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So they definitely swung for the fences on this one, and while it doesn't quite connect I really appreciate the ambition.

The premise is a little convoluted, but basically there are some police people and a serial killer and some demi-humans and it is all kind of a mess. Or in other words they are trying to do Ghost in the Shell, Death Note, Darker than Black and Psycho Pass all in one 13 episode show.

So, what was good? Well, the main cast were interesting, I enjoyed Keith (who is probably the only character who gets some actual development) and Lily and Koku and some of ... the villains. There were lots of really interesting ideas here even if they weren't fully developed. The art was lovely and the fights looked really good as expected from I.G. I enjoyed the sound too, it was well done, production in general was pretty good.

So, what was bad? Erm, the characters, while mostly promising were a little underdeveloped, I really enjoyed Lily, but she basically disappeared for 3 episodes in the middle (and since she was great this was a huge waste). Most of the side characters were wildly underdeveloped, some of the villain motivations were pretty thin too. Finally the plot doesn't really hold together, it drops so many of its ideas in a race to get to an ending it is a real shame because there was so much potential here.

All in all I think the most egregious sin this show commits is trying to do far too much in 13 episodes, they either needed to cut out some of the ideas or this should have been run as a 26ep series, trying to cram everything into 13 eps really wrecked most of the promise for this show.

Should you watch it? Well, maybe. It is quite interesting and there are a lot of fun ideas on show here despite the fact it doesn't quite all work together there is still lots to like. I think whether you will get anything out of it depends whether you like the kind of things they are trying to achieve. If you want a mash up of Ghost in the Shell, Death Note, Darker than Black and Psycho Pass then watch it but be prepared for it to slightly frustrate its promise.

Overall 7/10 (enjoyable if deeply deeply flawed)

This show was utterly charming.

The plot is pretty straightforward, "cute girls go to Antarctica", and thus all the story is driven through the characters, and it is here that the show really shines. The main characters are well drawn and engaging with distinct and slightly exaggerated (in a good way) personalities. Each girl is somewhat broken and grows throughout the series in ways that are relatable and believable. The story is told with such passion and I cried at the end of a bunch of episodes. The supporting cast are impressively done too, especially given this is a single cour show and almost all ... the focus is on the main girls.

The art is fantastic and remarkably well animated, especially for a show where the visuals aren't really the point, but they add so well to the overall feel. The sound design is stellar, although the music (while excellent) is slightly limited in range.

I know this review is short and slightly incoherent, but if you are reading this then just go and watch it, regardless of your preferred genre it has a lot to offer anyone.

Overall 9.5/10

Sooo, this was a frustrating watch.

This series had all the elements in place to be a really fun (if derivative) shonen vampire series. Protagonist with special powers, vampires, shady military, 2 friends on opposite sides, cute girls, etc. However, at every point it made some of the stupidest choices imaginable. What could have been really entertaining was bogged down with interminable dialogue, inconsistent characters and bad action.

The bad action is a real faux pas here, partly because the weapon designs are all huge and lend themselves to one on one fights but all the action is group battles and so characters have to kind ... of split off in a way that doesn't make sense. Also, why do people stop and talk in the middle of a huge battle, I get that these kind of shows often have a lot of talking mid fight which kinda makes sense in a 1v1, or even 2v2 or 3v3, but makes no sense at all in a giant free for all battle. Aaaargh, and all the girls have such huge weapons that they are totally unusable in fights and so they end up just standing there.

One of the core themes here is friendship and family (pretty standard for this kind of show) and I have no problem with that but it is hammered home so often that it gets tedious. Also the main character starts off as a reckless loner but after like 5 eps he is the life and soul of the party, everyone loves him and he is an amazing leader. It is such a quick character turnaround that it rings totally false.

That said, it was still kinda fun so I can't rag on it too much. 6/10 - a real missed opportunity.

I like this series quite a lot, it some things really well although it does have a few significant shortcomings.

Firstly, the art is lovely, the pastel style is nice and really gives the show a fantastical feel. Now, the premise seems to be along the lines of SAO or .Hack/Sign although with some nice twists and for my money is probably the best of the genre (although I do have a soft spot for .hack). The characters are varied and passably interesting, although there is an annoying one. The MC is surprisingly engaging given the type of show this is and he actually wrestles ... with some meaningful personal struggles. Plus it avoids being haremy which just doesn't work for me in these shows. I also rather liked the slower pacing, it worked for the style of the show. My only criticism there is that the big twist in ep3 felt like it came a bit too soon, but it still worked okay.

