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Ito Junji: Collection
Original air date: Jan 5, 2018 to Mar 23, 2018 (Winter 2018)


If I had to compare the Ito Junji: Collection (IJC) to anything else, I'd be old horror flicks from the fifties – remember those cheesy black and white films that hurt our stomachs due to excessive laughter? – it's kind of like them. But then again, I wouldn't compare IJC at all because it is actually coloured (!), and one of a kind.

Every episode features two stories, making it an episodic anime. This reminded me of American classic cartoons, stuff that aired in the 90s and which I absolutely love. ...
They are proof of Ito's wild, unbound and vivid imagination. Shocking, ridiculous events and a strange kind of comedy kept me glued to the screen while I tried to make sense of the weird events … or brought me on the edge of falling asleep. Unfortunately, IJC has its bunch of bad episodes which lowered my rating.
The perhaps biggest issue for every horror anime is the question of whether it can scare its viewers or not. That's where most of them fail. Another question, however, is if it is even possible to lure out that feeling of unease. Most don't, but there are great examples – Shinreigari and Lain are good ones – that have managed it.
So, is the IJC scary? Without spoiling too much I can confirm that it has its moments.

Fans of flashy animation and music better look for something else to watch. IJC is minimalist, spartan if you want, but the simple truth is that it doesn't need more.
Animation is used rarely, which can either be seen as the directors means to tell the stories or the producers greed. We all know which it is, but it works surprisingly good; most of the time it's the character's thoughts and their interactions that are in focus, but even hot pursuits are told just fine this way and made me realize that most shounen anime simply are a waste of money.
As I mentioned, music is rare, too, but there are a couple of nice sounding tunes that repeat itself during the cour and build a creepy atmosphere, all to my liking.

The characters are IJC's strongest point. It's them with their sleep deprived, dark underlined eyes that give the stories their faces (pun intended). Due to the episodic structure there is of course no development, but that isn't needed. In my opinion, IJC features some of the most unique and unforgettable persona you will find in anime, like Souichi, a serious nut job of an primary-school pupil, the ugliest supermodel ever and a scary French doll called Jean-Pierre. These three also appear in the best episodes and make it a must watch.

Ito, creator of the infamous Uzumaki (Spiral), and his works are true originals, combining horror, dementia and his weird sense of humour, better than Ed Wood, weirder than a David Lynch from the Twilight Zone. To put it shortly, something unique.
IJC oozes charisma, something that is rare to find in an industry that bombards us with fifty new series every three months. I highly recommend to watch it if you are sick to stick to conformity and would like to revolutionize your anime list. But don't give it a try just so you can show off with >>that weird anime<<.

One Piece based on the manga by Eiichiro Oda has been airing since 1999. During its currently 17 years on TV the series has managed to attract a lot of attention and not few will call it one of the greatest shounen series that were ever made.

Story:

Off all the shounen anime series I have watched One Piece (OP) has one of the most interesting main stories. There is Gol D. Roger's notorious treasure One Piece, whose discovery makes the finder Pirate King, and Luffy, in pursuit of it.
I guess I don't need to say much more about this since it can be considered common ... knowledge in the anime world.
Furthermore, OP also offers other interesting stories which will keep the viewers glued to the screen, e. g. Sanji's "All Blue" and Nico Robin's "Hieroglyphs". In fact all main characters have their goals they pursue, while assisting Luffy. Nothing out of the ordinary, though, since it's quite usual for shounen anime.
So far for the main storyline. However, when it comes to the other, normal adventures the Strawhats go through, OP lacks much. A usual arc has terrible pacing with many episodes were literally nothing happens (imagine members of the crew running to a certain place of importance, packed into nearly 25 minutes). Arcs are pretty much endless fightings until Luffy takes care of the main villain. This can make it very difficult to watch OP, for arcs often take longer than a year to finish (and some, like the recently finished one, even two). In fact, OP can sometimes feel like an ordeal. But ultimately, once arcs near its end

Art:

OP's animation style can be described best as happy, joyful... and childish. Absolutely everything in it looks amusing and you get the feeling the series is constantly laughing at itself. Being animated that way often ruins the mood in serious moments, however, even in those OP tries to stay funny anyway, so it doesn't really matter and over time one gets used to it. Honestly, I could not imagine One Piece to be animated differently.

Sound:

The soundtrack really is nothing special; it contains some catch tunes that fit the OP universe and highlight the battle scenes. I assume especially Luffy's tune when he's ready for combat is a classic already.

Characters:

OP has a huge cast of characters, beginning with the Strawhat crew, who you just have to like. I'm not going into detail here since it can be considered common knowledge. However, one thing I want to point out is the two females, who often play no role whatsoever and mainly seem to be there to seldom assist in some battles, or for fanservice, highlighted by their hilariously big breast, something which is by the way very normal in the anime actually.
Apart from the Strawhats, you have a hole bunch of other characters and nakama, many of them funny and annoying at the same time (OP manages to do that). Well, it's the usual shounen anime characters where dealing with. As I like shounen, I find most of them enjoyable.

Enjoyment and overall:

Long-running arcs and mostly terrible pacing throughout the series, and furthermore the typical OP childishness are flies in the ointment, but nevermind all those because it's OP, and somehow there's always something enjoyable about it; maybe it's the weekly shounen madness, waiting for Luffy to go to action, the excitement when an arc ends and a new one starts, long story short, One Piece is, even after more than 700 episodes, still a great series for fans of easygoing fighting anime. And those who breathe shounen will love it anyway.

--Watching Hentai is not a fashion, it's a way of life.--

Enbi is a short OVA containing two sex scenes, one a gangbang, the other a threesome. I really enjoyed the scenes. There is a lot of variety and it never gets boring (yeah right, as if it ever would).

Story (1/10):
Well, what do you expect as regards story. A teenager becomes a man after attendance of a festival. I guess, that's the story summarized.

Art (9/10):
I found the art great! I like the drawings, they are up to date.

... Sound (7/10):
The sound is good, although I hardly payed attention to it. The music is not annoying or anything like that. The seyuus did a good job.

Character (9/10):
There are three main characters, the aforementioned super horny boy and two women (although one of them only becomes one at the ending lol). The women are big breasted and horny, insatiable and can never get enough . Furthermore there are a bunch of delinquents. Needless to say, that all characters are overwhelmed by their carnal desires!

Enjoyment and Overall (9/10):
I enjoyed the OVA. As mentioned earlier, the scenes are good and give variety. It's just a bit sad there won't be more OVA's. All in all, this is a 9/10.