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Its been 12 episodes of this shit and I can't take any more of it. This show has been the first show to really make me drop it. I make it a personal goal to not drop anything, and I try to finish whatever I start. The few things I have dropped are just things I stopped watching and will hope to eventually get back too... eventually. But this pile of garbage has been where I draw the line. I didn't enjoy it from the first episode, and I originally picked it up solely because it sounded like it would be an absolute train wreck, ... and it certainly was. Everything about this show either bored me or made me hate it even more, the plot that felt like a complete mockery of English history, the incredibly asinine and simple characters, the lazy and crappy looking art, and the incredibly mediocre music.

I don't even feel like going into detail about everything I don't like about it, half because there is too much for me to even process writing about, and half because I just want to put this show behind me and watch some things I actually enjoy. This show finally broke my long standing finish everything mentality that I have basically held since I started watching anime, and despite the fact that few will ever see this review once the show finishes airing, heed my warning: this show is complete ass don't watch it.

Slow Loop was exactly everything I expected it to be and a bit more, a moe SOL anime about some girls going fishing. I didn't exactly have high expectations for this anime, but it certainly surpassed them and earned its place in my eyes as a "solid" show. In many ways its very similar to Yuru Camp, as it follows a very similar formula except with fishing instead of camping. Mixed in between the girls doing cute, moe-anime things are neat fishing facts and delectable looking fish dishes. I think I personally enjoyed it more than Yuru Camp because while I am already decently familiar ... with the subject of Yuru Camp, camping, I know complete jack about fishing, so it had a bit of added novelty that kept me a bit more engaged than Yuru Camp did.

The characters of Slow Loop were pretty much exactly what you'd expect, without anything that special. A more introverted girl, a headstrong girl, and a stoic or grumpy girl serve as our main trio and are accompanied by a cast of side characters. Oh and obviously they all fulfill the moe quota of cute expressions and silly jokes. It was pretty basic as far as casts go, but honestly what more are you asking of moe? If it succeeds at being cute then it's done what it set out to do.

The art style was pretty damn good, the colors popped and really brought the nature in the show to life. Everything was just nice and comforting to look at, which helped give the show a nice homey feel.

Overall I was pretty satisfied with my experience and would give it a moe out of 10.

Vanitas no Carte was a show I wasn't expecting to enjoy originally, but I definitely did, and made sure I caught the second cour when it released. My expectations were met, and I can safely say that I enjoyed this part as much as the first. It was a good continuation of the original that kept up everything I liked about the first cour and expanded the story and characters beyond the limits of the first cour.

I was a big fan of Vanitas no Carte's characters and they continued to deliver, they all feel separate from each other and don't blend together. Each one is ... likable or intriguing in some special way that sets them apart from the rest of the cast. The characters were easily my favorite part of the first cour and they continue to be here.

The story continues off from where the first cour left off, and sends Vanitas and Noe on a few adventures against vampires and otherworldly foes. The first arc was definitely my favorite of the two, as I didn't find the big (or little) bad of the later episodes to really be as interesting, although the arc served more as an introduction to an even bigger and scarier foe that I'm sure we'll encounter and learn all about down the line. The story wasn't ever too boring, and kept chugging on as the show progressed.

The music, art style, and setting of the first cour stay largely the same, so I won't say much; if you liked them in the first cour, you'll like them in the second.

Overall I think this was a great continuation of a what was a season highlight for me, and I can't wait to see where it will go next.

I really wish I could give Ousama Ranking a higher score, but I honestly don't think I can. It had a really great start, and if it kept going with the momentum it gained from those first few episodes I really think I would have easily given it an 8-9, or maybe... just maybe... a 10. The art is beautiful and the story and characters start out really strong, but over time it keeps getting worse and worse.

