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Every review I've read about Kino's journey made me realize I'm a minority here. That reminds me of Gun Gale Online, written by the same author, receptions where everyone was talking how that show takes SAO concept and tells an amazingly-written story, where in my opinion that show was extremely forgettable compare to the original sword art online. And as I expected, Kino's journey introduces a bunch of concepts and doesn't do anything substantial with them.

Kino and her talking motorcycle are 2 main protagonists. The story follows their journey from one country to another. But every time they leave the country the story moves on, ... making the plot structure episodic. Of course 20 minutes, the usual anime episode length, isn't enough to tell a memorable story, but this show rarely even dedicates one episode to one arc, so some arcs last about 4 to 6 minutes. I think it goes without saying that that's not enough to do more than just to introduce a concept. It's quite easy to reduce every arc to a single sentence. A country comes up with a new tradition for every traveler. A religious community believes in impending doomsday but it gets delayed every time. A girl built a plane but she can't test it because a statue of a bird gets in her way. And I can go on and with that. The only worthy arc is about the library country, it even hints that the story is actually interconnected. But it is one good episode out of 13 mediocre ones.

The adaptation isn't quite impressive either. The coliseum arc is a good illustration of that. Only important fights are animated and the others are skipped whatsoever. Overall quality of animation is low and even backgrounds are sometimes missing. The opening is good though.

Kino's journey isn't a terrible show but it isn't good either. The concepts it presents could work if they had an actual story with them and not just a good concept for the sake of a concept.

Planets is the first story written by Makoto Yukimura. And just as Vinland Saga this anime offers a unique setting. It's a distant future and it's set in space but it's not sci-fi. It's more like an alternative universe if governments still funded space programs as they used to do during the space race. And with Planets I'm confident that character writing is Yukimura's forte. Male characters are exceptional just as I expected but there are also a female lead and several female side characters who are as interesting and diverse. And speaking of the story, Planets has several storylines. Hoshino's character development, Tanabe's coming ... of age, few side characters' arcs, and there are politics as well. Of course it wouldn't be Yukumura's story if it didn't have social commentary. An international military organization ( probably inspired by NATO ) abuses its power and invades poor countries to establish piece; space exploration leads to widening inequality as only few countries benefit from it; civilians are under constant pressure by terrorists. This is an incomplete list of themes in the anime about people whose mission is to collect space garbage.

I was complimenting this anime so much that one would question why it didn't become a classic. I think the reason is the plot structure. There are so many storylines and themes but they are almost never interconnected. To draw a comparison, despite how different tone of the second season of Vinland Saga was, that didn't look out of place because the story sticks to specific theme. It's hard for me to pinpoint the central conflict in this story as if there is a wall between world building and the story of the main protagonist. You would expect Hoshiro to be more involved in the events surrounding him but he ends up just ignoring them. Planets is an entertaining anime with good characters but its story would hardly resonate with the viewers.

Planets is over 20yo but the animation doesn't look outdated at all. The ending hasn't aged well, though. In the second part when the story gets more dark, the ending never failed to ruin my immersion. The opening on the other hand complement the setting by featuring the chronology of the space race. And aside from hair that are pulled "down" despite the lack of gravity, space is portrayed realistically. Like there is noticeable delay if you want to talk to someone from the Moon or using acceleration to create a temporary gravity field. There are lots of small details like these, which make the show more enjoyable.

Popularization of anime has drastically changed the feeling you get from the story. Older anime tend to be more creative, artsy, and thought-provoking. Nowadays, those are just rare examples, which are overshadowed by the risk-averse juggernauts. The modern viewer prioritizes fun over anything else, which is why shows like Demon Slayer are destined to be remembered despite the unremarkable plot, which also gets worse with every season. This show is fun ( or at least used to be ) and that's what important. On the other hand, Haibane Renmi had been completely forgotten and the only way to discover it is to accidentally stumble upon ... it like I did.

