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Full Metal Panic! is cute. It's a series where you have to appreciate many of its flaws to be fond of it. Which might not be an easy task for many viewers, myself used to be one of them as I discovered it during 2022 and in my first time viewing it I did not like it very much. Here's a little summarize before going through my opinions: Full Metal Panic! is a story about a young sergeant named Sousuke going on a mission to protect Kaname Chidori (a teenager who unconsciously holds breakthrough scientific knowledge and is considered a "Whispered") from intelligence agencies and ... other organizations pursuing her abilities. And from there, many shenanigans between the two main protagonists will begin. To begin with, I though its inconsistency was way to evident as the tone constantly jumps between "intense" action moments and silly slapstick comedy bits; I though it was trying to hard at combining many different genres all at once; some character interactions were simply loud and obnoxious; the overall animation was a mixed bag as it goes from fluent to stiff in almost every episode, notice how I used the "" on intense because it was hard to take the action scenes seriously when the animation quality wasn't top notch. The main reason of why I was checking it in the first place was to just speed running it in order to watch the next two seasons produced by Kyoto Animation that were more well received then season 1. I let these issues biting my throat through out the majority of the run time and I came up with the simple mind that FMP! was a product of its time and it doesn't hold up with a lot of anime that were coming out in future decades, and in a way I still kinda hold to this statement. But then, a year later, something in mind told me to give it a second chance, now that I was fully aware about the craziness of the first season I decided to take it easy and having a more "easy-going" experience this time around, you can say I had a bit of "development" about my opinions on FMP!

A stable negative for this anime is the pacing. The plot is centered around Sousuke keeping Chidori safe but season 1 has five different side events without even mentioning the filler/school episodes, all in a 24 episodes' space. There're to many things happening in this season that connecting to any minor character is pretty limited, and when some of these guys will slowly pass away during battles they all probably go pass your mind in minutes. That stated, don't go into this series waiting for earth shuddering events that will scar you for days, if you want to take the war side of FMP! seriously then you'll come out disappointed.

The characters grown on me. Sousuke is a strange guy: he has enough intelligence and experience to learn about how mechs are structured and how good they are in fighting mechanics; he is skilled in combat techniques; hes has good knowledge on weapons; he knows how to handle the situation even when it seems all desperate, he's a genius in many circumstances but acts like a complete buffoon when he attempts school to keep an eye on Chidori, and being incapable to behave normally with other schoolmates. Even when it was done on purpose I kept on thinking how nonsensical was this aspect of Sousuke, and I'm sure I'm not the only person in this regard, many would find his half personality cringeworthy and for honestly good reasons, personally I got used to see him being the imbecile for comedy purposes and I think his development with Chidori's feelings helps him being more generally likable. Speaking of Chidori... she's the tsundere of the series, y'know the type of girl who keeps on abusing verbally and physically the main character while also somehow forming a lovely relationship whit him. If that is not the kind of girl that you'd like to see in an anime then she's definitely not for you, but I liked Chidori. I think that her abusing the shit out of Sousuke is pretty justified since I already talked about how that dumb characteristic of him causes awkward and chaotic problems with other students, therefore her being the meany that she is it's the most charming aspect you'll find in FMP, there are simply more egotistical girls in other shows then her and she seems fun to be around next to her closest friends, that is as long as you're not a Sousuke. Finally we have the lovable Testarossa, or Tessa to put it briefly, she's the clumsy Captain of the revered TDD-1 'Tuatha de Danaan' submarine. She's a cute hottie and I dig her clumsiness, she doesn't have significant development outside of her standing more serious and responsible in her role as a captain, but it's nice having her simply interacting with her loved ones as she's caring and gentle with everybody, and I very much appreciate how badass as a captain she is capable of being during the last act with the final Gauron's attempt to attack, I also like how close she's trying to be close with Sousuke, kinda giving the fans a comparison on who should be considered best girl between Chidori and Tessa, in other worlds the "waifu wars" that was trendy in the mid 2000', I kinda miss those silly arguments. As for other characters, well I don't have much willing to describe point blank what everyone else is worth about, Kurz is funny dude when it comes to the "pervy gags", but that's about it. Everybody else serve their purpose. The worst character might be Gauron, as a villain he kinda just sucks, there's no motive out of him to be found, he has like two or three cool scenes but most of the time he keeps on losing with whatever plans he's trying to accomplish, and to this day I still don't understand how could this motherfucker survive a direct head shot from young Sousuke equipped with a rifle during a war. So this is where I'm at: Sousuke, Chidori, and Tessa are three pleasant characters and they are good enough to carry the all cast and make the story kind of interesting.

