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If you need to know anything about me going into this review, it's that I really don't go for this kind of stuff. My taste in anime, especially as I've aged out of my awful teenage years, is picky, to say the least. There are a lot of tropes that I simply don't enjoy and a lot of them are prevelant in 99% of anime. Even the best shows have at least one or two of these tropes and so my liking it is usually because the best parts are good enough to overwrite the bad. So, with that in mind the question is:
how the ... hell did I end up watching this?
Kaguya-sama, from the very get-go, boasts itself as a home for all of these unspoken tropes; like a microclimate for cheap sex jokes and chibi faces destined to become emotes for your degenerate discord server. Most of that stuff is an immediate write-off in my book as it's just not my style. Yet, I saw the score, curiosity got the better of me and, while my taste hasn't changed, I can honestly say I respect this show for its content and execution thereof.

The humour is better than I expected, which, given my profile from the first paragraph, should probably be taken as a stellar compliment. None of it had my sides-splitting but I don't think I've watched anything that has, from television as a whole, all year. There are some funny lines, some decent slapstick and some cringe-comedy that I actually found bareable, maybe even somewhat amusing. The characters, despite being strict archetypes, are actually examples of those archetypes being used well.The ditzy one, has self respect and talents, the child prodigies can't do literally everything and are infact modest, it's f*cking wild out here. I can't name anyone that i have enough of an issue with to dislike them, especially since they all have their own place in the roster and contribute equally to the enviornment that this show's numerous skits live and breathe in.

The tropes are present, but actually not overused. Lets put something into perspective: If I had a penny for every time a teenager in an anime made a joke about breasts, I would be able to afford the surgery to stop my eyes rolling all the way into the back of my head, and down my f*cking throat. Kaguya-sama, surprisingly, only makes two jokes pretaining to tits, they're very different jokes and one of them is actually quite funny (the newspaper bit). As far as I can remember, all of the major tropes float around this level of "present yet amicable" at least.

Thinking on it, I actually kind of enjoyed Kaguya-sama. It was the last thing I expected to be honest. It's like asking batman to enjoy the back-alleys next to a theatre. It's not the most incredible show ever, and I definitely wouldn't be as generous as the general consensus has been, putting it at a 9.1. But, I do understand why it's gotten there. Every episode from the very start has this comforting element to it. It's a safe, passive, relaxing show with an uncomplicated premise and even less complicated conclusions. You'll always come away from each episode thinking that what you've watched was 'nice'. There's no conflict that hasn't been resolved, no scheme without a payoff, no callback without something new and the few marginally down moments are paid back with steep interest.

It activates that part of your brain that comes online when you experience that satisfying, cosy relaxatiton. And I really like it for that. However, it doesn't go beyond the sum of its parts. In most of the show, the premise of two stubborn intellects is replaced too quickly with a shy girl struggling around an anxious boy. Other characters come in and take the lime-light, not because they're more entertaining, but because this show teaches us it's a slow burn. Very nearly too slow as it just escapes it's pace being a detriment (I doubt it was intentional, but given the context of the show, you never know ).

A 7 feels harsh but 8 feels a bit too generous. While I wrote this in the context of all the seasons, my score really only reflects the third season. (Season one - 6 , Season two - 6).

Dr. Stone is a pretty normal anime.

To compare it to a cake, it's the expected amount of eggs, sugar and flour. An inoffensive amount of milk. A drop of vanilla extract (maybe two?). Not overcooked, not undercooked. round.... bit of lemon maybe?

That's not to say it's boring (the anime, not the cake), infact it's over the top nature and unique setting do a good job of keeping your interest. But everything else about it has been seen time and time again. We've got a run-of-the-mill main character with anime-standard super intelligence. The brutish side character, the agressive woman side-character, the impulsive sidekick character, the duty-bound ... side character. The purist villain, edgy side-villains.

If you feel like reading my rambling has slowed you're brain down out of apathy then you're currently in the exact state I was in when experiencing 90% of this show. Despite not doing anything wrong I just cannot find a hook here. The science lessons are a nice touch but it reminded me more of a minecraft tutorial than an episode of "how it's made". It's colourful, the apocolypse is an interesting setup yet not touched on again (at least for this season - im assuming).
That's about as much as I can bring myself to point out about it though. It's not BAD. It's not offended me in any way, except maybe with some of the humour. It's just pure mediocre. The cast, the personalities, the jokes, the writing; it's all been done so many times before. Name any factory-order shonen anime and you'll most likely have a 1 to 1 carbon copy of a lot of it.

It's a factory made cake, dry, with that white flavourless icing, that you buy from Tesco, or walmart, or wherever the fuck it is you'd go to buy a cake for a child you don't give a shit about. But you'll still eat a slice, cause fuck it, it's cake.

This is more of a review for both seasons, given how the start of season 2 is what the end of season 1 should be and the stories are otherwise so connected that you probably couldn't tell where one ended and the other began.

