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Plot:
We have Kajika, a girl who has grown up on the island of Givori with Maria, her adoptive mother (and visits of Liren, her actual bodyguard). And we have her father Harry who, one day, with Kajika at the age of 14, asked her to come back to America, because of an important subject he wanted to talk about with her. The important topic? “Your future is going to be harsh, but I won’t tell you anything until your husband sits in that chair” “I prepared a game for you to find your husband. I have been searching for the three perfect candidates for ... the past 12 years. However, you don’t know them, and they don’t know you. The only thing I will do is prepare your encounters.” And that marks the start of this crazy inverse harem game, which, against all odds, will grasp you and throw you into a political conflict in the Kingdom of Raginei for 24 of the 39 episodes.
The first five ones are quite slow, being the focal point Eugene, his backstory, and his “salvation” by Kajika. However, the story gets rolling PLENTY after this, since you are dragged without you being aware, to the Raginei’s crown heir battle. The moment Rumaty enters the anime, this one changes 180º: We are presented the backstory of Mahaty, Rumaty’s grandfather and last king of Raginei; the king of Raginei dies while Rumaty is in U.E in Kajika mansion and he’s accused of treason and murder; etc, etc… As you can read, a lot of things going on, and that is not even 1% of the plot. 39 episodes give a lot of space for the development of conflicts and a great outcome, and fortunately, this anime didn’t waste any of the capacity they had. Even the harem inverse game gets a good-paced, closed ending. The only complaint I could have is that the final couple for a moment feels a little forced (There’s like one episode gap from the moment Kajika understands and is conscious of the fact that she loves X, to the moment she declared her love).
Another complaint: The ages. It’s really surrealistic, to the point me, myself, was correcting the ages in my mind because Kajika looked and acted like a 17 years old girl. (And so goes on with Rumaty and all the characters).
Leaving that aside, great pacing, marvelous political conflict development, and great characters backstories and reasons of why is Harry, or the Fang family rich people (you know, not like in Fifty shadows of Grey when Grey is rich because he is a big C.E.O and that is).



The art:
It is kinda “old shoujo and a little bit of josei” style. The character’s designs look way more mature than their real ages (one of the reasons I rectified the ages in my mind). Nevertheless, the design per se is attractive, and I loved the male MC’s models (Specially Rumaty’s). The weapons drawings and the concept of the kingdom of Raginei, as well as the clothes, are enjoyable to watch, making you feel more immersed at the same time.
The opening sequence, along with the ending, does have not impressive artwork but is entertaining and pleasant to view.



The soundtrack:
Definitely, there are a couple of tracks that you can hear at any moment after finishing the anime, and immediately you will connect it to Hanasakeru. Some of them are iconic, played in the most important scenes, and oh boy, they offer a lot of ambiances and are perfect for the vibes and feeling the creators wanted to give to the scene.
Also, the opening and the ending are *chef kiss* absolute perfection. J-min’s voice is wonderful and the English-Japanese mix is truly sticky.



Characters (spoilers ahead)!:
Again in the most extensive part of my reviews. I will try to keep this short (I even made a rest so I could write this part in the greatest way).
Let’s start with Kajika, our MC, a rich girl, heir of the Burnsworth fortune and industry. She’s a woman strong-hearted, extremely sympathetic, and brave. Her mother died when she was two years old in order to protect her, being that the reason why she grew up on an island without external contact until she was 14 years old. Even with this kinda catastrophic background, Kajika never complained or never showed sadness toward her past (I want to think it was because she is a truly shiny and happy person, and not because the writers forget to take into account all the trauma she could have got with those events).
She cries for others because she understands others’ feelings way more than the average person (to the point Eugene’s father saw an angel in her). Also, she fights for the things she wants and is based on her own sense of justice, not satisfied with being just the stereotypical “Harem inverse MC”. NEVERTHELESS, there are quite an amount of decisions she makes that are sold to us as heroic when, if you think about them with a cold head, you will be aware that she is actually quite selfish and ignorant and most of the time ends up being saved by others (there are obviously exceptions for both extremes).
Leaving that, the main core of Kajika’s personality, there is nothing more to say. There’s not much development in her, except the fact that she learns to understand what type of love she has for every one of the boys. She doesn’t even flinch when she is told that she is the first one in the line of throne, so… Quite a bland character, but better than average. At least she is direct and quite resolved, not “OMG, I lack decision-making abilities, I’m just dumb.”