The story of Ousama Ranking is probably one of its bigger problems. It starts out great; it has plenty of emotional drama, tension, and some great characters. But ... a bit after it starts going, it starts to really start sagging in quality. The emotional beats hit less, the plot's pacing slows way down, and some aspects really start feeling repetitive. It still has some good moments, but it really never gets back to the quality it had in the beginning. It starts to lean to heavily into its emotional beats and shots of Boji crying, and they just stop working as a method to keep me invested and interested. The pacing also slows to a crawl, and all the tension just falls apart. The second half of the show just really drags without much to show for it. And the ending was really awful in my opinion, I won't say anything specific for the sake of spoilers and all that, but I think anyone that saw the show will agree that what happened in the second to last episode was completely stupid and didn't really make any sense at all.

The characters are a better aspect of the show in most regards, but the villains are a bit more of a weak point. Every single one of the mid to high importance villains has a backstory that is revealed at some point that is super sad and pretty much shows how they were actually really nice people and that we should actually be sympathizing with them. While that is certainly one interpretation of a "complex villain," the fact that it is repeated so many times ends up making this kind of villain really boring and simple. To be fair, that kind of villain isn't exactly "complex," but I do think they have their place in fiction, the villain through circumstance is a trope that many great villains fall under, you can probably consider Darth Vader to fall under that category, but when every character is a villain through circumstance it feels incredibly simple. While they obviously shouldn't just have made all the villains super-mega-evil, they should have definitely tried to make villains with more complex moral implications, motivations, and backstories that aren't just "a bad thing happened that made me do X bad thing."

The art and music of Ousama Ranking was hands-down the best part. The show has a beautiful, fluffy style, and bright, vibrant colors that just make the whole show look amazing. Character designs are very interesting and unique and really help give the show its fantasy aesthetic. The music is great and fits the scenes and tone well, although it wasn't one of my favorites by a large margin. The art showed how talented the artists are and really makes me think that with some better writing, this show could have been truly amazing.

I definitely didn't hate this show, but as it continued I found myself questioning its quality more and more as it continued to lower in terms of quality. I think it really could have been great, but even the amazing art was not enough to redeem its shabby writing in the later parts of the show.

Originally I knew absolutely nothing about this anime and only decided to watch it since it was one of my picks for FAL in fall of 2021, I knew nothing about any of its authors or where it came from, and just started watching it simply because it was seemingly highly anticipated by a large amount of people. While I won't say I really hated this show, its definitely one I could have gone without seeing. It had some good elements to it, but was really brought down by its really abysmal characters, awful art, and mediocre story and pacing.

The story concept behind Platinum End ... is definitely one of its most solid elements. The God Selection Process is unique and interesting, and is a good base for the show to build off of. But in my opinion, it really doesn't, especially in the second half. The Metropoliman arc is mostly fine, it has a few oddities that I didn't super-like, but is overall pretty good. The second arc is a lot more boring in comparison, the stakes feel so much lower, the villain is way more boring, and the whole thing feels super drawn out. The ending is also not exactly something I was the biggest fan, not just because it was really unexpected, but more because of how out of place it felt, especially since another plot element was introduced 2 minutes before it happens. I think the story could have been great, but really just ended up holding the show back.

The characters in this show are really not anything I'd really consider "good" by any definition of the word. Most characters have a singular, simple motivation that drives everything they do and that they won't shut up about. Mirai won't shut up about how nice of a guy he is and doesn't want to hurt anyone no matter what, Yoneda doesn't shut up about how he's super smart and doesn't do anything unless its the empirically best choice or whatever. Every character is like this, and it ends up with most of the characters feeling incredibly boring and lame, since as soon as somebody is introduced you almost always know everything there is to about them. Its not necessarily bad that there are simple characters in Platinum End, but it is bad that every single character is.

Then the aspect of the show that everyone thinks is bad: the art. Signal.MD didn't do that amazing art-wise on their previous project, Mars Red, but it wise miles better than the unappealing mess that is Platinum End. It has its own style sure, but that "style" is to look really ugly and gross. The color palate is unappealing and muddy, people and places don't look very interesting, and the CGI can be pretty abysmal whenever it tries to do anything remotely complicated.