This review won't spoil anything though.

My biggest weakness with anime is that I really can't sit down and watch a sub. I am far more willing to put up with the same 10 voice actors providing diminished dialouge in every anime I watch simply because I have an autistic lack of attention. However, this HIGHLY underrated remake is about to help me ... overcome this weakness. I simply cannot let myself undermine just how awesome this anime is.

Despite its slow moments and weaker first season, I found myself completely gripped by this intergalactic sci-fi war story. At first I wasn't sure about telling the telling of two stories from two different perspectives but the main characters are both as interesting as eachother, and as a result you don't feel like you're missing out on what might be a better story. Eventually I found it more fun to be seeing these earily similar situations and exploring how two different personalities deal with their respetive dilemas.

The latter end of the series is where this anime truely starts to shine. The mix of politics, morality, loss and worth are all explored in a way that harkons to genuine perspectives and issues that we have with war today. I think a special attention to detail was made to put these problems infront of us as viewers in order to give us that sense of similarity between this totally fantasized world and the world we find outselves in now. War in this imagined world has changed in scale and style but it hasn't escaped the same questions we ask ourselves every time we hear of conflict around the world and the same issues that often derive from these conflicts. These questions do well to ground you when watching this show, and it helps us to associate with the mental dilema our main characters always come back to, which they suffer from thanks to being young soldiers born into the war.

Outside of reading between the lines: This is an excellently realised scifi world. It surprises me that Japan doesn't have more stories like this. Intergalactic sci-fi is a criminally underused genre in the industry from what I've seen. The characters are interesting, likable and entertaining. Artistically, its excellently realised. And philosophically, it hits the nail on the head. It's kind of sad that we don't see many adversaries that arn't arrogant nobles who believe power is their birthright, and while it does ring true to the old phrase : "Lions lead by donkeys" (which fittingly comes out of WW1), I understand that you can't attribute 95% of your antagonists to a 100 year old proverb.

I reallydon't see why this entry on MAL is as low as it is. I guess I'll maybe find it when I watch the original. For the time being though, I can say it does an excellent job as a remaster of a 20-30 year old OVA and is, certifiably, an excellent gateway into the other forms of media that this universe has taken form in over the duration of those years.

I highly reccomend you give this a go. I haven't come across anything quite like it.

Hunter x Hunter helped me understand something about anime that has really opened my eyes as to how we percieve it. There's a particular aftertaste I get after watching fighers that is really quite bitter-sweet. I couldn't really peg it until now and I can only thank HxH for granting me that clarity. Without muddling myself, I'll first illustrate my point with this example paragraph:

~
[Shonen anime name] is an anime about a giddy young [boy/teenager/man] named [protagonist 1]. After [being admitted to / revealing to be a member of] an illustrious [group / institution], [protagonist 1] learns of means through which to become stronger; ... a power called [derived universal power]. [Protagonist 2] is his [rival / best friend] who also seeks to become stronger. He behaves similarly to [protagonist 1] at times, however more commonly demonstrates his [superior/inferior] cool-headedness and intelligence. [protagonist 1] and [protagonist 2] commonly keep up with each other in terms of strength, however possess different talents. Along the way they are acompanied by [serious / greedy [pervert character]] , [strong headed female character] and [useless fan-favorite character/animal].
~

You can see what I'm trying to get at here. Having previously watched Fairy Tail , Bleach, BnHA, some dragonball and a few more of the "big shonen fighty shows" it suddenly occured to me that practically any character can be pulled from one respective universe and dropped in another with little to no contradictions bar swapping out a few key words. And you have to wonder why that is. I mean, if you look at some of the most popular works both nationally and internationally (Using both this site for a more western view and anikore for a more 'local to the taste' idea) you can tell that some of the most popular works in the field are structured completely differently, portray characters uniquely and tell stories that are far more entangelled. Death Note, Steins Gate, Full Metal Alchemist, Code Geass. These are all shows that reach us because they are (evidently) backed up by the enthusiasm of the fans back in Japan. But therein lies the contradiction. Why then, are shows not encouraged to reach outside the box more if this is the case, if only just a little bit.

Thats not to say theres no excuse for being a show not being good, or even that you need to reach outside the box TO be good. Perhaps what I see as generic in HxH and other similar shows is just something so common that you wouldn't really think about it. Like how sex scenes are so common in western dramas, and how major characters pretty much have to die in a season finales because "that makes it good". But even so the aforementioned thought box is so small for fighting animes compared to what it is for many of the shows we see elsewhere. Every show is obsessed with some form of internalised power, grunting, long drawn out fights, conversations mid punch, naming your moves and above all else QUANTIFICATION. Its like everyone has the same colouring-in book, but different coloured crayons. I suppose you could say the same about the MARVEL franchise but they all openly exist within the same world and come from the same mind(s). There is so little that is truely unique about HxH that it surprises me that it's as highly rated as it is, but at the same time, I can kinda understand why it gets away with alot of it - because it's extremely well refined and some of the areas where artistic merit can actually roam free are actually stellar - most of it anyway.


