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Ultra Romantic continues the dramatic and ridiculous antics of the two protagonists as they try to back each other into a corner where they are forced to confess their love. While it is still hilarious, there were a few areas where the humor seemed to fall flat, or a joke/gimmick went on for a little too long (I’m looking at you, rap episode). Love is War has always been firmly planted in the rom-com genre, but this specific season leaned further into romance than comedy — all the better, since it holds the climactic conclusion of this love story.

For where it fell rather short in comedy, however, ... it made up for it with what felt like more romantic scenes than both previous seasons. Not only do Kaguya and Miyuki make progress in their relationship, but there is also a new romantic interest introduced for side character Ishigami. This fresh relationship provides a bit of the same light-hearted, fresh love scenarios that drew in an audience for season one, and provides a breath of fresh air inbetween the more intense scenes between the two main characters.

Overall, Ultra Romantic was a satisfying conclusion to the series, even if the com in rom-com felt a bit off.

When I was first recommended ORIENT by a close friend, I thought it would be a breath of fresh air in the shounen genre. So, even though I wasn’t seeing a lot of hype being built up around it, I decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, this anime fell flat, and other reviews of it seem to agree. The first several episodes of the series feel like they are following a formulaic approach to shounen anime. Boy + Sword + Demon = Good Anime. And while there are several amazing anime featuring a boy with a sword going toe to toe with demons, this ... anime seems to have missed the point about what exactly made those anime so entertaining to watch.

Maybe the story moved a little too fast for my liking, but Musashi’s journey to become a bushi warrior felt too easy. His friend, Kojirou, forgives Musashi too easily for joining in on his family’s torment. Musashi is able to acquire an oni-slaying blade very easily despite many factors working against him, and he even manages to find a love interest who is genuinely interested in him in record time.

If you want to watch a shounen anime where the protagonist faces minimal struggle and an easy ride to victory, I suppose this show is for you. But if you’re really wanting to see a boy do some cool sword moves and take down some demons, you’re better off watching Demon Slayer.

4/10.

Sonny Boy has all of the tell-tale markers of a "deep" anime: an artsy animation style, a dreamy soundtrack, and the perfect sort of plotline to have deep personal impacts on the characters' lives. And yet, after making it over halfway through the show, it became apparent that this story, like the characters set adrift in various alternate worlds, was going nowhere.
Without teachers or adults, the students that have been set adrift have to establish a set of rules that they are all willing to follow, as well as a leader they can look up to. And just to make things a little more chaotic, ... some of the kids begin developing supernatural powers.
Now, if the entire show followed this premise, kids without adults entering a power vacuum and struggling for control and survival, the show would have been okay. Nothing new (a Lord of the Flies-esque story), but coherent. However, instead of sticking to this plotline, the whole story tilts sideways after only a few episodes. When the main character develops the power to flip through different worlds he uses it to attempt to find the way back to the world all of the kids call home. In his search, he shifts them through various worlds that might have originally served the purpose of teaching the children a lesson, but ultimately just confuses the audience. Some worlds only receive one episode of coverage, some even less than that, while others are given three (only to find out later that it was two different worlds the whole time?).
There's the smallest hint of wisdom that each world is trying to give to the drifting students, but considering how it doesn't affect the behavior of any of the kids, it feels pointless.
Ultimately, I did drop this anime at 8/12 episodes. It was almost painful to watch the characters barrelling through and learning nothing. They gained no depth, there is no emotional connection between character and audience, and the world is constantly shifting so that what might barely count as a plotline has no foothold.
2/10 for this anime, and it's only getting that because it had some really cute animated cats.

My first impression of this anime was that it had to have originated as some sort of Mob Psycho 100 fanfiction. The similarities between Hiyakawa and the character of Reigen from Mob Psycho are what originally had me making this comparison. Character-design-wise, both Hiyakawa and Reigen have light-colored hair and wear gray-colored suits and both are professional “psychics,” though Reigen lacks the actual abilities Hiyakawa has. There was even a scene in The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window where another character criticizes Hiyakawa’s “fake” polished look, pointing out his cheap suit and haircut to belittle him. If I’m recalling correctly, a similar scene happened between ... Reigen and a side character in Mob Psycho.

