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Space Runaway Ideon appears like a standard mecha show, yet underneath it's surface, it shows a bleak perspective on the fate of mankind. In pursuit of power, justice, and survival, the main cast of characters see many conflicts and losses in the span of 39 episodes. Now, how well does the 50+ years old anime hold up today?

Story: 8
Tomino managed to balance the philosophical ideas he presented with enough action and character focused scenes to help create a somewhat realistic vibe to a show about a very fictional, godlike robot. As a result, the show feels applicable in its views on society ... despite its age.

Some parts of the show did feel redundant and the first 15-20 episodes do get quite repetitive in their 'battle of the week' feel.

Visuals: 4
The visuals are quite dated and are very clearly from the early 80s. Many shots and scenes are reused (similar to Mobile Suit Gundam), and at times the mechs and ships are animated poorly during battles scenes.

However, not all of the visuals are bad, and I found that a lot of the designs of the characters and objects were well done.

Characters: 6
Most of the characters start off as incredibly unlikeable, with many flaws in each and every one of them. By the end though, several characters do develop, but it did feel undeserved at times.

Also, some characters reflect the beliefs and norms of society in 1980, including the questionable ones.

Entertainment: 10
Ideon entertained me, even with the first act of the show. Seeing the Solo Ship be on the run with nonstop attacks was intriguing and left me wanting to stay all the way till the conclusion to see their fate as well as an answer behind the Ideon.

Aftertaste: 5
The ending left a lot to be desired, due to the show's production being cut. It clearly wasn't intended to end the way it did. Thankfully, the second movie does provide for the abrupt end of the show.

Sound: +1 (Bonus)
The music is immaculate in Ideon. The OP and ED are great, but the show's background music was especially amazing.

Overall: 6.8/10
Ideon is an aged, yet still entertaining anime about how destructive mankind can be to itself and others. It's worth a watch if you don't mind its age.

The genre of comedy is probably one of the hardest genres to master. Since comedy is extremely subjective, it can be really hard to produce a comedic masterpiece. As a result, I have a lot of respect for Saiki K, as I think it achieved what many other comedic works wish to achieve.

Story: 10
Note - This anime doesn't really have much of a story. Rather, it's episodic and features different scenarios in each episode.
Saiki K is easily one of the best written comedy anime of all time. Usually, comedies tend to be hit or miss, especially on an episode to episode basis. Yet, nearly ... early single episode of Saiki K managed to at the very least leave me with a huge smile. I was quite impressed with how consistently funny the anime managed to be.
Comedies are probably some of the hardest things to write, since humor depends heavily on the audience. In this case, I think the writers knew their audience so well, leading to jokes that work so well. They also definitely took advantage of the school setting, an experience that everyone has gone through. With that advantage, their comedy was designed to reach as wide of an audience as possible.
The meta humor was immaculate as well. At moments, it literally felt like my mind was read by the writers. There was even a moment where the writers quite literally (through the dialogue) knew what I was thinking.
In summary, I'm impressed by how much this anime managed to make me laugh out loud.

Visuals: 8
While the visuals are nothing special, the amount of gag frames and ridiculous expressions throughout this anime carry the visuals. The animators managed to take a basic approach to animating and turn it into something that works near perfectly with the vibe of anime. That itself led me to give the visuals a higher rating than what I usually give.
I also want to emphasize, the gag visuals absolutely added to the humor of the anime. Some of the ridiculous faces are engrained forever in my memory.

Characters: 10
The cast of the anime is perfect. Each character fits a certain stereotype, which is what you'd expect from a parody. However, unlike other parodies, the characters become quite likeable and you can't help but be entertained by their actions, no matter how stereotypical it is.
I'd even say that by having each character portray their stereotypes so extremely, it led to me unexpectedly liking the characters much more even with their stereotypical qualities.
I wouldn't even be able to pick a favourite character, as each of them are likeable in their own way.

Entertainment: 10
As mentioned before, I was pretty much laughing throughout every single episode of the anime. I also loved watching the interactions of every single character (I especially love Nendou every single time he appears on screen).

Aftertaste: 10
I have a feeling I'll be rewatching this anime, which is quite rare for me to do. That itself says everything about how the anime left me feeling after finishing it.

Overall: 9.6/10
Saiki K is a comedic masterpiece. If you would like to end your day with a smile, watch an episode of Saiki K before sleeping (it worked for me).

Cowboy Bebop was truly an influential piece of art that was created in the past few decades. Many credit it as a gateway anime that helped grow the medium in terms of reaching western viewers. Noting this, a part of me wondered if it would beat the expectations I unintentionally had.

After watching it, I can confidently say that this anime is one of the best of all time.

Story: 9
Cowboy Bebop was unconventional in its story-telling. Rather than focusing most episodes on one main storyline, it instead opted to be episodic. Most episodes could be watched on their own, as they had a story separate from ... the rest. Without spoiling, there was quite a variety in the selection of genres and styles chosen for each episode.

As a result, each episode could be rated on its own. Some episodes definitely worked much better, while others were misses. It's worth noting though that even the episodes that were misses were still very well made and entertaining, just not on the same level as the others.

The main storyline is still very strong on its own. It reminded me partially of a modern take on Shakespearian tragedies with the way it was written. This (for me) added to the experience of watching the story unfold, all the way till the conclusion.

Visuals: 10
I absolutely loved the animation of Cowboy Bebop. Multiple different approaches were taken for the action scenes, all of which were done quite well. My favourite scenes were definitely the hand-to-hand combat scenes (I really wish there were more of them). I adored the smooth feel of the animation, and it also worked really well alongside the music.

The visuals also did most of the world-building in the anime. Just from seeing it, you come to understand the world of Cowboy Bebop, and there isn't any exposition in the anime to introduce the world and characters since the visuals do all the work on its own.

Characters: 10
The crew of the Bebop each bring their own personalities, each of which are fun and entertaining. However, what makes these characters worthy of a 10 is the amount of detail and effort put into the development of these characters. The backstories of each character is meticulously made, and they each are given their time to shine.

I was impressed, as usually most anime don't give anywhere near this much respect and effort into any characters other than the main character.

Entertainment: 10
I enjoyed this anime a lot. Seeing the interactions between the characters was one of the biggest sources of entertainment for me. More specifically, their interactions with one another were always lots of fun.

The story kept me invested throughout as well, and I was always curious on what the next episode would bring. Despite utilizing multiple different genres, the anime incorporates all of them perfectly into the world of Cowboy Bebop. Even the episodes that I considered misses still had parts that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Aftertaste: 9
Without spoiling too much, the ending hit really hard for me. By the end of the anime, I had truly become invested in the story and characters, so much so that I wanted to see more of them and didn't want to end. However, all stories must come to an end.

(I did feel that the final act of the last episode was a tad bit rushed, hence the 9 instead of a 10)

Sound (BONUS): +1
I usually don't give extra points for the anime's audio, but I have to give credit where credit is due. The music in this anime was truly delightful, and it added to the experience of watching the anime. The OP is also a classic, an absolute bop.

The voice actors for the dubbed did an amazing job. As someone who typically watches subbed, I can say that this is one of the best dubs for an anime (which isn’t saying much since most dubs aren't too great).

Overall: 9.8/10