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"Definitely the worst sequel in the history of anime!!!"

<I highly recommend you to read this to know the dark side behind the anime industry, although it's quite long>

<LONG REVIEW>
Kemono friends is a sleeper hit two years ago. In case you didn't know, Kemono Friends is a pretty much near dead franchise before the anime started airing. Nobody expected anything good from Kemono Friends. However, the director, Tatsuki, brought a near death franchise to life again with his amazing skills throughout the anime. The 1st season was without a doubt a massive hit in Japan, and it's all thanks to Tatsuki and his team members Yaoyorozu. ... However, he and his team members was removed from the Kemono Friends project in late September last year for no exact reason by Kadokawa. So, the 2nd season is made by a new team with a new director. Now, did it live up to the hype of the first season? Well, see for yourself.

The 1st season of KF received one of the highest rating in Japanese video streaming website NicoNico when it finished airing. A lot of new anime fans, old anime fans, and even people who have already left the anime community praised Kemono Friends like it's the next Miyazaki anime. However, after Tatsuki got kicked out from the project itself, the franchised immediately went back to the state before the 1st season was even made. The 2nd season of Kemono Friends received the lowest rating in NicoNico as opposed to the 1st season. It's so bad that it not only angered fans of the series itself but also the casual anime fans. How bad is it? Now let me explain.

First of all, the story. The story of the 1st season centers around a human named Kaban who had lost her memories and forgot what species she belong to, adventuring in the Japari Park with her friend, Serval to find out the answer. Throughout the journey they met a lot of different animal friends and learnt a lot about them. It's mostly an adventure series that at the surface seemed like it was aimed at kids. However after episode three, the tone got much darker and it attracted the attention of a lot of different anime fans. It is too the dark underlying tones throughout the series that kept the audiences interested in the series and giving it a high score. However, the 2nd season is just trash with no meaning behind it whatsoever. They removed everything good and interesting about KF1 and only remained the boring parts. Then maybe you would argue that we can still enjoy it for the cute interactions between the characters. Well let me correct you, the interactions between the characters aren't cute at all. They changed the relationship between the character as friends (as stated in the freakin' title) into one that shows how superior humans are to animals. Boi, there's nothing friends about this. Well now you may say that I'm just nitpicking, but let me show you some examples of what happened in the anime, especially in episode 9.

In episode 9, our main character Kyururu met with a domestic dog. One day Kyururu got attacked by some monsters and the domestic dog put all of its effort in protecting her, until she got badly wounded. However she still can't win, and at the last minute Serval appeared and defeated the monsters. Now what Kyururu do after she got saved, just guess. Well, your guess is maybe wrong. Kyururu didn't give a crap about Domestic Dog and keep on praising how great Serval was. In the end she told the Domestic Dog to go home with a smile without treating her injuries or even thanking her. The moral value of the episode itself is so twisted that it angered a lot of anime fans and started the low rating streak of KF2. Plus throughout the series the animals kept on praising how superior the humans are and how much they respect them whatsoever, boi there's nothing friends about that. The director and scripwriter must be twisted to think of something like this.

Now let's talk about the final episode that angered a lot of fans, Serval straight on denied Kaban, who appeared in the anime for only a few scenes, as her friend for Kyururu with the theme song of the 1st season playing in the background. Seriously!? Why!? This is so twisted that I can't even describe it anymore.

Now let's talk about the person in charge of this project, especially the most famous two, Nobuyuki Hosoya, the producer of the 2nd season and Ryuichi Kimura, the director for this season. Now normally I don't discuss this sort of stuff but for this series I need to, because these two people are the ones destroying the franchise on purpose!

Now let's start with the director. The main reason he took on this project, as stated on his twitter, is that he thinks that anybody can handle Kemono Friends because it's just an easy project, completely looking down on Tatsuki who's responsible for nearly everything season 1 is. This had a lot of the KF fans angered. Now when the series was airing, he kept on going on a war with the fans of the first season on Twitter, stating that listening to what the fans wants isn't what he wanted for the project and that people can't come to a mutual understanding which even angered the fans of KF1. At the end of the first season he even stated that the opinions of the fans of the first season don't matter because they are just blind followers of Tatsuki, completely denying the faults he made in the 2nd season. He also blacklist the people who told him what's wrong with the 2nd season.