However, the main thing that annoyed me about this is what annoys me about so many LN adaptations and that is the fact that this isn't a whole story, it's 1/3 of a story. The show asks so many questions that it doesn't even begin to answer (and that would be fine if it was the point of the show, but it isn't). No, the reason everything is unanswered and this isn't a whole story is because it's a promo for the LN and this really irritates me. If you are going to adapt a property, then make the adaptation the best it can be, and give it an ending. I know people often rag on shows for having anime original endings, but I would much rather watch a complete story than a half finished one. I'll forgive it if there is a plan to follow up with a season 2, but here, like in so many cases that doesn't seem to be the plan. Grrrr. Rant over.

Anyway, this was, apart from the fact that it just stopped, pretty solid. 6.5, rounded up to 7 (and if it had been 24 eps and told a whole story it probably would have scored higher)

MAL tells me that this is the 200th anime I've seen so I thought I'd share my thoughts!

This show has some flaws which kinda bug me, but I can't help really liking it. I think, like a lot of people I can relate a little too much to Arata (although I'm not nearly as charming). I'm 29 and while plenty successful objectively, I have no idea what I'm doing with my life, so watching a show about regaining motivation to live well really appeals to me.

So yes, the concept isn't really original and they didn't do anything fancy with it, but what I appreciated most ... is how gentle and sincere it was. There was a nice amount of engaging drama without being over the top and it was interesting and enjoyable from start to finish. The writing was pretty good and it totally held my engagement, which is a big deal these days because I'm dropping about 3/4 of the series that I start.

However, as I mentioned above, it did do a few things to annoy me. Firstly, there are way too many fake old people, they make up half the cast of the show, and while I mostly like them, for me it detracts from the fun of the concept. Now, while I like mostly like the characters I have a couple of problems with them. Arata is a little too perfect, and clearly in an effort to combat this they give him the flaw of being bad at schoolwork. This rings annoyingly false, the guy has a degree, he hasn't been out of studying that long, sure he might be a little rusty on some subjects, but you'd expect him to nail at least some of them. This running joke just kinda annoyed me. If they wanted him to have a character flaw to normalise him they could have picked anything else.

Also, Hishino, grrrrrr, the twist at the end (which they made way too obvious early on) was kinda annoying and felt weird at the end of the series. I know it sets up season 2 but, grrrrr. That said I have hope that season 2 can give her a nice arc. Also, her character feels a little tooo much at times and felt a bit erratic.

I really liked the ensemble of kids, they were all a lot of fun, I do wish we had seen a few more of them, or gotten a bit more interaction with the ones we only saw a few times.

All in all it gets a 7.5 (rounded up) for being a gentle enjoyable show.

I'm somewhat conflicted on this show and as such it took me some time to pick a score. Overall, I found it pretty enjoyable with a few really stand out moments. However, it didn't quite do enough to justify an 8 or 9.

I'll quickly mention the art/sound since that seems to be the done thing. I quite enjoyed the art direction, although I think if you are one of those people who stopped to pause and read all the text you are maybe missing the point a bit but whatever. It was interesting to look at despite the lack of action. The sound was ... pretty good too, I enjoyed the piano intro to take 5 in the background as well as the variety of openings.

Bakemonogatari is one of those shows that tries to critique/deconstruct/subvert it's own genre, a la what Tarantino or Edgar Wright like to do. So, while it does offer some subversions of the genre it is still very much an ecchi harem show. This does mean that as a viewer you need to be comfortable watching an ecchi harem show and for me, while I don't hate the genres they are far from my favourites. I think the subversion aspect worked well at times, often by intentionally calling out the main character (and by extension the audience) for enjoying something perverted while clearly portraying it for the audiences enjoyment at the same. However, it does sometimes wear a bit thin and for me it feels like it is trying a little too hard at times.

One of the show's main shticks is the whole back and forth banter between Araragi and the various ladies. This worked quite well for me, and I enjoyed some of the jokes, although a few were clearly lost in translation. They do get a tiny bit repetitive and I will be interested to see how my interest holds up in the later seasons. he various ladies aren't super complex but have just enough dimension to break out of their generic anime "categories".

The plot itself is pretty straightforward and works as a vehicle for character development and more importantly the banter. However, I found the series at it best when it slowed down for a moment and gave us some really sweet character moments that almost pushed this to an 8 for me. This worked especially well with regards to Senjogouhara (main love interest) who, despite her backstory utilising what is often a rather lazy and tonally inappropriate trope, managed to be more complex than just "damaged angry girl". These moments break through the Banter in a really refreshing way and didn't feel unnaturally forced, and avoided giving me tonal whiplash which is always a plus.

All in all I enjoyed it and will probably pick up the sequels at some point. So, if you can tolerate the ecchi then it's worth a shot but obviously YMMV.