Adding some more things to say animation wise, I still stand by saying and it has aged poorly, studio Gonzo doesn't have a big reputation for stable animation and solid adaptations, they're below average in that regard, but there is one thing that helps me like the aesthetics of FMP! and that is the character design and art style, I really like both. The characters are really expressive, they give a sense of emotion for any kind of situation, Chidori in particular is cartoonishly (if that makes sense) expressive and I love it, her smile and angry face shine from miles away. While Sousuke looks pretty generic compared to many other anime male protagonists, every other character has a distinct look to them, my personal favorite is Tessa, I love her adorable and innocent look combined with her long silver/platinum hair.

Looking on the general soundtrack for FMP, it's rather decent, good to listening it once but it isn't that memorable. However, the OP "Tomorrow" and ED "Karenai Hana" are a blast and I love coming back to listen to then every single time, they're overall (not counting Tassa) my favorite part of the series and they're incredibly nostalgic. Like many theme songs of Haruhi Suzumiya and Lucky☆Star they're time capsules; once I listen to them they bring me back memories of when the early internet was a lot safer and fun to engage. Tomorrow along with the OP for Fumoffu! are perfect to listen for long and relaxing walk among the hills and long fields of grass, I don't think many can relate to that but I'm lucky enough to enjoy these peaceful songs on fresh air and beautiful countryside scenery. Tomorrow helps me to remind that things will get better, maybe not as fast as we'd like but eventually, as long as you're hopeful, life will be great.

Yes I spent hours on writing about an anime that has long lost its relevance for a review that won't get much attention because of that. Full Metal ̶A̶l̶c̶h̶e̶m̶i̶s̶t̶ Panic! is dumb fun, nothing deep or special, just simple and coherent FUN. It might not hold big value anymore especially when you consider another show like Gurren Lagann that takes the Mecha/comedy/adventure genres all in one story but has amazing execution and is perfectly consistent from beginning to end, but either way Panic! is worth checking out. The anime died without a conclusive ending but if it holds your interest you can still check the light novel that have finished over a decade ago.
To end on a bright note...

FUMO-FUMO-FUMOFFU!!!

I'm going to make a quick review on Gamera: Rebirth because it's almost the end of 2023 and the series is still kinda new, and I'm a bit of a Gamera fan, so here are my small thoughts on it!

For those who don't know about Gamera himself: Gamera is a giant turtle Kaiju that got quite the fame before the 2000' in Japan for being a Godzilla's contrasting rival when it comes to Japanese monster movies. But the big guy went silent for quite a long period, his last movie being Gamera the Brave from 2006 and no other projects have been taken since. But ... finally the turtle has made a comeback with an Netflix animated series called Gamera: Rebirth, it draws the attention of not only our protagonist, but also 5 other Kaijus that Gamera has already faced before during the Showa period: Gyaos, Jiger, Zigra, Guiron and Viras. The series is mainly focused on our protagonist fighting other monsters to save the Earth and the population in danger, but there's also a side story about four kids going into an adventure trying to escape and getting safe from the Kaijus.