Next, let's talk about Nobuyuki Hosoya, the producer behind this season. Now he didn't do anything too bad, he just stated that episode 9 is the best episode in the 2nd season, you know the episode which started the low rating streak of KF2.

In the end, the entire project is just to make fun at the fans of the 1st season and the fact that it got the worst rating on NicoNico is expected because of how disgusting it was. This also completely showed the dark side of the anime industry. Although I don't recommend you to watch this second season, but I do recommend you to check our what happened behind the scenes. You'll definitely be shocked. That's it for my review. Thanks for reading and I wish you a good day.

Seems like I have found the underdog anime of the season.

<SHORT VER>
Pros:
1. Interesting premise
2. Amazing OP and ED tracks
3. Good art and animation
4. VA is spot on

Cons:
... 1. Story is kinda confusing, may need a rewatch or two to understand it
2. Characters are pretty bland, most of them are stereotypes
3. They didn't fully use the amazing OST from the game

<LONG VER>

Well, I have heard about this VN before the anime started airing. Seems like the VN inspired a lot of modern sci-fi masterpieces to be made such as Steins Gate and Island. The original VN came out in 1995 so you definitely can't say that the story is cliche considering that this is what started the trend. If you enjoy this anime and wanted to read the VN, you can either read the PC 98 version or wait until October for the official English release. Do note that the Eng release is going to be all ages and if you want those sweet smexy scenes you would have to read the PC 98 ver or just watch the R18 anime that came out in the early 2000s.

Now let's dive into the anime and discuss if the series is worth a watch or not. Well, for me I like it. I like the interesting premise and definitely is eager to know more about it. Maybe at the current point the anime is still confusing but I will only place my final judgement until the anime finished airing. This is the kind of story that you'll find it hard to understand in a get go because of how complicated and rushed it was, so you'll have to rewatch it to fully grasp what's happening or just go read the VN as the anime wanted you to. Most VN adaptations nowadays are pretty much just advertisements for the game itself, so if I still couldn't understand what the anime is about then I will just continue on reading the VN. Easy. But at the current point I still enjoy watching the series so I won't give it a bad score, plus I heard that the anime is still staying pretty faithful to the VN from fellow VN readers.

Now the overall quality of the anime...nothing amazing actually. For me everything is just normally drawn, nothing to praise about. I can see Feel not putting too much budget on this series. However I do like the character designs compared to the 95 ver, maybe is because I prefer this kind of art style as opposed to a lot of VN fans.

For the sound department, the OP and ED are both awesome! One is sung by Asaka, the singer behind the ED for Occultic Nine and Island and another is sung by Suzuki Konomi, the singer behind the OP for NGNL and Re: Zero, so of course they are going to be awesome, plus the OP is composed by Chiyomaru Shikura, the creator of Steins;Gate, just straight up beautiful. However, the BGM is a letdown. I listened to the soundtracks of the game and it was on another level compared to the anime. Although the anime did use it sometimes, but still most of the time is just boring soundtracks you hear in every anime.

The characters in this show is quite stereotypical, nothing that really stood out. Now we only know the background story for Ayumi but that's not interesting enough. Hope the background stories for other characters would surprise me somehow. However, as opposed to other VN readers, I prefer the character designs of the anime than the one in the PC98 game.

All in all, I still do enjoy myself watching this anime despite all its flaws and I am definitely eager for more. I do plan on reading the translated ver when it comes out in October so yeah, do I recommend this? Yes. But do I think it's as good as a lot said it to be? Frankly no. Maybe the game is awesome but the anime adaptation is just average at best. Thanks for reading and I'll see you in my next review.