I consider this project to honestly be a failure, I really think that it could have been good, its just that nearly every aspect of the show that could have made it good was lacking. It wasn't a pain to watch, but it was definitely a bit of a chore at times, and if it wasn't for the decent amount of points it gave me during FAL I would have been perfectly content with it never have airing.

Overall, I'd say I enjoyed 86 Part 2, but I was unimpressed. I really liked the original, it had some great moments and was definitely a standout release for its release season. It looked great, had some enjoyable characters, a good story, and all the right emotional beats to really invest me. 86 Part 2 really just kind of fell flat in some of those areas for me. It still looked good, and it added some good stuff to the series, but it felt like it kind of abandoned all the stuff that set it apart from other anime for me. Instead of really feeling ... like more 86, it just felt like a generic millitary anime with a semi-edgy closed-off main character and some cool mechs.

The plot of 86 Part 2 picks off right after the first cour, continuing with the surviving members of spearhead as they find the Republic of Giad and hang around for a bit trying to lead normal lives before they eventually decide to head back into battle and embark on another dangerous mission. I'm not the biggest fan of the overall plot, the minute-to-minute scenes and dialogue is pretty good, but the story as a whole leaves something to be desired. In my opinion I think the ending of the 1st cour was plenty sufficient. It was a clear stopping point to me that left me satisfied, albeit a little depressed. This continuation just felt the tiniest bit forced to me based on how the previous cour ended. Secondly, the stakes kind of suck in this cour. Part 1 kept the stakes high, with death and bloodshed always present. It kept the stakes high and really showed the horrors of war and all the tragedy it brings. 86 Part 2 doesn't really have that, people do die, but its nothing like the first cour, and it ends up giving the feeling of the main cast having a bit too much plot armor. The story itself was also really similar to the first season, with yet another plotline about Shinei having to kill somebody's immortalized brother. The stakes were less and the story was worse, overall it was not that amazing.

The characters were pretty on par with the first season, there was really only one new major character, that being Frederica, who I mostly liked. But my main problem was how little we saw of Milize, who shows up like twice and gets barely any screen time. Despite the more tropey aspects of her character she was honestly one of, if not my favorite character in Part 1, and she kind of gets ignored for most of Part 2.

The art is on par with and surpasses that of the original, with some of the best CGI in anime and some all around great shots and art. A-1 did a great job in this department just like they did last spring. The music is also of a similar quality, although I personally preferred the better OP and amazing ED of the first cour.

I really just felt a bit disappointed with 86 Part 2, the first cour did so much right, but in the second half it just kind of devolved into a pretty looking generic millitary/mecha anime. This cour looses much of the emotional weight of its precursor, and its edginess goes from a more general badass edginess to "we are coldhearted kids who only know the battlefield and can't survive anywhere else." It wasn't what I wanted, but it certainly wasn't a bad show. I have no idea what their plans are as far as continuations go, or how much is unadapted from the manga, but if something else ends up getting released in the future I'll probably give it a watch, if not for anything else than to give me my Milize fix.

The longer it's been since I first watched the first season of Kimetsu no Yaiba a year and a half ago, the more disillusioned I become with it, and see it for what I think it really is: eye candy that unfortunately lacks real narrative or character depth. It's all about looking pretty and looking cool. I don't think there is anything wrong with that, I had a good time watching Kimetsu no Yaiba, and probably will continue having a good time watching it through its inevitable many future seasons and films. I don't watch it for narrative depth or any of that, but despite ... me saying that, I find myself wanting more from the series. Because unfortunately, if a less qualified team was working on this project, or if the quality of the art degraded, this show would barely have a leg to stand on.

Like many critics of this show say, although they all seem to place a bigger emphasis on these flaws than me, what Kimetsu no Yaiba really needs is just some deeper writing. The story is generic, a simple big bad guy with his cronies and our titular hero has to go and beat him with his friends and the help of many mentors along the way. One of the most generic shounen plots ever imagined, with an equally generic good guy main character, goofy scaredy-cat sidekick and angry sidekick. Of course everything sounds awful when boiled down to the simplest of terms, pancakes become pan cooked bread and ice cream becomes frozen milk, but the cast and story really don't get a whole lot more involved than that.