The plot is as simple as you can get: monsters fly around and hit each other while the human characters are trying to give us a reason of why we should care about the monster action. If we have to compare for a moment this series to other anime with giant monsters like Godzilla Singular Point, the Godzilla anime trilogy or even Attack on Titan, Rebirth doesn't try to give a complex story or a deep meaning message behind the Kaiju fights, which in my opinion is a good choice because it will let the fans enjoy what they came here for: mindless monster action. The action itself was quite the spectacle, the way the monsters can fly or jump around while still having some sort of weight and impact on every hit they get is satisfying + the GCI on the Kaijus doesn't look that bad, I've seen better CGI in other action oriented series but the monsters aesthetic, along with their creative design, are charming to look. Gamera was also a very likable character, he's intimidating whenever countering another Kaiju but also protective and badass with the main cast around, maybe one of my favorite interpretation of the big turtle so far, his design is very sick and awesome as well.

So the story and action scenes are decent enough to recommend Gamera: Rebirth to a certain type of audience who wants to get at the edge of their seat. The show knows what it is and it's not afraid to be a mindless destruction fest with giant freaks, so I can give Rebirth a small respect for what is trying to be, but at the same time I can't call myself satisfied with Rebirth for probably insignificant reasons that other people might think. While the fights are well made and the protagonists are always set in dangerous situations I didn't felt much excitement, mainly due to the generic soundtrack playing in the background that kinda killed the tension it was getting. The human characters aren't anything to write a book about, I've seen worse squad of kids in different stories (even in Gamera movies) but I can't find a lot to relate to them and I won't call their friendship unique or strong at all, and it makes me think of them as a generic group to follow. By the last two episodes when the main cast were getting in life risking events and the plot was getting a lot more serious I simply couldn't care. Also while I complimented the CGI for the monsters and how nice it looked, it was a deal breaker for me seeing how terrible it look on the human characters, on top of having bland design they also have stiff and janky movements which makes them look very unnatural. It's one aspect I can compliment Godzilla Singular Point for, creating characters with generally unique design while being 2D animated, but Rebirth does the very opposite. It was a very noticeable problem after seeing the first trailer and sadly it has been the same from start to end. They also revealed a twist villain at the end, a character that seemed genuine and friendly for most of the adventure except not really when the plot needed at finale, it felt to cliché in my opinion.

So... this is what I generally think of Rebirth. Despite the overall nice attempt to bring the big turtle guy back in game, I can't help but feeling they could have made his return a little more epic and fascinating. Am I being to harsh on this small and inoffensive anime? Yeah maybe, but at same time I can't recommend it to a general audience who wants to look at something more memorable and there are other Gamera entries that can offer you a much better experience: like the Gamera Heisei trilogy or Gamera the Brave that I mentioned before. For being a return of an iconic monster, I just wasn't very interested. But then again this is just a dumb animated series made by f**king Netflix so, what could I expect. I'll might have an all new appreciation for the Gridman Universe.

It has been long enough since I made a little review on Spy x Family Part 1, so now I feel like doing the same thing with part 2! Yeee I'm like... a full year late but there's a reason for this: my interest for SXF has kinda died out. Not fully died out so to say, but part 2 came around a time when more interesting shows started to pop out (*cough* *cough* Bocchi *cough* Mob Psycho *cough* *cough* Bleach *cough*) and the general hype for the series wasn't all that present anymore. Obviously tho I didn't feel like dropping it as I stated ... from the previous SXF review "I'm interested to see what part 2 has to offer, hopefully on the same level of enjoyment or even better" so was that the case...? Unfortunately not so much.