[Spoiler free review]

"A great non-linear story telling anime, but unfortunately not for everyone"

<Short Ver>
Pros:
1. The OP and ED songs are pretty awesome!
2. The story telling is very unique, definitely stood out compared to other series
3. The VA is superb. They did a fantastic work portraying their characters
4. I love Boogiepop's character.
...
Cons:
1. Not enough time to develop each character.
2. Too many characters and their designs are very similar so it would be hard to differentiate between each character if you can't remember their names
3. The art is meh. It's obvious that there's a lack of budget for this series.
4. Story can be quite hard to follow if you didn't pay full attention

<Long Ver>
I have heard about this anime before it started airing and it was hyped a lot. The light novel for this inspired a lot of talented LN authors nowadays so of course people are going to be hyped for a remake of such a classic LN series. However, after it started airing, a lot complained that the story was very hard to follow and they understood nothing. Some also said that they found it hard to connect with the characters in the series because they are very bland and have no interesting character traits. Well, after finishing the entirety of the anime, I can safely say that those arguments are correct. If you read my cons above, then you would know that I too have a problem with how they handle the characters. It's actually quite hard to remember who is who and actually give a crap about them when some of them only appeared for like 2 episodes. However, the strong points about this series ain't its characters but actually it's story.

This anime take a unique approach in story telling which is called a non-linear story telling, which means everything that happens isn't in chronological order. For example, what you see in the first arc may not have anything to do with the second arc but it's related to the last arc in the anime. Plus they keep on changing character perspective per episode or even in said episode itself, so of course it would be hard to keep track of what is actually happening. That's why I won't blame anyone for hating on this series for it's confusing storyline. It's actually very hard to follow. However, if you're someone like me who pay utmost attention while watching the series, the story is actually quite easy to understand and I fully respect the authors unique way of telling a story.

Now moving on to the art and animation, aka the overall quality of the anime. It's quite bland actually. It just doesn't seem like it's made by Madhouse and some more by the director behind one of the most popular anime for it's outstanding quality One Punch Man. If you say that this is made by studios like A1 Pictures or Silver Link, I might actually believe you. So that's one of the weak point of this series. It doesn't have the visuals to capture us audiences' attention even though it's made by Madhouse.

For the sound department, the VA is actually excellent. I have no complaints. Each VA did put in a lot of effort in portraying their character. Both the OP and ED theme are excellent. Of course when the OP is sung by a pretty famous group recently, Myth and Roid. The BGM is quite bland, nothing that stood out too much, however there are still some tracks that are pretty well done.

For the characters, as I stated above, their screentime just ain't enough for me to give a crap about them. Their designs are bland and similar so it's quite hard to differentiate them between each other. However I do like Boogiepop. I love her voice, her designs and her overall personality, however her screen time is just too few although the name of the series itself is named after her. Sadly...

All in all, I still thoroughly enjoyed every episode of this anime just for its story itself. If you're not a fan of non-linear story telling then I highly recommend you to skip this but if you are then you should definitely check it out. Thanks for reading and I'll see you in my next review.

"It can be better, but it chose not to."

<SHORT REVIEW>
Pros
1. Cute characters
2. Great details on Shogi

Cons
1. Boring art style
2. Rushed adaptation
...
<LONG REVIEW>
I heard about this series through it's winning in the Kono Light Novel Ga Sugoi Contest 2 years in a row, beating series like Snafu and Sword Art Online. It was shocking to see a light novel about shogi with lolis can beat series like SAO in a popularity contest, so I waited for the anime to see how this series handles its loli characters and also the Shogi element.

After finishing the series, I have to say that it's quite disappointing, but I still had fun watching it. There are two things that this series fails at, it's adaptation and it's art. Now let me start with the adaptation part. I only gathered this information based on comments from fans of the LN. Apparently this is a failed attempt at adapting the LN, which I can agree. As an anime only, I can also see a lot of important events being rushed. A lot of the contest were quickly glanced through just to go to the final match. There is seriously a lack of explanation at scenes throughout the series especially near the end. Secondly, the art for Ryuuoh isn't that good. It isn't as bad as Marchen Madchen next door, but compared to a lot of series running this season, the only anime I can find on par with Ryuuoh in terms of art is Mitsuboshi Colors, which is also pretty weak at the art department. The only thing I like about Ryuuoh's art is how the characters' eyes were drawn, especially when the characters are being serious while playing shogi, their eyes are beautifully drawn. There are also so points within the series where the characters just look badly drawn. Well, coming from Project No 9, it isn't really surprising just by looking at their previous works.

