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What's this? An isekai anime where the characters actually start inexperienced and we get to see their development rather than them innately having some special ability or inner "hidden power" that makes them unique? Sounds good!

Except it is not. It is just so GOD DAMN B O R I N G.

Okay, maybe the fault's in the eye of the beholder. I've mainly been watching (life-action) series and movies where plots and character developments are more often than not much superior to how it is in anime, and I'm somewhat out of my "anime phase", or at the very least, I'm much less inclined to forgive ... several anime tropes bullshit. I've put this disclaimer as a heads up for the upcoming cynicism which some people may judge as "unfair harshness" (which might be, but I really don't care). Although... 2017-weaboo me was also pretty bored with this and dropped it. I should've listened to him. Also, another disclaimer, I've only watched half of the anime. I was planning to finish it, innocently expecting the second half to be better than the first, but as reviews point out that's how it goes till the end I just decided to drop it.

You guys like structured reviews, right? You actually read reviews here, don't you? Unlike RYM. Okay, so I'm gonna take this seriously.

STORY

Bunch of kids just suddenly pop up in a fantasy... medieval world? Aside from a cave, a goblin-ridden city, the adventurer's town and that town's goddamn tavern, there's nowhere else. It feels like the writers know how overused and generic this setting is to the point they don't bother worldbuilding, instead relying on some cheap explanations on guilds and monsters and expecting the readers to just know how fantasy settings work. Essentially a stock photo lore.

And the plot, man with a demon avatar, what's the plot? Tell me about the plot, I beg you, you say. There's no plot. The plot is "let's watch those kids grind until they get better lol". Not to say that wouldn't be a fun plot if it didn't rely on them fighting for some five minutes every three episodes against a bunch of goblins that look the exact same.

And it's so slow. Good lord, it is slow. That's what kills it. It's just babble, burble, banter, bicker bicker bicker, brouhahas. Elephant talk. Characters talk for most of the episodes on dialogues that are supposedly for character development purposes, which is weird considering they feel like they have no personality to develop to begin with, and some really archetypal conversations that only happen in animes: boys mentioning the girls are flat (as in, small-boobed, hooray for superficial jokes; meaningless infighting that would probably get some real enmity in real life but are depicted as if the characters don't mind the insults thrown at each other; characters pretending they're introvert and introspective but constantly blurting how they feel over minor things; big-boobed girls prying out of their windows naked sightseeing two characters just hanging together and making a fuss out of it; characters acting like a possible romantic relationship is outrageous and yelling to each other about it. Or, to put it in another words, the type of dialogue you think people have when you're in your first year of High School. Yes, the exact type of stuff I want in my "let's watch them grind in a relentless world" setting!

So yeah, the "story" is boring. The setting is bland and there's no plot. It's a slice of life. The primary concept of "inexperienced mates grind to get better" isn't really interesting when the world is not explored nor presented in an enticing way and when the fighting scenes are even shorter and more spaced out than Dragon Ball Z.

ART

It's cool. Looks very often like watercolour paintings, which is something I don't recall seeing in anime. And since the anime's a lighthearted shonen with some bleeding every now and then, it's not out-of-touch with its concept. The animation isn't particularly good but it's not bad to the point you actually notice it.

The main character designs are just as bland as the background characters', and that's actually a compliment because it just furthers the idea they're no more special than anyone else in this world.

SOUND

The OP is okay, not my thing albeit I find the guitar riffs pretty dope (and I can't get enough of the Cotton Eye Joe-esque fiddling at the intro). Didn't like the ED but then again I never do. The sound effects are okay I guess, and some of the songs used are fairly decent if not downright good. (there's like a song with double bass here. Nice.)

CHARACTERS

What can I say? Cliches.

The lovable, fatherly figure leader; the kind brute; the meaningless shy fanservice girl; the brave girl; the "hot-headed" (also known as obnoxious and loud) dude; the rounded-and-bland protagonist, and the "cold character" who's actually an insufferably antipathetic prick because sad backstory :(.

Deaths in this anime, regardless of the importance of the character that suffers it, is predictable and poorly executed. There's neither the shock of when a character gets unexpectedly obliterated nor the dramatic fallout of when a character has an adequate buildup prior to his death. And since characters are so unidimensional, their loss the cast is genuinely unimportant and to make us feel emotionally afflicted by it the writers just make everyone act like a collective group of hysteric madmen, yelling, sobbing as loud as the sound mixing allows, and adding in some dramatic piano music. Bear in mind I'm not saying deaths are insignificant to the plot or the characters, just that they're insignificant for our enjoyment. It advances the plot, but as far as we're concerned, there's no difference in anything.