It starts off with Anya wanting a pet to impress her classmates, after going to the pet store Anya is accidentally involved in a terrorist plan organized by a group of criminals, she was able to escape thanks to a imprisoned dog, let's say a special dog that can predicate recent future events. After figuring out that Anya's dad is going to be in danger very soon they both go in a little adventure to save him. After solving these events that last for three or more episodes the show goes back at being a "serene" slice of life, mostly about Anya highlights at school. Anya is very much the star of part 2, after all she is at the center of the poster! The problem is that every time she's on screen she's just... boring. It's a complain that I've already explained in part 1, the characters don't have much going on personality wise but saved a bit by some interesting/memorable scenes and I could see a bit of grown into the family dynamic for future episodes, here nothing improves and there's nothing to latch on to. I grown to not liking Anya anymore, I though of her as adorable and mysterious once I started part 1, now she's either boring or annoying to watch especially during her school routine, didn't care about any of her shenanigans as well as her classmates, they just... exist! (believe it or not they're getting almost as much screen time as the Forgers). As for the parents (now reduced more of side characters), well Loid is still pretty bland except maybe for table tennis side story that happen near the end. Seeing him spending some funny action time with his collaborator Fiona was pretty I suppose. Yor is honestly the star of the series for now, yeah I know she's kinda stupid and goofy at times but there's a big charm to that, seeing her doing stupid decisions and being ridiculously OP is the most fun SXF can get. Her stopping a speedy car with a single kick and throwing a tennis ball at the speed of sound might sound very ridiculous, and it is but remember this is an anime with a kid with esper powers, a future telling pet, and a spy that can perfectly disguise with a single costume so... yeah we clearly don't care of reality anymore. Anyway, what for the other side characters? There's the big new family member Bond, he exist! The bud was useful to solve the terrorist attempt for sure but that outside there's nothing else to speak about; Ruri is here just to vomit on Yor's food; Damian and Becky are whatever; Fiona is actually worth to mention simply because of her rivalry (since she's fallen in love with Loid) against Yor. To sum it up, Yor carries the cast and the series on her super strong back while everyone is average or below.

The production value is, for what I can tell, the same as it was in part 1, the one thing I will add is that the aesthetic starts to look more mediocre the more you watch up until the end (or at least that's what I felt like), but it's better then decent regardless. The animation shines the most during the OP and ED, actually it's incredible during the OP and ED, sadly the rest doesn't match the same level.

Well, to finish my overall thoughts; despite criticising a lot of Spy X Family Part 2 I think in its entirety it's alright! I don't have much to dislike about (except Anya), but it is a bit of a downgrade from part 1 and I can see why its popularity started to decrease with the past few months. Still it's a good anime to watch with friends and family, I don't have immense hope for when the next season and the movie come out. However it goes I won't have interest to review the rest of the series, so this is where my description of SXF will end. May the Forgers spend a good and happy life together!

When you go through so many shows during a seasonal it's no surprise that you find yourself in front of something unexpectedly great. I wasn't sure what I was getting at before starting Tengoku Daimakyou. The name under the studio and the talented art director + episode directors and storyboarders was already a sign of confidence that I was about to experience something possibly good, but didn't know how good it could be. When the end of the product makes me want to binge it in just a day or two it's a clear sign that it exceeded my expectations. Needless to say... I was ... impressed.

The series is set in a post apocalyptic world, the civilization is ruined, people roam the streets with the risk of being faced with a man-eating monster. We witness two separate stories: a group of children who are isolated in a facility; meanwhile two survivors, Maru and Kiruko, are searching for a special place called Heaven. Along with their adventures we get to know many backstories relating to the origins of the apocalypse and how the characters end up to their devastating situations. With great ideas that would lead into a excellent sci-fi series the one thing essential to make it work is a good direction. Creating hard explorations feeling intense and believable in a hostile world as well as making you care about the protagonists in whatever set-up their in. I believe this anime succeeded in both categories. It has a good mix of comedic moments, horror, mystery, romance and drama fitting nearly wonderfully in 13 episodes. None of them feel forced with maybe the romance (between Maru and Kiruko) as the only exception, many people seem to not being into it and I can understand a little, for me it wasn't bothering, it might actually be one of the highlights of the cast. The drama in particular surprised me more then I would imagine, it wasn't utilized much until the second half, once the more serious moments happened I was very convinced, the final scene from episode 8 was when it hit the best, it was satisfying. Like other world building series, Girls Last Tour just to name it, Tengoku Daimakyou goes on a more episodic structure, mainly with the duo, they go in different locations and meet with strange individuals, and getting more knowledge of their world with dark reveals. The kids in the facility reminds more to The Promised Neverland (for what I can tell... I haven't seen Neverland), the poor fellas struggles with trauma and find a way to escape from their prison. The two side stories go very well in parallel, my favorite tho would be the one about the duo. While I believe the facility part didn't have the best execution possible I think it had some very intriguing elements and some of the most interesting ideas.

