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Don't watch it.

It's clear that everyone involved completely gave up on it somewhere between episode 4 and 5.

The first few episodes were uninteresting but acceptable. The pacing is extremely slow, but the action picks up in episode 4, and ends on a cliffhanger.

Episode 5 begins 1 year later. Yep, they ended on a cliffhanger, completely ignored it, and did about a season's worth of time skip. The next few episodes briefly set up a conflict, and rather than working through each problem, the writers decided that they wanted to be done, so everything is conveniently answered within a matter of minutes.

And ... to end it all, the writers decided to put another season's worth of material into a 5 minute power point presentation. I'm not kidding. It's a literal slide show.

This show is what happens when the staff just want something to be over as soon as possible.

I know a lot of you will be watching this anime in preparation for the massively hyped final season. So as a TL;DR, my main recommendation is that you watch this anime at 1.5x or 2x speed. It hints at greatness but is ruined by the slow pace and lack of plot development, so watching at an increased speed alleviates the slog.



Intense action, gory battles, political intrigue, amazing OST, massive scale, and a bleak and mysterious dystopian future, what could go wrong?

Attack on Titan is yet another anime with a potential for greatness ruined by pacing. There's always room for dialogue, monologue, and internal struggle, ... but the result of these slower moments should be advancement of the plot. Instead, these moments in Shingeki serve to bring the plot to a grinding halt until the character can finish their angsty moment. An entire episode is spent watching the main character sit on his butt figuring out what to do. These moments are not intense, they are painfully slow, and unfortunately they make up a large part of the anime. Now, as long as things come to a resolution eventually, that's not so bad. But an entire season should not be spent on exposition, delayed repeatedly by meaningless monologue.

Not to mention, none of the characters have demonstrated any depth at all apart from a couple side characters. Every character can be boiled down to a one sentence description.

Condense this entire 1st season into 13 episodes and this anime has a potential to be one of the best, but personally I found this 25 episode slog unbearable without watching at 1.5x speed.

It's very good but with glaring flaws.

It's game of thrones set in medieval northern Europe, political machinations among gory battle scenes.

Let's cast the characters:

Askeladd is the Hound or Jaime Lannister, we think he's a simplistic bad guy but the entire season follows him around and we realize he's a bad guy we like. He's the most well-written character of the series. Probably everyone's favorite character

Thorfinn, the main character, is basically Arya Stark. Can't touch this knife wielding plot armored shallow character, who's singular motivation is revenge for his father that he himself got killed by being a naïve child. Potential for plot development? ... Yeah but the writers decided not to and Thorfinn ends up being a thoroughly unlikable one dimensional character. Maybe next season will be better.

Cannute is reverse Daenerys. He goes from our least favorite character to our favorite character in one sudden abrupt transition. Cannute starts as a whiny little brat and then he undergoes puberty after discussing philosophy with a drunk priest. At that point onwards he becomes a likable contender for the throne.

Thorkell is the Mountain. He likes to fight, and that's basically his character.

So in summary, there are very good characters, and very bad characters. They all share about equal screentime so they balance each other out.

Plot: It's a slow burner, and as the title of episode 24 implies, this is just the prologue. Things start to pick up towards the end, with the political maneuvering, but they try to keep your interest with gory battles until then.

Battles are well-animated, gory, with actual direction unlike GOT S8. The feats of the main characters are a bit unrealistic, like cleaving people in half with a sword, throwing really heavy objects, things like that.


So who should watch it?
If you liked the first few seasons of GOT, either for the politics or the gore, you should watch it. If you like historical war dramas, you should watch it. If you can't stand annoying characters or unrealistic character development, stay away.

It was good but I hated most of it. The overall arc of the story was good, but the pacing and handling of certain themes were mishandled.

