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The most influential and classic Dark Fantasy animes of all times! It has it's title by a reason, and it sure is a good one!

Berserk is a slow and dark paced show, that's more focused on characters, rather than the story itself.
Storywise is pretty ok. It does have mystery and suspense elements on it, as well as horror and dark fantasy ones too, but they go more on purpose of the characters mentality and psychology, rather than a more elaborated plot.
Because of this, many viewers have issues hooking with this show. Since there isn't more interest than "See why Guts is where he ... is, and who these people are". Then again, it's all more about knowing the main cast rather than a big and complicated plot.

It's a Character driven story, not a Plot driven one. Given that said, the characters on this show are SPECTACULAR!
Each one of the Main Cast has great development throught the show. You get to see their ideals, motivations, dreams, fears, weaknesses and more, all executed perfectly. They all have different goals and struggles, but learn from each other as they grow and interact.
This is done perfectly and is the main reason why people love and remember this show, besides the horror and fantasy elements. The show would probably have never been this loved if it wasn't for the very powerful emotions the main cast brings. Supporting cast is also very well done. They don't stand out much by their own, but they all serve a purpose on the show.

On the technical aspect, this show is very good at Illustrations and music. The soundtrack is very memorable and fits the tone perfectly. Animation is not the most fluid one, but as i said, the quality and details on the illustration compensates the cheap elements of it.
The setting and the world is not that unique, but serves the purpose of showing how everyone became to be and the struggles they face. The dark fantasy elements add a distinct flavour to it, which is good at making the show more unique and distinguishable.

The worst aspect has to be the ending. Not because it's particularly bad (considering how it's what most remember about it and the main reason on why people even watched/read Berserk), but because of the Cliffhanger. Given the context of the series being made and everything else, you can't blame them much, but it's still a painfull ending.

Still, they managed to adapt the whole arc, and is still a Must Watch from anime! I can't blame the viewer for not getting invested in the story, since there is little to no hook besides wanting to know Who everyone is, but the characters' story compensates for any lack of big plot. Big reccommendation!!

Shinsekai Yori offers the best world-building in anime, showing a realistic view of human kind evolution, and how the society would change if Supernatural habilities were real.

This is a very slow paced, confusing and weird show, but it is 100% worth the watch.
As said before, what Shinsekai Yori does the best is it's world building.
The world is very distinct, utopic and odd. Since telekinesis is a Human thing now, society has changed considerably in a very plausible and realistic way. This power is not used to show a fun and cool action story, but rather taken very seriously.
It is an unusual treatment ... for a premise like this, but a very interesting one too.

The art syle and setting also helps building this up. Beautiful animation, an amazing soundtrack and great voice acting! The color palette and character desing is very distinct and also helps the show to stand out. It's a plus, since a more Moe or generic look would have make it clash in terms of Tone.
I also like how Homosexuality was portrayed and implemented on the show. It's no fanservice or queer-bait, but rather more a biological thing and serves a purpose on society, which also adds to the world building.

On the negative side, characters feel strange and is very difficult to relate to them. It's not unjustified, since it makes sense in their context, but it does make the viewer feel a little out, and can make the series feel boring. They act and behave in ways we would never, making you feel disconnected from them. They are not bad characters at all, but they do feel a little off.

I do consider this show a Hard watch, since it's very odd, slow paced and confusing at the beggining. I will say that the show felt like one of those "Repeated watches are needed to understand it" type of shows, but by the end of it, there isn't a single question unanswered. Leaving a sensation of completion, clear understanding and resolution, which was great.

In general, a very peculiar watch. I don't regret watching this show at all, and it's a Big reccommendation from me. Although i can't blame anyone not getting past the first episodes.

One of the most Overrated, edgy and pretencious shows, who pretends to be "Deep and Mature" just for having blood on it.

Let's justify my statements here:
Starting with the Good aspects, the animation is outstanding and has a beautiful soundtrack, both complementing each other well. You can tell there was budget!
And that's all the good things on the show.

The story makes no sense at all, and gets Lots of plotwists all the time to make you think that things are actually happening, when it isn't exactly like that. There is a major threat, but by the final episodes it has no importance since you know ... there are no consecuences at all. Specially on the ending.

Characters are TERRIBLE on this show. Sayaka is the only good and most interesting one, since she does have clear motivations and changes throught the show. But no one else is interesting to watch at all!
Mami stops showing up before getting any sort of development, Homura is the biggest Mary Sue ever made and has 0 connection to anything until the very few last episodes, Kyuoko is Yuri Bait and Madoka....
Madoka is SO BORING and does NOTHING during most of the show, besides watching and being useless. She is a super passive protagonist, very dull and slow. She just reacts and that's all.

