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First things first, if you haven't watched till around episode 800, do not watch this. This special episode is not for someone who is completely new to the anime (contrary to the title). This is for those who have watched this show in its entirety. And it will spoil a lot, if you were to watch this show.

Anyways, here is the deal. To anyone who has been following the anime closely, this is practically a must watch. It hits you right in the feel. That nostalgia, those feels, the pleasure to see Ran and Shinichi goofing around, the time when Ran could smile wholeheartedly, ... the time when Shinichi was unaware of the threats posed by Black Organization, and then suddenly you realize that he has been carrying this burden for so many episodes that its impossible not to sympathize with him.

To go with the usual review process : Art is definitely solid, soundtrack the same (which is quite awesome), characters are Shinichi, Ran and many others, and story though remastered shows a lot of things which couldn't have been shown before.

And there are a lot of cameos, A LOT. It was interesting to see how the Black organization was working, and especially in light of recent developments. Nearly every character that has been introduced is probably shown in this 1.30 min special, and this is something that you should not miss.

Yet another season, and yet another anime of the season, with fans chanting "Masterpiece", "Never seen any better anime than this", and haters screaming "Over-ratedness", "Even hype is an understatement" by seeing the abnormal ranking on the mal. Lovers will give this a 9-10, haters will give it 1-5, and if possible even a negative score. And people who want to reach out to either parties would give it 6-8.

The biggest complaint of story, as I have seen from other reviews, is that even Fantasy needs to abide by some logic, and NEETS can't suddenly be all too social in a game, and ... obviously can't have super-human powers, and that there is no explanation regarding to this. And that the story is simple "wish-fulfilment", and it is not worthwhile to watch the anime.

But in my humble opinion the story actually has depth, something which most people fail to understand. It can be related to real-life situations. In this world at every point of time we are playing a game, and in waging something as a bet. When choosing a new anime to watch you are wagering "time" and if you are entertained enough after watching it, you have obviously won the game, and feel satisfied, and if you loose, you are heavily disappointed. It's same even in an mcq test for a college entrance, where your life is decided by just one question. Can't blame if you haven't gone through do-or-die experience but for those who have gone, it is highly relatable, and it would be highly incorrect to say, the story is simple fantasy. The only difference is that on most occasions, the opponent is ourselves. And at some other instances, our opponent can be "luck ,destiny, or fate", or whatever it is called.

Moreover, NGNL, is just 12 ep anime, and for obvious reasons, it cannot provide too many things (like cover all the backstories of the characters, or create heavenly mindblowing and overarching story) in such a small amount of time. If it did, it would be just a plain garbage.

Still, let's get the facts cleared

Is it overhyped and over-rated?
>>Yes

Does it deserve to remain in good-books?
>>Again, yes.

#Otaku scale=10.
Well, if you are a true otaku, stop reading my review and watch this show right now, because you cannot be disappointed with this show, there is Steph- Miss Fanservice, Jibril- Sexiest angel ever created, Shiro- The queen of all lolis who will eventually rule the whole world with her cuteness, and lastly Sora- The greatest harem king of all times, and needless to say, "Insert ME in the Character"-type protagonist.

If you aren't a true otaku, read further.

The story is set in a virtual reality, where the god of the world has invited the duo-Sora and Shiro- collectively known as 'blanks'. The world is ruled by ten pledges, and that games decide everything. The players wager something of equal value, and the winner gets it all.

Everything said the plot is definitely not in the least original. Pulled into the game, ie, Virtual Reality - from an anime that doesn't even needs its name mentioned. Then there is game decides everything, from Mondiachi. Next up, is FMAB's equivalent exchange. Also Sora's character is mainly a rip-off from Lelouch-perverted edition. Not being original is not a crime, but so many references, is definitely not a very good aspect.

Pacing is meh! It starts out decently, but at a few points has the tendency of shifting into a typical harem-ecchi kind of thing, but fortunate enough, it comes back to the story not too late. Then again, it could have covered a little more in these 12 episodes.

That said, it has a few worthwhile things to offer too. It doesn't introduce dues-ex-machina and doesn't have simple ass-pulss, and most things are planned, giving it a vibe of an intelligent anime. Some of them are really well thought out, and most often than not, you will be heavily surprised, by the alludes made to action which were previously deemed as insignificant. And then "dialogues"- Most of them spoken by Sora, some of them having real-life implications. It gives a slight philosophical vibe to it. Also expect some- real good gags which excellently mix up with the serious situations, and deliver some real exercise to cheek muscles.

Undebatable the best part has to be the games, which are very intelligently thought out. What elixir is to life, The games of NGNL are to entertainment, and I am not exaggerating in the least. It's hella fun to watch them.

Lastly, and the most important part of the story has to be undoubtedly, CUTENESS, after all "cuteness is justice". And it is applicable even if you are not an otaku. Shiro is the queen of all lolis, and every time she says "Nii" I am pretty sure someone's illness is cured, and that's the level of cuteness I am talking about. Jibril is too hot and sexy and I doubt words can praise her enough.

(Story:8/10; -1 for lack of originality, -1 for some needless fanservice)

Another good part of the anime is the Main Characters. They are borderline badass, and its more entertaining to see these kinds of protagonists rather than complete badass type (Looking at you Tatsy from Mahouka, and Tokuchi from One Outs) where you are 100% sure, that the protagonist is gonna win, even if the earth were to end, they would get oxygen cylinder and survive. Most often than not, the characters are gonna pushed to their limits, and will have to make their way out, and these instances are heavily enjoyable.