Another thing I'd like to harp on about for a bit is a smaller, more focused gripe that I have with Yuukaku-hen. This arc really didn't have any moment quite as spectacular as episode 19 of the first season (that's the cool one where Tanjiro and Nezuko almost kill the spider guy if you forgot), it had cool moments and awesome fights, but nothing quite on par with that scene from S1. The music, visuals, and context of that scene really just all worked together in a great way that perfectly culminated the entire arc. Yuukaku-hen just never quite reached that level of awesomeness for me, which I found pretty disappointing.

But I've complained and criticized enough, and I should talk about what I actually liked about this season otherwise this will be the most negative 8 star review ever. Like I stated before, the strongest element of Kimetsu no Yaiba is its visually stunning battles and fights, and Yuukaku-hen is by no means an exception. The animation quality as a whole was even better than in S1 in the majority of cases, an impressive feat, and one that I very much enjoyed. This amazing quality carried right right over into the fights, which had a great energy and flow to them that really brings the show to life. As a whole Ufotable did an impressive job with the most important part of the show and it very clearly shows.

If your are someone that needs more than pretty colors and awesome fights to make a show worth your time, than Kimetsu no Yaiba is not for you. Yes it lacks depth in its story and characters and is sometimes the most generic cliched piece of television ever concieved, it's still fun to just watch and look at. Its an easy show to get an "enlightened, un-normie" opinion of because of its narrative simplicity, but I don't think that its as important as some people make it out to be. Its a show for people who like to watch pretty fights, simple as that.

FMAB is one of the most famous shows on this site, having held the #1 spot for quite some time, and after having watched it in its entirety I definitely can see why. I don't personally think its my favorite show, but I can definitely see why a large majority of people do. It manages to weave a long and interesting narrative through all 64 of its episodes. When so much of the modern anime scene is dominated by 1 cour shows, it can be nice to see a larger scale narrative like AOT or FMAB, they have more time to develop and set up ... the story, leading to a much more satisfying narrative conclusion. Of course problems can arise within longer narratives: the larger amount of space can lead to lengthy filler portions in works with poorly planned or paced narratives, lengthy plots can sometimes become complicated and convoluted, or they can just end up being too damn long for you to ever want to finish. FMAB is the definition of a well executed longer-form narrative, and its 64 episodes are all worth the time investment to reach its conclusion.

The plot woven through those 64 episodes is definitely my favorite part of FMAB, because of how well it fills its runtime. The pacing is sublime, starting comfortably slow as the characters slowly uncover the plot and basic characters, elements, and setting are set up and established. The first chunk of the show is at this slow pace, as Edward and Alphonse go on small adventures dealing with relatively small scale problems as the bigger plot is teased more and more until part of its revealed in a big sub-climax and the stakes are raised and the pacing is sped up. This formula is then continued all the way up until the finale, where all of the elements come together in a super epic climax that ends the long journey with a satisfying conclusion. FMAB also has its own fair share of interesting plot twists throughout its runtime, while none of them are anything as crazy as what's in AOT, they all keep the plot fresh and interesting to make sure our heroes aren't just following the same exact goal for the entirety of the series. Bones did a great job with their execution of the plot and it is easily the strongest part of the series.

FMAB also carries a great sense of humor along with it in addition to its fantastic story. I found the jokes decently funny and they were great at easing the tension in the moments in the show when Ed and Al weren't fighting for their lives against incredibly powerful enemies. Humor is obviously even more subjective then other aspects of an opinion on a series, but personally I liked a good majority of the jokes in the series and found them to be a refreshing break from the rest of the action and drama that populates FMAB.