Coming of age is an accurate way to describe the story. Haibane are angel-looking creatures, who were humans in their previous lives and then were reborn in a mysterious city. They also have no recollections of their past, which motivates them to learn about the world as well as themselves. The very first dream every one of them experiences plays a huge role, as the events of it are the starting point of their new life. The story uses slice of life elements to introduce the world and the haibane as well. Unfortunately, there are only 13 episodes, which isn't enough to cover both the lore of the city and the character arcs of the two protagonists, Rakka and Reki. And initially I was extremely disappointed that the author chose the latter over the former. In my opinion it made the story incomplete by leaving so many questions hanging in the air.

Then my opinion was later changed thanks to Umeneko, a manga, which takes a different approach to tell a story. The writer presents an original concept but doesn't do anything substantial with it, and as a result the story doesn't get anywhere. Conversely, Haibane Renmei skillfully places story pieces like dominoes and the resulted chain reaction creates a well-written character drama. And if that was sacrificed to improve the world building it wouldn't have left any impression on me. The presented world is used as a foundation for an actual story instead of trying to replace it. I would still like to know if the dreams are somehow connected to the person's past, though. But I doubt there is much thought put into that, because there is a character whose dream is about being asleep.

The visuals is probably the reason people forgot this anime exists. I can't say the animation is dated because it would be an insult to better-animated older shows. The animation is bad, it's not the Project No 9 level of bad but it's close to it. The good direction can usually compensate for the lackluster animation, but the direction here is pretty standard. And the cherry on top - the show's resolution is 480p. There is a 1080p version but this is just a poor upscale of the DVD release. The music is the only salvation. I have watched hundreds of anime and only a handful of them had genuinely good music. Those are Terror in Resonance, Tokyo Ghoul, and every Sawano's ost. Haibane Renmei's ost is easily one of the best ost out there. It sets the tone for the story and significantly improves a lot of scenes. I'm confident that the first episode and the last episode were greatly benefited from the music.

In summery, Haibane Renmei is far from a perfect show, even though it has a potential to be so. But it also a perfect example of the late 90s to early 00s anime. It doesn't want you to scrutinize every bit of it to point out the flaws. This is the case where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The beautiful music, the hand-drawn art style, and the believable characters did convince me to look at the show as a whole.

A weird story, a harem subplot, and grooming. Damn, there is absolutely nothing suggesting this anime was made by the Evangelion creators.

There is no point describing the plot of FLCL. A personal interpretation would explain the story better and it would make sense. I think the main protagonist has the latest stage of schizophrenia. It explains how apathetic he is toward all the bizarre stuff around him. Sometimes he hears voices like people are actually in a hospital ward even though he sees them out in the open. And if it is not schizophrenia it has something to do with his head given how many ... things come out of it, probably representing some brain swelling. Haruka is probably his nurse or doctor; she is the one responsible for saving him all the time and she also wears a nurse uniform, and this is a pretty solid argument. He is attached to her the most despite having school friends and a family, but there isn't a single photo of his brother he mentions a lot and it's probably because Naoto doesn't remember his face due a light form of amnesia caused by brain transplantation.

FLCL dumps its events without properly explaining how they are connected and let you to interpret them the way you want. And if you don't want to do it, the show is still enjoyable nonetheless. It only has 6 episodes so it's hard to get tired of the convoluted story before you finish it. There is chaotic atmosphere, good music, which is nothing but rock, I think people didn't know other music exists back in the day. The art style can be unique and the animation on average is good, with a few exceptions where they used the manga panels without even painting them, smh.

FLCL prioritizes originality and experimentation of the plot over its execution. In other words, it's arthouse. I like they didn't try to appeal to a mass audience and instead did something they wanted. Unfortunately, nonconformism works only as far as you refuse to milk it.

Well, well, well, it's another delinquent anime. Now it's time to see if it meets the criteria. The characters are teenagers, despite acting like 40yo Italian mafiosi? Check. Violence is never portrayed as something negative and it's rather a selling point? Check. No character is concerned that a bunch of kids punching each other and everyone takes it for granted? Another check. But let's not jump to the conclusion and see if Wind breaker still has something good in its story.

