is stunning... the anime... not so much ... theres a lot of times where things look blurred... the animation is not great. Some of the screenshots from the fights look awful. Which really is a shame because when I was debating watching it initally the art was something I was tricked by. Where Tower of Gods Manhwa art was improved in its adaption... this is the sad opposite where that beautiful art is demoted. You simply have to type in Frankenstein or Raziel and see the beautiful art work for them to understand.

Things have started to get interesting and some world building and plot is being developed but ... its episode 8 .... its a little to late. There are 4 episodes left to come to some form of ending.

There are many better school animes/ slice of lifes/ action based animes out there to watch. Who do a much better job on all fronts. I really think if you want to give Noblesse a shot... just pick up the Manhwa.

I'm not crying ... you are.

Do not skip out on this masterpiece!
The plot description on MAL doesn't do this show justice.

Not only does this show look good... this show delivers one hell of a plot. Full of twists and turns.

Set in the far flung future where the humans are near enough extinct. We follow the moving city of Deca-Dence. I got extreme Mortal Engines vibes from the first episode...but unlike that train wreck... this show delivered . The world of Deca-dence is plagued by Gadoll... which attack the fortress... but not everything is what it seems. ....We follow Natsume as we tumble ... down the futuristic rabbit hole...
And the plot twists keep on coming. I've seen it compared to AOT... but after seeing it myself Its only slight similarities that the two share...namely the fight for survival and tearing down old systems.
The show is confusing ...but by the end everything clicks into place... so its deliberately done and not down to poor writing. The show carefully takes time sowing seeds that all line up in the very end.
The show does suspense well. And character development... I wasn't expecting to feel the feels...but the final episode got me.
The sound is great ... the world feels alive it has a vibe from its sound. The use of bagpipes to during more emotional moments is great.
The light as well is beautiful... the beautiful landscapes and sprawling visuals alongside sunsets is perfect. The diesel punk aesthetic is handled great <3 and the tanker town and Deca-Dence itself is beautifully put together. You can see how much hard work the design and art teams put into creating the world.
Its been awhile since I have seen an anime so brilliantly put together. And I feel bad for missing out on it whilst it aired.... but you too have the luxury of binge watching this.

Bottom line - WATCH THIS SHOW YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED JUST STICK WITH THE TWISTYNESS !!! IT PAYS OFF.

Firstly - PLAY THE GAME
The game makes sense/ the game isn't a rush job/ the game actually has an in depth well developed plot thats taken years and years of love. Its also more interactive....doesn't cut out important details and actually makes sense.

Firstly I am a huge Game player who realllllly wanted to see the thing I love in anime form.... I was so excited I reviewed it weekly on Youtube.

But within a few episodes of horrific cuts/ tweaks... and very disjointed plot line ... I realized this was just a train wreck of everything I love being thrown at 12 episodes ... and hoping for the best.
Mappa destroyed God Of Highschool....and its destroyed this by almost the same dam mistake....STOP CUTTING THE IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND STOP RUSHING ANIME.
The anime spans 18 of the 23 available chapters currently available more being worked on etc. Each chapter in game is 10 chunks ....so thats 180 chunks of well thought through plot.....thrown together in 12 episodes....
the result....
A disjointed rush job that anime only viewers probably sat dam confused scratching their heads to wtf is going on...The anime tries to explain some stuff.... but instead of the slow well planned build the game had... and the getting to know the characters properly .... you get spoiled every episode....
They took show dont tell too far.

Nothing comes as a shock because... well Mappa showed you in the previous anime that guys gunna go bad.... or that guys evil....

My advice... Just play the game and then if you feel brave maybe watch the anime....but keep a strong drink to hand as they massacre everything that made the original interesting.

This show is a victim of the covid shuffle, airing 3 episodes before being halted... during which it rightful made waves...and then it was forgotten about.
It re-aired in July to a chorus of tumbleweed.... wild west pun innit.
I literally felt so strongly I made a youtube video about how amazing this anime is and how unfair it is to see it go unloved.

The strongest points to this anime by far is its characters/ relationships / interactions and building of bonds. Every character grows... every character is explored and developed some more than others...but its enough for us by the time stuff really ... goes down in ep 8 and 9 ... yes prepare yourself as I don't think any of us saw that twist....
but by this point you will feel something.

The next point I really want to praise is the art/ the shadow and use of light/ there are some beautiful scenes in this anime... the art style took some getting use to. But by the time we get some beautiful misty mornings/ sun shining through trees and shadows.... I was on board.

The plot itself is straightforward enough. Through a series of mishaps Appare and Kosame two Japanese characters...end up in turn of the century LA.
They have no money to their names and Appare is a wacky out there mechanic...they see the Trans atlantic race is about to happen with a sum of money as a reward and booom plot is in motion....however what I wasn't expecting was a whirl wind of emotions that followed.
The plot initially seemed boring to me... but I was wrong.
The race is just a driving force.... haha car pun.... it moves the characters forward...however along the way there are obstacles to over come and feels to feel.

I dont write reviews until the end credit has rolled. But because no one is talking about this anime... I made the choice to write it early.

If you have an interest in - steampunk/ wild west/ cars or the dying samurai way ...this anime may be for you....
Also because hes mentioned nowhere in the cast...or wasn't when I made the video....Kenshiro Tsuada is literally killing it this season as the evil shark from GOH and now hes terrorizing the west. The voice talent in this show is amazing.
Its funny/ sad/ interesting and at times clever ....this anime deserves to be on your watch list!!!

Its always the ending!!! why is it always the ending !
I put this off for ages but finally braved watching it.

Firstly this is based on an Otome game... so you need to expect... many suitors and very little info on each. I find Otome based games will never pick a route instead they try and make an anime where no one is left angry because the boy they liked is rejected. The anime will generally pick the main story but it wont pick a route to dedicate to. This anime sadly does pick a route .... but where I would be fine with this... ... the anime then twists and does not follow through ... but it gives you all the build up for the route chosen.

The one plus you can take from this is .... there is a game somewhere... where the crappy ending does not happen. Not much of a comfort as we came here for an anime. but at least the comfort is there.
This anime also does a pet peeve of mine and starts with the end of the anime, so you essentially know the ending from the start... I find it very rarely works for me with the exception of Steins Gate <3

Right plot is simple . Girl grows up able to hear ghosts and thus doesnt really fit into society and withdraws from people and ghosts. She meets a magician he sends her in time to the Meji period and booom plot happens.

There are funny and amazing moments... I had a lot of good things to say until the end episode. I had a laughing fit part way through. And some of the character hurdles they overcame, where really nicely portrayed.

Art - is fine. The costumes and clothing is really nice and we get to see a mix of Western and Eastern dress.

Sound - Is fine. It works for this anime and the overall feel.

Characters - The anime as I mentioned suffers from putting all the men that are probably routes in the game into this anime. And thus where each man will have an entire game of character building. This anime crams it all in and some characters have less background then others. They do nice work on the few main guys... and Our chosen route kind off ... we do get a good build to the mans character ... before the ending....

I almost want to say in game terms - its a bad end. But not totally bad ... its a non love route... maybe

Overall - I would love to play this game....
However I do feel like the ending just made my night pretty pointless. But I understand why they did what they did.
I think.... if I had to recommend anything to the person considering this anime is... watch Kamisama Kiss if your after a love story... its the same creatives ...
But if you are in a mood for a character development but not have a satisfying end in terms of love.. then watch this anime.