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The anime that tried to take itself seriously 12 episodes too late.

The Misfit of Demon King Academy which I will be abbreviating down to MDKA for my wellbeing's sake should be taken as just a braindead acid trip that you experience just for the sake of experiencing an acid trip instead of trying to find something meaningful out of it.

We've all heard of One Punch Man haven't we? Y'know, the anime about a man quite literally /kill-ing pretty much everything until one day someone with a modding menu came along? Now take that and drown in it a coat of medieval paint. MDKA's fights are ... absurdly predictable once you've gone past the shock of the very first episode. Anos one shots, Anos cripples and then overkills, Anos DOESN'T one shot or cripple, "dies" then uses a Phoenix Down with the corny tagline of "did you think killing me would make me die?", Anos "struggles" because something against the rules gets thrown at him, he immediately deciphers and defuses it then proceeds to one shot. I've accepted that the show cannot be taken seriously, and my enjoyment was infinitely more euphoric than what I expected going into the first episode. Oh gee, another week, another MDKA episode, I wonder which poor soul's gonna get ulted.

The waifu material generously bestowed upon us wee- men of culture is probably the most noteworthy of the contributions MDKA could offer. We have a wide array of different (hopefully legal) genres of research material us cultured we- *cough* men can study, such as pigtails, pongtails, tall oneesan looking ones, stout imoutou lookin ones, we even included eyepatches, you don't see that everyday now do ya? You're not a fan of anime grills rocking humongous badonkadonks and want something more average? Well too bad, we're gonna drown you in big mommy milkers and make you appreciate them anyways.

I won't lie when I say the story set itself up to be potentially intriguing. What's that, there's 1 imposter among us? History got rewritten? Anos' masterplan got dissected? We could've gotten 13 episodes of mystery, maybe even a nod that we may only realise the truth in a future sequel. Instead, EP1 completely shattered that and gave everyone a clear statement of what it wants to be when it grows up in the form of Anos spawncamping a poor soul in an entrance test.

I'll keep this review short, there's really not much else to say about this rollercoaster that not even zombies can find any thrill out of. Now to sober up and start watching The Great Pretender instead.

Giving a romance comedy with a snail's crawl's pace of a story a 10/10 is something I'd never thought I'd ever do, yet when the final credits rolled with a bang *wink*, I realised I had way too much fun watching a genre I used to scoff at for potato couches binging it on Netflix.

Kaguya-sama S2 miraculously aired throughout the wasteland that was the certain yet-to-be-R34'd virus shoving a boot into the plans of essentially half the anime that planned to air this season, and despite not having much to compete with, has became the first anime series where I'd stay up til 3am just ... to watch the latest episode 0.038 microseconds after it airs.

Kaguya-sama S2 easily improves on the first season in terms of, everything. The OP is more of a banger, the animation is cleaner, crisper and daring-er, the interactions are more varied and fun, existing characters had (some sort of) development and new ones are welcomed warmly, the jokes mostly are fresh, barely cliche and most importantly funnier.

Supposedly cliche buildups can transition into full on different genres, and I love it. We follow the crew from (maybe) shopping in a night market leading to an Attack on Titan sequence, or maybe a tutoring session suddenly become a Call of Duty campaign, subverting all expectations, and they're barely predictable even if you tried. The 50 different emotions you experience in a scene overwhelm you into cracking a smile, a laugh and maybe a trip to the hospital for a gut replacement. The interactions between our cast despite true to their character archetypes, are so out-of-the-way yet not offtopic, and keeps every episode of lawfully chaotic evil shenanigans so fresh you wouldn't need a fridge.

Speaking of episodes, the overarching story of the 2 factions of stubborn gets carried along by episodic tomfoolery, much like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Each episode is individually digestable since not much is carried over into the next episode aside from massive plot points, and every one of them can carry their own weight. It helps that big events are compressed into a single 20m sitting instead of your standard shounen boss fight that extends to the length of my research folder, and concluded on the same episode it is introduced, allowing everything to be easily digestable.

Shinomiya's back jousting with Shirogane with office utensils in hand, Chika's back doing Chika things and lighting up r/Animemes weekly, Ishigami will still be genderbent Miku Nakano in my eyes, and our special new guests of the season introduced more usually-overused troupes but somehow meshing in with the existing cast. Everyone's true to their personalities, but this time even more fleshed out so no one feels like they're there as plot fodder. TL;DR character development for those dense enough to only consider that phrase suitable for 2 characters who struggle to hold hands for 4 seasons. Everyone gets their moment in/as the spotlight, and rarely is another memeber outshined by the bullshit being pulled by someone else for more than 5 minutes. Nothing feels cheap, jokes don't overstay their welcome, and the season as a whole is one of the most enjoyable pieces of media I've ever sat through in my life.