So, onto actually talking about HxH. Its good.... Most of it. I would say that, in its peaks, this has set a new personal bar for other similar animes, but in its troughs, its a tedious lecture in what not to do.
The main characters are great, not because they're particularly deep, but because they're just likable. They've done a really good job of emphasising the kind-hearted nature of both Gon and Kilua, as well as they're playfulness, we are constantly shown their metaphorical ability to push against "the real world" with their childish optimism, which is exactly what you want in this media centralised around escapism. I'm confident that all this was intentional, but it's just so well done that I can't help but give it due credit.
Other characters start of cripplingly generic but most of them come into their own after a little while. Some take a little longer to flourish and a small few just flat on their face, however these 'small few' arn't really relevent enough to disturb the (sometimes very very gradual) flow of the story or ruin the overall narrative - they're just very cringy. In regards to the very former catagory, I'll have to give credit to Hisoka for just being really fucking weird all the time, and never really getting boring about it, like so many trope-centric characters tend to do. He's written like a genuine wildcard with no loyalty and it makes him really interesting.

The overall story is Ok. Annoyingly stories in fighting animes don't really try that hard, as they only serve as catalysts for characters to do their thing. There are a few moments that really stand out (like the end of the ant arc, the kind-of-epilogue arc and a good amount of the yorknew auction arc) however there's a significant amount of really generic plot points and mediocre hurdles that just go on and on and on in between these moments. Again, peaks and troughs.

Ok so now I've got one more thing to shit on and one more thing to praise. So lets start with the former, as it applies to more than just HxH. There is a real common trend of time-wasting in anime that was so desperately prevelent in a lot of episodes - especially 86-125. To break down a 22 minute episode: 1 minute recap, 1 mintute intro, 2 minute outro, 1.5 minutes of grunting, 1-3 minutes of further recap, 1-3 minutes of explaining something thats already been explained. Leaving, on average, around 14 minutes of actual new stuff. Like come-on. I get deadlines are tough and conditions can be shit but it really diminishes the viewing experience when its so padded.
Also, and this is specific to HxH in this case, why does the narrater turn the whole ant arc into an audio book? A chacter would throw a punch and the narrator would go off saying "he threw a the hardest punch with every last bit of spirit he could muster into being, this was, for all intents and purposes... a mega-punch". I mean what was the point of even drawing it? I could have had a game open or something if I knew I didn't actually have to watch the fucking thing.

I complain alot as it's only human to, but ultimately a 7 is still a "watch once and keep an eye on" on any sensible scale. As I said this anime does an excellent job of refining a tried and tested structure while adding some of its own zest. The flat out best moments in this show lies within its characters (specifically the villains IMO) and how these characters all fall into place come an arcs conclusion. Despite being very traditional in its origin (and in practically in every new arc's start) its amazing just how well the author has implemtented these twists and turns that eventually work to create a really great conclusion wherein I find myself sympathising for the villain in some way.


My score ultimately reflects an average. All elements of this anime flow between a 9 and a 5 on an episode by episode basis (1-19 = 5 , 20 - 85 = 9 , 86 - 125 = 5~ and 126 + = 9).
Not to repeat myself too much but this show is made by its peaks and represented at its worst by its troughs. I highly reccomend you watch this at least once if you're interested. And give it a bit of time to really come into its own. However don't expect anything groundbreaking.

So from being the only observer of my past 3 years of activity on this website, I'm perfectly aware that I'm very detatched from the Anime community. Perhaps that is a symptom of my almost tidal interest of anime being mostly detatched from literally all the other aspects of my life. I often criticize anime on my western standards and I almost spoil the whole thing in the interests of not wasting my time on over-sexualized romcom bull-sh*t. I rarely ever seek requests and when I do its at the hands of an algorithm. Which is why when I say that - this anime ... was reccomended to me by a friend of mine - this should immedietly peak your interest for the up and coming review. On the mere basis that some unassuming loser said this might be good, I decdied to give this a try. And, after episode one, and about half an hour of silent contemplation, and finding out if the ginger kid was a boy or not, I decided that this WOULD in fact be something I persue..

You see, neverland makes a very strong first impression. It establishes an almost frighteningly perfect scenario with a bunch of happy children and a complacent mother who has nothing but love to give. Only to take literally every last sense of security and wellbeing away from you, after the revelation that they are infact *not* "living the dream". The way the show does this is perfect, this is probably the strongest first episode from any anime I've ever seen. But I would say it suffers from its own haste and hesitence. Given the pace of the show I would say that 12 episodes is perfect for it, however I still found myself getting bored of the cat and mouse chase and there were some very overdone scenes that wanted to be more important than they actually were. There are a few big moments in the show, no spoilers here but I would say the intention of them would be to elicit an emotional response from the viewer. The problem? There simply wasn't enough of an investment from the audience to prevent it from falling flat. Alternatively, when there was, it felt like that those "events" got far less time and attention than the events that mattered very little to the audience. The only time that this truely succeded was when the show almost intentionally paid very little attention to the event (as a 12 episode anime probably should do) or in the unique circumstance of "mom" or "mama"'s flashback at the very last 5 minutes of the programme.