For this type of work the concept and ideas are good enough to carry the show and making a fun popcorn entertainment but the cast of characters deserves a decent enough praise! Is it the most advanced or well written cast of characters ever? No, barely even close, but it works good enough for me. Obviously Maru and Kiruko are the two highlights, their relationship feels legit and not cheese or forced. They go fine with each other like brothers, they're either having fun together or help each other out in complicated situations. The dialogues between the two feels natural and they exchange many facts in common. Seeing more of then in (possible) feature seasons would be very appreciated.

Now we go to what is probably my favorite aspect of Tengoku Daimakyou: the aesthetics, production value, and art direction. Y'all don't need an explanation as to why this anime has a creative look to it... but I'm gonna explain anyway!
The visuals/backgrounds are very wide and detailed showing a lot of urban decay, there's a big sense of scale put in the abandoned cities. The character design is unique, the expression the characters can get during the comedic moments are very expressive and cartoonish and they definitely remind me of the old school Gainax/Trigger, it wouldn't be surprising if some of their people did work on a few episodes, it gives a lot of personality to the protagonists. That also goes for the radical designs for the monsters. The color palette fits very well with the scenery and the atmosphere. The action scenes are very well composed and well shot. Kensuke Ushio (who worked in other popular projects such as Chainsaw Man) was the composer for the soundtrack and he did a very good job at setting the general tone for the serious moments.

One thing I need to add briefly in my review, Tengoku Daimakyou deals with problematic damage unfortunately common in human nature. Don't want to go in details but it's a lot more violent and disturbing that it seems. Not everybody is gonna get easy shot on it, it might be very bothering for certain individuals. The way it handles such heavy themes I think it was done alright, but because of it there were quite many complains about what happened in the last episode, and I would agree that the last episode didn't give the greatest ending (mostly due to how fastly paced it was more then anything) but personally it wasn't that big of an issue, I can recommend it to people who don't get easily upset.

To summon up my thoughts real quick, is this series flawed? Yes of course, especially when it won't appeal to everybody. But there's genuinely a lot I can love about. It works as something you want to be engaged from it, some interesting characters didn't have enough screen time, I still want to see more of the runaway children, the last few episode had pacing issues but overall I have nothing but compliments. I'm glad someone is giving it a try, it is well deserved. It shows that Production I.G can still give amazing production value with exciting stories and an impressive narration. The world building aspect alone is worth a watch!

"Akagi... it was a long hard fought battle... for me you were the most incredible, most extreme, the greatest foe I've ever fought! A unique gleaming diamond in the rough! So parting with you will be such sweet sorrow!"

Now I will explain the full picture of the manga in a few words before jumping to what I think it is really essential to do a little review about it. The story is about a young genius named Akagi, a strange individual with a clear obsession with gambling and the game he'll spend doing gamble for most of the manga is Mahjong. His incredible and non-human ... skills will lead him to gamble against the villain of the story, Washizu. This experience has been one of the most unique I've come across to read in a really long time. Going off with the anime I felt weirded out that there would never be a sequel and that they had cut the anime off during the last battle, a judgment I think most would have agreed with. But the feeling of curiosity that Akagi left me led me to read the manga, I was at all costs ready to know what would happen after the legendary battle between Akagi and Washizu. To my astonishment nothing happened after the final arc, and even more unbelievable to find out was that the fight in the anime was not even halfway to the end… not even close! The mastermind mangaka Fukumoto continued the arc for 225 chapters to be exact, spending over 20 years from start to finish, possibly making the battle the longest-running of all battles that occurred in manga history.