I can’t really extend myself that much, so let’s shortly talk about the boys, notably Rumaty and Eugene.
On the other hand, Liren, for me at least, feels a little bit cliché: a boy with great pressure since the moment he was only a child, and obliged to mimic the adults in order to fulfill his role as the next leader of the Fang family. Ends up leaving the family because of his true love for Kajika, but before that, he has conflicts between choosing her over his own family and all his own reason of being.
And Carl didn’t have so much screentime (though I truly liked his character development. Having less time than the others three, he had defined objectives and personality, in addition to a well-defined claustrophobia with a greatly explained reason. A deep look in his family and relationship with his father. I think the author accomplished a lot more with him than with Liren, taking into account he was the last boy to appear.
Rumaty is the character that got the majority of the spotlight, in addition to the fact that he is the best developed of all. He goes from a boy quite arrogant and inconsiderate to a whole leader, worthy of the crown of Raginei, patient, thoughtful of his people, good strategist, and determined to save his country. Everything was shaped because of the political events of his Kingdom, as well as the fact that his own brother tried to kill him through indirect people. From the first time he gets into the scene, to the episode climax (34-35), the spectator can see the evolution. What is more, you end up feeling genuinely proud of him, since you actually saw him grow. There’s waaaay too much to say about him, so I propose you watch the anime if you are interested. For him, it is worth it.
Gotta end this with a short opinion about Eugene as a character. “I prefer to live with eternal pain, before living only an instant of pure love, if, with that, I can be connected to you for eternity”, that says a lot about him, don’t you think?
Eugene is a boy who didn’t see value in his own existence. From an early age, he found out that he was the by-product of the revenge his “father” wanted to give to his grandmother. His mother, found also for this revenge, killed herself when she was nineteen. She thought that Eugene was a cursed child of a dead man. These events pushed Eugene to be how he was, having in mind the plan of also killing himself before getting to his twenties. However, on the appointed day, Kajika was there, and with a gun, she “killed” the old Eugene by shooting his reflection in the mirror. The quote I wrote before means that the love Eugene has for Kajika is pure love. He sees her as his savior, one to be respected, not touched, protected, like an angel or goodness. He wants to be attached to her forever and never forget about her, nor change his ideals regarding Kajika.
He also changes and grows through the episodes, visible particularly In his relationship with Liren.

(Spoilers end!!!)

Enjoyment:
For me, extremely enjoyable overall because of the political conflicts, I got really hooked up. I wasn’t a big fan of the final couple though, but they are cute.
This anime is definitely worth watching if you like well-written and a little bit more complex inverse harem genres. And don’t be scared of it being 39 episodes, it disappears really fast.


Thanks for reading, hope it was useful <3.

I postponed this review way too much, it’s time to write it, all the bad and the good sides of it.
At the beginning, one could read the plot and think "oooh wait, this one sounds familiar". Yeah, SAO, we all know it or heard about it at least once because... Well, I don't know why, you know, the anime is quite trash. My point, Log horizon have a similar premise to SAO, but the MMORPG world, how it works, how the item, quests, abilities and classes works are really well-built and actually makes sense. Actually, they are so well-built that you get to think while ... watching the series “man, I would like to play a game like this, it looks awesome”. In the lore aspect, the anime is quite outstanding; they even explain the problems our main characters are confronting if they “die” in the game (HP 0, that is), and all the spirit and body problem (a little complex to explain here in a review). These small details make the anime more serious when they need it, which gives everything a good proportion and balance between significant, story-concerned topics, and the comedy and the relationships development.

