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Yet another anime that had a good premise but decided to do very little with it. I'll keep this brief.

If you don't like the overt sexualization of minors that often comes with anime, do not watch Dusk Maiden of Amnesia.

If you want a thoughtful story about life and regrets told in a school setting, watch Angel Beats. Do not watch Dusk Maiden of Amnesia.

If you're annoyed by anime with spectacular art but a story not even a fraction as interesting, do not watch Dusk Maiden of Amnesia.

If you want main characters that aren't cardboard cutout stereotypes, do not watch Dusk Maiden of Amnesia.

And above all, ... more than anything else, if you want a proper ending, an ending that follows through with the emotions set up, one that doesn't ruin the entire show and make everything meaningless, DO NOT WATCH DUSK MAIDEN OF AMNESIA.

This was a waste of time. Some redeeming qualities, but far too many shortcomings to be worth a watch.

Okay, this anime has been getting tons of flack from all sides, and I get it. This is a thoroughly unpleasant, dreadfully grim anime. I get it. But that is the point.

King's Game is like if you combined Death Note and Saw, two pieces of media I love, so I can appreciate this show. If you don't like horror, stay far away from this show, as it has some of the gnarliest gore and horror I've ever seen in an anime. Even so, the core idea is a good one that is executed properly.

Like Saw, the game in King's Game is one that tests just ... how badly a person wants to live, or whether they would ever put themselves on the line to save somebody else, and, just like with Saw, it creates some powerful drama. It shows people pushed to the absolute limits. However, this idea has been botched when it doesn't have a clear set of rules. One of the best things about Death Note is that it laid out the rules and never broke them, and it's the same with King's Game.

I would say that King's Game is a perfectly executed anime, minus the fact that there is absolutely no element of enjoyment to it. However, it kept me interested. When every episode ended, I just wanted to see the next one. Even so, I can't say I loved it, wouldn't want to see it again, and wouldn't really recommend it to anyone.

Bottom line: King's Game does exactly what it wants to do, but isn't meant to be enjoyable. If that doesn't sound good to you, don't even try to watch it.

I was sure. I was sure that this anime wasn't going to make me cry. I liked the anime, and it did make me sad, but I didn't think it would get me. But it sneaked up on me. And it made me fall apart.
For those interested, out of the hundreds of anime before this I have seen, the number that made me cry before this point could be counted on one hand: Air, Death Parade, Fullmetal Alchemist (2003), One Piece (twice), and Planetarian. The Flower We Saw That Day has blown them all out ... of the water.
That's not to say that this story is nothing but sadness. It doesn't end with the perfect storm of sadness in the way that Air or Grave of the Fireflies did. Truthfully, that made it much better. The Flower We Saw That Day was something I'm very happy I watched. It did the smart thing and made the ending a mixture of both sadness and happiness, and that made it much more powerful.
One thing that many "slice of life" anime don't get right is the dialogue. This anime gets it perfectly. The conversation is well written, realistic, and never feels forced. These are genuine human emotions, no doubt about it. That is a huge part of what makes this show more than something sad.
Even so, The Flower We Saw That Day has usurped Death Parade as the saddest anime I have ever seen, as well as one of the best. I would recommend it to anybody.
Just have a box of tissues on hand, just in case.

At this point in time I can confidently say that When The Cicadas Cry is the best horror anime I have seen. It was well paced, had good characters, and offered genuine horror. I was excited to see When The Seagulls Cry as well, but it ended up being a little frustrating to watch.
The time loop format of both shows make things complicated enough on their own, but When The Cicadas Cry kept the story itself simple. The characters were just trying to make it through the loop without dying. Seagulls, on the other hand has plenty of things that make the story more ... complex than it needed to be. Battler and Beatrice (the two leads) are in a battle of wits to determine if the mass murder of the loop they are in could only have been accomplished by a witch. This sounds simple, but the list of loose ends and questions involving the premise is staggering. They don't explain much at all.
Even so, the actual game between Battler and Beatrice is very interesting to watch. If that had been what the show was, it would have been much better. The problem is that things keep getting in the way of the show's best aspect. Both players try to quit at points, Beatrice starts to feel guilty about all her murders for no reason, the timeline jumps around and shows the future while a game is happening, and a whole new main character is introduced. So many things are introduced that don't seem worth the trouble.
When The Cicadas Cry got strength from its simplicity, but When The Seagulls Cry is too convoluted to have the same impact. There were plenty of impressive moments, and I liked it well enough, but it's not great, and certainly doesn't hold a candle to its predecessor.