To say I was dumbfounded would be an understatement, I didn't know what to think about it and had already wondered if I would ever be able to finish the whole story considering I've never been much of a Mahjong expert so I feared I'd get so bored to the point of not being able to finish. The results well... they were the opposite of what I imagined. I read the entire manga twice, in the same year, never disappointed by what was about to happen. And it's mainly thanks to this battle that I've gotten to love the series even more. I must specify that before reading Akagi I was never a fan of battles that needlessly dragged on for a large number of episodes/chapters for the purpose of filling space or entertaining the audience. A clear example are some certain Battle Shounen series like Dragon Ball... fights that went on for so many episodes without having much action to show on the screen, because we know that in anime, at least during the 90's and 2000's, they had to broadcast episodes in step with the chapters of the manga that were coming out, and therefore events that were supposed to last for a few episodes expand double or triple in length therefore making the pace irritably slow and having characters doing nothing to the point it's killing off your interest. This is the essential key to any story that tries to entertain: pacing. Does the Akagi series keep up its pacing well enough? Yes, but in a method that not many would understand. That's not to say that games come and go quickly from each other. The all arc consists of six sessions and in its 20 years spam the final session is the one that lasted the longest, i.e. THIRTEEN years which is more than half the battle. And let's not forget that an entire volume was spent of how the players create their hands, ONLY their hands! So it's safe to say that the matches drag on for a very long time but what makes them interesting is how they are presented. The war between the two protagonists is full of moments of tension, anxiety, anguish, trauma and strategies. Fukumoto is a master in creating horrific panels where Washizu, despite simply playing a board game, remains under pressure, and out of control at certain moments considering that in a sense he keeps on being on the edge of death. The way the mangaka can immerses you in his works is captivating, never gets a moment to retain situations calm but instead it's all filled with distressing scenes until one of the two opponents will eventually collapse. A fundamental change that is easily noticable if you read most of the volumes is how Washizu goes from villain to a sort of "protagonist" of this arc considering that most of the attention is directed towards him and his strategies to have any sort of hope against the demon sitting before him, Akagi. And with this Akagi himself changes as well, this time from protagonist to antagonist... not being afraid to descend into hell, he always remains passive and gives himself a great presence of danger for the opponent. Oh and another little fundamental change is the art design, I mean… with two decades gone by while making the match obviously Fukumoto's style would have gone through some changes. Washizu in particular looks like he melted by the end with his eyes now covering almost half of his face! Although it's surely nothing to be bother with.

There is no real explanation as to why it took 20 years to reach conclusion. I would assume that Fukumoto had an unimaginable motive that led him to make the battle unforgettable for the readers. Whatever his motivations are I appreciate it because while some may struggle and lack the patience to read the full match, it has given me so much inspiration and hope that many mangaka will have the opportunity to finish their projects, knowing that it isn't always the case nowadays. Should I recommend the manga to you? Well yeah you might have very good time with it, but mostly if you know the rules of Mahjong and have enough endurance to overtake what I would call the legendary battle between Akagi and Washizu. Final score is a perfect 10. I don't care if it stretches for too long, I would have continued even if it was thousands and thousands of chapters long. Best piece of entertainment ever, will revisit it again.

Few spoilers ahead as a warning!