Let's deconstruct the themes:

Music - This is why I hated it. Apart from the last episode, the way they handled music throughout the show was atrocious. Nearly every piece is accompanied by painfully dragging monologue. If you've ever been to a children's piano recital, you know the pain when they decide to take the repeats that are already written in. Your Lie in April takes it a step further and adds in repeats that aren't even in the ... score. All to cram in unnecessary monologue. An entire 2 episodes are dedicated to monologuing to the same 5 minute piece. These things adversely affect pacing, destroying any sense of direction for the plot. The actual performances themselves do not reflect what the characters are saying about the performance. One girl plays Chopin's 25/11 Etude, and the audience is supposedly blown away by her passion. And yet they pick the most bland unmusical rendition of Winter Wind I have ever heard. "The competition is a sacred garden - not the place to find yourself" and yet if anyone played as metronomicly and soullessly as Arima's playing supposedly was, they would not win a single competition. The writers seem to have confused this so called "perfection" with competitiveness and something to aspire to. Metronomic and soulless play bore audiences to no end, and there's no way a serious piano would look at that and aspire to it as so many characters in this anime do. Overall it wasn't horrible what they did with the soundtrack, but as a musical anime, they completely failed to do the music justice.

Character development - From the beginning this is about Arima's journey back into music. At first it's pretty well done, Arima's mother is inseparable from music to Arima, and since her death, he cannot hear the music when he plays, resulting in poor performances. Thus, he ends up botching a few performances. But that's okay, he then makes a comeback and he learns to come to terms with his mother's death and now he can hear music again. Except this was completely glossed over and never discussed again. Arima's mother is also a poorly handled character. She clearly abused Arima, leading to Arima's psychological deafness, but also clearly loved Arima. The writers were not able to reconcile these things, and instead of the nuanced character she should have been, they instead made her one-dimensional and shallow.

Illness, loss, and healing - This is the area I would say the show is successful. I won't speak further to avoid spoilers. But this show is about losing loved ones and coming to terms with grief.

As a whole, Your Lie in April pacing ruins the story. The first 15 episodes drag on, with butchered musical numbers and incessant unnecessary monologue. It's not until episode 15 where the plot seems to advance, and still they throw in an entire arc featuring some irrelevant girl. The final 3 episodes finally get the plot moving again, but the last episode left too much for too little time to truly make a meaningful emotional impact. You can see where the story is going from a mile away, but at the end of the mile, your emotions have been too diluted to matter.

Violet Evergarden, heartfelt masterpiece or just a pretty doll, devoid of true meaning?

This is the story of a girl's journey through self-discovery, healing, and growth. Violet was formerly a military tool under the command of Major Gilbert, her protector. In his final moments, he tells Violet to "live free" and "I love you". After the war, she becomes an Auto Memory Doll, young women who write letters for clients, in order to determine the meaning of the Major's last words. Through helping others realize their feelings into words on a page, she learns for herself what it means to live and love.

The show begins ... tentatively, with Violet being a robot who knows nothing but the military. Her singular emotional depth initially came from her relationship with the Major, conspicuously missing, implied dead. But as she continues to work, she comes to learn what feelings are and how to express them on the page, and we see Violet's emotional growth with each episode. Near the end, we see Violet become a gentle and kind, but masterful writer. And then the show writers decided to throw that out the window and remind us that Violet is ex-military, with rather irrelevant, inconsistent, illogical action sequences. It's as if they wanted to make sure we know that Violet is supposed to be a badass.

And yet, the filler episodes, the ones that showcase Violet's emotional maturity, these are the ones that can be considered truly precious gems. The emotions that these clients wish to convey are at the heart tragic but beautiful, and their stories are incredibly touching. If for these few episodes, Violet Evergarden is worth watching.

The bad episodes are made all the worse because they are juxtaposed with the good ones. The bad episodes are what drive the plot, if you can call it that. For that reason, Violet Evergarden is not a masterpiece. And yet, the moments in between are beautiful enough to make up for its shortcomings.

9/10.

Made in Abyss is nothing short of artistry. It's an anime of the highest quality.

But then again, it's about a rather large mysterious hole in the ground, that people like to explore. And of course, the main characters want to reach the bottom. So of course, the anime is about the 2 MCs going down this big hole. And of course, with all adventure anime, this one is full of adventurous things: a mysterious curse, scary beasties, villains, and friends that help you along the way. That said, there's very little filler, and the pacing is very good. Each episode feels substantial to plot ... development, and subsequently keeps you wanting to watch the next, as the MCs continue down this hole. The plot is largely driven by the depth of the hole, to mark the MCs' progression. As you get deeper, the beasts get more dangerous, and the curse gets stronger: which manifests as physical symptoms when you attempt to ascend. These things are the main plot devices for the majority of the season.