And can we talk about how weird it is that the tavern is always filled to the brim with so many characters from different groups but outside of it there's not a single soul except our main cast? The world is depopulated and expressed only through the lens of the protagonists. There's no overarching issues, no particularly interesting mythical beasts, no hierarchies, no large conflicts. There's no one particularly noteworthy. There's just humans, goblins, and a giant called Kobold that's supposed to be interesting but is just as bland as a level 5 boss fight in some JPRG.

ENJOYMENT

Imagine you decided to watch Naruto because someone told you it's "different from other shonen". And all you watch, for some reason, are the insipid filler episodes. How much would you enjoy that? As much as I did watching this.

Now, to be fair, some of the battle scenes had tension and were interesting, but after yet another party vs goblin brawl I couldn't help but to yawn.

OVERALL

I'm giving a "4" because under the perspective it actually means MEDIOCRE. (Because mediocre for me is worst than decent.) It's not bad, it's just mediocre. I mean, if you don't mind mediocre that develops way too slowly, try it out, but if you do, don't.

Verdict: high school anime but in fantasy world

Spoilers at minimum.

I must say I am in conflict whether to rate this 9 or 10. But since I'm trying to keep my overly generous grading system at bay, I'll be more cautious and opt to assign it to the lowest score deserved.

My indecision boils down to Mob Psycho II's excellency in exploiting its characters. Few animes offer such a beautiful, impacting and meaningful development as the one seen in the second season. Mob's growth as a person has always been the anime's focus, but in here it becomes exponential - slowly learning new things through pleasure and pain, advised by his friends and enemies ... alike, questioning his perception of reality, and overall maturing while still retaining his laudable empathy that has been his watermark from the getgo. It's funny to think that a character which began so emotionally unstable would become the maturity powerhouse of the anime. This second season's message is sincere, resounding, and beautiful. Oh, and and top it off, Reigen also gets a development arch that's quite fitting to say the least.

A very brief briefing of how the anime is structured down below. While not a spoiler per se, for those who like to watch something completely unaware of how things develop should avoid it.

The "first part" of the anime is focused on rather slice of lifey moments where the aforementioned character development takes effect. There are several great battle scenes, but they're supporting characters at best; the relationship between characters and the lessons taken from them are far more relevant - to the point a few episodes doesn't feature battles, but that doesn't even matter because of how pleasant and interesting the plot unfolds.

The "second part" is when fighting really begins and boy are the battles exciting. In animes like Mob Psycho, you cannot NOT address a possible problem: an overpowered main character ends the battle almost instantly. That issue is intelligently tackled by Mob's aversion on using his powers in the first season, and in this second, it is by essentially making fights where Mob is involved scarce. In this way, powerful villains (which are of course no match for Mob) offer some spectacular fights against the side characters - and I kid you not when I say pretty much every side character shown is given relevance at some point one way or another, they are not wasted at all - which are honestly just as amazing as a 100%ed Mob.

SORTA SPOILER ALERT
No, Mob doesn't really uses his ???% form yet. It's still a trick up ONE's sleeve. But "power levels" were scaled immensely - there was a fight between, literally, the two strongest humans alive and between perhaps the two greatest paranormals that ever existed. How can you topple that?
SORTA SPOILER ALERT ENDING

So yeah, Mob Psycho II is pretty amazing. I'm just not rocking a 10 'cause I plan to save that for personal favorites or REALLY FUCKING AMAZING animes (two characterizations that are, unavoidably, going to blend together one way or another).

1. An anime that plays Moonlight Sonata, Ride of the Valkyries and other royalty-free songs is not worth watching. Heck, next thing you know it's playing Kalimba by Mr. Scruff

2. The problem isn't that this is incohesive. In fact it's primitively cohesive. It's just not coherent. Why are things happening the way they are? I don't know, man.