I hold Yuru Camp△ in a very special place in my hart, how much time I spent to chill in my comfort zone and how much it made me appreciate the CGDCT genre. It's only natural being enthusiastic when a couple of seasons and a movie have been announced over the years. While all the seasons stick to the camping formula, the movie goes a little further and expands other more serious aspects such as our main cast going through adulthood and spending most of their time participating their jobs in different places in Japan. It's a different and a ... little unique take for a slice of life movie that will just maybe disappoint someone out there who just wanted two hours of pure relaxing camping. The stressful moments at work were an interesting way to show how our group of camping heroes can handle their problems solely, needless to say officer Shima moments were handled the best, kind of expected knowing she was declared as leader of the group thanks to her godlike camping skills (also Shima remains as adorable as she always has been even as officer). We also got Aoi Inuyama working as a school teacher and Nadeshiko being a member of a shopping store, they didn't spend enough time on those aspects so I can't say I was well executed. For every growth development except Shima it was just alright.
But the movie it's not all about that, in fact one important occurrence that will eventually be the main story-line is when the group finally reunites again after many years and decided to construct a campsite in an abandoned area of Yamanashi, planning how it should be separately structured (for adults, kids and pets), and helping each other to complete their project in time... it was a hard/ruff ride but none of the less they made it happily to the end, celebrating with the classic view of the scenery.
Obviously what makes the movie stand out is what made the previous seasons very enjoyable for everybody: it's the very definition of a comfy experience. Many of the elements that were praised before in the series are present here, not for its entirety but I'd say a fair big part of it: the food looks delicious and when it's lunch time it's always ASMR... really makes you want to eat a lot; music choices for the scenery and background views are on point, making the spectator being interested in the Japanese countryside; smart, relatable, adorable, outstanning characters; and most importantly... bunch of cute little puppies!
While the film might not fully represents what made the first two seasons so special, mainly because of the stressful adult life our group is destined to move forward, I think it still remains a solid entry in the series. I can consider as a good finale although we still got a third season coming up soon that will go back on the roots of characters not being fully growth and will probably have more relaxing time on their hand. Anyway for any Yuru Camp△ fanatic like me... you should give it shot, it would be sure worth your time, as always if you're not in a good mood and wanna have a reason to be happy then this will be a gift from heaven. Can't wait for season 3! I'm curious to know how good of an event could have been if I've watch the movie on theaters, if only I could live on Japan... that sure would have been the best experience.

"Chichi, chipompa chimpompa" - Anya Forger

I believed from the trailers and promotions that Spy x Family was going to be a very fun ride, and as matter of fact it is. You got to see three characters trying to make up a normal family, but what makes these three members very memorable is that they have interesting roles: there's Loid (secretly named as Twilight) who is a spy, Yor who is an assassin, and Anya who is an esper. So on top of a super simple story about a family doing slice of life stuff there are few well directed action scenes, and an alright ... comedy that consists for the majority of Anya doing funny derp faces that quickly became an overused meme.
The show is as basic as you can expect, which is honestly not a bad thing, at least for me because I can always appreciate simple shows without much going forward. There's no drama and no particolarly important twist, only quite of few serious moments when the characters go through risky missions with even some not very noticeable dark turns with people getting shot or even blowing up, but the series is mostly about a group of characters struggling to support each other. The only slight complain I have is that I wish the characters have something more to be said and knowing more things about them, but all I can think of them so for right now is Loid is cool and handsome, Yor is badass, caring and hot, Anya is cute and strange. I guess this can improve for the next part but no much stands out outside of few passable personalities, but still not disappointed because the characters stands out a little thanks to amusing moments such as Lois rescuing Anya from a group of criminals revealing that Loid is also a master of disguise, and also Yor gets drunk during a party and briefly fights against Loid to "save princess Anya" + Yor relationship with her brother, or even Anya trying to get along with her classmates but since most of them are jerks she fights back with her esper abilities. Which brings to the "funny" memeable Anya faces, they should be the highlights of the show in terms of comedy but they never made me laugh once since they don't bring anything creative or innovative to the table, they were... there.
The series is also carried a bit by well put out animation, not the most impressive I've seen but the fights are well choreographed, and with good movements everything that is action or not looks great and many shots have highly detailed backgrounds.
All in all Spy x Family deserves a shot and its high popularity in recent months is understandable, it's a pleasant family friendly show where you don't have to think much about important plot infos and you just have a lot of fun with, you can watch it with your friends and/or family members and having a good time without worry about violence or fanservice. I'm interested to see what part 2 has to offer, hopefully on the same level of enjoyment or even better.