That said, the supporting cast is not too strong, and are mostly okayish! Some serve for pure moe-service while some others are for mostly comedy parts. Eg. Steph, her grandfather, Jibril etc. There is some slight character development (I don't know if it can be even called that!) in Steph, who is one of the main characters, with her changing perspective of the Shiro-Sora duo.

(Character: 7/10)

The animation can be best explained as- the place where Disney/Cartoon meets Anime. Seriously, if I were to see Steph on some random poster, my first guess would be that she is a disney character. But all of this shouldn't really come as a surprise as it is done by Madhouse, which is famous for making over-the-top loli/moe. And Madhouse proves itself once again. Also the colours went well with the light-hearted mood of the anime.

Sound is excellent and brilliant. The opening and ending songs, undoubtedly explain the blank's relationship in the best manner possible with fitting lyrics. The soundtracks are prolly good, and there doesn't remain much to be criticized either. I would like to applaud the voice actors- especially that of Sora's VA as his transitions from a jolly mood to completely Hikkimori mood who is practically crying is plenty amazing to see.

(Animation and Sound:8/10)

Now, enjoyment is one part where both lovers and haters of this show are gonna agree with me, it is hella enjoyable. Before, this anime, I considered Wednesdays as dull, but this anime single-handedly turned it into the day I looked forward the most. It was able to keep my every second spent on the anime as completely worthwhile, with amazing jokes, plot-twists, and even on instances of fanservice.

It has some heavily dreadful cliffhanger, and literally anime like Fairy Tail (2014) , Naruto should take this anime as an inspiration for how to create a cliffhanger, even with a preview!

As I already mentioned, the most enjoyable part has to be the games, and the anime is actually worth watching for that part alone. You may literally hate every other thing this anime has to offer, but I still don't think the games will be able to disappoint anyone.

(Enjoyment: 10/10)

Okay, finally let's again get the facts clear!

Is it the anime of the season?
>>Can't say, spring season was overloaded with fantastic animes, honorable mentions to Mushishi ZokuSho, and Jojo. But even then NGNL, still remains as a candidate for the anime of the season.

Does it deserves to be in top #20?
>>Honestly, no. But I can't care too much as most users have their lists subjective (myself included), and the rankings simply measure the amount of fans the anime has able to garness.

Does it need a second season?
>>Hell yes! If this doesn't get second season, my hope for humanity will be destroyed.

(Overall: 30%-story, 30%-characters, 30%-enjoyment, 10%-sound, animation=8.3~8)

**Civilized criticism is always welcome**

***minor spoilers only*** (note: ft=fairy tail)

For me fairy tail is one of the big three and it's stage is shared by naruto and bleach [one piece belongs to biggest 1] . All the three of them have one thing in common, they can at times become super cool, and epic with their action scenes, and plot twists but on most other occasions become super lame, crossing all horizons of lameness.

Fairy tail can be best described as a pain killer with side effects, while it has quite the content to absorb u in, kill the boredom, but after some time, the side effects kick in, ... and u will say to yourself, why did I even pick up this shounen. The time for the side effects to show their effects will vary from person to person depending on their immunity and tolerance, but u r bound to get this feeling one time or the other, but just like being addicted to sth, it will not be easy to leave it, and ultimately u will end up following the whole anime, and that is the reckoning power of the big three. As such, after getting into a cool arc u will have a satisfactory feeling and will say, glad I picked up the anime, but even that feeling will be transient, after it is followed by lameness, and most often u will be caught in a dilemma as to how good this anime actually is, and is it wise to drop or continue the anime?

Imho the least one can do is to give this an unbiased try for the first 10-15 eps, and if u like it, feel happy because things become better and better and in case u feel not at the least moved and hate it like hell feel free to drop it. For me I don't regret watching this show, bcz even if I hadn't, my shounen fanboy would have forced me into the series one or the other time. And on the whole, it does have some real good points. I was really absorbed into the fights, and didn't have look back till the filler arc. I was immensely attracted by the opness of the guild members.

Fairy tail has got one of the easiest settings, a guild which accepts all kinds of jobs, and people get money for the completion of task. It starts off with short arcs mainly to introduce most characters of the guild. Pacing of this show (only initial eps) is one it's strongest points. It handles almost all the fairly short arcs, nicely, and aptly. It is one of the rare good works of A1 pictures (a studio I hate for needlessly butchering magi season 1). The short arcs lead to some real character development, and make the characters more memorable. It also introduces their skills, their powers, and back stories. There are literally not much complexity involved in these arcs, and this doesn't start till about ep40. From then on, there are two to three decent arcs which have very good settings. Later on, like most other animes, the fights are somewhat stretched, but that is also done very nicely, and rather add to the story.

As for art, I happen to be a fan of the old animation style which this version uses, as it shows more details of the expression of the characters. The action scenes are nicely animated, and does the manga fights fair justice. Though I don't know why none of the fights have slightest amounts of blood involved, but it isn't a part of manga either so can't really complain on animation. Art is decent as the characters have an indiviualistic vibe. The backgrounds are vibrant and go along with the cheerfulness of the anime. Sound is one of its greatest strengths as some BGMs during action sequences can literally boil up ur blood. And for calm or comedic situation has got better osts. The VA have done a decent job, especially of the MC Natsu, and his laughter itself has the strength to make u laugh. ( Animation, sound 9/10)

The main story (which is incidentally divided into many arcs) is meh.. at its best. There are quite a few times, where unpredictability hits us, and just when one thinks, at last everything is over boom! ft just had to give their finishing touch. This gives a pleasant and satisfactory sensation. But on the whole ft is 90% predictable (except for the current arc which I dare not spoil). There is almost little suspense, which is quite unique from its rivals of same genre, which specifically add suspense to create better story. Ft banks more on it's action scenes, and unpredictibilty rather than on mystery, or suspense, which is fairly ok with me, as it is better than screwing up a whole arc, which will surely trigger the side effects.