Our main protagonist named Haruka Sakura decides to turn over a new leaf and burns his bridges with everyone he has ever known. The society ... treated Sakuro unjust for his truculent behavior ( I wonder why ) and his weird natural hair coloring ( for some reason dying hair has never occurred to him ). Anyway, he moves to a new place and to prove everyone wrong he is working his ass to become a mobster boss - the dream of every rebellious teenager. The neighborhood he now lives in is regularly ravaged by school kids as well as it is protected by other school kids and not by the police. The latter group of kids are members of a gang, whose name is derived from the bofa disease and whose current boss is Gojo I suppose. Aside from beating kids, Bofuring members in their free time do another thrilling things like chasing cats or erasing graffiti, so only their hangout could maintain the appearance of a junkies spot. I just described what happens in the story by the way, so let's cut to the characters.

If the plot of Wind breaker had been at least decent, it would've focused around Sakura's development and self-establishing. Unfortunately, all his personal struggles have been put in a toilet and flushed after the first episode, and the quirk of him being a tsundere stuck to the sides. Every other character is as simple as him and never leaves the "first impression" stage - they are presented with a single quirk and that quirk is being exploited for the rest of the season. Just imagine if Tyrion Lannister hadn't changed since his introduction in a whorehouse and everyone would've remembered him as a perverted dwarf who happened to be in Game of Thrones. The characters' lack of depth is compensated by the sheer amount of them. Every other episode the show throws a new bunch of people and that number progresses logarithmically. Jou Togame is the only exception. He is the only interesting character out of like 70, even though he has nothing to do with the story. He is a side character in just one arc, and the events related to him happened in the past and are told through flashbacks. And just like in his case everyone's problem here is solved by fighting, after which the character enters the "realization" stage. But this is just yet another issue I have with the story in addition to the meaningless dialog and the lame conflicts.

I don't want this review to seem like I hate Wind breaker, I just got tired of the same delinquent/outlaws shows. And Wind breaker's story doesn't provide anything original comparing to other shows of the same genre neither it executes its themes perfectly. On the other hand, the animation and the fight chirography are good and the music is amazing. So an average viewer will still enjoy this show, and I'm just not a target audience.

I am not into cooking anime. It just sounds like a torture: you have to look at some of the best looking meals with no chance to try them. So Delicious in Dungeon turned out to be my first one, and, man, the bar for other cooking anime is now set too high. And to demonstrate why Delicious in Dungeon is so good I have to quote Shrek, the best anime ever made: "Onions".

Layer 1. The characters are the best thing this anime can offer. The main quartet is the most synergistic character ensemble I've seen recently. They never miss an opportunity to make fun ... out of each other, but if there is any trouble every one of them is ready to offer a shoulder to cry on - in other words, it is perfect buddy energy. Although, I don't think they are as deep as rent-a-girlfriend's characters, so if the main protagonist was only Laios or Marcille, I wouldn't enjoy the anime as much. However, there is a potential for them to get more characterization in the future, because the character writing has been constantly improving throughout this season.

Layer 2. The fantasy genre has the first stage of cancer and Delicious in Dungeon is here to provide chemotherapy. Fantasy anime have become so homogeneous offering nothing new but medieval settings, different races, magic, etc. Delicious in Dungeon makes this stale genre more digestible by combining fantasy with cooking. The earth golems are used to grow vegetables, the main characters activate a guillotine trap to chop some meat. It may not sound groundbreaking, but it makes a world of difference when compared to any other fantasy anime with absolutely zero original ideas. The world presentation is full of details. A lot of attention is dedicated to not only presenting a variety of different races and creatures and their place in the ecosystem but also creating a genuine world with its own history. The only flaw is the level design of the dungeon. In the first half it's tons of corridors made out of gray bricks, in the second half it's slightly rearranged gray bricks.