Few spoilers ahead as a warning!

I went here with nice expectation after finishing the first episode, the premise seemed generic but I though it could have lead me to something that was either going to be decent or utter trash but still highly entertaining. Took me only few episodes later to realize that the Platinum End ride was going to be a waste of time more then anything. It's a story about Mirai who was about to commit suicide but saved in the last second by an angel called Nasse, then she gift him a pair of wings with the ability to fly, and firsthand ... powers (a white arrow that instantly kills, and a red arrow that commands people or making them fall in love) and with that the guy is involved into a battle royal game with the aim of winning in fighting against other opponents and becoming the new God. In other words, this show is basically Mirai Nikki, or most of the battle royal anime ever, but there's only one major problem that makes Platinum End quite possibly one of the worst of this genre... it's boring as hell. Not because nothing majorly important happens, but the all show from the second episode to end is so bland and uninspired, and this problem is heavily caused by the characters; I can't recall more forgettable characters then these, and it's a clear evidence from the first big battle of the series. The battle starts off in a stadium during the fourth episode, we learn more about one of the main villains Kanade and he makes a battle of twist against the contenders surrounding him, and then killing all of them at the end. It's a tragic moment filled with tension but I ended up not feeling and caring about anything. The contenders only showed up for few minutes, have a brief character development before dying, Kanade has no motivation for being a villain and starting to kill people left and right, and when they reveal later on his motivations are just as dumb and uninteresting as I expected. And by the way, through all this shenanigans happening Mirai was only sitting in the stadium, witnessing the massacre and then he goes away, that is all. It was a pretty terrible first game and while watching I being awkwardly bored since the emotional impact already failed spectacularly, and it only gets worse later. We get introduced to other villains who are just dumb edgy psychopath with no motive, most of them with no backstory or anything at all, they're just there ready to get killed by other players and bring more boring action to the show. Even the people who aren't bad guy have only one personality trait and they're often used to explain unnecessary philosophical explanation about achieving happiness and how important life is. One of the worst cases is Saki, through the all series all she does is sitting next to the MC just so she can give him support, she does one rescue at the last battle, but she's useless for like 99% of the time. Mirai is quite pathetic as a MC, which left me not surprised that a lot of people agree with it. He has the empathy of never throw the white arrow at his enemies and kill them because he believe that life is worth a life of another... despite the fact that these psychos take away life of many individuals and people would be better off without them. One contender bombs out an entire public building causing a lot of damage, and Mikei keeps standing around with no willing of finish the opponent, while his ally Nanato, basically does all the work at defeating the enemy. I can't get over how pathetic this is. The second half of the series is very forgettable, we get introduced to more characters, two of which are a scientist and an emo kid who will become very important for the final battle, a battle that pretty much consist in manipulations and beliefs, that will align with the emo kid becoming the winner of the death game and therefore the person that will take the place as the new God. Quite possibly one of the most underwhelming finale I've seen in a while, it doesn't feel satisfied or intelligent in the slightest. And then to put more salt into the injury, there's the last episode. It's all reduced to even more philosophical ambiguity with constant talking about the meaning of God and despite the goal of our main characters are finally reached and succeeded, the shows makes us remember that every 40 seconds a person commits suicide. Then the very last scene everybody gets Thanos snapped and disappears, the show clearly tried to do something symbolic or mind blowing with this event but I still couldn't care less, in fact, the only thing I cared about is that the series finally ended along with my misery.
I can't find any positive to say about Platinum End, Op and Ed songs are great sure but the rest falls so incredibly flat, there are a lot of dumb decisions, boring dialogues, combined with poor art direction and below average animation and it all ends up being bland. I'm sure everybody has already forgot about this show. Highly suggest to avoid because you're not gonna get anything out of it.