As for some complexity in the plot it occurs when they take on some dark guild. Their encounters with dark guilds have produced two very decent arcs, and are responsible for the attraction this anime gets. This is where kickass actions take place, and some of the best fights are hidden. Along with nakama power ups, there is quite an amount of combo attacks used which add to epicness of the fights. Even in these arcs, some very lame fights are evident, and I would recommend to fast forward them. There is also a filler arc, and conventional wisdom suggests it be better skipped.

While not completely apparent, but the story as a whole progresses step by step. Every arc has some connecting points to previous arc, and not completely distinct. New characters are gradually introduced, and some later become members of ft, and become integral part of the story. (Story 7/10)

Characters is one of the selling point of the series. Starting with the MC natsu, who is ur average shounen protagonist, emphasizes on power of feelings (which is actually just adrenaline rush decorated with good words), he is still likable, due to the great sequences of action scenes. His partner Happy, a speaking cat with wings is also likable and together the duo forms the epicenter of comedy. Then on Lucy who is partly the narrator of the series and gives us first hand account of fairy tail, and later becomes an integral part of the story. Then comes the best of best Erza Scarlet, one of the main reasons ft is still ongoing. A real beauty, and really op. She covers up for almost all the lameness this series has.

As for villains, don't expect some godly epic characters like akatsuki, espada, shichibukai, or genei ryodan. The villains are just average.... They scarcely scare u, except for Zeref, who is pure form of evilness. There are ok villains like Oracion seis, and Grimoire Heart. There also do exists some badass characters like Laxus, Mystogan and Gildarts, but for that u gotta watch the anime.

Well, there are few characters who shouldn't have existed and are completely one dimensional, so just ignore them, fast forward and give no shit to that.

(Characters: +10 for Erza, -6 for some retarded characters who shouldn't have ever existed and waste precious moments of the anime, +3 for all the other members of the guild, 7/10)

Fanservice is a debatable point. Well every shounen uses it, especially one piece in recent times, but ft is the trend setter for this at atleast. While the series is devoid of frequent fs which makes it non ecchi, there are abrupt places of fs, which depends on viewer as to how much it adds to their taste. I don't know how far does this influence the popularity of the show, but this doesn't affect the overall progress, so it's passable. If u srsly are into the series only for this, it is more prudent to watch the ovas. I m not a fan of fs, so it didn't mean much to me.

Fairy tail is highly enjoyable series for someone who is open minded, and accepts whatever the series has to offer with pleasure. The comedy is intricately embedded into the anime, and can make u cry from laughter on few occasions. There is also quite some hinted romance between natsu and Lucy, and people like to call to NaLu. The series has its lame moments, some which aren't bearable to watch and look like complete waste of time, and prudent behaviour will lead to fastforwarding those trash stuff.

Well I have been saying trash stuff, lame fights, so what do I exactly mean. How can fights be lame? The answer, these are fights whose outcome is obviously known. On many occasions Natsu defeats the boss level, but in the next arc struggles with the minions and again after sometime defeats the boss of the new level. And all this happened without any training menu, they call it natural ability, but even then there should be some justifying logics. This is what I mean by real lameness. If the characters would have undergone some excellent training under some renowned guy, then it would have added to character development, and story progression, but here it plays the exact opposite role, and makes some fights very less interesting, better called dumb. We understand ft are badass, but it seems, the anime is cock teasing us. But again this is not a fairy-tail only problem, and it exists with all long running animes.

Ft has some of the best starts mostly due to the excellent pacing of initial episodes. The eps were not sth too special, nor did they have some kind of very touching stories, which pierces our heart, rather they had a appealing charm, which glues us into the anime. The most probable reason for this as of yet we are not actually used to authors style, but once we get a hang of it, it essentially turns into cliche stuff for us, which then exponentially reduces our enjoyability.(Enjoyment 8/10)

On the whole, ft leaves us with sensation of varied degrees. Someone looking for good character development, and cliche shounen story, following a cliche route with cliche powers, with excellent action scenes, good pacing and a long running and ongoing anime will heavily enjoy the series. It is one of the good animes, which will make u crave for more and more epicness. On the other hand if one is looking for plot depth, mind blowing thriller, symbolism behind stuff or some other things -------then why r u even here? This is a pure shounen, catering to shounen fans only.

So for whom is this recommended? This seems redundant, and I guess I have managed to paint a faint picture of ft, and the answer to the question is implicitly stated. But I still wish to mention a few things explicitly, and I will consider some most probable cases. First, if u r some absolute newbie to the anime world, dragged by a recommendation of death note, and this is ur entrance to shounen, consider one piece, as it is a safer recc. There are high chances u will like ft, but still slim chances u may dislike it. Second, if u r invited to shounen genre by hxh, and are expecting same kind of shit! Sorry, it ain't on that level, but it has it's own uniqueness. Don't have extremely high expectation. Third, if u r a shounen fagot, who has missed the show, and are wondering, wheather or not to pick this up, there are 90% chances u wil like it. It's mainstream for u.

Ft has come a long way, and definitely needs applause. Not many shounens have been able to fare so well. It is a rather recent anime than others and yet has found a place for itself. It was is and probably will be compared with Naruto, one piece or katekyo hitman, because of the huge similarities they share, but even with the handicap of being a late addition to the list, it manages to captivate the viewers, and ranks first on many popularity based manga sites. It definitely doesn't have some kind of psychological thriller or some masterpiece story, it is what it is, a good collection of enthralling shounen fights. Ft hasn't reached the point of everything becoming lame, but is on its way. But the shounen genre as a whole has seen worse than this. Luckily ft doesn't have any episodes where it takes 3 eps to charge a kamehameha, and 4 eps to launch it. Every ep has some interesting things, but it is upto the viewer as to how much they will enjoy the show.