If we talk about the story, I think we could divide the 25 episodes in 4 arcs: the Serara arc, the Hamelin arc, the Eastal arc and the festival arc. The first three makes a wonderful job on introducing little by little the world of Elder Tales, while giving you an explanation for everything (why you can get to another point of Japan in less time, the abilities cold-own, the classes, the friend adding). The plot is also engaging, mostly because a lot of the main characters are truly likeable, and it doesn’t get boring in any moment (except in two chapters in the last arc, that for some reason they put too much effort in developing ships and romantic relationships, that the balance that the anime had been broken; it gets better in the chapter 24 though). It is also interesting because you are learning about the world at the same time our characters does, whilst you see how the characters develop and grow. Some things are kept in mystery for all the series (great move), like the Debauchery Tea Party and what happened to it; the woman at the episode 25 or the rest of Elder Tales that we didn’t get to explore yet, and these things encourage you to watch the next season (which I’m personally going to do). Overall, great, well-developed plot, lore and characters.

Characters wise, this anime makes a good job in this area (not the best though). Some characters are greatly constructed, and others stays more in the background. It is not a bad thing, moreover, there is balance: there are not too much character development for you to be overwhelmed, but there are enough for you to feel that the characters are people and no paper-dolls (those are just horrible). I’m not going to extend myself analyzing all of them, but as an example, we can go with Shiroe. I don’t fully understand him, but you can see through the series that he, as a person, takes responsibility as a grand matter, and at the same time, he is confident with his actions, doing all he can to protect his friends (since he accepted to be the in a guild), being these treats direct consequence of his past in the Tea Party.
Other characters, like Rundelhaus or Minami, also have some characterization and deep. Truth to be told, there are not that much of character development; however, most of the things told or shown are important pieces for you to understand and learn about the people.

About the ost and the art: the art is pretty regular, nothing of the other world (though that doesn’t mean it is bad); the soundtrack is not remarkable neither, but it complements the mood really well.

This anime is quite enjoyable and satisfying to watch, thanks to how the world is presented in every episode. I think the worst part is in the two episodes in the last arc, with the romance triangle (it was a little unbearable for me, haha), but overall, this anime is a yes yes if you want something chill and you like world building.

I thought, “why don’t we watch some anime classics?”, and slayers popped up as a good option for a chill anime to watch after Evangelion (my god lord, that one was deep). So let’s start with the review, keeping in mind that this anime is indeed from the 90th (1995), period when the people wanted long, auto-conclusive stories type series, which is why slayers may be quite boring between arc one and two for some people (me included, I’m not going to lie). Yet, the age when it was release is not an excuse, since auto-conclusive type anime can be both good and bad, and ... it depends a lot on how the story is made and expressed to the audience.

The story:
We don’t get too much here, since the main plot is simple: The adventures of Lina Inverse and Gourry Gabriev, a pair who will find more people through the episodes to join their group. The series can be divided in two arcs: Arc one, with the real Rezo, the debut of Zelgadis, and it ends with the defeat of Shabranigdo and Rezo; Arc two, starting when they get to Sairaag, with Rezo’s copy and the resuscitation of the beast Zanaffar as the main villains. I don’t have too much to complain with these two arcs, the reason being how well-organized were the climax, the battles and how they managed (thank God) to not fall in a deus ex machina, which happens way too much in some fantasy themed animes. HOWEVER, I surely have some important problems in the intermediate of arc one and two, because they were literally all fillers, which were quite boring to watch. There was no character development, main plot development, neither important character interactions, making it a waste of 7 episodes. We will talk about this more in the characters section. Excluding the filler, the plot is enjoyable and quite funny (though it is true that some jokes have aged badly), and you can feel that they gave time to think about the climax and to develop it, which is appreciated given the actual isekai animes.
The only problem that I can point out is how the world is presented. There is not really a line or an organisation to follow when it comes to this matter. Moreover, it feels like all the places, names and lore is thrown to your face. There’s no continuity feeling (especially in the filler, adventure part), which, again, can make Slayers a little boring because it looks like there is no end nor start.