The artwork is masterful. Everything is fluid and beautifully drawn. Every adventure story needs strange places that are filled with wonder and terror, and this giant hole in the ground has all of that. The character design of the children is a little bit off-putting at first, but as you watch, you get used to it. It's definitely a unique style that makes it more memorable. The characters themselves are very likable, with flaws, but good hearts. They were well designed with emotional depth uncharacteristic of children in similar adventure stories. Still, I found character motivation a little simplistic.

All in all, I liked Made in Abyss a lot, and it's definitely near one of my favorites. However my enjoyment, I couldn't give it a 10/10. MILD SPOILER they don't reach the bottom, and to really define it as a masterpiece in my opinion, the story has to be complete. I haven't yet seen the sequel movie, so I may change my mind once I have seen that.

TL;DR it's a must watch for anyone that likes adventure or science fiction.

EDIT: having seen the movie, changed it to 10/10, holy shit this anime is good

Like Lolis? Like guns? DO YOU LIKE SEEING A PINK LOLI MASSACRE PEOPLE WITH A MACHINE GUN AFFECTIONATELY NAMED P-CHAN? Then boy do I have an anime for you.

On a serious note, you can't judge this one by its cover. The premise sucks unless you're really into lolis with guns. Yet there's something satisfying seeing a tiny pink thing make a fool out of larger more serious adults. Of note, this anime is primarily a comedy, borderlining parody of the original. The action scenes are well-executed,creative, and witty. And like I said, it's enjoyable watching LLENN outmaneuvering the other players.

In terms of themes, ... forget the melodramatic die irl if you die from SAO. This is about the friendship between two women who shared nothing in common except for their love of gaming. If you've ever had a friend you used to game with online, and had a blast together, this is about that. The anime does a decent job of exploring online personas vs irl self. There's little room for character development, but it's short enough that development isn't really needed.

This isn't an anime to be taken seriously. It's lighthearted fun and as long as you keep that in mind, it's a really enjoyable anime.


Also, if you hated SAO, don't let that turn you away because I thought SAO was meh too and I really enjoyed this one. I wouldn't say it's one of the greats, but definitely recommend watching.

7/10

There's nothing complicated about 12 super warriors in a battle royale. And it's not like this one is exactly ground-breaking. The universe is not well fleshed out and a lot of the plot is pretty predictable. Death flags everywhere.

I still enjoyed the show, the fight animations look great and though it's not difficult to predict who's gonna win, it's still fun to guess.

What's nice is that each character gets their own episode, fleshing out their back story so we can get an idea of what sort of background each of the warriors comes from. Each character is memorable in their own right and none ... of them are completely unlikable.

There's two main criticisms of this anime: the first is that it's really predictable. But I would say that the predictable nature was established as a given for the series from episode 1. Ultimately the show isn't about who dies, but how they lived and how they died. It's about the journey rather than the destination. Not that the show is all that deep, but it's not entirely brainless.

The second criticism is the ending. A lot of people disagree with the winner's choices and while I don't want to spoil too much, the show does reach a satisfying conclusion. "Wtf I wouldn't have wished for that" is not a valid criticism because they haven't lived the life of any of these characters. Ultimately, all of the warriors are human, with human desires (well except rabbit) and human weaknesses despite their ridiculous weapons and powers.

Having done a rewatch, I can say that this is my favorite anime of all time. It's absolutely beautiful to watch, and the themes it explores are incredibly profound.