(Overall 7.5/10)


*Civilized criticism is always welcome."

Following a recommendation on hunter x hunter 2011, I ended up at The law of ueki, and after watching all the 52 eps, this is what I felt : it has a cliche plot, cliche side characters, cliche mc, cliche setting of a tournament, cliche concept,.......and yet.........non cliche powers, different style of fighting, outright comedy, and  cool character roles.(i shall clear the difference between characters, and their role in character part)

The story is based on a knock out tournament (a popular tag which few even classify as a genre of its own) and a final prize for the winner. This concept has been overused like ... the chunin exam of naruto, or hunter exam of hxh, or a recent example mirai nikki. Yet the execution is entirely different and unique in its own way. The story goes on like this- there are 100 god candidates chosen, and each candidate chooses a student (a middle school student) and gives him a power, and then the students fight between themselves, and whoever wins his candidate becomes the god, and the student gains a null talent, ie any talent he wishes. Moreover if a candidates student attacks a normal citizen the student loses one of his talents, and if they loose all their talents they will vanish without a trace. That is basically the initial setting. It becomes more intense as the show goes on. The few interesting points are the powers of the candidates, like MC has ability to turn trash into trees, another guy can turn towel into iron (looks lame at first, but it is splendidly used).

Animation 7/10 Sound 8/10
Animation is weak, but considering it to be a 2005-2006 anime it is not some exception. It gets it job done. The characters designs are pretty good, though it had room for improvement. No kinds of scenery or stuff is present to comment upon, but animation shouldn't become a barrier to watching this splendid shounen anime.

Sound was better than the animation. The opening song gave a peculiar vibe of some kind of depressing situation, but it was not much pronounced in the anime, probably due to its excess comedy. The osts were pretty good, and there doesn't exist much to complain about.

Story 8/10
Tournament battles are overused stuff. And the existence of a decent prize is not an exception. And obviously there exists some kind of powerful antagonist with his own perception of talents and stuff. On a broader view there isn't anything pulling us into the story, but on close examination there exists plenty of elements. First, is the MC, Ueki. He is shown to have a strong sense of justice, and much of the story evolves around the justice factor. Second, is its excess comedy, which was initially used to propel the viewer into watching more ep, and in latter eps, just as a medium to keep the story strong. Comedy is one of its strongest points, (caution : don't drink water while watching this, else water will be spilled.). Third, is MCs peculiar power trash into trees and the possibilities that arise from. Fourth, and the most important is INTELLIGENT BATTLES. This is its strongest points, it delivers incredible battles. Battles are planned, and luckily the MC can actually think on his own and uses many tricks to baffle his opponents. Once 15 or so eps, pass MC also levels up, in very very interesting ways, as such once past 10 eps, there will be little incentive left to give up this anime. The anime also delves into teacher student relationship, and values of morals.

But still, the story lacks many things. First, the initial pace is slow, it is ok with manga but in anime adaptation, they could have cut quite many chapters and may be they could finish the anime sweetly in 35-40 episodes. The chapters I am referring to are not too integral in the story development, and plays very partial role in character development. In fact, the first few episodes were boring, and focused only on MC, and as result few important characters got introduced as late as ep 20. The anime should have neatly deleted unimportant battles. Even in the latter half some battles seemed to be dragged on. And only final battle remained to be seen.

Characters 9/10
While characters are mostly typical of shounen animes, their roles are quite varied and unique. There doesn't exist a character who is powerless at first sight but then after intensive training becomes op. The charcters develop, become better but only according to their capacities. Starting with MC he pretty much masters his powers, and his development his most pronounced. His leveling up is extraordinary, and he uses his new powers very intelligently and there are many spontaneous combos which he uses to defeat his enemies, and at times I was forced to say Brilliant! Other characters like Mori, rinko and Sano play integral role, and they too level up with unexpected variations. They receive ample development mainly because of solid back stories. The characters are carefully chosen by the author and he has intelligently played with them and the role that everyone plays is incredible. (If I were to elucidate it would be a spoiler).
Interestingly, even god is a character and surprisingly has a backstory. Tbh I was quite amazed at the description of the god, and more interestingly he is a prominent source of outright comedy

Enjoyment 9/10
I srsly enjoyed this anime, mainly because of highly intelligent battles, and some of the battles might even rival that of hxh. I was also amazed at the non cliche powers, among all I liked the antagonists power the most (can't spoil). The outright comedy was evident and there exists no episode which won't make u laugh. Added to this was powering up of the characters which added spice to the anime. Lastly and the most important part, that it has a good and actual ending, and not some lame original ending. 

Even then there exists many points to be criticized. First, irregular pacing, and dragged on battles. Second some cliche elements like nakama powerboost and some friendship stuff. Third, excess comedy, which at times turned into forced comedy. Fourth and the most important part is that it deals with MIDDLE SCHOOL kids. The anime had vast potentials, and with highschool students and a bit of seinen feel, packed with awesome action scenes and intelligent battles could have turned out better in many respects, because the idea of middle school kids fighting didn't really appeal to me much. Fifth, teacher student relationship was quite pronounced but again seemed to be a bit of excessive.

Overall 8/10
On subjective reviewing it deserves 9/10, but on close inspection and objective reviewing I can't render more than. 8/10. As such the anime should have lasted not more than 35 eps, with fast pacing and appropriate development. Had it acccomplished this feat, it might have become a showcase masterpiece and shared its stage with other good animes.