3. Every scene takes at least 10 seconds. Bad guy choking your friend? Better wait 10 secs to shoot a single bullet.

4. Pretty cool plot twist on the ending which demonstrate this had potential that was thoroughly wasted.

5. Are there characters? They don't do anything at all, their ... existence is futile.

6. Dragging and boring. Appallingly boring. Violently dragging. Jesus Christ. Kill me.

7. The art is bad, not THAT bad, just bad. It's better than Gantz, definitely.

8. Doesn't deserve a 1/10 as the art is bearable, the ending is somewhat interesting and it's only 17 minutes long. Any longer than that, well, it would be worth a 0/1000 because it's SO. DAMN. BORING

This "review" contains minor spoilers (unless you watched Bakemonogatari and prolly knows what Nekomonagatari will talk about).

From the very beginning of the Monogatari Series there was something uncanny about it that really caught my attention. After a while, I'm finally able to vocalize it: I really love the honesty. It doesn't mean that the characters are bluntly straightforward, it just means they don't hide things betweem themselves or at the very least to the watcher.

I hardly see implicit things, there's no second intentions - when Araragi is horny and thinks about sexual stuff it's crystal clear. You don't have this looming presence of sexualization ... hidden beneath the sheets, it's open at your face. Whereas when such sexualization is absent, it is absent. There is no sexual tension or second thoughts in interactions genuinely lacking sexual intention. This is why, for instance, the extremely attractive Hanekawa Black in underwear isn't as enticing or erotic as it could otherwise be. This is why the bathtub scene with Shinobi from the previous installment, Nisemonogatari, isn't erotic at all - neither character thing likewise.

Monogatari makes me trust it in a way that, if something is not explicit, then I know it simply doesn't exist. In the other hand, if it's said to exist, then it does. So far, for me, Monogatari is a universe where intentions are fully expressed through words, and words full express truth. Where there's nothing concealed, nothing inferred. That's why I fucking love it.

This review contains spoilers for the main series because, well, this is after the main series so it's kinda hard not to be

This little special is that sweet "happy ending aftermath" we all love. Well....

These goofy characters are in goofy and funny situations just like in the main series prior to Mayori's death and the absolute narrative twist. If you liked them, you're in luck, this is A LOT like it! If you prefered how things were after the twist, with that electrifying, motivation-led steamroll... sorry. Prior to Mayori's death, Okabe was Kyouma. After it, Okabe was Okabe. Well, in here, Okabe's... Kyouma.

I find extremely ... hard to believe that a man who went through so much crisis, pain and maturation would still stick so faithfully to an alter-ego he admitted not to believe in anymore. Although there is no issue in Okabe ocassionally acting as Kyouma - hell, that would be actually funny by now, such as calling Kurisu his assistant or christina - he does it so many times and said alter-ego is so significant in his life he goes as far as committing stupid and even endangering actions. It's like he never developed at all, and that got me disappointed.

If you don't care about that, though, well, it's gonna be pretty fun. There's a little cameo from an old friend... you'll recognize when you see it. And you'll smirk

What a twist Steins;Gate is! I don't mean the plot, I mean it as an anime. If you intend to watch it, DON'T DROP BEFORE EPISODE 12.

(I'm assuming you read the description on MAL, if you didn't, uh, description spoilers I guess)

The first twelve episodes of S;G are pretty much "plot establishing". They're rather uneventful, seldom filled with suspense, energy and mad-ass time-traveling as one would expect. They're weak, in my opinion. The plot is interesting but slow; the characters are unrealistic and rather shallow/unidimensional (rather doesn't equal completely, by the way) and I found myself often pissed off with how ridiculous some events and ... interactions were. It had a LOT of elements of slice of life.

But then... the next twelve episodes. Now THAT's what we're all looking for. The plot takes an absolute twist, not in "oh my god so this is the villain and this is the real thing all along?" as one'd expect from a "plot twist". It takes a twist regarding its intentions. Sure, extremely important revelations and explanations are made along the way, but nothing beats that sudden "plot-shift". It's sensational, no less. I'm pretty sure you've never seen anything like it - or if you did, it has been once, twice at best.

**MINOR SPOILERS IF YOU'RE INTERESTED WHAT'S THE PLOT-TWIST**


Dummy text to avoid attention-less readers to spoil their asses. Dummy text to avoid attention-less readers to spoil their asses. Ever watched Memento, the movie? Well, that's pretty much it. Sure, S;G is not as confusing as that goddamn movie, but it is just as brilliant. And the "slice of life" thing is secretly plot establishment. I couldn't believe how significant every small, insignificant action and detail was.