Between episode 2 and 7, I would say the show could have done more. Outside of the bitter-sweet cliffhanger ending and these relatively slow episodes. There are no problems. I highly reccomend this show to any and all people looking for a strangers permission. There are some perfect representations of psychological strain (which is often overlooked from the all perfect protagonists of shows like "my hero academia" and other shows more focused on gimmicks and friendship) and excellent character moments (all of the characters are likable by the way, with the only flaw of them being that 12 and under really isnt a realistic age for how these people are portrayed). One thing that I should mention as well is that "super-intellegence" is something severely misrepresented as a talent in anime, but this show is probably the best imagining of it to date. All the main characters (protagonists and antagonists) are realistically smart and realistically at odds with eachother, theres none of that "future-vision" bollocks that you can get from other shows. We get observance, we get talent and we get understanding, thats all you need from clever characters and thats all they give, which is always going to be +++ points from me.

Neverland similarly does an excellent job of setting the mood. Whether its music or art, dreary or hopeful, character or environment. I would attend to those points more but this is my closing statement, wherein I will highly reccomend this anime to anyone with an afternoon to kill. Its clever, emotional, scarring and entertaining. The challenges and solutions are perfectly realistic for the scenario and at the very end there are some excellent moments that show and categorise the strengths of the characters, their motivations and their emotions all at once. It's a fun and unique idea and all I ask that , despite its weak middle and one or two fundamental nit-picks, you simply give it a go.

One thing that you should know about me... I, am trashy. I hate people, I steal ice-creams from children, I'll eat the last burger at the BBQ and I'll go out there and give an anime 10/10 simply because of one moment near the end that gave me chills. On a completely different note, I only watch dubs (as close as the sentences are together, I should iterate that I don't think its trashy. But I'm here to watch TV, not speedrun a manga). I bring these two things up because Mob Psycho 100 II made me completely betray these two statements. This anime ... had me so far on the edge my seat I was tasting armrest and watching the sub simply because the dub was 4 weeks off finishing. I have NEVER done that before, not even for the other 10/10 shows I have on my list.


Mob Psycho 100 II (MP100) is both the sequal and a dramatic improvement to its predecesor. One criticism that I could have of its inconviently named author "ONE" is that he seems to struggle with creating a protagonist that can justifiably struggle. You might be tempted to say that that's the point, after all, Mob, much like Saitama (from his other work One Punch Man) is already the strongest there is, without question. However everyone has their weaknesses; regardless of how good they may be at doing one thing, there will always be something they are utterly useless at. Saitama would probably make a very poor motivational speaker, for example. However, where OPM (and even MP100's first season) seems to avoid any circumstance where this might become a problem, MP100 II dives into it head first. There have been some touches of Mob not being "the perfect being" in season 1, the body improvement club was, however, little more than a joke, and similarly, his pacifistifc ideology comes into play only a couple of times; they we're always B line plots, an excuse for dialogue, the occasional gag and most importantly, a way to stretch the plot out (the whole "oh I'm just choosing not to win cause using powers is wrong" thing).


MPS100 II doesn't really do what I just described, not because its core focus is elsewhere, but because it doesn't need to. There is so much emphasis on the psychological impact Mobs experiences have on him and it carries all throughout the episodes, up until he meets his antithesis. The incident with the spirit family was really the tipping point for my opinion on whether or not I liked this shift from a comedy centered show with morals to a moral centered show with comedy. For those of you who are slow, I absoloutely f*cking LOVE this shift. Contradicting my initial statement, ONE has probably executed the best psychologically centered series I have ever experienced, and demonstrated the absoloute weakness that comes with absoloute power. It's brilliant. And it doesn't stop getting better.

Now, fake people that I'm making up like to criticise the fact that season 2 has gotten a lot darker and upsetting than season 1. And while it certainly has, I would disagree that the show is worse off for it. For starters, I wouldn't say that it's lost any of its comedic or borderline insane elements. The colour, the flashes and the perfectly placed humor is still there (I must have watched that Riegen - "I was in the volleyball team" gag around 8 times); If you need any further persuading of this, the intro is right there at the start, carrying on that almost meaningless onslaught of "psychodelic overdose on film" that caught many of us off guard upon our first watches.