Before snk haters start clicking on not helpful, plz maintain dignity by at least reading the review first.

What does a genre mean? Generally, it is a class on which the author wants to focus on. But there is one more genre which we as viewers create, which I nomenclate as the epicness genre. It is a genre which can include animes from any other genres, may be from rom com, to horror to psychology. It is a genre reserved for the best of best animes we have watched till date, and is obviously not the same for everyone. Still there are numerous animes which have ... universal appeal and get into this genre in everyone's list, a few eg. would(could) be death note, or code geass, or hxh. So is Shingeki no Kyojin probably the vest anime 2013 one of them? If yes its incredible, if no then what did it lack?  A good start is half done, but that also means half is remaining to be done.

So is there anything that makes it different from other animes? Snk is set in a medieval period, where titans attack the humans or may be the other way around. Humans use weapons like cannons, guns and 3D gear, to fight against them. Obviously our protagonist losses people precious to him and wants revenge. That is what I originally thought, and it is probably a stagnated thought in many minds, but the fact is that the protagonist EREN fights for a broad goal like freedom, not for a narrow minded aim as revenge. So he trains himself and tries to fight. The action scenes are decent and nicely animated, and are added with the best osts. Apart from this there is one more thing that this anime has and that is REALISM. Action, shounen anime and realism can't go hand in hand, but this anime manages the impossible. Ok so are titans real? Answer is yes and no. No for obvious reasons. Yes from a very scientific point of view, I am not a biology student, but I do know there existed dinosaurs, and consider titans to be dinosaurs with brains and human faces we are done. And let them be a hybrid between a  dinosaur and a regenerative animal, so they can regenerate. Moreover there is the 3D gear, and in between the episodes, on screenshots, there is a whole description on how it works, and it is very scientific, and needs skilled users to handle it. And the feeling of despair, and the reactions of common people under this, and the psychology behind their actions is also well explored. Above all it removes many side characters very easily, which is a rarity in many current shounen animes, in fact they resurrect the dead. All this simply adds to the realism factor.

Animation 9/10, Sound 11/10
Production IG maintained good visuals, with incredible animations, except for a few parts where they used the same picture again and again. But still on the whole it sets a fairly decent mark on its animation due to incredible action scenes, and some cool characters (Mikasa is a beauty dont disagree on that now). The medieval period is shown nicley, the scenery and backgrounds all add to the decent animation. The exact reactions and facial descriptions when the characters suffered from despairity, were very well animated. Sound and music are one of the best of all the anime osts I have listened to. The osts are godly epic, and this ain't any exaggeration and it is probably the osts that make even simple scenes, so lively that the viewer is glued to the screens. It emphasizes that incredible osts can literally lift the enjoyment to another level. Moreover the voice acting is fabulous. Sorry Kaji Yukii haters, but his role as Eren is the one of the best voice acting.

Story 8/10 Minor spoilers
Story is fairly simple, titans attack humans attack titans some get killed, some get injured ,some live some die in the name of a soldier (this is quoted from samurai champloo opening, samurai is replaced by soldier). But all that is for the first arc. The second arc delves into mystery too. It is strictly not classified as a mystery genre, but it still has fair amount of it but it is mostly implicative. The story has some distinct features absent from many of its counterparts. Most people believe that the story is partly new and stuff, but its most distinctive characteristics is that it brings out the filth within the humans. It also questions things such as right to freedom, and the need for power, and the ability to make precise decisions. The main story follows Eren and his friends who strive  to survive (or may be not?). One of the strongest points of the story is that it is able to remove any side characters who are not needed without any second thought, so plz dont get to  like nay side character, else u will be largely disappointed. 

The first arc mainly depends on action scenes, with few unpredictable situations. It mainly depended on the cliffhangers.  In fact the first arc had a lot many cliffhangers, and I was unable to sleep for two nights after one of the cliffhangers. So this mostly had a universal appeal. It has overall a very dark atmosphere and the author displays the despair within humans in an indigenous manner. As such the first arc deserves easy 10/10.
The second arc was entirely different. With many new characters, it also started to have a mystery tone to it. And this probably backfired for many viewers as they started pointing out that the mystery was lame, whereas the real fact is that it was never meant to create any mystery, it was just to add suspense, and more importantly create tension for the climax. The author cleverly laid down facts so that the viewer knows the answer to the puzzle and just waits for the characters to understand and play it, but unfortunately it was misunderstood by many of us. Another aspect of this arc was irregular pacing, it would have been better to delete or merge one or two episodes and the let the climax reached earlier, and this followed by speculations to the next arc.

Characters  9/10
Since the anime follows the life of soldiers it is obvious that it will cover many characters. So firstly the trio Eren, Mikasa, Armin. At first Eren is showed to be fighting for revenge, but then he develops into a character who puts freedom first, and that is what fuels his ambition. Later in the story he mostly develops into a cliche character of a regular shounen anime, but that is a law rather than exception. His development is done most intricately, and his experiences fuel this. Mikasa, the adoptive sister of eren, the star of the academy, is shown to be overly possesive about eren, but once her backstory is shown, it becomes completely understandable. She is shown to be superskilled, and is one of my favourite characters. Armin a kid, who becomes an incredible character later. He gets an awesome character development, and also plays the role of a narrator. He is a keen observant, and he is the one who makes many statements, which lead the viewers to a definite conclusion. He also quotes cool lines and was very impressive and bold in the latter half. Apart for the trio, there are MC's friends who are typical of a shounen anime. And the boss of all characters LEVI, who becomes a very important part in second arc, is mostly supported by his reputation, and his character is well defined and needs no further development.