Now moving on to the good part. First its the characters. I like each character in this series. It really isn't because they are well fleshed out or anything, it's just I like how the characterization for this series is done. Among all the characters, my favorite one is definitely Yashajin Ai. I just love her design very much. Development wise, there are some minor development for each character but nothing grand, some examples being characters getting better at shogi, overcoming their fears, having confidence in themselves again etc.

The details on Shogi is also very apparent in this series. If you know at least the basics of shogi, you can really learn from each of the contest in this series. They really did explain each step well. However, if you aren't familiar with Shogi, then you won't understand anything during the match. Personally I am in the latter part, but I still enjoy watching the matches, maybe because I also play chess and I know the feeling of not wanting to lose easily.

So overall, I enjoyed watching Ryuuou no Oshigoto, but is it a must watch from this season? No. I will recommend you checking out the LN if you really like this series. I would only recommend the TV anime if you want your daily dose of loli cuteness. Otherwise, just skip this series or just go read the LN.

"A fun anime lacking in budget"

<SHORT REVIEW>
Pros:
1. Fun characters
2. Relaxing to watch
Cons:
1. Lacks animation budget
2. Cliche characters, may not be likable to some people

... <LONG REVIEW>
Tbh, Mitsuboshi Colors is my most anticipated series of Winter 2018. I love this kind of series that showcases the more realistic sides of kids, such as Ichigo Marshmallow and Non non biyori. Most modern anime nowadays tend to moe-fied them too much, not that I dislike it though.I enjoy watching Mitsuboshi Colors, but it still did disappoint me in some aspect.

Firstly, Mitsuboshi Colors lacks the animation budget. I can forgive that if this is animated by some new studios out there, but Silver Link isn't that kind of studio that lacks budget or human resources. I mean, they did do a good job at animating Non non biyori, but in Mitsuboshi Color's case, the lack of animation budget is just saddening. Some scenes weren't even properly animated. They were just replaced with still frames. The framerate, compared to Slow Start next door, isn't even that high. Characters often have only simplistic movements. Compared to Slow Start, the characters in this anime isn't as much engaging.

Speaking about the characters, each character is likable, at least for me. If you are those who hate kids, then I highly recommend you to skip this. Watching this won't change your taste because as I already said, this anime showcases the real sides of kids, which is innocent, cute, annoying and naughty. Also, the characters aren't that deep. What I am getting at is that the characters in this series doesn't go through any drama and development. We can't learn much about the characters. So, if you are one that want characters to develop or to be double layered, then kindly remove this from your PTW list.

The VA's did a fantastic job at voicing the characters. It really adds in more to the characteristics of each character.

Overall, I do enjoy watching Mitsuboshi Colors. Will I recommend it? Maybe. If you like series like Non non biyori and Ichigo Marshmallow, then do check this anime out. If you don't like Slice of Live anime in general, then skip this.

"A high quality CGDCT anime by A1 Pictures, surprisingly."

<SHORT REVIEW>
Pros:
1. Cute girls
2. Relaxing and heartwarming at times
3. YURI!!!!!!
4. High production quality
5. Great OP and ED themes

... Cons:
1. Run of the mill CGDCT anime, nothing compared to Yuru Camp and HakuMiko
2. Cliche character troupes
3. Loli Fanservice paradise

<LONG REVIEW>
Among all those big titles airing this season, it's easy to look past series like Slow Start, especially when the plot isn't anything special, just cute high school girls doing random things. However, Slow Start actually did it differently compared to other anime in the same genre. Let me explain why.

