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(Review does NOT contain any major spoiler)

Do you remember when you were 12 and would watch TV shows while eating your cereals a few minutes before going to school? Those shows often had great vibes. While not always being on the positive aspect of things, what did emanate from them is comfort. Those shows weren't enjoyable, but you liked watching them because you felt something inside you, something pleasant, something that makes you feel nostalgic for moments you desperately miss. "Arad Senki: Slap Up Party" is all about that. Being adapted to a slightly older audience, it shares the same vibes as your favorite cartoons ... from your childhood. Though, by no means is it necessarily made for children.

I am decently confident that I overrated the anime if I base my rating on its sheer qualities. Nevertheless, there is always that one anime that stands out. You do not know why you love it. The only thing you can say with confidence is that you do not regret watching it. This is how I feel regarding "Arad Senki: Slap Up Party." As my first review, I will try to structure it as best as possible, so let's dive right into the review!

I will kick off the review with an overlooked aspect of any anime in general: the sound design. A great sound design is what makes an anime stands out. To my surprise, the sound design, being decently good and relatively unique, was very repetitive. Not that it is a bad thing. There are simply very few different songs, songs I, sadly, can't find anywhere on the net. To top it all off, both openings, 1 "Party Play" and 2 "Sokujin no Pandora" by Nogawa Sakura, are excellent. I don't think any Arad Senki fan doesn't love the second opening unironically. It is... well... memorable, and I loved it to the max! The endings ("Hateshinai Sekai" by YMCK
and "LEVEL∞" by Akiko Hasegawa) are great. Though, I much prefer the second one. The 8-bit style reminds you that the anime is an adaptation of the Dungeon & Fighters games series. I would add that I haven't touched any of those games and didn't knew prior to watching the anime and digging inside its community that it was a game adaptation.

Talking about the most important aspect of a show that, regardless of the plot, wants to be memorable, it has to be the characters. I am fairly confident that people won't necessarily agree, but I did like them. Baron Abel isn't your typical cartoon-ish MC that is either dumb or really bad at what he's supposed to be doing. No, Baron has his own personality, someone who doesn't always rely on his friends. "We are party!": yes, the show does rely upon the meaning of friendship but not in a way like Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh!, to name the most well-known, will. To get back on our protagonist, he is someone who, you feel, has suffered. His life was not a "walk in the park." Before meeting our other protagonists, he is a bit cloistered, though he deeply cares regarding the nefast impact of the "Kazan Curse," a curse he, himself, suffers from. Briefly talking about Baron's group of friends: Capensis, the funny guy, the "women lover," though not womanizer by any means. He is the gunman and is, let's say, not the most likable character of the show. Funnily enough, he is an exaggerated version of the standard protagonist of that kind of show. However, I would say that: "take him away from the main cast, and the anime is nowhere near as memorable." Let's talk about Ryunmei. Though not as good of a character as Baron in my book, she isn't there to be the love interest of Baron, nor even Capensis. You will indeed see characters cracking a few jokes on her body, but she knows how to deal with them jokes and characters. Unlike Capensis, she follows a goal, thus adding depth to an already likable character. Ixia is the second girl of the main group and is also a character I enjoyed meeting. If, similarly to Capensis, she doesn't seem to want to achieve something specific, she has a great backstory and personality. She is a character you learn to love. Lastly, Jeda is a character you won't see each episode until later in the anime, but he is a nice addition to the crew. He adds that little extra in terms of humor, and very rarely have I seen the main cast of an anime being composed of 5 protagonists. 6 if you had Roxy, but I personally wouldn't. For those who have watched Yu-Gi-Oh! it would be similar to taking first season Yami Yugi and Yugi as two separate characters.

After looking at the games' promos, I can definitely see why the DnF fans didn't like the anime. Not in the sense that the cast got downgraded. It is just that the game cast has no standout personality bar, maybe Ixia? This leads to the scenarists having to create personalities for the few characters of the game taken for the anime adaptation. DnF Capensis fans, I feel sorry for you. As for the rest of the cast, they are your average cartoon-ish characters. Though and again, it's made for a more mature public, not that the anime is violent or anything, but the jokes wouldn't be as funny if you were to watch it in the mind of a 12-years old.

Now regarding what most anime enthusiasts will look after when picking a show to watch: the scenario. Well... this is not this show's strong point. Without going much into the details, the plot is well explained throughout the anime, and the climax is great if you don't look too much into the details. It narrowly does the job. However, the whole purpose of this show is more to enjoy taking on a journey with our heroes. Nothing less, nothing more, plots, arcs, and fillers all serve the same purpose in looking at one character's facet. I would add that I haven't spotted any major flaw, most likely because I didn't want to. Again, you watch this show more for the ambiance than anything else. Composed of a few arcs and excellent "fillers," this show reminds me of Gintama. Though not as great, some aspects of it are similar, especially in the character's development and how they add one character after another to the cast.

The genius of this show resides in the perfect balance of cartoon-ish comedy and scenario with the classic Japanese shonen's characteristics. The graphics in themselves are also a perfect crossover of the western and eastern takes at making shows. There is no show to my knowledge that brings what Arad Senki will deliver to you.

All in all, do not expect to see the next Gintama. But expect to spend a great time going through the 26 episodes! "Arad Senki: Slap Up Party" is what I would call an experience in itself. Everything is unique in its own aspects. I was lucky enough to like each of them, which resulted in me spending some of my best time watching anime. Needless to say that I have high expectations going into the 2017 remake.