The Art:
I, as a personal and subjective opinion, like the art a lot. It is the classic style anime art, with some rough lines, saturated colors and big eyes design. I’m a classic style lover. It is true that it is not the best animation you can find in the industry, but keeping in mind that the anime is from 1995, the animation looks pretty good, and fits pretty well with the lack of seriousness the anime gives most of the time.

The sound:
How can I say this… (I’m actually listening to the ost while writing this). The soundtrack is the same as the art, good old classics, memorable ones that when you hear them your first though is “Oh, wait, that’s slayers!”. Some are funny, others are perfect as battle theme. They are in general quite happy, and upbeat, I like them quite much too.

The characters:
OHOHOHO, here we go again. I have a lot to complain in this area, mainly because the anime lost seven chapters in fillers, and I was quite angry because of it.

Let’s start with Lina Inverse. Lina Inverse is an upbeat, confident girl. Confident because she is an amazing sorceress since the start of the anime (one of the reasons we don’t get too much character development from her, since there is not that much to develop). She likes food a lot, and she likes money and… Well, you know there’s not too much more to say. I mean, the audience get to see a little of another face of her at the climax of the two arcs: in the first, you see how determined she is to finished with Shabranigdo, and the phrase “I don’t want to die” makes you think a little about how would her past be; in the second arc, you see how she cares about her teammates and even almost die to save Sylphiel. There’s more character development in the second arc: how she acts when Sylphiel blame herself about Lina’s wound, how they make us see that Lina is the pillar, the leader that keep the team united and organized. Nevertheless, the problem with Lina is the problem I have with most of the characters: We don’t have a clue of how her past is. We don’t know what made her be what she is today, how she became powerful and why is she doing what she is doing. Most of the other characters (villains included) sins with the same problem, which makes them look more paper-thin people than realistic ones. Some examples are:

> Amelia Will, the childe sorceress that fights for justice and is scared of bad-looking monsters and is extremely clumsy (yep, that’s all, she don’t have other personality than that).
> Gourry Gabriev, the bucket-head swordsman, probably the main comic relieve of the anime. He is REALLY forgetful, but a good person (one that don’t lie and acts good with people). And that’s all.
> Rezo, the priest and main villain of the first arc, wants to use the power of one of the post powerful and dangerous demons to get back his sight. I’m sorry, there’s not more development than that (maybe I can let this one go a little since Rezo looks like he was controlled by Shabranigdo).

It is a red flag when a character who appeared in the last 6 episodes have way more development than one that have been in the anime since the start (yes, I’m comparing Sylphiel with Gourry here). And Slayers actually has a BIG RED FLAG in how awful the characters are managed. Some characters, like Zelgadis, managed to get somehow a bit of personality, since we can see small flashbacks about his past him wanting to be strong (why? We don’t know), and we notice that he actually trains with the sword the day before confronting Shabranigdo. Should we also mention how he reacted when his two friends (more friends than subordinates) die? Zelgadis is the only character that is not a happy flower and have his own flaws (he’s straight and indifferent about Sylphiel father’s dead) and has one and determined goal (getting his old body back; Sadly, again we don’t really know why he is that obsessed and the series doesn’t give us any hint). Sylphiel, on the other side, doesn’t have any past stories about her introduced, but the dead of her father can be taken perfectly as a point of start to feel how she gets to grow a little. After six chapters, the audience can see that she is now a slightly braver and committed to protect her team.

Overall, Slayers is a good if you want to pass the time watching fantasy, adventure anime with a D&D style. Plus points if you like classic art style and want to laugh a little.
People say that the second season is better and faster when ti comes to plot, so I’m giving all my hope to it.

I'm writing this review after watching all the 24 episodes (since they are more like one season than two separate ones), so I'm reviewing the two seasons (without taking that much into account the "propaganda" that people who review lowly this anime talks about, since I'm not the one to talk about it, I don't live in Japan and I don't know that much about Japan military forces to do it).