Firstly, Slow Start has high production quality, meaning it's art and animation is on a whole new level compared to other series in the same genre. This is quite surprising coming from studio like A1 Pictures, which will mostly put less effort in these kind of series. The frame rate for Slow Start is unexpectedly high. It's very comfortable to look at. You can see the animation team putting their all into animating this. The art is also very well drawn. They did pay a lot of attention to details in the backgrounds.

The characters in Slow Start, although they are nothing we haven't seen before, are still very likable and cute. The characters I like the most is Tama-chan. I like her positive energetic side. It always brings a smile on my face. Hana-chan is your typical unsure of everything protagonist. Eiko and Kamuri is the true yuri pair in this series. When I say Yuri, it's full on yuri man, not your normal hinting ship kind of thing, the ship actually set sails. Hell they even prepared an episode focused on developing the relationship between Eiko and Kamuri. BTW, I forgot to mention that Kamuri has the same VA as Kanna, so she has the same voice and also quite the similar design. Their personality is also quite similar. Now going back to topic, it's quite rare to see this kind of moe SoL anime going full yuri. The last one I seen I remember was HinaLogi, which is also quite a well done CGDCT anime. Moreover, the character designs are cute. They also prepared this kind of super deformed character designs, aka chibi form which also adds in a lot to the cuteness.

Wooh~That's pretty long. Now let's talk about the music. The OP theme sang by the VA's is very catchy. I like it. The ED theme is too. But now let's focus on how the OP is drawn. I can see the OP team really really did put in lots of effort in drawing the OP. It's unique, cute and it's not just still pictures of the characters nor scenes cut out from the anime. The characters surprisingly have a lot of movement in the OP, which also shows how much attention the OP team put in while making this. A very well done OP indeed. Props to the OP team. They really did a fantastic job. The ED sequence, although quite simplistic compared to the OP, still didn't fail to show the charm of this anime. It's cute and it suits the series very much.

Now let's head into the cons, which is a minor thing if you are a fan of these kind of series. Firstly, the plot for Slow Start is very unoriginal in its genre. They did nothing new to fresh it up. It's just high school girls doing random stuff but with high quality art and animation. Also, there is surprisingly a high amount of fanservice in this series. If you don't like loli fanservice, then I suggest you skipping this series.

So, in the end, I still highly recommend Slow Start if you like CGDCT anime. Don't overlook this. Trust me. It won't lose to the likes of Kiniro Mosaic or Yuru Yuri.

Thanks for reading.

"A great movie about friendship and mermaids indeed!"

<SHORT REVIEW>
Pros
1. Weird but unique art and animation
2. Excellent soundtracks
3. Likable characters, especially the mermaids

Cons
1. Story is nothing original, pretty predictable
... 2. Some may find it hard to like the art choice
3. The story is weird, like very weird, some may find it hard to like it

<LONG REVIEW>
I started this because I have heard a lot of praise for the director of this movie, Masaaki Yuasa. I didn't know what I was getting into with this movie,the only thing I know is that it's about music and friendship. At first I find it quite hard to like the art and animation choice. It's quite different from other anime I watched before and it's isn't very consistent. To describe the animation, it's like Trigger but on more drugs. But slowly I got used to it and saw the charm in it.

Story wise, it's nothing we haven't seen before. It can be quite predictable. But I like the way they decided to handle it. Mixing it with great soundtracks and the unique art adds in a lot to the overall enjoyment. To be honest, the story isn't bad, it's quite a fun story actually. If you don't mind stories aimed at kids then feel free to watch this. Also, the story gets weirder as the movie progressed, but at least it's fun to watch. I can see the script writer enjoying himself while writing for this movie.

A lot of characters are under-developed, but this doesn't matter. It's not a movie focused on the characters, it's more story-centered, so I can put this issue aside. Each character is likable, especially the mermaids. Our main character did go through his own drama, but it's nothing we haven't seen before. I especially like Lu, the best character in the movie. I like her personality and also design wise she is freakin' cute. Lu's father is quite a well-written father character. As I have said above, the friendship development between humans and mermaids is quite spectacular and heartwarming.