The world building and setting are very disconnected, despite looking kinda "Futuristic" and strange. It's just a superficial thing, since it's never explored or adds anything to the show. The Witches had great designs and the animation style was very fun to watch, but they had no connection to anything and they did not add much to any character at all!
The horrors they experienced don't have any purpose to the characters. They don't learn anything new out of it, they don't grow, they are not connected to them in any way. It's just more like "Their job" and that's it.

It's all about the Shock Factor, "Subverting the genre" and "Being a deconstruction of Mahou Shoujo!". Which is not at all. Just because it has blood and cute girls on it does not make it mature at all. It makes it Edgy.
Many people just love the show by how surprised they were after the 3rd episode. But a twist in tone is not enough for it to be good, or called "Smart and mature" in any way. It just makes it more superficial in any case!

If Cute Girls being tortured is all you want, you might be just watching Elfen Lied instead. At least that show is clear about what is going for. Madoka pretends to be a Magical Girl just to surprise people. The fact that people reccommend it just because of that, says a lot about how superficial people are regarding this genre. There have been countless of Magical Girls that handle super mature themes and have more impactful stories, without showing a single drop of blood or tortute porn.

A very inmature, edgy and superficial show with little good stuff on it, besides the Technical aspect.

An excelent premise, good firsts volumes, but sadly, a poorly executed work and lots of wasted potential.

Welcome to the NHK is one of my favorite anime of all time, so i checked out the manga to see what it was like and... it was VERY dissapointing.
Leaving my expectations besides, the story and character arcs in this Manga are very poor. Both the Story and the Characters go in circles for WAY too long. You get angry at them because you don't feel any sort of progression in the story whatsoever.
None of them has any sort of real resolution or redeemable qualities at all! They end ... up being very annoying to read. Characters keep showing up, but they have nothing to say, and end up being pointless to the plot and message.
The fact that they don't progress or go in circles is used in the anime in a more meaningful way of "Don't give up, keep up on trying", but it's not the case in this manga. So it ends up just being repetitive and stretched out

The message and main point of the story gets completely lost, and by half of the manga you keep asking yourself "Where is this going for? What's the point to all of this?". And none of that gets resolved in a satisfactory way.
Not only because it's not well focused and executed, but also because the pacing is very bad. Super rushed or super slow, both in the wrong places.

In general, this manga keeps going in circles, offers no clear resolution to any character arc, and ends up feeling empty and wasted. I would suggest just checking out the Anime adaptation instead, which fixes and upgrades every single aspect of this Work. Very dissapointing work.

A very slow paced Mystery and suspense show that isn't going for much.

In general, Another is more about the Gore and Mystery aspect than anything else. The first episodes of the show are INCREDIBLY Slow and Boring. It is only after the 3rd or 4th chapter that stuff starts to happen, and it's just all about waiting for the next Death scene.
It's pretty much all of why you end up seeing each episode.
In that aspect, it does deliver some of (nowadays) most iconic and classic death scenes, but that's pretty much the only memorable aspect of it. And for that, it might should ... have been a shorter series of OVAS.

The story isn't that much interesting at all. It's fine i guess, but nothing you would remember much of. It's just all about the plotwists and the mystery at best. Characters are basic, and have little to no development or any sort of arc. They are just there to make you wonder "Who is going to die next?" and that's it.
Animation was ok, having some really high quiality death scenes with awesome animation. In terms of art style, i might give them the credit for the color palette being more dry and obscure than every Moe anime of the 2010's. It does match the tone a little bit more.

Overall, not a bad watch, but since it's not going for much, it doesn't have anything going on. Enjoy the gore and that's it!

A mindless Gore fest with a Mistery and Ghost cape paint on it.

As a whole, Corpse Party is all more about the Deaths and the Gore, rather than a deep story, plot or character arcs. It plays out as what it is, a Horror Mistery with tons of gore and deaths in every chapter. It doesn't pretend to more than that, so at least it's not pretencious.

Since it's also very short, it's runtime doesn't let it to build up to much, but to the show's regard, it doesn't feel rushed or dragged out. It does lasts all it needs to.
One of the negative aspects between ... episodes and scenes is that they all feel very disconnected from each other. You might also confuse Who is Who, since the designs are very generic, and what any of the characters are trying to do. Speaking of, the characters are very stupid and don't act properly most of the time.
Also the hyper Moe art style is more to increase the Shock factor and the torture porn aspect. It is also the blame for making the Character design so bland.
It has nice animation, but the style does seems a little bit odd, considering the type of story it is.