(I swear I'm not biased in the review of Kaguya-sama S2 because it spawned a tsunami of Hayasaka lewds, I swear)

Writing this review while listening to the ending song after my first watch, I'm not ashamed to say that yes, this is a 10/10 film for me.

[Review does not contain spoilers]

I want to start this off by saying that you shouldn't watch this expecting a perfect sequel to Kimi Na Wa, because it wasn't written to be one. Instead, treat this movie as is as its own individual film.

As can be expected by Makoto-fucken-Shinkai, this movie is a treat to all senses. Art is amazing, with every single goddamn frame, including background shots drawn with such meticulous attention that you'll be able to frame every ... single goddamn frame on a wall(paper). Characters are drawn perfectly, no matter in action-packed or quiet, heartfelt scenes, and only add to the immersion.

Audio doesn't lack. Sound effects, voice acting, the once again amazing soundtrack by the always amazing RADWIMPS that no doubt I'll be looping in the background of whatever I'll be doing, probably even while asleep. Characters are voiced with extreme emotion, especially when it counts the most, and as a person who'd proudly proclaim to never have cried in extremely emotional scenes of any media, I'll admit to having the threads of my heart tug at. Sound effects are directed I'd say perfectly, with so much detail that, thinking back, I can't believe they even perfected the effect of being indoors while a train speeding past manages to shake the building.

Now the hard hitting topic - story. Weathering With You is evidently a piece that Shinkai had way too much fun with, encorporating the most outlandish concepts of supernatural phenomenon, awkward teenage romance and even goddamn action chase scenes, fusing them into a hudgepudge of yes. And I love it. Tenki No Ko doesn't want you to sit back, twirl that moustache and proclaim "nay, that is illogical". Tenki No Ko wants you to sit back, and enjoy it specifically for being outlandish. The romance is supposed to be very unsure-ish and awkward, its between two high schoolers. The supernatural that happen is there so its not another run-of-the-mill story between 2 lovers. Hell, the ending scenes of the movie feels extremely believable, because if we follow along the events of it, is 100% a possible outcome.

Weathering With You is yet another, masterpiece is probably too great a word, amazing piece of pure art from Makoto-fucken-Shinkai, and to compare it to previous works like Your Name is to only bog it down, away from the ray of light it has rightfully earned itself.

I really don't know how to start off my take on SSSS.Gridman. What started off as "holy shit this is some good R34" became a mixed bag of emotions and thought thrown at me at about the last 4 episodes of the show.

Spoilers are included, I don't know how to write this out without.

Our MC, Yuta is more or less a blank canvas who just so happens to enjoy good ol tree-trunk-thigh Rikka, and while perfect to project whatever personality you'd want onto him, is also the biggest flaw in my opinion. This isn't a "pick your own story" like Skyrim or Fallout, this is ... a story that wants to guide you through the experience, and a blank canvas achieves not-that.

Rikka is pretty much what led me to check out Gridman. Aside from having unnecessarily thicc thighs, she's relatively quiet throughout the show, and her "friendship" with Akane was only somewhat utilised during the final episodes of Gridman. Not that it was a poor execution, hell I think it was a decent idea that wasn't executed as much as it should have to make the story somewhat engaging.

Akane is probably the star of the show. She's cheerful, she's popular, she'd probably get into a graduation bukkake, wait her room's an absolute dumpster and nothing you'd expect from a chick's bedroom, hold on she's...she's not what everyone believes she is, is she? Throughout the story, Akane's cheerful mask gradually gets peeled off, a girl who's had everything now has...nothing. Her descent is probably the one and only element trucking this show along its knees, her (back)story is powerful, you can very clearly see Akane tearing herself apart as for the first time in her life, nothing's going her way. Also, the off-shoulder jacket is sexy as all hell.

Our star of the show, Gridman, really is...just a star. He's painted in bright colours, constantly accommodated by flashing rainbows, saving the day...and that's it. He barely progresses the plot aside from the last 2 episodes, he beats down kaiju with abilities he'll chant out loud, he beats down bigger kaiju by fusing Power Rangers style (I really don't watch shows like that, its the only reference I have), and to no one's surprise he finally decides to ADC and press that goddamn ult button to one and for all take down the main villain (who isn't well-written, at all, that's all I have to say about him). He's persona-less aside from the justice-craved "we must fight" and the longest sentence I remember him saying can be filled by a single subtitle thread. Just like Yuta, he's awfully blank.