Furthermore, the personality that the first season had is still going strong, if not stronger. Reigen still comes out with his special moves, Mob's still gunning for popularity and all of the supporting cast are... well... actually, they're kinda missing.
Yeah, I found that weird myself actually. The brother, the blonde fucker and the weird kid who just so happens to be the bosses son are mysteriously missing throughout most of the season all the way up to the final arc. In fact, the only thing that felt off is that literally every character from last season gets roped into 'team good-guy'. Now that I think about it, some of the characters from the very fights that are taking center stage switch to 'team good-guy'. I feel like MP100 knows how to do these kinds of things right as there is one fight, that isn't really even a fight, at the end (with the shut-in) that serves a perfect narrative purpose and is executed very well. However the rest of them feel like a quick excuse to get rid of characters you're not really too sure how to otherwise get rid of.
It's not too much of an issue, because MP100 has never taken "fights" at all seriously, but, as someone who's watched fairytail, the whole "beat em into being your friend" thing doesn't hold up very well in the long term. I suppose then, its fortunate that the show doesn't intend on being hundreds of episodes long - or more than a few seasons long. In fact, I'm completely willing to brush it aside because of the absoloute masterpiece that every other part of this show is.

Speaking of masterpieces, lets talk about Reigen. The only character in all of anime that inspires me to want to be a funny person despite a diagnosable absense of talent. His humor is on point, his character is marvelous and I did not know how much I needed the arc that goes into depth about his life and character outside of Mob and their psychic scandles. I have never laughed harder at jokes, connected more with honesty, sympathised more with tragedy than I have with a character like Reigen. I truely believe that so much of this season is built out of this character and its so utterly perfect because of it.
The fact that in so few episodes, you can build up a characters ideology, to the point where, in the last episode, you can make him contradict that ideology (with the gun) without any emphasis, delay, double angle or conversation. And for it to still be so momentarily shocking, is a testament to pure quality. The event lasts seconds but could be discussed for hours.

This is floating well past 1000 words now, so I feel I should wind it down. Lets close on talking about the darker elements of the show. As I said, they've met some scrutiny, but they don't feel out of place and the characters don't react unrealistically for the dynamics that the first season put them in. There is a real emphasis on how Mob's prime weakness is ultimately himself, and this is brought into fluition when he meets Mogami. And later, when his pure opposite faces him. There is nothing so wrong with this show that I can't find an excuse for it. It is probably my new favorite. One of the few anime that can center its moral story around friends and not be cringy; the only anime that can be funny and tragic; light hearted and dark; can emphisise trauma and positivity. Its the perfect story about a good person with no reason to be good. . It is absoloutely worth your time to watch. I could not reccomend anything more.

No Game No Life (NGNL) is the ultimatish example of satirical intelligence. Much like what you see in Benedict Cumberbatches interpretation of Sherlock Holmes' character, you can expect a lot of what the eager audience considers "intelligently cool" to be chopped down into a blend of indomitable narcissism and a complete disregard for any feasible scenario by the writer. The one major difference between NGNL and that Sherlock prick is that NGNL is leagues more playful, and it benefits from that to no end (despite losing out on practically everything else). I consider this show to be a rather poor example of how to use ... 'super-intelligence' as a power, but it really is a show that you just love to love, peaked not only by its beautiful art and (somewhat) entertaining cast of characters but also it's phenomenal sound-track; which really puts that oomph into every episodes climax.


So then, let's begin at the start. The story. Which has two major distinctions, and two major flaws. The first distinction in the story is that our MC's come from another world. Yes, I know, a very cookie cutter beginning, but I don't really have a quarrel with it so long as the story does well to remember it, which it does buuuut not in a way I like. The only reason that we're reminded of our characters origin is, at the end of the day, to depress us. Every time origins are brought up its followed by a complete loss of colour pallet, soft and moody music, and some sad story about how much our MC's hated the world we live in. Its almost they're trying to reach through the screen and say "Yeah... you're life is reaaaaalllly shit, look at this total work of fiction, wish you could enjoy this? Tough shit we're not making season 2" - This is, of course, regardless of the fact that they just spent 15 minutes pumping us up and building up the hype.

Anywho, the second major point of the story is that our characters are "super-duper smart". One is a sweet-talker and the other is apparently a quantum-computer disguised as a human child. While they each have their specialty they're both equally as impressive in their peer's respective fields and the only reason we pretend that one is better at something than the other is that it fits their rather uncanny personalities. But that's not the point. "super-intelligence" is SO much harder to execute well in a show than - I reckon - even the writer expected. In certain cases, it feels like the solution was thought up before the conditions of the problem and it leaves a lot of the climaxes feeling hollow. This isn't even to mention the fact that this super-intelligence is only ever exhibited when the MC's overcome the issue and reveal that "yeah, we thought you'd do that like... 3 episodes ago". There's no genuine quick-thinking in this show, which is something I can heavily praise a show like Death Note for (a show that does super-intelligence more correctly). And, to add to that, after watching a show like DN you do really miss out on that "catch up" moment, where everything clicks into place and you feel like you've finally caught up to something being worked on for episodes. I think the best way to put it would be 3-dimensional. NGNL's interpretation of super-intelligence, however, is extremely 2-dimensional.