Enjoyment 11/10
For me enjoyment is measured at two levels. First, general satisfaction. Second, my reactions to cliffhangers. I heavily enjoyed the anime and the sole reason for this is that I watched it as an ongoing anime. Other reason would be the first impression of the anime, and second reason would be awesome osts. Third and the most important reason would be a completely different class of shounen. In which shounen anime have we ever seen people getting eaten up and actually dying, I. Fact I wonder whether this should be classified as a shounen. I attribute its success to the incredible tension.
Most SNK haters comprise of people who either marathoned the series in a day or two, or may be week at its most. The whole of the second arc depends upon the tension created in 4-5 eps, and the climax at its peak. Many lost the vast tension because it takes time for the intense pressure created to be fitted into viwers mind. In fact they lost the most crucial part. So I honestly suggest one to watch the anime in regular gaps. For me it was one week, which is impossible because u will most probably surrender to ur conscience to watch what happens next, but still I would suggest at least a gap of three days between any two episodes, to gain maximum enjoyment. The brain dissects all facts carefully and this is the path for full enjoyment.

Another trick is to watch the anime in HD, it looks as if the Titan came out of the screen. HD rocks.

Overall 9/10
So the question still bugs did this get into everyone list of epicness genre? The answer is yes and no. For me it did, for others it might not. I was forced to watch this on a weekly basis, and with no new eps, I irrationally rewatched the previous episodes. In fact I watched the first arc probably 3 times. With each new episode, there was a general satisfaction. All the episodes served a purpose and rarely any episode was wasted. The author has carefully planned the outline, and the anime adheres very much to the manga. But as I already mentioned, the problem which occurrs when u marathon a series, u dissolve and nullify the huge tension, leaving a dull taste.

Cons : On complete objective viewing, there are few plot holes in the story, but this can be easily overlooked, and these will be probably covered in the later chapters of the manga. Animation though consistent, had a few backdrops, but on the whole it is at a very good level. Characters like erens mom and dad, and his friends could have got a bit more development with their back stories. As for the episodes, one or two scenes could have been deleted or fast forwarded to reach the climax early, leaving us with speculations of what's next. Given all these cons I can at most kill up one point leaving a close masterpiece at 9/10. 

As a side note: I never intended to write a review on SNK, for I assumed that this would get plenty of 10s as it's review, but the hell, it barely got 9. What is to happen of the next generation of anime viewers if they were to miss out on this epic shit.

Pen is mightier than sword, that is what we learn from one outs. From the synopsis one may be confused that Is this baseball? Is this chess? Is this gambling? The answer is Nope its not, its ONE OUTS. Bored of animes with cliche MC, who either suck at everything and gradually develops into a strong character or suddenly gets a powerboost to defeat all his foes, or in the name of friends brings out some kind of hidden power, and stuff, then u r definitely looking for this awesomesauce.

Baseball as a sports isn't popular in my country, as such I dont even know all ... the rules of the game. The ongoing anime Diamond no Ace which is also a baseball anime inspired me and got me into the game, and as such I was expecting One Outs to be a similar sports genre anime. But I was gravely mistaken, and had to eat my words, because it was much more than that.

The best picture of one outs is this-What would happen if someone with IQ 200+ starts pitching in a baseball game? The answer is you get one outs. "Cool" "Awesome" "Incredible" "Mindblowing" these mere words are just not enough. "One outs" the title of the anime cant exactly bring out its epicness, rather the subtitle fairly does "nobody wins but I". The main reason  for all this is the additional psychological genre which grills our mind.

Animation and sound 8/10
Considering this to be a 2009 anime, the animation is pretty decent, but obviously not at the level of present animes. But it is not something which will burn up ur eyes, so this shouldn't be a barrier for watching the anime. As for osts and opening, these were cool, and conveyed the atmosphere in the most appreciable way which fits the genre.

Story 9/10 :
For the story, it is the most difficult part to explain without spoiling a bit. Almost the whole story revolves around the protagonist tokuchi, and the antagonist the Owner. The biggest defect of the story is that the introduction part was a bit long, other than that it follows a steady pace. So there is a miser owner, who gets into a contract with tokuchi, if tokuchi gets someone out, he gets 5 million yen, but if he gives up a run, he pays 50 million yen. The story is plain and simple he plays against his opponents, thats all. The story is kept interesting by showing us his tentative salary periodically, after each game. That said how the matches take place is quite amusing, and most often viewer will be tempted to say something like brilliant, and may have no words left for what comes next. As such the story mostly develops around the single protagonist tokuchi and how he distinguishes himself with his keen observational skills and high intellect. It conveys that skill is not the only important thing in a game such as baseball. Another aspect of the story is that there is always someone smart in the opponent team and rivals tokuchi.

Characters 8/10
The only character in focus is tokuchi, all others are sidelined and get less screen time. Apart from tokuchi there is the catcher Ideguchi who mostly serves to display the thought process of a common man, and brings out what is going through tokuchi's mind. Also there is the batter Kojima who plays a similar role, but in a rather sophisticated manner. And ofcourse we are also shown what the opponents are thinking. There is always one smart guy on the opposite team who partially sees through tokuchi's acts but what happens..... u need to watch the anime. Moreover there is the owner, his personal assistant, and chief, and the manager who mostly add to the comedy part. Tbh, this anime doesn't have comedy genre, yet I was forced to laugh on many occasions, especially due to the character's caricature done by the narrator. In fact narrator has done a very good job explaining many things.