The story:

The main story line is good: A portal to another world opens in Japan, and the emperor uses his forces to try to conquer Japan. After that, the Japanese SDF (self-defense forces) ... are commanded to go to this other world in order to investigate and to obtain resources and avoid any war. Between all this plot, we have the lieutenant Itami, our MC, an ex-military who ended up in all this mess because he helped the people during the first (or second? Because the girl who was taken by Zorzal was supposed to be taken before the attack of the first episode since her family was already searching for her) attack to Japan.

Through the episodes of the first season, the viewers get a base of how the other world is made. We learn about the places where the plot is mainly going to develop (in the two seasons), and all the important characters are introduced. We have some politics going here and there to give more realism to the anime, and we see how the three girls and the princess of the other world goes to Japan in order to plan the peace and to calm things down.

The second season opens up with the dark elf who wants to save her village and Tuka's post-traumatic hallucination because of her father's dead. Since the world is already presented, season two have a lot of subplots, ones better developed than others. The main two plots have Itami and Piña as the MC; one trying to keep things in order with Tuka and going to the mages city with Lelei and Rory, while the other part tries to go forward with the agreement with Japan.

The second season is far more interesting than the first one, since more things are moving. For the viewer, the second season is much more political themed. Yet events move at a good pace, not too fast for the viewer to get overwhelm and have that feeling of unrealistic story, but neither too slow. Truth to be told, Japan SDF is portrait as a powerful part of the army because they are fighting and constantly wining (since they are fighting to medieval people that fights with horses, and arrows, you know). It is satisfying to see how people like Zorzal falls so hard, but it is also true that we saw that coming. The only limitation of Japan is the fact that they can't start a war with the other world just for the sake of doing it, but viewers knew that sooner or later Zorzal was going to lose and obviusly, the SDF to win. That doesn't take away the credit of a well-built plot (not the best, not a bad one neither).

The characters:

Character development is fine. A little less than I would like it to have, but there's character development.

Let's start with Itami. Itami is a character with who in the first chapter you get quite confused: Why is he giving orders to people like a hero no one asked? Wasn't he supposed to be a normal person who works and likes to read manga and play games? But then you get to know that he was an ex-military, and you are like "ohhhh, boy, that's explains A LOT". Itami's character improvement is all like that; it is you learning about his values through all the hard decisions he makes, learning about his past little by little and what got him to where he is and how he is nowadays. He's cheerful, a really likeable character and I wouldn't lie if I also say that he is a good leader.

Lelei is another character with good development. At the start, she's truly plain: A mage who likes to learn new things, an intelligent gifted 15 years old girl. However, in season two we get to see her with her family, we see how she acts in a crucial point of the battle in order to protect her friends and how she works and get nervous or scared because of things like the exam or the killer that goes after her.

Tuka almost doesn't have any character improvement, and Rory, we can see how she develops feelings toward Itami and how important he is for her (in the end of the battle with the red dragon, especially).

There is actually too many characters to talk about, but the point is that the series falls slightly short on character development.


Overall is an enjoyable anime, leaving out all the propaganda to the SDF. The animation is good, the battles are dynamic and exciting, and there are a lot of funny scenes. You don't need to think that much (the politics is easy to understand, and there's no philosophical plot neither).

How should I start this review? I was expecting quite more from this anime, since its note in MAL is high (a 7 point something, which are the numbers good animes fall in). Nevertheless, it was truly disappointing. I know a lot of people defend the novel, and says that it is way better, and it was bad adapted, but I'm writing about the anime. I'm sure those people are telling the truth, but the fact is that the anime is undoubtedly pretentious and bland.


Story and characters:

Really bland. The base idea is fine: An elite school of high competitively, where you are your grades and ... your work, and even the money you can obtain is affected by that. The four class system, being the D class "the defective group". They are all nice, the system is interesting and the fact that none of the students (supposedly) knows about the rules and of their actions affect their points (their money) and their class makes an excellent scenario for enemies development, high competitively and intriguing characters. Why would people of the D class be in the D class? How will they overcome the obstacles? Why are the characters like they are, and what are their motivations?