Besides, maybe, a few cultural complaints, like sexualizing a 12-year-old, a ridiculous amount of poorly executed sexual tension and the annoyingly incessant and, sometimes, incestuous referencing of sex, I can't really think of much else to complain about. Although it is fucking weird. I understand that in Japan a lot of this stuff is considered humor and the rest is probably a bi-product of their relatively controversial laws and culture that centers around being allowed to sexualize children (at least in cartoons). I can only say that I find it cringy, and from a western perspective, it really damages the overall viewing experience. If you can find the humor in it, more power too you I guess. If you find anything else from it... see a therapist.


I'll close this off with what I Believe warrants such a positive score, despite my rather heavy bias towards negative feedback. The artwork is amazing. This is what a proper fantasy setting looks like and its only sweetened by the most vibrant color-pallet I've ever seen. The music elevates every moment to make it feel like its so much more than it really is. It has such a great effect on some scenes that it could almost be considered overbearing. The characters are entertaining. Outside of the annoying humor and cringy attachment to animals and genitals, the characters are actually fun to follow. They don't develop in any way but they're in a position (especially given the length of the series) where I wouldn't really want them to - this is the kind of show where the world adapts to them, not the other way around. Finally, the experience. Its awesome. It leaves a little to be desired in a lot of places but I don't think NGNL takes itself seriously enough as a whole to actually consider that a deal-breaker. If you can see past the cringe behavior and rather shameful comedy then I do wholeheartedly recommend that you give this a try.

I must admit something. I am so utterly conflicted as to whether I can give Fairy Tail much more than a 6. I REALLY REALLY want to. And if I had any shame whatsoever I wouldn't openly admit to writing at least 2 separate reviews and, at one point, giving a solid 10/10 score. Yeah...


So... the reason you're seeing this review now and not the overly dramatic pile of fanboy dog-shite that I had originally rolled with is simply because I cannot find any good reason as to why this anime is good. Which sounds extremely weird when put into writing. How does one even ... know if they like something if they can't directly point to what it is they're liking so much? Well. I have a theory that involves something I like to call "cool-guy syndrome". It's far from an original idea but put simply, when a character does something in a show that makes other characters go "wow", and when that action is placed behind a very iconic and well-made piece of backing track, the experience is immediately considered (by the audience) to be immeasurably better than it actually is. For example, Fairy Tail is relatively average (I'll get into that). But the one thing that elevates it so far above the line of mediocrity is the music.

FT has a very unique and iconic blend of "old-English pub fantasy" (violin, flute, guitar) and heavy electronic rock - Google calls it 'Celtic metal'. You don't know how well it works until you see it in action, and that's coming from the perspective of someone who isn't all that into metal music. "Celtic metal" has to be the perfect style to represent the personality of this show. Its rowdy, its irrational; it prioritizes fun and style, and it truely is the centrepiece of the exhibition. To top this off, there isn't really any poor judgment when it comes to when and where particular tracks are dotted across an episode. Characters have their appropriate themes as well that ties well to their personality. I have literally no experience in music-theory though, so I won't humor myself by talking out of my ass about it.
I have never seen an OST be so accurate in its interpretation of a world. Every theme represents the character perfectly; every tune sets the mood excellently and every other song there is to list has that excitement that makes everything seem SO much better than it actually is. It is what every other sound-track should aspire to be.


However, that is, ultimately, where the first short-coming arises. It doesn't matter how well executed your music is, when everything else fails to click then there's only so much of it you can save. You end up feeling a bit left out if it. I can name a few times where it felt like everybody else got the joke, but I didn't. When this happened it wasn't the fault of the sound design, but rather a lack of explanation towards key elements of the plot as well as a ridiculous tendency to be very predictable. You won't be able to count the number of times that some character comes in to "save the day" while the "fuck yeah" theme is playing in the background. It gets to the point where you can pretty much tell how every arc is going to go. The only real benefit to some COMPLETELY detached stories is that they SOMETIMES bring a minor character in, and SOMETIMES those minor characters are fun to have around. By the end of this 175-odd episode stretch, the only things I didn't see coming was the setup for the next season and the ridiculously elusive plot devices that will probably only be used in the very last arc.

Here's another thing I found to be a bit off. Friendship takes an awful amount of precedent in this show. It's almost suffocating. I almost find that I can't stand to see it be used yet again as an excuse for some random rally. Erza is the major culprit for this, but It gets much worse in the following seasons (It's kind of cheating to bring that into this seasons review but I think the issue tallies up over time so can be addressed as an issue for both seasons). I don't mind the whole "power of friendship" gimmick but every now and then you should have some faith in the characters that you've developed and allowed them to use their own strengths to just sort shit out on their own. It's nice that they all love each other and their cult but do you reckon that its at all possible that the characters work independently of each other every now and then? So that we might highlight some of their individual merits? They may be physically separated but the show dances around that as sort of a non-issue. Like they've all got some sort of psionic link similar to the Protoss.