As a bonus gift, SSSS.Gridman has an antihero, literally named "Anti". Run of the mill "I'm bad until I'm not", his concept is overused yet his execution, just like Akane, was interesting to watch. Even with his Bakugo-esque distancing behavior, it's possible to notice he genuinely has changed/gained a heart and rises up to the occasion when the going gets tough. He still lurks around with the "you can't die unless under my hand" (which is a tiring troupe) but his actions also act as a stepping stone for the plot.

The story itself is barely narrated until the last quarter of the anime. Episode 1 starts you off with a mystery, who am I, who are you, then quite literally ignores it in favour of a monster of the week "eyy lmao slapped the bad dudes" marathon before finally remembering it has an ongoing plot and decides to move all pawns on the chessboard at once. This is my main gripe with the show. It doesn't push the narrative all the way through until the end, and I would be fine with meaningless big boi vs kaiju for all 12 episodes if it never implied a plot at all.

The animation is...a mixed bag. I can't stand CG, and for it to be relatively dominant in fight scenes (except the final fight which all the budget went to) was enough for me to alt+tab to Discord just to chuckle at it with some mates. When traditionally animated though, its sometimes mesmerising. The combine sequences, Gridman throwing a non-CG punch, Rikka's hair flowing as her head turns, it baffles me that they couldn't just stick with pen on paper like Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans had.

TL:DR SSSS Gridman felt like it started off with Director A, was then lead by Director B with nonsensical fighting for about 8 episodes before finally being passed back to Director A for him to continue the storyline. And the show would probably be better if it stuck with only one director. Nevertheless, its an enjoyable watch and will trigger nostalgia for most.

Growth. Mob grows from being a naive, stone-faced and aimless student into someone confident, willing to leave his comfort zone, and (arguably) most importantly willing to decide what he wants to do by his own will.

Despite some earlier episodes having some rather (occasionally intentional) budget cuts visually, trust me when its something that'll impress in the later episodes. Mob's barrage of colour will overtake whatever evil presence is on screen, fight scenes have some wallpaper-worthy frames, and just like his character, Mob's drawing becomes more refined. Seriously, he goes from Saitama "ok" to looking like he belongs in a Fate anime.

This sequel does not disappoint.

Your Name is fun. Your Name is touching. Your Name is worth your time.

Art, Your Name is beautiful. Characters are drawn beautifully. Environments are drawn beautifully. Everything is animated amazingly. Your Name is eye candy and I've yet to find any budget spared on the visuals in this movie. Eating in a cafe, looking over a sunset, idling in a busy train, trekking up mountains, almost every single frame is wallpaper worthy.

Your Name dips its toes into time travel/timeline manipulation, and even if its inexplainable, the interaction between our couple is so touching, you'll (probably) excuse its execution. Speaking of interactions, Taki and Mitsuha's relationship ... feels well deserved despite the two barely meeting face to face (if ever) in a relationship probably more long distance than proper long distance relationships.

The score is beautiful. Its subtle when it has to be subtle, bold when it needs it. RADWIMPS have orchastrated an impossibly fitting OST to convince you to feel how our characters are feeling. Some tracks in the album have been rated very highly in my Spotify playlist, they're absolutely amazing as just background music for your life in general.

Your Name combines anything, everything that would make an animation an amazing animation, and probably surpasses that bar to some.

Watch Your Name

For being another entry in the harem genre, Quintessential Quintuplets has managed to be a relatively fresh take for me. (Granted I don't watch much harem unless its hentai)

Probably the biggest contributor to the above was the fact that all love interests for the MC happen to live under the same roof, and always had. They've already had established relationships, already have special interactions among each other in their daily lives, yet each have very distinct characters and also (initial) interactions with the MC himself.

The MC isn't horribly blank enough you'd feel like you're writing on an A4 paper instead of an essay sheet. He ... doesn't have an out-there personality, but has shown qualities that I can see why the quints would fall for him. Despite having ulterior motives for being with them girls, he does lend a genuine hand when things go wrong, and is willing to go out of his way to get the girls together.

QQ being a harem anime might not be for everyone, but its take on the genre is fresh enough and well executed enough for me to sit through it with a constant grin and barely feel cliched.

While this movie scores a 7 in my books, its mostly carried by how amazing the movie visually is.

Gundam NT takes place about a year after Gundam Unicorn, and is a part of the UC storyline, so a lot of context from previous entries are required for you to fully grasp whatever topics are discussed in NT. Otherwise, the story is very thin granted just enough to be its own 90 minute entry.

Gundam NT has amazing art, animation, score (thanks Sawano), the VAing can get your spine feeling chilly for how well the actors played their part, the MS designs don't stray from previous entries ... yet feel distinct enough for you to pick certain models out from a crowd.

TLDR, Gundam NT is an enjoyable movie thanks to the visual and audio design, only let down by how much context is required and how little plot they tried to fit into a 90 minute timeframe.