War is a complicated thing. I'm sure that most people don't actually like war, but there has to be a limit somewhere. There has to be a point where things go beyond compassion and become just being an idiot. And Maria the witch is an idiot.
She is the protagonist, but it still isn't right that at no point does she ever have to face consequences for the things she does. Her whole thing is that she hates war a lot, but she deals with it in the most counterproductive way possible. She just goes into battles that are happening and stops them. She never ... seems to realize that all she is doing is prolonging the war itself. If a battle is able to end, a side might win, and everybody can just go home. However, Maria just keeps ending battles before anything decisive can happen. Nobody is satisfied with the outcome so they just come back for more. She is the reason why the war doesn't end. She goes on about how the war is nothing but meaningless slaughter, but she constantly gets people killed.
At every step the anime acts like Maria is never in the wrong and the church, soldiers, and angels are being unreasonable when they say that Maria should just cut the crap. The anime seems aware that war is much more complicated than Maria wants it to be, but acts like it somehow isn't. All it does is act like Maria is of no fault and creates Strawmen in the Catholic Church.
War is bad. However, when it starts, it is winning the war that makes it end the fastest. Maria is like an annoying antiwar protester who has never had to learn what the real world is like and is surrounded by people saying that she's right. It annoyed me enough to make me drop the series. I would advise you to not waste your time on this show.

I seriously did not know what to expect when I started watching Another. I make it a point to know as little about these kinds of anime (thrillers and horror) as I can so that I could be surprised, but the reviews were very divided. Some called it one of the best horror anime out there, some called it laughably bad. Unfortunately, it was actually neither.
For me at least, Another was thoroughly mediocre. Pretty much every aspect of the show worked just barely well enough, resulting in a product that was not bad, great, or memorable. Horror as a genre is not going to ... be any kind of enjoyable if it is nothing but blood and gore, dark colors, and people saying ominous things. Another has the horror staples down pat, the problem is that nothing else is there to support them.
Compare this to When They Cry and Monster, two damn unpleasant shows in their own ways, but both much better than Another. That's because they had more to them besides horror. They both had really clever stories and great casts of characters. There was something to keep the audience invested.
The story in Another is generic and the characters are forgettable. Nothing new is brought to the table in those two aspects. The only thing that stands out in Another is the insane violence, but even that is nullified by how silly some of the deaths are. Think Final Destination.
Another is not a bad anime. I did keep me interested enough to want to see how it ended, but it just was not worth all of the hype.

This show is just as good as Attack on Titan. There. I said it. I used to think that this anime might be trying to piggyback off the success and provide something in the space between Attack on Titan season 2, but God Eater really does bring its own thing to the table.
Most notably is the animation. God Eater is, without any doubt, the most beautiful anime I have ever seen. It is breathtaking.
There is also a different kind of story, different world building, and a much faster pace. It also has a different way of creating villains. I think that if you liked Attack ... On Titan, you would like God Eater, but it is much more than off-brand Attack On Titan.
I want there to be another season of God Eater, just as I am sick of waiting for Attack on Titan season 2. You might have heard bad things about God Eater, but please just give it a watch. It might surprise you.

The weird thing about Grimgar is that its premise has absolutely nothing to do with its plot. At the beginning, it seemed like if would be like Log Horizon, where people are trapped in a video game, and try to find a way out. But in Grimgar, the fact that they were brought into the world of Grimgar is irrelevant, so much so I wonder why the plot point was even established. But once you look past it, and instead focus on the journey that Haruhiro and his group go through, you get a great anime.
For short anime like this, it's generally better to be ... simpler. Unless you really know what you're doing, simpler will work much better, and Grimgar shows that. It has a simple premise, and works to flesh it out. It's sort of artsy, but has the style and characters to support it. It's almost a slice of life, in a way. This turned out to be one of the better shows of the season, and I would recommend it.

Dimension W was really hyped at the time of its premiere. I will admit, at the beginning, it showed a lot of promise, but I think it made the same mistake a lot of anime make, where they try to make too much happen too fast. A bad enough ending can ruin anything (Madoka Magica Movie 3, Jormungand Perfect Order), but a confusing ending can make a compelling anime seem underwhelming. At the end, too much happened too fast for anything to really sink in. It sucks, because in pretty much all other respects, Dimension W was excellent. It was smart, had good style, and ... good action. The ending just didn't work. Compare this to something like Blood Blockade Battlefront. It had a complex ending, sure, but it was told in a much better way, and had good characters to keep the audience invested. That's not really the case with Dimension W. I'm sure that things will become easier to follow in the English Dub, but for now at least it is something good that could have been great.

When you look at this title, I wouldn't be surprised if you rolled your eyes. But if there was a show that came out this year that could have that title, it would be this one. This show is awesome. If Black Lagoon took this sort of premise and had the most fun with it, and Darker Than Black took this sort of premise and made it as intellectual as possible, Gangsta. is somewhere in the middle.
But more than any other, this show reminds me of Baccano!. While not as good (Baccano! is, in a way, untouchable), the things I loved about that show ... are present here. The huge cast, the complex storyline, the great action.
Sadly, the only major flaw in this show is somewhat glaring. It's hard to follow. Baccano!, while just as complicated, was easier to keep track of. Who knows? Maybe Gangsta. would have been improved by a nonlinear format. But as it is it was still well worth watching.