Enjoyment 9/10
I enjoyed the series fully, tokuchi's character itself is brilliant, his tactics, his mind and his cunning behaviour. It was fun to see how his tricks succeeded, and the reactions of his opponents, and also that of the owner. I laughed a lot, on the incompetent manager, as well as on his teammates. I didn't regret a minute spent on it.
In the end, I couldnt give it a perfect 10, because it lacked two things. First is something, something which I can't recall, it is a silly thing, yet I can't recollect, Ah! I now remember, this lacks a SEQUEL. To get 10 it really needs a sequel.

Read the next para only if u have watched the series else skip the para.

Second, and the more important fact is this-- For the first 10 eps we are not shown what is going through tokuchi's mind. But after that we are shown what he is thinking giving us many clues and made it uninteresting. No doubt logic is a must in these kinds of anime, but the explanation were a bit too implicative. As a matter of fact I was able to predict 80% of the story from the clues presented. One may call it a positive factor which because the author states facts in a lucid yet tricky fashion, but on the other hand it may be referred to as a bit of cliche, because if u can predict the outcome the anime become less interesting. Other animes of the similar genre like death note were much more successful because unexpected things happened but in this case most of them are fact driven and if someone pays close attention they can decipher the whole anime. I know it is not a mystery genre, but nonetheless it became bit predictable in the latter half. I like it when the unexpected happens, in fact I expect the unexpected, but this became a bit low in the latter half. Not that it was 100% predictable or something, only a bit predictable. Nonetheless this fact can be easily overlooked and above all it is my personal opinion.

Overall 9/10
Finally, this has something which most animes lack, that is its knowledge of scientific facts. The anime lucidly explains psycology, physics, maths and some baseball terms. Many episodes come with a piercing quote from tokuchi, and his perception of winning.

So it doesnt really matter if u r some avid baseball fan, or simone with no prior knowledge of the sport, because it explains every detail. Moreover the suspense is also cool and it has got some of the best cliffhangers. All in one I would recommend this to anyone looking for a cool anime.

Tried to keep spoilers to a minimum.

I am personally not a fan of animes with the tag "The Animation". My first was Persona4, which was a huge disappointment, followed by Devil Survivor 2 which was ok, and Danganronpa which had potential to become better but was needlessly butchered. But Hamatora The Animation is on a different league, and it probably wouldn't be good to club it with others with the same tag.

The art (not the character Art, no pun intended) was good, decent at its best, and nowadays most animes have great visuals and since it is not disturbing or anything imo Hamatora shouldn't really ... be judged too much on this factor. The sound though was cool and definitely flows with the atmosphere, in fact moral's ost is one of the best I have heard in horror genre. 

According to the story, there are some people with minimum's ability, which is a special ability and allows them to carry out superhuman jobs and they need to do something in order to activate their ability. This isn't new as the idea has already been explored in animes like Darker than Black, or Law of Ueki. But the different setting played, apparently gave the vibe of an episodic anime with interesting cases, and with each case the story moves forward in a slow but steady manner. It gradually picked up correct pace after the initial plot was set, and then on there wasn't any reason to look behind. It clearly established itself to be different from all its rivals, of its genre and success is attributed to strong main storyline. In short it takes some time to develop the story. The actual plot is quite interesting, it is a clash of ideologies, clash of instincts, clash of power, clash of emotions, between the mc and antagonist. Hamatora as we are introduced in the initial eps is a detective agency, and as we might expect they work on different cases. And is just as one may predict that this being a 12 ep anime would primarily focus on the mastermind of all the crimes. This added with few action packed scenes makes it watchable for the first few eps. Each episode comes with the character development of one or the other side characters and has an adhesive effect which keeps us glued to the anime. Even then tbh, I had grown an incentive to drop the series, but thank god, I didn't do such a regretful thing, because it became really interesting in the latter half.
 
The characters is what really made the story incredible, and prompted me to give a 9/10 overall. Everything is very distinct about the characters, starting off with the names (seriously names like Nice, Art, Ratio felt a bit peculiar), to their roles. Nice is one of the best and op mc and to know the reason one has to watch the anime. His partner Murasaki and other side characters mostly serve to connect different strings of  cases, and exists as a tool for us to know what is in mc's mind. Apart from connecting different cases they, mostly add to the narration, comedy, and are just an added spice to the anime. Moreover some characters also receive a backstory, and their characters are amply developed mostly through their adventures in cases. And finally, the antagonist (to avoid spoiling I will name him X). Just like one can't clap with one hand, awesomeness of the MC can't be exhibited without a strong antagonist. In fact whatever X did can't be called as wrong, nor what the mc does can be certified right. Following Doflamingo's(one piece ref) words "justice shall always prevail, because the winner claims justice", I wouldnt be surprised if a new anime came and reversed the role of mc, x. At few instances I had no counter to x's views, everything he said seemed piercingly right, but all this shall be cleared once one has watched the whole anime. All in one, both the MC and X are responsible for the good storyline.

Some other factors which contributed to the enjoyment were the realistic deaths, and somewhat psychological acts of people, and characters perception of strong vs weak. The only con I can spot is that it kinda wasted the first few eps, and escalated in the later half, but this has been a law rather than exception. As a side note I wrote this review before watching the last ep! and something very very unusual thing happened. If it was gonna be 24 ep long I might have even given this an unbiased 10.

Finally, a note for all those who dropped the anime after first five eps, plz reconsider as shit gets real after that.

I am new to writing reviews so if u have any suggestions plz comment on my profile.

This can be described by two words, epic and awesome. I will give it two types of reviews a short and another long one.

Short  review
This is a MUST WATCH. It has intense suspense, grand wars, awesome strategies, politics, cool characters, solid storyline. Easy 10/10.