Second to the story, my next favorite element would have to be the characters. While I don't think they are a masterclass in character writing, I believe they all feel a bit grounded and relatable in some way. Their are plenty of valid arguments as to why they aren't good because of things like being defined by trauma or wearing their goals on their sleeve, I don't think they are necessarily bad characters for those traits. While sometimes a character can feel like just existing to die in a dramatic fashion, if I still enjoyed that character and their death impacted me, then I say its fine. Their are plenty of really blatant examples of "tear-baiting" characters as I am going to call them and I feel that FMAB isn't really one of those blatant examples. With one exception, I think pretty much every tear-baitey character in the show has some other reason to exist other than just getting a reaction out of the audience when they die. They are more developed and well rounded than characters that exist literally just to die. I ended this series enjoying a majority of the characters and I think that overall they did a pretty good job in their execution of them.

The art of FMAB was definitely one of its more weaker aspects, it was far from anything even resembling bad, but it was definitely one of the most average feeling aspects of the show. The overall style feels pretty generic barring some character designs. It wasn't something that detracted from the viewing experience, but it didn't add anything too special.

The music definitely fairs much better. The show has some good OP's and ED's for one (except for the bad ones) and has some quite memorable tracks played throughout the series. I don't know if its just because they were played throughout a 64 episode series that I have some of them engrained in my memory, but they are memorable all the same. The tracks are all well suited to the show and its style and setting, and exercise great control over the tone and feel from scene to scene.

FMAB is definitely one of the great shows in the vast medium that is anime. It is not personally one of my favorites, but I think it is a great example of what a shounen anime can be given time, effort, and sufficient development. I can totally see why it has received so much praise and will probably continue to for some time. I enjoyed my time watching this show and can firmly recommend it to basically anyone who likes anything even closely resembling the shounen genre.

For Texhnolyze, there are 2 main opinions that people have after watching it: it's a slow, confusing slog that they either got little enjoyment out of or didn't enjoy at all, or they believe its a truly unique piece of media that has some interesting things to say, and that says them in an interesting way. I am of the latter group, although I 100% understand the reasons for being in the former. This show really isn't for everyone, it can be confusing and slow-paced, and some people may just not really like it for reasons like that. They just won't "get" it, not to ... say they are too dumb to enjoy this show, that's not it, it just really isn't for them. Compared to more popular and less experimental works, Texhnolyze is weird, it's dark, it does things differently, and while some people won't like how it tells its story how it does, I find it fascinating. Part of why I personally watch anime is how it can be so different and so unorthodox compared to western TV and movies, which I think have really stagnated in creativity and originality. Texhnolyze is a great example of the reasons why I watch anime, it's different from anything I've ever really seen. It hits some similar notes to Serial Experiments: Lain, but is honestly its own animal. But enough preamble, which probably bored all 3 people who will actually read my review, and onto my specific opinions about one of my favorite pieces of media.

Texhnolyze's story explores life, purpose, our beliefs, and how they contradict, change, and come into conflict with each other. It explores how different people may look at and view the world, and I think its truly interesting and fascinating to watch. And underneath all that fancy-shmancy exploration of our beliefs is a cyberpunk story like no other. It almost feels wrong to call it cyberpunk because of how out-there the world is compared to more traditional works of cyberpunk fiction. It starts out with a story of the many different factions vying for power in the strange city of Lux, built far underground, but eventually expands into much more. I don't personally feel like divulging any actual specifics, as I really think this is a show you should go into blind about most of the actual elements, which is how I watched it.

Another thing I want to touch on is the atmosphere and feel of this show: it feels oppressive, it feels heavy, it feels like the world is slowly ending around you. I love the atmosphere this anime brings, the content of the episodes, the art style, the music, the sound effects, they all make this show feel like no other. It's another thing I love about Texhnolyze, once you start watching it, you're fully immersed by every single part of the experience. At 22 episodes its a pretty decent length, a full 2 cours, and I was into it for every second. Part of this great atmosphere is due to the worldbuilding. I don't know what it is about Yoshitoshi ABe works, but they all manage to perfectly balance explaining with leaving things open for you to wonder and explore. It allows the setting to have some real depth without creating lengthy backstories for everything and then blurting them out at the viewer, which can honestly be boring sometimes. Texhnolyze balances that worldbuilding balance between explaining and confusion perfectly, and it makes Lux a really interesting place.

