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Oh boy, this is a strange one.

SiN is a 1998 video game set in the year 2037, the police has been fazed out and private companies and muscle fulfil the role of law enforcement. You play as John R Blade, head of security company HardCorps, and the story follows you going after Elexis Sinclaire, head of SinTek, as she appears to be behind the violent mutants encountered throughout the game.

I'm not going to go into the video games any further, as the movie isn't so much a sequel to them as it is an adaptation, but its worth reading the plot summary for the games ... to understand the characters and themes in the movie better.

The movie is hardly a masterpiece. It's unnecessarily dark and gritty in contrast to the source, and it starts by immediately killing off a supporting character from the video game, which you only see through flashback sequences as it opens with Blade standing at their grave. The story, while not difficult to follow, is pretty weak. It jumps around a lot and the supporting characters are pretty forgettable, and its full of clichés too. The antagonist is once again Elexis Sinclaire, and her plan revolves around kidnapping and extracting the blood from a little girl with a rare DNA anomaly in order to make more powerful mutants. Groundbreaking stuff I know. Other characters include the afformentioned late video game character's sister, whom none of the cast have met prior, and a few other forgettable faces who were original from the movie too.

What the movie lacks in writing however, it picks up in art and setting. The action and characters (mainly Blade) are beautifully over the top, and the gore is spectacular. It also looks like a brilliantly designed dystopian future, something the preceeding games failed to achieve, and it has that classic 90's futuristic art direction to it aswell. The soundtrack is pretty decent, the opening credits theme is awesome, but it's mainly pretty generic action sci-fi music that gets the job done nicely. If the music were bad, I'd have something to say about it.

The movie is pretty enjoyable even if its not all that good, it's a movie that holds nothing back and is equal parts ridiculous and awesome. Its definitely worth a watch, which won't take you long as it doesn't even hit the 60 minute mark, credits included. If you're a fan of over the top action, great fight and gore scenes, and can live with some lackluster writing, this movie is for you. It's a great entry to an obscure franchise (which is also worth checking out if you're a fan of first person shooters) and a damn good movie spawned from a video game that just couldn't beat Half Life.

Hidamari Sketch is one of those wonderful animes that never peaks because it just gets better and better until it's done. There are a lot of episodes, over 4 seasons, so you can consider this my review for the whole show.

The first episode is a snowy January day, everybody is a bit sluggish and tired, and it isn't particularly fast paced, you just get to know the characters you'll be following throughout the show and the kind of people they are. I've only seen this anime once, and while most of the show is very memorable, not many full episodes stick in my mind, but ... I distinctly remember this one. The aesthetic is so relaxed and peaceful; they do some schoolwork, play in the snow, and then chat under the kotatsu, it's the most theraputic thing and I love it.

That's what this show is all about, unlike most slice of life animes where a lot of exaggerated things happen to boost the comedy, Hidamari Sketch takes it slow and easy, the episodes follow a format of 12 days throughout the year, sometimes not even in chronological order, and the plot devices for some episodes are as simple as cleaning an apartment or cooking some fried chicken. There's no comuket, no crazy otaku self insert or exaggerated fictional anime, the characters are simply art students learning to live independantly. It's another thing that makes the show feel so peaceful and homely.

I'm a big soundtrack junkie, and I can confidently say that Hidamari Sketch has the best music I've heard in an anime. I am being 100% honest when I say that at one point, the music moved me to tears.
The OPs and EDs are all fantastic, and the background music is just something else, it fits the aesthetic of Hidamari Sketch so perfectly, and the show would not be the same without it. The singer duo Marble, who performed the music for Hidamari Sketch, recorded full albums based on the show, you can find them on the youtube channel Deses, and for God's sake listen to them, it's just another gem out of the diamond mine that is Hidamari Sketch.

During the latter seasons, things start to get a bit more lively; a lot of new characters are introduced, some running jokes are dropped, and it generally feels like it's been kicked up a notch, but this is what I mean when I say it just gets better and better, the show just builds on itself and never runs out of great stories to tell. During the last season there is a very wistful atmosphere with both the characters and the viewer, because the upperclassmen Sae and Hiro are going to graduate at the end of the year and leave Hidamari Apartments, and the show will come to an end.
...
And I'm getting emotional recalling it now, this isn't even thought-out review script this is happening as I write the damn thing.

As the winter starts to come in, I can't think of a better time to watch Hidamari Sketch again or for the first time, it's one of the most soothing shows I've ever seen, and it puts me in a good mood just thinking about it.