As a separate and final point, I think it's worth noting that I had a lot more fun while watching this show than I did thinking back about it over the past few days. I hesitate to say that you should actively avoid it, just... Don't go buying any t-shirts until about a month or two have passed because, as I eluded to at the start of the review, I sort of feel dirty for enjoying Fairy Tail as much as I did, and I got really roped into it for a bit.
It is, for all intents and purposes, the ultimate "guilty pleasure" program.

When I first watched Overlord I, I never expected it to get a second season. It had been out for about 2 years when I first heard of it and I had never really thought much about it after I finished watching it. I enjoyed it, and was, admittedly, rather disappointed at the lack of any follow-up, especially considering that it didn't really feel like a show that was born to fail. The people who made this show wanted to make more and they had the source material to do it. But it just died, like so many others in the genre do. I eventually ... conceded that this series was doomed to join the pile, accompanied by shows like No Game No Life and Log Horizon.

So you can imagine my surprise when, all of a sudden, Overlord II is announced, added to the database, and scheduled to premiere in about a month. I don't think the word 'utter-shock' could be considered an exaggeration of my reaction.. and yet, I don't think the word disappointment can be considered a misrepresentation of my review. It was rather bad. Not super-bad. Just bad. And from there, I was sure that would be the death of overlord as a franchise...

But hold the phone, because before season 2's corpse even had a chance to go cold, season 3 blew down the door and declared it would be out in 3 months time. Pause for breath. Take in the silence...
FUCKING. WHAT?!?!
You're telling me that this product, which was, in the end, not even that poorly received by the fans, is getting ANOTHER SEASON? NOW? Despite its arguable lack of originality, poor taste in humor, lazy animation, directionless storytelling and regardless of the fact that there are SO MANY OTHER TYPES of this very same concept that ARN'T getting another season?
REALLY?
Maybe my confusion is unfounded. Maybe I'm going a bit too far by insinuating that this show is innately awful. Or that the quality difference between Season 1 and 2 was all that sizable. And again, If I have learned anything about anime it's that: first impressions almost never accurately represent the quality of the end product. But Jesus Christ man... Jesus fucking Christ...



Overlord III has sealed the deal and officially labels its franchise as the fastest to diminish in quality on an episode by episode basis. There is nothing here that warrants any praise outside of *maybe* the ability to at least remember the last 2 seasons of story. Everything else is either done poorly or has been done better in a previous season. It's genuinely a shame that it's come to this point and if we EVER get Overlord IV, then I can only assume that some super-fan is funding this pitiful husk of a project.

The animation is absolutely the prime example of this. In Season 1 and 2 there were a few bits of CGI that, while executed poorly, never really ruined the experience. They were almost always used exclusively on the undead monsters which, conveniently (and canonically), managed to fit their choppy and rigid style of movement. In season 3, its almost as if the 2D artists ran away and everyone else was left to make the show like it was some kind of 1990s south park episode except with the help of the guy who was training to be a CGI animator for yogurt adverts. Whenever something is made to look impressive it simply fails. But let's give credit where credit is due, the 2D art is still leaps and bounds ahead of the 3D mess (I hesitate to call it art). Unfortunately, to only make things worse, CGI is 5x more present than it was before (and in some cases even replaces parts where 2D art would ALWAYS look better). Its gut wrenching to look at and utterly ruined what should have been the most climactic episode in the entire trilogy.

Moving on, the story is just tiresome at this point. We have now established that our MC is decked out, unbeatable and unfathomably powerful. So why, WHY, are we going around in circles by still trying to prove that? There are 3 arcs in this season. The first one is boring and we won't even mention it (because, if the lizards proved anything, we (all together now) "♫ Don't-give-a fuck-about-the-nor-mal-peo-ple ♫"). The second one is another "build up a character(s) or scenario and let MC stomp it all in one fell swoop", yeah, that one that we've done about 4 times now. Cool. The third arc actually has content, it follows on from the events of the second arc (except not in a way that excuses the wasted episodes of character development - even if you were just trying to highlight how evil everyone can be, it was pointless), From a story perspective, it's actually progressive and is a step in the right direction. However, more than any other arc in the trilogies history, it is totally ruined by the terrible CGI and pointless pride that apparently has to come from every sword wielder in a fantasy story - ever. It hurts me to think that removing any one thing would improve the show drastically, but it's all there anyway, amassing to be the shittiest stir-fry of bad practices and botched jobs I've ever written about (apart from THAT ONE SHOW we don't talk about).