Despite its similarities, The Night Beyond the Tricolored Window does hold its own when it comes to the actual story. The exorcisms and cleansings the main characters go on have some seriously creepy visuals that warrant this anime’s horror tag, and as the series progresses the two begin uncovering a chain of curses that all seem tied to one person and the real plot begins.

Hiyakawa and Mikado also have a budding relationship that shifts from some rather cringe sex jokes in the first few episodes of the show to the two of them having to trust each other with their spiritual health and help each other to heal their past traumas.

I didn’t originally have very high hopes for this anime, but it managed to pleasantly surprise me. Ultimately, I rated this anime a 7/10.

This anime possesses what is probably my favorite soundtrack to date. The music is, in my opinion, the best aspect of this show and it did wonders for setting the mood and building tension where appropriate. The story itself was fine, a bit reminiscent of other popular anime (Attack on Titan) but with enough of its own originality to hold my interest. It had a large cast of incredibly diverse characters with compelling relationships and interactions, all done in a unique art style. It was enjoyable, to say the least, although not mind-blowing. I wished some of the action scenes were a bit flashier. When ... Mumei fought with her bladed sandals in the first episode I loved it, and I wished those unusual weapons were used in more episodes.

(No spoilers contained in this review!)

When I first read over the synopsis for Just Because I couldn't wait to get my hands on the episodes. As a young adult not so recently out of high school myself, I wanted to torture myself by relieving the anxieties and emotions that run high during the last few months of senior year. And so as the story progressed, I couldn't help but feel disappointed in what was presented to me.

Perhaps it was my own fault for having such high hopes for the anime, but what could've been a compelling story full of heartbreak, fear for the future, and ... new hope, felt like a watered down version with ironically little depth. The story focused on a select few students, which was fine at first. That's where all the juicy bits of drama will go down, right? This is where friendships will break apart for the sake of final exams! This is where the long-standing relationship will feel the strain of their romantic clock ticking away until they have to part ways! But instead, what I found in that small group of friends was yet another cliched love triangle. (And let's be honest, we all knew where THAT was going).

I found myself having to force myself to continue, although I did manage to get through all 12 hellishly boring episodes while all the while hoping for something, anything, to HAPPEN. I'm no stranger to slice of life anime, I know they aren't supposed to be action-packed or anything but jesus, in an anime about a bunch of teenagers having to leave behind their friends and find a place for themselves in society I was expecting a few tears at the very least.

Just Because had so much potential and instead, it fell flat. The emotions never went deep enough, the drama never felt dramatic enough, it was almost like the characters just drifted through the story instead of it actually happening to them. Because of this, Just Because is currently sitting with a score of 3 on my list.

(No spoilers! I wrote this review for my blog and thought I'd post it here on MAL too.)

“This is the story of a girl who continues to search for ‘herself’ so that she can become a ‘me.’”

So here we are and instead of joining the hype for titles like Attack on Titan Season 2 and Boku no Hero Academia Season 2, I decided I would try out something a little more my speed. Alice & Zoroku was something that looked cute and wholesome with a touch of action to keep the story from feeling too stagnant. In other words, just the sort of anime I ... was looking for to keep me entertained during hot summer days when I would rather stay cooped up in the A/C then brave the UV rays outside. Although now that I’m at the end I’m finding that it may have been a better idea to join in on some of the more anticipated titles the season had to offer.

Alice & Zoroku was not a bad anime, honestly. The story kept me interested enough to finish out the twelve episodes of the sickeningly sweet main protagonist trying to sort out right from wrong in her strange new home. Sana possesses what is known as a “Dream of Alice” which grants her special powers. She’s not the only one though, and the real meat of the plot is her sorting out just what is okay to use her powers for and what is not, along with another young girl by the name of Hatori (who doesn’t even show up until episode 5). Unfortunately, there were several things that kept me from appreciating everything the show had to offer.

For one, the main character’s name is not Alice. It’s Sana. This, of course, was not the ultimate thing that caused me to enjoy the show less than I could have, but it irked me throughout the past few months everytime I caught sight of the show on a forum site or in my Crunchyroll queue.

