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All the way from the beginning the show told us that It's important for maester and the weapon to work in synergy, with deep enough connection they can overcome everything, absolutely everything. There wouldn't be a maester without a weapon and vice versa.
(Sound body, mind, soul etc...)

Maka and Soul had constant relations development but for what? In the end Maka did the courage asspull and oneshotted the omnipotent kishin with a single punch without any assistance from Soul, except the whole squad was cheering for Maka from their weird positions. Ending the series with a very unsatisfying note, not giving any closure.

Mind you, this wasn't ... even that comedic and it all just ended abruptly. They even built up the demon sub-plot with Soul since the first half of the series and in the end all that wait didn't get rewarded.
Other cringeworthy thing was the sudden plot postcard from Maka's mother and Maka's sudden weapon form which was super weird and not needed. Why the hell did they even bring that up when all she did was show it for 10 seconds and lose?

They also had so much development for Black Star too who achieved the 100% connection super saiyan mode with Tsubaki. He didn't use that form even once during their generic laughable giant boss fight. For all this time they built up Black Stars character for surpassing the gods and other great deeds, in the end he was defeated off-screen.

Kid unlocked that new weapon which was very reminicent to Death's style, in the end it did absolutely nothing except make the Kishin revert to his earlier stage which probably was stronger than the slow giant mode.

Not to mention people recovering from getting impaled and mutilated for 2/3 of their bodies.There was so much things they rushed in the last 15 episodes that it felt like it was a whole other series.

For the good things:
+ Every single character was likeable
+ Great soundtrack
+ Art and animation
+ Very impressive voice acting, I loved the seiyuu of Maka, Kid and Black Star
+Genius filler episodes
+Good plot and character progression till the latter half
+ Distinguished itself from other shounen until the final half when I literally drowned in cheese

-Rushed plot
-Asspulls in the end
-Shounen tropes in the end

I would've give it as high as 9/10 but in the end it fell into strong 6/10 or weak 7/10.

**Spoilers**

So JoJo..

basically It's a story about the most ripped and upset japanese teenager going around the globe into Egypt to punch multiple times a 120 year old british vampire who has stolen his great grandfathers body from the neck down after sleeping in a coffin under the sea for 100 years. (Wryy~)
During his journey he's also punching frenchmen, pedophiles, orangutans, cowboys, steamrollers and various other things.
He's accompanied by his ripped vampire hunter grandfather, cherry licking guy, african on fire and the most based frenchman you're ever going to see.

It's pretty good!

Oh and I forgot to mention that ... there's a lot of ORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORA and a little but of MUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDA

It's quite hard to review music videos, and in this case it's anime related and went viral instantly. Leading all the masses to watch it since It's only 6 minutes long.
So the problem with it going viral quick means It's going to get Perfect scores because of the following points:

a) It's from a known EDM artists known as Porter Robinson and Madeon
b) It's well animated and has quite a pretty artwork and a moe girl
c) It's short and viral so more people with lower standards are going to rate it high
d) "feels"

After going through these points I'm going to give my own opinion about ... the 6 minutes long music video.

First we are introduced with Rin and her virtual world, showing us all these beautiful landscapes and how she spends her ever lonely days in there. The art and animation are done by A-1 Pictures that are famous for series such as Anohana, Erased and Your lie in April. As you can expect, the work done by them is excellent. Though there were many still screens that were hidden with a layer of effects added into it.

But here comes the reasons that ruined the video for me.
Shelter tries to jam too much information and emotions into 6 minutes. Using all the easiest tropes that make you emotional inside, such as isolated childlike girl, no parents, flashbacks, humanity threatening catastrophe, after death message and last but not least ''the alone in space trope".

Suddenly It jumps into her childhood and memories of her father, vaguely showing us how she ended up in her pod. At the same time the generic EDM blasts in the background with vocals that try to be meaningful but don't really have that much context with the actual video. Even the animation doesn't add to the music and It's like they told A-1 Pictures to do their own thing and after that added the music on top of it.

Ultimately Shelter trips on it's own ambition trying too hard in making people feel for their character that we've literally known for 5 minutes. It feels forced and generic, maybe if it would have been a full feature movie It could be okay.

+Art and animation

-Music didn't sync with the video at all
-Tried to force feelings to the audience
-Too much stuff put in six minutes
-Bland character(s)
-No actual story, just the established setting for the "drama".
-More tropes than even the most generic series offer

I recently decided to watch Tatami Galaxy and after finishing the first episode I marathoned the whole thing. I looked into who was the director and it was Masaaki Yuasa. His work was so phenomenal, I checked what other anime he’s directed and Ping Pong the animation was one of them.

Many people have been recommending me to watch Ping Pong for a while now so I thought it’s two flies with a one swat if I watch it now. Oh boy that was one of the best decisions I’ve done.

