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Frieren is a breath of fresh air in the world of shonen and in the world of fantasy anime/manga.

Frieren is unique in its rather feminine approach to fantasy anime, its reflective and introspective rather than forward looking and goal-orientated, its not an action series, its not about strength but its about emotions, bonds and coming to terms with our own lives. And this works to give Frieren a interesting feel, whilst watching, I couldn’t help but feel a strong sense of nostalgia for things I’ve never known or experienced.
The characters are a real strength of this show, including the side characters like Denkan. They ... are complex and have a great deal of depth which makes them very easy to invest in, and they are also very fun, which makes this show incredibly watchable. I will say, I’m not as in love with Himmle as most people and some of his dialogue with Frieren doesn’t always hit for me.
The world building is good, especially when it comes to magic. This world feels real as the magic is presented as an evolving component of the real world, with magic tactics and doctrine having changed over time, which is something I haven’t really seen in fantasy but it makes such sense. The political world building is lacking but also not the focus, so it gets a pass.
The plot is not really the focus, it’s a journey, its not really about an end point or a goal, but the plot is absolutely fine in what it is.
Frieren also has superb production values. Great animation, great voice acting, wonderful music and good direction.
The less masculine action “got to be the best” approach to fantasy, really worked for me personally and that is why Frieren is great.

So, I first watched a very small amount (9 or 10) episodes as a kid in English dub, loved it. Then as a 20 year old adult, I watched the whole thing in Japanese... loved it. Digimon Adventure is an incredible achievement in low budget children's anime, because this is definitely a children's anime but unlike most kids tv, its actually very well written. The character development of Taichi and Mimi in particular, but all of the mains in general, is so very well done and actually quite compelling, one episode even deals with PTSD which is insane for a 90s kids anime, its so ... good. The setting of this bizarre world where they are the only 7 humans is just brilliant in adding jeopardy and mystery to the affair and it allows for conflict to feel like a natural by-product of the environmental factors rather than kids just arguing. The arcs do differ in quality, with the Devimon arc and the Dark Masters arc being my favourites but none are bad, although they do all follow a formula of "a bad boss wants to do evil". Episode 21 of this series might be one of the finest bits of kids TV I've ever seen. Also, death is a possibility here, which is what sets it above other kids TV for me. The fights aren't the most thrilling due to obvious budget restrictions but they can hit home when they need to. Character designs for the humans are pretty good and for the main digimons plus main villains they are all pretty good. I've been watching series 2 for over a year now and its awful in comparison to this, because it has neither the charm or the feeling of danger.

This was pretty damn good, not perfect but really good.

I'll start with my criticisms, the lack of explanation at certain arrancars still being alive is really annoying, I've never been a huge fan of the stuff with Zangetsu and this season complicates it even more, the idea that Ichigo was held back is an odd one (although it explains why his spiritual pressure "just happened" to increase when he needed it, so its not to bad). And some of the fight direction at times wasn't brilliant imo.

But the good really outweighs the bad. The quincies are great villains, its nice to see the captains ... getting focused on and episode 6 is one of the best anime episodes I've seen.

Looking at Ichigo, its odd. There has been some really good moments for him and we've learned about his family history but he doesn't feel like the true focus, the focus feels like this epic scale war between Soul Reaper and Quincy, this isn't a bad thing at all but its a departure from the previous arcs which with the exception of the Pendulum arc very much focused on Ichigo and his inner mental state. But Ichigo is still good here.

This was really bad. Just to put it out there, I love High Fantasy, I love LOTR, Game of Thrones, Frieren: Beyond Journeys End, Berserk and so on. But this was awful. First issue is the series has to much ambition for 13 episodes which leads to way too much being skip over. Another issue is that none of the characters are likeable, especially Parn, and they receive zero development and their relationships feel hollow as a result. The world building is lacklustre as well. Decent music tho.

If you care about characters and interesting world building, don't watch this show, watch the things I previously ... mentioned. You might enjoy this if some switch your brain off and watch fantasy is what you're after, but it was not what I was after.

The art did have that nice 90s retro feel tho, so thats a plus.

Ah Bleach, the first of the big 3 that I've experienced (haven't watched TYBW, writing after finishing og series), you haven't been perfect, far from it in fact. Criticisms are easy, 1. Bad filler, 2. Aizen gets to OP, 3. no one important dies, and so on. BUT beyond all that, very few pieces of media have inspired such emotion and hype from me, so few shows have so many likeable characters, Bleach has been special. Ichigo is one of the easiest to root for characters, Rukia is just so damn investable, and so on, very good characters. Great fights which inspire that feeling of ... hype. Also, my word the music is great.
Canon arcs:
Substitute Soul Reaper arc.....solid 8, very enjoyable.
Soul Society Arc.....9, hype as hell.
Arrancar arc....9, surprisingly emotional and very enjoyable despite the flaw of Aizen being to good for the anime's own good.
Fullbring arc....7, decent but a bit of a step down.