Speaking of a music themed movie, of course the music is going to be good. I love every tracks in the movie. Each of them really did adds in a lot to each scene. Props to the composer. I highly recommend you to watch this if you want a movie with great soundtracks. The voices for each character is also well done. I can see that the VA's are trying their best to make the characters feel more realistic. The ED theme for this movie is quite a good song too. Overall, no complaints here.

In conclusion, Yoake Tsugeru Lu no Uta is quite a fun movie to watch. Sure not everyone would like it because of the art and animation choice, but if you are a Masaaki Yuasa fan or one who likes this kind of fantasy story with heartwarming themes about mermaids and humans, feel free to watch this, you will not be disappointed. I also recommend this to those who want a good friendship and music themed movie.

Thanks for reading.

This anime is so average.

<SHORT REVIEW>
Pros:
1. Upbeat OP song by Garnidelia and great Ed theme from ClariS
2. The Sci-fi aspect of this series is very interesting
3. Soundtracks suit the anime very well and are also very unique

Cons:
1. Character designs are awfully boring. I mean just compare it to the novel, the anime stinks.
... 2. Generic characters with little to no backstories. Why?
3. No main plot after 8 episodes, srsly?
4. Nothing captivating happened for 8 episodes. Each issue is solved with plot convenience.

<LONG REVIEW>
This anime is so average. I first started watching this with the mindset of it being close to Plastic Memories or Guilty Crown, but ohhhhh am I mistaken to a whole new level. This anime is so boring. Each episode I keep on hoping that a plot twist that I don't see coming will occur but no, every episode is plain and pointless.There's even a freakin' catwalk episode for no reason at all. I know if this is a Slice of Life anime then I won't care, but it isn't. It's a story focused anime. So, if its story didn't attract me, the heck should I even care.

The characters are the other worse part of the show. Each character is painfully generic. You can sum up their characteristic in only one word because that's how just much we learnt about them in the span of 8 episodes. No character development. No character drama. They are just there because the story needs them. Don't even get me started with their designs, so bad. I mean just compare it to the novel, the anime is just trash. I can already hear the disappointments from fellow Redjuice fans. Also, I don't usually complain about this but the characters also sound boring, it's like the VA's didn't even care at all. Well I can relate to them, who TF will even care voicing for an anime butchered like this? It won't even sell anyway.

The art is another downfall for this anime. Very bad. I can accept the background art, but it only stopped at that point. It didn't made me go full awe, it's just average. The animation, especially the battle animation, if not with the help of the music, will be pretty freakin' boring. It seems like novices animated them.

Now going to the good part of the series. The music. No complaints at all. Definitely no. It's just that good. I like every soundtrack I listened in the anime, well maybe because other than that there's absolutely nothing to care about. The dub-step music is good. Every piece of music fits the series well. Highly suggest you to at least listen to it. The OP and ED theme sang by professional artists are both very good, but both the OP and ED sequence are just average. Guess this is the part they waste their money on...I am crying for the wasted potential of the series.

Another good point of this series is it's world building. It's interesting and unique. Too bad the creators decided not to give a damn shit in building up the world. Sad case man. I like the Sci-fi aspect of the show and I really really hope they can dive deeper into that.

Well, in conclusion, I freakin' hate this anime, but I'll see it till the end just for the Pros I said just now, but I won't put too much hope into it.

Thanks for reading.

Violet Evergarden, aka the most hyped anime of Winter 2018. It has already earned a lot of praise since the release of the 30 sec CM by KyoAni. People are praising how this anime is going to be the next big thing or anime of the year. Lots are hyping it up. Normally I won't like shows that are too hyped, but being a KyoAni fan, I just had to check out the anime to comment my thoughts. And after 8 episodes, what's my opinion on this anime?