It does deliver what it offers, which is tons of Gore and brutal scenes, but it's the only aspect you will remember from it. Not a horrible watch, but far from being something outstanding in any way.

An OVA of an OVA series which has little to nothing to add to the story

It's just a bunch of small situations from all the main cast of the series, serving as a prequel episode to the main show. As it is, it doesn't have anything to contribute to the plot or the main story. Since it's so short it barely can show anything more than random comedic scenes between the characters.

As a whole, it is pretty pointless, and you don't lose any information if you don't watch this. It's just extra material of the main show.
Boring at best.

One of the most unique and touching anime made during the late 2000's!

Kaiba is a very adult series, despite it's childish look. It talks about the importance of Memories in a very thoughtful way. It explores it's themes very well and leaves a lot to think about after most of it's chapters.

The unique art style and setting is very interesting to watch. Every episode shows something different, both in world and theme exploration. It is a very powerful and emotional series, but it's never too over dramatic, since it talks about Life, death, memories and more, presented in a world very dystopian.
The way this ... show talks about all of those themes is outstanding and very touching.

It has amazing animation and it's super distinguishable from anything else. The contrast between the cute looking style and how crude and brutal the series is makes everything stand out more and becomes more effective.
Characters are well thought, and have very interesting stories to tell and explore. Each of them is very insteresting to watch, but it's not the most deep thing ever, at least in terms of characters.
The worst aspect of it has to be it's rushed ending. It goes very well for the first 2 acts of the series, but at the end you feel like it probable needed like 2 or 3 chapters more. This tho, doesn't ruin anything the series built up to and does not ruin the show as a whole. It just got a little rushed in the end.

In general, this series is more about theme exploration and a very existential show, all very well presented and executed. Totally recommended, since it's a super memorable, super unique and very artistic and thoughtful series to watch. It is by far on of the best anime ever made in the last decade.

DMC is, as a whole, just like any other generic 12 episodes Romantic Comedy, but it has at it's favor the fact that is more unique and distinguishable, making it actually memorable for the viewer.

What i mean by this is that in a structure and story point, DMC is just an episodic comedy series centered in Heavy Metal parodies and embarassing situations for the Main Character. It's plot is super basic, there is no clear message or goal, but in the end, it's not pretending to have it or looking for one. So there isn't any Character arc or much progress, because it's only focused ... on the comedy.

The difference between DMC and any other rom-com is that it's far more unique. It's not about school or romance, it's about complete madness and chaos and Extreme heavy metal parodies. It's super fast paced, but it add to the madness tone of the series. The comedy works really well and it's clear what is going for. It has 2 stories per Chapter, making it really light and enjoyable to watch.

The vaguest aspect of this series has to be the Animation. It's clearly going for a Manga/comic style and the animation is super basic and static, but it doesn't ruin anything at all. Also the Heavy Metal music is great and super fun. It does makes you laugh most of the times with how extreme and stupid the lyrics are.

Overall, is a very light and fun series. It's not pretending to be more than a dumb crude Comedy, and it has a premise and humor that makes it distinguishable from the rest. A funny and memorable OVA series that is not going for more than that.

The best anti-escapism anime ever made!

An anime made to reflect the viewer, and make them see the issues of Otaku Culture and how it all affects your mind. This is a series that is still very relevant with all it's themes, with a strong message about self improvement.
Besides being a comedy series, it does have some really serious themes on it, which are all explored and have a purpose both with the characters and in the story.

Unlike stuff like Watamote, which is also a comedy about an Otaku centered in shaming the life style of the protagonist, NHK offers more resolution to it's characters ... and has a better message. NHK is about how Sato, the MC, can get out of his Hikikomori life, and improve his life quality.
If Sato could do it, then why don't you too?

All the characters in this anime have a clear resolution, and their arcs last well enough for all of them. It is a HUGE improvement on the Manga, which has most of them going in circles. It has proper pacing and nothing feels rushed, unlike the Manga.
The music was very appropiate and matched the style and tone very well. The worst aspect is that sometimes the animation is VERY cheap, but that's about it. Everything else is executed perfectly!

It is a very important series for me, since it resonated a lot with how i was feeling and doing at the time, and it's incredibly inspiring, something i will always appreciate. Totally reccommended!