I look forward to the TWBY.

Ok so, Fate/Zero season 1, its...pretty good.

First off, the animation and ost - it is absolutely brilliant, especially for a show over a decade old, it all holds up against the best that modern anime has to offer, top class and it all brings you in. And the music always fits the scene.

The characters - there is an abundance of likeable characters including Saber and the team of mages around her, rider and weaver, and Lancer; these are all characters that are fun to be around. A not so fun set of characters is Caster and his master, those two might be ... the most I've ever hated anime villains because usually villains like Aizen, Freeza and cell, I like because of their aura and cool factor but nah, I hate Caster and his master (in the right way). I do have some issues with the characters and that comes down to my main issue with the last 3 episodes of fate/zero 1, a lot of the characters have messy psychologies which I felt weren't explored in the smoothest fashion, for example Weaver clearly lacks confidence and this isn't what he expected or really wanted but his reasons for being dissatisfied didn't seem properly explored or explained, then there is the whole Gilgamesh and the church master relationship which could be interesting but a lot of what Gil is saying seems pretty random and doesn't make the most sense, its not bad just not great (I'm aware this is probably a me issue and I'll understand more on re-watch). And the Eizernbern women almost frustrated me, because I like her but I want to see a bit of assertive anger from her or something more but she's been groomed to obey for life, so it makes sense. I felt the character development was better done in little moments and short scenes than the longer conversations but thats probably a me thing again.

Plot - its simple but its also functional, it sets up a conflict with extremely high stakes and that's fine. It's basically a massive tournament.

To sum up - The first 9 episodes were basically perfect, then I feel there is a bit of a drop off but its still a really good series.

I have complicated feelings about this manga.

On the one hand: the big battles are way to chaotic to follow, the plot isn't even half-resolved, at times its a little over-complex with its emotions and storytelling, and some of its "big" moments don't land for me.

On the other hand: it has fantastic characters with some natural and beautiful development, a style which is addictive (seriously, I read this in 3 days), a great world and some genuinely brilliant moments.

The MC is a great character (although right at the end, his development stagnated slightly imo, wasn't bad but a little more clunky perhaps than what had ... come before).

IDk, an 8 is high but a 7 is low. For the mostly great character development and the enjoyment its given me in the last 3 days, I'll give it an 8.

Big respect to this film. And that is my lasting impression, not enjoyment but respect.

This film deals with some very complex topics, mental health, media explotation and obsessive fandom. It does a pretty good job.

The characters are pretty likeable and all have some nuance, which makes them feel pretty real and they feel realistic for their role in the "world". The main girl is a very likeable girl and its pretty depressing to see her go through this shit. The "twist" is one I didn't see coming but it worked pretty well.

The art and music are both really good.

My one issue ... is the dream/not real segments. Artistically, it makes perfect sense as the main character is suffering from paranoia and delusions, we the audience also don't know what is and isn't real at several points, from an artistic viewpoint, that is brilliant. However, I did at times find it a bit confusing and maybe it effected my investment in some scenes as I was like "well this probably isn't real, so I'm not as emotional interested."

But its still a good film, worth watching and people who are used to these kind of what is real and what isn't? films may like it more than me. I hope I re-watch this one day as I feel that will be a useful experience.

Edit: I still have big reservations and my enjoyment wasn't super high. But (without rewatching) I'm giving it an 8, from an artistic perspective... perfect blue is a masterpiece, and I've been thinking about it all day. In a few weeks I'll rewatch it.

Golden boy is a funny anime, in fact it is probably the funniest anime ever made. However, it also has its issues and those stop it going above a 7/10 score. The first issue is repetition, the scenarios, jokes and formulas get used multiple times in this very short series, in fact one joke is repeated in 4 of the 6 episodes, its to much. The second issue is that episode 1 is a 10/10 episode and everything that follows doesn’t compare at all. Still, it is very funny. It also has decent less-comedic stories within the episodes, which is good. The end is pretty ... satisfying as well.

The art is beautiful, the storytelling...not so much.

The plot of Phantom Blood is really basic and tbh the manga never goes beyond the surface of the plot, its all just basic and generic.

The characters for the most are pretty standard shonen characters, especially Jonathan, who has essentially no uniqueness to him. Dio is a step above tho and is very enjoyable to watch, but his relationship with JoJo isn't as well developed as it could have been, it was fine when they were rivals for the inheritance but once there rivalry became about saving/conquering the world it sort of became stale. Speedwagon is fun but ... lacks any development whilst the baron has some nice moments but is basically half a character with generic motivations.

The art....its great, the panels look really well drawn and display a sense of epicness at times. However, there is also plenty of times I couldn't tell what was going on.