Layer 3. Wow, everything has been going pretty smoothly so far, but the story is definitely going to be Achilles hill. The premise sounds like an excuse to write a story about some people exploring a dungeon and preparing dishes, but it couldn't be further from the truth. Without spoiling too much, the conflict established in the very first episode is resolved within this season. And I think the story is actually good with some twists and foreshadowing. You still have to keep in mind that the cooking is still the linchpin of the story, though. Another surprising factor was how dark this show sometimes can be, so don't let the openings deceive you. Being dark is not something worth praising per se, but the the grim atmosphere is what makes the jokes funny, because I doubt the comedy aspect would work if the tone was light-hearted.

This show is the best Trigger's show in terms of story and the weakest in terms of production. It's not as fleshed out as some of their previous works. The animation sometimes can be rough, the openings and the endings use a lot of powerpoint, and I can be easily gaslighted to think that the music here was used in Frieren as well, because of how this ost is similar to any other fantasy themed osts.

In summary, the show is fantastic and I'm happy the sequel is on its way, so I will be waiting for this one for sure.

dUnGEon mEshi, OHhhHhh dUngEOn mEshi.

The only new thing I can say about Baccano is that it still holds up in 2024. If I go any deeper than that, my review will be no different from others. People who like this show praise the storytelling: carnage between 2 mafia clans involving some mythical creature occurs on the train, and the rest of the story explains the context behind the train accident. Even though the storytelling is chaotic, everything eventually clicks into place. Aside from the story, there is good animation, amazing music, and great voice acting. Combining all of that together creates the esthetic of 1930s America.

But everyone likes different ... things in different shows and if figuring out how unrelated story pieces are coming together does not interest you, the rest of the story may be disappointing. The character writing heavily relies on stereotypes. Most of them are functional and with the exception of one none of them gets any character development. Even though they talk to each other a lot, there was no moment when a guy drops a single line of dialog which would add an extra level of depth to them. Their dialog is no more than babble, which is used to avoid awkward pauses. Another thing is supernatural stuff and how insignificant it is. Its only purpose is to make a generic story about gangsters more original.

I also think Baccano has some flaws in the way it executes its things. For starters, some characters don't affect the story at all; Czeslaw, for example, has no bearing on the story whatsoever, nevertheless, he hogs a lot of screen time, which could've been given to more interesting characters. And there are quite a few characters like him, whose existence does nothing but overcomplicates the story. The ending and the opening are just shit. I don't even want to call them such, there are more like character rosters. The songs aren't that bad, but the visuals simply ruin them for me.

Overall, I think Baccano is pretty good, especially if you want something different, but it's not perfect and there are other media that execute the same things better.

Season 1 of Mob Psycho was far from perfect, but there were bits that were really good and the story had a lot of potential ( just like XBox has potential to win this console generation ). And having finished the last two seasons I can confidently say that the writing got noticeably better. If the first season is dough, now it's more like a slightly burned apple pie. Yes, you can still enjoy it but you need to be picky about the pieces you choose.

The character writing is the best part about this show. And compare to the first season, where all the characters ... got equal amount of screen time, which means every of them had next to none of it, the focus has been changed from introducing as many characters as possible to developing already established ones. Kageyama, Reigen, and even Dimple have unique personalities and their dynamic is what makes the story unique. Those moments where the characters interact with each other, dealing with their problems, and just living their lives are what the first season was missing. Unfortunately, this the only improvement the sequels managed to pull off.

The supernatural stuff keeps pushing my suspension of disbelieve to its limit. There are other minor issues the show has, but they don't worth attention compare to this one. The anime constantly changes its tone from lighthearted slice of life moments to death battles, after which every character acts like it never happened, they just continue to do their chores totally clueless that some of them were on the verge of death a couple of days ago. In addition, it's so safe that I had to look up on the internet the rating. And apparently PG13 means for kids below 13 in Japan, because everyone is safe. Side characters? Nope, all of them are alive. Regular citizens, whose houses were completely destroyed? They just evacuated beforehand, so their lives ain't in danger as well. The evil organization from the first and second seasons, whose goal is "[to] destroy everything that people built and hold dear"? They're just peacefully waiting in a tower and let the vice president free after they abducted him for no reason. Claw is a total failure because of its unoriginality and the way it's executed but this deserves its own analysis.