However, as the story moves forward, we don't see any character improvement. We don't get to know anything about the characters. In the case of the male MC, we don't get to see a little of his "true self" until the last chapter; in the others he is like "I'm a robot, I help people, but I don't want merits, I don't want people to focus on me." Why is he like this? Well, I don't know. The anime doesn't tell me. We know he doesn't have emotions because he has grown up in a laboratory, and that is all.

The fem MC, in the other part, have some dimensionality: She is cold, she does not want others people to help, and fights as if her life was on risk in order to get to the A class. Why? Because of her brother. She wants to be recognized by her brother, but somehow have the idea that she should do that alone, or that she will be always alone, and she must fight alone. She can sometimes be mean and sealed, but she actually cares for others.

Other characters, like Kushida, are extremely plain. We know that she is a girl who wants to befriend everyone, and she has another face. And that's all. Yup.

And so on. I think you will get what I'm trying to say.

Also, the chapters have always a philosophical phrase at the start, that do not have any relationship with the chapter or all the anime, that is why it is quite pretentious.


Art:
Fine, I think. It is obvious that some of the budget went to the fanservice scenes, but the animation is fine. It is not one of the wonders of the japanese animations, but not bad neither.

Sound:
The anime ost is not bad neither. I liked some tracks, specially the tension scenes ones. It complements a lot the feeling the anime expresses in some parts and is quite outstanding and memorable.

Overall... Utterly bland. Its starts meh and goes downfall. The last arc (the island arc) gets your expectation high for a predictable ending. Not really enjoyable, to be fair.

Vampire knight is an anime with a great lore; I like the idea of "pure blood vampires" and the hierarchy of the species. The whole setting and theme goes pretty well with the "dark academia" theme and the serious emotions they wanted to express–– Maybe it ends up a little too serious for the plot they are trying to give.

Let's start with the story:
Quite fair, not really brilliant. Even if there's perhaps some subplot at the last chapters (I would call it like "the second arc" of the anime), the main and only plot until chapter 10 (aprox) is the progressive transformation of Zero into ... a level E vampire, how Yuri reacts to this, and the development of a bond between these two, and the change of Zero as a character. I am utterly serious, this anime has not other plot beside this and some triangular romance between Zero, Kaname and Yuri.
A lot of aspects of the school fells like “empty, without use”: The fact that Yuki and Zero works as the Disciplinary Committee, which ends up as “some background data”; the fact that for some reason Yuki can jump in trees, jump from high walls, but she can’t (or the anime doesn’t let her) defeat some enemies (I’m actually angry with the anime about this, because Yuki could have defended herself in some situations, at least in the final chapter, but the anime want her to be the archetypical “girl in distress”); the fact that Yuki has a protection bracelet and doesn’t really use it in any chapter?; etc, etc.

The art:
Good enough to be enjoyed, but not that good to stay long term in your head, to feel thrilled by it or to search with despair the animation house and the original artist. It's pretty 2008 shoujo style anime, with big eyes, stylized bodies, bishounens and good-looking girls everywhere. Not a bad thing though; it doesn't stand out, but you feel quite nostalgic at seeing the style and the characters are pretty.

A point for the anime: The op changes in the last arc, which is rather satisfying.

The sound:
Not really memorable except for some tracks like "Secrets" or the opening (I love the op too much, it just traps you). I literally went through some tracks and remembered or recognized barely one or two (without taking the op and ed into account). This anime does not stand out in music specifically. The music more of the times does not give a lot of feeling or complement that much a dramatic scene. However, it does set the scene and the "vampire" vibes: Organ, violin, piano and specific instruments for specific characters (like the music box for the mischevous, "playful" Maria's personality)

The characters:
I need to say that I was expecting a worse characterisation and found a quite enjoyable development from Zero.