Furthermore, where are all the good characters? Where's the fun butler dude or the demon or the big ant ~thing~. Why are we stuck with an endless onslaught of nameless maids and chipper blonde WANKERS that didn't even need to exist? Why is that what we're getting when all we really want is to see more of the characters that you've already spent time developing? This show has an awful issue of always starting from square one whenever it forgets what it was doing (which, apparently, seems to occur every 6 or so episodes) and if you couldn't tell from the previous words I went and wrote, It pisses me off.


I am really disappointed with the direction that Overlord has taken these past few months. I don't know if the studio is overworked, there was a disaster at the office, or even if the source material isn't up to scratch with the content that originally got the anime greenlit; but there is definitely a detrimental difference in quality. If I were asked, I would tell them to take a break. You CAN try Overlord IV (if you must), but don't push it out 3 months from now. Give it 9 months, give it a year. Clear your minds or clear your desk because the only reasons this has gone on for as long as it has is because, somehow, we don't have anything similar that is better.

Angel Beasts... Probably one of the first shows I've ever watched on this website by recommendation. A great experience to be sure. A fun one. A memorable one. But there are a few flaws that come from the experience that really put me off ever wanting to watch it again. Don't get me wrong, that's not to say you should not watch it. Watch it. If the rating and popularity of it on this site was not enough of a testament to the polish of this show then hopefully I can shed some light, but also know that my complaint(s) do not carry as much ... weight in my mind as the compliments that I will very much struggle to run out of.


So, with that said, what's so good about it? Why is it worth, to some people, 10/10 points... Well, simply put, the comedy is class. Very well executed, visualized and acted, a success for all divisions of the team who put this together. I genuinely haven't laughed out loud at many shows before but this one made it happen multiple times. You might share the stigma that Japanese humor, especially in a school environment, can be quite (controversially) sexual. Cringe humor, Sexual tension and exposing boys to boobs appear to be the go-to "knock-knock" jokes in the dismal world of anime comedy... I mean, that and "funny" faces. I'm not saying that this kind of humor doesn't have its place in television, but plenty of shows seem to be contempt with that being the ONLY form of comedy and I genuinely could not consider anything other than the antithesis of comedy when executed so poorly. Well, you'd be happy to know that this is nowhere near the case with Angel Beasts. The comedy in this show is traditional slapstick. Three Stooges style; and despite comparing it to a group that started in the 1920's, it's actually rather refreshing.


This is, of course until we get to about episode 6 or 7 when the entire show decides that it wants to take itself a bit more seriously. I don't mind a serious story, nor would I have minded if the serious story was set along-side the comedy, but we seem to just switch them out. From this point onwards we seem to face some rather morbid topics, including death, regret, and loss, instead of the previously ridiculous overcomplicated plans and entertaining banter. It seems like such a contradiction to the "us against them" merry band of muppets that we're introduced to and... maybe that's the point? This shift in tone was always lingering, being carried by the 'new guy', Yuzuru, who never really gets with the "muppet" mentality and instead opts to drag everybody else out of this "comedic wonderland" and right into this morbid reality that they all seemed to have casually avoided. I am genuinely conflicted as to whether I can say that this shift is good because I feel like everything in this paragraph is more of an excuse than an explanation for it. I shouldn't hate this shift in the mood because its somewhat symbolic to what the 'new guy' is trying to do, but at the same time It could just be an emulation/attempt to copy the way Gintama does things, where they have a designated "comedy" period and a designated "serious" period. If the latter is true then I can't agree with it, because when you only have 13 episodes to work with you cannot execute such a dramatic change in the story's tone nearly as well (In the case of Gintama, it's not even a story thing, its just a new arc that changes by the whim of the writer).



That being said, It's very much worth emphasizing that I DO NOT think the second half of this show is at all bad. It's just out of place (possibly a consequence of pacing or communication). If you expect the transition, then you won't have a problem, you will very much enjoy what the rest of the show has to offer as it explores some very deep and character-specific issues that, admittedly, are actually quite moving. One benefit to the slapstick chapters of this show is that it does wonders for getting you familiar with the characters and their personalities (which are awesome too by the way), now that I think of it, it almost butters you up for the more emotional parts of the show (which there are a few of). The conclusion didn't strike home as much as I thought it would. Despite the perspective of the characters, It's actually quite a happy ending. Well... Grey-happy, it really depends on your perspective, which i guess you can appreciate as its quite hard to write in such a way. To really say all that much about it would be to spoil it, or parts of it, and I think this show is best experienced from the most vanilla perspective possible. Which I think is ultimately why I won't watch it again, because while I enjoyed it, I'll never enjoy it as much as I did the first time, I suppose they call that "re-watch potential", which makes for the second, and final, shortcoming that I could find.


Do give it a watch if you haven't already, this show is #8 in popularity for a reason, and everyone has something to say about it (you may even recognize one or two early 2010 era memes in there).