Long review
Imo, kingdom is probably one of the most underrated anime. The main reason for its unpopularity is that the first few episodes of the first season were over animated (which led to half of the people immediately dropping the series). But hey, no pain no ... gain. Also the uncomfortable animation dies down after a few episodes. Season1 might have depressed some due to its slow pace and apparent cliche plots. Added to it was the problem of pronunciation : the spellings and pronunciation didnt match up. And thus many dropped it before the epic war started (around ep20 of season 1).

But season 2 has made this a 100x more awesome.

The story revolves around a young boy Xin who aims to be a great general. Seems childish but the way it is executed makes it too epic. And that's where the story just starts and it has lots of plot twists and It covers two very very epic wars.

Coming to war, a mundane thing in action animes, but boy this is on a completely different level. This is unlike many stupid wars driven by emotions, it is  driven by ambition and tactics. In an epically  epic manner it shows the war psychology. Moreover since this is a historical anime there are no guns or canons, but only swords and arrows. And the incredible strategies that are planned keeping in mind the terrain of the battlefield, timing of the war, abilities of the opponents, their expected reactions, considering any unexpected moves and information suppression and the fact that all this is explained to us using narration makes it no less than a masterpiece.
If u think thats all then u r gravely mistaken, because season 2 comes with added epicness and that is POLITICS. The king vs his own chancellor, what does the king do, how does he prevent the rising power of his chancellor and what are their plans of outshining each other has been covered so nicely that I dont have words to express its magnificience.

All this comes in two packed seasons, and when coupled with some incredible osts and good Voice acting (Xin is voiced by the VA of ichigo from bleach) makes this no less than a perfect anime. The reason I am pointing out voice acting is because it is different from most animes. When a general comes the thundering roar and momentum the fleet of soldiers is just awesome. That simply adds to the grandioseness of a great general.

Finally the characters, they are too good. And this is one of those rare animes in which u can't hate the opponents. Thats because all of them are looking for glory, and every moment they try grasp an opportunity to outsmart their rivals. Also the character development of Xin is just incredible, he starts from a foot soldier to...... For that u have to see the anime. Apart from Xin, there are other characters also who have elegant development, supported by back stories.

I thoroughly enjoyed this anime, and the intense pressure and suspense this anime was able to create, just made my day. On the whole this was too good and I can just pray it gets a Third season. For anyone who hasn't watched even season 1, do watch it with a bit of patience and ignore the animation in the first few eps. For those who have dropped it in season 1 do consider watching it, because it is really good, and u will probably not regret it. For those who watched season 1 completely do watch season2, and I don't think anyone who started season 2 would have any incentive to drop it.

Well, I am new to writing reviews, and would highly appreciate if some one could suggest on how to improve it.
Have u ever heard " the fruit of patience is always sweet", then Dc( Detective Conan) is the best example for that.
For most people dragon ballz/naruto was their first anime and marked their entrance into the anime , but for me it was this epic anime Detective Conan.
Dc is largely an episodic anime. It has 700+ eps! to make it the longest ongoing anime with 23 min for each ep. ( and some 1 hour, 1.5, 3 hour long specials). But it also has it's ... main story progressing slowly (very slowly). That said it is must watch for any Sherlock Holmes fan, or anyone who likes the mystery genre.

Note: I wanted to keep spoilers to minimum, but without small spoilers, most viewers would drop it by ep 30. So I am spoiling only a bit, rest assured it will in no way disrupt the flow of the anime, nor will diminish a viwer's interest.

There are mainly 5 types of episodes that will keep you glued to the anime
1. Cases which are 3 episodes long ( though these have special settings, but are quite interesting to watch)
2. Cases in which Kaitou Kid appears ( first introduced in ep 75)
3. Cases in which Hattori Heiji appears (first introduced in ep 48).
4. Cases in which Kudou Shinichi appears in adult form.
5. And finally, the best of best, the cases involving the Black Organisation.

All, the 5 types I mentioned above earsn Dc my full respect, and imo, the epicness involved in type 5 eps surpass even the epicness of naruto or bleach.
The best part about Dc is that supernatural element is kept to a minimum, ( ideally should be zero, but the fact that Conan is present at the time of case is itself supernatural). This sharpens the mystery element and draws its full potential.
There are occasional bits romance involved, like ran x shinichi, and metropolitan police love story, etc., for people who like it.

The main complaint with Dc is that given the large number of eps, a few cases become repetitive. though I say repetitive it is at most the motive or setting, or way of murder ( any one at anime and not all 3 together).
Also it is too slow. For eg. one of the main characters is introduced in ep 129. It's just too long. Even then it is worth the time spent.
Moreover (as u must have guessed) it has many fillers. And a main problem with many cases is the existence of dying messages, which sometimes ruin the case for non Japanese people ( like me) who can't read them and thus can't even try to decipher them.
Another problem with Dc is that Conan is a kid, and naturally his friends are also kids, and some episodes which focus on them feel childish unless the case actually happens and Conan investigates independently.
And the final problem is that will the anime ever end? But rest assured, the author has said that he has already planned its ending, ( and it's supposed to be epic).

So finally, having laid out the pros and cons, I still feel that Dc is a must watch, because the feel of the epic showdowns after 50-60, sometimes even 100 eps is a sensation I can't explain in words.
For those who have dropped the anime,I would recommend u guys to pick it up as the latest developments are must watch.
Lastly,
Art 8/10
Sound 8/10
Story 10/10 ( if u take out the fillers)
9/10 (with fillers)
Characters 9/10 ( not too incredible, not too shabby)
Enjoyment 11/10, for any of the 5 types of eps, 8-9/10 for the rest.
Overall 9/10.