Mob Psycho is one of those anime, where I'm not sure if I like it. The character writing is not the best to ignore all the flaws. As well as the bad parts aren't that bad to make me completely forget all the fun I've had with this show. As I said you need to be picky about the parts you bite. And I also said that the writing had significantly improved, so if you overall enjoyed the first season you can go for it.

The first season of Attack on Titan turned out to be extremely popular, so the producers started investing in everything that was labeled "Attack on Titan", and this is the only reason why this spin-off exists in the first place. Despite the intent to milk the AoT franchise, this show made me laugh every episode and I want to thank the guy who came up with the idea of the characters being Japanese highschoolers. And if you think it's lame to enjoy some mediocre cash grab, I will suggest you to jump off a bridge, because it's not up to weebs to judge anyone's sense ... of humor.

The main question is if the show deserves the perfect score just for being entertaining? But it's not just entertaining; the team really cared about what they were doing. They've got the original voice actors and their acting keeps being amazing. The animation and the direction is better than the majority anime of the same genre as well. The story is not a parody; instead it makes a lot of AoT references when you don't expect them. Adding on top of that Sawano's epic ost and the chibi art style, these reference scenes end up being enormously ridiculous. To my surprise they reference the moments that weren't even adapted at the time. Aside from comedy, my favorite part about this show is the characters. Even though they are the same characters, they stopped being too simplistic ( with the exception where being 2 dimensional character is a part of the parody ) and they have much more screen time here than in all the other seasons combined.

In summary, Attack on Titan: Junior High isn't just a half-baked cash-grab, but rather the best anime comedy I've ever seen, and the best Attack on Titan anime solely for the characters chemistry, because I kind of gave on the characters after the third season.

There is a certain list of names weebs are often bringing up, which also includes One, who is the author of 2 popular action anime. One of them hides behind the mask of parody, and this one tries to portray the emotional conflict of the main character. It's also worth noting that I had beef with the show because the studio squander the opportunity to name the sequels Mob Psycho 200 and 300.

Mob 100 Psycho starts off as a comedy and it tries to be funny, anime funny, with looney tunes sfx. But this type of comedy works if you are already high or yet ... to reach the puberty. After a few episodes, however, it changes focus to a character driven story with supernatural elements. Here Kageyama, the main character, tries to deal with his childhood trauma involving the use of his psychic abilities. And despite having them he refuses to rely on them in his daily life and instead strives to become better in other areas. And I will admit that the anime does a pretty good job executing it, but it could've been even better if it had committed to this concept from start to finish. Unfortunately, the seriousness of the theme is dampened by aforementioned comedy sequences, and quirky character design that reminds me of some fucking one piece. In latest episodes Kageyama completely dumps the idea of not using his power and starts showing it off left and right. It happens in the latest arc featuring the most creative plot premise never done by any media before: fighting an evil organization whose goal... what was that, ah... to conquer the world. I don't know how long it took for One to come up with it. Ultimately, the quality of the story can be compared to a man balancing on a fishing line. He takes few steps, accidentally sneezes, falls down, and breaks his neck.

The animation is good that it would easily make up for the story, but in the current state it rather makes up for the art style. A unique art style is a good idea only in case if I don't have to question myself if a palm larger than a head is deliberate artistic choice or some one fucked up the human proportions. The ost is good but only few tracks are memorable. The opening and ending are amazing, though, they have outstanding visuals, banger songs, and they also perfectly fit the show.

Mob Psycho 100 features lots of fighting scenes and the intrapersonal struggles of Kageyama, and both of them are at odds because fighting is against his original motivation. The world building doesn't help either, given that every year several shows reuse the same concept so it's gradually becoming oversaturated. The modern world with demons where no country but Japan is present, the chosen ones with some supernatural abilities are the only ones who can slay them, and in the end the conflict between wielders and demons changes to wielders versus wielders.