The second thing that distracted me from what was a potentially wonderful anime was the art. The way the faces were drawn in profile had me giggling from just how ridiculous they looked, with a straight line directly down from the point of the nose through the chin, with the mouth placed comically to the side. Again, nothing too big. I could look past a particular art style I didn’t find all that appealing for the sake of the story.

Except that the story was nothing that I was expecting either. The first few episodes establish the relationship between Sana, the young female protagonist with otherwordly powers, and Zoroku, a stubborn elderly man who takes on the responsibility of becoming her guardian. When you hear this, you might think, “Oh man, I can’t wait for this girl to get in all sorts of supernatural trouble with a grandpa tagging along for comedic effect,” but that’s hardly what you get. There are minimal scenes where Zoroku interacts with Sana’s powers, but hardly any of them directly relate to the overall plot. As I mentioned before, the real story comes in the interactions between Sana and Hatori, another girl with a Dream of Alice, and how they sort out their own moral conflicts. Out with the old and in with the new, it seems.

Overall I would give this anime a 5/10. It managed to keep itself lighthearted despite handling such heavy topics by keeping the main characters young and innocent and playful, but there was simply too much that took away from the enjoyment of it all. The art was funny looking, the characters not given enough time to develop, and the story focused too much on Zoroku on the beginning only to cast him aside later for the ‘real’ plot, thus leaving the rest of it rushed.

(No spoilers! Written for my blog, thought I'd post here on MAL too!)

“She was my first love. I knew nothing. I was so nervous.”

The Spring 2017 anime season has delivered again, this time with Tsuki ga Kirei, otherwise known as As the Moon, So Beautiful, a true gem among the romance genre. Tsuki ga Kirei tells the story of the shy and poetic Azumi Kotarou and the popular track star Mizuno Akane, two third year middle school students, and their experience with first love.

Truly, the only downfall to this anime that I consider large enough to be worth mentioning would be the opening. The music ... doesn’t leave a lasting impression and even if I were to hear it now, only a day after finishing the title, I probably wouldn’t be able to say which anime the song belonged to. However, the use of sound and music (or rather the lack thereof) throughout the rest of the show did wonders to bring out the emotions and atmospheres that were created by the characters themselves.

As for atmosphere, I think the best way to describe this anime would be awkward. But truly, isn’t that what first love is all about? Going back to the music, the lack of ambiance serves to further the tension between our two protagonists even more than Azumi’s stuttering or Mizuno’s silence could achieve on their own.

Tsuki ga Kirei was able to portray a realistic middle school love story, a considerable feat when you take into account that most people equate realism in anime with being dull or boring. Instead of keeping the viewer interested with the typical over the top anime theatrics, this show kept its audience by keeping them as close to the main characters’ emotions as possible. You feel Azumi’s embarrassment when he is left out of a club activity, Mizuno’s anxiety about improving herself through track, and the giddiness of both of them as they experience several of their firsts together.

This anime portrayed a beautiful love story in an unconventional way, and is sure to remind its audience of their own first loves. If it weren’t for the opening, this would receive a full 10/10 from me, but just because it’s resting at 9/10 doesn’t mean it won’t be one of my favorite titles to come from this season.

In my opinion, the best part of this anime was the music, and even that wasn't anything exceptional. It felt rushed in some parts and slow in others, the characters were dull and could have been fleshed out so much more. But of course, why waste air time on character development when you can add in another panty shot or another scene of the main character's sisters in their underwear? I'm still not sure if I actually enjoyed the song "Climber's High," or if I just heard it enough times throughout the duration of this anime that I started to think I enjoyed it just ... so I could sit through it again. All in all, a pretty mediocre anime that made me feel as if I'd wasted my time.

I absolutely adored the story portrayed in this anime, and it left me wanting to go find the manga so I can find out all the little details about said story and what happens next! The characters, while not being as unique as I would like, are charming and are easy to get attached to, which I believe is the main reason I kept watching this show.

The art left something to be desired for me. Not exactly bad, but just had some room for improvement.

It's a story about the lives of these kids and how they interact with each other and grow, and ... I don't think I could have told it any better way.