Ping Pong the animation tells us a story of multiple high schooler ping pong players and ... their coming of age story. Our two main protagonists Peco and Smile have been playing since they were little. Peco is confident, arrogant and talented pong player who introduced our other main character Smile to the game. Smile on the other hand is a very melancholic, bored and lonely person looking for a hero to save him. Reason to his behavior is later told in the story. Peco has always been a ping pong prodigy and has never really practiced. Smile on the other hand is also good in ping pong but he’s always decided to stay in Peco’s shadow.

There are other characters as well, for example Kong Wenge a chinese player exiled to Japan, looking to win tournaments to get back on track and return home. He was my favorite character because in a way he was so relatable, struggling with the idea of talent vs hard work.

Even though the anime is named Ping Pong the Animation, It’s much more than just a story about the game. It introduces us to all these characters, their personal issues, dreams and hopes. When the show is over you might wonder was this about ping pong at all. I think that’s what the creator wants us to think.

The animation in this anime is beautiful, it has this raw power and rough around the edges but it is fluid in it’s own way. The art style has divided people in two camps where others absolutely love it and others dislike it. I personally belong to those people who loved it, after the first episode I kinda got hooked in to it. The style allows the characters to show emotions more clear and human which is very centered theme in this show.

Music in this anime is legendary, I can’t even count how many times I’ve re-played the OST. The ending theme and Ping Pong Phase 1 & 2 are my absolute favorites. There’s also song that I wont link because of spoilers but that one made me shed a tear.

Overall Ping Pong the Animation is a work of art and will be remembered as a masterpiece inside the medium.

Positives

+ Gorgeous art and animation

+ Relatable and realistic cast

+ Chillingly good OST

+ The story was very well put together and the ending was satisfying



Negatives

– Maybe the fact that they didn't explain much about ping pong techniques or the game itself but after all that is not what this anime is about.

Hundred, more like Hundred % in to the trash it goes.
When you make a fusion of Light novel adaptation and every single harem trope you get this kind of abomination.

It was painful to finish this series and I actually dropped it at episode 7 but one weekend I had this extreme hangover and decided to punish myself for it by finishing Hundred. During that day I actually enjoyed puking more than watching Hundred and that says a lot.

+ It was only 12 episodes but it felt like a 2 cour
+ It made puking seem like a nice activity
+ I'm never going to drink that ... much again

-Everything else

Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch R2 is a very ambitious anime. The first season was brilliant but season 2 introduced a lot of new subplots and at first I hesitated if It's really able to deliver satisfying conclusion to Lelouch's struggle ?

Turned out I was quite wrong.
S2 was very similar to S1 and It seemed to do everything bigger and better than the prequel. There are a lot of heartbreaking and ridiculous events that NO ONE expects but that is what makes Code Geass so lovely and a breath of fresh air.It doesn't follow the script of other similar shows and does It's own ... thing.

I see many people argue which season is better but I enjoyed 2nd season more Since I'm a sucker for dramatic endings and I love how vague but conclusive they left it and how you basically discover a "secret ending" If you paid attention to the Geass and Codes subplots.

Animation and art was very enjoyable now that I got used to the artstyle during the 1st season. Mech fights were executed pretty smoothly but I missed the more tactical perspective they had on the 1st season.

The soundtrack was impactful and enchanced the scenes quite a lot. Especially the piece they used during C.C's moments.

Overall I rate Code Geass as 9/10. This show is a timeless, brilliant classic everyone should see.

All hail Lelouch Vi Britannia!

*Spoiler free-ish review*

Silver spoon is the very definition of "Don't judge the book by It's cover"

Silver spoon is a anime/manga from the Author of the famous Fullmetal Alchemist and tells a story about Hachiken, a smart guy who doesn't know what he wants from his life.
He is cornered by his parents who want him to join boarding school for his destined university.
Finally he has mental breakdown and says screw it and joins a agricultural school far away from his home.
Lesson by lesson he begins to understand the lives of the people who live on the countryside and how they life from hand to ... mouth.

Hachi is conflicted since many of his fellow classmates come from big old households who feel the agricultural school as necessity for inheriting the family business while Hachi joined the school to escape his past life.

Silver Spoon makes the watcher question his morals and ethical choices. They show how hard living by agriculture really is in realistically manner.
It's easy to get in debt, hurt yourself from overwork and most important is to commit your whole life for your craft.
It also makes you question your own morals and think about animal rights. It's very refreshing to see how boldly they show the process of raising the livestock with care only to have them end up as their livelihood.

All the ethical and moral questions aside, Silver spoon has this lovely SOL and romance as part of it. I enjoyed and cherished every single episode.
The OP and ED set the feel and they're perfect for this show. Especially the ED is heartwarming.

I totally recommend you watch the anime and read manga afterwards. This series is a masterpiece within It's own genre.

**spoiler free review**

"Wait for it, I'll make you clearly say "It's Good" with that mouth of yours, even if I have to exhaust my cooking to its limit..."