Let’s start with the (supposed) main character, Yuki. The character of Yuki has some depth: Her past events makes her to fear vampires, and she grows up with the company of the director and Kuran Kaname. Over the years, she gets more and more distant with Kaname and (probably) the director, and the place of these two relationships is filled in by Zero. Through all the serie, Yuki continuously tries to avoid Zero from killing himself, by supporting him, and trying her best to help him, even by giving her blood to him. You can see how Yuki overcomes her fear to vampires thanks to Zero, and you can actually comprehend why she wants to help Zero so badly, because she has passed four years thinking that Zero was her equal, and then realised how much Zero was suffering. There’s also the selfishness compound in Yuki’s actions: She doesn’t want to end up alone, and that is one of the reasons she does not want Zero to die, even if her actions will end up hurting Zero. Nevertheless, in the counterpart, Yuki is innocent and always end up in problems too bigs for her to solve them alone. This is actually a bad aspect, because the character throw herself to problems even when she and others has been in danger sooooo many times before because she did that. I mean, it is not realistic. She is not that clumsy or stupid, or she is not portrait as someone like that.

Zero is one of the best characters in the anime, probably because he is who more story has. In my opinion, he is the real main in all the Vampire Knight series. Zero is presented at the start as a cold, distant boy who has been with Yuki for four years, and works with her as part of the Disciplinary Comittee. Zero also knows about the vampires, because a vampire killed his family when he was a kid. At the end of the first chapter, the spectator observe that Zero is not fully human, and has some vampire traits (because he is actually a vampire who was a human before, duh). The growth of the character comes with the fight Zero has inside him: He hates vampires, but he himself is a vampire. Then, in consequence, he hates himself, and actually tries to kill himself in order to end the pain and the fight, because he knows one day he will become a level E. At the start, what Zero thinks is that he does not have anyone, that he could give up without worries. Nevertheless, when Yuki learns about this, she said to Zero that she is there to help him. Zero, after a long long fight in his mind, decide in the last chapters that he will, like Yuki did, be at her side. There’s a change in Zero mentality: from a boy who wanted to die in order to end up his pain, to a boy who thinks about what is the best option to make less harm to the people he loves (aka Yuki). The suffering of the character is really well portrait: Zero doesn’t drink any blood (well, except when Yuki offers it, and he can’t resist that much), until the end, from Kaname, after he's telling him that it was because of Yuki that he was giving his blood. And Zero drinks it because, he wants to stay with Yuki for one side, but that is also what will make Yuki happier.

Overall, the enjoyment is granted if you like bishounens, romance and more or less well-built vampire lore. Being sincere, this anime is not for everyone. It is quite mediocre too, so... Well.

I'm rewatching this anime for the first time since I was 12-13 years old. At that age, I was an infurious romance anime searcher, the reason why I encountered this anime in the first place. However, I remember how the anime trapped me with the grand prix festival arc, and all the beautiful and imaginative sweet designs.
This anime may not have the most amazing plot, but it is really enjoyable and perfect for the mood "chilling with series".

The story:
The story is nothing from the other world. Ichigo, a girl who loves cakes because of how many emotions can they make you feel (happiness overall), ... meet one day Henri Lucas, a teacher from the St. Mary academy. This, surprised by her palate and imagination, invite her to transfer to the St. Mary Academy to become a Pâtisserie like her grandma.
It is going to be a long journey of failing, getting up again and trying, and growing. A lot of chapters are focused on the development of the characters, their growth versus adversities and enemies. Things go quite more interesting with the Grand prix festival arc, but all the chapters before that are actually pretty enjoyable.

The art:
Well, don't expect super fancy art and fast scenes. I mean, this is a shoujo anime about making cakes. However, the cake designs are amazing, and you really end up thinking if such a cake is possible to made in real life (most of them are though). The characters design is not bad neither (like old fruit basket style, since they are from the same moment)

The sound:
Nothing really remarkable, except the ending and the opening. The opening is going to eat your brain, it is extremely sticky.