*******END OF SPOILERS*******


The characters, which so far were pretty superficial, now present a satisfactory level of depth; mini-arcs involving all of the supporting and main characters give them great development and by episode 24 Okabe has matured so much it's unbelievable to think he's the same weirdo from the beginning. It doesn't change the flawed aspects of established personalities (aka 'jeez the way she acts is just so out of this world'), as those are inherent to the character, but at least you kinda understand why they're like that. That's what development's all about, folks.

Now, I must recognize there are very few, albeit significant, plot holes in the established time-traveling theory. It doesn't take away the entertainment, though. Trust me, accompanying time travelers is really awesome. They - and you, by extension - knows a lot about what's gonna happen, everyone around is like "yo dude, are you crazy?" and you interiorly smirk, "no, I KNOW what's gonna happen". Trust me.

S;G is worth it, despite having a slow and rather weak start. So bear it, boy. It's damn worth it.

FIRST PART OF THE MONOGATARI SERIES

+notes to self in order to compare with other Monogatari animes because comparisons

Bakemonogatari gets it right in several aspects. An excellent starter for the Monogatari series, witty and extremely ironic, I'd say that the most interesting thing is its deconstructed view of itself. It sees itself as an anime and acts accordingly, as a form of art and as a fictitious medium; it's not surprising to see blatant surrealism, symbolism and an eclectic usage of audiovisual elements to convey a message or even self-referential wall-breaks that feel all too natural. Is there fan-service? I guess so, but even that is ... adequately woven as part of the story or at least of the development of the particular scene. And also, when done right, you can get past almost anything if you're being ironic. Bakemonogatari knows this all too well and uses it all too often.

Story - slowly built but concise; no fillers and usually motivations and consequences are logic and not just plot-driven and rather mechanical-feeling. They are fairly simple and heavily reliant on dialogue though, hence why not 9 or 10 but 8.

Art - extremely eclectic and rather experimental in many aspects. Similar to Mononoke.

Sound - the series' strongest point. The usage of subtle and minimalistic songs in the very precise moment they are useful is perhaps my favorite thing here, and it features what I consider an extremely iconic song in all of anime OST, the jazzy piano Suteki Meppou.

Character - well structured and well built. All of them do have a personality; some, more than others, naturally - air-time is important - but the relationship among themselves and how they act is pretty fulfilling accordingly to their roles. However, I feel they were not as deepened as they could have been.

Enjoyment - initially it was a bit uncommon, but eventually, I grew used to it and enjoyed it as hell. Especially during the second arc, which I deem by far as my favorite (so fun).

Overall - really great series. Both in terms of subjectivity as of objectivity I'd say it's more than worth a 9

----

(Just to say i didn't delete this.)

Metalanguage: The Anime

I'm sure we've all seen fourth wall breaks often. Sometimes we were thrilled and sometimes we were bummed. But when it's well done, it's awesome. Therefore, Bakemonogatari is awesome.

By "metalanguage" I don't refer to simply understanding they make part of a fictitious story. It goes much, much beyond. You see, Bakemonogatari is quite an experimental anime. Unsurprisingly then they go much further beyond breaking the fourth wall... they pretty much dissolve it. It doesn't exist. Characters live in the anime world and they are aware of it with absolute naturality. Just like you're okay living in our reality. They don't overdo it, they don't make it a big deal; they just accept that fact. And that naturality makes the constant references and call-out to tropes so much tasty because they feel genuine, not forced. That's what makes fourth wall breaking fulfilling. And they do it right.

Invisible walls aside, one must acknowledge the eclectic art. It fits the occasion and so it's constantly reshaping quite nicely. They're not afraid to abruptly paste together two incompatible styles to bring an awkward feeling; in fact, it's likely they do so. Live action still images? Of course, you'll have it. But what I liked the most is that at least as far I remember it was never random or just for weirdness' sake. There was a reason to it, and thus the animation fits like a glove. I feel it's fair to compare to Mononoke. However, Mononoke is strict and "static" with its style (not as if it's less of unique or ingenuous) but Bakemonogatari is much more... wild.

And the sound? My god. The whole point of this review is so I could talk about the sound. I'm gonna cut the crap: the sound is my favorite part of this anime and undoubtfully it has my favorite soundtrack, even better than Akira.