I apologize for the lack of explanation, but explaining too much would spoil the show's enjoyment because enjoyment comes from the "why": the unraveling of the mystery and exploration of human motives.) Shin Sekai Yori is basically about a post-apocalyptic dystopian society where everyone has and learns to control psychic power. The single most important factor governing this society is the prevention of calamities, namely appearance of karmic demons or ogres. Enslaved by human society are ... the intelligent monster rats who see the humans as gods due to their power and this dynamic is crucial to the development of the plot. The show explores themes of morality, ethics, law, eugenics, child developmental psychology, teen love, and social contract. Usually a dystopian story (novel, film, show, etc.) sets up the dystopian government, which bears resemblance to current governmental structures and expose its flaws (like 1984, Psychopass). The dystopia in Shin Sekai Yori rather gives justification for the horrible things the society does. What is necessary for society to survive? Why does this society go to such lengths?

The pacing is slow. This isn't an action anime. It doesn't really pick up until ep 16. Until then, we watch the main characters go from schoolchildren just entering middle school to adults functioning in this society. Because the things that society does are terrible, children are kept from this knowledge and it is revealed to us as the children learn as well. The pacing gives us time to mull over the things we learn about this society. It feels like the series could go for 50 episodes based on pacing, and yet by the time you finish the series, so much has happened. Not to mention, some of the scenes are breathtakingly beautiful (boat scene with shun and saki) and the music while generic at times can be haunting.

As I've said, this is probably my favorite anime in its profundity and execution. The pacing is slow, but it's all part of the atmosphere created.

10/10

Psycho-Pass basically is a dystopian sci-fi anime setting up the all-seeing Sibyl system as its government. And like all dystopian stories, Psycho-Pass proceeds to criticize and point out all the flaws of its governance. The show follows Division 1 of the MWPSB, Japan's police force as they track down the mysterious criminal Makeshima, who threatens to overturn society.

Basically, Sibyl system monitors everyone's psyche and predicts their likelihood of crime in the form of a number, the crime coefficient, which can be measured using futuristic guns wielded by the police. If it's high enough, an individual is marked for arrest and the guns are ... able to stun the target. If it's not, the gun is locked. If it's excessively high, then the gun changes from stun to kill (quite brutally). As shown in the first episode, this number mainly is tied to stress and as a result everyone is obsessed with taking care of their stress. Of course, the whole point is asking whether "latent criminals" are really criminals. Often victims of crimes end up with raised coefficients and are usually arrested along with their attackers.

All the while we're posed with the question of whether latent criminals are actually criminals, the story's main conflict actually comes from whether an individual can be a criminal but not a latent criminal. That is, can someone's coefficient stay low even while they commit horrid crimes? And how will the omniscient Sibyl System judge such an individual? What does justice mean in this futuristic society?

A lot of people criticize the characters' actions. "Why didn't they just do this, I would have done this" and yes characters' actions can be frustrating, but as long as the actions have reason behind them, it's ridiculous to judge characters in this manner. These characters are not you. They will not act how you would act.

As for pacing, I think it's fine. It starts out with individual crimes, introducing different facets of this society. Eventually there starts to be links between the crimes funneling the show into the main conflict.

As for the characters themselves, in a crime anime, it's not unforgivable for the police to be bland if the criminals are colorful. While most don't last very long, I think the criminals are interesting enough to give this series a pass. The main villain in particular is more than compelling enough. Criticism of the characters is mainly aimed at the MC, Akane Tsunemori. However, I think she's far from bland. She does have development, and she upholds her ideals to the utmost. A quote from the 2nd season, she "understands the value of life" even in this dystopia where people have lost what it means to be human. The foil, Kogami, is static, but he's intended as the gravitational force to shape Akane from the newbie that doesn't know what she's doing to the calm detective who strives for justice. Importantly, Akane never becomes Kogami (like the moon never hits the Earth) but Kogami's influence on Akane's development is undeniable.

Art and sound: The action scenes are decent enough, nothing spectacular. Again, the show's main focus is on the philosophy of crime and justice. Soundtrack is pretty good, but again not spectacular. The general vibe from the artwork is pretty bright for a dystopian anime. It isn't mind blowing, but I wouldn't say the art and sound detract from the overall enjoyment.

If you're into philosophy, dystopias, or general crime and detective stories, you should definitely watch. Even if you hate the characters, the artwork, or whatever, it's still worth watching because of how the themes of morality and justice are tied into the story. I won't give it a 9/10 because it didn't blow my mind but I definitely enjoyed it throughout.

8/10