The characters are criticized by some for being lifeless, and not really feeling "alive." I disagree, the characters do in fact have emotions, I just think they are all portrayed in more subtle ways. The world and plot of Texhnolyze isn't exactly one where characters ugly crying would really work. It would feel strange and out of place, which is why the emotions are all much more subtle compared to your average Rom-Com or shounen. I personally like the characters and their own personal stories and developments. I found Ichise and Kamata to be the most interesting, with Onishi being a little bit more vanilla but still a character I enjoyed. Sure, there were some that were a bit more basic, but I think because of how different Texhnolyze is from other pieces of media that might have similar characters, they really don't feel that stale, the uniqueness of everything around them sort-of counteracting some of their vanilla qualities.

The music and sound of Texhnolyze is beautifully done. The sounds are oppressive and ominous, while the music sets the scene and dresses the sets. I went through my tradition of listening to the OST of an anime while I review it, and I think there are some amazing and beautiful tracks in both disks of the OST. For me the OP is iconic, and feels just so... Texhnolyze.

The art of Texhnolyze is amazing in a similar way. While it isn't the most beautiful style, and certainly hasn't aged perfectly, with it having a rough, dark, and sometimes ugly appearance. But the city of Lux is similarly rough, dark, and often ugly, the art complements the setting and story, with them both boosting each other and Texhnolyze as a whole up.

This anime is one of my new favorites, and is one I really can't recommend enough to anyone who is a fan of the more unorthodox and experimental. This show ticks all the right boxes for me and really delivered an experience like no other. It gave me a new appreciation for the truly unique and special pieces of work out there, and is one I plan to watch again in the future.

To me, Saihate no Paladin is little more than a depressingly shallow discount-Mushoku Tensei. It started out pretty fantastic, it showed potential to be one of the best shows this season, but really started to fall flat on its face as it went along; going from a more unique isekai to an incredibly vanilla and boring one.

Our story follows our isekai protagonist Will as he is trained by 3 undead humans in a faraway ruined city. He trains and learns before setting out on his own adventure to stop evil and spread the word of the goddess of light, Gracefeel. It was the first part ... that made it feel like a discount Mushoku Tensei, the story starts with him being born, and then follows him through his childhood as he becomes stronger and grows older.
It's just that unlike Mushoku Tensei, Saihate no Paladin has incredibly bland and boring worldbuilding, a way more basic plot structure, worse characters, and devolves into a cookie-cutter isekai plotline of "kill the bad demons" halfway through. Nothing about the plot is really that inspired or interesting, and it gets really boring because of it. There is an attempt at some character driven drama at the end of the season, but the scene is so generic and something I've literally seen done 10 times already by different works that I just don't find it even remotely interesting, especially because I don't think I really like any of the characters.

Speaking of the characters, they are basically all pretty cookie cutter like the rest of the show. Will is a pretty basic nice-guy isekai protagonist who is motivated and wants to do the right thing, the same thing I have seen and am tired of seeing in every shounen imaginable. He is like "religious" if you think that counts as a quirk, but honestly his religiosity ends up feeling like he's an amateur D&D player, and not an actual warrior-priest. The rest of the cast is similarly simple and archetypical, and really just all around boring. Also a special mention to Bee, who was my least favorite character for not shutting up about her stupid songs.

The art was honestly the best part of the show. It by no means was good enough to redeem this boring show, but it would have been worse if I had too watch everything played out with horribly animated 3d models; instead I only had to watch mediocrely animated cartoons. The quality was just very meh. Limited animation, a slightly drab color palate, that atrocious demon CGI. Despite its very underwhelming quality, this part of the show managed to piss me off the least, so kudos to the art team I guess.

Overall this show was a slog that started fine and then just started slogging harder and harder as time went on. I would never recommend this to basically anyone, because whatever's in this show has already been done better in at least 4 other anime.