It is the first time I have been so thrilled with an anime's soundtrack within the show, rather than ops. There are very few songs and they ambient, minimalistic and within a droney scope, almost always offering a single instrument. The songs are surprisingly quirky though, with odd time signatures and catchy tunes. There is the "mysterious" or "unsettled" ticking sound (as of a metronome) playing in x/8 (something in the lines of 13/8 or 17/8, haven't figured). There is a jazzy piano. There is a happy moody piano. Yet, even in their simplicity, it manages to be more than sufficient to spice up the moments. You don't need anything more than a cheerful couple of piano notes to create a happy scene; the oddly timed metronome-esque ticking is sufficient to make a scene feel wrong at some aspect. No need for bombastic orchestras or for anything overproduced.

(and for anyone wondering, the happy/jazzy piano is Suteki Meppou. Seems to be a classic.)

And of course, the ops are also excellent. For the first time I actually bother reading the lyrics because they do have a connection with the anime rather than just "heart love danger fight we will make it bla bla" stuff that for some reason always seem to be the norm. And they sound really nice, too (and look nice! They are so unique). The fourth op is just sweet. Kinda like jazzy, I guess? But a cheerful jazz. Yeah.

Well, bla bla bla a bunch of words. Okay, here's the deal - Bakemonogatari is quirky. I wasn't expecting that, and it was quite pleasant - even if unsettling at first - to discover it. I was thrilled to begin the Monogatari series and I'm pretty glad that, right off the bat, I'm presented with such quality.

This is gonna be great.

Spectacular eye-candy, full of vastly impressive environments and truly interesting landscapes. It has a pretty crappy 'story' but I would expect nothing else from a six-minute-long short of which four minutes are all about showing the main character hanging around the beautiful world she creates. I frankly see no substance on this even if they do attempt to do so, but it's not like I expected a narrative to begin with.

Pretty enjoyable assuming all it took was one-tenth of an hour. Definitely recommend if you're, I don't know, on a school break or waiting in a queue.

It's six minutes long, I see no reason why ... to read reviews about it before watching if that's your case.

Ponyo is just like infancy. Cute, genuine, fantastic, carefree, heartwarming, when everything is blossoming with colors, is cheerful, when everyone is friendly and well-spirited, even if their actions seem initially a little shady. Nothing bad ever happens, everything ends well, there's absolutely nothing to worry about at any moment.

A movie without conflict might seem, initially, pretty shallow, but if anything Ponyo ends up being more of a slice of life type of thing than a movie as we know of it. So much so the attention to details is painstaking - the characters' movements are genuine, realistic and offer extreme continuity. If Ponyo is holding ... a bucket, in order to grab something on her backpack, it will be shown Ponyo dropping the bucket, picking her object and then grabbing the bucket back. This attention to minuteness makes Ponyo more interesting.

Completely devoid of any pretension, all this movie wants to do is be heartwarming and visually outstanding. And it succeeds.

Imo it fits perfectly on a melancholic day (to cheer up) or for a vividly bright day (to maximize the potential for happiness).

Either way, PONYO IS PURE JOY!

"One of mankind's greatest gifts... are internal jokes, cameos and references." ~ Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ. You're right, man.

Tengen Toppa meets Kill la Kill meets stupidity.

If you didn't watch Tengen Toppa nor Kill la Kill, this will lose at least 85% of the fun. If you didn't watch Little Witch Academia, this will lose one episode of fun.

Don't take it seriously. This is a joke. This is a very, very stupid, nonsensical joke. Luluco is basically Trigger Studio goofing around, making a bunch of references and homages to the couple of their (modern) most acclaimed shows & sporadic references to their lesser popular stuff, like for ... instance Inferno Cop. That's the entire objective of this anime.

Story: there simply isn't. Sure, there is a "plot", but it's not serious, it's a joke. Not "Kill la Kill" level, even worst. However, the logic, plot devices, and several things are borrowed from TTGL. Which will either make you feel really pissed or put you on the edge of the seat, thinking, "oh my GOD, THAT'S JUST LIKE TTGL!!!!".

Art: Reminds me of Panty & Stocking but is less goofy and more leaning to regular "animeness". Everything is very colorful (just like Paint & Stocking), everything's absurdly dynamic (just like KLK) and there are static shots of dynamism and energy (just like TTGL).

Sound: really loud, my god

Character: yes, the police chief is LITERALLY Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Those ARE Kamina's glasses. No, this is not a spoiler.

Try to guess who each character is supposed to be.

Enjoyment & Overall: started out as "duh goofy and stupid but lighthearted anime". Ended up as "PIERCE THE HEAVENS WITH JUSTICE!".

If you liked TTGL or KLK watch this. It's gonna be funny, I promise.