I have read quite a few reviews saying that the show is slow and the pacing is very ... bad. Well, I can't disagree with that. After all, Violet Evergarden is definitely slow paced, or to be exact it's episodic. If you want fast paced actions in this, sorry but I recommend you checking out other series instead. Also because it's slow paced, I didn't write my review right after episode 4 just aired. 3 episodes ain't enough for a slow paced anime to get to its climax man, they'll need at least 6 episodes. For Violet Evergarden's case where they have 14 episodes, they'll need to get to episode 7 for their climax and well, it did happen. The plot did start progressing in episode 7. So, that concludes my view that people are too fast to place a judgement on an anime. It's like saying Hunter X Hunter is bad because the first few episodes is generic and empty. Writing a good story takes time man. Also let's not forget that this anime is sponsored/simulcasted on Netflix, where it'll have a high chance of getting a 2nd season. So, what's the rush?

Well, now for the characters, I heard tons of people complaining that Violet is very empty and soulless. Well, in fact...she is. It's also stated by the characters in the anime itself that Violet is like a robot, very soulless and can only carry out order given by others. Now, the problem comes, did Violet develop as a character? The answer is yes, in episode 8 you can see that Violet is actually becoming more humane with emotions. So, that also add in to my point that people are too fast to place judgement on an anime. The other characters are decently written. They are definitely not bad characters but they just aren't important to the show itself. Most of the time is focused on Violet's work as a Auto Memories Doll, where she help others and find the meaning of love.

The music is okay. It definitely did add in to some dramatic scenes, especially the ED theme. It really didn't stand out but it's definitely not bad. The voice acting for this anime is excellent. They added in a lot more to the characters. So, props to the VAs for this anime.

Now to the part where people are constantly praising about in this anime, the artstyle. Yes, it's beautifully drawn. You can see that the artists did actually pun in a lot of effort in their works. It's by far the prettiest art I have ever seen in a TV anime. The animation isn't bad, it's quite average, but mixed in with such a beautifully drawn art, it's hard to notice the flaws in the animation.

Now to conclude my thoughts on this anime, it's a good anime. Definitely not the best, but not as bad as others claim it to be. They definitely haven't seen shows much worse than Violet Evergarden if they can say that this anime is shit. It's well written, well drawn and well animated. You should definitely watch this if you like slow paced romance drama anime.

"I had fun watching Umaru."

<SHORT REVIEW>

Pros:
1. Character developments
2. Character backstories told
3. Umaru not as annoying as in first season
4. More heartwarming than first season

... Cons:
1. Not for those who doesn't like moe Slice of life anime
2. Umaru still can be kinda annoying at times
3. Character ships hinted, but didn't progress

<LONG REVIEW>

Himouto Umaru-chan is an anime I stumbled upon in 2015 because of how popular it was back then. As a fan of moe Slice of Life anime myself, of course I had to watch it. After watching the 1st episode, at first I didn't really like it. I didn't like Umaru's character at all. But after watching a few more episodes, I found out that I actually enjoyed watching this. It's cute and the as a sister Umaru-chan is very like a sister in real life, a brat that no one likes. She isn't moefied to the Sagiri level and that's what I thank this anime for.

Now where Umaru 2nd season stood out from it's previous season was in it's characters department. We got a lot more character backstories told to us this season to make us care about them. Each backstories told was surprisingly very heartwarming. I especially like learning about the characters when they are in their childhood days. They are very cute and likable. Character developments also took place more often in this season. You get to see characters getting past their old self and revealing a new side of them. Quite entertaining. At least the characters this season aren't as cardboard as they were in the first season.

The OP and ED theme also stood out to me. The OP theme, if you read the lyrics, suits the anime pretty well. It's Umaru herself in the lyrics. The ED theme stirred quite a craze in Chinese Anime Streaming Site Bilibili where a lot of people are doing dance covers of it. I also found the ED to be very catchy. The voice acting is great! The voice actors and actresses did their best to make the character feel realistic. The BGM aren't anything special, so no comment on that.

That's pretty much it that made the 2nd season better than the first. This is a Slice of Life anime so no story is needed. The art and animation remained what it was like in the first season, no major changes. So ya, overall, what makes the 2nd season stood out more was thanks to its characters. They were well developed and were well built up. So if you hate the first season because of the shallow characters then watch this, I heard a lot of positive reaction from people who didn't like the fist season and fellow manga readers, so don'w worry. That's it for my review. Thanks for reading. :)