The characters:
Ichigo is such a great character, and such a good inspiration for anyone. She's a clumsy, happy girl, who really cares about the happiness of others, and want to make sweets to make people smile and feel good, just like how her grandma did. However, that desire stumble to the fact that she transferred to a high elite pâtisserie school without even baking once. But she doesn't run away for the sake of her dreams, and try harder every time she falls. Really an inspirational and beautiful character.
Ichigo may be the centerpiece, but the sweet princes are important main and support characters who grow and help Ichigo grow over the chapters. Every one of them has chapters where they fail, where you can see how frustrated, disappointed they are, and how they fight versus those feelings. They are not paper thin characters, and their development isn't a lot, but it is enough for you to gasp how they are and why they are like that.

All in all, enjoyment is granted (maybe not in all the chapters, but surely in most of them). A perfect anime to wind down and relax, and maybe, it will impulse you to start baking sweets or to bake sweets with more care.

The story:

Although with a simple idea– Ryuusuke tries to form a band, and the story develops through the eyes of koyuki, our MC; we see, over the time, how the band gets more members; we see how they grow, in technic and in bonds–, you end up loving the story, mainly because of the characters' development. That is actually the most outstanding feature of this anime, alongside with the music.

The description of the anime tells on its own: "Beck follows the group's struggles and successes as they spread their fame across Japan." There is no more plot than that, and at the same time, it ... is amazing how much can a one single sentence hide. It is true that the plot had some flaws: The use of Lucille in the "second arc" of the story to get "life or dead" situations, it takes the anime to the unrealistic extreme; I know they used it as the base to get all the climatic ending, but still, a little too unrealistic.

The art:

The art is great. It is not the full HD animation we get nowadays (with so many details), but it is definitely a beautiful, well done, traditional art. I love how everything is so dynamic, and the colors are vibrant. There are some scenes in old CGI, but these scenes only last like, 5sec, so it is a little tiny complaint.

The sound and the music:

You already know how good the music is going to be when you hear the opening that hypes you up. The anime sold discs with a compilation of all the songs, may that tell you how good the music is. The voice of koyuki is indeed good, and sounds beautiful. Rock is not my favorite music genre, but I grow to respect and like it while I was watching this anime.

The characters:

The best part of this series. The growth, the chemistry between all the characters warms your heart. You get to know koyuki and his development very well, as well as you end up feeling like a proud father at the last episode. The character of koyuki is one you get to like with the chapters: He's not an hero, he's not a super doted guitarist, but he's hard-working, he's consistent. He does fall, but he gets up.
Like I said at the start, we learn about the group members through koyuki's eyes; at the end of the day, koyuki is the center of this story. There are a great number of characters, but you learn a little about everyone, enough for you to fell like they are human. The expression, the way you, the spectator, met all the secondary characters, they all help to built them.


Overall, the anime is one of the best in character development I have ever seen. 26 chapters that goes like wind, flying. It is true that the last arc goes slower, but the anime closes giving you a stream of nostalgia, the last chapters closes the best way it can; you may end up feeling a little blue.

This is one of those "anime of culture" people should watch at least once in their life.

Just finished this anime, and I need to say, it is not the most brilliant, outstanding anime of my list, but it is not a bad one neither. There's no more plot than Makoto's (the MC) life, told through small stories every chapter (it has that style of mini-stories every chapter, without any important subplot).

The anime starts pretty "loose". The first chapter is kinda "you don't know these characters, but we are going to put emotional scenes, but you are not going to bat an eyelash with them" type (because, duh, you haven't developed any emotional connection with anyone). The second and the third chapter ... are building the base for the rest of the chapters (in terms of characters), so they are quite slow too. The thing doesn't get more interesting until chapter 4, with the appearance of Tatsuo and Haru, but since that point, there are more visible character development, which makes Gingitsune more interesting.

The characters aren't the most charismatic ones neither, but you end up liking them. They are quite normal, but very cute. I have the same thoughts from the art and the music: good but not the best you would hear.

Overall, the series is good to see for a break time after lunch, maybe with family or alone with some snacks. It is a cozy, slice of life anime, short and quite enjoyable. Not for people who look for something with a faster-paced plot, complex fantasy anime.