Shokugeki no Souma is on of those anime series you start watching without any expectations because "hey It's anime about guy who apparently can cook and joins a cooking academy that's supposedly pretty challenging".

In reality It's much more than just a cooking show. It's outrageously funny and well illustrated how they depict every cooking session as some kind of battlefield or orgy of multiple "foodgasms" (as the fans of the series call those scenes) where the tasters gets ... assaulted by peanut butter coated tentacles after tasting one of Soma's creations.
The comedy and shounen "battle" aspects of this show are brilliantly done, it was a great blend of over the top cooking and tense moments. It felt like there wasn't a single filler episode.

The school where he joins is full of culinary world prodigies who each have some kind of specialty or "ability" which they use to make some Gordon Ramsey tier of food. Soma doesn't have that kind of abilities but he learns from his mistakes and has been cooking and working in his family diner since he was a child. It's great to watch Soma improve and improvise each episode.

The art and animation in this anime was actually quite good and the quality the put into the "foodgasm" and cooking moments was just beautiful. I also adored the lovely chibi moments which made me smile every time.

The music in this anime wasn't that noticeable but the sounds of cooking were very authentic and enjoyable. Needless to say that it made me hungry. OP and ED were both fine.

This show kept me hooked (and hungry) episode after episode and in the end I finished this series in four days!

Shokugeki no Souma is a solid 8/10 a very enjoyable series.

They also announced season 2 for summer 2016 so stay tuned for more outrageous cooking!

**spoiler free** slightly altered re-upload**

Kotonoha no Niwa is a rare piece of anime these days. It's a simple and fairly short movie about two ordinary people who meet each other by chance in ordinary garden during rainy season in ordinary circumstances. There are no grand schemes or other major events, It's just a simple story about love.
You may notice I used a lot of words like "simple" and "ordinary". Those words describe this movie in a good way and why It's so wonderful.

That's where It's magic lies. Through beautiful artwork, sounds and relatable characters they turn this simple story into something way different.

I absolutely loved ... how they animated the beautiful rain and the surroundings of main characters. Just as expected of the director Makoto Shinkai who has also directed movies like Byousoku 5 Centimeter which has very similar art style compared to Kotonoha no Niwa.

This movie is perfect watch on rainy day when you make some coffee and got 1 hour of spare time before your daily routines. In It's core it is the most relaxing movie I've seen in a long time and in the end it feels complete. Mainly because the movie does not leave you with "what if" thoughts or theories and that's what I'm most glad of.

Kotonoha no Niwa is a "simple" 10/10

**Spoiler free review**

Nagi No Asukara is one of my all time favorites. I got inspired writing this review while re-watching the series. Now that we're close to Christmas It's perfect time to watch this series.

While It might sound silly, in Nagi No Asukara there are two races of people; surface and sea dwellers. They're practically the same but sea dwellers got this mysterious "ena" that allows them to live underwater.
I'll tell a little about the beginning of the story so you'll get some kind of picture what this anime is about.

There's 4 childhood friends who live under sea in the village of Shioshishio. The ... story starts when their school gets closed and they have to go attend school on the surface. While they go attend school on the surface many complicated things start to happen, I won't spoil you but there's quite a bit of drama, comedy, some mystery, slice of life and romance. And I tell you folks, there Isn't love triangle.. It's a freaking love web, so pack your bags and get ready for feels train.

The characters in this show are exceptional compared to your ordinary anime. They all get tremendous amount of character progression and the four first episodes are all about introducing the characters and showing you what the world around them is like. One of the characters in the beginning might annoy you, but I assure you that after couple episodes he'll become your favorite. In the end there is not a single unlikeable character in Nagi no asukara.

My favorite aspect of the series is It's superior art and music quality, It'll make your jaw drop. Even now when I'm writing this review I'm drinking tea and listening the soundtrack. I love how they've created this lovely sea village which has this great atmosphere, waves splashing the docks, buildings slightly rusting from the salty sea wind and people doing their daily routines.

Now I'll talk a bit about the themes of this series. In my opinion the main theme of the anime is change and how scary it is and how it affects everyone. Not going more deeply into that since it would reveal slight spoilers. Other main themes are of course friendship, love and understanding in all of It's aspects.
This series has some nice critique about racism. Land -and sea dwellers can't get along that well because of their history, but along the series they start to understand each other.

** Slight spoilers**

There is a MAJOR change in tone of the anime about halfway the series. There's a timeskip and It'll get much darker and get's some refreshing themes like loss and well, the change. I very much enjoyed the second Arc of Nagi No Asukara.

**End of Spoilers**


Final thoughts

Nagi No Asukara is underrated masterpiece that will blow your mind away when you give it a few episodes. It has some of the best character -and romance progressions out there. There's also deeper themes hidden in it, It's up to you to figure them out.

Nagi no Asukara is 10/10

Thank you for reading.